March has two birthstones  aquamarine and bloodstone.  Both are beautiful minerals. Bloodstone has found it's way throughout history connected with the Christian religion. Aquamarine would find it's role amongst the men who sailed the sea.

 
   Bloodstone is a dark green stone with red flecks. It is more properly known as green Chalcedony and it is a form of silica quartz. This form of quartz is masses of very tiny quartz crystals which form in lumps.  A legend, Christian in origin, says that bloodstone formed during the crucifixion of Christ. The story explains that a soldier thrust his spear into the body of Christ while it was on the cross. Drops of blood fell on some pieces of green jasper which were conveniently located at Christ's feet, and thus bloodstone was created.

    Because of the legend, bloodstone became a favorite material for carving Christian art. One of the most famous pieces of art carved from bloodstone was done around 1525  by the Italian artist Matteo del Nassaro. Titled "The Descent from the Cross," the statue was so carefully carved that the spots of red on the bloodstone were in the perfect spots to represent the wounds of Christ.
 During the Middle Ages, bloodstone was believed to have healing powers. The stones were crushed 
into powder and mixed with homey and eggwhites. In this form the bloodstone was believed to cure tumors and stop bleeding. Bloodstone was also used by alchemists to cure blood poisoning as well as draw out the poison from venomous snake bites.

     Bloodstone can be found mixed in with other minerals, or as pebbles along riverbeds. It is most commonly found in India, Brazil and Australia.

 
   Aquamarine is the second birthstone for March. Aquamarines is a colour variety of the mineral Beryl. Blue Beryl is called Aquamarine, green Beryl is called an emerald. Beryl often occurs as veins in other minerals. It is a very hard mineral and resists weathering. Only diamonds, sapphires and a few other gemstones are harder than Beryl and this has earned aquamarines  the nickname of "poor man's diamond.

      Ancient Romans gave this mineral it's name. Aquamarine is derived from "aqua" meaning water and "mare" meaning sea. This is because the stone looks like seawater. It was believed that the origins of aquamarine were the jeweled trunks belonging to the sirens. The stones were said to have been washed up on the shores from the depths of the sea. Because of these origins, aquamarines were said to be sacred to Neptune, the god of the sea.

      Because of aquamarines' association with the sea, the stones became popular with sailors. It was 
believed that carrying an aquamarine stone with one to sea would bring prosperous and safe journeys, protecting the sailor from seamonstors and other perils. Greeks were known to have carried aquamarine amulets with them to sea as early as 500 B.C. Sometimes the god Posseidon was engraved on the stone.

     The Romans believed that aquamarine would heal ailments of the digestive system as well as the mouth and throat. During the middle ages, aquamarine was used as an antidote against poison. In additional to its medicinal powers, it was strongly held that aquamarine was used by fortune tellers to read the future.

     There were also some practical uses for this beautiful gem. When eyeglasses first began being produced in Germany, it was a thin sliver of aquamarine used as a lens to correct shortsightedness. So widely was this stone used that the German word for eyeglasses is "brille" which is derived from the word beryl!

     Aquamarine can range in colour from deep blue to a greenish-blue. Commercial sources of this gem are in Brazil, Columbia and Russia. In the US, aquamarine can be found in North Carolina and Maine. Trace deposits are many other places, in fact, I've an Aunt near Wagontown who has an old beryl quarry on her property.