Lighting the Path Less Taken

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March Birth Stone, Traditional, Mystical and Spiritual
Most people think of Aquamarine as the March birthstone. While we all love Aquamarine as a gemstone in jewelry, there are traditional birthstones dating back centuries, birthstones with spiritual connotations and mystical birthstones with roots millennia ago. We might call Aquamarine the jewelers' March birthstone, Bloodstone the traditional birthstone, Jade the mystical and Amethyst the spiritual birthstone for March.

Bloodstone is the traditional birthstone for March, a tradition traced back to the 15th Century. Bloodstone is a semi-precious chalcedony with green color and red spots or highlights. The red may be from red jasper or iron silicates. It has a waxy look and is generally translucent with a microcrystalline structure. But more interesting for some of us, it was used by the Babylonians to make seals and amulets which they believed to have healing properties especially for blood disorders. Legend also places the bloodstone (at one time all green) to be beneath the cross of Jesus when he was crucified. Drops of Jesus' blood splashed on the rock. In honor of Christ, the Lord said that all bloodstone would have red splashes to so that Jesus' sacrifice and crucifixion would always be remembered. Bloodstone has been the Ayurvedic birthstone, used in Indian Ayurvedic medicine for the past thousand years. Finally, bloodstone appears again in the Zodiac list for Aries for the month beginning on March 21 through April 20.

Aquamarine is the gemstone selected in 1912 by American National Association of Jewelers, Jewelers of America to be the official March birthstone. It is a brilliant transparent gemstone with the color of the sea, hence the name. The gemstone is a beryl, as is emerald for example, and due to the hardness and beauty of the stone it has always been a popular gemstone for jewelry. Like Bloodstone, Aquamarine has a rich history and legend. Ancient mariners believed it provided protection at sea, a belief which evolved to include warriors in battle. Mystics believed it helped activate and cleanse the throat chakra, and modern mystics believe Aquamarine stimulates your intellectual and reasoning processes.

From the Chinese culture, Jade is the stone of March as well as being highly revered as a bringer of good fortune, prosperity, and health. Apart from the esthetic attractiveness of high quality Jade, the stone is beloved by artisans for carvings and statues. Jade was used by the Mayans also, thought by them to bring inner peace and to help to "dream solve" situations. In the Christian Bible, Jade is one of the stones in the breastplate of the High Priest.

Another stone of the High Priest breastplate, and the last in our list, is Amethyst. (Beryl is another Breastplate stone, but it is unknown whether it is Aquamarine, Emerald or some other form). Amethyst is the Zodiac stone for Pisces, through March 20. It is a semi-precious form of Quartz with a dark purple or violet color produced by millennia of radiation and heat. The highest quality is dark purple and transparent. It symbolizes sobriety and justice. Modern mystics prize Amethyst for its protection against negative spiritual energies and psychic attacks, probably from the association with the Christian breastplate.

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