Why Every Month Has a Stone: The Gentle History of Birthstones, for Sleep

How twelve ordinary stones came to stand for twelve months of the year: the jewelled breastpiece described in the Book of Exodus, the early Christian writers who first linked its stones to the twelve apostles, the medieval lapidaries that catalogued the supposed virtues of gems, and the custom, centuries later, of wearing a stone for the month of your birth. The episode follows the idea calmly to the 1912 jewellers' list that fixed the modern set most people know today. Documented history is kept separate from legend and modern belief throughout, with no healing claims presented as fact - just an unhurried journey through belief, trade and craft, for calm listening at the end of the day. Subscribe to The Charter Road for more calm listening.