Spring Green in the Summertime
Lucky August babies get a little taste of spring color well into the summer. The birthstone of the month is peridot—a bright, cheerful green—to add a pop of color against vacation-tanned skin.
Peridot is thought to eliminate negativity and bring good luck.
The gem variety of the family olivine, there is much more to peridot than its beautiful color! It forms deep within the earth's crust and it also forms in volcanic rock and can be found in lava as eruptions, and sometimes even earthquakes, bring it to the surface. If you remember recent stories about gemstones raining from the sky with the eruption of the Kīlauea volcano on Hawaii, that was olivine. (To be clear, it was not actually raining gemstones, but old deposits of olivine were showing themselves in the lava rock if crushed, and that's still pretty cool!)
It is also an other-worldly gem, as it can also be found in meteorites that fall to earth on occasion. It has been spotted on the surface of Mars as well. Yep, that's right—Mars! It is quite a special stone.
Peridot has been mined for centuries. Most notably it was found and used for adornment by ancient Egyptians on the island of Tapazios (which is now known as Zabargad) in the Red Sea. It was called the "Gem of the Sun" and was believed to protect its wearer from evil spirits. Today it is still believed by some to eliminate negativity and bring good luck.
xo, Theresa