Leo 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.

Amethyst is the purple variety of quartz, coloured by traces of iron combined with natural irradiation deep in the rock. The shade ranges from a faint lilac to the deep reddish purple that dealers call Siberian, and a single crystal often carries several tones in bands or patches. It grows in geodes, hollow pockets lined with pointed crystals, and a cracked-open amethyst geode is one of the most recognisable objects in any mineral shop.

The name comes from the Greek amethystos, meaning not intoxicated. Greeks and Romans believed a cup carved from the stone, or an amethyst worn while drinking, kept a person clear-headed through a long evening. In the Christian church it became the stone of bishops, set in rings as a sign of sober judgement, and it stayed among the most valuable gems in Europe until vast deposits were found in Brazil and Uruguay in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, which brought the price within everyone's reach.

One practical detail matters for anyone who owns a piece: some amethyst can fade with prolonged exposure to strong light. Left on a sunny windowsill, a stone can slowly lose colour and turn paler, so it is best kept out of strong sun when it is not being worn.

Properties of amethyst

• It is traditionally regarded as a stone of sobriety and self-command, in keeping with the meaning of its name.

• Modern crystal lore holds that it quiets a restless mind at the end of the day, which is why it is often kept near the bed.

• Building on its old reputation for sobriety, crystal lore says it supports anyone trying to break a habit they have grown tired of.

• It is said to take the edge off the strain of a long, noisy day.

• Its Hebrew name suggests an old belief that it induces dreams and visions, and crystal lore adds the ability to recall them.

• Modern crystal lore treats it as a stone of intuition, thought to sharpen a person's first instinct about others.

• In stone lore it is believed to cool anger and to slow down a reaction one might regret.

• Tibetan prayer beads are sometimes strung from amethyst, and crystal lore keeps it close for meditation and any practice that asks for stillness.

• Popular belief associates it with comfort in grief and with sitting quietly through a loss.

• It is said to help a person keep their own counsel in an argument rather than be swept along.

• Church tradition connects it with sobriety and humble piety, which is why it suited clerical rings.

• Camillo Leonardi wrote in 1502 that it keeps soldiers from harm and helps hunters take their quarry.

• Modern crystal lore holds that it clears heavy, stagnant atmospheres in a room.

• It is thought to encourage honest self-assessment without cruelty towards oneself.

• Crystal lore describes it as a stone that helps a decision settle overnight.

Amethyst stands for clarity, restraint and quiet inner authority. It appeals to people who think for a living, who are trying to steady a habit, or who want a stone that calms without making them sleepy. The uses described here belong to tradition and folk belief and are not a substitute for medical advice.

Hardness: 7

Composition: SiO₂

Specific gravity: 2.65

Chakras: Third eye, Crown

Care: Clean with lukewarm soapy water and a soft brush. Some amethyst fades in prolonged strong light, so keep it out of direct sun; avoid heat, steam and sudden temperature changes.

Amber is not a mineral at all. It is fossilised tree resin, hardened over tens of millions of years, and that organic origin explains everything about it. It is warm to the touch rather than cool, extraordinarily light, and soft enough to scratch with a fingernail's edge on a bad day. Colours run from pale honey through orange and cognac to a rare deep red, and some pieces are cloudy with countless microscopic bubbles.

The famous Baltic deposits formed some 40 million years ago from the resin of conifer forests that grew in northern Europe, and storms still wash pieces onto the beaches of Poland, Lithuania and the Kaliningrad coast. Amber from Myanmar and the Dominican Republic is older or younger respectively, and both are prized for inclusions: insects, seeds, feathers and spiders trapped in the sticky resin and preserved in astonishing detail. The Amber Road carried Baltic material to the Mediterranean thousands of years ago, and the Greek word for amber, elektron, gave us the word electricity, because rubbed amber attracts light objects.

Amber needs careful handling. It burns, it dissolves in solvents, perfume and hairspray dull it, prolonged sunlight darkens and crazes the surface, and hot water is best avoided entirely. A soft cloth and a drawer away from the radiator are all it asks.

Properties of amber

• It is traditionally described as a stone of warmth, in keeping with its resin origin and its colour.

