Gemstones and Their Properties

For many centuries, minerals, crystals and gemstones have been used by civilizations in spiritual rituals and for their energetic healing properties. Each is believed to carry it’s own individual quality or “personality.” While different traditions ascribe different traits to them, they are, almost always, held as sacred and used to strengthen particular energies inside the person wearing them.

Agate: Agate is known for it’s grounding, centering and balancing properties as well as its ability to improve mental concentration and perception, and to raise one’s consciousness. 
Blue Lace Agate is a gentle, calming stone that promotes tranquility and reduces anger. It is also known to activate the throat chakra to promote clear and skillful communication.
Moss Agate is believed to create abundance, success, and prosperity. This protective stone is also known to boost self-confidence and self-esteem
Yellow Jade cultivates inner peace, joy and happiness, and helps one to realize the interconnectedness of all Life. Yellow Jade is also known to improve assimilation, digestion, understanding and empathy.
White Jade and Green Jade carry the properties of turning dreams into reality and inspiring one to accomplishment.
Poppy Jasper brings joy, happiness and a good outlook on life and is said to balance the yin and the yang, and the emotional and the physical energies. This protective stone is believed to enhance physical endurance and to align all the chakras, with it being especially grounding for the root chakra.
Turquoise Jasper is a nurturing and peaceful stone that is said to promote gentleness, tranquility, comfort, wholeness, and healing. It is believed to stabilize and balance the emotions and is also known for it’s protective powers to drive away evil spirits.
African Opal is a calming, soothing and purifying stone that is purported to cure diseases of the eye. It is used to see all possibilities in situations and to cultivate creativity, insight and inspiration.
Green Opal is a healing and rejuvenating gemstone that is known to strengthen the immune system.
Crystal quartz is reputed to cleanse the mind and body, strengthen alignment with higher self, and to receive, transmit, store and amplify energy. Crystal quartz is particularly beneficial for meditation and healing work.
Rose quartz is said to open the heart chakra to all forms of love and is believed to remove fears, resentments and anger.
Turquoise Jasper is a nurturing and peaceful stone that is said to promote gentleness, tranquility, comfort, wholeness, and healing. It is believed to stabilize and balance the emotions and is also known for it’s protective powers to drive away evil spirits.
African Turquoise cultivates calming and soothing energies, and it creates tranquility, comfort, and a sense of wholeness and healing.This stone is known to attract prosperity, success, love, healing, courage, and friendship.
Amber: Amber brings the energies of patience, protection, romantic love, sensuality, purification, healing and calmness to those who wear or carry it. It is also said to bring good luck and to enhance the beauty of the wearer.
Amethyst: In Tibet, amethyst is considered sacred to Buddha, possibly due to its ability to activate and balance the 6th chakra (third eye). Amethyst is said to cure impatience, balance high-energy, eliminate chaos, promote clarity, and help keep one grounded. 
Apatite: Apatite is believed to decrease appetite as well as enhance insight, creativity intellect, acceptance, and unconditional love. 
Aquamarine: Aquamarine is known for its ability to clear the mind, aid creativity and to balance the emotions. Renown as the mystic and seer’s stone, aquamarine enhances meditation through its promotion of calmness, peace, inspiration and love. 
Aventurine: Aventurine is a calming stone used in shiellding the heart and in healing and balancing the emotions releasing emotional stress. 
Betelnut: The betelnut is used in India as an offering to the gods during worshipping and is a symbol of well-being and good luck. 
Blue Topaz: Blue Topaz is known to rejuvenate the spirit, and to assure long life, beauty and intelligence. Its properties are soothing, peaceful and tranquilizing. 
Bodhi Seed: The Bodhi Seed signifies the Buddha’s attainment of enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree. While especially revered by Buddhists, a bodhi seed mala is considered auspicious to use for all practices, and represents spiritual promise, dedication and faith. 
Bone: Bone is a traditional material used in malas in both Nepal and Tibet. Bone signifies strength and is said to amplify prana (life force energy.) 
Carnelian: Carnelian is said to open the second (sexual) chakra to promote passion, creativity, motivation, self-confidence and self-esteem. It also is believed to help heal physical wounds, cure blood disorders, treat sexual disorders, and to stop bleeding. 
Charoite: This is a stone of transformation and inspiration. Charoite is known to enhance self-esteem, accelerate spiritual growth, transform negative emotions and improve the ability to love. 
Citrine: Citrine is both physically and mentally energizing, stimulating openness and accelerating the awakening of the mind. Citrine symbolizes light-heartedness, joy, happiness, wisdom and peace, and is said to enhance creativity. 
Ebony: Ebony is a dark durable wood that has strong protective qualities, especially for the home and one’s love life. Traditionally used for sacred objects, Ebony has long been the favorite wood among the royalty in India 
Garnet: Garnet lends vitality and strength, aids in raising and directing the flow of kundalini energy and increases sensuality. Garnet symbolizes fire, faith, courage, truth, grace and compassion. 
Green Garnet is considered a powerful healing gemstone for the heart chakra, and is able to remove toxins, negativity and traumas.
Green Fluorite: Fluorite’s energy is purported to help the evolution of harmonious, peaceful and organized spiritual growth.  
