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[Illustration:
The Great Opal “The Flame Queen”
Kelsey I. Newman Collection
]
THE MAGIC AND SCIENCE
OF
JEWELS AND STONES
BY
ISIDORE KOZMINSKY
FULLY ILLUSTRATED
39 SPECIMENS IN COLOR AND 22 OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS
G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS
NEW YORK AND LONDON
=The Knickerbocker Press=
1922
Copyright, 1922, by
G. P. Putnam’s Sons
---
_Made in the United States of America_
To My Dear Wife
This Book is
Affectionately Dedicated
PREFACE
In these pages a sincere attempt is made to blend modern science with
the ancient and occult philosophy of the precious, semi-precious and
common stones of the earth. It will be shown that many of the seemingly
absurd narratives of old authors are but cunningly concealed truths, the
unravelling of which can be followed with interest and profit along the
lines herein indicated. The ancient masters held that the influences
exerted by the heavenly bodies entered into harmonious relations with
various terrestrial substances. Hence we have the venerable philosophy
of fortunate stones, planetary gems and “stones of power,” which form a
part of the vast department known as talismanic magic. It is the
philosophy of sympathy and antipathy prevailing through nature—atom for
atom, stone for stone, plant for plant, animal for animal, man for man.
This observation was subjected to an orderly scientific arrangement
which for completeness of detail would compare, in some cases, more than
favorably with the most careful synthesis of modern science. In order to
make easily understood the matter treated and to secure pronunciations
as nearly correct as possible, it has been considered advisable to
render _all foreign words_, ancient and modern, in familiar letters.
I have to express my grateful thanks to the friends who have, in various
ways, been helpful to me in regard to this work.
To Mr. Kelsey I. Newman, for the use of his unique collection of opals
and precious stones, including the wonderful opal, “The Flame Queen,”
and especially for his co-operation, without which this book could not
have been published.
Likewise to The Right Honorable the Viscountess Astor, M.P.; Lieutenant
Sir Edward Mackenzie-Mackenzie, Bart., for his original Heraldic
drawings of the horoscopes of royal and notable persons from my charts;
Professor Sir William Ridgeway, Sc.D., LL.D., Litt.D., F.B.A., of
Cambridge University, England; Miss Kathleen Watkins, for her help in
preparing the sheets for the press; Mrs. Beatrix Colquhoun, for her
paintings of the Flame Queen and other gems from Mr. Kelsey I. Newman’s
collection; Mr. and Mrs. C. G. King, Melbourne, Australia; Mr. and Mrs.
Henry T. Seymour, New York City; Mr. William Howat, Melbourne,
Australia; Mrs. S. Kozminsky, Melbourne, Australia; Mrs. Alice Walker,
Melbourne, Australia; Mr. G. S. Brown, Melbourne, Australia; Mr. G. A.
Osboldstone, Melbourne, Australia; Mr. James Mackenzie, Adelaide,
Australia; Mr. M. Susman, Hobart, Tasmania, and to my wife to whom this
book is dedicated.
ISIDORE KOZMINSKY.
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA,
January, 1922.
“_Another, ere she slept, was stringing stones
To make a necklet—agate, onyx, sard,
Coral, and moonstone—round her wrist it gleamed
A coil of splendid colour, while she held
Unthreaded yet, the bead to close it up—
Green turkis, carved with golden gods and scripts._”
EDWIN ARNOLD—“The Light of Asia.”
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I.— STUDY OF PRECIOUS STONES IN EARLY TIMES 3
II.— THE MOST ANCIENT SCIENCE 6
III.— THE EPHOD OF THE HIGH PRIEST 9
IV.— THE BREASTPLATE OF JUDGMENT 12
V.— INTERPRETATION OF THE BREASTPLATE ACCORDING TO ANCIENT 18
PHILOSOPHY
VI.— THE STONES OF THE BREASTPLATE AND THE ZODIAC 57
VII.— OLD LEGENDS 61
VIII.— STONES IN VARIOUS MYTHOLOGIES 72
IX.— STONES AND THEIR STORIES 83
X.— THE GREATEST CHARMS IN THE WORLD 104
PRECIOUS AND SEMI-PRECIOUS GEMS ARRANGED IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER
XI.— AGATE-AMAZONITE 111
XII.— AMBER-AZURITE 121
XIII.— THE BERYL FAMILY 137
XIV.— BALAS-CRYSOCOLLA 151
XV.— CHRYSOLITE-CRYSTAL 166
XVI.— THE DIAMOND 184
XVII.— SOME FAMOUS AND WONDERFUL DIAMONDS AND THEIR STORIES 204
XVIII.— DICHROITE-IOLITE 226
XIX.— JACINTH-LODESTONE 242
XX.— MALACHITE-NEPHRITE 260
XXI.— OBSIDIAN-ONYX 276
XXII.— THE OPAL 286
THE GREAT AUSTRALIAN OPAL
XXIII.— THE FLAME QUEEN 300
XXIV.— VARIOUS KINDS OF OPAL 302
XXV.— PEARL 307
XXVI.— PEARL 322
XXVII.— PERIDOT-RUBY 333
XXVIII.— RUTILE-SAPPHIRE 351
XXIX.— SARDONYX-SUCCINITE 362
XXX.— TITANITE-TOPAZ 374
XXXI.— TOURMALINE-ZIRCON 382
XXXII.— STONES IN SHAKESPEARE’S PLAYS 396
XXXIII.— FORMS, COMPOSITIONS, CHARACTERISTICS, ZODIACAL 412
CLASSIFICATION, AND PLACES OF ORIGIN
XXXIV.— GEMS IN HERALDRY, MAGICAL SQUARES OF ABRA MELIN THE 420
MAGE, CHARUBEL’S GEM INFLUENCES, GEMS OF COUNTRIES
XXXV.— THE INEVITABLE LAW OF TRANSMUTATION 431
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
THE GREAT OPAL—THE FLAME QUEEN (_In colour_) _Frontispiece_
Kelsey I. Newman Collection.
RARE OPALS (_In colour_) 40
Kelsey I. Newman Collection.
HIEROGLYPHICS 55
A PERFECT SPECIMEN OF THE ENGLISH GOLD NOBLE (1344) 96
In the Kelsey I. Newman Collection. Traditionally
stated to have been made from Alchemical Gold.
LARGE SCARAB 106
William Howat Collection.
RARE SCARAB OF RAMESES II—A FAMOUS PHARAOH OF THE BIBLE 106
Mrs. C. G. King’s Collection.
RARE ANTIQUE SCARAB OF BLACK JASPER 106
Talismanic Charm—Mercury, Guardian of Sailors.
Mrs. C. G. King’s Collection.
_TABELLÆ CORELLATÆ_ 177
GAZING CRYSTAL ON DRAGON STAND 180
Presented to the Author by the late Judge Casey of
Victoria, Australia.
HOROSCOPE OF KRUGER 198
HOROSCOPE OF ISABELLA II 199
HOROSCOPE OF NICHOLAS II 208
HOROSCOPE OF JAMES II 212
“INSPIRATION” 262
Marble group in Central Hall, Art Institute,
Chicago. Signed—Kathleen Beverly Robinson.
Memorial to Florence Jane Adams. Presented by
Friends and Pupils of Mrs. Adams, 1915.
By Kind Permission of The Art Institute of
Chicago.
ANTIQUE MOSS AGATE PATCH BOX 268
Mrs. W. R. Furlong’s Collection.
MOSS AGATE BASKET 268
William Howat Collection.
OLD MAIORI CHARM OF GREENSTONE KNOWN AS HEI TIKI 274
VENUS, CUPID, AND THE GRACES—A SARDONYX CAMEO BY CERBARA 284
Newton Robinson Collection.
Sold at Christie’s, London, in 1909.
THE ARGONAUTS CONSULTING HYGIEA 284
Large and Rare Cameo.
Kelsey I. Newman Collection.
