“Who comes with summer to this Earth.
And owes to June her hour of birth.
With rings of Agate on her hand
Can health, wealth, and long live command” Walker
I bet when you thought of birthstones for June you thought of pearl. But I have a surprise for you. There are two others just as beautiful and intriguing stones for June.
First the…
Pearl
The oyster has to be the most patient critter on earth. You know how irritating it is to have something caught in your teeth. It becomes an obsession to get that thing out of your mouth. But the oyster…no…that irritation, usually a piece of sand, gets coated many times with layers of calcium carbonate like stuff. And there it just builds and builds over time and becomes… a pearl.
Now these oysters are not the ones you normally get at a restaurant, which is usually just a porcelain chip that has the appearance of a pearl… but tis not. True oyster pearls are not edible and may break your teeth trying to bite it. And it won’t be good for your insides either.
Oh and, pearls do not dissolve in vinegar or wine. So, Cleopatra did not dissolve a pearl in such to impress Anthony. She likely drank it and had her slaves go searching for it later. Spit that porcelain chip out…okay?
Now, most know this bit about pearls coming from oysters but once upon a time, there were those who thought it came from ‘mental energy’. They believed that pearls were magnetized and could be demagnetized by ultraviolet light for one second.
Like all gems, except diamond, pearls have been ground into powders to cure a multitude of things such as skin disorders, stomach aches and used as antacid for ulcers, all of which is doubtful. But for the most part, a pearl’s real value is in the money world. The bigger the pearl, the greater the price.
Throughout history, pearls have been associated also with the pagan world, specifically with Aphrodite and associated with moon worship. Those worshipers thought pearls were formed from a combination of seawater and moonlight. In China pearls were thought to just drop from the sky and were swallowed by oysters.
Over time, pearls became symbolic for purity due to their iridescent white color. Roman daddies and Hindu fathers traditionally gave their daughters a pearl necklace when they became young women. To the daughters. This piece of jewelry was her prize possession outranking most other jewels and is often seen in ancient art. I am also fairly certain that because June is the wedding month in Rome, the pearl has that June’s most revered birthstone.
Now for – Moonstone
Onward to the not so known June birthstone, the moonstone. This stunning stone originates from feldspar usually. It, too, has a pearly, silky sheen and comes white, and also blue-white, cream to brown, or pinkish. Greeks also associated it with Aphrodite and Selene because they were connected to , well….the moon. This gem was once believed to wax and wane with the moon thus becoming associated with women’s menstrual cycles.
Weddings, love, and the moonstone … go together. The moonstone is the lovers in India’s favorite stone and was believed to grant prophetic powers. It was also believed to have calming powers and to even make one invisible.
Health wise, moonstones were believed to realign the spine, regulate the pituitary and help with childbirth, cancer, ulcers depression. It was also thought that if one hung a moonstone on some fruit tree, the tree would produce greater crops. Even though these beliefs have all been proven incorrect, the moonstone is still one beautiful gem for anyone.
Finally … the Agate
Now how the agate got in with the other two, white, stones is beyond me. Agate is very colorful and has many nicknames… too many to list here (blood, banded, blue, butterfly, coral, cyclops, fire, flower, grape, horsetail, …rainbow rose, Yellowstone, zebra to name a few.)
Jewelers love this stone for its fine texture, toughness, polish, and it that it can easily be dyed. Over the centuries, agate was thought to help with eyesight, strength and thirst. Ground into powder, it could cure insanity, prevent harm from thunder demonic possession, and even poison. And there is more… helps with nightmares, blood circulation, heart, stomach and hair issue, protects children from falling, and potentially kidney stones and gallstones. Apparently, Agate is also the ultimate truth serum.
Well, you gotta give June’s stones credit. They are intriguing and unique to say the least.
(Again, thank you Barbara G Walker. BOOK OF SACRED STONES fact and fallacy of the crystal world.)
Keywords
June
Pearl
Moonstone
Agate
Mystic health
Birthstone
Birthday
Birth gemstones
Weddings and traditions
