Published October 2016  •  Updated March 2024  •  Read Time: 7 minutes
Petalite is a phyllosilicate mineral that is a major source for lithium.  It is found around the world and is usually white or tan.  But one mine in Namibia is full of bright pink Petalite! Rumors swirl that the mine has payed out, but then the miners find another seam and more Pink Petalite arrives on the market.  Energetically, it is similar to Kunzite.  Both of them are love stones that help us to open our heart.  These two love stones were identified by the same scientists and grow in the same environment, making them best-friends and allies.  Petalite is particularly good when we need to love and accept ourselves better, which in turn allows us to love the whole world.

Petalite

Petalite Meaning

Spiritual Healing Properties

Petalite has an incredibly helpful spiritual vibration. It swiftly connects us with the angelic realms and inspires us to be our Highest Self. It reveals our Dharma (path of spiritual destiny) to our conscious mind and helps us to walk that path with joy and peace in our heart. Petalite also shows us how to release negative karma and to cultivate positive karma for this life and the next. Used during meditation, Petalite helps us to let go of our thoughts and find the elusive “no mind”. It helps us to settle us into a restful mental place, where our ego is released and we are able to access universal consciousness. Petalite can also be used to activate the kundalini, balance our yin/yang energies and to purposefully open up each chakra and meredian. Petalite helps us to keep the peace, clarity and well-being from our meditation practice, and bring those energies into our everyday life. Petalite is also a powerful shaman stone, which can be used to open the inner eye and enhance all forms of psychic powers. During vision quests and astral travel, Petalite protects us and aids us in safely returning after attained new knowledge. Petalite aids us in connecting with spirit guides, particular animal totems. It is also a good manifestation tool, showing us how to bring our loftiest visions into practical reality. When used in a grid, Petalite protects property and guards against accidents.

Metaphysical Properties Petalite
Chakra Heart, Throat, Third Eye and Crown
Element Wind
Numerology 7
Zodiac Leo

Emotional Healing Properties

Petalite encourages self-love and self-acceptance. It teaches us how to cultivate deep inner tranquility, which isn’t ruffled by other people or the various minor trials of everyday life. But Petalite is also a very grounded stone that offers steady comfort during times of real emotional trauma and stress. Petalite is especially recommended for anyone who is working on healing abuse/victim patterns. This can be on a purely personal level, or on a larger scale of family and/or ancestral trauma. Petalite helps us to face the truth of the past and the source of the dysfunction without flinching and to see the pathway forward back to peace. It doesn’t diminish the past, but it does encourage us to actively work for a better future. It helps us to forgive and make peace in a way that feels authentic and is healthy. Petalite is helpful for anyone who has been bullied or manipulated and is not sure how to properly stand up for themselves. It helps us to find our footing and to do whatever is necessary for healthy self-care.

Mental Healing Properties

Petalite has a very unique energy, in that it energizes the body/spirit, while calming the mind/heart. On a practical and very useful level, Petalite can help us to release habitual stress and worries. It shows us that sometimes we are simply doing things or feeling a certain way, not because it is “real” in the present moment, but rather because it is a habit we’ve fall into. Petalite helps us to step out of ourselves, and “witness” our actions, thoughts and feelings. With that kind of detached awareness, it is then easier to decide which of our habits are worth keeping and which ones need to be altered. It shows us how to change our life for the better, in big and small ways. Petalite teaches us how to cultivate a feeling of being centered and focused, rather than easily distracted or mentally-scattered.

Physical Healing Properties

Petalite is recommended for anyone with an over-active mind who is feeling exhausted or who has a history of anxiety attacks. Petalite helps us to find healthier ways of channeling nervous energy, rather than continuing to do the same things over and over again. Petalite also encourages us to deal with potential problems appropriately and swiftly so they don’t transform into a crisis later on. Petalite is a great talisman for anyone with ADHD. It is also a very sweet talisman for anyone facing a major illness such as AIDS or Cancer. Petalite helps us to stay focused on what we can control and to keep our mind and emotions from running amuck. Petalite is also recommended for yogis and anyone who is trying to become more flexible.

Explore crystals with similar energies

These crystals have an energy similar to Petalite

Petalite Mineralogy

Where does Petalite come from?

