Spotlight on | Jade Nephrite
If you’ve been feeling low and passionless lately, it’s time to stop blaming it on gluten (or whatever the latest culprit is) and accept the fact that it might be from accumulated negative energies in your aura. Jade Nephrite is a protective stone that will transmute these negative energies in your life into positive and uplifting ones. Without the need to give up bread and cookies.
Jade Nephrite can promote a sense of calm, quiet and stillness – helping you to sit back and spend more time smelling the (metaphorical) roses, rather than anxiously doom scrolling your Facebook feed. Your Jade Nephrite stone will enhance your confidence and make you see all that you can achieve in your personal, professional and spiritual life, by inspiring truth and honesty and stimulating your thoughts and imagination.
Aiding the bearer in feeling secure and stable, especially during tumultuous times, this stone will promote a strong support system and make sure that you’re deeply anchored to reality.
The History of Jade Nephrite
Jade has been mined and worked in China since the Stone Age (8700-2000 BCE). Later, Jade became revered as a particularly significant cultural icon. Beautiful and intricate designs were used in carvings, decorations, ceremonies, furnishings and, of course, jewellery for the Imperial families.
By 3000 BCE, Jade was known as “yu” or the “royal gem”.
Jade’s significance in Chinese culture cannot be understated. Entire kingdoms in China have gone to war over particularly precious stones.
The meaning of the word “Jade” is a Spanish translation of the phrase “Piedra de Ijada,” which means “stone for pain in the side.” When the Spanish colonised Latin America, they saw indigenous people holding jade at their sides in order to heal from illness. Nephrite means “kidney,” and for centuries, it was believed to cure people of kidney disease.
One of the most interesting stories in Jade folklore is the story of the Storm God. As the legend goes, when man first wandered the earth without artillery, clothing, or protection, he was exposed and unable to protect himself from predators. The Storm God, feeling sad for the helpless primitive man, built him jade axes from rainbows.
Recognising Jade Nephrite
The cultural term “Jade” actually refers to two similar, but distinct types of ornamental stones, both formed from different silicate materials.
Jade Nephrite was the first of these stones discovered in China and was the traditional Jade used in jewellery and carvings since ancient times. In fact, Nephrite was so important that the traditional deposits in China are now all but depleted.
Today, most of the Jade traded in China is of the “Jadeite” variety, however, the traditional Jade Nephrite forms an important part of the country’s identity. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, every medal was imbedded with a piece of pure, natural carved Jade Nephrite.
While Jade Nephrite doesn’t match the fine green “imperial jade” colours found in Jadeite, it does occur in attractive colours, including green, creamy white, mid- to deep olive green, brown and black, and is even more durable than Jadeite with a MOHs hardness of 6-6.5.
What is Jade Nephrite used for?
If you’ve found yourself drawn to the enigmatic allure of the Jade Nephrite stone, it could mean that you’re overdue for an existential pick-me-up. Jade represents luck and good fortune and is said to bless whatever it touches, giving you the wisdom to be able to see past outdated self- or societally imposed limitations and expectations and helps smash through defeatism and glass-ceilings alike, stopping you from throwing difficult (but worthwhile) challenges straight into the “too hard” basket.
Jade is excellent for dispelling feelings of guilt (keep a piece handy next time you have a big family lunch coming up!) and can help treat “pathological normality”, that excessive need to adapt yourself to fit into a group (peer pressure be damned) or the compulsive desire to adjust or squash your feelings and opinions to keep the status quo. It helps us to connect to higher vibrational energies, increasing our insight and helping us to act intuitively.
Jade’s metaphysical properties can change depending on the shade. Generally speaking, the darker shades of Jade are associated with grounding and feelings of confidence and security. The lighter shades, such as yellow, white, and lavender allow us to access our intuition and to make connections with the Higher realms.
Green Jade is the most common and recognisable and is believed to bring tranquillity and calm. It is a crystal of love, resonating strongly with the heart chakra, and is supportive of new love, increased trustworthiness and fidelity. Fear, not hatred, is the opposite of love, and Jade can help to dispel any feelings of fear you may be harbouring around the love in your life. I should be so lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky. I should be so lucky in love.
All Jades are known for clearing negativity from your aura and immediate environment, which is why so many people keep a Jade talisman or ornament on or need their desk – to keep the Karen-from-accounting vibes at bay.
Jade is also known as a dream stone and can help you to understand the symbolism and messages from dreams.
Physically, Jade is a powerful cleansing stone, it enhances the body’s filtration and elimination organs (especially the kidneys and spleen), removing toxins and balancing the body’s fluids. It is helpful to the bones and joints, its restorative properties allowing for both the cellular and skeletal systems to re-bind themselves and is beneficial in diminishing the pain associated with the body’s self-healing.
