December babies, our commiserations. Your birthday is overlooked, overshadowed and generally outdone by Christmas, New Years and all the festivities in between.

You are a Sagittarius, the intrepid voyagers of the zodiac - thriving on travel, exploration and discovery. Or a Capricorn, the responsible adults, masters of self-control, tied to family and tradition.

Your birthstone is the Blue Topaz, an icy blue gemstone known for its myriad medicinal properties.  

A cure for both insomnia and indigestion, medieval doctors would have you steep a topaz in a glass of wine and rub it over your eyes to cure failing eyesight – a remedy we don’t endorse for legal reasons.

Aside from dubious therapeutic claims, Topaz is said to be a natural magnifier of creativity and industriousness, increasing the wearer’s attention span, ability to articulate complex ideas, and achieve goals.

Topaz are the record breakers of the gemstone world. The largest faceted gemstone in the world is the El-Dorado Topaz, discovered in Brazil in 1984, weighing 31,000 carats (that’s a touch over 13lb, or the weight of an adult Spaniel.)

The loveliest discovery we’ve made so far in our deep dive into the blue topaz is that it was a favourite motif of Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda. So we leave you with this.

When you touch topaz
topaz touches you:
a gentle warmth awakes
as if wine in the grape
came alive.

From ‘Stones of the Sky,’ 1970