BIRTHSTONES

INTRODUCTION

What are Birthstones?

They are generally highly coloured precious or semi-precious gemstones which for over hundreds of years have been associated with the month or star sign when a person was born. The stones are said to bring good fortune to the person who wears a jewel with the stone which was associated with the time of his or her birth.

Coloured gemstones have been prized for their beauty and mystic powers throughout the ages. In early times gemstones were valued for their magical powers and were often worn as amulets to ward off evil and as talismans to give the wearer certain powers.

Linking gems with birthdates can be traced back to ancient India and Babylon. Indian sages based their nine-gem birthstone system on the Vedas, the basis of Hinduism. For the Chaldean astrologers of ancient Babylon, gems were repositories of profound metaphysical properties. From the Indian and Babylonian system of links between ones ruling planets and their corresponding gems came the birth-month and birth-sign traditions.

There are two main categories of Birthstones (1) where a stone is associated with the month of birth and (2), the much older category where  the gemstones are associated with the Astrological Sign, which gives a greater emphasis upon the Planetary relationships for when the person was born.

For my first article on the subject I shall concentrate on the Birthstones which are associated with each month and I will endeavour to give a little of the folklore background to some of the gemstones along with the mineralogy of each of the minerals.

Each month has a traditional stone associated with it. Some of the stones however have been changed for the month they represent. This changed list is what  I shall describe as “modern”.

 In addition  there are a group of stones which are described as “Mystical” and these are from a list of Tibetan origin. 

Finally  there is what is described as “Ayurvedic” and these stones are from a list which was used in Ayurvedic Indian Medicine and has been used for over a 1000 year

January     February    March    April    May    June

July    August    September    October    November

December