Why is Karelian Shungite so Special?

From time to time we hear people telling us that shungite can be found outside of Republic of Karelia in some other countries of the world and that we are confusing people with words like “unique” or “exclusively found in one place”. And technically, these people are not wrong. But neither are we. And to end this confusion we decided to tell you, where these confusions comes from and are we spreading false information or not.

So, is shungite a unique element found exclusively in Republic of Karelia? Short answer is “yes”. Long answer is…more complicated. You see, technically, there are deposits in the world of a stone that is totally identical to Karelian shungite. Thus, it has the full right to bear its name. And that way you can definitely come to us asking for answers regarding the uniqueness of Karelian shungite. That would be fair and square and all, yet there is a small (not really) difference between Karelian shungite and shungite from other places. Karelian shungite does possess all of its unique healing and spiritual properties. Other shungite doesn’t.

To understand this you must fully comprehend the nature of shungite’s origin. The Republic of Karelia, or more extensively the region of Karelia is truly a place of unique nature. It is called “the land of lakes and forests” not without reason. If you count all the lakes in only Russian part of Karelia, the amount of lakes matches the amount of families living there (around 63 thousands lakes). That is huge, and nowhere in the world there is such a concentration of clean fresh water. Let alone additional 23 thousand rivers that connect all of these water reservoirs. Another huge part of nature in Karelia is its virgin forests that cover up to 50 % of the region. Last, but not least is the tremendous amount of rocks of ancient origin. All these crystal pure conditions created a foundation for the formation of the marvelous rock that shungite is. And by the way, shungite is not the only unique rock of Karelia; another famous example is the crimson quartzite which is found in Shoksha.

If at the time of formation of shungite it was affected by the nature of the region, now it is vice versa. The deposits of shungite influence the ecosystem of Karelia deeply. The water of Karelian lakes is kept clean due to shungite, especially famous Karelian spring water. It became even something mythical in the beginning of 18^th centuries but then was proved to be very effective in combat conditions of the Great Northern War by Russian army. The victor of the war, Peter the Great, played a huge part in Karelian shungite water gaining popularity, and he himself founded the first Russian spa in Karelia. Karelian shungite still maintains the purity of Karelian water, to the point that you can drink water from Lake Onega without any prior cleaning. This way we can see the uniqueness of Karelian shungite as its properties work for the whole region where it is found.

Further uniqueness of Karelian shungite was proved by the winners of 1996 Nobel Prize in chemistry, who discovered the fullerenes in Karelian shungite. This unique atom structure gives Karelian shungite its ability to filter water and transform the negative elements around shungite, for example, in water in positive ones enriching it, along with a number of other positive healing and protective properties. The fullerenes structure is exclusive to Karelian shungite (although it does appear in other minerals and rocks) and shungite from other parts in the world lacks it.

There is a plethora of ways to determine whether the shungite piece you have acquired is the genuine Karelian stone with its unique properties. The most evident thing in the outside appearance of Karelian shungite is the small infusions of other rocks and mineral. The ground in Karelian is filled with them so it’s no small wonder that they fuse with each other. But if your shungite item doesn’t have the infusions, don’t worry right away, clean specimens of shungite occur all the time. The most effective way to check the authenticity of Karelian shungite is to connect it to an electrical chain. Karelian shungite is highly conductive and should connect the pieces of your chain easily.

So here is your answer. Maybe a lot of it has to do with semantics, but what really matters are the powerful properties of the Karelian stone. And in that way, it is truly unique and there is no other stone in the world that can hold the same properties. So purchase Karelian shungite and enjoy the full specter of the power of the North every day!