I started getting asked the same questions at every market show.
What does the Hamsa actually mean? Is the Lotus religious? What's that blue eye thing — is that the same as the Third Eye?
So I wrote the guide.
Ten symbols that have been worn for thousands of years, across traditions that don't agree on much — and yet, when you trace each one back, they keep arriving at the same handful of human truths. Protection. Connection. Cycles. Rebirth. The unbroken thread.
I wear symbols because they say the thing I don't always have words for. I think a lot of you do too.
Here's what they mean — and every one of them is a piece I actually make. Each symbol below has stones that pair naturally with it; if a stone name catches your eye and you want the full story on it, the A–Z crystal properties guide is the reference.
Shop the collection: Spiritual Symbols Jewelry · Chakra Collection · Celestial Jewelry · Gemstone Jewelry · Crystal Necklaces
🌸 Flower of Life — Sacred Geometry, Interconnectedness & Creation
The Flower of Life is one of the oldest symbols on earth — versions of it appear carved into the Temple of Osiris in Egypt (estimated 6,000+ years old), in ancient Chinese manuscripts, in Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks. It's a grid of overlapping circles, each one blooming from the one before it, all containing the same pattern within.
What it's saying: everything that exists is connected. Every life form, every element, every cycle of growth — same pattern, different expression.
Wear it when: you're in a season that feels fragmented, and you need the reminder that even the scattered parts are part of a larger, still-coherent whole.
Pairs with: Clear Quartz (clarity), Moonstone (cycles), Labradorite (cosmic connection).
Shop it: Flower of Life jewelry →
🔵 Mandala — Higher Consciousness, Harmony & Meditation
Mandala means "circle" in Sanskrit. In Tibetan Buddhist tradition, monks spend days — sometimes weeks — creating intricate sand mandalas, then ritually destroy them. The point is never the object. The point is the practice.
A mandala is a map of the universe as seen from the inside. Every element radiates from a central point, perfectly balanced, infinitely detailed. Worn as jewelry, it's a wearable reminder: you are the center. Everything radiates from there.
Wear it when: the noise is loud and you need a focal point. Or when you're doing the quiet work of becoming more yourself.
Pairs with: Amethyst (Crown Chakra), Clear Quartz (clarity of purpose).
Shop it: Mandala jewelry →
Not sure which symbol is for the chapter you're in?
The Gemstone Quiz takes 60 seconds and matches you to the stone — and the intention — that fits right now.
→ Take the Gemstone Quiz
🕉️ Om (Aum) — Sacred Sound of the Universe, Intuition & Oneness
Om — written as ॐ in Sanskrit — is considered the primordial sound. The sound the universe made at its own beginning. It appears at the opening and close of Hindu prayers, yoga practices, and Buddhist mantras. It's not a word. It's a vibration.
The symbol itself contains four parts: the waking state, the dreaming state, deep dreamless sleep, and — in the small curve at the top — the transcendent state that contains all three. Which is why Om is said to contain everything.
When you wear Om, you're not claiming a religion. You're wearing a reminder that beneath the noise of the day, there is something steady. Something that was there before the inbox, and will be there after.
Wear it when: you're returning to a practice. Starting meditation. Coming back to yourself after a season that pulled you off-center. The full story: Om Meaning: The Sound Everything Started With →
Pairs with: Amethyst (Crown Chakra connection), Moonstone (intuition), Sodalite (inner truth).
Shop it: Om jewelry →
🧿 Evil Eye (Nazar) — Protection from Negativity, Jealousy & Harm
The Evil Eye — specifically the Nazar boncağı, the blue glass bead — is one of the most ancient protection amulets in human history. It appears in ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, Turkey, the Middle East, and across the Mediterranean. Thousands of years. Dozens of cultures. One consistent belief: that the envious gaze of others can carry genuine harm, and this symbol reflects it back.
The concentric circles of the Nazar — deep blue, light blue, white, dark center — mimic an eye. The idea: it sees the harm coming and deflects it before it reaches you. In Turkey, you'll find it hanging in homes, on babies, on cars, on jewelry. Not as decoration. As protection, taken seriously.
Important distinction: the Evil Eye is not the Third Eye. The Evil Eye (Nazar) is a protection amulet — concentric circles, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern origin, about deflecting harm. The Third Eye is an intuition symbol — Eastern traditions, often depicted with sunburst rays, about inner knowing. Both are valid. They are not interchangeable. Full guide: Evil Eye Meaning: History, Protection & How to Wear It →
Wear it when: you're navigating a season that feels heavy with other people's energy. When you want the quiet reassurance of something that's been saying "not today" for five thousand years.
Pairs with: Black Tourmaline, Labradorite, Obsidian.
