A few years ago, my wife and I purchased from our Thai suppliers some rubies that were probably from Burma. We wondered what the conditions were under which they were mined and cut, and if owning rubies from Burma was out of alignment with our values.

This past October, after the brutal squelching of the Burmese pro-democratic movement resulting in scores of deaths, Burmese rubies have made the headlines.

When we consider the notion of heart this Valentine's day, it is easy, in our world where commodity is valued over humanity, to be too small in our hearts, falling into the illusion that our entire live is a cast like a shadow against a cave wall. Heart has become a pump for which we need take daily doses of (some cholesterol drug); its rhythm, our very beat, reduced to jagged lines on a computer screen.

A Google search for "fair trade jewelry" will bring up numerous companies, many of which sell ethnic jewelry produced in small villages in the developing world. The 'fair trade' concept draws the socially responsible shopper, yet the third party labeling organization, Fair Labeling Organization (FLO)- of which Transfair USA is a member - does not currently list jewelry as a category certifiable as fair trade.

Long, long ago, when the Earth was young and Elements were Divine, the Storm God lolled about, playing amidst the wind and clouds in his luminous sphere. The rain came down in sheets, whipped through the sky, pelting the earth.

Amid the lightning strikes, with black clouds riding the mountains and plains like emboldened dragons, the sunlight broke through the darkness.

The diamond - a pure, essential form of carbon set in a ring, held by a man on his knees - represents commitment, fidelity and the beauty of matrimony. But the diamond has other traditions and uses as well, long forgotten.

According to Talmudic texts and a medieval Europe juror, a diamond's sparking brilliance increases with innocence and dims with guilt.

"Emeralds are very a green stone, because to speak of its greenness, it makes the air green," writes the fourteenth century scholar, Chevalier Jean de Mandeville, which explains the remarkable fact that monkey wrench gang ecologists and Wall Street tycoons have all been mystified by emeralds.

Yet before visiting your local jeweler, take the advice of the Roman magician, Damigeron who, driving his chariot under the influence of Egyptians, wrote that, "to know the power of emeralds given by God, it should be carved like a scarab beetle with Isis on its belly before being consecrated and mounted on your brooch.

An old Vedic story describes the demon god, Vela, ripped apart by demigods. Vela's body tumbled down to the earth. When he hit his skin shattered into yellow sapphires that scattered like mystic seeds throughout the Himalayas.

Vela's eyes became shards of divine energy, the seeds of blue sapphires. These tumbled to Sri Lanka and other areas of Southeast Asia - areas even today where sapphires are mined.

Amethyst is said to cure hangovers, bring spiritual wisdom, and even capture wild beasts, all of which may be particularly helpful if you are raising young children or working in the business world. To gain a deeper insight into how these qualities might tie together, let us look at the old stories and dive more deeply into their meaning.

The lore of amethyst is intimately rooted in Bacchus, the ecstatic god of fertility and wine, and the patron of tragedy.

Try using the mystical power of aquamarine to summon the dead, or for protection against demonic spirits, suggest Albertus Magnus (1193-1280). (Kunth p. 24). But take heed that you engrave your talisman with the image of an eagle first, which can be easily done by your local practitioner of alchemy, who may also known as the village fool.

Aquamarine's lore stretches back to the breast plate of the high priest Aaron.

Offer a large ruby to the Hindu deity, Krisna, the eternal child, and you will be reincarnated as an emperor. Offer a smaller ruby and in the next life, you'll be merely a king. If you believe that existence is not cyclical and have figured out who you were before you were born, the thirteenth century physician Naharari of Kashmire has more practical advice: rubies are a cure for flatulence.