• In Greek myth, amber began as the tears of the Heliades, who wept for their brother Phaethon until they turned into poplar trees.

• Pliny noted that amber gives off a pine-like scent when rubbed or lit, and the resin has long been burned as incense.

• It is said to lift low spirits during the short days of winter.

• In modern crystal lore it is linked with vitality and with a renewed zest after a dull spell.

• Pliny cites Nicias, who held that amber was formed by the setting sun's rays and carried by the tides to the shore.

• Amber is thought to have been kept as a talisman since the Stone Age, and carved amber animals have been found in Norwegian burial mounds.

• Popular belief connects it with the memory of ancestors, since it preserves the distant past inside itself.

• In an old planetary list of stones, amber belongs to the Sun, in keeping with its warm golden glow.

• It is thought to encourage patience with slow, unglamorous progress.

• Folk tradition treats it as a stone of good humour that makes company easier.

• Homer's Odyssey describes a golden necklace set with amber beads that glowed like the sun.

• Traditional belief holds that it helps a person forgive an old grievance.

• It is said to bring a settled feeling to a home when kept in a shared room.

Amber symbolises warmth, memory and the patience of very long time. It appeals to people drawn to organic materials, to anyone who finds cold stones unfriendly, and to those who like an object with a story stretching back millions of years. The uses described here belong to tradition and folk belief and are not a substitute for medical advice.

Hardness: 2 - 2.5

Composition: C₁₀H₁₆O

Specific gravity: 1.05 - 1.10

Chakras: Sacral, Solar plexus

Care: Wipe gently with a soft cloth and mild, lukewarm soapy water, then dry it right away. It is very soft and burns at low temperatures, so keep it away from perfume, alcohol, cleaning products, ultrasonic cleaners, heat and long spells in strong light.

Clear quartz, also called rock crystal, is silicon dioxide in its purest and most transparent form. It grows in six-sided prisms capped by a pointed termination, a shape so regular that Pliny remarked that no art could equal the polish of its faces. The Greeks called it krystallos, meaning ice, in the belief that it was water frozen so hard by the mountain cold that it could never melt again. The word crystal in every European language descends from that mistake.

Quartz is one of the most abundant minerals in the earth's crust, yet flawless pieces large enough to carve are far from common. Roman workshops turned them into vessels and seals, Japanese craftsmen ground them into perfect spheres, and the great crystal balls of European collections are cut from single clean pieces. Brazil, Madagascar, the Alps, Arkansas and Tibet all produce fine specimens. Quartz also has a practical modern life: its piezoelectric property, its ability to vibrate at a precise frequency under electric current, is what keeps a quartz watch on time.

In modern crystal healing, clear quartz is treated as the all-purpose stone, the one recommended when nothing more specific is called for. Modern crystal handbooks describe it as amplifying whatever it is paired with, which is why it appears alongside almost every other stone in the lore.

Properties of clear quartz

• In modern crystal lore it is called the master stone, said to work well in combination with any other.

• Folk belief holds that it strengthens the effect of whichever stone is worn beside it.

• According to old sources, a crystal ball was used for augury, the fixed gaze on its clear depths said to bring visions.

• It is said to clear the mind at the start of the day, like opening a window in a stale room.

• In modern crystal lore it is linked with the crown of the head and with a bright, alert state.

• In stone lore it is believed to reset a room's atmosphere after an argument.

• It has a reputation for sharpening memory during study.

• Popular belief connects it with honesty, since nothing can hide inside a transparent stone.

• Crystal guides today recommend keeping one on a desk for concentration.

• It is thought to help a person put a confused feeling into words.

• In modern crystal lore it is treated as a stone that holds an intention set into it.

• It is said to make meditation easier for beginners who find their thoughts wandering.

• Traditional belief holds that it supports overall balance rather than any single quality.

• Early churchmen read rock crystal as a sign of pure faith, kept free from stain.

Clear quartz symbolises clarity, focus and a fresh start. It suits people who want one versatile stone rather than a collection, anyone beginning to explore stone lore, and those who simply admire the geometry of a well-formed natural crystal. The uses described here belong to tradition and folk belief and are not a substitute for medical advice.

