Gemini Birthstones & Lucky Stones

Agate is one of the most varied stones in the mineral world. It is a banded form of chalcedony, and it turns up in shades of red, grey, white, blue, brown and green, usually arranged in the concentric rings that give the stone its signature look. The bands can be opaque in one layer and almost see-through in the next, so a single polished slice often reads like a cross-section of a small landscape.

The name is traditionally traced to the Achates, a river in Sicily where, according to Pliny, the stone was first found. Agate has been cut and carved for at least four thousand years. Craftsmen in Mesopotamia used it for seals and jewellery, Roman carvers made cameos from it, and the German town of Idar-Oberstein built an entire cutting industry around it. Because agate is tough as well as attractive, old pieces often survive in fine condition.

In the tradition of healing stones, agate is treated as one of the steadier, quieter companions rather than a dramatic one. Different varieties, each with its own colour and pattern, were once matched to different purposes. Pliny lists many named kinds, and a sixteenth-century book of secrets credited to Albertus Magnus singles out agates that are black with white veins or entirely white.

Properties of agate

• It was believed to shield the wearer from harm and to help them find their footing in unfriendly circumstances.

• Old European lore linked agate with pleasant dreams and a peaceful night.

• In modern crystal lore, it encourages a clear-eyed view of facts and helps a person see a situation as it actually is.

• The Renaissance lapidary Camillo Leonardi said agates give their owners victory and strength.

• It is believed to bring a sense of warmth and ease at the end of a tiring day and to help accumulated strain loosen its grip.

• In modern crystal lore it is said to draw off surplus energy, which is why people reach for it during demanding periods.

• Popular belief holds that it makes company easier and helps a newcomer settle into unfamiliar surroundings.

• It has a long reputation as a courage stone, thought to support anyone working through a fear.

• Modern crystal guides credit it with sharpening clarity of thought and the ability to reason through a problem step by step.

• The eleventh-century bishop Marbode wrote that agates make their wearers agreeable and persuasive.

• Leonardi added that agates turn away tempests and lightning, a power Pliny had already reported from the magicians of Persia.

• It has been carried for centuries as protection against the evil eye, since its bold banding catches the eye first and was thought to absorb ill will.

• Its warm, lively character is said to make the good side of an event easier to notice on a difficult day.

• Ancient Egyptians gathered banded agates from the shore and used them as talismans.

• In modern stone lore it is counted among the stones of cheerfulness and inner quiet.

Agate stands for worldly success: old lore says it guards its wearer from danger and gives a bold heart, and modern crystal lore adds that it turns away unwelcome energy. The sixteenth-century scholar Girolamo Cardano held that agates make their wearers temperate and cautious and are therefore useful for acquiring riches. It appeals most to those who want steadiness, calm and a sense of security in ordinary daily life. The uses described here belong to tradition and folk belief and are not a substitute for medical advice.

Hardness: 6.5 - 7

Composition: SiO₂

Specific gravity: 2.60 - 2.64

Chakras: Root, Sacral, Heart

Care: Clean with lukewarm water and a soft brush, then dry well. Undyed agate is light-stable; dyed agate can fade in strong sun and lose colour to solvents.

Moonstone belongs to the feldspar family, and its beauty comes from its structure rather than its colour. Two feldspars, orthoclase and albite, start out intermingled and separate into thin alternating layers as the crystal cools, and light scattering between those microscopic layers produces a floating blue-white sheen that seems to move across the surface as the stone is tilted. Gemmologists call the effect adularescence, after Mount Adular in Switzerland, an early source. The body colour is usually milky white, cream or grey, and the finest blue-sheen stones have historically come from Myanmar, while Sri Lanka supplies most of the moonstone sold today.

The stone has been linked to the moon in India for many centuries, where it was regarded as a sacred gem and traditionally displayed for sale on a yellow cloth. In Europe it had two great moments of fashion: the Arts and Crafts movement of the later nineteenth century, and then the Art Nouveau years around 1900, when René Lalique, Louis Comfort Tiffany and their contemporaries set it in flowing silver and gold designs that suited its dreamy glow perfectly.

Moonstone needs gentler handling than most jewellery stones. It is only moderately hard, it has poor toughness and splits easily along its two cleavage directions if knocked, which is why it is usually set in pendants and earrings rather than rings. Warm soapy water is the only cleaner recommended.

Properties of moonstone

• It is traditionally treated as a stone of the moon and of everything that moves in cycles.

