Gemstone Information

Many people believe that gemstones have specific powers and meanings.  Some find this to be folklore.  Whether or not you believe in their potentials, you may find the following descriptions interesting and fun to read. 

Abalone
Although abalone is a type of shell and not a gemstone, it does have healing properties.  Abalone is known to strengthen the heart and bring tranquility, abundance and spirit.  It has also been called the 'serenity of the sea'.

Abalone shell has been used in many cultures for carvings and as decorative jewelry.  A disc of abalone shell is worn on the forehead of Apache girls as they greet the sun in the morning of their initiation into womanhood.

Amethyst
Amethyst is a member of the crystal quartz or silica group, which are the most common minerals on Earth.  Amethyst ranges in color from light lavender to dark purple.  Violet is the color of Spirituality.

Amethyst promotes honesty, concentration, and spiritual inner peace.  In times of anxiety and confusion, amethyst helps to bring calmness and clarity.  Wearing Amethyst helps us get in touch with our intuition, our feelings, or our values.

Amethyst is known as a crystal of protection, because it repels more than it attracts.  Amethyst fosters healing and selflessness, and is associated with spiritual awareness, meditation, balance, and positive transformation. Amethyst stimulates inspiration, stability and strength. It also helps to control addictive habits, aiding in sobriety (alcohol, food, sex, and other addictions).  Amethyst comes from a Greek word, amethusos, meaning “without drunkenness”.

Carnelian
Carnelian is a form of Chalcedony and is reddish-orange, yellow or brown in color.  Carnelian is a stone of power, ambition and drive.  It promotes action, confidence and courage.  It is very helpful in making choices and decisions.  Carnelian reminds us to be "in the moment" and is the most powerful stone for focusing, realization and self-actualization.  It grounds energy and attention in the present.

Carnelian stimulates analytical capabilities and precision.  It activates and energizes personal power, helping one to discover hidden talents by stimulating curiosity and inquisitiveness.  It has long been known for its healing, spiritual and creative qualities.  Carnelian protects us from all negative emotions, such as rage, resentment, and anger.  It helps one banish sorrow or depression.

Coral
Coral is often referred to as the 'garden of the sea'.  It was once believed that Coral was a plant.   It is now known to actually contain living animals called polyps.  Coral is the result of accumulated skeletal masses from these polyps.  Red is considered the most sought after color of Coral, but it can also be found in pink, white, yellow and black.
Coral energizes emotions, intuition, and imagination. Coral helps with meditation and visualization.  Coral symbolizes life and blood force energy.  Dark red coral is used for heating and stimulating the bloodstream.  Pink shades restore harmony to the heart.  Coral is used as an aid to depression, lethargy or deficient nutrition.

Garnet
Garnets are usually red, but they are also found in green, brown, pink, black, yellow and orange.  Red is the color of physical energy, passion and desire. Garnets promote new beginnings and prosperity.  They help us cope with daily problems and help in ending crisis.  Garnets foster feminine strength, compassion, courage, and attraction.  They eliminate energy blocks and taboos and encourage self-confidence and creativity.  Garnets help us to become motivated and productive, and attract good luck in business ventures. Garnet is the stone of passionate devotion- to your family, your friends, yourself, and your purpose or goals.  Garnets also inspire romantic love. 

Noted for their powerful protective energy, Garnets were carried by ancient soldiers for protection.  They were set in shields, buckles, and other items worn by Crusaders.

Hematite
Hematite is a gray-silver metallic stone that energizes and encourages survival.  It strengthens the will, bestowing vitality and desire.  Hematite helps one sort out things in one’s own mind.  It helps to enhance memory, original thinking and technical knowledge.

Hematite is a calming stone, but also offers support for your hopes, wishes and desires, by encouraging you to fulfill your dreams.  Hematite reminds you that the only limitations in life are those that you place upon yourself.
Hematite helps to balance out the emotions and energies between the body, mind and spirit.  It dissolves negativity and transforms it into the energy of Universal Love.  Hematite is also used to improve relationships.

The word Hematite comes from the Greek word for blood.  Hematite has been used as an amulet against bleeding, and so is known as the "blood stone".  According to Native American folklore, war paint made from hematite will make one invincible in battle.  Hematite jewelry was worn during the 18th and 19th centuries during mourning.

Jade
Jade is found in a variety of colors, but the most popular ones are green and white. Green is known to be the color of healing and hope.  Jade is an ancient stone that has historically been used to attract love. According to the Chinese, Jade's virtues are clarity, modesty, courage, justice and wisdom.

