Iceland Spar
(eye-uh-land spar)What is Iceland Spar?
Iceland Spar is a variety of Calcite with high clarity, transparency, and birefringence, first found in Helgustadir Mine, Eskifjord, Iceland. It is also known as Optical Calcite, Icelandic Spar, Iceland Spar Calcite, Iceland Crystal, Clear Calcium Carbonate, Silver Rock, and Clear Calcite.
Did you know Iceland Spar is one of the few purest forms of Calcite?
Spiritualists say Icelandic Spar is excellent for mental clarity, manifestation, and intuition.
While J.D. Dana technically reported it in the 19th century, historical records suggest earlier usage. For instance, Vikings widely used it. Moreover, it was a crucial mineral that helped expand modern knowledge about optics.
Optical Calcite’s unique property causes it to divide incoming light into two rays, creating a double image, leading to the nickname Double Refraction Calcite. During World War II, it was vastly used for tracking opposing artillery tools.
Fun Fact: Iceland Spar calcite is used in polarizing sunglasses, microscopes, and telescopes.
Iceland Spar Healing Properties & Benefits
Clarity and Memory
- Clear, Peach, Blue, Twinned, or Etched Optical Calcite varieties improve your focus, intelligence, and mind power by opening the higher chakras to activate dormant brain centers.
- To charge your mineral for memory retention and clarity, hold it while facing the rising Sun for a few minutes daily.
Strength and Immunity
- Did you know lower chakra varieties of Clear Calcite clear blockages in your immune system? Use Brown, Peach, Dendritic, or Golden Calcite Iceland Spar to boost your vitality, strength, and health.
- Make a crystal elixir of your Calcite by keeping it next to a glass of water for up to 6 hours during daylight or twilight. Consume it throughout the day and repeat the process daily for a week.
Detox and Skin Health
- Some varieties of Clear Calcite, like Pink, Rainbow, Etched, and Rhomb, can clear skin conditions. It will help you detox and reclaim the original glow of your skin.
- Make a crystal elixir of your mineral and add the concoction to your bathtub. Soak in the gem bath for up to 10 minutes to cleanse your lower chakras thoroughly.
Fearlessness and Self-Expression
- Peach, Blue, and Fluorescent Optical Calcite varieties remove negativity within your mind and spirit. They also boost communication skills, courage, and willpower by eliminating stress.
- Chant this affirmation while holding the crystal close to your lips and carrying the charged Calcite on your person, “My courage overpowers fears of the body, mind, and soul.”
Tranquility and Hope
- Have you ever felt immense peace after touching a healing stone? White, Etched, Hexagonal, and Green Iceland Spar minerals are such varieties that connect your physical body to the etheric ones and bring deep peace and optimism.
- Place your crystal next to a metal or crystal singing bowl. Play the bowl by tapping on the sides or rimming the mouth to charge your Calcite. You can then carry it with you as a worry stone, which many believe provides instant relief, regardless of location.
Iceland Spar Spiritual Properties & Benefits
Spiritual Development
- Green, Pink, and Phantom Iceland Spar mineral varieties improve cosmic awareness and universal connection. They can lead you to enlightening opportunities crucial to your soul mission.
- Light a candle and hold your crystal close to it while maintaining a safe distance for a minute or two. Visualize the Fire energy activating the healing energies of Calcite and affecting your chakras, spirit, and psyche.
Manifestation
- Icelandic Spar varieties with rainbow and orange inclusions are powerful tools for manifesting dreams and desires.
- Build a crystal altar with your Calcite variety in the center and surround it with three blue or white candles, basil leaves, purple orchid petals, and a few drops of orange essential oil. Light the candle daily to manifest your intention.
Psychic Powers
- Using Silver, Phantom, and Twinned Clear Calcite varieties activates latent psychic powers like intuition, premonition, clairvision, psychic vision, and ancient wisdom. Carry the charged Calcite on your dominant side for a week or a month.
- It’s best to sit in the open air under the moonlit night and circle a lit sage smudge stick over your healing mineral to activate psychic powers.
Divine Attunement
- White, Etched, and Silver varieties of Iceland Spar Calcite activate communication skills with people, energies, nature, and spirit guides.
