I hate my Birthstone!

I've never liked my birthstone, much. Sure Turquoise is pretty, but I always wanted something with more bling. Being a product of the 1950's and born in December I never knew that I had a choice when it came to birthstones. Sure my choice was limited to Turquoise or Zircon but at least I had a choice. If I had done a little research I would have found out that just about any light blue stone would work for me. We all have alternatives when it comes to selecting birthstones.

Why would we want a different stone? If you were born in April your Birthstone is Diamond. Can you afford that? Can you get enough Diamonds together to make a statement? I know a lady born in August that hates my birthstone (Peridot) she thinks that it is just ugly green stone.

Most of those gemstones that we currently consider as birthstones were selected in 1912. With some checking around, you will find that there is plethora of choices when choosing your signature stone or color.

Choosing a birthstone is really about choosing a color. If you truly hate the color and choices of your birthstone, why not pick a color that you like and stick with jewelry pieces that fall in the color range?

Elizabeth Taylor was born February 27 1932. This means that her birthstone is Amethyst and her Zodiac Stone is Amethyst for Pisces . She pretty much rejected these for Diamonds, Sapphires and Later in Life Tanzanite.

Buyers make decisions on which gemstone to wear based on its color and the zodiac signs linked to that color. For more about this read "Birthstones a History" The color green is coupled with Spring. Emerald became the green stone representing spring, a time of rebirth. Just about all green stones were called Emerald. (Colors for the other seasons were Ruby for Summer, Sapphire for Autumn, and Diamond for Winter.)

Gemstone folklore came from legends and mythology. An example of this was the idea that Amethyst protects against drunkenness. This started with a Greek legend about, Bacchus.

This story is from a book of French verse

The god Bacchus, offended at some neglect that he has suffered, was determined to avenge himself, and declared that tigers should devour the first person he should meet. Fate willed it that this luckless mortal was a beautiful and pure maiden named Amethyst, who was on her way to worship at the shrine of Diana. As the tiger sprang at her, she sought the protection of the goddess, and was saved from a worse fate by being turned into a pure white stone. Recognizing the miracle and sorry for his cruelty, Bacchus poured the juice of the grape as a libation over the petrified body of the maiden. Giving to the stone the beautiful violet hue that we see today.- The poem in which this story occurs is “Amours et nouveaux eschanges des pierres precieuses,” written in 1576 and dedicated to Henri III

Long before our twelve-month calendar was adopted, astrologers mapped the religious symbols of gemstones to the twelve signs of the zodiac. The gemstones associated with each zodiacal sign vary through the centuries. This is the current list:

In Exodus 28:17-21, specific gemstones were associated with the twelve tribes of Israel. People of Jewish heritage may wish to choose their birthstones based on tribal names. Historians have complied several lists of which stone goes with each name. This list varies, depending on how the old gemstone names are interpreted. Paul E. Desautels (1920-1991), the curator of minerals at the U. S. National Museum of Natural History (Smithstonian Institution), author of The Gem Kingdom, offers the following list, which uses modern gemstone names:

Christianity influenced the symbolism of gemstones. George Kunz, in his book The Curious Lore of Precious Stones, says specific gemstones were also associated with the twelve guardian angels and the twelve apostles. He offers the following lists.

Other authors have their own lists. There is a set of birthstones guardian angels on the market. The manufacturers of the angels used the modern list of birthstone colors.

Kunz also has a list of birthstones based on your day of birth:

The birthstone associated with each month has varied. At first gemstones were named by color. All red stones, including garnets were called Ruby. Red was the color for January, so people born in January wore Ruby (or really just any red stone, including dyed and treated stones) for their as birthstone.

One of the reasons for the diversity of stones is that people in different countries choose birthstones by what is available locally this means hat birthstones can vary by region. The American Birthstone for June is Pearl; most European countries use Moonstone (again it is the color).

Imitation gemstones may be chosen based on the birthstone colors: