Birthstones

If you want to go straight to find your birthstone, at the bottom of this blog you will find three birthstone lists. The last one, named 'Godessa', lists the birthstones I will be using for the Cosmic Goddess Amulets. If you want to know a bit more about the history of birthstones keep reading :)

The concept of birthstones as we know them today has an interesting history.

From what we know, it begins in biblical times, over 2500 years ago, with something called the breastplate of Aaron, which was set with 12 precious stones that were said to hold great power and could foretell people's fate.

This gemstone breastplate was written about in the book of Exodus, and though no connection was made at that time, five hundred years later a historian created one between the 12 stones of the breastplate, the 12 months of the year and the 12 zodiac signs. Inspired by the historian's teachings people started wearing the gemstones in elaborate designs hoping to harness their power.

Over the next five hundred years the story of birthstones weaved in and out of our culture, mixing with influences from other traditions, such as Hinduism, where gemstones were also associated with certain powers, deities, days and months.

Then we get to around the 16th century and find evidence of the concept that we still use today, of wearing one stone for your month of birth.

This tradition continued over the centuries; however, it was only in 1912 in America that the National Association of Jewellers met and decided to standardise which gemstones were associated with which month. And although there have been a few additions in more recent times, it has pretty much stayed the same to this day.

So as you can see the history of birthstones is intertwined with history, myth and magic. And to continue this tradition, I have decided to weave my own interpretation into it. Below you will find three lists.

The first is the original standardised birthstone list created in 1912 by the American National Association of Jewellers.

Next we have the modern version still used today as the 'standard'.

And finally we have the Godessa version, which lists the birthstones I will use for the Cosmic Goddess Amulets. I love the idea of evolving this over time to connect it to the goddesses too, so watch this space!

I hope you enjoyed reading about birthstones and it helped with some decision making :)