So this crystal fakes stuffs is getting to be a popular series here on my blog.

And I’m quite enjoying my role in revealing & educating on the gemmy fakes & frauds that have crossed my path.
You can check out the other parts here:

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4

Before I get into the fakes & confusers I want to draw attention to in this blog post, there’s a little sumn’ sumn’ I wanna to discuss.

My aim here is NOT to completely remove the romanticism of stones & crystals. You know I’m all about the sparkly, glittery & spiritual side of them! Who do you know that sings their praises more than me?

But it may be time for a wee dose of reality when it comes to realizing that they may not arrive 100% unaltered in our hungry little hands. I’ve already discussed my stance on the ethics of mining crystals and stones here…different topic.

All righty…let’s get into it.

After stones are removed from Mother Earth, they’re usually given an oxalic acid wash to clean them up & make them more visually pleasing. I demonstrate this in a video here:

How I Cleanse My Crystals

Then they may be further altered through cutting, tumbling or polishing.
Many crystals may then go through the lab heating process.

This is often done with amethyst to deepen its color or turn it into citrine.

Some crystals are even artificially irradiated, a completely different process that does indeed alter & change them molecularly. Certain darker blue topaz & dark, almost black yet reasonably priced smoky quartz from Arkansas are common examples of this.

I feel crystals that have been altered in this way have lost their  original base resonant frequency & essential now have a synthetic 1…no bond to how they were originally created; Mother Earth bond lost & so…I don’t work with them.

Just wanted to throw in the above info before we get into a few more fakes and/or confusing names so that we all are aware of what may or may not have been done to our stones. It’s always good to be armed with info, don’t you think?

Lapis Lazuli

This baby is no fake but is one of the most often FAKED stones.

The more high quality variety comes from Afghanistan & Pakistan & is characterized by a deep & vibrant blue color (from lazurite) & highly sought after pyrite flecks. It’s natural good looks make it popular in the jewelry trade but it is more expensive & a bit harder to come by.

There’s a less expensive, less dazzling kind available from South America & Russia that has more gray in it is more of a dull blue & lacks the pyrite flecks, so not nearly as sought after.

The attractiveness of lapis & ease of “fake-ability” make it 1 to watch out for. Some will even take less expensive or low quality howlite, jasper or sodalite & dye it up to make it that vibrant blue. Sometimes even plastic, resins or glass (either mixed in with lapis lazuli “powder” to make “reconstituted” lapis or pure) will be passed off as the blue stone.

My Tips for Spotting Fake Lapis:

• • Acetone (nail polish remover) will remove the dye from a fake but may also damage the stone so tread lightly
  • If it’s very uniform it may be reconstituted (which is not technically fake but completely altered by man) or plain ole’ plastic, resin or glass
  • Lapis can be confused with sodalite but will have much less white (calcite), if its heavy on the white then pass
  • If it has a lot of grey, it’s mostly like sodalite; if you know how to do a streak test, sodalite will ave a white streak whereas lapis will have a light blue streak
  • Cheap price is usually an indicator of a fake

Gaia Stone aka The Goddess Stone, Helenite, Mt. St. Helen’s Obsidian, Green Obsidian, Blue Obsidian

This stone is purported to be created from melting volcanic ash from the eruption at Mount St. Helen & then shaping it into various forms, possibly mixing it with other resins & binders. Hence…MAN-MADE. Geologists have yet to confirm any naturally formed green or blue glass in this region.

That would be so totally exciting if this Gaia Stone actually happened all on its own…at the hands of Mother Natures, but  is simply not the case. At least we don’t have any evidence yet to prove this.

Here’s the deal. This is scientific fact so there’s no arguing here on this:

The geological definition of obsidian is it’s volcanic glass; that is…glass created by volcanism that forms when molten rock material cools.

Human hands have NADA to do with it.

So, if Mother Earth didn’t fuse it together during a volcanic eruption herself…then it ain’t obsidian.

But many are taking any sort of glass & calling it obsidian. I just think that’s wrong & misleading to misuse the terminology that way.

So is the glass bottle I’m drinking from an obsidian bottle?

Are my windows on my house obsidian? *Need to remember that when I put the house up for sale*:

*Rare Clear Obsidian Windows in all Rooms!*

C’mon. Same goes for the red, orange & yellow obsidians. Mother Earth does make many natural & darker colored obsidians…but not these colors, Lima Bean.

IF evidence ever dos come to light that this was a natural event then I will gladly take back everything I’ve said here & high-tail it to the nearest seller to buy a HUGE honkin’ piece of this…but until then I’m just steering clear.

Anchi Crystals

I included this “crystal” (seems to be a group of many different crystals) b/c I’ve been receiving several frequent questions about it from my students in our Certified Crystal Healer Course. Since the “discoverer” of these Anchi crystals hasn’t disclosed the locality of where these crystals were supposedly found we don’t have much concrete info about them.

So far they’ve only disclosed that they “are found in only one location on the Earth” & that they are a group of over 50 different types of  crystals including opaque or milky quartz & different types of tourmalines. From what I can tell they are a lower quality group of smaller crystals so not very clear & knocked around a bit.

I’m still not clear why this outcrop of crystals deserved a special name all their own (except that they’re trademarked under that name so there’s that ).

I hope this post was helpful to but…as I always say…your intuition should always be your first guide. If a stone or crystal works for you for a particular purpose then don’t let anyone or anything that you read or hear change that for you. For certain people, certain stones may work very well while not work for others no matter what is said or written about them…you keep on doing your thing, Crystal Hottie!

If you have any photos of to share of these stones, please stop by & post them up on my FB Page. I’d love for you to share with the other Crystal Hotties.

Do you have other views & news on the crystals discussed here today or perhaps other fakes or confusers you’d like me to research for a future post? Please let me know in the comments below!

As always, thank you so much for reading & adding your personal sparkle to the convo! ((HUGS))

Crystal Blessings, Jelly Bean!