Stars and Stones

Stars and Stones and Constellations

It happens that gemstones are offered for sale that are associated with the different signs of the Zodiac.

The fact that these are often very different stones, raises the question of where these associations come from and how reliable they are.

The astrological association of gems has been around for a long time, they are already known from Indian mythology and the healing arts. However, the associations, which are now the most widely used are from modern times:

Relying on two different lists of twelve precious stones in the Bible (Book of Exodus and Revelation) and the assumption that each first named stone relates to the vernal equinox, the first stone was equated with Aries and then counted chronologically from there onwards.

In the Bible itself however, there is no evidence of this interpretation. Additionally, the vernal equinox at the time of writing of the Apocalypse was moving from Aries into Pisces. When the Book of Exodus was written, the vernal equinox was still in Taurus.

However, these associations appeared in the literature and were been taken up and disseminated in the 1960-70s by the gemstone industry.

It is worthwhile to take a closer look for whoever is interested in this topic.

Since both gems and the Zodiac are based on classification systems and both have certain characteristics intrinsically, it is obvious that the components of both systems correspond to each other and can be related to each other.

Thanks to Barbara Newerla and Michael Gienger!