OPALS OF WONDERFUL COLOUR (_In colour_) 288
Kelsey I. Newman Collection.
HOROSCOPE OF ALFONZO XII 297
OTHER ASPECTS OF THE GREAT OPAL—THE FLAME QUEEN (_In colour_) 300
Kelsey I. Newman Collection.
SMALL NECKLET OF PERFECT ORIENTAL PEARLS 310
Kelsey I. Newman Collection.
HOROSCOPE OF MARY OF SCOTLAND 318
HOROSCOPE OF ELIZABETH OF ENGLAND 319
HOROSCOPE OF HENRY VIII OF ENGLAND 349
BEAUTIFUL COLOUR GEMS (_In colour_) 360
Kelsey I. Newman Collection.
SPECIMEN OF ROUGH TURQUOISE (_In colour_) 390
Victoria, Australia
HOROSCOPE OF SHAKESPEARE 402
The Magic and Science
of
Jewels and Stones
CHAPTER I
STUDY OF PRECIOUS STONES IN
EARLY TIMES
“_A thing of beauty is a joy forever;
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness._”
KEATS.
INSPIRATION AND KNOWLEDGE: EXPERIMENTS ON SENSITIVES: GEMS AND COLOUR
ATTRACTIONS: ANCIENT GEM CLASSIFICATION: SCIENCE HERMETIC AMONG
ANCIENT NATIONS: PUNISHMENT OF THE PEACH TREE: MODERN
CLASSIFICATION.
The study of the precious and semi-precious stones of the earth has
commanded the attention of man from the mists of ages when, according to
Enoch, the angel Azazzel came to the earth plane to teach him the use of
them. Hence man considered the actual benefit to himself of these stones
until his natural curiosity led him to study more deeply the marvel of
their existence. There can be little doubt that the indicated use was
talismanic, and that the pure wisdom of divine inspiration and a clear
faith rendered man’s intuition so keen that he was quite able to know
the virtue of various stones without chemical analysis. Dr. Ennemoser
has recorded the effects of precious stones on certain psychic subjects,
giving the opinion that “it is not improbable that in the early ages the
belief in the virtues of talismans was induced by similar observations.”
This, no doubt, is true and indicates to us that certain observed
phenomena compelled a closer study. We are then reminded of the
experiments which have been attributed to the schools of Pythagoras and
of the observed effects of certain stones in the hands of sensitives by
Baron Reichenbach in the middle of the nineteenth century and of the
still more recent experiments in the schools at Nancy. There are records
of these experiments being carried out on magnetic somnambulists when
diamonds, emeralds, rubies, loadstones, beryls, jaspers and other stones
were found to produce varied and strange effects. Gems in common with
all manifestations of nature have the power of attracting certain
colours to themselves: and so persistent are these colours that it has
been observed that when they are changed by art they are liable to
revert slowly (for the action of the stone world is slow) to their
original colours. This can be noticed especially with Topaz which may on
this account alone have been identified with the stubborn and
indomitable Mars. The attraction of diverse colours by the various
chemical compounds which are cohesive in the various stones must be a
certain indication of vibratory power. Indeed, the ancients have
indicated that the rates of vibration in the gems differ with the needs
of the chemical entities composing them, and it may as well be
emphasized here that life exists in a gem just as it does in another
form in a plant or an animal. It need scarcely be repeated that colour
is vibration. Colour is crystallized in a gem and immense vibration
defies the material senses of man. A violet amethyst vibrates at the
enormous rate of 750 trillions per second whilst a red ruby vibrates at
460 trillions. Hence we can scientifically demonstrate distinct powers
by the evidence of known vibratory action. The people of antiquity
classified gems in a manner different from that of the people of to-day,
for they regarded colour of primary importance and bracketed stones of
similar shades thus establishing the first points of agreement in the
department of vibratory power. It is inconceivable however, that the
great masters were unacquainted with chemical components, for chemistry
was one of the secret arts, and it is well known that the priests of
Egypt experimented secretly in their temples and that the betrayal of
scientific secrets was followed by the mysterious “punishment of the
peach tree” (supposed to be death from prussic acid). Modern groupings
are arranged with regard to chemical affinities so far as can be traced
by close analytical investigations and experiments.
CHAPTER II
THE MOST ANCIENT SCIENCE
“_And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the Heaven to
divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for
seasons, and for days, and years._” Genesis 1:14.
ASTROLOGY: COLOURS OF THE HEAVENS.
The old science of Astrology was known amongst the Hebrews as the Wisdom
of Foreknowledge (HOK MAT HA NISSAYON), and with it was included
Astronomy or Star Knowledge (HOK MAT HA HOZZAYON). It is spoken of as of
heavenly origin having been communicated to man by the angels after he
had lost Eden. It was written that:
KOKABEL communicated Astrology, Wisdom of the Stars.
RAKIEL or BARAKEL communicated Astronomy, Star Gazing.
SHEHAKEEL communicated The Wisdom of the Clouds.
ARKIEL communicated The Symbols of the Earth.
SAMSIEL communicated The Symbols of the Sun.
SCURIEL or SAHRIEL communicated The Symbols of the Moon.
From the observed influences of the Sun and Moon the old scholars were
enabled to classify the influence of these orbs in the various parts of
the heavens and to formulate special rules, which extended observation
rendered more convincing and complete. The simple consideration of the
lunar phases brought grains of knowledge, which included the calculation
of tidal action, eclipses, etc. The unity of the forces of Nature was
then demonstrated in the actions and influences of the planets and
stars, and the blending of such influences with their zodiacal positions
and aspects. Universal unity was insisted on and the statements of the
ancient scholars have not been discredited by the revelations of modern
scientific discoveries. The Talmud calls the planets “moving stars” and
sets down that Alexander of Macedon was pictured with a ball in his hand
to symbolize the spherical shape of the Earth. The planets were
indicated as follows:
Mercury the Planet of Mind is _The_ Star
Venus the Planet of Beauty is Splendour
Mars the Planet of Contention is Ruddiness
Jupiter the Planet of Prosperity is Benevolence
Saturn the Planet of Restraint is The Star of Sabbath
Comets are represented as arrows of flame bearing messages to mankind.
* * * * *
The various colours ascribed to the planets are:
Sun Yellow, Golden, Orange
Moon White, Silvery, pale opalescent Green
Mercury Dove Grey
Venus Delicate Colour Tints, Shades of Green, pale Blue, etc.
Mars Red
Jupiter Purple
Saturn Black
Uranus Mixed Colours
Neptune Doubtful
The colours ascribed to the 12 Signs of the Zodiac and the planets
associated with them are:
Aries White and Red Mixed Mars
Taurus White and Lemon Mixed Venus
Gemini White and Red Mixed Mercury
Cancer Green or Russet Moon
Leo Red and Green Sun
Virgo Black and Blue Mercury
Libra Dark Crimson Venus
Scorpio Dark Brown Mars
Sagittarius Sanguine Green Jupiter
Capricorn Black Saturn
Aquarius Sky Blue Uranus
Pisces Glistening White Neptune
The approximate date of the Sun’s entry into the various zodiacal signs
enabled astrologers to select the Solar Talismanic Gem.
The Sun enters Aries about March 21
The Sun enters Taurus about April 21
The Sun enters Gemini about May 22
The Sun enters Cancer about June 22
The Sun enters Leo about July 23
The Sun enters Virgo about August 24
The Sun enters Libra about September 24
The Sun enters Scorpio about October 24
The Sun enters Sagittarius about November 23
The Sun enters Capricorn about December 20
The Sun enters Aquarius about January 20
The Sun enters Pisces about February 19
This brief statement of the most ancient science must suffice. It will
enable the reader to understand the philosophy on which the wearing of
talismanic jewels rests and may induce him to delve a little into the
“wisdom of the fathers.”
CHAPTER III
THE EPHOD OF THE HIGH PRIEST
“_And yet, as angels in some brighter dreams
Call to the soul when men doth sleep,
So may some strange thoughts transcend our wonted themes
And into glory peep._”
HENRY VAUGHAN.