Industrially-significant deposits have been found in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Namibia, and Zimbabwe. Other notable deposits are in Afghanistan, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Italy, Myanmar, Pakistan, Russia (Buryatia Repubic), Sweden, United Kingdom (Scotland), and the United States (Connecticut, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine, New Mexico, North Carolina and Wyoming). The only known source for Pink Petalite is from Namibia.

Mining and Treatments

Petalite is an important source of lithium and so is mined industrially. Lithium batteries are used in phones, cameras, pacemakers, military equipment and in the aerospace industry. Petalite is also used ceramic cooking wares.

All Petalite are fully natural, enhanced only by cutting and polishing.

Petalite Placeholder
Petalite

The Environmental & Social Impact of Crystals

Your crystals should have a healing energy that is clean, powerful, & makes a positive difference.

Mineral Family

Petalite is a phyllosilicate mineral. Silicates are minerals which contain the elements Silicon (a light gray shiny metal) and Oxygen (a colorless gas). Together, these two elements form a tetrahedron – a shape similar to a pyramid – with a Silicon atom in the center and Oxygen atoms at each of the four corners. These tetrahedra connect with other chemical structures, in six different ways, to form various minerals and rocks. There are six main groups of Silicate minerals, and these main groups are further subdivided into secondary subdivisions, such as Quartz and Feldspar. Petalite belongs to the phyllosilicate group, whose tetrahedra connect at three corners to form hexagonal rings.

Petalite’s energy works well with its family – other phyllosilicate minerals.  Try it in combination with Apophyllite, Cavansite, Chlorite Quartz, Chrysocolla, Fuchsite, Kammererite, Lepidolite, Muscovite, Prehnite, Seraphinite, and Serpentine

Petalite Formation and Crystal Associates

Petalite rarely forms as individual crystals. Instead it is most often found in aggregates, a mass of minerals loosely compacted together. Petalite typically forms in granite pegmatites.

Petalite’s energy works well with its “friends” – crystal associates formed in the same geological environment.  Try it in combination with Kunzite and Topaz

Mineralogy Petalite
Chemical Formula Ca2Al2Si3O10(OH)2
Cleavage Distinct, basal
Color Varies, white, tan, yellow, green, pink
Crystal System Orthorhombic
Form/Habit Tabular, botryoidal masses
Fracture Uneven, brittle
Hardness – Mohs Scale 6-6.5
Luminescence Yellowish-white (long wave) 
Luster Vitreous, may appear pearly on the cleavage
Mineral Family Phyllosilicates
Specific Gravity 2.9
Streak White
Transparency Transparent to opaque

History of Petalite

Petalite is a relatively “new” healing crystal for the metaphysical community. It was first documented in 1800, and so was not included in any of the ancient or medieval lapidaries, texts that describe healing stones and their powers. Petalite is included in many modern lapidaries, where it is sometimes called a “stone of the angels”.

Petalite was first described scientifically in 1800 by José Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva (1763-1838), a Brazilian naturalist and one of the fathers of Brazilian Independence. During the first half of his life, he spent many years living in Europe, studying chemistry and mineralogy. While in Sweden, he identified eight new minerals, including Andradite Garnet (named in his honor), Spudumene (the gem variety is Kunzite) and Petalite. The name Petalite comes from the Greek word, petalon meaning “leaf”, a reference to the stone’s perfect cleavage which allows it to be pealed off in thin, leaflike layers. In 1817, Johann Arfvedson, a Swedish druggest was given the task of analyzing Petalite ore. He found an unknown natural element inside the mineral. This new element was named Lithium, from the Greek word lithos, meaning “stone”.

During WWII, Petalite and other Lithium-bearing ores began to be mined on an industrial scale in order to produce lithium-grease for military aircrafts. During the Cold War, Lithum production increased further to assist with the production of nuclear weapons. Lithium was also found to be useful for treating serious mental conditions, most notably bi-polar disorder. Today, most Lithium is used to make Lithuim batteries for phones and electric cars. It has become increasingly expensive to mine Lithium ores, either underground or in open pit mines, and so most Lithium is now extracted from brine pools underneath salt flats.

Andrada E Silva, Petalite

Jose Bonifacio de Andrada e Silva

Find Your Pefect Stone

From 41 countries and 238 varieties, use our advanced filtering to find your perfect stone.