Jade symbolizes calm and serenity.  It helps bring serenity to the mind by releasing negative thoughts.  Jade is said to encourage self-realization and help us to recognize ourselves as spiritual beings.  Jade is a stone of balance and healing.  It alleviates anxiety and fear based emotions.  Jade bestows inner peace and balance, calms irritability, and reduces emotional and mental stress.

Jasper
Jasper is one of the oldest known gemstones.  It is a stability gemstone.  It provides protection against things that are not good for you and it eases emotional stresses.  Red jasper is thought to help balance the energy in the body.  Jasper is considered a Power Stone and a Protection Stone.  It is a stone of the earth, and therefore a very "grounding" stone.  Jasper is a stone that works slowly, providing constant, slow, deliberate energy.

Jasper promotes courage, willpower, and imagination.  Jasper helps to give you courage in preparation for conflict, either physical or emotional. Jasper also gives one the courage to speak out and have personal independence.
Jasper was once considered a Warriors Stone, a symbol of loyalty, inner strength, and standing up for what you believe.  

Labradorite
Labradorite is known as a power stone and is great for strengthing intuition. It has a base color of silvery grey and has an iridescence of blue, green, yellow, or pink which changes according to the angle of light.  This iridescence that flashes in the light is known to symbolize a flash of revelation, a light in the darkness.  Labradorite elicits creativity, stimulates the imagination, and inspires one to develop original ideas.  Labradorite brings patience and  leads to an increase in concentration and clarity.  Labradorite was first found in 1770 in Canada on the Labrador Peninsula.

Lapis Lazuli
Lapis Lazuli, an ancient gem, is a deep blue stone that is known as the stone of total awareness.  In Egyptian cultures, people made a practice of burying a lapis lazuli scarab with their dead, as they believed it offered protection.  In the earliest cultures, lapis lazuli was valued more highly than gold. 
Lapis Lazuli brings mental clarity, self knowledge, and honesty.  It is a stone of truth and friendship, promoting harmony in relationships. 

Pearl
Pearls are symbols of purity, honesty, wisdom, and integrity.  They represent the best parts of ourselves.  Pearls are sometimes referred to as symbols of feminine wisdom. They can stimulate feminity, and increase self acceptance, promoting tranquility and serenity.

Quartz Crystal
Quartz Crystal, one of the Earth's most common minnerals, is a clear variety of quartz.  When it  was first found high in the frozen mountains of the Alps, ancient people believed that it was a form of ice crystals that would never melt.  
Quartz Crystal promotes peace and spiritual healing.  It inspires creativity, creates balance, and  is a source of clarity and understanding.

Rose Quartz
Rose Quartz, pink in color, is known as the stone of love, enhancing all forms: self love, love in marriage, romantic love, motherly love, kindness, and caring.  Rose Quartz promotes a sense of peacefulness and well being.

Rutilated Quartz
Rutilated Quartz is clear or brown with copper red or golden fibers.  These fibers are mineral inclusions called "Rutilated Quartz" or "Sagenite."  It is popularly known as Venus-hair stone.  Rutiles, small needle like crystals, maybe red, black, or yellow.  Golden rutilated quartz is known to be an important healing stone that cleanses, energizes, and filters negative energy.  If you need to change direction in your life, rutilated quartz is an excellent stone to use along the way.

Turquoise
Turquoise, one of the oldest stones, is green-blue in color.  It was mined in Sinai over 6,000 years ago.  The word turquoise means "Turkish stone" because it came to Europe by way of Turkey.  Turquoise is one of the oldest protection amulets. Turquoise is said to promote wholeness, piece of mind, self expression, loyalty, and creativity.
 
Turquoise is a stone of self realization that helps you to better understand yourself.  It is an excellent grounding stone helping to ground the wandering spirit.  Those who have a lot of energy might tend to avoid grounding stones because they think it will slow them down.  However, turquoise allows the energy pack to remain open.  Turquoise helps us to communicate clearly and absorbs negativity.

Unakite
Unakite is green and salmon pink in color.  It allows us to release past burdens and uncover deception, allowing us to move ahead in our lives.  Unakite helps you to see the beauty in life and is said to lift your spirits when you are feeling down.

No claims are made in regard to meanings of the listed gemstones. These descriptions of alleged powers are gathered from various sources about gemstone meanings.