Wellness

MIND AND BODY JEWELS

The beauty of sapphires may go well beyond their colored sparkles. How and where you wear them may impact your physical and spiritual health. And did you know, you can ingest them and apply them to your body to treat a whole host of conditions? From ancient times to modern day, sapphires are used to help your mind and body to achieve greater beauty.

Photo: Courtesy of Custom Gemstone Studio. Blocky Blue Sapphire

Perhaps it is because of their exceptional, striking beauty that sapphires became a source of mind and body healing in ancient times. Whether myth, legend, or reality, people have turned to sapphires for thousands of years, and continue to do so, in hopes of extracting special powers.

What can sapphires do for you? The ancients believed sapphires could boost the immune system, treat blood disorders, regulate the glands, cure fevers and epilepsy. They credited sapphires with helping people to better cope with rheumatism, allergies and cancer. They placed blue sapphires on their foreheads to banish headaches, nightmares and nosebleeds. And the list goes on… People used sapphires as antidotes to poison and insect bites. They were thought to calm the mind and relieve depression.

Photo: Courtesy of Missmoonie. Sapphire Eye

Ancient Egyptians used ground sapphire dust mixed with water to wash their eyes. The practice continued through the Middle Ages.

Some believe that the Ten Commandments were etched on tablets made of sapphire crystal. King Solomon was said to have used sapphires to commune with God.

In Buddhism, sapphire is known as the “stone of the stones,” thought to promote devotion, tranquility and spiritual enlightenment.

Photo: Courtesy of Archangels and Devas. Sapphire Hearts

The location on the body where sapphires are worn further determined the expected benefits. For example, sapphire rings were thought to do different things, depending on which finger they adorned:

Index (first) finger: aids the stomach and respiratory system.
Second (middle) finger: helps the mind, liver, and spleen.
Third finger: aids the kidneys and circulatory system. A ring on this finger also brings happiness and joy.
Little finger: helps the reproductive system, knees, legs, and feet.
Thumb: well… they couldn’t seem to figure this one out.

Photo: Courtesy of Serendipity Crystals. The Chakra System

In Eastern religions, sapphires are aligned with chakras, working to cleanse the mind and body. Here, it is the color as well as the body part adorned that yields specific results. Even the setting matters. They are believed to promote creativity, telepathy, and precognition.

Photo: Courtesy of The Natural Sapphire Company. Multi-color Sapphires

Here’s how the sapphire rainbow plays out:

Star sapphires are said to protect you. They promote astral travel, precognition, and cleanse the chakras. The rays of the star represent faith, hope, and destiny.

Yellow sapphires bring prosperity, stimulate the intellect, and remove toxins from the body.

White sapphires open the crown chakra, which elevates spirituality and cosmic consciousness.

Blue sapphires are especially effective for chakra healing—especially the throat chakra. These are the stones that lead you to spiritual truth.

Purple sapphires improve meditation and psychic abilities. They also calm the troubled mind.

Green sapphires stimulate the heart chakra improving one’s capacity for compassion, loyalty, and trust in others. They also enhance your ability to recall dreams.

Pink sapphires remove emotional stumbling blocks and illuminate the path to higher consciousness. They attract positive elements into your life.

Black sapphires build both careers and the power of intuition.

Photo: Neil R. The Star of India.

If you want to try sapphires for healing and/or strengthening your mind and body, here are some ideas to try:

Carry sapphires to guard against anxiety.
Hold sapphires next to your heart to calm your nerves.
Wear sapphires on your head, perhaps as earrings, to stimulate your third eye and crown chakra.
Get focused by holding a star sapphire. Focus your gaze on where the 3 lines, symbolizing your mind, emotions, and spirit, meet, converging on central harmony.
Rub polished sapphires on your eyelids to relieve eyestrain caused by excessive exposure to computer monitors.

Read about the beauty of Sapphire all this week, as it relates to Arts/Design, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Place/Time, Mind/Body, and Soul/Impact, including Sapphire Soul, a piece about ethical mining, New Sapphire Pages, a new collection of books featuring sapphires, Sapphire Science Rocks!, the new science and technology of sapphires, Sapphire Delectables…. yes, these are edible!, Beautiful Sapphire Jewelry, and Sapphire Travels.

Get busy and enter the BN Competitions, Our theme this week is Sapphire. Send in your images and ideas. Deadline is 9.15.13.