Selenite: Lamp, Charging Plate & Stones

Selenite is where I begin every home, beta. It is pale and satiny, with fine fibres that catch the light, and so light for its size that people are surprised when they pick it up. It takes its name from the Greek word for the moon, and it does look like a piece of moonlight.

Its job on my shelf is to keep the other stones fresh. Rest a bracelet or a tumbled stone on the charging plate overnight and it is ready again by morning; that is the old practice, and the simplest one. The lamp is a carved piece with a small, low-heat bulb, lovely for an evening in a bedroom or a puja corner. The tumbled stones are for a pocket or a child's pillow.

One rule above all: never put selenite in water. It is soft enough to mark with a fingernail, and water slowly makes it crumble. Dust it with a dry cloth instead. Every piece here is natural selenite from a batch tested by a gem lab in Jaipur.

Because it keeps the others fresh, selenite is the piece I suggest to anyone starting a collection. Bring it home first, and every stone that comes after has somewhere to rest.