Vedic Gems and Ayurvedic Jewelry

Venus

Diamond is the primary gem for the planet Venus. Diamond is by far the hardest mineral in existence, which is a valuable property for durability and brilliance, or the flashes of white light reflected from the facets of the gem. Diamond also has high dispersion, the quality of separating white light into the spectral colors, giving you the flashes of violet, red, yellow, etc. that you see when moving a Diamond. High dispersion is also available in other gem and synthetic minerals and was not really maximized in Diamond until rather recently as modern cutting styles were developed. Hardness and brilliance were the qualities that made Diamond highly prized throughout history.

In Vedic gems, one carat is the generally accepted size, or weight, for Diamond. With our requirement of 'eye-clean' for all of our Vedic gems, you could start with SI or Slightly Included gemstones and if your eyesight is very good, VS, or Very Slightly Included. There are certain types of inclusions that you want to avoid, mainly dark included crystals. Some of the written sources go into great detail as to the calamities that await the wearer of Diamonds with dark included crystals. Even small Diamonds with these dark inclusions are said to carry the power to harm the wearer. Once the Diamond is studied without the use of magnification to determine if it is eye-clean, it is then put under magnification with a loupe and/or microscope to check that no dark included crystals are visible at 10x magnification.

The Venus ring above features flowers that appear to be carved into the ring. It is shown set with a Colorless (White) Topaz, which is over four carats.

White Sapphire is a secondary gem for the planet Venus. It is the gem that I see most commonly used to strengthen Venus in the Vedic astrology community, perhaps owing to the high cost of Diamond. It is generally accepted that the weight of White Sapphire must be two carat. Of all of the varieties of Ruby or Sapphire Corundum, White Sapphire is the variety most likely to be heat-treated. Most White Sapphire on the market is cut from crystals that have been burned right at the mine to remove light tints of blue and gray. Dark included crystals are also common and ideally avoided.

Colorless (White) Topaz is the very affordable colorless gem that I have chosen to work with for a number of reasons. The other alternatives that I have seen suggested are Colorless (White) Zircon, which is always heat-treated. Rock Crystal Quartz (Colorless Quartz) is another affordable colorless gem, yet Colorless Topaz has the advantage of higher hardness and some other interesting properties that make for a much more beautiful faceted gem, in my opinion. There is the issue of cleavage, a weak direction, or a grain like wood, with Topaz, which leads to abrasion over time, as tiny chips appear when the gem is knocked in just the right spot. If Yellow or Golden Topaz is considered to be a secondary gem for the planet Jupiter of almost equal potency as Yellow Sapphire, I am assuming that Topaz versus Quartz would be a much better alternative.

I recently spoke with a Gemological Institute of America professor who has a specialty of historic and esoteric uses of gems and he had some very interesting information to share. When I asked his opinion regarding the differences of the uses of Rock Crystal Quartz versus Colorless Topaz, he said that if the purpose is healing, Colorless Topaz is more appropriate. Rock Crystal Quartz has been used historically, he added, for the purpose of contacting the ancestors.