Is Moldavite Toxic? (Beginners Read This First)

Yes, moldavite is toxic. But that doesn’t mean that moldavite is dangerous.

Confused? In the article that follows, we’ll explain.

Why Is Moldavite Toxic?

First, let’s qualify what it means for something to be “toxic.”

In general, we accept and agree that any element, material, substance, or compound is toxic if consuming it other otherwise taking it into your body could or would cause serious physical harm or even death.

Now, let’s look at what moldavite is.

Moldavite is a forest green or olive green type of tektite.

Tektites are natural glass formed when meteorites impacted the earth potentially millions of years ago.

Moldavite is not to be confused with malachite, which is dramatically different in chemical composition and formation.

Moldavite is composed of silicon dioxide, along with an aluminum oxide compound.

In general, humans should not be consuming, breathing, or drinking silicon dioxide, as it can cause serious harm to humans.

The same can be said for aluminum oxide.

This is why we consider moldavite to be toxic.

If You Think Moldavite Is Toxic, Why Don’t You Think It is Dangerous?

In general, like many of the so-called “toxic minerals” sold as beautiful crystals, and gemstones, the bad stuff does not get into the body very easily.

For example, you can hold moldavite with the bare skin of your hand all day every day, and not absorb enough of the material to cause you serious physical harm.

Moldavite is reasonably hard (a 5-7 on the Moh’s scale), and it not known to be water soluble.

While we don’t recommend it, a person could probably swallow a quarter sized piece of moldavite and not suffer poisoning, as the stone should pass through before anything significant could be absorbed from the material in that form.

This generally means that if you wanted to somehow ingest enough moldavite to cause toxicity, a human would have to purposefully grind up the material and either sniff it, eat it, or consume it.

In general, when we do see people suffering from moldavite, it is the result of working with members of the silicon dioxide family (mining/grinding/polishing) without wearing appropriate protective gear, such as a mask and eye protection over an extended period of time.

For the average individual, it would be incredibly difficult to accidentally take in enough moldavite to cause harm.

Could Moldavite Be Dangerous?

Absolutely.

There seems to be fads coming and going all the time about the use of crystals for well-being.

One of the recent trends we’ve seen is the grinding up of minerals or crystals to be mixed with water and drank.

This is a terrible idea, for so many reasons.

First, there’s never a guarantee that the moldavite you are trying to consume is “pure” moldavite, to the extent that such a thing exists.

Rocks and minerals on this Earth are almost always contaminated with trace amounts of other materials, sometimes too small from us to observe with our eyes.

The chemical composition of the stones could include metals like copper, iron, and mercury, as well as asbestos.

There is no reason to be consuming ground up metals and asbestos to drink with water, especially since consuming the materials in powdered form makes them more likely to be absorbed.

As noted above, breathing moldavite dust (especially consistently) is going to be bad for your health (think respiratory illnesses).

How Do I Keep Myself Safe From Moldavite?

The easiest way to avoid any sort of poisoning from moldavite is to just not put it in your body on purpose.

Don’t grind it up, and don’t breath it.

Some people will tell you to put moldavite in your bath, or let the stone rest in your drinking water before consuming it.

Since moldavite is hard and not water soluble (like selenite), there is not much risk that enough of the moldavite would get into your body to cause harm.

But water baths overall tend to be hard on precious crystals and stones, as water soaks can encourage the formation of cracks or of discoloration.

People frequently sleep with moldavite for its perceived metaphysical benefits, but there is little to no risk of toxicity issues due to keeping the material on the skin for extended periods of time (overnight, for example).