THE EPHOD OF THE HIGH PRIEST: THE HEAVENS, THE GATES, THE CAVES: THE
FOUR WORLDS.
In the 28th chapter of Exodus we learn that those that are “wise
hearted” and “filled with the spirit of wisdom” were selected to make
for Aaron consecrated garments—a breastplate and an ephod, a broidered
coat, a mitre and a girdle. On the shoulders of the Ephod (Hebrew,
Hepod) which was to be made “of gold, of blue, and of purple, of
scarlet”—these being the colours of divinity—“and fine twined linen,
with cunning work” were to be placed two stones, each to be engraved
after the manner of a signet, with six names of the children of Israel.
Authorities generally agree with the translations in classifying these
two stones as Onyx, and there are very important reasons from an occult
point of view why they should be so identified even though Josephus
accounts them Sardonyx which, he says, represents the sun and the moon.
These onyx stones were to be worn “for stones of memorial unto the
children of Israel.” The ephod was similar to an upper body-garment of
the Greeks (Josephus says it resembled the Epomis) and may be described
as a kind of waistcoat held by straps which passed over the shoulders
and were twined round the waist with the cunningly woven band. The two
large onyx stones were set on the shoulder-straps, and on each stone
were engraved the names of the children of Israel—“Six of their names on
one stone, and the other six names of the rest on the other stone,
according to their birth.” In astrology, to which science perhaps on its
more esoteric side we are impelled, we can quickly recognize the twelve
signs of the Zodiac—six Northern and six Southern—in the twelve tribes
of the children of Israel, more distinctly emphasized on the breastplate
of the High Priest. The engraving on the two onyx stones, one of which
would necessarily be somewhat lighter in colour than the other, can
never be explained in our prosaic terms for they were attuned to the
whisperings of the Heavenly Hosts and typified the eternal wanderings of
the Soul.
In my later remarks on the Onyx I have noted the ancient philosophy
regarding the descent of the Soul through the Gate of Cancer and its
ascent through the Gate of Capricorn. Peter symbolically represented at
the Gate of Heaven, is a veiled allusion to the stone (Petros) gateway
through which the departing spirits of Earth pass on their everlasting
pilgrimage in search of the pearl above price—the hidden knowledge of
perfect truth—a stone so gloriously brilliant that mortal eyes can never
gaze on it.
In earlier Egyptian symbolic lore it is assumed that the Heavens were of
stone, the goddess Hathor being the Lady of the Turquoise Stones and
other deities being represented by stones cut to forms and in their
natural state. In rabbinical allegory the Creator, vibrating through the
rays of sunrise, is reverenced as “The Opener of the Gates,” and
frequent allusions are made to the gates of tears, of prayer, of praise,
and of repentance. There is an old Hebrew tradition that one Messiah
will come through the Gate of Capricorn and another through the Gate of
Cancer. Plato writes of the two gateways—one through which the Soul
descends, the other through which the soul ascends, and Porphyry says
that on this account the Egyptians did not begin the year like the
Romans with Aquarius but with the Moon Sign Cancer.
The Quabalistic Books say that the soul of man passed through the four
celestial worlds in its descent, receiving from Aziluth, the Chaiah,
spiritual animation: from Briah, Neshamah, understanding: from Jezirah,
Ruach, the passions: from Nephesch, material desires. He enters the
world by the Gate of Generation (the Moon), the watery sign, the colour
of which is indicated as green, and he leaves the world of Matter for
the land of the Immortals by the Gate of Material Death (Saturn), the
Earth sign Capricorn, the colour of which is black. The Su’n passage
through the tribal signs expressed on the onyx stones of the Ephod
symbolizes eternally the descent and ascent of immortal man.
CHAPTER IV
THE BREASTPLATE OF JUDGMENT
“_The future things and those which are to happen, let them foretell
unto thee._” Isaiah XLIV. 7.
ATTACHED to the Ephod was the famous HOSHEN-HA-MISHPAT or Breastplate of
Judgment which was of “cunning work,” fashioned like the Ephod “of gold,
of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine twined linen.” It
was a square pouch when doubled, a span in length and a span in breadth.
Josephus writes that there were “twelve stones upon the Breastplate,
extraordinary in largeness and beauty: and they were an ornament not to
be purchased by men because of their immense value. The names of all
those sons of Jacob were engraven in these stones, whom we esteem the
heads of our tribes, each in the order according to which they were
born.”
We are told in the 28th chapter of the Book of Exodus that the Urim and
Thummim were put into the Breastplate. Dummelow believes that these were
two jewels or images engraved with distinctive characters employed in
casting lots. Josephus and the Septuagint imply that the gems on the
Breastplate constituted the Urim and Thummim. Gensenius says that the
Urim and Thummim were two little images which were placed between the
folds of the Breastplate. Dr. Chambers indicates the Urim and Thummim as
a mysterious contrivance consisting either of the four rows of precious
stones bearing the tribal signets, or of two images. It is pointed out
that the images of Isis and Osiris, worked in precious stones, hung on
the breast of the Egyptian High Priest to symbolize truth and justice.
The Urim and Thummim may be identical with the Babylonian “Tablets of
Destiny” which were the instruments by which the seers of Babylon
conveyed the “urtu” or answer of the gods to the people. In Babylon the
“Tablets of Destiny” were only effective when on the breast of the god,
while amongst the children of Israel the Urim and Thummim were only
potent when on the breast of the High Priest. Josephus says that the
answer of the Urim and Thummim was revealed by rays of light, and the
Talmudic account is in harmony with this statement.
It was necessary for accuracy that the oracle should only be approached
by one on whom the Shekinah or Radiance rested: one filled with the
splendour of inspiration, naturally gifted in the art of prophecy, and
fitted by the beauty of his thoughts and his life to draw unto himself
the divine Shekinah: he must be “covered with the robe of virtue as the
bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments and as a bride adorneth
herself with her jewels.” The Rabbis identified Urim and Thummim as the
“grand and sacred name of God,” Urim indicating “Those whose words
communicate light” and Thummin, “Those whose words are realised,” while
the Septuagint renders them as “Revelation” and “Truth.” The generally
accepted meaning of Urim and Thummim is “Lights and Perfections.”
The connection of the twelve zodiacal signs with the twelve tribes of
Israel and the twelve stones of the Breastplate is remarked by Josephus,
and the Targum upon Canticles also links them together. Wilson in
“Lights and Shadows of Northern Mythology” draws attention to the
life-sized white marble figure of Aaron robed, wearing the Breastplate
showing a sign of the Zodiac sculptured on each of the twelve precious
stones, which figure is placed on the right side of the High Altar in S.
Pietro, Piazza Bianchi, Genoa.
The Matsebah of Babylon are black pillar stones on which in three
elemental divisions are sculptured the twelve zodiacal signs by which
the twelve Assyrian gods are symbolized, and the twelve lions on either
side of the steps leading to Solomon’s throne represent the Sun in its
progress through the signs of Heaven. Josephus mentions that he had seen
the remains of an ancient pillar of stone on which Seth, foreseeing the
great Flood, had engraved the elements of Astrology which “Adam had
received from the Creator.”
“Moses was willing,” writes Josephus, “that the power of the Breastplate
should be known not only to the Hebrews but to all the world. When God
was present the stone on the right shoulder of the High Priest (the
stone symbolizing the soul’s descent) shone with a brilliancy not
natural to it. This has appeared a wonderful thing to such as have not
so far indulged themselves in philosophy as to despise Divine
Revelation. Yet will I mention what is more wonderful than this: for God
declared beforehand by those twelve stones which the High Priest bare on
his breast and which were inserted into his Breastplate, when they
should be victorious in battle: for so great a splendour shone forth
from them before the army began to march that all the people were
sensible of God’s being present for their assistance. Whence it came to
pass that those Greeks who had a veneration for our laws, because they
could not possibly contradict this called the Breastplate ‘the Oracle.’