• Folk belief holds that it eases the swings of mood that come with a demanding month.

• In modern crystal lore, it is regarded as a companion to women through the different stages of life.

• It is said to encourage tenderness and to make an apology easier to offer.

• In popular lore it is called a travellers' stone, carried especially on journeys by night or by water.

• In stone lore it is believed to bring gentle, revealing dreams to those who keep it near the bed.

• It has long been associated with intuition and with trusting a quiet inner signal.

• In modern crystal lore, it is connected with new beginnings, a stone to wear at the start of a fresh chapter.

• Old legend says that a moonstone held in the mouth at the full moon gives lovers a glimpse of their future.

• It is thought to soften an argument between people who care about each other.

• In India it was prized as a gift for lovers, believed to arouse the tender passion.

• Hindu mythology holds that it is made of solidified moonbeams, and the Romans believed the same.

• Traditional belief holds that it helps a person accept a change they did not choose.

• It is said to restore a sense of wonder after a stretch of dull routine.

Moonstone symbolises intuition, tenderness and the natural rhythm of change. It appeals to people going through a transition, to anyone drawn to soft and luminous jewellery, and to those who prefer a stone that soothes rather than energises. The uses described here belong to tradition and folk belief and are not a substitute for medical advice.

Hardness: 6 - 6.5

Composition: KAlSi₃O₈

Specific gravity: 2.56 - 2.59

Chakras: Sacral, Third eye, Crown

Care: Wipe with a soft cloth and dry it right away. It splits and chips easily, so keep it away from knocks, sudden temperature changes and steam or ultrasonic cleaners.

Obsidian is volcanic glass. When lava rich in silica cools so fast that its atoms have no time to arrange themselves into crystals, the result is a natural glass with no crystal structure at all. It is usually jet black and glossy, but there are beautiful variants: snowflake obsidian with white sprays of cristobalite, mahogany obsidian streaked with iron-stained brown, sheen obsidian that flashes gold or silver where tiny gas bubbles lie in layers, and rainbow obsidian whose colour bands come from layers of microscopic crystals.

Because glass breaks along smooth curved surfaces, obsidian can be flaked to an edge only a few nanometres thick, many times sharper than a surgical scalpel. That property made it one of the most important materials in the ancient world. Anatolian obsidian from around Çatalhöyük was traded across the Near East nine thousand years ago and polished into some of the earliest mirrors known; the Aztecs set it into the blades of the macuahuitl and into the divining mirrors of the god Tezcatlipoca. Mexico, Iceland, Turkey, Italy and the western United States all have significant deposits.

The same sharpness means broken pieces need respect. Obsidian is not very hard and chips easily if knocked against a hard surface, so a polished piece is best stored on its own.

Properties of obsidian

• It is traditionally treated as a mirror stone that shows a person what they have been avoiding.

• In modern crystal lore, it forms a shield against ill will directed at the wearer.

• Aztec priests used polished obsidian mirrors for divination, and the Elizabethan scholar John Dee kept one for scrying.

• It is said to cut through self-deception the way its edge cuts through anything else.

• In modern crystal lore, it is linked with the root chakra and with a firm sense of one's own limits.

• In stone lore it is believed to absorb the residue of a tense encounter.

• It has a reputation for supporting someone working through an old and difficult memory.

• In modern crystal lore, it is connected with clean endings, a stone to carry when a chapter has to close.

• In modern crystal lore, it is recommended to those who take on other people's moods too readily.

• It is thought to help a person say no without a long explanation.

• Folk tradition treats it as a stone of truth-telling, however unwelcome.

• Apache tears, smooth obsidian pebbles of the American Southwest, are named for a legend of tears turned to stone.

• Traditional belief holds that it grounds a person after an emotional shock.

• It is said to make solitude feel restorative rather than lonely.

Obsidian symbolises protection, honesty and the courage to look directly at things. It appeals to people doing inner work, to anyone who prefers a dramatic black stone, and to those drawn to a material that shaped human history long before metal did. The uses described here belong to tradition and folk belief and are not a substitute for medical advice.

Hardness: 5 - 5.5

Composition: mostly SiO₂ (70% or more), volcanic glass

Specific gravity: 2.35 - 2.60

Chakras: Root

Care: Clean with lukewarm water, mild soap and a soft brush, then dry well. It is brittle and heat-sensitive: avoid knocks, sudden heat and ultrasonic cleaners.

