For much of history, gemstones have been assigned mystical, metaphysical powers, due to their rarity and otherworldly beauty. Gemstone magic changes depending on the era and the people who wore them. Discover your affinity with one of the four precious gems: sapphire, ruby, emerald, and diamond.

Sapphire

Deep blue sapphires are like the glimmering eye of the oracle at Delphi. An infinitesimally small ocean of wisdom is alive inside that gem, living and breathing and seeing that which you cannot. It was whispered that when worn, sapphire would open up your third eye and offer you its wisdom. You may better understand mysterious oracle predictions, or if you have a predisposition to prophecy, you may even catch a glimpse into the future yourself. Pure sapphires were used as an antidote for poisons and demons as well, though the jury is still out on whether or not that works.

Ruby

Precious ruby’s dazzling red reminds us of romance and fresh blood—often, in the right circumstances, they go together—think of the ardent lover, of Westley and Buttercup, of some kind of romanticized violence that lives in a fantasy where you’re locked in a light saber battle with Adam Driver. Sizzling, dripping with blood like the edge of a curved blade, ruby is a beating heart of passionate romance and secret desire. But it is also deeply sensitive: it is said that wearing a ruby can heighten intuition, or even visibly darken to warn the wearer of bad romance, untrue love, unfaithfulness and foolishness in love.

Emerald

A woman with mossy green eyes. A verdant garden tended with love, for years. The sun glinting off a viper’s scales. The spirit of the forest. On a grassy moor or valley in your ancestral memory lives the eternal green youth of a radiant, lively woman. Like the sapphire, emerald is a stone that enhances vision and predictions of the future, but in a more personal way: the gem is said to guard the wearer with supernatural protection, increase mental clarity and strengthen memory: memory that reaches further back than your own life and into that of your mother, her mother, her mother’s mother. Wearing an emerald opens up the ability to reach the wisdom and protection of your ancestors, that you may use to find safety, personal growth, and success—however you define it.

Diamond

The clear, sparkling pool at the bottom of a waterfall, it is no wonder this opulent gem is known for its bright and powerful clarity. A diamond may help you to see yourself clearly, to unlock what is bound within you by insecurity, fear, and toxicity, leaving only your fortitude, joy, and inner beauty shining through. A closer look into the glass-like gem reveals fire housed within stone. A diamond is like a rising sun: brilliant, powerful, constant. Allow it to draw out these characteristics from within you.