Lucky Birthstone by Adelbert Kohn
Big text"Copyright 1907, A.K. Phila." Adelbert Kohn. Although rather plain in terms of graphics, because each image is simply a bejeweled golden horseshoe, it is notable for bearing the earliest variant of The Tiffany Birthstone Poem.
Interestingly, i this variant, the female slant of the original text, with its references to "her" and to a woman becoming a "wife," has been eliminated. The poem, having been de-gendered, is now suitable for all. Other changes affect the mood or tone of the verses, rendering them less admonitory and more pleasant. "Fidelity" becomes "felicity," for instance. But with these changes come the inevitable ruination of the meter. The line "Shall be a loved and a loving wife" is perfect iambic pentameter, but the substituted "Shall be beloved, happy and blessed" is just hash.
JANUARY
"By those who in this month is born
No gems save Garnets should be worn
They will ensure them constancy,
True friendship, and felicity.
- Month: January
- Zodiac Sign: --
- Birthstone: Garnet
- Birth Flower: --
Additional Imagery: A golden horseshoe suspended from a ribbon tied with a bow.
FEBRUARY
"The February born shall find
Sincerity and peace of mind,
Freedom from passion and from care,
If they, the amethyst will wear."
- Month: February
- Zodiac Sign: --
- Birthstone: Amethyst
- Birth Flower: --
Additional Imagery: A golden horseshoe suspended from a ribbon tied with a bow.
MARCH
"Who in this world of ours, their eyes
In March first open shall be wise
In days of peril firm and brave
And wear a Bloodstone to the grave."
- Month: March
- Zodiac Sign: --
- Birthstone: Bloodstone
- Birth Flower: --
Additional Imagery: A golden horseshoe suspended from a ribbon tied with a bow.
APRIL
"Those who from Arpil date their years
Diamonds should wear, lest bitter tears
For vain repentance flow; this stone
Emblem of innocense is known."
- Month: April
- Zodiac Sign: --
- Birthstone: Diamond
- Birth Flower: --
Additional Imagery: A golden horseshoe suspended from a ribbon tied with a bow.
MAY
Who first behold the light of day
In Spring's sweet flowery month of May
And wear an Emerald on their breast
Shall be beloved, happy and blessed.
- Month: May
- Zodiac Sign: --
- Birthstone: Emerald
- Birth Flower: --
Additional Imagery: A golden horseshoe suspended from a ribbon tied with a bow.
JUNE
"With ring of agate on her hand,
Can health, long life and wealth command."
- Month: June
- Zodiac Sign: Cancer
- Birthstone: Agate
- Birth Flower: Honeysuckle: "Generous and devoted love"
Additional Imagery: A farmstead under a blue sky with a bank of distant of fluffy cumulus clouds; green-leafed trees; fields and flowers; in the foreground a horse waits patiently while four men finish loading her wagon with loose dried hay; three more haycocks await transport.
JULY
"Place on your hand a turquoise blue,
Success will bless you if you do."
- Month: July
- Zodiac Sign: Leo
- Birthstone: Turquoise
- Birth Flower: Water-lily: "Purity of Heart"
Additional Imagery: A dirt road leads to a small village clustered around a spired church; roadside flowers and boulders; a man in the road stops to contemplate the fields of ripening grain; a lowering yellow sunset with darkening clouds.
AUGUST
"Wear a carnelian or for thee
No conjugal felicity."
- Month: August
- Zodiac Sign: Virgo
- Birthstone: Carnelian
- Birth Flower: Poppy: "Consolation"
Additional Imagery: A wood-frame farm house on a gentle slope surrounded by elaborate flower beds and shrubbery; wide stone steps lead down to the road, on the steps a woman stands, straw hat on her head and hands on her hips, contemplating her delphiniums.
SEPTEMBER
"A chrysolite on brow should bind,
'Twill cure diseases of the mind."
- Month: September
- Zodiac Sign: Libra
- Birthstone: Chrysolite
- Birth Flower: Morning-Glory: "Affectation"
Additional Imagery: A snug country cottage amidst yellowing fields; Large trees bearing fruit and nuts; a fence leading down to a wide river; in the foreground rushes and a tied rowboat; blue skies with approaching storm clouds.
OCTOBER
"When fair October to her brings the beryl,
No longer need she fear misfortune's peril."
- Month: October
- Zodiac Sign: Scorpio
- Birthstone: Beryl
- Birth Flower: Hops: "Injustice"
Additional Imagery: A soft orange sunset suffuses the sky; in a copse of woods the leaves turn gold and brown; a lone figure with a wide hat and long cloak walks through the fens as the light fades; in the distance a large manor house.
NOVEMBER
"Firm friendship is November's, and she bears
True love beneath the topaz that she wears."
- Month: November
- Zodiac Sign: Sagittarius
- Birthstone: Topaz
- Birth Flower: Chrysanthemum: "Love, Truth, Cheerfulness"
Additional Imagery: Shocks of corn and scattered pumpkins in a field; a dark forest and hills in the middle distance; the sky is dark ad lowering but in the foreground the last light of sunset sheds its mellow glow on the harvest.
DECEMBER
"December gives her fortune, love and fame,
If amulet of rubies bear her name."
- Month: December
- Zodiac Sign: Capricornus
- Birthstone: Ruby
- Birth Flower: Holly: "Domestic Happiness, Foresight"
Additional Imagery: The full moon rises under banks of illuminated clouds; bare trees and shrubs; a light crust of snow in which footsteps can be seen leading over the fields and onto a road that passes alongside a small stone church brightly illuminated from within.
The Poems
The poems on these cards follow the familiar sing-song pattern i call "the English Enchantment" and the texts themselves seem to derive from The Tiffany Birthstone Poem. This scansion, with a variety of wording, is found on many fortune telling tea cups, as seen at our sister-site, The Mystic Tea Room in the page about Poetry on Cups and Saucers. Dating back at least to the Renaissance and the writing of William Shakespeare, such verses are found to this day in the metrical magical spells of the Anglo-Saxon people.
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