Birthstone Meanings
Posted on 14 January 2020
Every month of the year has a special birthstone with an extra special meaning! Read on to discover more about your birthstone and how it can aid in healing and wellness in your life!
Birthstone Meanings
Garnet - January Birthstone
If you have a birthday in January, Garnet is your birthstone. Garnet has a variety of shades, most commonly red but can also appear purple in color. Garnet is a healing stone, said to clear the body of toxins or clear the mind of negative thoughts. Garnet is a good stone for promoting spiritual balance as well, overall able to cleanse the body, mind and spirit of any unwanted feelings or energies.
It is said to be a very passionate stone, able to spark romance and boost sexuality in relationships. It can also open your mind up to long lasting love if you’re on the fence about diving into the dating pool and give you just the right push you need.
Garnet can also help increase your confidence and help you achieve your goals. For those nervous about taking on new tasks or asking for a well deserved raise, it's a great tool to have on hand.
For best results with Garnet, wear it as a pendant right above your heart as it is most recognized as a love stone.
For romance, confidence and spiritual, mental and physical healing, Garnet is the stone of choice.
Similar Stone: Ruby
Amethyst - February Birthstone
If you’re a February baby, then your birthstone is purple amethyst! Amethyst’s beautiful purple color made it a luxury stone in ancient times, as purple has long been the color of nobility and royalty. Because of its connection to royalty, Amethyst can be a great stone to keep around to promote wealth and prosperity. It is the stone of sobriety, or rather, a clear head. Ancient Roman’s would wear or have their valuables decorated in amethyst to prevent intoxication while drinking and to keep focus.
Nowadays, keeping hold of amethyst or wearing amethyst jewelry can stimulate intellect and clear the mind. Amethyst has been known for its ability to promote critical thinking and help wearers to more properly analyze their problems or fears.
Amethyst is a great problem solving stone, and overall a great healer for anxiety and irrational worry. It can also promote communication and and reignite passions lost in relationships. Amethyst is also a great healing stone for heartbreak.
For best results with Amethyst, it is good to wear Amethyst jewelry close to the head as it is connected to your crown chakra. Headbands, hair clips, earrings, and such.
For clarity of mind, choose Amethyst!
Similar Stone: Sapphire
Aquamarine - March Birthstone
For babies born in March, your birthstone is Aquamarine! Aquamarine comes is varying shades of soft greenish blues and can be considered the spokes-crystal of the sea. It is associated with purity and clarity and was once considered a good luck stone by sailors who believes the stone was the treasure of mermaids.
Aquamarine is greatly associated with the ocean, water, and purity. It is an excellent cleansing stone, and can inspire washing away insecurities and fears, wiping the slate clean, and promoting clarity in day to day life. Aquamarine is used for healing with the throat chakra, and is recommended for those who are public speakers or for those afraid to speak up for themselves in their personal or professional life. Aquamarine's association with water and cleansing is thought to wash away fears and anything that stifles you from speaking your truth. The symbolic clarity of Aquamarine inspires those who use it for the throat chakra to speak clearly and straightforwardly without resorting to anger or speaking from a place of stress.
Aquamarine inspires compassion, kindness, fair judgement, and sensibility. Aquamarine can inspire those who use it for its healing properties to see the world as more than black and white and be more open to the complexities and deeper emotions of others, making them much more just and willing to see a situation from all angles before making a decision or solving a problem.
Aquamarine can be used as a love crystal, and can aid those in complex relationships to see eye to eye on issues and better compromise together. Aquamarine makes for a great engagement stone because it symbolizes the eternal flow of love and the timelessness of the sea. It can also represent the ebbing and flowing of water, likened to the steady pace of your relationship.
Aquamarine is a great stone for balance and new beginnings. The fear and anxiety we build up over time from work, personal relationships and fear of the future can really block our chakras and prevent us from being our best selves. Aquamarine is a perfect aid for this as its healing properties promote cleansing of bad energies, insecurities and fears and promotes the wellness of a life more focused on the important things. Wiping away negative feelings can enhance your focus and bring a fresh perspective to you.
For clarity of mind, soul and heart, Aquamarine is the stone of choice!
Diamond - April Birthstone
For those with an April birthday, your birthstone is diamond! Diamond is one of the most desired gemstones in the world! It's the preferred stone of engagement rings, the most common choice for gift jewelry, and the jewel of the 50th wedding anniversary. Diamonds are one of the hardest natural resources on the planet, making them resilient to most damage. This may explain why they are the gem that represents the proposal of marriage and the 50th anniversary, as those receiving it know their love is stronger than any conflict or challenge.
