Multiple birthstone calendars in circulation?

Birthstones. That sounds nice, but how did it actually come about? You will also often find - if you search the internet - several birthstones that belong to your month or zodiac sign. And then there are also two birthstone calendars! Nice and confusing. Wouldn't that be a bit clearer? To create some order in the chaos, I have tried to explain it below.

A piece of history

There are several stories about the origin of birthstones. I think the best known in the west is the story that is described in the second part of the bible: Exodus. According to this story, a Jewish scholar saw 12 stones on a breastplate (a religious garment) on Aaron. Those stones then stood for the 12 tribes of Israel. Later, a scholar linked these stones as a symbol to the 12 constellations.

Hundreds of years later, scholars and monks believed that these stones had special powers and these 12 stones were linked to the 12 months of the year. The monks thought that the stones were most powerful when they wore them in the corresponding month. This is how the birthstone calendar with the months came into being.

Several birthstone calendars in circulation

In principle, you can distinguish 2 types of birthstone calendars: the birthstones per month and per zodiac sign. But that's not the only thing…

If you are searching the internet, you will quickly come across different birthstones of your month. This can be very confusing. How is this possible?

Because some stones have become very rare. Take the diamond for the month of April. Priceless for most people. That is why we looked for a stone that resembles the original stone in terms of appearance and strength. For example, you will find herkimer diamond as a birthstone for April with me.

Birthstones: a beautiful symbolic gift

Some people believe in gemstones and therefore also in birthstones. Others are diametrically opposed to this and find it all just floaty. It has never been scientifically proven that gemstones actually help. My grandmother was 100% convinced. me with my sober upbringing a lot less. Still, I find the symbolic meaning of gemstones very beautiful. And… you never know ;).