Red jasper meaning and properties

The traditions

1. Rome, 1st century

   Pliny describes jasper as green and often translucent, then lists its shades by country: blue, purple, pink, and even a jasper resembling sard. He notes that all the East, it is said, wears it as an amulet, and denounces the “lies of the magi” who call it useful to anyone about to deliver a speech.

   Pliny the Elder, Natural History, XXXVII, 37 (Littré translation)
2. Ancient Egypt

   Kunz counts among the most common Egyptian amulets the buckle or knot (thet), “generally” of red jasper, carnelian, or red porphyry. It was placed at the neck of the mummy, engraved with a chapter of the Book of the Dead whose formula invokes the blood and power of Isis.

   Kunz 1913, chapter on Egyptian amulets
3. Aaron’s breastplate, according to Kunz

   Kunz considers it probable that the odem, the first stone of Aaron’s breastplate, was a red jasper, a material used more than carnelian in ancient Egypt. The Greek and Latin translations read sardius there instead, and for the Second Temple he settles on carnelian. This is the author’s hypothesis.

   Kunz 1913, chapter on the high priest’s breastplate
4. Modern crystal practice

   Contemporary books make it a stone of grounding and perseverance, associated with the earth and with self-confidence. No ancient text supports this reading, which starts mostly from the red color.

   contemporary crystal books, in agreement

Red jasper: your questions