What it is confused with
Most "selenite" wands and lamps are satin spar, a fibrous gypsum, and some are ulexite. All are soft and water-sensitive.
Translucent white to colorless
Selenite crystals
Selenite is hydrated calcium sulphate (CaSO₄·2H₂O) — crystalline gypsum, translucent white to colorless, rated 2 on the Mohs scale. Traditionally, it is used for clearing a space and resetting other stones — attributed, not demonstrated.
- Mohs hardness
- 2 window glass scratches it
- Crystal system
- Monoclinic CaSO₄·2H₂O
- Pliny, AD 77
- Book 36.45 as “lapis specularis”
- Main sources today
- Mexico (Naica) also Morocco, USA
Pliny, Natural History, tr. Bostock and Riley.
Properties
Composition
Hydrated calcium sulphate (CaSO₄·2H₂O) — crystalline gypsum
Hardness (Mohs)
2
Crystal system
Monoclinic
Color
Translucent white to colorless
Mined in
Mexico (Naica), Morocco, USA, Australia
Worth knowing
Water-soluble — never rinse it. The Cave of Crystals in Naica holds selenite beams over eleven meters long, the largest natural crystals ever found.
History
Named after Selene, Greek goddess of the moon.
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Buying
Buying Selenite: fakes, value and treatments
What decides the price
Very inexpensive; clear, unbroken sheets and blades are preferred.
Where it is used
Romans used thin sheets of transparent gypsum as window panes.
A less familiar fact
It is so soft that it can be scratched with a fingernail, and it slowly dissolves in water.
Practical
Caring for Selenite
How to clean it
Dry cloth only. Selenite dissolves in water — never rinse it.
How to tell it is real
Rarely faked, being cheap. Soft enough to scratch with a fingernail, which is itself the test.
How hard is Selenite?
Selenite is crystalline gypsum, the mineral that defines 2 on the Mohs scale, so a fingernail scratches it. It also dissolves in water — a display piece, never a ring stone, and never rinsed. Nothing in this reference is softer; the next up is Amber (2–2.5).
Selenite, at 2, is the softest of the 43 stones here.
Primary source
What Pliny the Elder wrote about Selenite
“As to specular stone—for this, too, is ranked as one of the stones—it admits of being divided with still greater facility, and can be split into leaves as thin as may be desired.”
“The province of Nearer Spain used formerly to be the only one that furnished it—not, indeed, the whole of that country, but a district extending for a hundred miles around the city of Segobrica…”
Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, translated by John Bostock and H. T. Riley (London: H. G. Bohn, 1855–57), book 36, chapter 45 — read the original text.
Specular stone, lapis specularis, was translucent selenite gypsum, split into thin panes and used like window glass in the first and second centuries AD; the main mines were in central Spain around Segóbriga. Who Pliny was and why we quote him →
Traditional associations
Selenite is traditionally used for clearing a space and resetting other stones. Chakra in crystal practice: Crown. Element: Air.
Questions about Selenite
What is Selenite made of?
Hydrated calcium sulphate (CaSO₄·2H₂O) — crystalline gypsum, crystallizing in the monoclinic system.
Where does Selenite come from?
Mexico (Naica), Morocco, USA, Australia.
Can Selenite be worn every day?
Not in a ring. At 2 on the Mohs scale it is better kept for pendants, earrings or display, away from water, which dissolves it.
Sources
Statements of fact on this page were checked against these sources in October 2026. How we choose and check sources: editorial policy.
Cite this page
AstroHot. “Selenite Crystals: Meaning, Hardness and Origins.” Accessed October 28, 2026. https://astrohot.com/crystals/gemstones/selenite/
For Wikipedia
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