Published January 2021  •  Updated February 2024  •  Read Time: 7 minutes
Blue Jade is the rarest variety of Jade and is always a Jadeite.  While other colors of Jade are found in Myanmar, Blue Jade is found in only in Guatemala, Japan, and California, USA.  Most of the natural Blue Jade is from the Californian deposit, known as Vonson Blue Jade.  It was found by Magnus Vonsen on his ranch in the rural area directly outside of San Francisco.  Vonson Blue Jade has a very distinctive shade of blue-grey that cannot be easily replicated by dyes.  By contrast, most dyed Blue Jade is very vivid and bright.  Blue Jade has a calm energy that encourages us to let go of petty dramas and to stay focused on the bigger picture.

Blue Jade blue jade meaning

Blue Jade Meaning

Spiritual Healing Properties

Blue Jade is a rare stone that is both grounding and uplifting at the same time, helping us to explore polarities in our own selves and in our belief systems. It is a stone that sings of serenity and harmony, showing us how to live in balance both within ourselves and with the greater world. Blue Jade is a wonderful tool for helping us to hear our Highest Self and our Spirit Guides, and to follow their wisdom, even when it goes against tradition. Blue Jade encourages us to let go of life’s petty dramas and instead focus on the more important quests for personal and universal Peace.

Metaphysical Properties Blue Jade
Chakra Third Eye and Crown
Element Earth and Wind
Numerology 5 and 11
Zodiac Aries, Taurus, Gemini and Libra

Emotional Healing Properties

Blue Jade has a calm, soothing energy that is particularly helpful during periods of long-term stress or sudden crisis. It helps us to keep an objective stance and to not allow our emotions to run away with us. Blue Jade instead encourages us to stay calm, to look for practical solutions, and to find good people who can help us restore peace to our lives. In regards to long-term stress, Blue Jade can also help us to recognize that constant stress is in large part a choice and we can make different choices that over time lead to serenity. These changes do not happen overnight, and require a great deal of patience to achieve. Blue Jade promises to help us every step of the way if we earnestly desire true peace.

Mental Healing Properties

Blue Jade has a thoughtful energy, helping us to see situations clearly and not jump to false conclusions. It is known as a “philosopher’s stone” because it encourages us to look at life from a logical point of view, to see systems and patterns, and discover their greater meaning. It encourages tolerance, inclusiveness, and practicality. It is an excellent tool for those who use their words to guide others, including parents, teachers, politicians, and media personalities.

Physical Healing Properties

Blue Jade is recommended for noticing and reducing stress.  In our busy modern lives, chronic stress is all too common.  Many people don’t notice the way that stress is impacting their physical or mental health, until it is already an extreme situation.  Blue Jade invites us to notice the stress while it is still minor and manageable, rather than waiting until stress overwhelms us.  For example, when we are stressed, we tend to breath faster and shallower. Blue Jade helps us to notice this when it is happening and to slow down and breath deeply.  Blue Jade is also a lovely talisman for the lungs and any respiratory system health, including asthma and bronchitis.

Physical Healing Properties

White Jade is used by metaphysical healers to heal the kidneys and the adrenal glands, as well as to soothe the nervous system. It is believed to help strength white blood cells and improve the over-all functioning of the immune system.  White Jade is also said to help balance fluids with the body, particular the acid/alkaline ratio.

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Blue Jade Mineralogy

Where does Blue Jade come from?

Blue Jade is always a variety of Jadeite and is found in Guatemala, Japan, and the United States (California)

Mining and Treatments

Jadeite Jade is often mined as pebbles and boulders in secondary alluvial deposits.  It can also be mined at its primary location in rocks and sheets.

Many of the cheap to moderately priced “Jade” sculptures and ornaments on the market are fake (made of glass and plastic) or have been dyed. When the Jade is authentic, it is often Nephrite Jade since true Jadeite can be very expensive!

Blue Jade Placeholder
Blue Jade

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Mineral Family

The term “Jade” can refer to either Jadeite or Nephrite, but Blue Jade is always Jadeite.  Jadeite is a single-chain inosilicate mineral.  Silicates are minerals which contain the elements Silicon (a light gray shiny metal) and Oxygen (a colorless gas). Together, these two elements form a tetrahedron – a shape similar to a pyramid – with a Silicon atom in the center and Oxygen atoms at each of the four corners. These tetrahedra connect with other chemical structures in different ways to form various minerals and rocks.  The tetrahedrons in single-chain inosilicates share two oxygens atoms with two other tetrahedrons and form long chains, similar to how a group of people might hold hands in a long line.  With single-chain inosilicates the ratio of silicon to oxygen is 1:3.  Nephrite, by contrast, is a double-chain inosilicates with a ratio of  4:11.

