A “dasha” is a planetary period in Vedic Astrology. Throughout our lives we go through various cycles ruled by the planets of our Jyotish charts. There are mahadashas (main periods) and antardashas (sub-periods) and they behave somewhat like the chapters of a book. Whatever planet is ruling a dasha will offer a predominant theme for that period.

Some mahadashas are naturally supportive and others can be quite challenging. People tend to experience more struggles while in the dasha of a malefic planet and more ease while in the dasha of an auspicious planet.

What does this have to do with astrological gemstones?

A large percentage of Vedic Astrologers suggest wearing gemstones for mahadashas and only for that. It’s their exclusive method of gem recommendation. Regardless of the wearer’s rising sign, their planetary placements, their intentions or any other variables, they’ll simply glance at a person’s mahadasha and decide that planet should be strengthened with a gem. Are you in a Moon mahadasha? Wear a pearl. Are you in a Mars mahadasha? Wear a red coral.

Should you be wearing the gemstone for your dasha planet?

In our experience, it really depends! Sometimes it’s a great idea, especially if you’re in the dasha of a planet that’s auspicious for you. If Venus is your planet of fortune and success, and you’re in your Venus mahadasha, I’ll probably suggest a diamond or white sapphire as your primary gemstone. It will help to promote the good graces of this time period.

If you’re in a mahadasha for an inauspicious planet, you can still wear a gemstone for this period, but be prepared to have the lessons of this dasha heavily amplified. Some people intentionally do this because they want to clear difficult karma quickly and efficiently, but most people don’t want to spend thousands of dollars on a Jyotish gemstone to intensify the lessons they’ll learn on their own as their challenging mahadasha plays out naturally.

Still not sure if you should wear the gemstone for your current mahadasha? Ask yourself the following questions.

1.) What is your relationship to your mahadasha planet?

If you’ve been suffering through Rahu for the past 18 years and are about to go into Jupiter, and Jupiter is the ruler of your entire chart, get the biggest yellow sapphire you can and throw yourself a party. Rahu is tough and you’re almost done.

On the other hand, sometimes people will call me up and say, “Ugh, I’m having SUCH a terrible time. This Saturn period is making me sick, exhausted, and depressed. I need the biggest blue sapphire you can sell me!”

This is where I stop people in their tracks and ask them if they really want to increase the Saturn energy in their lives. Usually they say no, and from there we look into strengthening their auspicious and helpful planets with gemstones instead.

A couple of months ago, for example, an older lady asked me to pick out a blue sapphire for her to wear. She was having a lot of health issues due to Saturn afflicting her natal Moon. An Indian Jyotishi recommended the blue sapphire because she was in Saturn/Rahu, a difficult time for almost anyone. She had a $10,000 budget for the stone and wanted something really powerful.

After checking her chart, I respectfully told her that it would be unethical for me to sell her a blue sapphire. It was actually her Moon that needed all the help it could get – strengthening Saturn further with a blue sapphire could actually be dangerous. I declined to make the $10,000 sale and sold her a $500 pearl instead. Helping improve people’s lives is considerably more important to me than meeting a weekly sales quota.

(Blue sapphires aren’t always harmful, by the way. It all depends on the wearer’s chart. You can read more about Saturn gemstones here.)

2.) What are your intentions for this period?

Maybe there’s a few different gems that you could wear with good results, but one in particular will help you with a specific goal: nurturing a new marriage, excelling in your career, or raising well-rounded children for example. If you’re in a mahadasha that relates to the theme you want to focus on, it makes sense to invest in a gem for those specific goals first and foremost.

If a gemstone wearer is consciously strengthening a challenging or afflicted planet in an attempt to heal and neutralize that planetary karma, it can be deeply therapeutic if one is open to the process that unfolds from that point forward. Strengthening a naturally auspicious but heavily afflicted planet with a gemstone, for example, might require some inner work and navigation in the beginning but the end result of that work will be profoundly beneficial and long-lasting.

