Synthetic stones are rising in popularity as affordable, high quality gems grow increasingly hard to find. Several dealers sell lab grown gemstones for Jyotish, but do they really work?
It would be wonderful if we could cut corners and find a way to get the same potent results with synthetic gems as we do with top quality natural astrological gemstones, but in our experience, that’s not the case. We have experimented with an assortment of lab created gems in the past, and while they do emit light and color frequencies that are nearly identical to natural gemstones, that is where their similarities to natural Jyotish gemstones end.
We believe that taking Planet Earth’s direct involvement and unique consciousness out of the gemstone creation process – eliminating the thousands of years it took to form these rare and flawless minerals and replacing that with a short span of time inside of a man-made laboratory – removes most of the metaphysical properties and astrological benefits we can obtain from natural gems and crystals.
I would personally liken the effects of large synthetic gems to the effects that people get from color therapy, which does hold some value in the astrology world. I know I act more empowered and confident when I’m wearing vivid red clothing than when I’m wearing dark blue clothing. I would never buy a blue vehicle because strengthening Saturn isn’t advised for my chart. Many people wear shirts that correspond to the astrological day of the week for extra support of nature, but the car I drive or the shirt I wear is not going to have life-changing affects on me. It won’t neutralize deep karma or create life-long blessings the way that we find that pure Jyotish gemstones can. I believe the same thing is true for lab grown gems, they may have some surface effects especially in the beginning, but likely nothing as profound as natural astrological gems will offer in the long run.
I tested a huge synthetic ruby on myself a few years ago and loved the gorgeous red beams of color that came through it. I felt like I was wearing a gorgeous red dress but in gemstone form, extra confident and excited when I held the stone, but nothing happened during the testing process that indicated it was doing anything significant or life-changing the way that natural Jyotish rubies have done for me in the past. I gave it a few weeks and then I gave up on it.
We do have a very good Vedic astrologer in our network who recommends hydrothermal emeralds to his clients. They’re considerably less expensive than natural emeralds which is one of the reasons he recommends them. Muscle testers, intuitive healers, and customers who wear them have reported an attraction to them, though generally not as strongly as they do with our top quality natural emeralds. We estimate they hold perhaps 10% of the power of a natural emerald of the same size, quality, and color.
In some cases, on an extremely tight budget, it might make sense to take the hydrothermal emerald route to strengthen Mercury for astrology. If one only has $300 to spend on a gemstone and not $5,000, a flawless lab grown emerald would likely perform better than a heavily included, poor quality, cracked, opaque natural emerald.
That said, we believe that natural uparatnas (secondary gems) in the $500-$1,000 range are definitely the best option if one can’t afford a top quality primary Jyotish gemstone. You can learn more about the value of uparatnas here.
On a related note, a few years ago, I saw a news article online about a wealthy woman who cloned her pet dog after it died. I felt somewhat shaken on an existential level by the idea of cloning a beloved pet. How could it be the same dog a second time around? Perhaps its behavior would be similar, maybe even identical, but would that animal really have the same soul as the original? Intuitively, I do not feel that the soul would be the same in a cloned pet, in fact I’m not so sure the animal’s soul would really be there at all.
I feel exactly the same about lab grown gems – they don’t possess the same spirit as natural gemstones. Of course, this is one of those things that probably can’t ever be proven, so if you’re on the fence about getting a synthetic gemstone vs. a natural one for Jyotish, you can always exercise the art of “self-referral” and ask your higher self what the ideal choice would be for you. Your instincts and intuitive feelings on this matter are always worth listening to. (You can learn more about the importance of self-referral when it comes to choosing Jyotish gemstones here.)
What about cultured pearls?
Some natural astrological gemstone companies advise against wearing cultured pearls, having the same sentiment that we do about wearing lab grown gems. We generally agree but there is one exception. The only cultured pearls that work for Jyotish are tissue-nucleated pearls, probably because they come so close to replicating the pearl formation process found in nature.
These pearls aren’t formed in a lab. Their nucleus isn’t a big round plastic bead like what’s at the core of most cultured pearls. They’re the byproduct of a natural occurrence happening inside of a live oyster just like natural pearls are. Years of testing and customer feedback have demonstrated that tissue-nucleated pearls definitely work when they’re the right quality – but they should be larger than natural pearls to compensate for slightly diminished potency. Our pearl buying guide gets into why tissue-nucleated pearls work for Jyotish in further depth.
You can learn more about what makes an astrological gemstone the proper quality for Jyotish here.
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.
