Article Highlights
May birthdays fall in the heart of the Spring season, and a May gemstone is the perfect way to celebrate and symbolize your birthday month. Famous for their beautiful, eye-catching color, these May birthstones, especially the Emerald, are always favored by the affluent and prominent individuals to make bold fashion statements.
Emerald
Emerald is the modern birthstone in the US, India, and Britain.
Emerald History
The first known emerald mines were in Egypt from as early as 330BC. Cleopatra, one’s of Egypt’s monarchs, was known for her passion for emerald jewelry. In ancient Egypt, pharaohs and the Inca emperors used Emerald to symbolize their royalty.
Egyptian mummies were also mostly buried wearing an emerald curved with a verdure symbol to symbolize eternal youth. According to legends, Emerald was one of the four precious stones that God gave to King Solomon. These stones allegedly gave King Solomon the power over all creation.
The ancient Spanish traders who loved silver and gold more than gems would occasionally trade emeralds for precious metals. It is this trade that opened the eyes of Asian and European royalty to Emerald’s value.
Emerald Meaning
Emerald is believed to originate from the Greek word “smaragdus”, the Greek word for green. It is the most famous member of the beryl family.
According to legends, Emerald grants the bearer of the gem the ability to foresee the future, protect against evil spells, and reveal the truth when placed under the bearer’s tongue.
Emerald is a stone of immense intuition and vision, associated with sight, and is believed to reveal one’s truth. It is also called “the Stone of Successful Love” since it opens and nurtures one’s heart and the Heart Chakra.
The emerald green color reflects new spring growth, making it the perfect choice for a May birthstone. Green is a Spring color and has often symbolized love and rebirth. As a Venus symbol, Emerald also aids in fertility.
It is a stone of wisdom; it enhances memory and increases clarity. Emerald combines intelligence with discernment and increases focus and intent.
Traditionally, it was used to protect owners against spells and enchantments. Above all, this rare stone signifies royalty and everything it stands for.
Emerald Healing Properties
Physical Healing
Emerald combats aging by revitalizing and rejuvenating debilitated organs. It is supposedly connected to the heart spiritually and physically, making it effective for treating cardiac weakness.
Emerald can treat illnesses and conditions of the lungs, heart, kidneys, pancreas, gall bladder, liver, and musculoskeletal system. Its powerful green rays can help heal malignant diseases.
The gemstone helps in treating eyes and restoring eyesight. An emerald water bath can help soothe strained eyes and potentially alleviate eye conditions.
An emerald elixir drink soothes gas and cardiac weaknesses. It is also the ideal stimulant to treat gout and strengthen memory. Emerald supposedly keeps off epilepsy and may help users avert allergies, fever, sinusitis, and headaches. Emerald relieves skin irritations, rashes, and eczema. It can also elevate fertility and offer sufficient support during childbirth.
Emerald also treats and treats an immense host of illnesses, such as anemia, asthma, indigestion, vomiting, dysentery, syphilis, high blood pressure, colic, and cancer. In ancient times, Emerald was a possible antidote for poisoning. Currently, some Chinese healers are still resorting to poor quality emerald powder to concoct their medicine.
Emotional Healing
As previously noted, Emerald is a heart crystal. It alleviates emotional baggage and nourishes your aura with an energy of hope, abundance, gentleness, and encouragement.
Emerald heals heartbreaks and grants one the strength needed to overcome life’s misfortunes. Emerald strengthens the physical and emotional heart centers, clearing away negative victimization patterns as well as the loss of personal power. Emerald rejuvenates your emotional life and accompanies its freshness and vitality, love, and compassion for oneself and others.
Its effect on memory and intellect allows you the ability to speak eloquently. Holding a natural emerald for a few minutes daily is known to grant you the power to recall facts rapidly. It is an excellent workplace crystal since it nurtures harmony, balance, and cooperation.