Diamond can be seen as a stone of clarity, strength, and happiness. Those who wear diamond and use it for its healing properties can expect more success, strength in themselves and resilience to day to day problems, and mental clarity. Diamond is a stone of the crown chakra, meaning its healing properties all have to do with enhancements of the mind. Perhaps this is why royalty has always used diamond crowns and tiaras as their stone of choice.
Because of its connection to the crown chakra, diamond is a great purifier of negative thoughts, distraction, and bad energy plaguing the mind. Diamond is an energy booster, and can charge your mental and spiritual energy. Diamond as a healing stone, is excellent for those who suffer from depression, anxiety and insecurity in their lives.
Diamond isn't just a romantic gift, but is also an excellent love stone. Diamond is a symbol of commitment and loyalty and when used for healing, can promote bonding between partners as well as romance and desire. It's powers of clarity can open up the heart and mind to seeing new perspectives and being open to giving and receiving love, something many people, even when in relationships may not realize they struggle with.
Diamond is the stone of commitment, loyalty, romance, clarity, and positivity. It inspires us to bring out our inner light when we have been plagued with darkness. It is also a beautiful, sparkling spectacle when cut and polished - making it the most desired gem for earrings, bracelets, necklaces and engagement rings. For a stone that will energize your spirit and promote strength, resilience and love, diamond is the gemstone to wear!
Emerald - May Birthstone
For all our May babies out there, this gemstone is for you! Emerald is a widely popular gemstone known for its stunning green shade and iconic cut for engagement rings. In The Wizard of Oz, it was the Emerald City that everyone wanted to go to. Emerald’s appearance dates back to as early as 4000 BC and was worshipped by the ancient Incas. Emerald’s hold value in the bible, in the Islamic faith, the Hindu faith, with the ancient Egyptians, and the Romans. Emerald’s were believed to have good luck, reveal truth, promote fidelity, increase love and devotion, and represented fertility and rebirth.
Emerald’s have long been a stone of glamour with royalty and celebrities. Cleopatra had her own emerald mine, Marlene Dietrich was a repeat wearer of the stone, our favorite jewelry icon- Elizabeth Taylor- was given many different emerald pieces by her lover Richard Burton, Grace Kelly’s engagement ring was that of an emerald cut diamond, and even Jackie Kennedy wore a glamourous emerald ring.
Today, the emerald is not only a gorgeous stone to be worn as jewelry, but also can have significant benefits to your health and wellness. Emerald has been said to be a heart stone, or rather it is a strong protector of it. It can open your heart chakra and make you more susceptible to receiving or giving love. In this way, emerald can be beneficial in relationships, dispelling suspicion, paranoia and negative feelings towards your partner, allowing you to focus less on any fabricated doom and open up those good, loving feelings. Emerald’s can also help soothe heartbreak over a failed relationship, or help you cope over the loss of a loved one.
Emerald’s promote truth and wisdom, giving you the sight to really evaluate any troublesome situations with clarity and seeking the truth you need. This can apply to a lot of things: a romantic relationship on the rocks, tension in the workplace, bad blood between friends or a family member, etc…
The stone is great for self love and creativity. When you’ve lost your sense of self, are going through a depressive time, or are lacking creative flow, emerald’s can give you the boost you need. An emerald can help lift you up and spark your mind with creativity and desire for activity. With its connection to the heart chakra, the emerald with open your heart to recognizing your talents and see yourself as someone you admire. It helps stimulate your personal growth to help you find yourself and be set forth on the right path.
Emerald’s are the perfect stone for self love, romantic or unconditional love, and growth whether it be personal or in another matter. For best results, wear emerald over your heart to access your heart chakra and open yourself up to receiving and returning loving feelings to the world.
Similar Stone: Rose Quartz
Alexandrite - June Birthstone
If your birthday lands in June, Alexandrite is one of your two birthstones (Pearl also shares the June spot). Alexandrite is also the gemstone of the 55th anniversary! Alexandrite doesn’t have quite as long of a history like that of sapphire or ruby because it was only barely discovered in the 19th century by Russian miners. Alexandrite gets its name from Prince Alexander II of Russia. Alexandrite was the highest acclaimed stone in Russia at the time because of its ability to shine as both a red and green colored stone simultaneously (red and green being the military colors of the time). Alexandrite became popular in the states after Tiffany’s got their hands on it. Russians believed Alexandrite to be a stone of good omen, today it is seen as a manifester of love, good luck, and abundance. It is also believed to connect and balance the physical world and the astral world.
