While
most people today are aware of the significance of birthstones, those gems
particularly suited to persons born in certain months, they are not always aware
that these are relatively modern associations.
They
derive from the Magickal practices of the ancients, who linked certain gemstones
with the Signs of the Zodiac.
The
calendar, dividing the year into months of varying sizes was a purely artificial
contrivance, more political than logical.
Many
of our earliest ancestors, both in Europe and North America, divided the year
into thirteen lunar months, rather than twelve solar months.
Since there are thirteen full moons in a year, with the time from one
full moon to the next being about 28 days, this gave a year of 364 days.
Using
the solar calendar, dividing the year into twelve months, if they had been all
the same size, the closest the calendar makers could come would have been twelve
months with thirty days each, for 360 days.
Since
most of the ancients understood that the day was actually a little over 365 days
(about 365.25), they had to add days to “pad out” the calendar.
At one time, it was proposed that the five extra days be celebrated as a
long mid-winter holiday. This
holiday was the Saturnalia, held in honor of the god, Saturn.
(It was a rather wild celebration in Pre-Christian Rome, and when the
Christian Church came to dominate the Roman Empire, it was banned altogether.)
Later, days were taken from this pool to pad out “special” months.
It was decided that starting with January (named for the two-faced god,
Janus) alternate months would have 31 days, giving a calendar of 366 days, far
closer to the actual 365 than before.
This
is where politics stepped in. Months
named for certain emperors, (i.e., Augustus Caesar) honor the emperors by having
an extra day added to them. The
extra days were taken from February, leaving it the shortest month.
Still
later, when leap year was added to the calendar, providing an extra day every
four days (to compensate for the extra quarter-day in the actual solar year) it
was added to the shortest month, being celebrated on February 29.
Needless to say, this created such confusion in the calendar that even
today some people have trouble remembering which months have 30 days and which
have 31.
As far back as the Ancient Egyptians and Greeks, the passage of the Sun through the twelve Signs of the Zodiac were measured very precisely, so that it was known to the minute when the Sun moved from one sign into another. Using this knowledge gave them a calendar more precise than our own.
Understanding
the qualities inherent to the various signs actually gave a reasonable and
logical reason for various crystals to be linked to them.
This is in marked contrast to the totally arbitrary connection of
birthstones to individual months.
Here
is a list of the Signs of the Zodiac, together with the stones associated with
them:
(Note: All dates and times given are for United States Eastern Standard Time.)