Several years ago, I had a lady call me who wanted to buy a cat’s eye to strengthen Ketu. She was going into her Ketu mahadasha the following month. I am very careful with Rahu and Ketu gemstones (you can read more about that here) and only sell them if the wearer really wants an increase of Rahu or Ketu energy in their lives.

I assessed her Leo ascendant chart, saw she probably had a tendency for isolation and reclusiveness that I assumed she wanted to correct, and also saw that she had Ketu in her 3rd house in the sign of Libra. Trying to convince her to get a red coral or a ruby to become more courageous and outgoing, I said to her, “Look, if you REALLY want to spend the next 7 years of your life living alone as a hermit making spiritual art or something, get a cat’s eye, but I really think you should–”

She interrupted me right there, with a hint of defensiveness in her voice, and told me that she happens to live alone in a cabin at the base of Mt. Shasta. She thrives in solitude and wouldn’t have it any other way. Not only that, but she has every intention of utilizing this Ketu period to pursue her career as a writer of spiritual poetry, and she would definitely like to purchase a cat’s eye, thank you very much.

I can’t recall if she purchased anything from us but our conversation is forever seared in my mind. It created an extremely important lesson for me. Ever since then I’ve been mindful to ask people what their intentions are for a gemstone, rather than looking at their charts and making assumptions about what they want. My job is to predict the results of a Jyotish gemstone objectively and to help people achieve their goals without judgment.

3.) Are you open to experimentation?

All of us at Astrological Gem experiment on ourselves, it helps us understand the effects of the stones we’re working with. Recommending gemstones for mahadashas is also such a common trend, we can’t help but try new gems whenever we change planetary cycles to see what will happen.

My colleague began wearing a cat’s eye when she entered her Ketu dasha. She has a fairly inert Ketu in her birth chart. So far things have gone fine for her, she wears the cat’s eye in a pendant with an emerald we know is good for her. Nothing bad has happened with this combination, something that’s always nice to report!

Jay, the owner of our company, has a very prominent Rahu in his chart and had mixed results with his hessonite ring. He began wearing it as an experiment when he went into Rahu in 2014 and took it off shortly thereafter. Occasionally he puts it back on, only to take it off again within a day or two. I personally notice better changes in him when he wears new gemstones for his auspicious planets – and these he puts on and usually never takes off again.

I had great results with rubies during my Sun mahadasha. When I entered my Moon mahadasha in 2015, I knew it would be a rocky transition, but I picked a muhurta and got a pearl anyway. For science.

Moon is very prominent in my chart and is the lord of my inauspicious 8th house (accidents, inheritances). Moon signifies things like mothers, homes, and white liquids in Vedic astrology. I put my new pearl on and, that afternoon, got a call from the handyman of my apartment complex. He was in a panic because a freak accident had occurred. While doing some minor repairs in my home, he managed to drop an entire gallon of white paint from a 6ft height onto my floor. The gallon of paint exploded all over my walls, my windows, my plants, and worst of all, drenched the exquisite red wool Persian rug I own, the only thing I inherited from my mother. It’s of significant financial and sentimental value to me. (My mother’s still alive, to be clear – hi Mom! – but she did describe this rug as my “inheritance” when she gifted it to me.) Fortunately my landlord paid for emergency carpet cleaning services and the rug was salvaged, but my plants and windows remained forever splattered white. Way too much 8th house activation for my liking.

The next morning I woke up to (what I’m pretty sure was) a spontaneous candida outbreak, something that never happens to me, and I officially decided I couldn’t take it anymore. I took the pearl off and my physiology returned to normal. So there you have it, the results of my malefic Moon mahadasha experiment! I’m sure it could have been therapeutic in some way to continue wearing a pearl, but Moon has been teaching me enough important lessons without one. I’ll stick with my supportive Jyotish gemstones for the time being.

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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 served the Vedic Astrology community with research-based gemstone insight and advice since 2007. 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.