Since ancient times, healing properties have been attributed to gems through the energy they possess. Perhaps it is because of their beauty or their rarity, but the truth is that precious stones have inspired philosophers, magicians and priestesses, their properties reaching our days.

For many cultures, precious stones have a special magic, not only for their beauty as a decorative object, but also for their properties related to well-being and astrology. Hence, they are sometimes used for spiritual or therapeutic purposes.

In fact, each territory seems to have a predilection for certain stones, such as in Egypt for lapis lazuli, or China for jade or obsidian for the Aztecs.

Precious and semi- precious stones are almost mostly minerals; some of them, however, are organic, such as amber, which is a fossilized vegetable resin.

In order to distinguish between precious stones and semi-precious stones, three main factors are used:

1. The hardness scale of the same. The hardest gemstone is the diamond.
2. The rarity, scarcity or difficulty to find them in nature.

3 .Its beauty and perfection. When we talk about the beauty and perfection of a stone, whether precious or semi-precious, we refer to its color, brilliance, transparency and purity. A pure gemstone with no blemishes and a radiant color can be worth even more than a similar diamond.

The only stones or gems considered precious are diamond, ruby, emerald and blue sapphire.

Decades ago, amethyst was also considered a precious stone, but after the discovery of the enormous deposits in Brazil, it became part of the group of semi-precious stones, since it was not so scarce and rare.

The most used semiprecious stones in jewelry are agate, amethyst, amber, aventurine, quartz, jasper, laspislazuli, onyx and turquoise. Each of them with unique properties. In successive posts we will develop its qualities, so that it is easier to find which is the stone with which you identify or which one would be most necessary to you at this time.

Benefits of Semiprecious Stones and their properties

Semi-Precious Stones