Libra 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.

Aquamarine is the blue to blue-green member of the beryl family, the same mineral group that produces emerald. Its colour runs from the palest wash of sky to a deep sea-blue, and good crystals are famously clean, with far fewer inclusions than emerald. The name comes straight from the Latin aqua marina, meaning sea water, which describes both the colour and the transparency.

The stone forms in long six-sided crystals inside granite pegmatites, and some of them are enormous. Brazil has produced the most celebrated material, including a crystal weighing over a hundred kilograms found in Minas Gerais in 1910. Pakistan, Nigeria, Madagascar and Russia also supply the market. Because the rough is often large and clean, cutters can shape generous emerald cuts and long rectangles that show the colour off at its best.

Sailors carried aquamarine long before it appeared in fashionable jewellery. A Greek lapidary of the third or fourth century lists a sea-green beryl among seven amulets for seafarers, and later tradition kept it as a sailors' charm for a safe crossing. That link to water and to safe passage still shapes the way it is described in stone lore today, where it is treated as a soothing companion rather than a stimulating one.

Properties of aquamarine

• Sailors traditionally carried it as a talisman for a safe voyage and a calm sea.

• It is believed to cool a heated temper and to make an angry moment easier to step back from.

• In modern crystal lore, it helps a person say difficult things plainly and without harshness.

• Modern crystal lore connects it with the throat chakra and with anyone who has to speak in front of others.

• It is said to encourage patience, and crystal lore recommends it to people who tire quickly of waiting.

• Crystal lore describes it as a stone that clears mental fog and restores a sense of order.

• Arnoldus Saxo, writing about 1220, said beryl, the family aquamarine belongs to, helps the wearer against foes in battle and in lawsuits.

• In stone lore it is thought to ease homesickness and the unease of being far from familiar places.

• It is said to bring a sense of ease and open space, like a deep breath of sea air.

• It was thought to bring happiness in marriage, and it is also given as a gift for the nineteenth wedding anniversary.

• Popular belief holds that it softens the fear of open water and of travel in general.

• Medieval lapidaries said beryl quickens the wits, and crystal lore carries that over to study, helping a person hold a thread of thought.

• Folk tradition treats it as a stone of honesty that makes hiding one's feelings feel pointless.

• Crystal lore sets it among the soothing stones, said to settle frayed nerves in stuffy, crowded rooms.

Aquamarine symbolises calm courage, clear speech and safe passage. It suits people who work with words, who travel often, or who simply want a stone that settles the nerves without dulling the mind. 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: 2.68 - 2.74

Chakras: Throat, Heart

Care: Clean with lukewarm soapy water and a soft brush. The colour is stable in light, but heat is not recommended, so keep it away from radiators and other strong heat.

Lapis lazuli is a rock rather than a single mineral, and that is the key to its appearance. The deep blue comes from lazurite; the white streaks and clouds are calcite; and the golden flecks scattered through the best material are crystals of pyrite, not gold, though they have been mistaken for it since antiquity. The name is half Latin and half Persian: lapis, a stone, and lazhuward, a place that gave its name to the colour azure.

Almost all the finest lapis has come from one place for six thousand years. The mines of Sar-e-Sang in the Badakhshan mountains of northeastern Afghanistan supplied the Sumerians, the Egyptians who inlaid it into Tutankhamun's funerary mask, and the medieval European painters who ground it into ultramarine, one of the costliest pigments ever used. Renaissance contracts sometimes fixed the grade of ultramarine, one of them at about four florins the ounce, because it could cost as much as gold and was often kept for the Virgin's robe.

Lapis is fairly soft, slightly porous and often dyed, waxed or oiled, so it needs gentle cleaning. Warm, soapy water is the safest way to wash it, but acetone, alcohol and heat can strip dye or soften wax, and acids attack the calcite. Light is not known to harm natural lapis.

Properties of lapis lazuli

• It is traditionally regarded as a stone of truth, worn by those who must speak honestly for a living.

• Folk belief holds that it helps a person say what they actually mean rather than what is expected.

• Aelian records that Egypt's chief judge wore an image of Truth made of the stone the ancients called sapphire, which was lapis lazuli.

• In modern crystal lore it is linked with the throat chakra, and so with anyone who uses their voice all day.

• Crystal healers today link it with wisdom, the kind gathered from experience rather than books alone.

• In modern crystal lore it is the blue stone of calm, honest speech, a help when difficult news has to be shared.

• It has a long reputation as a stone of royalty and of dignified authority.

