Labradorite – matte bracelet

Labradorite – Stone of the Aurora Borealis

An old Inuit legend tells it best: the northern lights once fell from the sky and were caught inside the rock — which is why, the story goes, labradorite flashes with those same shifting, mysterious colours. Every bead of this bracelet holds a little of that captured sky. In the matte cut the effect becomes quieter still: the surface feels soft and velvety, and the colour does not blaze so much as surface, appearing in sudden glints as the beads move through the light.

Labradorite has long been long regarded as a shaman’s stone and healers, yet you need neither title to feel at home with it — it has become a favourite of people at every stage of the spiritual journey, from the newly curious to the long-practised. It is said to calm a busy mind while giving the imagination somewhere to wander, and to soften fear and anxious thoughts before they can run the whole day.

Its best-known gift, though, is protection of a particular kind. Labradorite is considered a powerful guardian of the human aura — believed to stop your personal energy from quietly leaking away, and to keep it from being drained by the people and demands around you. If you regularly leave a crowded room feeling emptier than when you walked in, this is the stone tradition would hand you.

All of that makes the matte bracelet an easy piece to live with: understated enough for every day, its meaning worn privately rather than announced. Wear it through long working weeks, into rooms full of opinions, or simply whenever you need reminding that your light — like the stone’s — is still in there, even when it isn’t flashing.

Element: Water

Zodiac sign: Libra, Cancer, Capricorn

This bracelet harmonizes all chakras.