Shop it: Evil Eye jewelry →
🤲 Hamsa — Protection, Intuition & Blessings
The Hamsa is an open hand, sometimes with an eye in the center, worn across Jewish, Islamic, and other traditions as a universal protection symbol. In Hebrew, "hamsa" means five — the five fingers of the hand. In Arabic tradition, it's Khamsa for the same reason. Some know it as the Hand of Fatima. Some as the Hand of Miriam. Across faiths that have disagreed on almost everything for centuries, the open hand means the same thing.
The eye in the center of many Hamsa designs is the Evil Eye — protection within the protection. Open hand outward: no harm enters here. Eye within: I see what's coming.
Wear it when: you want to lead with openness and still feel protected. The Hamsa doesn't close you off — it extends a hand and says: welcome, and also, this far and no further. Full history: Hamsa Hand Meaning →
Pairs with: Rose Quartz (open heart, protected spirit), Moonstone, Evil Eye pieces as a set.
Shop it: Hamsa jewelry →
👁️ Third Eye — Intuition, Inner Vision & Knowing Before You Can Explain It
The Third Eye is the sixth chakra — Ajna, the space between the eyebrows. In Eastern traditions it's the seat of perception beyond the five senses: intuition, insight, the knowing that arrives before the reasoning catches up.
You recognize it by the rays. A Third Eye is usually drawn as a single eye with sunburst lines radiating outward — light coming from the eye rather than being deflected by it. That's the whole difference from the Evil Eye, and it's the question I get asked most.
Wear it when: you already know the answer and keep talking yourself out of it. When you're learning to trust the first instinct instead of the fourth opinion. Full guide: Third Eye Jewelry: For the Ones Who See Before They Look →
Pairs with: Amethyst and Lapis (Third Eye Chakra), Labradorite, Moonstone.
Shop it: Third Eye jewelry →
🌳 Tree of Life — Roots, Growth & Everything Connected Underground
The Tree of Life appears in Celtic, Norse, Egyptian, Jewish and Buddhist traditions independently — which tells you something about how obvious the metaphor is once you've seen a tree. Roots going down as far as the branches go up. Nothing visible without the part you can't see.
In Celtic tradition the tree connected the underworld, the earth, and the sky. In Kabbalah it maps the structure of creation itself. What every version agrees on: you are not separate from where you came from, and growth in one direction requires depth in the other.
Wear it when: you're building something and need the reminder that the invisible work counts. Or when family — the one you were born into or the one you made — is the thing on your mind. Full guide: Tree of Life Meaning →
Pairs with: Green Aventurine (growth), Moss Agate (renewal), Smoky Quartz (roots).
Shop it: Tree of Life jewelry →
🧡 Lotus Flower — Enlightenment, Purity of Heart & Rebirth
The Lotus grows in muddy water and rises to bloom above the surface. This is not a metaphor. This is the actual biology of the plant — and it's exactly why every major Eastern tradition chose it as a symbol of enlightenment and spiritual awakening.
In Buddhism, the Lotus represents the path from suffering to awakening — rooted in the mud of the material world, growing through the water of experience, blooming in clear air. In Hinduism, deities are depicted seated on Lotus thrones. In Egyptian tradition, the Blue Lotus was associated with the sun, creation, and rebirth.
Worn as jewelry, the Lotus is the piece for the woman who has done hard things — who has come through seasons she didn't choose — and who wears the reminder that blooming and being rooted in difficulty are not opposites.
Wear it when: you are in a chapter of becoming. Or when you need to remember that where you started doesn't determine where you're going. Full guide: Lotus Flower Meaning →
Pairs with: Rose Quartz (Heart Chakra, self-compassion), Moonstone (rebirth, cycles), Amethyst.
Shop it: Lotus jewelry →
♾️ Infinity — No Beginning, No End, No Explanation Required
The infinity loop is the simplest symbol here and the one people reach for most often, usually for someone else. A single line that crosses itself and returns — no start, no finish, no point at which it becomes something different.
Mathematically it's only a few centuries old. As an idea it's much older, and closely related to the Endless Knot of Tibetan Buddhism: the interweaving of things that cannot be separated. In everyday use it's become the symbol of the love that doesn't need a start date. Partners, mothers, daughters, the friend who's been there thirty years.
Wear it when: you want to carry a connection without announcing it. Or when you're marking something that was true before you named it. Full guide: Infinity Symbol Meaning in Jewelry →
Pairs with: Rose Quartz (unconditional love), Garnet (deep, rooted love), Moonstone (cycles, the long view).
Shop it: Infinity jewelry →
☸️ Prayer Wheel — Mantra in Motion, and Something to Do With Your Hands
In Tibetan practice, a prayer wheel is a cylinder containing a written mantra, spun clockwise. Each rotation is considered equivalent to reciting the mantra inside. The practice isn't about shortcuts — it's about embodiment. The prayer becomes a physical act rather than a mental one.
