Gemstone History and Folklore at Isabella

For the Persians as well as the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Incas and Aztecs, the twelve gemstones now attached to the calendar year, for sentimental reasons, were items of great power: amulets, guardians, even convoys into the after life. Cleopatra ground pearls into her wine to drink in their beauty. Emperor Nero watched the gladiators through sunglasses made of emeralds. In medieval Europe, aquamarines in the mouth allowed safe questioning of the devil; wearing topaz protected against sudden death. The custom of giving and receiving these stones is a poignant vestige of humanity's efforts to comprehend the mysteries of the universe and to summon its aid to safeguard loved ones.

The associate of specific gems with the months of the year has a long history as well. Among the earliest known links to the twelve birthstones commonly accepted in the United States as the holy breastplate of Aaron, brother of Moses, who helped lead the Israelites from Egypt; the gems affixed to the breastplate represented the twelve tribes of Israel, are listed in chapters 28 and 39 of Exodus in the Old Testament. Wearing birthstone jewelry is a custom that began in Poland in the 1700's. By the twentieth century, various lists of birthstones, all apparently evolved from Aaron's sacred garment, had found sponsors in jewelry and gemstone trade associations.

The peculiar magic attributed to specific birthstones is a matter of personal opinion, but all the gems share a true and transcendent power: They command your gaze. They escort you into the depths and facets of their crystalline and ordered universe. They gather light and shine it back on you. They link you inextricably to someone you love (or in some cases, once loved), and to other times in your life. They keep your history.

The power of gems to take you in can actually be explained. It is simply a matter of how jewels play with the electromagnetic vibrations we call light. The come-hither properties of precious stones - color, fire, luster, and luminescence - are optical. Seeing is succumbing. Light travels in waves; the human eye perceives these waves as colors. Of all wavelengths of light are absorbed by a gemstone, it appears colorless. The inherent color of a gem, as defined by gemologists, is the characteristic color it presents in the absence of impurities. But in many cases it is those very impurities, just like our own signature imperfections, that give the stones their color, and in turn, their personalities.

Serendipitous trace minerals present in gems - especially chrome, iron, cobalt, titanium, manganese, nickel and vanadium - absorb different wavelengths of light and thereby give each stone its own particular color. That is why so many gems - not just diamonds and sapphires but also garnets, topazes, and tourmalines - come in so many dazzling hues.

The cut of gem also affects its color, by altering the way light travels through the jewel. Most cuts fall into or between two categories: the brilliant, which has triangular or kite shaped facets; and the step, whose rectangular facets descend in parallel planes. A full cut brilliant must have at least fifty-eight facets, allowing a stone the most spectacular light show possible. Elegant step cuts are often reserved for gems whose color and transparency are magnificent in themselves. A third category, the cabochon, or dome-shape cut, can show off the polish of the stone and bring out features known as "inclusions": internal solids, liquids, and gases that create effects such as a sapphire's six pointed star.

Gemologists classify birthstones, like all gems, according to their constituent minerals. Diamonds, for instance are composed of carbon atoms that crystallize instantaneously under extreme pressure and temperature deep in the planets core. The corundum group, which includes ruby and sapphire, are crystals of aluminum oxide. Emeralds and aquamarines are members of the beryl family, whose signature elements are aluminium, beryllium, silicon, and oxygen. These mineral classifications are a reminder of the humble origins of gems and their formidable transformation from rough to cut stone. A gem is quite literally the cut and polished offspring of a piece of earth that has been shaped by time and powerful physical forces. "Gems to be" are spewed from volcanoes and tossed up by ocean waves. Or they rest quietly in sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic rock, waiting to be unleashed by water, wind, or the pick ax of a miner. Prospecting for diamonds if often a methodical process backed by enormous capital, but many deposits of other gemstones, even today, are discovered by accident, which only adds to their allure.

Every birthstone contains the story of its parent rock, its birth, its passage from gem cutter to merchant, its accumulated lore and its provenance. It is like a book that will never conclude, for a new chapter begins each time a gem is given and received as a token of love.

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Protects sleepers from nightmares, travelers from dangers; Noah purportedly hung a garnet lantern on the bow of the Ark for navigation. Some tribesmen in America and India used blood-colored garnet bullets, believing them deadlier than dead.

Diana, goddess of the hunt, turned the maiden Amethyst to quartz, saving her from Dionysus, god of wine. His tears stained her purple. Gem stood for sobriety; amethyst cups prevents intoxication. St. Valentine's amethyst ring was engraved Cupid.

Myth says aquamarine washes a shore from jewel boxes of sirens. Protects ocean voyages; guards against sea monsters. Also soothes marital discord. Bloodstone signifies martyrdom, as in Christ's crucifixion. Still a medicine and aphrodisiac in India.

Ancients believed the gems were crystal lightning, splinters of stars, tears of the gods. Largest ever found: Cullinan diamond, 3,106 carats. Famous Koh-i-noor diamond, belonging to Britain's Queen Mother, is thought to be 5,000 years old.

Symbol of rebirth, romance; color embodies spring. Soothes soul, sharpens wits, changes color upon infidelity. Cleopatra passionate for them; Egyptian mines date from 1650 B.C. Incas' Crown of Andes said to have 453 emeralds weighing about 1,523 carats.

Pearl is the Chinese symbol of wealth, power, longevity. Indians used pearl-adorned swords to honor tears of sorrow wrought by battle. To Hindus, moonstones were bits of moonbeams. Alexandrite was discovered in Russia (1839) on the birthday of Czar Alexander II.

Blood-red fire explains why ruby is said to harbor the spark of life and possess power to light up darkness. Symbol of health, wealth, wisdom, passion, triumph in love. Brings good luck to gamblers. Linked to Tuesday, summer, and St. Matthew.

Peridot, among oldest gemstones, was used for beads in Egypt as early as 1580 B.C. Once mined at night; said to be not easily seen by day. Symbol of sun, amulet against night terrors. Onyx cared with Mars, god of war, gave Roman soldiers courage.

Longtime symbol and guardian of purity, worn by clergy to avoid temptations. Thought to cure eye disease by touch, to protect against snakes. In thirteenth-century France, gem had power to transform stupidity to wisdom, peevishness to good humor.

Opals symbolize magic, love, hope. Superstition that wearing them is unlucky for those not born in October is from Sir Walter Scott's novel Anne of Geierstein. Tourmaline lacks rich lore of older gems but is said to protect wearer against bad decisions.

Topaz, the sun jewel, reminded the Egyptians of Ra and the Romans of Jupiter. Worn as an amulet against harm; invested with power to break spells, thought to improve eyesight. Citrine guarded against snake venom and evil thoughts.

In third century, turquoise was said to protect owner from falling off a horse. To native Americans, embodies blue of heaven, green of earth. From ancient times zircon believed to heal disease; worn during plague, fourteenth-century Europe. Said to bring sound sleep.