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The agate is the birthstone for June, and talismanic gem of
October. It signifies health, wealth and longevity. In the words of
Marbodus :
The agate on the wearer strength bestows,
With ruddy health his fresh complexion glows ;
Both eloquence and grace are by it given,
He gains the favour both of earth and heaven.
The bloodstone, or heliotrope, a deep green chalcedony, with
red spots (oxide of iron), is the birthstone for March, and well
does it serve its wearer, for it gives him or her courage, strength
and wisdom. Also, according to Marbodus :
It gifts the wearer with prophetic eye
Into the Future's darkest depths to spy.
About this same stone the Greek Orpheus says :
'
Through it the eye-balls with fresh lustre shine:
E'en impotence it cures if mixed with wine.
The amethyst, best known of all the quartz group, and the most ^
valuable of its gems, varies in color from deep purple to pale laven-
der. Excellent specimens are quite plentiful in the United States,
but the finest quality is from Siberia, a rich royal purple with a
tinge of red. Some from the Ural Mountains, of a fine color, like
the alexandrite, turn red by artificial light. Many of a splendid tint
come from Virginia, North Carolina and Brazil.
Amethyst was once greatly valued, not only by the ancients, but
comparative moderns. Queen Charlotte's necklace of well-matched
stones, though only of common variety, was appraised at $10,000.
Now, for itself, it would hardly be worth $500. The ancients valued
the amethyst not only as a perfect medium for intagli, being both
hard enough and soft enough, but because it was a charm against
intoxication, to which the Romans, with their Lucullan feasts, were
prone. Wine, therefore, was often drunk from amethyst cups.
Deep violet is the favorite tint to-day,
but while the ancients
were very susceptible to the imperial purple, particularly when, like
the Tyrian dye, in its depths lurked crimson, they considered the
pale stones, slightly tinted with lilac, the most lustrous.
Amethyst is the birthstone for February, as well as the guardian
angel talismanic gem for November. Its office is to promote deep
love not less than prevent intoxication.
Quartz balls in the past as at present were used for purposes
of divination. The custom originated in India, but is popular with
the old mammys of our South. Moonstone balls are supposed to
have their efficacy, too.
The potency of a birthstone is thought to be increased if the
natal day corresponds to the zodiacal sign, which is not always the
case, the signs overlapping in the latter part of each month, con-
stituting the "cusp," partaking of both signs, under which genius is
apt to be born, according to astrology.
But this is a separate study, involving the influence of the
zodiac on human life, with ramifications of its own.
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