Now this Breastplate left off shining 200 years before I composed this
book, God having been displeased at the transgression of the laws.”
Father Kircher in “Oedipus Egyptianus” gives an engraving of the
Tabernacle with the Sun, Moon, and Planets in the centre and Ephraim
with a bull, Menasses with two infants, Benjamin with a Centaur, Dan
with a scorpion, Gad with a ram, Assehr with scales, Simeon with fishes,
Reuben with a water-bearer, Zebulon with a fish-goat, Issachar with a
lobster, and Judah with a lion.
The standards of the twelve tribes were given in the middle ages as
follows:
Issachar Sun or Full Moon
Reuben Man’s Head or Bust
Judah A Lion
Gad An Army of Men
Zebulon A Ship
Simeon A Citadel
Manassah A Unicorn
Dan An Eagle
Napthali Deer
Benjamin A Horse
Assher A Tree
The Rabbinical writers generally favour the following tribal order:
Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Napthali, Gad, Assher, Issachar,
Zebulon, Joseph, Benjamin. Tobias ben Eliezer quotes an old Baraita
which said that Zebulon was followed by Dan. Marbodus places them as
follows:
1. Reuben placed 3rd of the 3rd row in the Breastplate
2. Simeon placed 3rd of the 2nd row in the Breastplate
3. Levi placed 3rd of the 1st row in the Breastplate
4. Judah placed 2nd of the 1st row in the Breastplate
5. Zebulon placed 1st of the 1st row in the Breastplate
6. Issachar placed 1st of the 2nd row in the Breastplate
7. Dan placed 1st of the 3rd row in the Breastplate
8. Gad placed 1st of the 4th row in the Breastplate
9. Assher placed 2nd of the 2nd row in the Breastplate
10. Napthali placed 2nd of the 3rd row in the Breastplate
11. Joseph placed 2nd of the 4th row in the Breastplate
12. Benjamin placed 3rd of the 4th row in the Breastplate
Another old list gives the order as follows:
Reuben, Dan, Judah, Levi, Issachar, Zebulon, Assher, Napthali, Gad,
Simeon, Joseph, Benjamin.
Swedenborg groups the tribes thus:
Judah, Reuben and Gad; Assher, Napthali and Manasseh; Simeon, Levi and
Issachar; Zebulon, Joseph and Benjamin.
It is unnecessary to quote further lists as I believe that the one I am
now producing will be sufficient to redeem the confusion. It is in
complete harmony with the order of Jacob’s blessings (Genesis XLIX) and
the signs of the Zodiac. It will be noted that Taurus with the tribe of
Reuben leads the Zodiac, and it is related that under this sign the
human race came to earth. On ancient zodiacs the Bull as a solar
conception is shown wending his way through the stars.
1. Reuben the Defiler Taurus
2. Simeon and Levi the Slayers Gemini
3. Levi “Held to” (_i. e._, Cancer
to the altar)
4. Judah the Lion’s Whelp Leo
5. Zebulon the Haven Virgo (Argo, the ship, is
in the constellation
Virgo).
6. Issachar the Bender Libra
7. Dan the Adder Scorpio
8. Gad the Victor Sagittarius
9. Assher the Producer Capricorn
10. Naphthali the Comforter Aquarius
11. Joseph the Redeemer Pisces
12. Benjamin the Devourer Aries
The sign Cancer is that of the tribe of Levi as servants and guardians
of the Tabernacle, the name indicating “held to,” i. e., held to the
altar.
CHAPTER V
INTERPRETATION OF THE BREASTPLATE
ACCORDING TO ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY
It is apparent that the identification of the stones in the Breastplate
must present many difficulties. Lord Arthur C. Hervey in his Dictionary
of the Bible, says: “Whether the order followed the ages of the sons of
Israel or, as seems most probable, the order of the encampment, may be
doubted; but unless any appropriate distinct symbolism of the different
tribes be found in the names of the precious stones, the question can
scarcely be decided.” Dr. C. Keil in “Biblical Archaeology” says: “The
order of the rows of the precious stones is given in Exodus 28:17-20 and
39:10-13, but owing to the vacillating manner in which the early writers
designate and describe the stones we are at a loss to know how it should
be explained.” Dr. Deane is of the opinion that in many cases it is a
difficult task to identify the Hebrew and Greek names used in these
passages with the names of modern mineralogy. The Rev. J. R. Dummelow
comments on the difficulties of identifying the stones, the meaning of
the Hebrew words being doubtful. Josephus saw the Breastplate frequently
in his day, and in his description the position of certain stones is
changed. The Hebrew Bible translation also presents differences.
Rosenmuller, the Orientalist, argues as to the position of the 6th and
12th stones, placing the 12th in the 6th and the 6th in the 12th. It may
easily be assumed that in its wanderings stones were lost from the
Breastplate and that the replacing of these stones was not always
carried out by men with a knowledge of the quabalistical import of Urim
and Thummim or even of the stones themselves.
To quote from Dr. Deane: “The variation in the order of the stones
prompts the enquiry whether the Breastplate which Josephus repeatedly
saw and which Jerome might have seen in the Temple of Concord was
identical with that of ancient times. If the whole of the original
stones were preserved, the order must have been kept in consequence of
the names engraved upon them. But it is not by any means unlikely that
in the great vicissitudes of the Hebrew nation some of the original
stones may have been lost and have been replaced by others.” More
evidences of this kind would be superfluous.
=The First Stone of the Breastplate=
Now, the first stone of the Breastplate is a Red stone. According to
astrology the Red stone vibrates to the planet Mars and the zodiacal
Aries, therefore its position as the first stone of the Breastplate is
natural. In the mystic philosophy of the Hebrews the Ram “caught in a
thicket by his horns,” the blood of the lamb upon the lintel and
side-posts, etc., and in mystic Christian philosophy the blood of the
Lamb which redeems from worldly sin are expressed symbolically by the
sign Aries, into which the Sun enters in the month of Nisan,
approximately 21st March, the time of the Passover and of Easter. Not
only then must the stone be a red one, it must be red of the colour of
blood. But again one must not lose sight of the fact that the first
stone on the Plate was engraved not with the name of the tribe of
Benjamin, the true Aries tribe, but with the name Reuben, a tribe under
the lordship of the second sign of the Zodiac, Taurus. This may be
explained by the fact that the earlier Breastplate of the two began with
the sign Taurus. Agnes Mary Clerke, writing on the Old Zodiac, says: “So
far as positive records go Aries was always the first sign. But the
arrangement is, on the face of it, a comparatively modern one. None of
the brighter stars of the constellation could be said even roughly to
mark the Equinox much before 1800 B.C.; therefore during a long stretch
of previous time the leading position belongs to the stars of Taurus.
Numerous indications accordingly point to a corresponding primate
zodiac. Setting aside as doubtful, evidence derived from interpretation
of cuniform inscriptions we meet in connection with Mithraic and
Mylittic legends reminiscences of a Zodiac and religious calendar in
which the Bull led the way. Virgil’s “Candidus auratis aperit cum
cornibus anum Taurus” perpetuates the tradition, and the Pleiades
continued within historical memory to be the first asterism of the lunar
zodiac.”
The Egyptian worship of Serapis who is frequently symbolized by the head
of a bull surmounted by a uræus and disc, and whose colour was of a
blood red, may be noted. The worship of this god was introduced into
Egypt by the Ptolemies, but his name is derived from Ausar-Hapi
(Osiris-Apis) and he represents a blending of the older worship of
Osiris with the Bull Apis which, says Herodotus, is a fair and sublime
reflection of the soul of Osiris. In this connection Diodorus says that
the soul of Osiris migrated into Apis and thus revealed himself to men
through the ages. Attention is drawn to this worship to show that in
Egypt a bull god was associated with the colour red, and the “holding a
red rag to a bull” may have its origin in the bull-fights of old, in
which case however it is clear that the Martial Red is the colour of
irritation.
