When the ocean turns to stone
The mermaids give up their treasure
The goddess of light and dark
Voices truth and wisdom in equal measure

Aquamarine is one of the birthstones for March.  This beautiful blue green gem is a beryl, the same family as emerald.  It is beryllium aluminum silicate with a Mohs hardness of 7.5 to 8.  The ocean blue of this gem comes from traces of iron.  The name aquamarine, comes from the Latin for "water of the sea".  Some of the best sources for aquamarine are Brazil, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Australia, Kenya, Madagascar, and the US.

This stone of ancient use was believed to be the treasure of the mermaids, giving protection to sailors.  It is also one of the stones of Merlin, opening the doors of magic and psychic ability.  According to tinyrituals.com , this "mermaid stone is a song from the deep and brings whispers of salt-water fables..."  It truly is a symbol of deep ocean, deep emotions, and deep spirituality and happiness.  

Aquamarine carries the energy of hope, compassion, and calm balance emotions.  It represents the Goddess and the divine feminine.  It honors the deep feminine, both the light and the dark.  This stone connects to deep ocean energy and the cycle of life.  It is a stone of self worth, courage, empowerment.

This magical stone is believed to enhance mental clarity and focus.  It is believed to give the person possessing it wisdom, increased intellect, and access to inner knowledge.  This is a good stone to use if you desire to increase your intuition or clairvoyance.  It can encourage emotional healing and the deep connection to the emotions and the truth found in your heart.  In doing so, it aids in speaking your truth in an honest and healthy way.

If you are feeling challenged, aquamarine can bring hope.  It is a stone of protection that shields from negative energy.  The Greeks believed that it protected sailors from drowning.  Some believed that it protected them from toxins.  It might even help release your negative patterns.

I encourage you to check out this little bit of ocean turned to stone.  Dive into the depths of this beautiful gem and get in touch with your sacred feminine.

Petrified wood is a gem that was formed when the ancient tree was killed and buried in a fine silt before it could decay.  The organic wood was slowly replaced by minerals as it slowly degraded.  In most places where petrified wood is found, the mineralization occurred 250 million to 65 million years ago with silicon dioxide.  Although this can vary, most petrified wood is agatized and has a Mohs hardness of 6.5 to 7.  Some of the most spectacular petrified wood comes from Morocco and the petrified forest in Arizona, USA.

Petrified wood symbolizes strength, stability, and patience.  This reflects the fossilization process itself, which takes thousands of years to replace the original wood with more stable stone.  This slow process of transformation and stabilization is one of balance and time.

Energetically, petrified wood is seen as the connection between the physical and the spiritual world.  It is the connection between life on earth and the earth herself.  Many believe that petrified wood gives access to ancient knowledge, ancient earth energy, and ancestral knowledge.  

It helps you connect to your inner wisdom and your psychic abilities.  It encourages thrust in your intuition and wisdom, and trust in the flow of life.  Petrified wood facilitates past life recall and the resolution of blockages.  This is a gem of transformation, encouraging change and growth.  It also lends its strength and stability during those changes.  It encourages integrity and endurance.

Whether plain or spectacular, petrified wood can ground you in the balance and wisdom of earth's cycles.
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Creativity and spirituality
Quartz of a purple hue
Intuition and clarity
Balance for all you do

The birthstone for February is amethyst.  This quartz in beautiful purple hues has a Mohs hardness of 7 and the same chemical composition as clear quartz, silicon dioxide.  The purple tones come primarily from traces of iron in the matrix with possible additions of manganese or aluminum depending on the source of information.  Citrine and amethyst are closely related and are often found in the same deposit, the difference being the amount of irradiation that the stone is exposed to.  This relatively common form of quartz is found in many parts of the world, including Brazil, Canada, Bolivia, Mexico, India, Madagascar, and the US.