Depending on what has been done to the stone and the lighting, alexandrite can appear as more red, more green or even purple.
Alexandrite stimulates the crown chakra, the seventh chakra located on the top of the head. The crown chakra is the top of the funnel so to speak, giving the other six chakras their shared energy. Because of its connection to the brain, Alexandrite helps boost creativity, intuition and imagination.
The stone can also warm the hearts of those who have lost their joy and are either far too disciplined for their own good, or just lost their spark. But more importantly, it inspires you to take a look in the mirror and realize that you are your own source of happiness. Alexandrite is a hopeful stone, able to bring light into those who have lost their hearts to darkness. Additionally, this is a great stone for those suffering from loss of a loved one or heart break. Alexandrite can be very comforting in these times and be a great influencer of seeing life as glass half full.
Perhaps we can see alexandrite’s dual colors as a symbol for prosperity from the universe and prosperity in oneself. This may be one of alexandrite’s greatest messages of all. The stone not only brings you the energy you need to achieve wealth and abundance but grants you the ability to pull out the confidence and charisma you have within yourself. The balance of the two will manifest the good luck and wealth you desire or at least give you the tools to achieve it.
Alexandrite is a great stone for those looking for romance, looking to boost romance in their current relationship, or find the light in their otherwise jaded hearts. Those who have faced infidelity or bad luck in relationships may become hardened over time and lose their trust in romantic relationships and turn away from them all together. Alexandrite can soften their hearts and make them open to loving again despite a troubled past. For married couples or long term relationships, alexandrite helps you to see both sides of the coin. For some of us, it's hard to understand the perspective of others and we need to take a moment to step outside of ourselves and into the shoes of the person we’re quarreling with. Alexandrite does just that, helps us see the other side of things so that we may better understand the person we’re having a conflict with and can perhaps come to an agreement. This also works in non romantic relationships as well.
For best results with alexandrite, keep near you to use it as a calming support either in your purse or as jewelry to keep by you at all times. Otherwise, place alexandrite somewhere in your home or your place of work to keep its energy flowing in your aura.
Similar Stone: Emerald
Ruby - July Birthstone
Ruby is a very passionate gemstone. It’s fiery red color promotes romance, sexuality, confidence, power and high energy. The ruby has always been highly regarded since ancient times. In India, rubies were seen as a jewel of high social status and even broke down the clarity and color of rubies into class systems. In ancient China, wearing a ruby meant you were a high military rank or that you held high stature in nobility. Ruby is a stone referred to quite a bit in the bible. In 1939, the release of The Wizard of Oz spiked the interest in rubies due to the iconic ruby slippers Judy Garland wore in the film.
Ruby is considered a high energy stone more than likely because of its rich red color. Ruby gets its name from the latin word, “ruber” which translated literally means red. Red is the color of love, anger, and passionate feelings, thusly, ruby represents emotions on extreme ends of the spectrum. Ruby is also associated with blood, fire, life force, vigor and courage.
Ruby is a stone of the heart chakra, and an excellent energy booster. Rubies stimulate the heart chakra and can help balance the body and blood flow. The ruby gemstone can sharpen the mind and make you more motivated in reaching your goals or finishing projects. Ruby grants you energy and a zest for life. Rubies work on all extremes. In this case, being a positive energy booster to get you to where you want to be but may not have the physical or emotional energy to do. Ruby fills you with a lust for life that you were lacking and adds a spring in your step.
Ruby alongside being a heart chakra stone, is a very strong love stone, if not the most well known love stone. As aforementioned, rubies work in extremes, making ruby the perfect stone to wear or keep around for a spark in romance, rekindling a romance that has lost its fire, increasing sexual energy or desire, or bringing new romance after a despairing heartbreak. In fact, ruby is the gemstone of choice for both the 15th and 40th wedding anniversary gift!
Rubies have also been said to be a good shield stone. Like its sister the sapphire, a ruby can make an invisible force field protecting you from negative energy and unwanted conflicts. Some say ruby is a great stone to ward off evil spirits, prevent home invasions or fires and reduce nightmares.
For best results with ruby, wear ruby over your heart to stimulate your heart chakra and watch the passion for love and life kick in.
For a stone that will ignite you, give your heart to rubies!
Similar Stone: Garnet
Peridot - August Birthstone
Peridot is commonly known as the birthstone for August. Unlike the deep green hue of Emerald, Peridot is a lighter, brighter green shade that is very popular in modern jewelry. Aside from being a pretty green gem, Peridot has very strong celestial connections. In ancient Egypt, Peridot was a very popular gem amongst the Pharaohs, and was sought after for its healing and protective value. The Egyptians believed the sun gave the Peridot stone its healing energy and held it in high esteem. Consequently, August’s horoscope sign is Leo, a sun sign!
Because of Peridot’s connection to sunlight, it is referred to as a warm and sunny stone, full of positivity and light. It promotes confidence and bravery and can make your aura brighter and more welcoming. It’s predominant colors are green with yellow hues which is known to open you up to light, warmth and positivity.
Peridot has been known to aid sleep, calm tension, suppress overthinking and worry. As well as help stop vicious, toxic cycles such as self sabotage or self destructive behaviour. Peridot is said to also aid in healing or detaching oneself from bad relationships whether it be family, friends, or a lover. Peridot is a great emotional healer. So much of what goes on in our brains can affect our day to day lives making us depressed, moody, sluggish, and discouraged. This stone helps to shine a light on the darkness we have enveloped ourselves in and furthermore helps us pull ourselves out.
As far as chakras are concerned, Peridot is great for the heart chakra (your emotions) and the solar plexus chakra (your center energy). The heart chakra is located in the chest while the solar plexus chakra is located below the sternum and above the naval. It only makes sense that peridot, being a sun stone, would aid in boosting your solar plexus chakra, as it induces positive energy and warmth. Your solar plexus chakra is activated in moments when you need to be brave and exert self control. Thusly, if you feel like this chakra is blocked and you have trouble being more assertive, Peridot is a great stone to have!
For best results with Peridot, wear as a pendant above your heart or a longer necklace having it fall right above your naval where your center energy is held. If you have a belly button piercing, looking for jewelry with Peridot can also be beneficial.
Boost your center energy and find your inner strength with Peridot!
Similar Stone: Sunshine Aura Quartz
Sapphire - September Birthstone
Those born in September will know sapphire all too well as it is their birthstone! Sapphire’s name of origin translated literally means “blue stone”. Sapphire was highly regarded in ancient times, being worn as a talisman of protection and used as a healer or preventative of poisons. Some historians have even claimed that the Ten Commandments were inscribed on slates of sapphire and not stone. Sapphire has always been a gemstone of royalty worn throughout the ages, from the rulers of ancient Greece, to Princess Diana of Wales in the eighties. Sapphire since has become a very popular choice for engagement rings.
Surprisingly not all sapphires are blue, it just has always been the association. Other colors sapphire can appear as are: blue, pink, green, black, yellow, orange and purple. It is important to note that sapphires do not come in red. Rubies are almost completely similar they are also stones from the Beryl family, but the red color is what sets them apart.
Sapphire, above all, is a protection stone. It will keep you safe from attacks on your emotions, your credibility and reputation, your spiritual energy, and occasionally physical ailments.
Sapphire has been known to be a confidence booster, making you a better speaker and making you more influential to the people around you. You’ll know what to say and the perfect time to say it to make any situation a more positive one. Your increased influence will make you more desirable to be around, bringing people with likened energies and interests in your field and putting you on the path to successful business, relationships, and friendships.
Sapphire instills self control and a sense of insightfulness. Sapphire will keep you calm and protect you from any impulsive decisions that will affect you negatively. With the insightfulness sapphire inspires, you’ll have a better sense of who you are and what you want to be so you can better focus on accomplishing your goals. Being more insightful also makes you more receptive to others intentions and emotions, making it easier to understand people.
Sapphire can make you more vulnerable and honest, in the sense that you are more of an open book to those around you and have no hidden agendas buried within. You’ll be more straightforward with what you want, making these things easier to gain instead of wasting time hoping for change. Sapphire will inspire you to be more honest with your feelings and opinions so that others will better understand you and know what your intentions are.
For best results, keep a sapphire crystal displayed prominently in your home or any place you’d like to feel its energy. Alternatively, sapphire can be worn as any form of jewelry or be kept on your person for safe keeping.
Feel like the world is your candy store and nothing can keep you down with sapphire!
Similar Stone: Amethyst
Opal - October Birthstone
Opal is such a unique stone, with its pearlescent surface and dancing rainbow hues. Very popular in jewelry nowadays, Opal actually used to be a very controversial stone said to bring bad luck, and for the longest time the Opal industry crashed due to this ongoing spectacle that Opal was bad for you. Things turned around for Opal when the Australians introduced black Opal, making it popular once again. In the middle ages, women desired Opal jewelry because they believed it would keep their hair from fading or falling out.
Opal is said to be a stone of devotion, love, and fidelity. A great stone to give a significant other. It’s a very emotional stone and can boost romance, sensuality, and desire. It’s been known to intensify feelings or love or sexuality and release inhibitions.