We can see in the placing of Taurus, the Bull—or the tribal name
Reuben—in the first section of the Breastplate a desire to harmonize it
as far as possible with an older one, whilst the gem and its colour
represented the sign Aries—the sign of the Ram—symbolically the tribe of
Benjamin, engraved as of old in the last division of the Plate.
The Hebrew word ODEM, signifying redness, is connected with the Hebrew
word DOM, blood, and the stone to meet these requirements is the Red
Hæmatite, the true bloodstone of antiquity, which is further described
in the section of this book dealing more generally with the scientific
and romantic aspects of precious stones.
The Hæmatite is a true iron stone and in old astrology Iron is a metal
placed directly under the rulership of the planet Mars and the sign
Aries. We have direct evidence of the use of this stone by the ancient
Babylonians, who wore it as an engraved signet cut in cylinder form. We
therefore identify the first stone of the Breastplate as the Red
Hæmatite on which was engraved the name of the first tribe, Reuben.
=The Second Stone of the Breastplate=
The second stone of the Breastplate is given as PITDAH, variously
interpreted as a Topaz, Peridot, Yellowish-green Serpentine, Diamond and
Chrysolite. The Targums agree that a green stone is implied and some
authorities seek to clear the mystery by advancing that the stone was of
a yellowish-green.
The topaz of the ancients is not the topaz of today, but is identified
with the stone known to us as the chrysolite or peridot. Traditionally
the emerald is associated with the second sign of the zodiac, and Apion
who wrote much concerning ancient Egypt and whose story of Androclus and
the Lion echoes through the ages, tells of a gigantic figure of Serapis
seen at Alexandra; this figure, the height of which was about fifteen
feet, was probably composed of glass resembling emerald. The emerald was
sacred to Serapis who—as indicated in the previous chapter—was a Bull
god associated naturally with the zodiacal Taurus. This sign and the
colour green blend truly for green is the symbol of life, of agriculture
and of abundant nature, and amongst nations of antiquity holy festivals
heralded the return of Spring whose praises are sung by the poets in the
magical language of mythology. The many references to “green trees” in
the Bible need only be noticed in passing.
The Veneralia of old was held once a year amidst budding plants and
flowers, in gardens and on green lawns in honour of Venus to welcome
Adonis returning in radiant beauty from the under-world. The ceremony
took place towards the end of April, when the Sun had entered the Earth
sign of Venus, Taurus, and it survives in the later May Day rejoicings.
The gem needed is therefore a green one, and this is traditionally the
correct one for the sign Shor or Taurus in which Nogah or Venus delights
and in which Lavanah or the Moon exalts. The emerald was sacred to this
period of the year. This gem was well-known amongst ancient nations,
especially those of Egypt and Ethiopia where the chief emerald mines
were. The children of Israel must certainly have known of the existence
of the emerald which is mentioned in the Wisdom of Ptah-Hotep who lived
ages before the time of Solomon and more than 1000 years before
Hammurabi, the Wise, of Babylon. “Courtesy in Speech,” says this sage,
“is rarer than the emeralds which slave girls find in the stones.”
It is recorded that the Egyptians employed many women at the emerald
mines on account of the keenness of their vision, and it is highly
probable that Israelitish women were selected for this work with
captives of other nations. Specimens of emeralds collected by Sir G.
Wilkinson from Mount Zabarah in Upper Egypt now lie in the British
Museum. Evidence is not wanting to prove that the ancients knew well how
to engrave on an emerald, Pliny states that Ptolemy offered Lucullus at
Alexandra an emerald with his portrait engraved on it.
The tribe Simeon corresponding to the zodiacal Gemini was engraved on
the second gem of the Breastplate—although it has no connection with
it—for the reason before noted.
It should be understood that by “emerald” is meant the precious emerald
as we know it or its varieties Beryl and Aquamarine. It may be noted
that the Topaz, a gem most generally favoured as the second stone on the
Breastplate, is traditionally assigned to the opposite sign of the
Zodiac, Scorpio.
The hero Gilgames in Babylonian story sees by the gates of the Ocean a
wondrous magical tree which bore as fruit most precious emeralds. The
emerald as a love stone was closely identified with Venus and was
regarded as particularly fortunate for women, bringing happiness in
love, comfort in domestic affairs, and safety in childbirth. The evil
effects of the luminaries afflicted or of malefic planets in the sign
Taurus, the latter degrees especially, have been shown to affect the
sight; hence the employment of the emerald as an eye charm.
Hathor, the Egyptian Venus, who carries in her left hand the potent Crux
Ansata was saluted as “The Lady of the Southern Sycamore,” a tree which
stood for the living body of Hathor on earth and which was called the
Sycamore of the Emerald.
The Rosicrucian John Heydon of the 17th Century describes his meeting
with the spirit Euterpe on the plains of Bulverton Hill one sweet summer
evening. He describes her as “a most exquisite divine beauty of decent
stature; attired, she was in thin loose silks, but so green that I never
saw the like for the colour was not earthly.... Her rings were pure
entire emeralds for she valued no metal.”
Similar legends of green fairies, green fields, and green lights are
connected with the sign of Venus terrestrial, Taurus.
The emerald, then, is the second stone of the Breastplate, and on it was
engraved the name of the tribe of Simeon.
=The Third Stone of the Breastplate=
The third stone of the Breastplate is simply expressed by the word
BAREKETH which has been variously rendered as Emerald, Ruby, Carbuncle,
Amethyst, Rock Crystal, Green Olivine, Green Feldspar. Its true meaning
is “flashing,” which the Targumic translators express as “brilliant.”
The Hebrew BARUK corresponds to an Arabic word meaning “to gleam, to
flash;” the Assyrian word BARAKU and the Aramic BURUK have the same
meaning, with which may be identified the Punic BARCAR, surname of the
Carthaginian general Hamilcar; the Syriac BORKO and the Chaldean BARKAN
can only be rendered “brilliant.” There is a Sanskrit word MARKATA,
meaning “flashing, sparkling,” which corresponds to our word “marble,”
literally, “the sparkling stone,” Latin MARMOR, cognate with the Greek
MARMAROS from MARMAIRO to flash, shine, sparkle. Hence the Flashing
Stone may be identified as marble, and this traditionally answers the
required conditions. In astro-philosophy marble is connected with the
sign of the columns, Gemini—Simeon in association with Levi—and is known
as the Day House of the planet Mercury. The Midrash Bemidbah gives the
colour of this sign as white, and Francis Barrett expresses it as
“glittering.”
The author remembers long ago taking some really glittering specimens of
white marble, unstained by the hand of time, from an Egyptian
mummy-case. Even at the present day pieces of white marble are buried
with the dead body in some countries of the world, and the marble
tombstone is universally used as a monument over the buried ashes which
the ascending man has thrown aside as the serpent throws his old skin.
The shining marble is the emblem of spiritual resurrection which is
symbolized in the sign of the Twins (Gemini). Mercury as the Egyptian
Tehuti or Thoth, or the Greek Hermes, is ever connected with the spirits
of the dead in the Hall of Judgment and, in harmony with the brilliant
flashing white stone, the everlasting uplifting and spiritual progress.
The sign Gemini but lightly veils the peculiar occult meaning associated
with twins and connected names in hermetic philosophy. From Cain and
Abel many may be enumerated including Simeon and Levi whom we find
implicated in the massacre of the defenceless people of Shihem for which
crime they drew upon themselves their father’s curse. Greek legend gives
Amphion, skilled in music and learning, and Zeuthus, who labours and
follows the chase. The latter by hard labour rolled huge boulders
together to build up the walls of Troy, whilst the former but struck the
strings of the lyre given to him by Hermes and the great rocks followed
him—a symbol of the triumph of mind which Hermes promises to his
disciples. Simeon and Levi killed the Shechemites to avenge their sister
Dinah; Amphion and Zeuthus drove Dirce, bound to a bull, to her death to
avenge their mother Antiope. In the legend of the Roman twins, Romulus
kills his brother Remus as Cain killed Abel.