Amethyst has long been seen as a stone of the clergy and of royalty.  There is evidence of its use in jewelry and ceremonial items dating back at least 25,000 years.  The Greeks and 
Romans believed that it would protect from drunkenness, so they added amethyst to their wine goblets.  In some cases, they carved the wine goblet from amethyst.  The word 'amethyst' comes from the Greek word for not drunken.  This gem is associated with the god of wine, Dionysus for the Greeks and Bacchus for the Romans.

In today's world, amethyst is associated with passion, creativity and spirituality.  It is seen as a gem that can help calm passion into a focused and productive creativity.  This is the type of creativity that is found "in the zone".  This is the passionate pursuit that is associated with wealth, prosperity, and abundance.

Amethyst is seen as a stone of spiritual connection and protection.  It is a stone of peace of mind, calming the mind and the emotions.  This aids with meditation, mental discipline, and increased intuition.  Those seeking spiritual insight and wisdom often use amethyst as an aid.  It may also help you access your psychic gifts.

Amethyst is one of the gems that I love to work with.  I wear it as a part of my jewelry set to encourage creativity.  I also find that it encourages calmness during difficult times.  I have put a piece in the crown position of my chakra set to aid in connecting with universal energy and spiritual wisdom.  It could also be used as a gem for the third eye to encourage intuition and psychic gifts.  When I work with amethyst to create jewelry, I find that I am a little more focused and calm than I ordinarily would be.

No matter why you choose an amethyst, for beauty, for creativity, or for spirituality, this gem calms and balances.  It is a harmonious and gentle stone that most people find beneficial.

Earth's own Fire
For hope and compassion
Courage and power
Of creative manifestion

fiery garnet is the perfect balance for icy January.  This birthstone of January is actually a class of stones with a Mohs hardness of about 7 to 7.5.  Garnets are, in general, aluminum silicate plus crystals.  The plus being other elements in the molecule.  According to Robert Simmons in The Book of Stones, there are six types of garnet of note.  Some of them are very common.  Garnets of some sort can be found in many places around the world, even in the "flint" mines of Ohio, USA.

Garnets have been used for jewelry and metaphysical purposes for thousands of years.  There is ancient evidence of garnet jewelry in Egypt, Sumeria, and Europe.  They were used for signet rings and to mark the wearer as clergy or nobility in Europe.  In the Americas, garnet has long been used for accessories and ritual.

Garnet is believed to be a grounding stone that both grounds spiritual energy and draws energy from earth's own fire, to bring solid energy into your life.  It is a stone of strength and courage, compassion and hope.  It helps you tap into your creativity, love, and personal power.  Many use garnets to help manifest dreams and goals, and to remove the blocks to that manifestation.  It is a stone of passion, inspiration, and self-confidence.  It is both spiritually expanding and grounding in feelings of safety and abundance.

Each of the types of garnet caries it's own special energy.

GROSSULAR - is a garnet in the shades of green.  It is a grounding stone of manifestation, abundance, and wealth.  It promotes creativity and love.
SPESSARTINE - is the golden to brownish garnet of the sun.  It attracts love, enhances charisma, and encourages creativity and truth.  It is the garnet of the mind.
ALMANDINE - is the purple/red garnet that is most common.  It is earthy and grounding, giving strength and stamina.  It tends to ground spiritual energy and help with past life exploration.
​RHODOLITE - is a clear beautiful red garnet that acts on the heart and base chakras.  It connects to inner guides and guardians and helps create alignment, promotes intuition, and inspiration.
ANDRALITE - or Black Andralite - is a dynamic garnet that both grounds and finds magic and mystery.  It connects to the collective unconscious and your personal power and life force.
Uvarovite - is is a green garnet of heart and healing.  This is a stone of spirit and relationships, abundance and prosperity.  This garnet is calm and peaceful.

​I love garnet.  I love working with it.  When I create jewelry with both Almandine and Rhodalite, I find myself more focused, calm, and energized.

