General info

Before going through the sapphire properties and meanings, let us first recapitulate that sapphire belongs to the group of four most precious stones in the world, where also we enumerate diamond, ruby, and emerald. Sapphire is a stone of protection and prophetic wisdom, a wondrous crystal that can watch over human destiny. It is believed to promote joy, faith, hope and protection during long journeys. It brings light and peace and opens the mind toward beauty and intuitive understanding. Sapphire stones are thought to be able to maintain the hope needed in order that our deepest desires and dreams will be fulfilled one day. The color of sapphire can be blue, purple, green, yellow, even black and colorless, with characteristic silky glow.

The most beautiful specimens of sapphire stones can be found in Sri Lanka (Ceylon), Tailand, India, Burma, Madagascar, Australia and Brasil. If the sapphire is coming from Burma, they are considered more costly than those from Ceylon or Madagascar. This is due to their glorious blue color. The sapphires from India are the rarest of all, which makes them the most expensive as their deposits in this part of the world have been depleted a long time ago.
The chemistry of sapphire crystals

The chemical formula of sapphire is Al2O3, which means that this stone is practically aluminum oxide, i.e., alumina. Since I believe everybody has seen aluminum metal and knows how it looks like, it is really amazing to me that its oxide can be so magnificently different. The hardness of sapphire stones is amongst the largest in the mineral world, approaching 9 out of the possible 10 on the Mohs scale.

Sapphire is a variation of corundum, which makes its structure almost identical to the structure of ruby. The difference is only in the minute amounts of additional atoms, so called impurities, which incorporate themselves in the corundum matrix and change many properties of sapphire vs. those of ruby. One of the properties is the color of course. The characteristic color of sapphire, the scientists believe, comes from iron and titanium impurities. In this particular case, one electron jumps from the Fe atom to the Ti atom. This electron then is able to absorb the energy of the red end of the spectrum, therefore effectively transmitting the frequencies from the blue - purple end of the ligh spectrum. This is exactly what gives sapphire the characteristic, well known deep blue color. It is thought that what produces the other colors of sapphire has to with the combination of iron and chromium. In sapphire under magnification one is often able to see threads of rutile, unlike rutile quartz where the rutile needles are visible with naked eye.
The healing and metaphysical properties

Sapphire is able to focus healing energies towards whoever needs them, even without the conscious participation of the recipient, which is a type of manifestation resembling independent inner higher intelligence. According to the tradition, Moses was given the 10 Commandments list on a plate made out of Sapphire, which makes this gemstone one of the most sanctified of all semi precious and precious stones. Due to these obvious Divine characteristic sapphire represents a sort of Divine stone, most desirable by royalty and aristocracy, as well as by highpriests. The British crown is saturated with large blue sapphires, symbols of pure and wise rein. The 423c Logan Sapphire from Sri Lanka is one of the largest known faceted sapphires in the world.

In Vedic astrology blue sapphire is related to Saturn, whereas yellow sapphire has a connection to Jupiter. According to the teaching of this ancient knowledge, the best gemstones to be used for amplifying the beneficial properties of the planets are those which are as pure. transparent and flawless as possible. Indeed such sapphires are hard to find especially if you don't want to pay incredibly high amount of money.

Sapphires are often marked as stones of destiny. They bring mental clarity, and clear perception. It has been argued that they also bring financial independence and even abundance in this area. On the other hand, sapphire is a symbol of the joyful devotion to God. From the point of view of metaphysical science and practice, we should divide the blue sapphires into two categories. The light blue sapphires are those that can be successfully used to balance the fifth chakra Vishuddha. The dark blue sapphires open the sixth chakra Ajna. So if you plan to use them for meditation, mark this distinction.

Sapphire gemstones symbolize truth, faithfulness and honesty. They increase the ability to communicate, release depressive moods and bring calmness, mental clarity, clear vision and peace.

In the crystal healing therapy they reduce the throat related problems, calm fever, nose bleeding, help with tuberculosis, and heal burns. Sapphires are also known to regulate the functioning of the endocrine glands, and help with cardiovascular and blood related diseases.

Sapphire should be cleansed every 15 days together with rock crystal and amethyst. Excellent elixirs and baths.
Sapphire gemstones jewelry

When it comes to jewelry made from sapphier, blue sapphire rings and engagement rings are highly popular but also can be very costly. This is probably due to the above mentioned interest of the royal families in the past, and also to the relative rarity of the transparent blue sapphire stones. Most examples of blue sapphire rings are seen alongside with gold or platinum, and readily combined with diamonds. The blue sapphires come in many nuances of the blue color, ranging from very light almost sky like blue up to the deep rich shades. Too deep blue colors are not advisable as they might then easily turn into black, depending on the inter play of external light.

The treatment of sapphires involves heating, which is the most common procedure to better the visual aspect of the gemstones, diffusion which includes chemical treatment and heating at the same time. By diffusion certain elements can be introduced into the sapphire, but this is a tricky procedure as there is no guarantee it will last long enough and that the effect will be homogeneously distributed throughout the sample. The most widely used treatment is artificial production of sapphires. Corundum is relatively easy to synthesize in laboratory, and since what you would need is aluminum as a start material, the procedure is relatively inexpensive. If you come across a sapphire gem which is incredibly cheap, do not believe it. It is a good indication of synthetic stone. The gemologists and the prominent jewelry stores can detect such artificial samples with high certainty. Have in mind that nearly all sapphires that can be found on the markets are treated one or the other way. It is estimated that less than one percent of the natural sapphires needs no treatment. Those are the most expensive ones.

Sapphires can be very costly. The prices depend upon the treatment involved, and of course, one can imagine that the treated are less expensive. The treatment can involve change in color, saturation of color, clarity and cut. One carat of gemstone quality sapphire, can cost somewhere from several hundreds of dollars up to several thousand. Understandably, the non-gemstone quality sapphires can be purchased for much less, even you can buy a sizable but non transparent sapphire stone for the equivalent of 50 dollars.

Source : http://www.sunnyray.org/Sapphire-properties-and-meaning.htm