I love working with crystals for anything and everything, and I especially love using crystals to make elixirs and baths.  However there are some common and much loved crystals that are highly toxic or can be dangerous when we come into contact with them in a raw or soluble form.  This list, while not necessarily a complete list, shows you some of these crystals and what makes them a little dangerous.

Never use these stones in water that you will drink or that will come in contact with the skin.  Use them in indirect ways for making elixirs and use those elixirs in baths.

NEVER use raw {i.e. unpolished} stones in water.

 

Actinolite – asbestos
Adamite – arsenic, copper
Ajoite – aluminum, copper
Alexandrite – aluminum
Amazonite – copper
Atacamite – copper
Aquamarine – aluminum
Auricalcite – copper, zinc
Azurite – copper
Beryl Group {Emerald, Aquamarine, Morganite, etc} – aluminum
Black Tourmaline – aluminum
Boji-stones – sulfur, pyrite, marcasite
Bronchantite – copper
Cavansite – copper
Celestite – strontium
Chalcantite – copper
Chalcopyrite (peacock ore) – copper, sulfur
Chrysocolla – copper
Cinnabar – mercury
Conicalcite – copper
Copper – um, copper!
Covellite – copper, sulfur
Cuprite – copper
Dioptase – copper
Dumortierite – aluminum
Emerald – aluminum
Fluorite – fluoride
Garnet – aluminum
Gem Silica – copper
Galena – lead
Garnierite (Falcondoite) – nickel
Hematite – isn’t toxic but will rust in water which is toxic
Iolite – aluminum
Kunzite – aluminum
Labradorite – aluminum
Lapis Lazuli – pyrite
Lepidolite – aluminum
Magnetite – isn’t toxic but will rust in water which is toxic
Malachite – copper
Markasite – sulfur
Mohawkite – arsenic, copper
Moldavite – aluminum oxide
Moonstone – aluminum
Morganite – aluminum
Pietersite – asbestos
Prehnite – aluminum
Psiomelan – barium
Pyrite – sulfur
Realgar – arsenic, sulfur
Ruby – aluminum
Sapphire – aluminum
Selenite – isn’t toxic but can fall apart in water and shards will break off which can be very dangerous
Serpentine – asbestos
Smithsonite – copper
Smokey Quartz – not always toxic but darker to black pieces are likely heat treated or irradiated; look for “natural smokey quartz”
Sodalite – aluminum
Spinel – aluminum
Spodumene  (Kunzite) – aluminum
Staurolite – aluminum
Stibnite – antimony, lead
Stilbite – aluminum
Sugilite – aluminum
Sulfur – um, sulfur!
Sunstone – aluminum
Tanzanite – aluminum
Tiger Eye – asbestos
Topaz – aluminum
Torbenite – said to be radioactive
Tourmaline – aluminum
Tremolite – asbestos
Turquoise – aluminum, copper
Vanadinite – vanadium
Variscite – aluminum
Vesuvianite – aluminum
Wavellite – aluminum
Wulfenite – lead, molybdenum
Zircon – zirconium, also said to be radioactive
Zoisite – aluminum