May Birthstone
Emerald – Sacred stone of Venus
She has been worn by queens since the Egyptian days. Cleopatra wore emeralds mined from her own mines and considered them among her finest jewels. It’s said that the Emperor Nero soothed his eyes during gladiatorial games held on the bright sands of the Roman arena wearing what may be the world’s first sunglasses – spectacles made of emeralds. In fact, the ancient writer Pliny states without question that the emerald has the power to relieve and restore tired eyes because of its soothing green color. The rich green of emerald makes it a fitting birthstone for the month of May, when the world grows green again after a long winter.
The sacred stone of Venus, the goddess of love, the emerald represents love in all its facets. The ancient Greeks wore green in Aphrodite’s honor, and it was a mark of piety and devotion to Love to wear emeralds on her sacred day, Friday. Hermes, her consort, is said to have inscribed the Words of Creation, the most powerful words in the world, on a tablet of emerald. In Sanskrit tradition, mantras are inscribed on emeralds and worn as talismans of protection and prayer, and rabbinic tradition claims that the emerald was one of the four precious stones given to Solomon. On the Ephod, the ritual breastplate worn by the High Priests of Judaism, emerald represented the House of Judah and was engraved with the name of Judah.
Aphrodite was not the only love goddess to be associated with emeralds. In Peru, the Incas worshipped the goddess Umina, who took the form of an enormous emerald the size of an ostrich egg. All smaller emeralds were said to be her daughters, and when the people sought her assistance in love, they brought emeralds to her as a gift. When the Spanish conquerors arrived, they raided the temples’ stores, and the daughter’s of the goddess fell into their hands – but the Emerald goddess herself has not ever been found, despite decades of efforts by conquerors like Pizarro and Cortez. Umina and her whereabouts remain a mystery to this day, but the emerald’s association with love and the protection of lovers lives on.
The verdant sparkle of the emerald has captured the fancy of rulers throughout history. Charlemagne wore them in his girdle, Alexander the Great in his crown. From Persia to England, royal houses adorned their crowned leaders with the power and beauty of Green Fire – the sparkle of emeralds.
In composition, emeralds are green beryl, tinted by chromium. The incomparable flare of green fire coupled with the rarity of the stone make the emerald one of the most valued and valuable of gems. Emeralds rate at 7.5 to 8 on the Mohs hardness scale, durable but subject to chipping. Because of this tendency, jewelers developed a special cut to be used with emeralds, a rectangular cut that is known now as ‘emerald cut’. The emerald cut reduces the stress on the emerald during cutting, making it easier to carve out a perfect gem.
Perfection is a relative term with emeralds, though. Few emeralds are found without inclusions and imperfections, which is why most emeralds are ‘oiled’, a treatment that diminishes the visibility of flaws in the stone.
While modern tradition names the emerald as the birthstone of May, there are other traditions. Astrological tables name emerald as the star stone for Taurus and Cancer, both of which share May birthdays, but also of Sagittarius, with a birthday in November/December. According to tradition, emeralds represent pure, true love – and change color when the loved one is unfaithful. A soother of hearts, granter of visions, healer of body and soul and harbinger of love, the emerald is truly the Queen of Gems.