Turquoise is an opaque copper aluminium phosphate, and it is the copper that gives it the sky blue that no other stone quite matches. The colour shifts towards green as iron replaces some of the aluminium, and many specimens are crossed by a web of veins in gold, brown or black, the remains of the host rock. That webbing, called matrix, means no two pieces look alike. The name reached English through French, pierre turquoise, the Turkish stone, because the earliest supplies arrived in Europe by way of Turkey rather than from Turkey itself.

Turquoise has been worn for at least six thousand years. Egyptian expeditions worked the Sinai for it, the mines of Nishapur in Iran produced the intense blue that became the standard of quality, and Tibetan and Central Asian craftsmen set it into ritual objects. In the American Southwest, Pueblo, Navajo and Zuni silversmiths built an entire jewellery tradition around it, and their silver-and-turquoise work is now recognised worldwide.

Two things must be understood about this stone. It is soft, only 5 to 6 on the Mohs scale, so it scratches and chips more readily than most gems. And it is genuinely porous: it absorbs oil, perfume and perspiration, which can turn the blue towards green, and high heat can discolour it or damage its surface. Much commercial turquoise is stabilised with resin for this reason, and untreated material is never soaked or worn in the shower. Warm soapy water is safe for cleaning, but steam and ultrasonic cleaners are not.

Properties of turquoise

• In modern crystal lore it is regarded as a stone of calm that takes the edge off restlessness.

• Folk belief holds that it comforts those in mourning and makes the days easier to get through.

• In modern crystal lore, it steadies a person after a sudden shock or upheaval.

• It is said to restore the vitality of a wearer who has been running on empty.

• In modern crystal lore, it is described as a stone of wisdom that favours unhurried, considered thinking.

• In many cultures it was worn as an amulet against the evil eye.

• In modern crystal lore, it is associated with the throat chakra and with saying what one actually needs.

• Apache tradition held that a turquoise fixed to a bow or gun sent the shot straight to its mark.

• Medieval writers said it kept a rider or walker from injury in a fall, and Turks hung it on horses' bridles as an amulet.

• It is thought to smooth over friction between people living or working closely together.

• Folk tradition treats it as a stone of reconciliation and easy agreement.

• In Persia, where its name meant the Victorious, it was esteemed as a stone of good omen that brought good luck.

• Traditional belief holds that a stone changing colour was warning its owner of something.

• It is said to help a person recover their footing after a period of overload.

Turquoise symbolises peace, inner balance and protection. It appeals to people looking for quiet after a hard stretch, to anyone drawn to a colour with six thousand years of history, and to those who like a soft, warm stone that sits comfortably against the skin. The uses described here belong to tradition and folk belief and are not a substitute for medical advice.

Hardness: 5 - 6

Composition: CuAl6(PO4)4(OH)8·4H2O

Specific gravity: 2.40 - 2.90

Chakras: Throat, Heart, Third eye

Care: Clean with warm soapy water and dry well. Never use steam or ultrasonic cleaners. Heat, solvents, cosmetics and skin oils can discolour it; treated pieces are damaged by heat or solvents.

Jade is not one mineral but two, and the distinction was only established in 1863. Jadeite is a pyroxene, rarer, harder and capable of the translucent emerald green known as imperial jade. Nephrite is an amphibole, more common, slightly softer, and typically a creamy white to spinach green. Both are built of densely interlocked microscopic crystals, fibrous in nephrite and granular in jadeite, and that structure makes jade extraordinarily tough: it resists breaking better than almost any other gem material, even though it is not the hardest.

China has revered nephrite for more than seven thousand years, carving it into ritual discs and tubes long before bronze was worked there, and later into seals and burial suits. Jadeite reached China from Myanmar only in the eighteenth century, quickly became a favourite at the Qing court, and fine jadeite is today one of the most valuable gems of all. On the other side of the world, Maori carvers in New Zealand shaped nephrite into hei-tiki pendants and adzes that passed down through families as taonga, treasures. The European name is a curiosity: Spanish colonists in the Americas called it piedra de ijada, the stone of the flank, from a belief about its use, and jade is a shortening of that.

Jade takes a soft, waxy polish rather than a glassy one. Both varieties wear well, though dyed and impregnated material is common in the trade and needs gentler treatment than natural stone.

Properties of jade

• It is traditionally prized in Chinese custom as a stone of good fortune and of virtue, valued above gold.

• Chinese folk belief holds that it protects the wearer and that a bangle breaking has taken a blow on their behalf.