Hardness: 7

Composition: SiO₂

Specific gravity: 2.65

Chakras: Crown, Third eye

Care: Clean with lukewarm water and a soft brush, then dry well. Sunlight does not harm it, but a clear sphere can start a fire on a sunny sill.

Citrine is the yellow to golden-brown variety of quartz, coloured by traces of iron. The name comes from the French citron, the lemon, though the stone's range runs well past lemon into honey, amber and a warm madeira brown. Natural citrine is genuinely uncommon; most of what is sold under the name is amethyst or smoky quartz that has been heated, either in the earth or in a workshop, until the iron changes state and the purple turns to gold. Heated material tends towards a reddish orange, while natural citrine is usually a paler, cooler yellow.

Brazil is the principal source, with Bolivia producing the striking ametrine, a single crystal half amethyst and half citrine divided by a sharp line. Citrine was especially popular in Victorian Scottish jewellery, and because it is clear and affordable it is often cut as a large, boldly shaped gem for cocktail rings, where its warm colour carries a big stone without looking heavy.

Citrine is hard and durable, easy to wear daily, but some citrine can lose colour after long exposure to intense light. Kept out of a bright window, it should hold its colour well.

Properties of citrine

• It is traditionally called the merchant's stone, from the belief that it helps accumulate wealth and success.

• Folk belief holds that it encourages a generous rather than an anxious attitude to money.

• In modern crystal lore, it lifts the spirits on a grey day the way its colour suggests.

• It is said to bring a warm, settled feeling, like an afternoon in the sun.

• In modern crystal lore it is linked with the solar plexus chakra and with a warm sense of personal confidence.

• In modern stone lore it is said to be one of the few stones that rarely needs clearing.

• It has a reputation for supporting creative work that has stalled.

• Popular belief connects it with fresh starts in business and in study.

• Crystal healers today recommend it to people who undervalue what they do.

• It is thought to help someone ask for what they are worth without apology.

• Folk tradition treats it as a stone of good humour that makes a difficult day bearable.

• Europeans once believed citrine could soothe tempers and calm the wearer, partly because it was confused with topaz.

• In modern crystal lore it is said to lift the flatness that follows a long grey season.

• It is said to encourage practical optimism, the kind that leads to action.

Citrine symbolises abundance, warmth and cheerful self-belief. It appeals to people in business, to anyone who wants a bright stone in a dark month, and to those who prefer a gem that is hard-wearing as well as sunny. The uses described here belong to tradition and folk belief and are not a substitute for medical advice.

Hardness: 7

Composition: SiO₂

Specific gravity: 2.65

Chakras: Sacral, Solar plexus

Care: Clean with lukewarm soapy water and a soft brush. Some citrine fades in prolonged strong light, so keep it out of direct sun; avoid heat, steam and sudden temperature changes.

Topaz is an aluminium silicate containing fluorine, and it is one of the hardest of the commonly worn gemstones. It grows in tall, well-shaped prismatic crystals, sometimes to remarkable size, and it has a perfect cleavage in one direction that cutters must respect. Colourless topaz is the most abundant form, but the stone also occurs in sherry brown, pale blue, pink, rare red and, among the most prized, the golden orange to pinkish orange that the trade calls imperial topaz.

The name may come from Topazios, the old Greek name of an island in the Red Sea now called Zabargad (where the stone actually mined was peridot, long confused with topaz), or from the Sanskrit tapas, meaning fire. Ouro Preto in Brazil has been the great source of imperial topaz for more than two centuries, and the Ural mountains, Pakistan, Nigeria, Sri Lanka and Myanmar contribute other colours. Most bright blue topaz on the market is colourless material that has been irradiated and heated, a treatment developed in the twentieth century that made a once-rare colour widely available.

Its hardness resists scratching, but the cleavage means a sharp knock in the wrong direction can split it cleanly, so a protective setting suits it best. Steam and ultrasonic cleaners are avoided for the same reason, and brown, yellow and treated stones are kept out of prolonged strong sun and heat because they can fade.

Properties of topaz

• In modern crystal lore it is described as a stone of clarity and honest intention.

• Folk belief holds that it strengthens the will of someone who has been drifting.

