Jade Crystal Guide: meaning, origin & properties
Learn what Jade is, where ours comes from, traditional associations across cultures, and how to identify a real specimen, in our complete Jade Crystal Guide.
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Sourced through a regional cooperative or community-based workshop. Processing and economic benefit stay local, which means more of the value reaches the people doing the work.
Read our Sourcing Standards →This is an A-grade Black Jade sphere from Peru. Nephrite is exceptionally tough, which is why it takes a mirror polish and holds it. The exact piece pictured measures 2.87 inches (72.9 mm) across and weighs 554 grams at Mohs 6-6.5, natural and untreated. Hand-cut and hand-polished, finished with no coating or filler.
Black jade is nephrite, the tougher of the two minerals sold under the jade name. Its colour comes from fine graphite and amphibole inclusions distributed through the stone rather than from any dye or coating. Held to a strong light the thinnest edges often show a dark forest green.
This sphere was hand-cut and hand-polished from Peruvian nephrite.
Those who work with black jade tend to reach for it when they want a settled, unglamorous kind of steadiness, the sort that holds a boundary without drama. It is traditionally linked to the root chakra. If that resonates, keep it somewhere you pass often rather than tucked away. Take what is useful and leave the rest.
These are traditional associations drawn from historical practice. This stone is not a substitute for medical or mental health care.
A starting place for your own quiet practice.