Topaz

Chakra

Solar plexus, Throat

Element

Fire

Planet

Jupiter

Signs

Sagittarius, Scorpio

Tarot

Three of Wands, The Hierophant

Crystal correspondences are traditional; the descriptions are original to this site.

What Topaz means

Pliny wrote that topazos, the gem, took its name from a fog-bound island in the Red Sea, and topaz inherited the name even though the stone mined there was almost certainly peridot. The mix-up has lasted nearly two thousand years.

Emotional properties

A truth rehearsed too many times starts to sound like an excuse instead of an answer. Topaz asks for the plain version, said once, in the voice you'd use if you weren't afraid of the reaction. Its warm gold suits a mouth that has decided to stop hedging.

Spiritual properties

Imperial topaz, the rare orange-pink variety prized out of Ouro Preto in Brazil, carries none of the blue sold everywhere else, a colour the earth made rather than a lab. A piece coloured by nothing but geology makes the point quietly: the rarer version of a thing is not always announced, and sometimes it simply is what it is.

Physical properties

A topaz pendant on a short chain rests just below the throat, where the voice starts. Wear it for a toast, a reading or an update given aloud, anything that needs your voice to reach the back of a room. What it lends is carry, the sound going further without being forced.

Care and cleansing

Heat, a sudden chill or one sharp knock can crack topaz along its cleavage, long sun can fade golden stones, and blue topaz, irradiated for its colour, can change again if heated. Wash it by hand in warm soapy water, never steam or ultrasonic, charge it for an hour in open shade, and give it a dark, padded box.

A question to sit with

Which plain version of the truth have you been dressing up?