Keywords:
Health, abundance
Affirmation:
I love life and it flows through me in ever greater abundance
Birthstone:
Jade is the mystical birthstone for the month of March
Wedding anniversary:
Jade is the anniversary gemstone for the 35th year of marriage
Jade, or yu, as it is called in China, is a generic term for two different gems, nephrite and jadeite. Jadeite and nephrite are both regarded in China as ‘zhen yu’, ‘genuine jade’. It was not until the beginning of the 19th century that mineralogists and gemmologists started to differentiate between them, since they bear a considerable resemblance to each other in terms of their appearance, their hardness and the properties they exhibit when being processed. Both are tough, since they consist of dense, close-grained, matted aggregates, but they differ from one another in their chemical composition and colours.
Nephrite ranges mainly from mid to dark green or grey-green, but it can also be white, yellowish or reddish. Rarer, and somewhat tougher, jadeite displays hues which include green, but also white or pink, and reds, blacks, browns and violets. In both minerals, the way the colour is distributed varies a great deal. Only in the very finest jade is the colour evenly distributed.
Both nephrite and jadeite often have veins, blemishes and streaks running through them, though these may not always be regarded as flaws. On the contrary, some of these patterns are considered particularly valuable. Jadeite is rarer than nephrite and is therefore regarded as more precious.
Jade is a gemstone of unique symbolic energy, and unique in the myths that surround it. With its beauty and wide-ranging expressiveness, Jade has held a special attraction for mankind for thousands of years. Jade embodies the Confucian virtues of wisdom, justice, compassion, modesty and courage, yet it also symbolises the female-erotic.
In the long history of the art and culture of the enormous Chinese empire, Jade has always had a very special significance, roughly comparable with that of gold and diamonds in the West. Jade was used not only for the finest objects and cult figures, but also in grave furnishings for high-ranking members of the imperial