A Look at January’s Birthstone: Garnet

The birthstone for January is Garnet. Garnet isn’t actually a single stone, but the name for a group of related silicate minerals. It is considered a semi-precious gemstone.

Handcrafted Birthstone Jewelry Tree of Life Pendant wire wrapped in silver wire featuring January’s birthstone, Garnet as micro faceted rondelles. By PhoenixFire Designs on Etsy.

While most known for the deep, root beer reddish brown version, garnet actually comes in almost every color including greens, pinks, yellows, browns, reds, black, orange, white and colorless. The only color not commonly seen in garnet is blue, though an extremely rare example of a blue garnet was found in the 1990’s.

Garnets are a group of closely related minerals in a range of colors.

These other color versions of garnet include deep red to black Pyrope (from the Greek pyrōpós meaning “fire-eyed”, raspberry/violet-red shade rhodolite (Greek for “rose”), Spessartine (an orange-yellow), and green Grossular garnet (including tsavorite) among many others. Each version of garnet is not only noted for it’s colors but for the chemical structure differences in the mineral.

Color range of Grossular garnets on display at the U.S. National Museum of Natural History. The green gem at right is a type of grossular known as tsavorite.

Garnet is found in many parts of the world including the United States, Russia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Turkey. It is a relatively strong gem ranging from 6.5 – 7.5 on the Mohs scale putting it in the same range as other semi-precious gems like peridot and tanzanite.

Garnet has been used as gemstones in jewelry since the Late Antique Roman period (about the 2nd-8th centuries) as well as by the Anglo-Saxon peoples of England, especially in an inlaid style known as cloisonné.

Rhodolite Garnet Tree of Life Pendant in a raspberry color, one of the many color variations of January’s birthstone.

Traditionally, garnet is said to provide luck in business and attributed with increasing the wearer’s self-esteem when worn as jewelry. Because of the rich, red tone, it’s associated with the first chakra (base of the spine) in Hindu, Tantric and Yoga traditions.

You don’t have to be a January baby to wear and enjoy garnet, but for those who are born in January, your birthstone has a long history of use in jewelry and it’s easy to see why. No matter the color, garnet is a beautiful gemstone!

Visit the PhoenixFire Designs shop on Etsy to see our entire collection including garnet tree of life pendants!