A new discovery
On Mount Kilimanjaro
For transformation
Event from the cosmos

Tanzanite is a newly discovered form of zoisite.  This birthstone of December is a blue calcium aluminum silicate with a Mohs hardness of 6 to 7.  At this time, natural tanzanite is only found in one place, the volcanic basin of Mount Kilimanjaro.  It was discovered by a Masai herder in 1967 after an intense lightning storm caused a brush fire in the basin of Merlani.  The heat from the lightning and fire had transformed the normal brown zoisite in the area into a brilliant blue to blue-violet gem stone.  Currently, most of the tanzanite on the market is cultured.

Because of the way that it was originally formed, tanzanite carries the energy of transformation and spiritual connection and awakening.  The transformation of the stone helps you to break old patterns and transmute them into habits of greater harmony and higher good.  It encourages divine healing, inner calm, and an open mind.  It is believed to help activate psychic ability, and a higher consciousness,  It is a stone of truth and authenticity.  Tanzanite is believed to contain the teachings from other dimensions.

According to tinyrituals.com, tanzanite connect to the third eye to the throat chakra.  According to Robert Simmons, The Book of Stones, it connects the heart chakra and the third eye.  Either way, tanzanite encourages wisdom, authenticity, and living in integrity.

Sacred stone
Of ancient use
Give the courage
To speak your truth
The Dine' say
Tis to protect from harm
And used in prayer
Bring rain to the farm

One of the birth stones for December is calming and beautiful turquoise.  This favorite stone for Native American jewelry is a copper aluminum phosphate mineral with a Mohs hardness of 5 to 6.  True turquoise ranges from a greenish-blue to a bright robin egg blue to light sky blue.  The blue tones in turquoise come from the copper in the mineral.  If the turquoise has greenish shades, it has traces of iron.  What is known as White Buffalo has no copper or iron.

The word turquoise is derived from the old French term, pierre turquoise, Turkish stone.  While these gems were not actually mined in Turkey, they were purchased for the European market from the Turkish bazaars.

This gem has one of the longest histories of use.  There is evidence of jewelry in Egypt that dates to 5500 BC.  There is evidence of mining in the US dating back 2000 years.  In modern times, turquoise has been mined in Iran, Afghanistan, Australia, Tibet, Egypt, China, Mexico, and the US.  Do to the popularity of this gem, many of the historic mines are exhausted.

This stone has been considered sacred by several cultures.  The Egyptians buried their dead with turquoise.  The Aztecs used it in ceremonial masks and other sacred icons.  In Tibet, it was used in prayer beads, wheels, and bells.  In North America, the Dine', Apache, and Zuni used turquoise to aid in prayer.  The Dine' used it in prayer for rain, the Zuni for protection, and the Apache to increase the accuracy of their weapons.  In many Native American traditions, a gift of turquoise brings abundance.

Turquoise is a stone of gentle and calming energy that is believed to bring balance and connection to the throat and the third eye.  It is also believed to bring balance and connection between the spiritual and the physical.  It helps bring serenity and peace, in part, by quieting the inner critic.  This calmness of the mind helps open up the mind, and aids in spiritual transformation.  Some find that turquoise is a calming aid to meditation and encourages intuition, wisdom, and creativity.  As turquoise balances the throat chakra, it encourages courageous expression of our highest truth.  It helps you find the strength to live that truth, and communicate it with integrity and compassion on all levels.

The Tibetans believed that turquoise is sentient and becomes an extension of the person that handles it.  Many cultures believe that turquoise brings good fortune and peace.  It has been used by kings, warriors, and shamans for protection.  It is used by some to aid in past life exploration.

​It just might be, as some believe, the "Divine gift that fell from the heaven."

Yellow quartz mimics topaz
With the fire of the sun
Change of habits encourage joy
​And confidence all all in one

As we go into the dark time of the year in the northern hemisphere, we look towards the sunny stones to brighten our days.  One of the birthstones for November is citrine.  This is a yellow variety of quartz, silicon dioxide, with traces of iron.  Like most of the quartz family, citrine has a Mohs hardness of 7.  

