Jasper: meaning, properties and lore

The mineral

Jasper is a form of silica, with the formula SiO2, and it rates 6.5 to 7 on the Mohs hardness scale. Jasper, as defined by Manutchehr-Danai in 2010, is a dense, translucent to opaque impure variety of chalcedony or chert. Götze in 2010 defined it as a mixture of microcrystalline silica with iron oxide and illite.²¹

Jasper is described as a very hard substance, capable of resisting the influences of exposure for ages. This durability is why it survives in archaeological finds. Arrow-heads from ancient ruins were made principally of the more beautiful varieties of obsidian, jasper, and agate.⁵

The red to brown colour of many jasper surfaces comes from iron oxide and hydroxide minerals. These coat the surface of the rock in some specimens. Multicolored natural banding also appears in some pieces, as seen in carvings that use a single piece of stone to form the body of a creature.¹⁴

Jasper is among the materials mined with hand tools in the Ural Mountains. The stone is also found in the fields of the Idar area, where farmers gathered it along with agate, quartz, chalcedony, carnelian and petrified wood. Jasper ornaments were also found in a deposit in Lawrence County, Mississippi.³⁴⁵

A dalmatian jasper material is a peralkaline rock of uncertain provenance and is not a true jasper by gemological definition. It consists mainly of feldspars, quartz, alkali amphiboles, and lesser amounts of hematite and epidote. Its black spots were recognized as arfvedsonite, and the rock may come from the Mexican state of Chihuahua, a source the authors consider probable but unproven.¹

Tiger's-eye is a quartz variety, not jasper, whose golden colour comes from iron oxides trapped by the quartz. It forms when fibrous crocidolite is encapsulated by quartz. The Marra Mamba Iron Formation of Western Australia is the source of one tiger's-eye slab in the exhibit.⁶

History and lore

Pliny the Elder, in Natural History Book 37, records that the iaspis still keeps the reputation it enjoyed in the past, though many other stones now surpass it. He says numerous countries produce it, and that a variety resembling emerald comes from India. He describes a hard, dull greyish-green Cyprus variety, and a deep-blue variety found near the River Thermodon in Phrygia.⁷

Pliny records further names for the iaspis varieties. The Persian stone like the blue sky is called aeizusa, or sky-blue, and the Greeks called one variety boria, or north-wind iaspis, because it resembles the sky on an autumn morning. The remaining varieties were called sphragides, or signets, because they are excellent for sealing documents. The smoky-stained variety is called capnias.⁷

Pliny writes that the best iaspis has a shade of purple, the next has one of rose, and the next of smaragdus. He reports that Juba wrote the stone is formed on the banks of the Nile, from which its name is said to derive. He also records that the Magi held that the green-spotted iaspis is named monogrammos for its slanting white line, and that the Magi claimed it helps public speakers, a claim he sets out to refute.⁷

The Curious Lore of Precious Stones records that the fourth century author of the Lithica held jasper in great repute as a rain-bringer, and that Damigeron mentioned the belief that it brings rain only when properly consecrated. The same work says that in the fourth century jasper was credited with driving away evil spirits and protecting wearers from the bites of venomous creatures.⁸

Judge Turner listed a jasper plummet-like object among stone artifacts from the Cincinnati mound. The Mississippi deposit's objects were red or reddish jasper, sometimes variegated with pale yellow spots or streaks.⁵

Birthstone, zodiac and chakra links

Crystal practitioners associate Red Jasper with the modern modern modern zodiac signs Aries and Scorpio and with the modern modern modern planetary Mars. This is a modern link made by practitioners, not an ancient one. Ocean jasper is linked with the Earth and Water elements, a modern association among crystal practitioners.

Crystal practitioners who write about ocean jasper also connect it with the root chakra, a modern link. The Healing Crystals First Aid Book, a modern book, lists Ocean Jasper among stones associated with hope and new beginnings.⁹

Jasper's celestial ties differ by source. Horowitz in 1998 wrote of heavenly associations in Mesopotamian culture, while The magic of jewels and charms records a Leo belief tied to the stone's shape and design, not to a birthstone list.¹⁰¹¹

What crystal practitioners say

Crystal practitioners present jasper as a grounding stone. From a symbolic and energetic perspective, it is often seen as providing stability, security and connection with the Earth.

Practitioners who follow this tradition say ocean jasper helps ground the body, release stress, keep the root chakra open and quiet fear and insecurity. Some practitioners also believe that keeping the stone under a pillow or beside the bed makes falling asleep easier.

Believers hold that placing Red Jasper on the Root Chakra area during quiet meditation deepens grounding energy. Crystal practitioners use ocean jasper in meditation, and they recommend leaving it under moonlight or early morning sun, which they regard as a way of renewing it.

Practitioners say that jasper is worn to support the body. Believers hold that ocean jasper regulates the triple warmer meridian in Daoist stone medicine and can calm the adrenal response, and they claim it can cool hot flashes and night sweats when held or worn.

According to The Healing Crystals First Aid Book, Ocean Jasper is recommended as a bracelet, necklace or pendant worn for long stretches, or taken as gem essence or gem water. That book also states that Moss Agate, Ocean Jasper or Sardonyx are said to show good results when worn as ankle and arm bracelets.⁹

What testing has found

Edzard Ernst, in his analysis of 150 complementary and alternative treatments, concluded that rigorous trials testing the therapeutic value of crystal healing do not exist. Ernst further states that no scientific proof exists of any positive effect beyond placebo. He states that crystal healing can generally be regarded as harmless and without toxicity.¹²

Christopher French, a British psychologist, ran a 2001 study of 80 volunteers who held and meditated with real and fake crystals and then tried to tell them apart. In the study six people felt nothing, while the rest reported tingling or an improved sense of wellbeing. Participants holding fake and real crystals reported similar impressions, and the study presented at a British Psychological Society conference in Glasgow was described by Euronews. Researchers concluded that the power of suggestion, rather than the crystals, may have explained the effects.¹²¹³

Results from the 2001 study have not been replicated in larger studies, so generalizing from them is hard. Scientists remain skeptical because few studies have compared crystal therapy to other therapies or explained how it works. Ted Kaptchuk of Harvard Medical School argued that discarding placebo effects diminishes knowledge of important dimensions of health care.¹²¹³

Jarry explains that rigorous clinical trials strip interventions of placebo effects to see if they have a specific benefit, and argues that alternative medicine's reputation benefits strongly from non-specific placebo effects. Permutt says there is no proven link between crystals and the body.¹²¹³