May Birthstone

Emerald is a chromium-rich variety of beryl, formed in hydrothermal veins where superheated water carries dissolved minerals into fractures in existing rock. It grows slowly, and the process often leaves internal features — fine fractures and inclusions — that gemologists call a jardin, French for garden. These marks are considered part of the stone, not flaws. Colombia produces the finest emerald in the world. Zambia, Brazil, and Ethiopia also yield significant stones.

The green is deep, saturated, alive in a way other greens aren't. The May-born often have this quality: a rootedness, something that grows and holds. This is a stone for people who take care of things — plants, relationships, ideas — and mean it. Wear it in spring, or any time something new is beginning.

Three ways to read this month: emerald (Modern), emerald (Planetary), agate (Ancient). The ancient list named agate for May. The modern world settled on emerald. May at Goldlip is emerald — the one that grows from the inside out, imperfections included.