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"By her who in
January was born,
No gem save garnet
shall be worn.
They will ensure
her constancy,
true friendship
and fidelity."
traditional birthstone rhyme
Garnets are well known for brilliant red colour and beauty when set in jewellery. Like most stones, Garnet is famous for one type and colour, but red is certainly not the only hue that Garnet has to offer. There are up to 15 varieties of Garnet available, some of them only discovered in recent decades.
Most Garnets are aluminum silicates and will often be found in a distinctive dodecahedron shape. I have seen Spessartine Garnets in both a rich red and a vibrant orange, Tsavorites are bright green, Uvarovites are such a rich green that they can be mistaken for emeralds and Andratite Garnets are most often black but can even be multi-coloured. Both Almandine and Rhodolite garnets are often the typical red, but can also be purplish to varying degrees.  These are not all the Garnets known, but it should give the reader an idea of the stone's diversity as well as some examples of varieties that may be in stock. All garnets are quite hard, though hardness varies somewhat with type, and they make durable stones for jewellery.
 The actual name "garnet" is from a Latin word, granatum, which means pomegranate. It is an apt name as a small red or orange (pomegranates come in orange too!) garnet can quite resemble the seed of that fruit. Garnets have been popular in many ancient civilizations, in Egypt at least as far back as five thousand years, in Greece and Rome, and up to the Czech Republic as far back as the Bronze Age and in Aztec civilization in the Americas. The Talmud claims that the only light on Noah's ark was from a large Garnet. In the middle ages, Europeans claimed that Garnet would enhance constancy and faith from person to person and ensure that they only spoke the truth. That belief would be the basis of the January verse in the birthstone rhyme quoted above.
Today, Garnets are still associated with commitment, though such a commitment could be to another person, or also to a goal, purpose and even oneself. In the past, possibly because of the red colour, garnets have been worn to protect from wounds. While not precisely the same, Garnet can enhance health by extracting negative energy from the chakras and transforming it into a more beneficial state. It resonates strongly with the base chakra and aids in the movement of Kundalini, therefore allowing this beneficial energy to be properly distributed throughout the various centres in the body. This can result in greater vitality while wearing or using garnet, but a stable, rooted vitality, without being overhwelming.
Garnets make a wonderful gift for a January person. Due to their association with trust and faithfulness they are expressive of love and friendship. During this time of deep winter when colds and flus abound, they transmute poor energy into good, and when summer is still not in sight, the fiery colour reminds us of brightness and warmth.
Note: While Garnet is the stone most commonly associated with January, all months have more than one birthstone, due to varying traditions around the world. Also, as the zodiac signs begin and end mid-month, a person's zodiac birthstone will not necessarily match the birthstone from the month in which they are born. In January Capricorn, with Garnet as its birthstone, is the sign until the 19th. Then Aquarius takes over with the birthstone Amethyst, so January Aquarians have both Garnet and Amethyst as legitimate birthstones. |