• Popular belief connects it with self-knowledge and with facing an uncomfortable truth about oneself.

• Crystal healers today recommend it to writers, speakers and anyone explaining complicated things simply.

• It is thought to relieve the tension of a long day spent among many people.

• Ancient Egyptians carved it into protective amulets such as scarabs, hearts and eyes of Horus.

• It is said to encourage friendship built on candour rather than convenience.

• In modern crystal lore it is said to steady the nerves before a speech or performance.

• It was placed in tombs and shrines, and its deep blue was likened to the heavens.

Lapis lazuli symbolises truth, dignity and hard-won wisdom. It appeals to people who speak or write for a living, to anyone drawn to a colour with six thousand years of prestige behind it, and to those who value depth over sparkle. The uses described here belong to tradition and folk belief and are not a substitute for medical advice.

Hardness: 5 - 6

Composition: (Na,Ca)₈(AlSiO₄)₆(SO₄,S,Cl)₂

Specific gravity: 2.50 - 3.00

Chakras: Throat, Third eye

Care: Clean with a soft cloth and warm, soapy water, then dry; do not soak. Avoid steam, ultrasonic cleaners, acids, acetone, alcohol and heat, which can discolour the stone or strip dye and wax.

Coral is an organic gem, built by living animals rather than formed in rock. Colonies of tiny polyps deposit a hard skeleton of calcium carbonate branch by branch, and it is that skeleton, once cleaned and polished, that becomes jewellery. Precious coral is a deep red to soft pink, and the pale pink variety known as angel skin is especially popular. Because it is a biological structure, coral is soft and shows a fine grain along the branch when it is examined closely.

Mediterranean red coral has been fished since prehistory, and the town of Torre del Greco near Naples has been the centre of the craft since the early nineteenth century, employing whole generations of carvers. Coral cameos, beads and branch necklaces reached markets across Europe and beyond from there. Japanese and Taiwanese waters supply the pink and white varieties. Coral populations are now under real pressure, and responsibly sourced or antique material has become the sensible choice.

Care matters more with coral than with almost any other gem. It is calcium carbonate, so acid attacks it directly: lemon juice, vinegar, perfume and even perspiration will etch the polish. It should never be soaked, and a soft dry cloth after wearing is the correct treatment.

Properties of coral

• It is traditionally given to children as a first protective charm, a custom recorded across the Mediterranean.

• Folk belief holds that a red coral branch turns away the evil eye.

• Pliny reports that Indian soothsayers valued coral as a sacred amulet, a sure preservative against all dangers.

• It is said to warm a cautious temperament and make affection easier to show.

• In modern crystal lore it is linked with vitality and with a warm, lively colour.

• In stone lore it is believed to protect travellers crossing water.

• It has a reputation for steadying emotions that swing too quickly.

• Popular belief connects it with family warmth and with the wish for a welcoming household.

• In Hindu astrology red coral is the stone of Mars, the planet of energy and drive.

• It is thought to encourage a sense of belonging in someone new to a community.

• Folk tradition treats it as a stone of quiet endurance, since the colony builds slowly over many years.

• In Greek myth, red coral grew from the blood of Medusa when Perseus laid her head down on the seaweed.

• Traditional belief holds that it softens grief without hurrying it.

• It is said to strengthen the tie between a person and the sea.

Coral symbolises protection, family and the patient work of building something living. It suits people who look after others, anyone drawn to warm organic materials, and those who like jewellery with a Mediterranean history. The uses described here belong to tradition and folk belief and are not a substitute for medical advice.

Hardness: 3 - 4

Composition: CaCO₃

Specific gravity: 2.60 - 2.70

Chakras: Root, Sacral

Care: Do not soak it or use ultrasonic or steam cleaners, as coral is porous. Wipe with a soft cloth and keep it away from perfume, chlorine, heat and strong sun.

Opal is not a crystal in the usual sense. It is hydrated silica, a kind of solid, glassy gel that usually holds between three and ten per cent water, and in the finest stones it is built from microscopic silica spheres packed in neat layers. Light bending through those layers splits into flashes of every colour that change as the stone is turned, an effect called play-of-colour. White and black opals show it against light and dark backgrounds, while fire opal, prized for its warm body colour, often shows none at all.

Australia has long supplied most of the world's precious opal, from outback fields such as Coober Pedy, Lightning Ridge and Andamooka, and the black opal of Lightning Ridge is the rarest and most valuable kind. Fire opal, a transparent orange to red stone, comes mainly from Mexico, and since 2008 Ethiopia has added brightly coloured stones that changed the market. Until Australian fields were developed in the later nineteenth century, Europe's opals came from mines in what is now Slovakia.