The twin stories are well illustrated in the legend of Castor and
Pollux, the “great twin brethren,” sons of Jupiter and Leda. The former
was mortal, the latter immortal, but so attached were they to each other
that none ever saw them apart.
In these stories the mysterious union of the Soul and the Body is being
continually forced forward, and sleep—which the old masters called a
tenth part of death—is indicated in this legend of the Dioscuri when
Pollux divides his immortality with his brother. Sanchoniatho or
Sanchuniathon—who lived when Gideon judged Israel, says that Thoth of
the Egyptians, Taaut of the Phœnicians, Thoyth of the Alexandrians,
Hermes or Mercurius, was the inventor of letters, and took religion from
the unskilful management of the vulgar forming it into a rational
system; and "when Saturn came from the southern parts of the Earth he
made Taaut, the son of Miser (identified as the Mizraim of the Bible),
King of all Egypt, and the month Thoth began the Egyptian year and
coincides with Tisri or Thishri which began the Jewish year and with
Tisritu which began the Chaldean.
To continue further might lead outside the province of this book, and
the plea for this digression is the endeavour to elucidate the hidden
import of the various departments of the sacred Breastplate by the
searchlight of the philosophical stories of our antique fathers.
Thoth or Hermes engraved all knowledge on two pillars or columns, and
the Hermetic schools say that all knowledge is contained in the words,
letters and continuations engraved on the two tables of stone. This
writing of God graven upon the tables constituted the Commandments, five
of which, and five is the number of Mercury, were written on each stone,
the complete ten indicating the Hidden Power of God—identified in the
Sepher Yetzirah as the Path of Resplendent Intelligence and the Light
which, too intense for the material eye of man, is around the Throne of
the Supreme.
The association of marble with Hermes, the Guide of the Human Race, is
traditional, and evidence favours it as the third stone of the
Breastplate engraved with the name of the tribe of Levi.
=The Fourth Stone of the Breastplate=
Nofek the fourth stone of the Breastplate, has been identified with the
emerald, carbuncle, jasper, red garnet, ruby carbuncle, almandine garnet
and ruby. Two of the Targums classify it as emerald, possibly referring
to a stone similar in colour to the emerald. It is well known that all
green stones were called emeralds by a large section of the ancient
public, just as all red stones were called rubies, etc., hence much
confusion followed. Dr. Emil Hirsch says that Nofek (the correctness of
which word has been doubted in some quarters) must have belonged to the
green stones. In corresponding chrysoprase with “celestial love of
truth” Emanuel Swedenborg draws attention to Exodus XXVIII. 18,
indicating his identification of that gem as the fourth stone of the
Plate. This gem which is of a soft green colour resembles the tender hue
of moonlight. The Midrash Bemidbah gives the colour of Nofek as sky
blue, the Egyptians according to Müller as green, and the astrological,
in considering Cancer the Mansion of the Moon, a moonlight green. The
chrysoprase was anciently translated as “austerity directed against
vice” which harmonizes agreeably with the traditional attitude of chaste
Diana against evil-doers.
The Boat of the Moon in ancient Egypt is pictured as a disc within a
crescent, and the association of the moon (which was said to be in its
Mansion in the watery Cancer) with the waters of the Earth was well
known to the ancients and is referred to frequently in works on magic
and astrology. In this connection may be mentioned the Egyptian story of
a few thousands of years ago which is known as “The Legend of the Green
Jewel” told to the Pharaoh Khufu by the Prince Khafra:
Pharaoh Sneferu, weary and sighing for amusement or relaxation from
affairs of State, was advised by his scribe to go rowing with the
loveliest women of his harem on the lake. “I will go with thee, august
One,” said the scribe, “the green banks with the trees and flowers, the
splash of the water under the oars will charm thine eyes and bring thee
happiness.” For the excursion twenty beautiful young women were selected
(twenty was a number of the negative or female side of the Moon,
quabalistically expressed as “the Awakening”). They rowed the Pharaoh’s
boat with oars of ebony and gold, singing sweetly as they went, and his
heart was glad. But with the turning of the boat the helmswoman’s hair
was touched by her steering oar and a green jewel she wore fell into the
water. She became silent and raised her oar from the water, the other
women doing likewise. “Why cease?” asked the Pharaoh. “Let us continue.”
They answered: “O Pharaoh, the steerer has stopped and her oar is raised
from the water.” “Why is this so?” questioned the Pharaoh. “O Majesty,
my beautiful green jewel has sunk beneath the waters.” “What of that?”
he replied. “Continue. I will present you with a new jewel.” “O
Majesty,” said the girl, “no jewel can replace my own green jewel.” So
the Pharaoh turned to his scribe. “What can we do?” he asked. “This girl
has lost her green jewel and will have no other.” The scribe uttered
magical words over the lake and the waters divided as two walls. Between
these walls the scribe descended and, having found the jewel, came up
again into the boat, gave the green jewel to the helmswoman and spoke to
the waters which closed up again. The Pharaoh was gratified, giving rich
gifts to the scribe at whose power all marvelled.
When the Pharaoh Khufu heard this legend from Prince Khafra he enjoined
that offerings should grace the sepulchres of the Pharaoh Sneferu and
his great scribe, the magician. This allegorical story, like many others
of the kind, is full of hidden meaning and the connection of this boat
with its twenty female rowers, its two (unit of the Moon) Illustrious
Ones, the Pharaoh and the Scribe, the green vegetation on the banks of
the lake, the lake itself, the division of the waters and the green
jewel make the meaning especially clear to students of symbology.
In astrological enumeration from the earliest time the sign Cancer was
said to rule the great oceans, the deep blue of which may have
influenced the Midrash Bemidbah in its allotment of colour, and in
certain hermetic ceremonies connected with the soul’s entry into matter
through the Gate of Cancer from the blue ocean of the incorruptible
Heavens.
The zodiacal Cancer, the Mansion of the Moon, is associated with the
worship of Diana in her varied forms, and Diana—at one time a plebeian
goddess only—was for a long period worshipped by the plebeian
populations who used to hang her image to trees to increase their
growth. Cancer is the sign of the people, and the Moon “which delights
in this sign” represents their varying moods. In the Acts of the
Apostles it is related that Demetrius, a silversmith, and others made
silver shrines of Diana (silver astrologically is the metal of the Moon)
resenting the attempt of Paul to prejudice her worship, with the famous
cry “Great is Diana of the Ephesians.” Diana was worshipped as the
goddess of Light by the Romans and whether as Artemis in her changing
attributes, Selene, Luna, Leucophryne, Petamia, Munychia or Amarynthea,
her influence as a moon deity remains. Her face resembles that of her
twin brother Apollo to a very marked degree, and her hair like his is
caught up in a knot above the forehead indicating the influence exerted
by the Moon in its relation to the Sun, in the movements of the waters
of the Earth.
That chrysoprase as we know it today was used in very early times is
clearly proved by the Egyptian jewellery discovered in excavations. Hard
as the stone is, the ancients knew how to cut it, various intagli of
ancient origin existing today to prove their skill. The apple-green hue
of the chrysoprase is attractive, and it is probable that it was the
stone of which fifty specimens were sent to Ashkalon as part of the
tribute. Its inclusion in this department of the Breastplate is the
result of much research, and it harmonizes with astrological tradition.
This stone was inscribed with the name of the tribe of Judah.
=The Fifth Stone of the Breastplate=
In placing Shoham in the position of Sapir in the fifth division of the
Breastplate, traditional philosophy is harmonized. The fifth zodiacal
sign Leo is not blue. It is the mansion of the Sun, and old almanacs
symbolize it as a raging lion. The Midrash Bemidbah gives the colour as
black but generally authorities agree that it is a shade of red,
especially during sunrise and sunset, and a yellowish-red at noonday.
