Published January 2015  •  Updated August 2024  •  Read Time: 8 minutes
Red Jasper is a true jasper with a fiery red color.  Geologically, a Jasper is supposed to be spotted.  So if the stone is solid red, it’s really a Red Chalcedony.  But since the word “Jasper” is more popular, it goes by that nickname.  Metaphysically, most types of Jaspers have been explored only in the late 20th and 21st century.  Red Jasper’s healing powers were first described in the 1600s, and legends about this stone date back more than a thousand years earlier.  It is a stone of strength and courage.  It offers a fiercely protective energy that can be tapped into by warriors, mama bears, and anyone who dares to walk their own path.

Close up of tumbled Red Jasper

Red Jasper Healing Energy

Spiritual Healing Properties

Red Jasper is a dynamic stone that unites courage and strength with love and gentleness.  Its energy is like that of a beloved father, protective and  nurturing towards his children. It can help us feel safe and secure enough in our physical selves that we dare to more fully explore our spiritual selves. Red Jasper also helps us to ‘grow up’ in our spiritual and earthly lives, teaching us to take responsibility for our choices, and the results that follow.  Red Jaspers can be used to activate the Kundalini energy, which in turn can spark a powerful spiritual experience.  It likewise can help us in dream recall and analysis, showing us the practical meaning behind our sleeping dreams and how we can use that information to improve our waking life.

Vibrations Red Jasper
Chakra Sacral and Root
Element Earth
Numerology 6
Zodiac Taurus and Leo

Emotional Healing Properties

Red Jasper offers support during stressful periods and reminds us to help each other. It also inspires us to be courageous and to dare to have authentic and honest relationships. Red Jasper can also be used to heal misguided feelings of shame and guilt which may surround sexual issues or sexual abuse. It reminds us that sexual energy is a creative force that can and should be joyful. It is also a wonderful stone for anyone who needs to work through father-figure issues.  In a more general sense, Red Jasper can help us to break out of any existing “victim mentality” and “victim pattern”.  Teaching us how to save ourselves when we are endangered and to make better choices in the future to avoid bad situations.  Red Jasper helps us to pick ourselves back up, when we have had a set-back and to try again.  It helps us to trust ourselves and have faith that all will be well, in the end.

Mental Healing Properties

Red Jasper encourages us to be honest and to live honorably. It helps us speak honestly and “walk our talk.” Red Jasper is a stone of discipline and focus. It is especially helpful for artists and entrepreneurs who may find it difficult to finish projects or try to go into many directions at once. Red Jasper encourages us to stay inspired and excited about our work and to methodically do what needs to be done.  By inspiring us to be brave, Red Jasper helps us to deal with our fear of failure as well as our fear of success.  Red Jasper’s energy is highly practical and can be especially encouraging to work with when we are faced with long-term tasks that bore us or stress us out, but nevertheless need our time and attention.

Physical Healing Properties

Red Jasper is recommended for anyone who needs to manifest a warrior’s courage and determination while also nurturing the physical body.  Red Jasper helps us to stay strongly committed to exercise and other physical activities so that our body grows strong and flexible.  It also reminds us to rest effectively, so that our body can reap the full benefits of our workouts.  Red Jasper is an excellent talisman to keep nearby during physical therapy following an illness or injury.  It can likewise provide a focus for athletes and body builders during periods of intense training, especially when bulking up.  Red Jasper is also a powerful talisman for parents who need to stabilize a pregnancy and prevent a mischarge or early labor.  Red Jasper helps pregnant women and their families be brave and do everything possible to protect both the mother and the infant.

Geology of Red Jasper

Where does Red Jasper come from?

Red Jasper is found in several locations, the most notable deposits are in Brazil, Peru, South Africa and the United States.  Other deposits are in Argentina, Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, Namibia, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, and Spain.

Mining and Treatments

Red Jasper is mined in tandem with other precious and semi-precious stones in artisanal mines.  It is mined from primary deposits which still have their original relationship with the host rock.

All Jaspers are natural, enhanced only by cutting and polishing.

Red Jasper Placeholder
Red Jasper

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Mineral Family

Red Jasper is a Silicate 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 six different ways, to form various minerals and rocks. There are six main groups of Silicate minerals, and these main groups are further subdivided into secondary subdivisions, such as Quartz and Feldspar. The Quartz family can be further divided into two categories, macrocrystalline and microcrystalline, all of which can be colorless or appear in every shade of the rainbow.  Macrocrystalline quartz has well-formed crystals that are large enough to be seen by the naked eye, for example, Amethyst or Clear Quartz.  Microcrystalline quartz has crystals so small they can only be seen through a microscope.  These are typically grouped together under the name Chalcedony, or it’s subcategories Agate and Jasper.