- Charge your mineral for interdimensional communication by setting it inside a spell jar with lotus, lavender petals, a golden-colored item, and a few drops of sandalwood essential oil.
Lucid Dreaming and Divination
- Try to charge a Silver, Rainbow, Hexagonal, White, or Rhomb Icelandic Spar before placing it under the pillow to explore different worlds, dimensions, realities, and consciousness.
- The best way to use this Calcite for divination and advanced rituals is by scrying or gazing into the stone for a few minutes before bed.
Side Effects of Iceland Spar
- Isolation: If you’re new to Optical Calcite and use it without a break for a week, you may feel detached and isolated.
- Obsession: Sensitive people may feel overly invested in thoughts, situations, and people from overusing Icelandic Spar. Use a grounding crystal in such a case.
- Confusion: Some people feel clueless or at a loss when communicating with people using Clear Calcite without regular cleansing.
Iceland Spar Meaning: What Does Iceland Spar Symbolize?
The meaning of Iceland Spar is divine clarity.
Icelandic Spar works well for spiritual development, including activation of psychic powers like intuition, premonitions, clairvoyance, and spirit contact. Healers often recommend it for health, strength, and immunity.
Did you know that Iceland Spar is also called the Viking Crystal? The name originates from the legend of Vikings using it for navigation due to the optical qualities of the stone. They used it for locating the sun, especially during gray and cloudy skies.
Historians say what Vikings called Sunstone was actually Iceland Spar. One proof supporting this is the shipwreck of Alderney, which includes an Optical Calcite with other contents.
Fun Fact: Iceland Spar is called Viking Sunstone.
Types of Iceland Spar Crystals
- Common Iceland Spar: Optical Calcite is transparent and clear, mostly with rainbow inclusions, sometimes white or with other varieties of Calcite. It’s an excellent stone for manifesting intentions, improving memory, and activating psychic powers.
- White Iceland Spar: When your Icelandic Spar looks white with a cloudy or satiny appearance, it opens the Crown and Stellar Gateway Chakras. Use it for divine attunement, tranquility, and divination.
- Pink Iceland Spar: Featuring a soft pink hue with gentle energies, this Calcite might glow. It’s perfect for skincare, detox, empathy, divine feminine, and health.
- Peach Iceland Spar: This is a peachish variety of Clear Calcite, often with orange inclusions. It opens the Sacral Chakra and helps you tap into willpower, immunity, mental clarity, and fearlessness.
- Green Iceland Spar: Showing tints of pale green hues from impurities, this type of Icelandic Spar is a Heart Chakra mineral. It inspires hope, aids in spiritual growth, and establishes a universal connection.
- Blue Iceland Spar: When your Optical Calcite shows a pale bluish tint, use it for balancing the Throat and Third Eye Chakras. It’s ideal for self-expression, intuition, clarity, and fearlessness.
- Brown Iceland Spar: This is a grounding variety of Iceland Spar Calcite that opens the Earth Star and Root Chakras, bringing courage, strength, and willpower. Due to a brown weathering layer on top of this mineral, you’ll notice a pale to dark brown coating on this variety.
- Silver Iceland Spar: Polished varieties of Optical Calcite may show flashes of silver with a clear or transparent appearance. It’s great for angelic contact, lucid dreaming, and psychic powers like clairvision and intuition.
- Rainbow Iceland Spar: This variety comprises many rainbow inclusions. Use it for astral travel, lucid dreaming, manifestation, detox, and premonitions.
- Etched Iceland Spar: If you notice natural etched patterns or uneven ridges on Icelandic Spar, it’s a high-vibration stone. Use it for tranquility, memory, divine attunement, and skin health.
- Iceland Spar with Phantom: Some varieties of Double Refraction Calcite show phantom stones of peach, orange, yellow, or white inside them. Such a stone is excellent for awakening dormant psychic powers like intuition and clairvision.
- Iceland Spar Rhomb: This type of Optical Calcite shows a rhombohedra formation, sometimes with scalenohedra shapes in clear, white, or pale yellow hues. Use this healing mineral for memory retention, health, divination, and spirit communication.
- Hexagonal Iceland Spar: Clear Calcite minerals with natural hexagonal or elongated shapes form this variety. They’re excellent for lucid dreaming, tranquility, balance, intelligence, and fearlessness.
