Entry № 229
Gyrolite
Hydrated Calcium Silicate
White radial flowers of hydrated calcium silicate.
Chakra
Crown
Element
Water · Air
Zodiac
Pisces · Cancer

I. The Metaphysical Reading
How the stone has been held.
Gyrolite is worked with as a stone of delicate growth, held when something needs to unfold slowly in a protected environment. It is a stone of the hothouse and the nursery, of ideas that require humidity and patience to mature.
- Chakra
- Crown
- Element
- Water · Air
- Zodiac
- Pisces · Cancer
- Keynote
- White radial flowers of hydrated calcium silicate.
II. The Scientific Reading
What the lattice actually does.
Gyrolite is a hydrated calcium silicate mineral belonging to the gyrolite group of zeolite-related minerals. It typically forms as white to pale green radial aggregates of fine fibrous crystals in the amygdules and cavities of basalt and andesite. The mineral is hydrous, containing fourteen water molecules per formula unit, and dehydrates irreversibly when heated above 200 °C. It is found in association with other low-temperature alteration minerals such as okenite, prehnite, and laumontite.
- Formula
- Ca₁₆Si₂₄O₆₀(OH)₈·14H₂O
- System
- Triclinic
- Hardness
- 2.5 – 3 (Mohs)
- Provenance
- Scotland (Isle of Skye), India, Iceland, USA (New Jersey)
References & Sources
Independent mineralogical references used to verify the scientific details above.
Mineral Profile
Fact Sheet
- Chemical Formula
- Ca₁₆Si₂₄O₆₀(OH)₈·14H₂O
- Crystal System
- Triclinic
- Mohs Hardness
- 2.5 – 3 (Mohs)
- Density
- 2.30 – 2.40 g/cm³
- Refractive Index
- 1.510 – 1.535
- Provenance
- Scotland (Isle of Skye), India, Iceland, USA (New Jersey)
- Color Origin
- White to pale green with pearly fibrous radial aggregates
Related Crystals
Stones that share this lattice
Next in the Atlas
Helenite
Volcanic ash, reborn as glass.