The eleventh zodiacal sign Aquarius is given as sky blue by most
authorities, and it is generally accepted. It has a mystic connection
with the heavens, and without doubt its gem is the Sapir. In the Zodiac
the signs Leo and Aquarius are exactly opposite, and on the Breastplate
the stone for the former is second of the second row, and for the latter
second of the last row. Accepting this view no difficulty will be
experienced. It might also be considered that the tribe of Judah is the
tribe of the Lion, although for reasons previously stated, the name of
this tribe is engraved on the fourth stone.
Accepting the Shoham then as the fifth stone of the Breastplate we have
yet to identify it. The Hebrew Bible, the Authorized Version, Josephus,
the Vulgate, Marbodus, Dr. Deane all translate it as Onyx, and Dr.
Ginzberg half agrees with them. Dr. Emil A. Braun, the archæologist,
traced Shoham to the Arabic SACHMA, blackness. “Of such a colour,” he
writes, “are the Arabian Sardonyx which have a black ground colour.”
However, this species can hardly be called true Sardonyx defined by
Pliny as “candor in sarda,” graphically rendered by King as “a white
opaque layer superimposed upon a red transparent stratum of the true red
Sard.” The ancient and modern methods of imitating this gem are
identical: A Sard is put upon a red-hot iron block with the result that
the part nearest the heated mass is transmuted into a white hazy layer
upon which the Cameo artist works.
It seems that the name Onyx amongst ancient peoples was indifferently
applied to both Onyx and Sardonyx, but in the case of the fifth stone of
the Breastplate there seems to be no doubt that the Sardonyx is the
Stone. The sign Leo astrologically rules the Heart in the human body,
which in the Grand Man is symbolically the Sun, and the Sard is of the
colour of the Heart. By ancient correspondence then the Heart, Leo, the
Sun, the Sard, the Sardonyx, and the fifth department of the Breastplate
are clearly connected.
The Carnelian, Sard, and Sardonyx were most extensively used by the
Egyptians, Greeks, Romans and other peoples of antiquity, and many
specimens have been found engraved with various devices: finely worked
Egyptian scarabei, antique Intagli and Camei. The Sardonyx has been
called a “royal stone,” and the sign of the Lion is intimately connected
with royalty. The winged, human-headed lions of Nineveh are emblematical
of the Sun, and Daniel describing his vision connects the Winged Lion
with the heart of Man:—(Ch. VII. 4).
In the Egyptian texts frequent allusion is made to the heart or HATI of
Osiris. The HATI represented vitality, warmth, control, and silently
within it were impressed the actions of its owner during his earth-life.
It was to his HATI, lying on the Balance before the “Shining God,” the
attendant deities and the forty and two gods in the great Judgment Hall,
that the shuddering soul cried out of the intense silence: “O heart of
mine, testify not against me,” words frequently impressed on Scarabei
and regarded as magically potent.
A symbolic image constructed by the Magi at the period of the Sun’s
passage through the sign of the Lion, took the form of a crowned king
enthroned, wearing a deep yellow robe, a globe at his feet and a raven
by his heart. The crowned king, his yellow robe, the raven and the globe
symbolize the Sun and its manifestations, and the Heart—the Sun of
Man—symbolizes the Solar sign Leo. Another symbol of the Magi, shows a
crowned woman in a four-horsed chariot (four being the negative or
female side of the Sun), a mirror in her right hand, a staff in her
left, and a burning flame on her head. These emblems were directed to be
engraved in the Hour of the Sun, the Sun being in Leo, on a carnelian
stone. The famous seal of Solomon and David—the Mogan Dovid—was most
potent when engraved on a Sardonyx, a Carnelian or a plate of gold
(metal of the Sun).
All conditions necessary for this stone of the breastplate are fulfilled
in the Sardonyx stone which, engraved with the tribe of Zebulun, filled
the fifth place.
=The Sixth Stone of the Breastplate=
The sixth stone of the Breastplate is, without doubt, the Jashpeh
accepted by the Vulgate, Marbodus, Dr. Emil Hirsch and Dr. G. Deane.
Translated correctly enough as Jasper, it is placed in the twelfth
division in the Hebrew and Authorized Versions.
From an astrological point of view the Yaholom has no claim on the sixth
House whilst Jashpeh undoubtedly has. The latter is the third stone of
the second row of the Breastplate and the former is the third stone of
the fourth row. In astrological science they are opposite in the Zodiac,
the Jashpeh belonging to the celestial Virgo and the Yahalom to the
celestial Pisces. The colours are given in the Midrash Bemidbah as
“Mixed,” and this is more correct than the “black speckled with blue,”
set down sometimes for the sign Virgo, but which scarcely expresses the
aspect of Nature personified in the goddess Ceres. The Jasper stone has
not lost its identity in the march of time, and there is no reason to
doubt that the Aspu of the Assyrians, the Jashpeh of the Hebrews, the
Jaspis of the Greek, or the Yash of the Arabs is any other than the
Jasper, as we know it today. The Panther stone of the Targums of Onkelos
and Jonathan is the well-known and very beautiful Egyptian Mottled
Jasper so greatly esteemed in the ancient world. The Jasper takes a very
brilliant polish and is quite of the crystal brilliance indicated in the
sacred books. It was the gem of the angel Raphael, emblematic of
strength, courage, virtue and wisdom, and it is associated with a
variety called the Graminatias, the markings of which resemble—to a very
marked degree in some specimens—the letters of the Alphabet. Thus, it is
the stone of Hermes or Thoth, the mercurial god who, possessed of
illimitable knowledge, communicated it to the earth-bound spirit known
as Man, by signs in the Heavens, in the air, in the sea, on the earth,
in the flowers and stones of the earth, by omens, by hints and by
incidents, but never—on account of his promise to Apollo—by spoken
words. Jerome calls the Jasper “the stone of spiritual graces,” and from
Hermes to Christ called Son of the Virgin, this stone descends with all
its spiritual attributes. It is associated with the Virgins of Egypt who
provoked the words set down in the eighth chapter of Jeremiah: “The
children gather wood and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women
knead their dough to make cakes to the Queen of Heaven.”
The Jasper was a stone sacred to the Virgin Mary in Christian mysticism,
and to the Son of the Virgin; and symbolically the Virgin of the Skies
is ever immaculate, ever sublime and pure. The association of the sixth
sign of the Zodiac with all virginity is further exemplified in the cult
of the Virgins of Vesta. Corresponding with the sixth sign of the Zodiac
these virgins were six in number, and the age of girls selected for the
service could not be less than six years. The poets tell the story of
the beautiful Astræa, the holy Virgin, who in pity remained with men
after the gods, provoked by man’s wickedness, had departed in anger;
remained with them until she was forbidden to gaze on a world defiled
with crime and misery, and with bandaged eyes was led away to Heaven
where her symbolic form stands eternally, scales in one hand, sword in
the other. One gift she left with man—the gift of Hope which has as its
emblem the unpretentious Jasper stone. The Virgin Astræa is familiar as
the goddess of Justice, and her connection with Mercury—astrologically
known as Lord of the Virgin—is apparent. Her special degree of the
Zodiac is given as the twenty-third (“Zodiacal Symbology,” page 96),
which is a degree of sympathy, and for the correct administration of
justice, deep and generous sympathy is surely necessary.
According to Swedenborg and other mystical writers the Virgin symbolizes
all chaste love, “affection for good, charity towards others, lovers of
truth, spirituality and sympathy, and the kindness of men to one
another, as opposed to the cruel malice of war and destruction which is
likened to false reasonings, lies and opposed to Divine Providence.”
The Zebulon is the Haven into which they “who are weary and heavy laden”
may enter, and it is significant that the Son of the Virgin dwelt in
Capernaum which is upon the sea coast in the borders of Zebulon and
Nephthalim (Matt. 4. 13).
