Back to the Twelve Stones
Foundation 9 of 12
Revelation 21:20
Topaz
τοπάζιονStrongly pleochroic: its color shifts with the angle of the light passing through.
Mineralogy
- Greek name
- topazion (τοπάζιον)
- Modern identification
- Topaz
- Chemical formula
- Al₂SiO₄(F,OH)₂
- Crystal system
- Orthorhombic
- Optical class
- Biaxial (+)
- Birefringence (Δn)
- 0.008–0.010
- Refractive indices
- 1.609–1.643
- Color / appearance
- Colorless, yellow, blue, pink
Perfect basal cleavage; strongly pleochroic in colored varieties.
The light between
Topaz is anisotropic: enter it with a single ray of light and it leaves as two, split apart by the crystal's inner order. This is birefringence, the same property shared by every one of the twelve foundation stones, and by none of the cubic stones left out of the list.
In the high-priestly breastplate of Exodus 28, this position held Amethyst in the Septuagint reckoning.
Hold the light in your hand
The Revelation Stones collection brings each foundation stone into the room with you, and the Light Between research explains what you are looking at.