Blue Jade’s energy works well with its family – other single-chain inosilicate minerals.  Try it in combination with Cat’s Eye Quartz, CharoiteDiopside, Hawk’s Eye, Hiddenite, Kunzite, LarimarRhodonite, and Shattuckite.  Try it also with other varieties of Jadeite like Purple Jade and White Jade.

Blue Jade Formation and Crystal Associates

Both varieties of Jade are most often found in metamorphic rocks, but Jadeite Jade is typically formed by high-pressure metamorphism, while Nephrite Jade is formed by low-pressure metamorphism.  High-pressure metamorphism occurs when two tectonic plates collide and one is being pushed underneath the other.  This is known as subduction.

Blue Jade’s energy works well with its “friends” – crystal associates formed in the same geological environment.  Try it in combination with Moonstone

Mineralogy Blue Jade
Chemical Formula NaAlSi₂O₆
Cleavage Good
Color Blue
Crystal System Monoclinic
Form/Habit Massive, crystals are rare
Fracture Splintery
Hardness – Mohs Scale 6-7
Luminescence None
Luster Vitreous to greasy
Mineral Family Single-chain Inosilicate
Specific Gravity 3.2-3.4
Streak White
Transparency Translucent to opaque

History of Blue Jade

Jadeite and Nephrite are two distinct minerals, both of which are commonly called “Jade.” Jade has been treasured since the dawn of history in Eastern Asia and Mesoamerica, where the two most important Jadeite deposits are found.  In China and Japan, as well as in the Aztec language, the words for “Jade” and “precious stone” are, in fact, identical.

Long before the dawn of civilization, early man was attracted to Jade, for both utility and beauty. Jade can hold an edge better than most stones, and so was made into prehistoric ax-heads, hammers, carving implements, and other sharp tools. The oldest known Jade tool has been dated between 8000-9000 BCE! Because Jade can be easily carved and polished, it has also been used to make statues and charms for thousands of years. Jade carvings often carry deep meanings, making them more than just simple decorations.

Because Jadeite and Nephrite look very similar, they were not scientifically distinguished as two separate minerals until 1863. However, master Chinese craftsmen have long noticed that some Jade (specifically that from Myanmar/Burma) is harder and denser, and also is somewhat easier to carve and takes a higher polish. As a result, it became the preferred variety, especially since it has a wider range of vivid colors. This type of Jade is now known as Jadeite. The more common variety is called Nephrite.

Jade was properly introduced to Europe by explorers returning from the New World, and it is from this period that we can trace the etymological origin of the names, Nephrite and Jadeite. In Europe, Jade was originally called by the Greek names, lapis nephriticus (stone for the kidneys) and the Spanish name, piedra de hijada (stone of the flank) since Jade was used by the Aztecs to treat kidney and bowel conditions. Over time, piedra de hijada became first l’ejade, and then simple “Jade.”  When gemologists discovered that Jade was actually two minerals in the nineteen century, they called the more precious variety “Jadeite” and used “Nephrite,” from lapis nephriticus, for the more common variety.

Blue Jade is the rarest variety of Jade and found in very few locations.  The most notable deposit is in California, a variety is known as Vonson Blue Jade.  It was was discovered by Magnus Vonsen (1879 -1954) in 1949 on his ranch near San Francisco. Vonsen was a successful rancher and businessmen, as well as a respected amateur mineralogist. He became interested in rocks during WWI when mines for chrome, magnesium and mercury were established near his home.  He became a rockhound and his collection eventually grew into one of the finest private collections in the United States.  He was particularly interested in minerals found in California and Nevada, particularly Death Valley.  He helped establish three new minerals.  The first was a Borate mineral which he found near Riverside, California.  Vonsen gave it to Arthur Eakle (1862-1931), a professor of mineralogy at Berkley University, who determined it was a new mineral in 1920 and named it Vonsenite.  The second, Teepleite, was another Borate mineral found in Borax Lake, California.  In this case, Vonsen wasn’t the prospector, but rather the scientist that identified it as a new mineral.  By this point, he was a member of the California Academy of Science and so he helped co-write an article with two other geologists in the American Mineralogist journal.  Vonsen would later four more mineralogy articles independently, two of them on borate minerals in California and Death Valley, the other two on the Geyers, a geothermal field in Sonoma, California.  The last new minerals was the Vonson Blue Jade found on his very own ranch.  He briefly mined the deposit, but soon closed it.  Since his death, the mine has been opened and closed a few times, and this precious blue gem remains quite rare.  Today, Vonsen’s mineral collection can be viewed in San Francisco, in the California Academy of Science museum.

To learn more about Jade’s historical traditions, please see the longer history article on Green Jade.

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