- Twinned Iceland Spar: When your crystal is naturally twinned at certain planes, it forms complex shapes and structures. Use it for activating intuition, premonitions, mental clarity, intelligence, and ancient wisdom.
- Iceland Spar with Golden Calcite: This is a natural formation of Optical Calcite with Golden Calcite, showing golden tints. Use it for good luck, immunity, health, psychic powers, wisdom, and clarity.
- Iceland Spar with Orange Calcite: You’ll notice a bright orange shade in this natural formation of Icelanding Spar and Orange Calcite. It’s an excellent mineral for fearlessness, libido, and manifestation.
- Dendritic Iceland Spar: Featuring black dendritic inclusions on a white base color, this Iceland Spar is a chakra alignment mineral. Use it for growth and transformation.
- Fluorescent Iceland Spar: This variety of Optical Calcite naturally forms with Fluorite, typically in cubic formations with pale yellow to brown and pink hues. Use it for health, success, and fearlessness.
How to Cleanse Iceland Spar?
- Sunlight: Hold your Calcite while facing the sun for a few minutes and visualize the negativity absorbed by your crystal getting cleansed.
- Meditation: Sit in a quiet space and imagine cleansing your mineral with your thoughts for a few minutes.
- Seed Mantra: Chant the seed mantra associated with the ruling elements of this Calcite – YAM and RAM while holding it near your lips to reset its original positive energies.
Questions and Answers
Calcite variety with high clarity is called Iceland Spar, as it was first reported in Iceland. Moreover, the clarity of the stone is described as ice-like.
No, Iceland Spar is a Calcite mineral, unlike the Gypsum variety Selenite.
Apart from their differing composition, Iceland Spar and Selenite have different optical properties, clarity, and crystal systems. Iceland Spar is a Calcite variety that shows double-refraction and high clarity with a triclinic crystal system. On the other hand, Selenite is a Gypsum with a cloudy-white appearance and a monoclinic crystal lattice.
Yes and no; Iceland Spar can get wet for a short period, but it must be dried immediately to prevent permanent damage.
No, Iceland Spar can lose its integrity and clarity when left in the sun. However, short exposure under 5 minutes is safe for the mineral.
The best way to tell if Iceland Spar is real is by its double-refraction. Look through the crystal at something, and if you see two images, it’s a genuine Iceland Spar.
No, Iceland Spar is not a variety of Sunstone.
The best way to take care of Iceland Spar is to store it safely away from rain, heat, light, and accidental collisions. You should also clean it regularly with a soft, damp cloth. Also, store it separately from other harder stones to prevent accidental scratches.
No, Iceland Spar isn’t expensive, depending on the size, clarity, and origin. You can get it for $5 to $75 per specimen.
No, Iceland Spar is not a variety of Quartz, although they look similar and share some metaphysical properties.
Interactions with Iceland Spar
Iceland Spar vs. Goshenite
As friendly planets rule Goshenite and Iceland Spar, you can combine them for metaphysical benefits like manifestation and spiritual development.
| Crystal | Iceland Spar | Goshenite |
| Chakras | Crown | Crown |
| Ruling Planet | Moon and Mercury. | Venus and Neptune. |
| Ruling Element | Wind and Fire. | Air, Metal, Water, Light, and Ether. |
| MOHS | 2.5 to 3. | 7.5 to 8. |
Iceland Spar vs. Phenakite
Iceland Spar works well with Phenakite because friendly planets rule both stones. They’re great for intuition and spirit contact.
| Crystal | Iceland Spar | Phenakite |
| Chakras | Crown | Crown, Third Eye, and Throat. |
| Ruling Planet | Moon and Mercury. | Venus and Uranus. |
| Ruling Element | Wind and Fire. | Storm and Metal. |
| MOHS | 2.5 to 3. | 7.5 to 8. |
Iceland Spar vs. Ulexite
You can pair Iceland Spar with Ulexite, as the same planets rule both crystals. The combination is great for enlightenment and spiritual awakening.
| Crystal | Iceland Spar | Ulexite |
| Chakras | Crown | Crown and Root. |
| Ruling Planet | Moon and Mercury. | Mercury, Moon, and Neptune. |
| Ruling Element | Wind and Fire. | Wind and Ether. |
| MOHS | 2.5 to 3. | 2 |
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