Published January 2021 • Updated August 2024 • Read Time: 8 minutes
White Jade can be Jadeite or Nephrite. It is highly prized in China, with pure white being second only only to vibrant Imperial Green. White Jade is recommended to be placed in the west for proper Feng Shui to add a feeling of peace and clarity to a space. Much of the Jade sold in China is nephrite gathered from the Yurungkash River, whose riverbed is filled with pebbles and boulders of beautiful white and pale green Jade. White Jade has an exceptionally serene energy that is clear and cool as a mountain stream. It is a marvelous choice for anyone who values Truth above all and dares to pay the price to know it.
White Jade Healing Energy
Spiritual Healing Properties
White Jade’s energy is peaceful, joyful and wonderfully practical. It gently encourages us to stop struggling so much and to step outside our ego’s perspective and see the bigger picture. It helps us to be compassionate and forgiving towards ourselves and to all beings. It reminds us that forgiveness is not synonymous with being passive or accepting bad behavior. Instead, it shows us that forgiveness is simply a way of cutting ties with any bad energy, such as resentment, which does not serve us. White Jade gracefully leads us into internal harmony and helps bring our relationships and environment into balance with us. White Jade moves energy in the most effective manner possible, wasting no time and getting right to the heart of what is most real and necessary. It also can be used to work through negative money beliefs that lead to scarcity-thinking or greed. White Jade is excellent at helping us develop a sensible and straightforward relationship with money.
| Vibrations | White Jade |
|---|---|
| Chakra | Heart and Crown |
| Element | Earth |
| Numerology | 5 and 11 |
| Zodiac | Aries, Taurus, Gemini and Libra |
Emotional Healing Properties
White Jade is very calming and comforting. It helps us to manage emotionally difficult situations gracefully and to bring our life back into harmony as quickly as possible. All forms of Jade attract friends and lovers, White Jade in particular attracts soulmates and soulfriends that are meant to help us grow into our Best Self. White Jade reminds us to treat people the way we wish to be treated. It also helps us create good boundaries and to have clear communication so that other people treat us right. White Jade is an excellent crystal ally for encouraging self love and self-sufficiency. It helps us to be true to ourselves and to focus our energy and attention on whatever brings the most Love, Light and Blessings into our lives.
Mental Healing Properties
White Jade has a very thoughtful energy which can help us to see situations objectively. It encourages us to be hopeful, but not naive, and helps us to be aware of our own biases. White Jade can be used to filter out mental and emotional distractions, that would otherwise prevent us from seeing things clearly. White Jade also helps us to see the big picture and the systems and patterns within it. With this larger view in mind, it is then easier to solve problems in a logical and wise manner. What Jade reminds us to stay focused on our end goals and to take a sensible route forward. It helps us to see that sometimes “perfection is the enemy of the good” and that sometimes “good enough” is quite sufficient. White Jade aids us in breaking bad habits associated with negative thinking. It is especially good for people with strong perfectionist streaks who are often too harsh on themselves and on others. White Jade helps us to be more reasonable and to focus on what is good and what works well in reality.
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.
Geology of White Jade
Where does White Jade come from?
White Jade can be Jadeite or Nephrite. White is one of the more common colors for Jade and it is often found entwined with other colors such as green in any country where Jade is formed. Most of the pure White Nephrite Jade on the market comes from China, where it is sometimes called Tremolite Jade or Mutton Fat Jade. For Jadeite, the best specimens come from Myanmar.
Mining and Treatments
Both variety of Jade are often found as pebbles and boulders in secondary alluvial deposits. It can also be mined at its primary location in rocks and sheets. Most commercially mined Nephrite is mined at its primary location.
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 since true Jadeite can be very expensive!
White Jade
Mineral Family
The term “Jade” can refer to either Jadeite or Nephrite, two different silicate minerals. 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. One of the main groups of silicate minerals are the inosilicates. 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. Double-chain inosilicates are more complex, with two chains lining up side by side and connecting the two chains to each other with a third oxygen atom. The ratio for double-chain inosilicates is always 4:11. White Jade can be either Jadeite or Nephrite. All the White Jade sold at Moonrise Crystals is Nephrite.
White Jade’s energy works well with its family – other inosilicate minerals. Try it in combination with Cat’s Eye Quartz, Charoite, Diopside, Hiddenite, Kunzite, Larimar, Rhodonite, and Shattuckite. Try it also with other varieties of Nephrite Jades like Black Jade or Green Jade, or Jadeite Jades like Blue Jade and Purple Jade.
White 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.
White Jade’s energy works well with its “friends” – crystal associates formed in the same geological environment. Try it in combination with Moonstone
| Mineralogy | White Jade |
|---|---|
| Chemical Formula | NaAlSi₂O₆ |
| Cleavage | Good |
| Color | White |
| 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 White 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 sometimes has a very pure color, but it more likely to be mixture, the most common colors being green, grey and white.
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.
White Jade can be Jadeite or Nephrite. It is highly prized in China, particularly when the color is very pure, at which point it is called “Mutton Fat Jade.” Much of this Jade is minded alluvially from the Yurungkash River in northwestern China. The river’s name actually translates to “White Jade River.” The river’s headwaters are in the Kunlun Mountains, on the Tibetan plateau. These mountains are also the headwaters for Karakash River, or “Black Jade River” which has pebbles of very dark green and white Nephrite Jade. The two rivers meet in southern China. Green Jade, specifically a vibrant shade called “Imperial Green” is the most prized variety of Jade in China, but white is the second most desirable color. It feng shui it is used to represent West, as well as for energies such as clarity, purity, and truth.
To learn more about Jade’s historical traditions, please see the longer history article on Green Jade.
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