• In modern crystal lore, it encourages moderation and a balanced way of living.

• In Chinese tradition it is a symbol of long life, and it is said to bring a calm approach to ageing.

• In modern crystal lore, it is linked with the heart chakra and with generosity that does not draw attention to itself.

• In stone lore it is believed to steady a household through a period of difficulty.

• It has a reputation for encouraging wisdom of the practical rather than theoretical kind.

• Popular belief connects it with harmony between family members.

• In the Book of Rites, Confucius compared the qualities of jade to the virtues of a gentleman, among them kindness, wisdom, integrity and courage.

• It is thought to soothe irritability at the end of a long day.

• Folk tradition treats it as a stone passed between generations, gathering meaning as it goes.

• It was carved into pendants for children as a lifelong guardian.

• In Chinese custom, small pieces of jade are carried to be handled often, in the belief that something of the stone's virtue passes to its owner.

• It is said to make prosperity feel like enough rather than never quite enough.

Jade symbolises good fortune, moderation and quiet continuity between generations. It appeals to people who value tradition, to anyone who wants an exceptionally tough stone for constant wear, and to those drawn to a soft green that never looks loud. The uses described here belong to tradition and folk belief and are not a substitute for medical advice.

Hardness: 6 - 7

Composition: NaAlSi₂O₆ / Ca₂(Mg,Fe)₅Si₈O₂₂(OH)₂

Specific gravity: 2.90 - 3.38

Chakras: Heart

Care: Wash in warm soapy water and dry well. Natural jade is light-stable, but dyed or treated pieces are delicate: avoid heat, acids and ultrasonic cleaners.

Emerald is the green variety of beryl, coloured by chromium or vanadium, and it is one of the four stones traditionally counted as precious alongside diamond, ruby and sapphire. Its green is unlike any other: deep, slightly bluish and saturated, and a stone that is too pale is simply called green beryl rather than emerald. Almost every emerald contains inclusions, fissures and mineral crystals that jewellers call the jardin, the garden, and these are accepted as part of the stone's character rather than treated as faults.

Colombia has produced the finest emeralds for five centuries, from the mines of Muzo, Chivor and Coscuez. Before that, Egypt worked deposits near the Red Sea that are still known as Cleopatra's mines, and today Zambia, Brazil, Zimbabwe and Afghanistan all contribute. The stepped rectangular cut known as the emerald cut is the classic cut for this gem, because its faceted corners give a brittle, fractured crystal some protection from knocks and give prongs a safer place to sit.

Care is a real consideration. Nearly all emeralds on the market are treated with oil or resin to reduce the visibility of surface-reaching fissures. Heat can extend those fractures, steam can make the filler sweat out, and ultrasonic vibrations can weaken a fractured stone. Warm soapy water and gentle scrubbing is the safest way to clean emerald.

Properties of emerald

• Old lore assigns it to Venus, the goddess of love, and modern crystal lore calls it a stone of the heart, associated with love that has settled into loyalty.

• Folk belief holds that it reveals a lie told by someone the wearer trusted.

• Pliny the Elder called it the greenest of all green things, and its calm colour has been prized as restful to look at since antiquity.

• It is said to encourage patience in a person who wants results too quickly.

• Traditional accounts link it with renewal, in the way spring green suggests it.

• In stone lore it is believed to strengthen memory and the recall of names and faces.

• It has a long reputation as a stone of eloquence, worn by those who must persuade.

• Popular belief connects it with faithfulness and with a marriage that lasts.

• Renaissance writers such as Cardano held that it sharpened the wits and so made a person more honest.

• It is thought to support compassion that does not exhaust the person feeling it.

• Old legends say it protects the wearer against evil spells.

• Legend says an emerald was one of the four precious stones God gave King Solomon, giving him power over all creation.

• Traditional belief holds that it makes forgiveness feel possible sooner than expected.

• It is said to bring a sense of growth back to a life that has felt static.

Emerald symbolises renewal, faithfulness and generous intelligence. It suits people marking something they intend to last, anyone drawn to the richest green in the mineral world, and those willing to give a beautiful but delicate stone the care it needs. The uses described here belong to tradition and folk belief and are not a substitute for medical advice.

Hardness: 7.5 - 8

Composition: Be₃Al₂Si₆O₁₈

Specific gravity: 2.67 - 2.78

Chakras: Heart

Care: Most stones are oil- or resin-filled, so use warm soapy water only; avoid steam, ultrasonic cleaners, heat and harsh chemicals.