Green Tourmaline: Green Tourmaline inspires creativity and attracts success and prosperity.  Tourmaline is also known to have strong protective and healing powers. 
Horn: These translucent buffalo horn beads from Asia are considered a symbol of gentle strength and friendship. Also known as Red Horn or Golden Horn. 
Howlite: This gemstone promotes creativity through trust, openness and discipline. This calming stone is said to teach patience and to help eliminate anger, pain and stress. 
Jade: The ancient Chinese believed jade was the essence of heaven and the earth. Jade helps one cherish ones desires and to build ones dreams in this physical reality, inspiring one to accomplishment.
Jasper: Jasper is thought to bring one what they need, aid in attaining a sound sleep, increase the ability to feel joy and carries a protective power. It is a stabilizing and balancing stone. 
Kyanite: Kyanite is a powerful stone to align all of the 7 chakras, and it also has a strong effect on the 3rd eye to facilitate deep states of meditation and visualization. Kyanite is also known to promote communication, honesty, tranquility and dream recall. 
Labradorite: Labradorite creates mental and physical balance while helping to purge negative thought patterns. It is also said to detoxify the body and is believed to elevate consciousness and promote meditation.
Lapis Lazuli: Lapis lazuli is an ancient spiritual stone reputed to bring about harmony in relationships and to cleanse the mental body while releasing old karmic patterns. Also used by the Medicine Buddha for its powerful healing properties.
Lotus Seed: Like the lotus flower which grows and beautifully blooms in muddy water, the lotus seed symbolizes spiritual growth and the ability to rise above obstacles on the path to spiritual enlightenment. Lotus seed also promotes spiritual and material prosperity. 
Moonstone: Moonstone is thought to bring good luck and the ability to grant wishes. Considered sacred in India, this stone is known for its ability to soothe and balance the emotions and for healing all female health problems. 
Mother of Pearl: In China, mother of pearl has been prescribed for thousands of years to treat heart palpitations, dizziness and high blood pressure. 
Obsidian: Obsidian is very often used for gaining clear insight into problems and is considered a stable stone, bringing stability to its owner. 
Snowflake Obsidian is calming and soothing and promotes centering and serenity. This stone balances mind-body-spirit and releases negative energies, emotions, and thoughts.
Olivewood: Olivewood promotes peacefulness, joy, and a deep sense of devotion. 
Onyx: Onyx is purported to help eliminate apathy, stress and negative thinking. It is used to change habits, in addition to helping concentration levels and aiding absentmindedness. 
Opal: The name opal is derived from the Latin word opalus, meaning seeing jewel. According to another theory the word opal comes from upala, a Sanskrit word simply meaning a stone. 
Pearl: Pearls symbolize purity, love and happiness and are said to attune all 7 chakras and bring a soft, healing energy during meditation. Pearls can be Pink, White or Black.
Prehnite: A protective stone that is known to cultivate prana (life-force energy), and to create inner-peace. 
Quartz: Quartz is said to be the universal healing stone, reputed to promote hope, happiness and optimism. 
Rubies: Rubies are a symbol of devotion and love and are considered to stimulate sexual passion and creation. Rubies are extremely powerful for healing chakras and to promote health, wealth and wisdom.
Rudraksha: The five faced rudraksha is said to regulate and heal the heart center as well as harmonizing all of the 7 Chakras. Rudrakshas are known to promote inner peace, knowledge, power and enlightenment and represent the meditative powers of Shiva to focus the mind and remove the demons of desire, lust and attachment. 
Sandalwood: In India sandalwood is given divine status and is thus very commonly used in mala beads. The fragrance of the sandalwood is said to be one of the most pleasing to the Gods and is considered cooling, calming and soothing. Sandalwood also promotes humility and focuses the mind to aid in meditation. 
Rosewood (Red Sandalwood) is used to call upon Lord Ganesh “the remover of obstacles” and the Divine Mother.  Rosewood is warming, improves circulation and protects one from negative energy.
Serpentine: Serpentine restores self-confidence, dispels fear and strongly enhances meditation. It is also said to stimulate success in all endeavors as well as to promote courage, fortitude, and well-being.
Silver: Silver is soothing, cleansing and is is also purported to attract, enhance and store the energies of gemstones. 
Sodalite: Sodalite is known to balance one’s emotional and mental states and to promote calmness, peace, intuition and harmony. 
Sugilite: Sugilite strengthens the heart, aids physical healing and reduces stress. This light purple stone encourages peace of mind, a general feeling of well being and spiritual love.
Tiger Eye: Tiger Eye is believed to have great healing powers (especially for the digestive system) and can develop courage and confidence. This grounding stone is also said to promote prosperity, clarity and protection. 
Tulsi: Tulsi is considered the most sacred of the woods used in Indian worship and the Tulsi plant is believed to be an incarnation of the Divine.  Tulsi is reported to possess remarkable physical and spiritual healing properties and helps to improve devotion and love in the heart.  The tulsi mala is used for worshipping Ram, Krishna and especially Vishnu who we are told is the creator and beloved of the Tulsi plant. 
Turquoise: Turquoise is said to open all chakras, promoting the sense of unity of the self and oneness with all that surrounds us. It also is believed to assist the absorption of nutrients while strengthening the immune system and stimulating tissue regeneration.