The ruby illustrates another unorthodox approach that I have developed over the years. Many Vedic astrologers, because they are not trained gemologists, have an erroneous viewpoint about the catagorizing of “synthetic” stones. It is imperative that the reader understand that what I use and recommend are laboratory-grown crystals. These lab-grown gems (also called created gems) are not to be confused with common synthetics. Synthetic stones for the most part, are materials similar in color or chemical composition to the natural, but have no synonymous crystal structure, and by application, no remedial power. Many synthetic gems are often misrepresented as having been grown as crystals in a laboratory. Retailers very commonly appear to not be completely accurate in this regard. A large laboratory-grown crystal can be grown from a smaller natural crystal. Is this any more unnatural than a seed grown in a greenhouse? Though I sell natural (and expensive) rubies and emeralds, my client feedback reveals that much more benefit is gained by those who wear lab-grown gem quality crystal material. The reason being, a deep green laboratory grown emerald is 1/40th the price of natural emeralds and because of budget limitations, clients invariably purchase a much more included and less intensely green natural gem.

The laboratory crystals of today grow using the same laws of nature that are activated when natural crystals are grown in magma or other thermal strata (the way natural gems originate). Actually, gems growing near the magma layers do not usually take hundreds of years to form, contrary to the romanticized view of the jewelry industry which hopes to profit from the supposed rarity of gems. These crystals sometimes grow at the same rate as lab-grown crystal gems (2-12 months).

For any crystal to have the correct geometric resonating signature, it is essential that the billions of atoms that constitute its atomic lattice line up exactly like its natural counterpart. When this occurs, the major difference between the two is that the laboratory crystal, because it was formed in a controlled, non-disturbance prone environment, has fewer inclusions, color zones, pressure fractures or other flaws. Therefore, the gemological crystal structure and atomic matrix of the lab-grown crystals are in much more perfect symmetrical harmony.

Incidentally, the viability and power of laboratory-grown crystals was amply demonstrated with the crystal radio when the original natural quartz crystals were replaced by created crystals, vastly improving receptivity and transmission. In the case of rubies, many gemologists simply do not have the education or the very expensive high-tech equipment necessary to evaluate whether or not certain cultures of lab-grown faceted ruby are of natural origin. Very often if the ruby is flawless, the diagnosis by a gemologist is mistaken. Naturally, professional gemologists do not advertise their difficulty in dealing with this, as it undermines their years of dedicated research (and their reputations). Fortunately, this problem does not apply to synthetic rubies grown by the Verneuil, Czochralski, and Scullcap methods. These are easy to recognize with the correct equipment and make up 99.5% of all synthetic gem material manufactured.

This is because created crystals need to maintain extremely high temperatures for months at a time to develop, making the energy costs very high. Interestingly, these high energy costs outweigh the commercial logic of growing the less expensive yellow and blue sapphires. For the purist who cannot be convinced of the lab-grown crystal’s similarity, please analyze the scientific analysis comparison charts. With regard to measured variations in the charts, it should be pointed out that nature does exactly the same thing with its emeralds and rubies from different fields around the world.