Emerald and Chakra
Emerald represents the activated Heart Chakra’s energy patterns. The Heart Chakra is the primary source of human emotions. It is located near the center of the breastbone.
It regulates human interaction with the external universe. It controls what you embrace and resist, allowing you to be yourself within the environment.
Once your Heart Chakra lacks balance, you will feel either controlled or controlling in a relationship. This imbalance is also evident from the inappropriately strong emotional response to regular external stimuli.
Fortunately, green crystal energy resolves such blockages and rebalances your Heart Chakra. It helps one understand the underlying emotions and needs deeply. With a perfect Heart Chakra balance, you can deal with the flow and changing nature of things in an emotional relationship.
Emerald helps you practice compassion and a respectful understanding of the people around you.
Meditation with Emerald
Emerald brings calm and harmony to one’s being. Besides, it helps you embrace and maintain perfect rhythmic breathing ideal for entering and reaching depths in a meditative state.
Once you have maintained a deep meditative state, Emerald helps you maintain the cool brilliance of deliberate reflection and emit a light radiance.
Emerald Colors
All emeralds are green. However, what is considered as real is usually an intense green unrivaled by anything else nature has to offer. There are three criteria used to evaluate and rate the most expensive emeralds. These include tonal grade, saturation, and hue.
Hue refers to Emerald’s green type, ranging from bluish-green, dark green Emerald to yellowish-green. Saturation gives Emerald its life, which is the sparkle or vividness of a great emerald and the flatness or dullness of a lesser stone. The tonal grade determines the brightness level or darkness.
Highly-transparent emeralds are the most prized of the gem variations.
Emerald Clarity
Clarity generally refers to the availability or unavailability of inclusions within a gemstone. These include materials such as gas, liquids, gases, minerals, or any other crystals trapped inside a gemstone during its formation.
Emeralds are one of four top gemstones that are unique in the number of high-quality specimens with inclusions. It is safe to say that a flawless emerald is hard to come by. Surprisingly, the flaws often give the Emerald its charm, meaning any emerald stone without inclusion is a sign of fraud and a rip-off.
Emerald Varieties
Colombian Emeralds
Colombian emeralds are of the best quality in terms of purity, size, brilliance, and color. A Colombian emerald has green as its generic color and different variations that provide distinctive hues of green.
Colombian emeralds are mainly formed from sedentary rocks and have high amounts of Jardin, the French word for “garden.” Jardin is known for its dark color, and it is for this reason, Columbian emeralds have a pure, dark, and leafy green color. They are mined mainly in Muzo, Chivor, and Coscuez.
Zambian Emeralds
Zambia is the second-largest producer of Emerald. Zambian emeralds have a greater clarity degree than Columbian emeralds. They have a vivid green, bluish color, which they receive from an iron presence.
They tend to be a little cheaper than Columbian emeralds and have become increasingly easy to find in the last two decades.
Brazilian Emeralds
Emerald was first discovered in Brazil in 1920. Back then, these emeralds were not considered of sufficient value as the ones in the market. Brazilian emeralds have a rich green, vibrant color. A high-quality Brazilian emerald displays a rich color, natural glow, and great transparency, adding value to the stone.
Cat’s Eye Emeralds
These have a unique effect known as chatoyancy, which resembles a wide slit in a cat’s pupil. They are extremely rare and are mined mainly in Brazil and Columbia.
Trapiache Emeralds
They have black impurities in the form of a hexagon. Trapiache emeralds are very rare and mostly found in Columbia. They are characterized by their high symmetry and feature exclusions of organic matter.
How to Care for Emeralds
Emerald measures 7.5 to 8 on the Mohs scale with fair to good toughness. This makes it a gemstone that requires adequate care than sapphire and ruby. With proper care, emeralds can last generations to come.
Precious Emerald is vulnerable to household chemicals and sensitive to pressure. Avoid wearing Emerald when working with harsh chemicals such as acid or bleach.
