Purple Fluorite Healing Properties, Meanings, and Uses

While some of Fluorite’s magical properties may have been overlooked or labeled in early texts as other stones, its value in many cultures of the world is evidenced by its use, dating back thousands of years. Ancient Egyptians used Fluorite for carving scarabs and statues of the gods, while green and other fluorites were carved into vessels by the Chinese and, at times, used as a substitute for Jade. The Romans, Celts, Britons, French, Germans, American Indians, and others all prized the beauty of Fluorite, carving it into figurines, deity statues, art, totems, amulets, and talismans, as well as decorative bowls, cups, dishes, and vases. 

Fluorspar vessels were highly prized by the Romans for their rarity, intricate banding, and for special flavor given to the wine drank from them, a result of the resin used to help hold the crystals together during the shaping process. Pliny the Elder, Roman historian, naturalist, and author of the first encyclopedia of stones and their powers speaks of at least one Roman noble who enjoyed chewing the edge of his vessel. He also notes that Emperor Nero is reputed to have paid over a million sesterces for one Fluorspar cup ($240,000 today). Pliny considered Fluorite “a most precious substance,” and in referring to the delicacy of this stone, he wrote, “It came to be deemed the proof of wealth, the true glory of luxury, to possess something that might be destroyed in a moment.”

Roman sources also speak of an incident where Julius Caesar’s predecessor, “Pompey the Great,” took six Fluorite vases from Mithridates’ treasure and had them installed in the temple of Jupiter. There is also the mention of a valuable Fluorite vase taken by the Roman Emperor Augustus from the Pharaoh’s palace in Alexandria, Egypt.

Rare artifacts of Fluorite have also been unearthed in America, in cultivated fields and burial sites of the southern Illinois-western Kentucky Fluorspar region. These remarkable carvings date from the Mississippian Moundbuilders era, between 900 and 1650 A.D., and reflect the native peoples of the Mississippi Valley. A large number of colorful Fluorite beads, pendants, and ear ornaments have been found, as well as four complete, or almost complete, Fluorite statues of figures in the seated position. They range in size from nine to twelve inches tall. The head of what would be a fifth statue was found in Tennessee, and the head and shoulders of a sixth statue from southern Illinois represent the total known Mississippian Fluorite statues. Illinois, whose state mineral is Fluorite, has a museum dedicated to Fluorspar that sits on the site of an actual mine last worked in 1954. The Ben E. Clement Mineral Museum in Marion, Kentucky, houses the world’s largest Fluorite collection.  

Hydrofluoric acid formed from Fluorite has been used for etching glass since 1670, and in the 1700’s was diluted with water to a near infinitesimal degree and used for matters of health. This mixture was reported to alleviate symptoms of kidney disease, shrink varicose veins to half their size, grow fresh hair on a bald head, and cure sores on the fingers or within the nostrils. 

An early eighteenth-century experiment in Germany was conducted to demonstrate the effects precious stones and minerals had upon a sensitive person. The woman chosen for the experiment was Friederike Hauffe, known as the “Seeress of Provorst,” a woman believed to possess remarkable clairvoyant powers. She felt nothing when the first few stones were placed in her hand. Still, on coming into contact with Fluorspar, she experienced deep muscle relaxation and occasionally entered a “somnambulistic state” (as if in a trance or moving within a dream).