Ocean jasper was only known from a few scattered examples when it was first described in 1922 but its source was not discovered for almost 80 years. I have recounted the dramatic story of its discovery elsewhere on this site. It was known to come from Madagascar, but the deposit is hidden underwater except at low tide. Apparently it was named for the patterns which resemble ocean foam. If you scroll down you'll see I carried on the ocean theme on the reverse. Some say ocean jasper is an example of an orbicular jasper, other varieties of which include our own California poppy jasper. Others say it is chalcedony and not a jasper at all. Zenz includes it in his monumental Agates.
Dr. Pough's Field Guide (see below) lumps all the jaspers into one small paragraph under "quartz" which doesn't give him much room to discuss the vast array of gorgeous jaspers we know and love. Wiki's article on orbicular jasper says it forms when needles of quartz and feldspar crystals form radial aggregates in highly silicified rhyolite. These aggregates seed the orbicular structure. Colorants can include hematite and goethite.
The African jade is a puzzle. As you know, the name "jade" is applied both to Nephrite (a calcium magnesium silicate) and Jadeite (a sodium aluminum silicate, a pyroxene which has relatives on the moon according to Dr. Pough). So I tried to find out whether "African jade" were classified as Nephrite or Jadeite. It turns out "African jade" is a calcium aluminum silicate (colored by chromium) and therefore it is technically opaque grossular garnet, not one of the jades at all.
Melody describes the metaphysical characteristics of ocean jasper under the general discussion of orbicular jasper and focuses on "service." Simmons and Ahsian provide a separate section for ocean jasper, giving it the recognition it surely deserves. Simmons says it is a stone of joy and high spirits and he specifically observes that it harmonizes with the quartz family. This explains why I felt so delighted when I discovered how happy the jasper was with the red star quartz. It surprised me since opaque stones often don't get along that well with quartz but this seemed to be a match made in heaven. The "African jade" or grossular garnet, Ahsian says, "is as potent a prosperity stone as I have ever worked with." She claims it heals limitations whether they affect health or wealth.
One of my favorite books on stones, Within the Stone, includes four magnificent photos and four essays on ocean jasper. The first is in the section devoted to "Time," the second in "Space," the third in "Law," and the last in "Art." Let's see, which one shall we quote? The photograph that looks most like our heart is in the section called "Law." The essay is written by Philip Ball, and it is titled, "Recipe for Omega-Minus." "...This recipe was first devised at Brookhaven National Laboratory in 1964. The bubbles of the omega-minus revealed the symmetry of the subatomic world, allowing all heavy particles to be classified in a scheme called the Eightfold Way..." We could leap from this fantastic subatomic world to the Eightfold Path of Buddhism, but perhaps we should bring our wandering thoughts back to this lovely collection of beautiful stones. Won't you order the set today and let it bring you joy and high spirits?