Love Jewelry: A Complete Guide
Throughout every culture, across time and space, we are united by a mystical desire and need for love. As conscious beings, we are gifted with a magical, ever-present force from the greater universe drawing us to each other, beckoning us forward, and encouraging us to deepen our intimate connections with one another.
From the stage to the silver screen, prose to poetry, music to dance, love dominates all forms of artistic expression. This powerful emotion seeps into every corner of our creative world and reveals itself in the rawest, most soul-bearing works. The same could be said for the art of jewelry making.
Using jewelry to reflect and honor the love in our lives is a timeless tradition. Especially in this modern world — where personalization and sentimentality have become more treasured than ever before — it’s not difficult to understand the rapid rise in popularity of uniquely designed and hand-crafted love jewelry.
Looking at metals, gemstones, lockets, and iconic love symbols, we bring you a complete guide to the variety of ways to customize love jewelry for you (or for that special someone). With such a breadth of options, we guaranteed there is a way to find jewelry as intimate and rare as the love you share with your partner.
Metals
Much like gemstones, symbols, animals and a plethora of other universal objects, metals have also been assigned metaphysical energy and philosophical meaning over the centuries — scratch that, millenia. Metals played a critical role in the advancement of human civilizations and were of great importance in metaphysical domains like alchemy.
Each metal was said to correspond to a particular planet and carry distinct symbolic meaning and spiritual connections. Metals said to have ties to love and eternity include copper, platinum, and brass.
Copper
Commonly associated with the planet Venus and the divine feminine energy of the universe, copper symbolizes love, beauty, and creativity. This soft, red-colored metal was popularly used in alchemy and is believed to provide balance, making it perfect for jewelry that encourages a grounded love life centered around artistic creativity and spiritual beauty.
Platinum
Platinum is commonly used in jewelry due to its non-corrosive structure, durability, and bright appearance. However, it is also used in love jewelry specifically because of its association with endurance, longevity, and completion, making it the perfect metal to instill a relationship with the strength to face difficult challenges without faltering and to promote a long and healthy relationship.
Brass
Surprising to some, brass is known as the “problem-solving” metal. It is known to represent the recharging of one mental capabilities and symbolize the vitality of the mind and spirit. It is said to help keep the mind youth, adaptable, and receptive to growth and knowledge.
Brass is also a beautiful deep golden color symbolizing positivity, simplicity, and beauty, making it another metal wonderful for use in love jewelry.
Gemstones
Whether you are already in love and want it to last or looking for the love of your life, gemstones offer an energetic connection to the universe and can link with the vibrations in the world around you to attract the love you most deeply desire.
Crystals used in love jewelry can be a powerful way to bring abundance into your life and unblock any heart chakras that may be stunting your ability to love fully and completely.
Rose Quartz
By far the most powerful love stone, rose quartz promotes self-trust, tolerance and unconditional love. The dreamy light pink rose makes for gorgeous love jewelry rich in feminine energy and overflowing with compassion. It is no mystery why rose quartz jewelry has been reported to be used by Assyrians as early as 800 BC — this is one seriously transcendent stone.
Whether your are looking to heal from a broken heart and open yourself up to new love or simply want to attract a deeper connection with your loved one, rose quartz is the perfect stone to hold.
Lapis Lazuli
The key to any strong, long-lasting relationship is great communication. Lapis lazuli has many properties but one of its most beneficial is its ability to strengthen communication. Connected to the throat chakra, this stone helps you speak your truth and live as your most authentic self, unafraid of judgement.
Even better, lapis lazuli shares a ruling planet of Venus — the goddess of love. Rest assured you are in caring capable hands when reaching for the guidance of lapis lazuli in your love jewelry.
Garnet
The sensual glow of garnet marks it as a truly passionate healer. Garnet connects to your root chakra, grounding you and guiding you towards stability and courage in yourself. This stone oozes sexuality and is ready to get your chi stirred up and fan the flames of love in your life.
Garnet is a brilliant stone to incorporate into jewelry while you are in relationships because it provides the courage and confidence to ask for what you need and to forge strong bonds with your partner, while preventing you from falling into the tempting pit of jealousy and uncertainty.
Lockets
When we think of lockets, we think of young romantic sweethearts separated by circumstances beyond their control, yearning to be with their one love with only a small portrait for remembrance of their time together cut short: a melancholy but dreamy tale of lovers falling victim to the passage of time.
With an origin lost to the mystery of time, lockets emerged and evolved from other popular jewelry such as amulets or talismans. Over the years, lockets became miniature love chest, encasing a treasure of tiny portraits of the owner’s loving partner.
Lockets, as we have come to recognize them today, rose to popularity in the Victorian era and have cycled in and out of fashion over the decades, as all jewelry does.
One of the most universally adored aspects of lockets are that they are a unisex jewelry piece that can be detailed and personalized to suit the uniqueness of their owner. Heart shaped lockets with romantic and sentimental detailings tend to be favored by women, while round sterling silver or gold lockets that feature etched compasses or maps appeal to more masculine tastes.
Matching lockets are a more modern style popular for representing the union of lovers or of friends. Most commonly heart-shaped, matching lockets feature of pair of twin halves, one for each owner that when combined, form a complete whole.
Sacred Symbols
From the moment man learned to carve into stone, symbols became a vital communication tool, to express emotions, convey information, and tell stories. Today, jewelry design utilizes the power of symbols to strengthen the impact of its emotional meaning.
Three of the most popular symbols incorporated into love jewelry include hearts, knot rings, and the infinity symbol.
Hearts
Simple but effective, a heart is by far the most recognizable symbol of love. Any piece of jewelry that features a heart reveals the unapologetic and passionate affection and adoration one has for another. Sometimes wearing your heart on your sleeve is all it takes to show how much someone means to you.
Variations on the heart symbol can enhance its aesthetic qualities and add depth to its meaning. This can be seen in more modern adaptations that feature two hearts twisted together at their tails, two heart halves separated and shared between partners, or two open hearts interlocking with one another, further emphasizing the importance of two becoming one through the power of love.
Knot Rings
Which knot-centric jewelry pieces, the mind immediately travels the thought of marriage commonly referred to as tying the knot. The lovers’ knot can be traced back to ancient cultures including Egyptian sculptures, Celtic knots, and Greek jewelry. It was even believed that sailors at sea would use knots as a form of wedding ring.
The knot represents and unbreakable commitment to your partner and to a woven destiny and future you plan to share together.
Infinity Symbol
The infinity symbol is most commonly associated with eternal love. The word “infinity” actually is derived from the latin word “infinitas” meaning “boundlessness.” Implying that there are no limits or ends to this special bond between lovers, the symbol itself depicts a never-ending loop.
The infinity symbol is an extremely popular design often woven into elegant necklaces or engagement and wedding rings meant to bind two hearts together forever.
All You Need Is Love
We hope we have been able to show you just how vast the opinions are for customizing and capturing your symbolic love through the power of love jewelry. These wearable expressions of devotion guide us on a romantic journey through history and drop us here in the present.
Love jewelry is our own special way of plucking our love from the metaphysical plane and cementing it in our corporeal world - a dedication of everlasting love sealed in stone.
Sources:
A Guide to Early Victorian Romantic Period Jewelry | International Gem Society
INFINITY English Definition and Meaning | Lexico.com
Rose Quartz History and Lore | Gemological Institute of America
