Vedic Gems and Ayurvedic Jewelry

Mercury

Emerald is the primary gem for the planet Mercury. As a general rule for our needs, we are looking for eye-clean gemstones, which means that any imperfections in the gem are not visible to the unaided eye. Emerald is the gem where we must be extremely lenient with this rule. There is such a thing as an eye-clean emerald, the last one I saw was just over 5 carats and was $35,000- for the gemstone, … wholesale! In generally affordable price ranges, we must be willing to accept what has been called 'jardine' in the gem trade. That's French for garden and is a pleasant sounding term referring to the many white inclusions that appear like lines or cobwebs in the gem. Emerald Beryl crystals form with these inclusions as their hydrothermal crystal structure occurs in the presence of water. What you can avoid are the dark included crystals, or small black inclusions that are common in both Brazilian and African emerald material. The Emeralds that are consistently free of these dark included crystals are the Emeralds from Columbia.

Remember that $35,000- wholesale 5 carat Emerald? That Emerald was being sold with a gemological certificate stating that no evidence of enhancement was detected. This means that the Emerald was not oiled. You have to get up into extremely clean crystals, with prices that reflect their rarity, to avoid the oiling usually applied to Emeralds. The oiling is to reduce the appearance of the white inclusions much as oiling a scratch on glass would reduce its appearance. Oiling is generally accepted and expected in the trade. What you want to avoid are the more harmful waxes, plastics and resins that can be forced into the inclusions that reach the surface of the Emerald. Also be aware that there are Synthetic Emeralds readily available. You want to purchase a Natural Emerald with any enhancement, including oiling, being disclosed. Emerald Beryl has a hardness of 7 1/2 - 8, which is quite hard yet it's toughness, or resistance to chipping and breakage is not good due to the inclusions. I like to point this out as many clients choose to wear their Emeralds in pendants at the throat chakra instead of in a ring on the pinky or middle finger, which, especially in the case of the pinky, can take more of a beating than an Emerald can handle. I do make plenty of rings with Emerald and you can see a beautiful 4 carat gem set in a man's ring on the Custom Design page.

The Mercury ring above is shown set with a Peridot and was inspired by the Roman mythology of Mercury, the 'winged' messenger of the Roman pantheon. We refer to it as the 'Wing Ring' and have set other gems into it as well, including Jupiter gems.

Peridot is another beautiful and usually bright green gem, commonly used as a secondary gem for the planet Mercury. Peridot, or Olivine, in mineralogy occurs in colors ranging from intense yellow green to olive green to greenish brown. One of the sources of Peridot is Arizona, while much of the very highest quality material is from Burma. Some of what look to be small black inclusions in Diamond are actually included crystals of Peridot as both Diamond and Peridot can form under similar circumstances.

Green Tourmaline is a gem that can be seen commonly recommended as an alternative to Emerald. Tourmaline is a beautiful gem mineral that occurs in every color of the rainbow and can occur with multiple colors in one crystal or one gem. Tourmaline grows in long, tall thin crystals accounting for the shape you see so commonly in cut Tourmaline, long, step-cut rectangles (emerald cuts or baguettes.)

The problem with Tourmaline for our Vedic uses is that Green Tourmaline is commonly heat-treated. Unless a certain type of inclusion is left in the gem that indicates heat treatment there is no way gemologically to prove that the gem is natural. Very 'clean' crystals of Tourmaline are plentiful, therefore the majority of cut gemstones leave no way of gemologically assuring the client of natural Green Tourmaline. I will be happy to supply anyone with Green Tourmaline with the caveat that heat treatment may be present and undetectable. We can use our other intuitive processes to attempt to procure an unheated, natural gem yet I cannot guarantee it gemologically. Therefore I have chosen not to offer Green Tourmaline on this web page, yet will be happy to get it in for special orders.