The name comes from the Sanskrit upala, meaning a precious stone. The Romans admired opal above almost every other gem, because a single stone seemed to hold the fire of ruby, the purple of amethyst and the green of emerald at once. In Europe it has long stood for hope and purity, and medieval writers prized it as a lucky stone and called it the eye-stone. Only in the nineteenth century did a novel by Walter Scott help spread the odd idea that opal is unlucky. That belief has faded, and today opal is the birthstone of October.

Properties of opal

• It is traditionally called the stone of hope.

• Folk belief holds that it brings out the imagination and a taste for beauty.

• According to medieval writers, it was thought to hold as many virtues as it shows hues and colours.

• It is said to help a person see more than one side of a question before deciding.

• Crystal healers today link it with balance between head and heart.

• In stone lore it is believed to make feelings easier to show and to share.

• It has a long reputation as a stone of good luck for those starting something new.

• Popular belief connects it with harmony in friendships and in the home.

• Contemporary crystal lore recommends it to anyone who finds it hard to choose between two good options.

• It is thought to soften a hard mood and bring a lighter outlook.

• Folk tradition treats it as a stone that makes a person more graceful in company.

• Arabic legends say it falls from the heavens in flashes of lightning.

• Traditional belief holds that it supports gentle creativity and artistic work.

• It is said to lend a touch of colour to a grey period.

Opal symbolises hope, creativity and the play of many moods at once. It suits people who love colour and change, anyone who needs help weighing two sides of a question, and those who like a gem that never looks quite the same twice. The uses described here belong to tradition and folk belief and are not a substitute for medical advice.

Hardness: 5.5 - 6.5

Composition: SiO₂·nH₂O

Specific gravity: 1.98 - 2.25

Chakras: Crown, Third eye

Care: Clean only with warm soapy water, wipe gently and dry it. Keep it away from heat, intense light, very dry air, sudden temperature changes and harsh chemicals, and avoid ultrasonic cleaners and soaking.

Rose quartz is the pink variety of quartz, and its colour is unusually gentle: a hazy, milky blush rather than a sharp tone. Microscopic fibres of a mineral close to dumortierite, tinted by iron and titanium, are thought to be responsible, and they also scatter light, which is why rose quartz is nearly always cloudy rather than transparent. Occasionally those fibres line up well enough to produce a soft six-rayed star when the stone is cut as a dome.

The finest rose quartz rough typically comes from Brazil, with other sources including India, Madagascar and Sri Lanka. It occurs in massive form inside pegmatites, in blocks large enough to carve into bowls, spheres and figures, and it has been shaped since antiquity. GIA notes Assyrian rose quartz jewellery from about 800 to 600 BC and Roman use of it as a seal, and it remains popular as an affordable and instantly recognisable stone.

Rose quartz is often said to fade like amethyst, but GIA calls it generally stable in light and heat; the rare transparent pink quartz is the variety that can fade. Many owners still display it away from long, direct sun. Otherwise it is hard-wearing and easy to look after.

Properties of rose quartz

• It is traditionally known above all as the stone of love in its broadest sense, not only romance.

• Folk belief holds that it softens a heart that has grown guarded after disappointment.

• In modern crystal lore it is also a stone of friendship and lasting affection.

• It is said to encourage kindness towards oneself, which modern crystal lore treats as the first step.

• Crystal healers today link it with the heart chakra and with an even, unforced warmth.

• In stone lore it is believed to ease the sharpness of a recent loss.

• It has a reputation for calming a household where tempers have been short.

• Popular belief connects it with reconciliation after a falling-out.

• Crystal healers today link it with openness to accepting help as well as giving it.

• It is thought to bring a sense of calm at the end of a long day.

• In modern crystal lore it is a stone for a peaceful home rather than a passionate one.

• In modern crystal lore it is a stone of comfort, a steadying presence when life feels unsettled.

• In modern crystal lore it is tied to forgiveness and gentle emotional healing.

• It is said to make an apology easier to accept as well as easier to give.

Rose quartz symbolises tenderness, forgiveness and gentle recovery. It suits people healing from a difficult period, anyone who wants a soft and unintimidating stone, and those who like a gem whose meaning is entirely unambiguous. 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: Heart

Care: Wash with warm, soapy water and a soft brush; avoid ultrasonic and steam cleaners. Usually stable in light and heat, but rare clear pink quartz can fade, so avoid long, strong sun.

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.