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Locations: Brazil, Namibia, South Africa  Colors Found: Blue, green, grey, pink or yellow with white veins or patches  Family:  Feldspathoids  Hardness:  5.00 - 6.00  Refractive Index:  1.48  Relative Density:  2.10 - 2.30

Sodalite is a rare, rich royal blue gemstone and a component of Lapis Lazuli. Discovered in the early 1800’s in Greenland, Sodalite was named because of its high sodium content.

Sodalite did not become important as a gemstone until 1891 when it was unearthed at a deposit near Bancroft, Ontario by Frank D. Adams while he was investigating the geology of the Haliburton-Hastings area for the Geological Survey of Canada.



Sodalite has been named, “Princess Blue”, after Princess Patricia who visited Ontario shortly after Sodalite’s discovery in Canada. She subsequently selected Sodalite for the interior decoration of Marlborough House in England.

Sodalite is believed by some to foster knowledge, learning proficiency, consciousness, communication and wisdom, and is sometimes called the “Wisdom Gemstone”.



Well known for its blue color Sodalite may also be grey, yellow, green or pink and is often mottled with white veins or patches. Sodalite is the main mineral of the Sodalite group which is composed of minerals with a similar isometric structure and related chemistry. Its members are also part of a larger group called the Feldspathoids (similar to Feldspars but with less silica content).

Although Sodalite appears similar to Lapis Lazuli, Sodalite is a royal blue rather than ultramarine and rarely contains Pyrite, a common inclusion in Lapis. Clear crystals are very rare and are hardly ever large enough to be faceted. Most Sodalite is polished into beads and cabochons.

There are two main varieties of Sodalite. One called Hackmanite, which contains a higher concentration of sodium than the basic form and Molybdosodalite, which contains less chlorine than the basic form. A relatively new variety of green Sodalite found in Greenland is colloquially called the “Chameleon Sodalite”.