Natural citrine is usually a pale yellow, like the one in the necklace above, but can range into the orange or brownish orange.  Citrine is often confused with topaz or yellow sapphire.  Natural citrine is found in Scotland, Spain, Madagascar, Russia, Brazil, and the US.  That said, most of the citrine on the market is heat treated amethyst and will usually have a brighter color than natural citrine, like the one below.
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The word citrine comes from citron, the French word for lemon.  Like lemon, it brings the energy of the sun into the dark time of the year.  It is believed to encourage optimism and enhance moods and creativity.  It can help relieve depression and dispel destructive habits, bringing joy and energy into your life.  Some use citrine to increase clarity of thought, self esteem, and self confidence.

Citrine may be a good stone to help raise your vibration to a higher level.  It helps transmute negative energy into a more positive and useful form.  It enhances personal power and encourages healthy use of that power.  It can be used to promote balance on all levels.  Citrine is often used to open and balance the sacral chakra or the third eye chakra.  I use it as an aid for manifestation.

Citrine is a less expensive alternative to topaz for many purposes.  This beautiful stone is frequently set in silver or copper.  These and more gems can be found in
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To seek the truth
With a golden gem
And shed a light
With fire of wisdom

Beautiful and heady, topaz is one of the birthstones for November.  Topaz is an aluminum silicate flouride hydroxide crystal with a Mohs hardness of 8.  That is  long and drawn out name of a complex mineral.  I think that I will stick with topaz.  I like rocks in general, but to me, topaz is special.  It is one of the gems that I strongly react to.  But more of that later.  Historically, the term, topaz, was used to refer to any yellowish gem.  The word is believed to be derived from either the Greek "topazos" meaning to seek, or from the Sanskrit "tapaz" meaning fire.

Even though the word topaz was originally used to refer to all yellow gems, topaz actually has many colors.  This includes orange, pink, red, purple, blue, clear, brown, green, and of course, yellow.  Today, topaz is found in Brazil, Pakistan, US, Sri Lanka, Australia, India, Madagascar, Mexico, and other places as well.

As I have already stated, I have a strong reaction to topaz, or maybe topaz has a strong reaction to me.  Either way, working with topaz is a heady and energizing experience for me.  It almost always puts me in a semi-meditative state when I am creating jewelry with it.  The gem in the photo is from my chakra set.   It is my sacral gem that I use to encourage change and movement in my life.  I also use topaz as an aid for manifestation and to move the fire energy through my life.  I find that topaz has a primary effect on my sacral chackra but it also touches the crown.

According to the references that I use for research, topaz is a stone of fire, light, and truth.  It promotes trust in the universe and the abundance that exists all around us.  It aids in manifestation of your true desires.  It is believed to be a stone of focus, clear thought, and wisdom.  It is a stone of the empath, joy, and love.  The Greeks believed that this stone of the sun gave the person that wears it strength.  In India it is believed to bring long life, beauty, and intelligence.  Some say that it enhances self confidence and the ability to visualize your future.

You can fine tune these energies by choosing the color of your topaz.  Here is what I found for the colors:
GOLDEN - is used for spiritual recharge, to strengthen faith and optimism, manifestation, and alignment with the universe.
BLUE - is used for communication, meditation, truth, wisdom, knowledge, and magnifying psychic abilities and intuition.
PINK - is for hope, dissolving old patterns, forgiveness, faith, and love.
CLEAR - cleanses and purifies, helps clarify intention and focus, and encourages cosmic or spiritual awareness and alignment.

Whether bringing a bit of sunshine into your life, manifesting your true desires, or beauty, topaz has it all.  I don't normally keep wrapped topaz in my inventory, but I do keep the gems on hand for custom work.