Worn as a pendant, that translates beautifully. A spinning prayer wheel necklace gives you something to turn between your fingers in the meeting, on the phone, in the waiting room. Some of mine open instead of spin — a mantra locket you can put your own words inside.
It's the most practical symbol in this guide, and I mean that as a compliment. Anxiety wants your hands busy. This gives them somewhere to go that means something.
Wear it when: your mind runs and your hands need a job. When you want a practice that doesn't require sitting still. When you'd rather carry the words than remember them.
Pairs with: Amethyst (calm), Smoky Quartz (grounding), Clear Quartz.
Shop it: Prayer Wheel jewelry →
The Thread Through All of It
Ten symbols. Dozens of cultures. Thousands of years.
Every single one of them is saying something about the same small set of things: you are protected. You are connected. You are in motion, and the motion has meaning. You are part of something that has no beginning and no end.
That's what I mean when I say symbols say the thing you don't always have words for. You don't have to practice Zen Buddhism to feel what a prayer wheel is pointing at. You don't have to know the full history of the Hamsa to feel what it means to wear an open hand. The symbols do the pointing. You bring the meaning.
The pieces in the Spiritual Symbols collection are made with genuine stone and real silver — and more importantly, with the intention that you know exactly what you're wearing and why. Keeping them looking like themselves is the easy part: the jewelry cleaning guide covers silver, plated finishes and stone settings without the fuss.
Because you deserve to know what your jewelry means.
Not sure which piece is yours right now?
Take the Gemstone Quiz — 60 seconds, tells you which stone fits the chapter you're in. Or if chakra energy is calling you, the Chakra Quiz will point you there.
New symbols, new stones, new meaning guides — in your inbox first.
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Keep Reading — Every Symbol Guide
- Evil Eye Meaning: History, Protection & How to Wear It
- Hamsa Hand Meaning
- Lotus Flower Meaning
- Third Eye Jewelry: For the Ones Who See Before They Look
- Tree of Life Meaning
- Infinity Symbol Meaning in Jewelry
- Om Meaning: The Sound Everything Started With
- What Does a Ring on Each Finger Mean?
- The Crystal Properties Guide — every stone named above, A to Z
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between the Evil Eye and the Third Eye?
They are completely different symbols with different origins. The Evil Eye (Nazar) is a protection amulet from Mediterranean and Middle Eastern traditions — you recognize it by the concentric blue circles. It's about deflecting harm. The Third Eye is an intuition symbol from Eastern traditions, usually drawn with sunburst rays radiating outward — it's about inner knowing. If a piece has concentric circles, it's Evil Eye. If it has rays, it's Third Eye.
Is it disrespectful to wear symbols from other cultures?
It's a question worth taking seriously, and there's no single answer that covers all symbols. What matters is intention and understanding. Wearing a symbol because it's pretty without knowing what it means is different from wearing it because you understand its history and feel a genuine resonance with what it carries. This guide exists for exactly that reason. Wear with knowledge, wear with respect, and wear with the recognition that these symbols were created to be carried, not collected.
What does a prayer wheel necklace do?
In Tibetan practice, a prayer wheel holds a written mantra and is spun clockwise — each rotation treated as a recitation of the words inside. Worn as a pendant, it gives you a physical practice rather than a mental one: something to turn between your fingers when your mind is running. Some designs spin; others open as a small locket so you can place your own written intention inside.
What is the Flower of Life symbol?
The Flower of Life is a sacred geometry symbol made of overlapping circles arranged in a symmetrical grid. It's one of the oldest symbols on earth — versions appear in the Temple of Osiris in Egypt (6,000+ years old), in Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks, and in ancient manuscripts across cultures. It represents the interconnectedness of all life and the idea that the same fundamental pattern underlies all of creation.
What does the Tree of Life symbolize?
Roots and branches as one system — growth upward requiring depth downward. It appears independently in Celtic, Norse, Egyptian, Jewish and Buddhist traditions, which suggests how naturally the metaphor arrives. In Celtic tradition it connected the underworld, earth and sky. In Kabbalah it maps the structure of creation. Every version agrees you are not separate from where you came from.
Can I wear multiple symbols at once?
Yes — and many people do. Layering symbols is a way of wearing multiple intentions at once. A Hamsa for protection, a Lotus for the chapter of becoming, an Infinity loop for the love that grounds you. The only thing to avoid is wearing symbols whose meanings directly contradict what you're moving toward. Otherwise: wear what calls to you, and know what each piece is doing.
What does it mean when a symbol "chooses" you?
Usually it means your eye keeps returning to it. You see it on someone else and can't stop looking. You read the meaning and it describes exactly the chapter you're in. That's not magic — that's recognition. Humans have used symbols for thousands of years precisely because some truths are easier to wear than to say out loud.
