A History of Birthstones: Why Certain Stones for Certain Months?
Gemstones have a long and beautiful history when it comes to their association with birth months. This history is a centuries old tradition. Gemstones have had historical significance in the Bible and throughout many world religious traditions. But gemstones are known more significantly for their astrological meanings and associations with the wearer's birth month.
Wearing birthstones that have some significance to the person and not the gemstone's color or beauty first became popular in Poland around the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. During this time it was the popular belief that when people wore their birthstone that they would obtain special powers. Each gemstone was thought to hold special powers. Each gemstone was assigned to a specific month, and throughout that month its powers were said to heighten. People strove to have a collection of 12 gemstones, so that they would have the right gemstone rings for each month.
Nowadays people wear gemstones for beauty and aesthetics, but they also wear gemstone jewelry for personal and spiritual significance. Gemstone jewelry comes in many different styles and you can find gemstone jewelry in just about every store that carries jewelry from trendy inexpensive shops to high end jewelry store chains. You can often find people wearing gemstone jewelry in the form of necklaces, bracelets, earrings and chokers. You can also find people that carry worry stones for spiritual reasons. Gemstones are also a significant part of today's fashion market. You will often see a particular gemstone come into style like turquoise, coral or citrine just to match the season's popular color schemes.
The origin of the astrological significance of gemstones comes from Tibetan culture. The Tibetans not only believed that each gemstone had significance for specific months, but they also believed that gemstones had other powers as well. For example, they believed that amethyst could cure drunkenness. The Indians also wore gemstones and ingested ground up gemstones in Ayurvedic medicine.
In 1912 the modern gemstone and birth month associated list was released. The list was made up first by the Jeweler's Association of America and was agreed upon worldwide as the modern standard. The current list is as follows:
January - Garnet
February - Amethyst
March - Aquamarine
April - Diamond
May - Emerald
June - Pearl
July - Ruby
August - Peridot
September - Sapphire
October - Opal
November - Yellow Topaz
December - Blue Topaz
Nowadays people wear gemstones for beauty and aesthetics, but they also wear gemstone jewelry for personal and spiritual significance. Gemstone jewelry comes in many different styles and you can find gemstone jewelry in just about every store that carries jewelry from trendy inexpensive shops to high end jewelry store chains. You can often find people wearing gemstone jewelry in the form of necklaces, bracelets, earrings and chokers. You can also find people that carry worry stones for spiritual reasons. Gemstones are also a significant part of today's fashion market. You will often see a particular gemstone come into style like turquoise, coral or citrine just to match the season's popular color schemes.
The origin of the astrological significance of gemstones comes from Tibetan culture. The Tibetans not only believed that each gemstone had significance for specific months, but they also believed that gemstones had other powers as well. For example, they believed that amethyst could cure drunkenness. The Indians also wore gemstones and ingested ground up gemstones in Ayurvedic medicine.
In 1912 the modern gemstone and birth month associated list was released. The list was made up first by the Jeweler's Association of America and was agreed upon worldwide as the modern standard. The current list is as follows:
January - Garnet
February - Amethyst
March - Aquamarine
April - Diamond
May - Emerald
June - Pearl
July - Ruby
August - Peridot
September - Sapphire
October - Opal
November - Yellow Topaz
December - Blue Topaz