Emerald green mimic toramalli
Born out of a rainbow
The balanced shield of protection
Transform the negative flow

Tourmaline is one of the birthstones for October.  It also happens to be one of my favorite stones.  My first experience with tourmaline was many years ago when I was looking for some stones for feng shui.  One of the stones that I took home was a tourmalated quartz.  The one in the photograph has lived in my pocket for several years now.  To me, tourmaline is that black crystal that provides a shield of protection that feels like a security blanket.  To most people, tourmaline is the beautiful green stone that is often set in  Sterling jewelry.  In reality, tourmaline is much more than either one of these.

Tourmaline is an aluminum borosilicate, silicon aluminum and boron, with a Mohs hardness of 7 to 7.5 and a hexagonal crystal structure.  It can also contain sodium, lithium, calcium, magnesium, manganese, iron, chromium, and other minerals.  It is actually a fairly wide ranging class of stones found mostly in igneous deposits that comes in an array of colors.  Tourmaline can appear somewhat fibrous when viewed with a magnifying glass.  Historically, this gem was mis-identified as other gems, hence the name which is derived from the Sinhalese, tormalli, meaning mixed gem.  Deposits of this gem are found in Brazil, Madagascar, Afghanistan, and the US.

Is tourmaline the energy of the rainbow that you can hold in your hand?  Maybe.  It is thought to spark imagination, play, joy, and prosperity.  Many people carry or wear tourmaline as a shield of protection.  It is believed to cleanse, purify, and transform negative energy.  It can be helpful in balancing polarities and assisting the flow of energy through the chakras.  Some believe that tourmaline helps clear the mind, promotes healing, and encourages unconditional love.

Like most gems that have multiple colors, the color of the tourmaline fine tunes the significance of the stone.

BLACK - protects against negative energy and helps transmute and purify difficult energy.
GREEN - helps move energy and heal the heart chakra.
PINK - helps dispel destructive emotions and attract love.
PURPLE - activates the third eye and encourages creativity and intuition.
​YELLOW - promotes personal power and the courage to overcome obsticals and abuse.

Delicate gem of hope and peace
Bring intuition to the transformation
Creativity with luck we may bring
Our best selves into amplification

One of the birthstones for October is opal.  This delicate gem is what is called a hydrated amorphous silica.  It is basically SiO2 with a lot of H2O.  The tiny silica globules are bonded together with water, up to 20%, for a stone with a Mohs hardness of 5.5 to 6.5.  If the water is allowed to dry out of the stone, it can crack and crumble.  The name opal may have been derived from the Sanskrit word for jewel, upala, or the Greek word opallios (change in color).  In general, opal comes in two classes.  Precious opal has the iridescence or color change.  Common opal has none.  Most people think of opal as white, but it actually comes in a variety of other colors as well, including black, blue, green, pink, red, and clear.  Among the places where this stone can be found is Australia, Ethiopia, Mexico, and Peru.

To the Romans, opal was the most precious and powerful of all stones because it contains the colors of all gems.  the Bedouins believed that it contains lightening and fell from the sky during thunderstorms.  In Asia, opal is a symbol of good luck, peace, love, and passion.

Opal is seen as a stone of transformation and amplification.  It is thought to amplify thought, emotions, and personal traits, and bring them to light so they can be transformed or used.  It helps promote intuition, creativity, and imagination.  It was once believed to be a useful aid in becoming invisible ad as protection for shamanic work.

In addition to the general information for opal, each color fine tunes the energy available.  Just a bit of a disclaimer here.  The attributes of the colors varies widely by source.  This is what resonates with me.  For more information, check thespruce.com, The Book of Stones, and The Crystal Bible.
BLACK - is a stone of magic and mystery. It magnifies intention, invites vision, and aids with inner work and shadow work.
WHITE - is a stone of spiritual energy and mental clarity.
BLUE - is used to aid communication and creativity.
PINK - is calming for physical, emotional, and spiritual healing.
FIRE - is about personal power, change, passion, and hope.

So, now you know.  Treasure your opal and treat it kindly so it will be with you for a lifetime.