Back to A Different Lens

Status, in most reference works, is one word attached to a fact: true, false, disputed. This atlas can attach three different words to the very same claim on the very same subject, because it also records who is making the claim, and that turns out not to be a design flourish. It is the only honest way to describe roughly two dozen gemstones and the single most contested organ in the body's spiritual anatomy.

A Gem That Is Both Old and New

Twenty five gemstones in this atlas carry two dated origin claims on the same property that disagree on purpose. Under the Vedic astrological tradition of the navaratna, the nine gem set matched to the planets, the origin claim is attested: it belongs to a genuinely old, text based practice. Under a separate entry naming modern crystal healing, the origin claim for the very same stone is debunked, because the surrounding framework of cleansing, charging and chakra correspondence only appears from the 1970s onward. Ruby carries both readings, and both are correct, because they are not answering the same question.

The Root of All Three

The Root chakra's origin date goes one step further and carries all three states at once. Under the tantric tradition the claim is attested: the underlying subtle body system of channels and centres really is ancient. Under the general Western chakra system the same claim is only debated, because even the modest question of which year the foundational translation reached print is disputed, given as 1918 in some accounts and 1919 in others. And under a specific 1927 scheme that added rainbow colours and gland correspondences, the origin claim is debunked outright, while the record is careful to note that the correction targets only that modern overlay and leaves the old tantric core untouched.

Where To Read More

• RootCarries attested, debated and debunked readings of the same origin claim at once
• RubyAttested under Jyotisha, debunked under modern crystal healing, on the same property
• DiamondA second navaratna stone carrying both an attested and a debunked origin claim