Red Jasper’s energy works well with its family – other true Jaspers.  Try it in combination with BloodstoneBrecciated JasperDesert JasperMookaite Jasper, Picture Jasper, and Yellow Jasper.

Red Jasper Formation and Crystal Associates

Jaspers typically form in the cavities of igneous rocks, but it can also be found in metamorphic and sedimentary rocks.  Most Picture Jaspers are found igneous rocks.  Following volcanic activity, magma and lava are slowly transformed into igneous rocks broken up with cracks, fissures, other hollows.  Jasper is formed long afterwards, when silica-bearing water permeates the rocks and begins to fill these crevices.  As the water flows, it picks up an assortment of other trace minerals which give Jasper its coloring and patterns.  If the trace minerals are microscopic, the Jasper can have a single uniform color, as is the case with Red Jasper, which gets its coloring from iron.

Red Jasper’s energy works well with its “friends” – crystal associates formed in the same geological environment.  Try it in combination with Gold Tiger’s Eye and Hematite.  When they are found entwined, the resulting stone is called Tiger Iron.  Red Jasper is also occasionally found associated with Chrysocolla, Malachite and Turquoise.

Mineralogy Red Jasper
Chemical Formula SiO2
Cleavage None
Color Red
Crystal System Hexagonal/trigonal
Form/Habit Cryptocrystalline
Fracture Conchoidal
Hardness – Mohs Scale 7
Luminescence None
Luster Vitreous/earthy
Mineral Family Tectosilicates
Specific Gravity 2.7
Streak White
Transparency Opaque

History of Red Jasper

The name “Jasper” is a generic name given to any spotted or multicolored stone.  It comes from the French word jaspre, which literally means “spotted or speckled stone”   Some Jaspers are “true Jaspers,” meaning they are an opaque variety of spotted Chalcedony, like Brecciated Jasper.  However, monochromatic chalcedony is often sold using the name Jasper, as is the case with Red Jasper, as well as for multicolored chalcedony without spots, like Mookaite Jasper.  The name Jasper is also given to a variety of spotted rocks, most often a form of Rhyolite, for example, Ocean Jasper.  Because so many different types of stones may be referred to as a Jasper, it is difficult to know exactly which stone is being referenced in ancient and medieval writings.  The earliest clear reference to Red Jasper’s healing powers dates back to 1636.  According to the Gemmarum et Lapidum Historia a young woman was cured from chronic hemorrhaging by wearing Red Jasper.

During the Middle Ages, Red Jasper was also considered a stone for warriors and was said to increase their strength and courage. According to legend, a piece of Red Jasper was set on the hilt of ‘Balmung,’ the legendary sword of the Norse hero Siegfried.  The sword was part of the hoard of the Nibelungen, a massive wealth of gold and precious jewels.  Siegfried used Balmung during his battle with a dragon.  He slew the mighty beast and bathed in its blood, which made the hero’s skill as hard as armor.

The story may be entirely mythical or based on a historical Merovingian king, most likely Sigebert I (d. 575).  The Germanic king was killed in a war against his brother.  The two brothers, both kings, had married sister-princesses from a nearby kingdom.  The younger sister married Sigebert’s brother, but the marriage was cut short when the young Queen was killed by a jealous concubine named Fredegunda.  Having removed her romantic rival, Fredegunda was elevated to Queen in her place.  When Sigebert’s wife, Queen Brunhelda, heard about the murder she was enraged and demanded her husband go to war against his brother.  Eventually both kings were killed and the two queens became regents for their young sons.  The hatred between the queens never ceased, and ultimately Brunhelda was murdered by Fredegunda’s son.

In the mythical story, Siegfried was also killed because of a dispute between his wife and another woman.  The “other woman” in the story is a former lover-turned-enemy named Brunhelda.  If the historical and mythical stories are related, then the roles of Brunhelda and Fredegnunda were confused in the oral tradition.  The story might have been long forgotten, if not for Wagner’s The Ring cycle operas.  They are among the most famous operas ever written.

Red Jasper offers Nurturing Courage

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