Sapphire (SAH-fire) is the name of nearly all types of gemstone-quality corundum except for ruby. Sapphire is one of the four “precious gemstones”, the others being ruby, emerald, and diamond. Sapphires can be basically any colour except red (which would make it ruby); blue is the most common and well-known colour, but yellow and green sapphires are also found nearly as often. Other colours include violet, pink, orange, white, and black. Most vibrant colours of sapphire are extremely rare and are often obtained by heat treatment.
The word sapphire, from the Greek sappheiros, meaning “blue stone”, referred to lapis lazuli prior to the 19th century; the definition was then changed to what it is today.
It has a Mohs hardness of 9 and a trigonal crystal structure.
It is the main birthstone for September (the alternate being lapis lazuli).
Location: Kashmir, Myanmar (Burma), Sri Lanka are the most famous regions for sapphire production. Madagascar has recently become a major producer, and Madagascar and Tanzania are currently considered two of the most important sources of sapphire. Other sources include Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, India, Australia, and the United States.
Properties: Each color of sapphire has its own unique properties.
- Blue sapphire is a mind stone. It helps strengthen mental activity, particularly in the form of counteracting negative thoughts. It promotes psychic visions and extrasensory perception, and can help with astral travel and lucid dreaming. It can bring unconscious material into consciousness and is useful for past-life work.
- Yellow sapphire is a third chakra stone, meaning it is associated with creativity, will, and manifestation. It can help promote success in business endeavors and increases alignment of action with thought. It helps to overcome insecurities that interfere with bringing plans into action, which means it encourages follow-through. Yellow sapphire helps the wearer identify whether obstacles need to be overcome or are indications that a different direction needs to be pursued. It also encourages faith in the old saying “Fortune favors the bold” – willingness to take greater risks can be associated with greater reward, and yellow sapphire helps overcome fear of taking risks. It also brings heightened creativity and inspiration, allowing new ideas to take root.
- Orange sapphire (Padparadscha) carries a loving, playful energy. It helps the bearer to create from the heart, considering the effects their creations will have on the world and those around them. It enables the wearer to more smoothly express their personal truth through their creative endeavors. It also has an effect on sexuality, namely increasing enjoyment and helping to release anxieties and tensions about this aspect of life.
- Pink Sapphire is an ideal companion for those who suffer from depression or have a tendency to fixate on past pains and mistakes. It brings a loving clarity to the heart, encouraging release and forgiveness of self and others. It also encourages passion and strength of heart, so those who are quite shy can use this stone to help them come out of their shell. Pink sapphire helps the wearer let themselves be vulnerable, to recognize when it is safe to let their guard down and let people in, which leads to a deeper richness of experience that can be accompanied by a heightened sense of gratitude.