Opal is often referred to as the “eye stone”. Since it sparkles so brilliantly, it is said that it can aid in matters of eyesight or, helping to see things more clearly, potentially opening up your third eye.
Black Opal is known for helping those who wear it to face fears or overcome anxieties. It’s a great stone to keep around if you are a person plagued with worry or irrational fears. Black Opal helps to dispel you of your worry and eliminate negative energies.
Because Opal reflects light, it is said that Opal is the perfect stone to bring positivity into an otherwise dark world. Those that suffer from depression, anger, or heartbreak can benefit greatly from keeping Opal around as a guiding light. Since it is a reflective stone, it is also a karmic stone, meaning that what you put out into the world will come back to you. So keep this in mind when working with Opal!
For best results with Opal, wear it as a ring on the middle finger of your right hand. This will make it easily accessible to stare into if you wish to access your third eye and cleanse your mind.
For a stone that will lighten up your life and open up your mind, bring Opal into your life!
Similar Stone: Carnelian
Citrine - November Birthstone
Citrine is famously known for being a manifestation stone. Taking your best intentions and heart’s desires and transferring that energy into a citrine stone will help bring those things to you. Perhaps not always in the way you’d expect or immediately, but citrine can work as a positive magnet for bringing those things you long for most to you. Citrine is associated with the sun, therefore stimulating positive and happiness chakras, not too different from the properties of peridot. Citrine will take your negative energy and transform it into positive energy, rather than make an invisible force field to block the bad vibes around you, it takes the bad and works it into good.
Citrine is a great positivity creator and success maker. Because Citrine is a manifestation stone above all else, it will bring the people, wealth, happiness and success you need. Because citrine brings forth all this wealth, prosperity and good fortune, it in turn will spark your generosity and make you more giving to those around you.
As for interpersonal relationships, citrine is great for smoothing over conflicts or long drawn out bad blood. It helps heal with heartbreak and is a great reflector of those who intend to do you harm or betray you. Citrine takes any bad energy that has resulted from these and helps you to personally heal and find the right things to say if there is any space for redemption.
Citrine is pretty popular for its magnetism towards wealth. This is the stone people gravitate towards when they are looking for an increase in salary or just some good luck financially. Keep a small shard of citrine in your purse or wallet to bring financial abundance your way!
For best results with citrine, wear as a longer necklace near your core (happiness chakras), keep displayed somewhere in the home, or in your purse or wallet. You can even buy a small sachet to keep your citrine stone and mix in with spare change to get the money flowing!
Similar Stone: Peridot
Turquoise - December Birthstone
Turquoise is undoubtedly one of the oldest gemstones to date, with a long history of trade and spiritual use. It’s bright blue-green hue, opaque sheen and smooth touch has made it a long desired gem and a popular choice for jewelry in Native American and Southwestern culture. Turquoise was sought after by the Egyptians, Native Americans, Persians, Chinese, Aztecs and Incas for its power of protection, luck, wisdom and even immortality. Native Americans to this day use turquoise as a spiritual stone to protect burial grounds and call upon the spirits. They believe that wearing real true turquoise (not dyed Magnesite, a stone used to mimic Turquoise for jewelry sales) would make you one with the universe, calling it the universal stone.
Turquoise has always been a protective stone, used to keep good will amongst those who wear it, and protect them from harm. But turquoise is also a stone of tranquility and calming to those who wear or keep it around. Turquoise can heal the hearts of those who have otherwise been scorned. It is a great emotional healer. Turquoises tranquil blue color is easy on the eyes and mind which would make sense why people use it in times of stress or trouble.
You could consider turquoise to be a cure all for spiritual healing, there’s really not an ailment that turquoise isn’t good for. The stone is also a great tool for guidance. Turquoise is recommended for those that have to make difficult decisions. If you’re running a business and you’re not sure if you should take certain risks, turquoise can make you see more clearly and evaluate your options better. It can calm the stress of big decision making and lead you in the right direction.
Turquoise can make you reflect on who we are and the path we are following. Turquoise may bring out some unpleasant memories of bad decisions or regrets, but the healing stone helps you to take those choices and turn them into lessons and promote acceptance in the person you are today. In addition to self acceptance, it can also make you more forgiving when it comes to those who have wronged you, giving yourself the opportunity for clarity and peace by letting go of past pain.
For best results with turquoise, wear as a ring, as prayer beads, or as a necklace and keep it close to you to begin your spiritual cleansing.
For a clean slate and peace of mind, wear turquoise!
