Jade is an ornamental stone or gemstone that is greenish-black to creamy white in color, and it is highly valued in Korea and China. It is an attractive and durable material which has always been used to make sculptures, jewelry, and other objects for the past 5000 years. Because of its toughness in the early years, it was used to manufacture weapons, ax heads, and tools for scraping and hammering. After some time jade’s beautiful color and the ability of it being polished to a brilliant luster led people to start using it for gemstones, talismans, and ornamental objects.
Most people only think of jade as a beautiful green gem, yet the materials are in different colors like green, lavender, blue, white, yellow, red, gray, black, and orange. It was commonly known that all materials made from jade were all the same, but it was discovered by Alexis Damour in the year 1863 that its elements are divided into two different minerals named jadeite and nephrite. It is hard to differentiate between jadeite and nephrite as the two minerals have very similar physical properties in the eye of a person who does not have the knowledge on the minerals.
Spiritual and Healing Properties of Jade
Jade has distinct and different crystal compositions as jadeite is an aluminum-rich pyroxene while nephrite is magnesium that is rich in amphibole. These two minerals were not properly distinguished until 1863, and only those observers who are trained and have significant experience can accurately differentiate them without necessarily using the mineral testing equipment. For over 5000 years China has been the leading producer of jade objects.
Chinese artisans who always worked with Jade were the first to realize that the jade obtained from Burma was different as it was harder, denser, worked easier, and after polishing it produced a high luster. These made the jade from Burma to be highly valued and demanded by Chinese artisans. The Chinese artisans rarely encountered the fine-grained jadeite that had a bright translucence and a gorgeous uniform green color making them refer to it as the Imperial Jade as it was of the highest quality.
The luster and color of jadeite and nephrite improved to make them have the appearance of the finest jade through dyes, waxes, bleaches, polymer impregnation, heat treatments, and other procedures. A person who is not trained on these minerals will be unable to identify these treatments. It is important that when one wants to buy a jade, they should look for a dealer who is knowledgeable and can be trusted.
Some of the Healing Properties of Jade are:
- The benefits of jade
Due to the mystery and unique qualities contained in Jade, it is considered to be beneficial in all aspects.
- Attracting love
Jade is considered to be able to effectively attract the love of the wearer. In China, jade is carved into a butterfly, which is a powerful sign to attract love.
- Protection Stone
Jade is a protective stone and is considered a preventive measure against misfortune and accidents. It is believed that before carrying the gems, a jade should be placed between the two purple candles to purify and charge them.
- Emotional Therapist
Jade is an excellent treatment for emotional problems, such as depression and extreme defeatism.
- Treatment Chakras
If Jade wears a silver or gold-studded ring and comes in contact with your skin, it is believed to be able to unblock the body's "sharara" or coronal chakra. The Crown Chakra defines the identity of the person and enhances self-awareness and awe.
- Cure the disease
When people talk about its ability to treat diseases and diseases, jade is a universal and respectable stone. It is considered to be a very effective treatment for kidney, heart and stomach related diseases.
- Bring wealth
According to astrology, Jade is considered to be a stone. After wearing it, it leads people to a positive attitude, self-confidence, a stable life, a pleasant love life, and abundant blessings. It also gives intelligence and the ability to manage things in a better way and make full use of its finances.
- Other benefits
Jade is also related to fertility and childbirth because it is considered effective in treating these diseases. It is also considered to be the best choice for removing toxins from the body, cleaning the blood, and calming the nervous system.
Jade was first used to make tools as it is extremely tough and breaks to form very sharp edges. Because the Jade is tough, the material can resist fracturing even when it is subjected to stress. This property that is in the Jade was the reason why early toolmakers formed into cutting tools and weapons. Jade is used to make a variety of jewelry items like pendants, rings, bracelets, earrings, beads, cabochons, tumbled stones and other items (Nott 350).
Apart from jewelry jade is also used to make ornaments, religious art, small sculptures, and small functional objects. China has always been the primary producer of jade, cut center for Jade, the consumer for jade and jade market. China puts extreme importance to jade jewelry and jade artwork (Till 123).
The minerals jadeite form through metamorphism and are mostly found in metamorphic rocks associated with subduction zones. Jadeite and nephrite deposits are along geologically ancient convergent plate boundaries involving oceanic lithosphere. The jadeite mineral is found in rocks that have a higher pressure than nephrite, and because of this, there is a geographic separation of jadeite deposits.
Since the early times, jade has always been searched in steeper parts of drainage basins where pebble to boulder size pieces of rocks will be found in stream valleys. Jade is also gotten from hard rock deposits as the ophiolite exposures are an important type of hard rock deposit. Much of the world’s jade geographically is found at the rim of the Pacific Ocean as this is where the subduction transports huge slabs of oceanic lithosphere beneath the volcanic island arcs and continents.
In countries like the United States and others in Europe rubies, emeralds, diamonds, sapphires, opals, garnets, and some of the other gems are more famous and demanded for than jade. China stands as the only nation that views and values jade as a precious stone. Jade has always been the most popular gemstone in China for thousands of years as even the emperors demanded to have excellent specimens of jade and they would trade, and at times even wage wars with distant people just have them.
Jade has been had many uses, and these are mostly influenced by its physical appearance, toughness, and hardness making it resistible to breaking. When purchasing jade, it is imperative to go to a trusted and knowledgeable seller or go with someone that is experienced and trained on the physical properties of jade. This is to prevent one from buying a jade that its color and luster has been enhanced through treatments like bleaching and waxing.
