Size doesn’t matter as much as you think it does.

Almost every day, I receive a request for a very large Jyotish gemstone, as many astrologers believe that bigger gems automatically translate to an increase in benefits for the wearer. Browsing through my inbox, here are the size requests I’ve gotten in the past week:

3-carat diamond
7-carat emerald
8-carat blue sapphire
10-carat unheated Burmese ruby

While we can certainly obtain gems of these sizes, our customers are usually pretty shocked to discover the price of a top-quality gem in the 5-10ct range. A 3-carat diamond, possessing the flawlessness and colorness required to get good results for Vedic Astrology, will start around $50,000. A 10-carat ruby that is eye-clean, untreated, “pigeon blood” red and Burmese in origin would start around $30,000,000. Nobody needs a 10-carat Jyotish quality ruby anyway. If you got one, it would be so powerful it probably would blow you straight into another dimension.

Here’s an example of a 5-carat blue sapphire that is top quality, next to a 20-carat blue sapphire that’s…well, not exactly top quality. Which one do you think works the best for Vedic Astrology?

True astrological quality gemstones do not need to be enormous in order to be effective. In many cases, a 1-2 carat stone will produce good benefit if it possesses a high degree of flawlessness and an ideal saturation of color.

Assuming that you are shopping for gemstones that are Jyotish quality (read more about Jyotish criteria here), below is a guideline for the minimum carat weights of each of the primary astrological gems.

Ruby: 1 carat is a great starting point. 2 carat rubies, in the quality we require for Jyotish, are extremely powerful.

Tissue-Nucleated Pearls: 6-7 carats. Tissue-nucleated pearls are a substitute for certified natural pearls, which are almost extinct. If found in astrological quality, a 3-4 carat certified natural pearl is very effective. Tissue-nucleated pearls perform the best when they are larger. I advise people to get 7+ carat pearls whenever possible. (Read more about Jyotish pearls here).

Red Coral: 3-4 carats is usually fine. 5 to 8-carat coral cabochons are very powerful. Anything more than that should only be worn if overheating is not a concern, because very large pieces of red coral will increase one’s internal fire considerably.

Emerald: 2 carats. We’ve heard stories of great results from super clean, deep green, sattvic 1-carat emeralds as well. Larger emeralds that are super clean and a nice light minty green are lovely for Jyotish, and relatively affordable. Larger emeralds that are both super clean and very deep green are super rare and extremely valuable. (Read more about ideal emerald quality here.)

Yellow Sapphire: 1.8-2 carats. This is a good gentle dose for energetic benefit. Yellow sapphires in the 3 to 4-carat range produce more tangible results. Yellow sapphires larger than 4 carats, when fine quality, are extremely powerful. Jupiter is the planet of expansiveness, and it loves really big stones, but that doesn’t mean they’re necessarily needed in order to obtain results.

Diamond: 1 carat. 2-carat diamonds are extremely powerful. In all of my years as a Planetary Gem Advisor, we have only sold one 3-carat diamond for Jyotish.

Blue Sapphire: 1.8-2 carats. 3-4 carats is an ideal, substantial dose of Saturn. I don’t personally think anybody should wear a premium quality blue sapphire that exceeds 5-6 carats, unless extreme overheating or pitta imbalance is a major concern that needs to be addressed with the gemstone. (Learn more about the effects of Saturn gemstones here).

Cat’s Eye: 1-2 carats. Caution should be exercised when wearing Ketu stones, so be sure to know the results to anticipate.

Hessonite (Gomed): 1-2 carats. Caution should be exercised when wearing Rahu stones as well.

Uparatnas, or secondary gemstones, have planetary benefit but they should be as large as possible to get good results. They are not as concentrated in energy as the primary astrological gemstones. A general guideline is 4-5 carats minimum, upwards of 10-12 carats whenever possible. This is a case where pumping up size is advised, but as always, never compromise on quality.

You can view our complete gemstone collection here.

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Tiffany April Raines is the Head of Sales at Astrological Gem International. Trained at the American College of Vedic Astrology and certified as a gemstone advisor through the Planetary Gemologists Association, she has been serving the Vedic Astrology community with research-based gemstone insight and advice for over 10 years. She can be contacted at tiffany@astrologicalgem.com.

Please note: In order to provide the most time and best service possible for our paying customers, we are no longer able to respond to all of the requests we receive for gemstone recommendations. We welcome you instead to try our Free Gem Report if you are still in the learning and research phase of your Jyotish gemstone journey. This can be found at AstrologicalGem.com.