Iolite

The name Iolite comes from the Greek ios, which means violet. The Vikings possibly mined Iolite crystals from deposits in Norway and Greenland. Viking sailors allegedly used Iolite as a polarizing filter to find the sun on cloudy days for a safe offshore navigation. The Viking sailors allegedly used thin pieces of Iolite as a lens, and the folklore surrounding this idea says they could determine the exact position of the sun on cloudy days, and navigate safely to their new worlds and back.

 

Iolite is a stone that forms most often with Granite, and is found mainly in Sri Lanka, India, and Burma. It is associated in folklore and stone lore with vision, both in terms of eyesight and intuition, as well as expression and clarity of emotions.