Topaz

Topaz is a silicate of aluminium and fluorine, Al2SiO4(F,OH)2, and the mineral that marks 8 on the Mohs scale of hardness. Pure topaz is colourless, often with a greyish cast; traces of other elements give it a pale blue tint, or a shade between golden brown and yellowish orange, and pink and red stones owe their colour to chromium. Much of the deep blue, pink and other strongly coloured topaz on sale has been heated or irradiated. It forms in granite, granite pegmatites and the vapour cavities of rhyolite lava, and Brazil and Russia are among its best-known sources. The name came through Old French and Latin from the Greek name of a Red Sea island where a yellow stone, now thought to be olivine, was mined; in the Middle Ages any yellow gem might be called topaz, and the word settled on this mineral only in 1737. Wikipedia records old beliefs that it cured lunacy, kept Roman travellers from danger and, tied to the left arm, warded off curses and the evil eye. Cunningham gives it to the Sun, to fire and to Ra, uses it for protection, healing, love and wealth and against nightmares, and notes that it was once called lover of gold. Hall describes a soothing stone of truth, forgiveness, joy, abundance and love that supports manifestation.