Shungite: An Electropollution Solution

The World's Oldest and Best-Kept Secret

- Valerie Burke

If you've never heard of shungite, you're not alone. This mystery mineral first came into my awareness when I was researching crystals with EMF-protective properties. Many crystals and minerals are described by energy workers as a protection against radiation, but there is little science behind most of these claims. Not to completely discredit the body of what I would call "intuitive knowledge", but it's nice when empirical studies actually exist! Shungite is unique in that there is actually a scientific basis for its claims—or at least some of them.

Shungite has wide-ranging health (and industrial) benefits stemming from its extremely unique molecular structure. It is touted as offering everything from radiation protection to treating infections, inflammation, allergies, high blood pressure, osteoarthritis, digestive problems, and skin conditions. In Russia, shungite has been studied extensively for the treatment of depression, trauma and all sorts of mental/emotional problems.

Shungite is the world's oldest hydrocarbon-based rock.11 It's not a mineral in the strictest sense of the word, although it's often referred to as one. Shungite comes from only one place on Earth—an area known as Karelia, which is a geographic area divided between Russia and Finland (just north of Saint Petersburg).

In 1887, shungite was named after the village Shun'ga in Russian Karelia, near the shore of Onezhskoe Lake [Lake Onega in English]. The Karelian rock formation, known as the Zazhoginsky deposit, contains about 35 million tons of shungite and shungite rock.

Shungite may be new to Westerners, but the Karelians have been using it medicinally for centuries. Shungite lore dates back to the reign of Ivan the Terrible, at which time it was simply referred to as "local slate".