• From the 1300s to the 1600s, Europeans thought it could thwart magic spells and dispel anger.

• It is said to warm the disposition and to make a reserved person more approachable.

• In modern crystal lore it is linked with the solar plexus and with a well-founded confidence.

• In stone lore it is believed to sharpen the ability to set a goal and name it plainly.

• It has a reputation as a stone of good fortune, particularly the golden variety.

• In modern crystal lore it is connected with generosity and an open-handed spirit.

• Many people in India have believed that topaz worn above the heart brings long life, beauty and intelligence.

• It is thought to steady the nerves of someone under public scrutiny.

• A thirteenth-century treatise credits a falcon engraved on a topaz with winning the goodwill of kings and princes.

• Topaz is November's birthstone, and an old birthstone verse calls it the emblem of friends and lovers true.

• The ancient Greeks believed that topaz gave them strength.

• It is said to help a person forgive themselves for an old error of judgement.

Topaz symbolises clear purpose, warmth and good fortune earned rather than stumbled upon. It appeals to people who want a hard, brilliant stone that they are happy to wear with a little care, to anyone drawn to golden or sky-blue tones, and to those who like a gem with an unusually clean look. The uses described here belong to tradition and folk belief and are not a substitute for medical advice.

Hardness: 8

Composition: Al₂SiO₄(F,OH)₂

Specific gravity: 3.49 - 3.57

Chakras: Solar plexus, Throat

Care: Clean with warm soapy water and a soft brush. Avoid steam, ultrasonic cleaners, sudden heat changes and hard knocks. Long sun or heat can fade brown and treated stones.

Ruby is red corundum, the same mineral as sapphire, distinguished only by the chromium that produces its colour. That single element does two things: it makes the stone red, and it makes it fluoresce, so a fine ruby seems to glow from within under sunlight. Corundum is the hardest gemstone after diamond, which is why untreated and heat-treated rubies can survive generations of daily wear in rings.

The most celebrated material comes from the Mogok valley in Myanmar, where the finest colour is described in the trade as pigeon's blood, a pure red with the faintest hint of blue. Mozambique has become a major modern source, alongside Thailand, Sri Lanka, Madagascar and Tanzania. Almost all rubies contain inclusions, and needles of rutile arranged in three directions can produce a six-rayed star when the stone is cut as a dome.

Ruby has carried extraordinary prestige for many centuries. Sanskrit texts called it ratnaraj, the king of gems. Burmese warriors were said to embed one under the skin to become invulnerable. In early modern Europe it was believed to darken as a warning of approaching misfortune, and in India and China it adorned the armour and scabbards of noblemen as a stone of rank and power.

Properties of ruby

• It is traditionally called the king of stones and was worn as a mark of rank and resolve.

• Folk belief holds that it stirs courage in a person facing something they would rather avoid.

• Early modern gem books reported that a true ruby grows dark to warn its wearer of coming misfortune.

• It is said to strengthen passion in a partnership that has grown quiet.

• A fourteenth-century lapidary credited to Sir John Mandeville promised the owner of a fine ruby peace and concord with all men.

• In stone lore it is believed to restore drive to someone who has lost their appetite for a project.

• It has a long reputation as a stone of leadership and confident decision-making.

• Modern stone lore ties it to devotion and to promises meant to last.

• Indian tradition held that a fine ruby let its owner live without fear among enemies and kept bad fortune away.

• It is thought to help a person hold their nerve when the outcome is uncertain.

• Folk tradition treats it as a charm for wealth and standing.

• It was worn as protection in battle across several cultures.

• Crystal lore holds that it makes joy easier to feel and easier to show.

• It is said to warm a temperament that has turned cool and self-protective.

Ruby symbolises passion, courage and authority. It suits people in demanding roles, anyone marking an occasion that deserves one of the most durable coloured stones, and those drawn to a red with genuine fire behind it. The uses described here belong to tradition and folk belief and are not a substitute for medical advice.

Hardness: 9

Composition: Al₂O₃

Specific gravity: 3.97 - 4.05

Chakras: Root, Heart

Care: Clean with lukewarm soapy water and a soft brush. Ruby is stable in light and heat, but glass-filled or dyed stones need only a damp cloth and no acids.