You can use warm soapy water and a soft cloth or tissue when cleaning emeralds. Ensure you rinse the gemstone thoroughly to remove the soap residue. Do not clean your emeralds with ultrasonic cleaners and steamers since they can remove the oils needed to enhance the emeralds.
Heat can also damage, more so, by extending existing fractures.
Agate
Agate is one of the traditional May birthstones. It has been used for nearly 3000 years, and it received its name from an ancient Greek philosopher known as Theophrastus. He named the gemstone after the Achates River in Sicily, where he discovered them.
Its designation as a May birthstone dates back to the Old Roman, Ayurvedic, Hebrew, and Italian calendars. Prior to this, it was the main Gemini zodiac stone since Gemini partly falls in May. It was used to make ornaments, seals, and rings.
The gemstone consists of a wide banded chalcedony variety that possibly includes onyx. Agate is found in a great color mixture ranging from black, white, yellow, blue, red to green.
It is also made up of successive material layers (sometimes flat or curved) of various thickness, transparency, and color. This variation of colors and patterns has introduced different agate names, such as fire agate, moss agate, and lace agate.
It is believed to enhance intelligence and provides its wearer with proper articulation. Agate is the stone of balance and harmony and creates a balance between positive and negative. Agate protects you from adverse energies and keeps your energy pumped throughout the day.
Chrysoprase
Chrysoprase is a modern May birthstone in May. It is a variety of chalcedony quartz. It is valuable for its unique opalescent minty, apple-green color, resulting from its coloring agent.
The name originated from the Greek words “chrusos” and “prason,” meaning gold and leek, respectively. This derivation implies its leek-green color and the presence of the golden inclusions.
It is prized for its solid and vivid green color, reminiscent of the best quality jade. Unlike other gems, chrysoprase is mined from all around the world. Some sources include Kazakhstan, Russia, India, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, South Africa, Poland, German, Brazil, Australia, and the US (California, Oregon, and Arizona).
It is believed to stabilize emotions and wad off depression.
Carnelian
It is a May birthstone in the ancient Hebrew calendar. Carnelian is also a variety of Chalcedony and a red member of the Chalcedony mineral groups but mostly appears as orange.
The iron impurities give it its orange color. The colors range from light golden yellow to almost red. It is usually referred to as Sard as it gets close to brown and referred to as Jasper if there is a mix of brown, red, and orange within the exact gemstone.
This orange gemstone has been associated with royalty for a long time. It was majorly used as amulets and seals in the olden kingdoms. Ancient Sumerians and Egyptians used this gemstone for its spiritual power and significance. Carnelian is also believed to strengthen passion and desire.
Chalcedony
Chalcedony is a May birthstone in the old Hebrew calendar. It belongs to the quartz mineral group and is made up of a combination of oxygen and silicon. Chalcedony comes in two types; one with tiny crystals of Chalcedony and one with large crystals, such as rose quartz, citrine, and amethyst.
The quartz gemstones include Onyx, Carnelian, Agate, Jasper, among others.
These gemstones are chemically similar but labeled differently to identify them by color, stripes, or pattern instead of classifying all of them as Chalcedony. The white Chalcedony is the gemstone color popularly referred to by the name chalcedony. It tends to be bluish in hue. Chalcedony brings emotional balance and relieves depression.
Sapphire
Sapphire is sometimes referred to as a May birthstone in the old Tibetan calendar. It consists of corundum that occurs in various colors, except ruby, which is commonly referred to as ruby.
Sapphire is known for its blue color spectrum though it is available in different colors such as brown, orange, purple, pink, grey, orange, yellow, black, and sometimes colorless. Sapphire is believed to bring peace and combats depression.
Conclusion
The above six gemstones are the top popular May birthstones, traditionally and modernly. May birthstones are among the most attractive among all the birthstones and generally known to create peace, balance, and harmony. Having a birthstone is a perfect way to celebrate your birth month and enjoy the physical, emotional, and spiritual advantages they offer.