Leah thanks God for “a good dowry,” and saying that now her husband will
dwell with her because of her six sons, called his name Zebulun. In
several ways a good dowry is associated with the sign Virgo, which is
related to learning and commerce, will, patience, persistence and the
reward of honest work. About the constellation of Virgo is the Argo or
Ship of the Heavens, which star-lighted is ever gliding on the blue
waters of the Celestial Harbour. A story of the loss of the Jasper from
the Breastplate is told in the Talmud, and after a long search for
another to replace it one was found in the possession of Dama, son of
Nethinah, and purchased from him for about £60 in our money.
It is quite conceivable that stones were lost from the breastplate, and
it was no doubt the replacing of them that caused so much confusion.
Jasper as the sixth stone of the Breastplate is easily identified and
the tribe of Issachar was inscribed upon it.
=The Seventh Stone of the Breastplate=
The seventh stone of the Breastplate is given as Lesham, variously
rendered as Ligure, Agate, Jacinth, Hyacinth, Amber, Sapphire,
Turquoise, Opal. The gem needed must, according to Dr. E. G. Hirsch, be
“brilliant and of intense lustre.” The Midrash says that the stone was
“white like the colour of antimony.” The colour in the Midrash Bemidbah
is given as sapphire blue, and by astrological authorities generally as
dark crimson or tawny. The sign is the airy home of the planet Venus:
and its colour can be more correctly gauged from the colours identified
with the planet itself, which are given as follows: yellow, lemon yellow
and pale blue, art tints in general, white and purple, white and
shining, white in the morning, reddish in the evening, changeable, etc.,
Gesenius translates LESHAM as Opal, and Dr. M. H. Breslau accepts his
reading as correct. The Opal is given for the seventh stone in
translations from the Hebrew Bible, and this is most probably the
correct one. This beautiful gem was in great repute in ancient times,
and Pliny in lauding its charms tells us that it was found in India,
Egypt, Cyprus, Thasos and other places. It is found recorded on Antique
Clay Tablets whereon is impressed catalogues of treasures taken from
conquered cities. Its softness and delicacy rendered it easy to cut and
carve, and specimens of opal intagli have been found. Mr. King mentions
one in the Praun collection, of mediocre antique Roman work which was
engraved with the heads of Jupiter, Apollo and Diana surrounded by nine
stars. The same author mentions a big opal set in a quabalistically
inscribed ring of gold with astrological symbols. The midrashic “white
like the colour of antimony” may fairly describe a common variety of
opal. Antimony is a brittle flaky metal of bluish-white colour and
crystalline texture. No gem can exhibit “the brilliant and intense
lustres” more than the precious opal which is not only brilliant and
lusterful but beautiful, tender and comprehensive of all the colours of
the rainbow. What gem can answer so to the Talmudic identification of
the qualities of Venus, viz., Splendour? The Venus of Libra is more
ethereal than the Venus of Taurus and is well presented in the charming
statue of the Venus of Medici, that of Taurus being expressed in the
figure known as the Venus of Milo. This ethereal Venus is the immaculate
glorious woman whose absolute beauty the greatest poets, writers,
painters, sculptors and musicians have striven to express in words, in
form, in colour and in sound. Thus is Venus the noble cogency of divine
pure love which has been striving through all the ages to make the world
a paradise and to bring man back again to the Eden he has lost. No blood
sacrifices stained the altars of this lovely goddess, and the ancients
delighted in bringing to her temples sweet blossoms and fragrant spices
for incense. So great was the charm and wonder of this Heavenly One that
Momus, the god of Sarcasm, who spared neither god nor man, died of
vexation because he could find in her nothing to ridicule, nothing to
blame, nothing to jeer at, for before such pure beauty criticism and
ridicule must be mute. As Venus Urania she arises amidst the foam of the
sea (the occult import serving but to intensify the beauty of the
legend) with a blue sky above her head and peaceful sunlit waters at her
feet, a symbol of that eternal love which unites the elements and
spreads the lustre of true harmony wherever are to be found those wise
enough to know it. Socrates wrote that he was uncertain whether there
was one Aphrodite or two, and doubtless the philosopher recognized the
various phases of the goddess when blended with, or corrupted by,
anything less than the conception of pure idealism in all its
expressions. The ancients called the opal “Cupid”—a worthy tribute to
the sublime beauty of his glorious mother. One might compare the opal to
the union of Thaumas (Wonder), the Son of the Earth, with Electra
(Brightness), a daughter of Oceanus, and with their child Iris
(Rainbow).
[Illustration:
Rare Opals
Kelsey I. Newman Collection
]
Issachar is the tribe of the Balance, “an ass bending between two
burdens.” The ass in the East today as it was in the days of the Bible
is regarded as an emblem of constancy, patience, endurance and
stolidity, and frequent allusion is made to it in sacred writings:
“Speak, ye that ride on white asses, ye that sit in judgment, and walk
by the way.” (Judges 5. 10.) Josephus replies with vigour to the
assertion of Apion that the Jews worshipped an ass’s head. In the
mythology of the Egyptians the good and evil essences are symbolised by
two wild asses, and mention is made in “The Book of the Dead” of the
duel between the ass and its “eater,” the night serpent. The ass also as
a symbolic animal of Jupiter represented Justice in the ancient world,
hence its association with the Balance becomes clear. The tribe
Issachar, this “servant of tribute,” is symbolic of absolute truth for
“a false balance is abomination to the Lord: but a just weight is his
delight.” (Prov. 11. 1.), and “He that speaketh truth showeth forth
righteousness: but a false witness deceit.” (Prov. 12. 17.) The entry of
the Son of the Virgin into Jerusalem—the city of Virgo—riding on an ass,
as told in that chapter of parables, Matthew 21, is not devoid of
symbolic meaning. Hermes or Thoth is the recorder of the scales in the
Egyptian Hall of Judgment and he may also be said to ride upon the
scales for the sign Libra follows the sign of the Virgin. Libra has been
described as the most sensitive sign of the Zodiac, the opal is its
ideal gem and the opal is the gem for the seventh division of the
Breastplate and on it was engraved the tribe of Dan.
=The Eighth Stone of the Breastplate=
The eighth stone of the Breastplate is Shebo, rendered as Agate by the
Authorised Version, the Vulgate, Marbodus and others.
Gesenius gives the derivation of Shebo from a root which means “to take
prisoner,” and his illustrious pupil, Julius Fürst, connects it with a
root meaning “to glitter.” Dr. Deane derives it from another meaning “to
obscure, to dull,” and expresses the opinion that the problem “cannot be
solved by etymology alone.” He believes SHEBO to be some variety of
crystallised quartz. Dr. Breslau in translating SHEBO as Agate has good
supporters. The variety known as Banded agreeably fits in with the
demands of the planet Mars through the sign of its expression Scorpio,
termed the sign of the Serpent. Its wavy lines typify the undulations of
the serpent, the lines of a fortress or the restless waves of the sea.
The opinion has been expressed that SHEBO may have some connection with
the Indian Serpent of the Underworld—Sesha or Shesha, and the connection
may be further extended to the huge serpent which slays and is slain by
Thor as told in the Song of Vala.
The sign Scorpio is in astrology the sign of death, the dead and all
connected therewith. It is expressed by the Serpent of Eden in that
magical third chapter of Genesis, a chapter that has demanded the
special study of mystical philosophers for ages. The sign Scorpio is
also symbolized in the person of the goddess Serket, pictured as a
human-headed scorpion or as a goddess with scorpion head-dress. She
protected the Canopic Jars which contained the embalmed viscera of the
departed. Aesculapius, the god of medicine, was worshipped under the
form of a serpent at Epidaurus, and in the Vatican statue he is
represented leaning on a staff around which is coiled a serpent; statues
of his daughter Hygieia show her with a serpent in different attitudes.
In those and numerous other serpent stories all associated with the sign
Scorpio to a greater or lesser degree, the majesty and the mystery of
life and death are philosophically implied.
The traditional colour of the sign Scorpio is given as brown, a shade of
brown well describes the agate stone. The Midrash Bemidbah gives gray
which, though not in agreement with other authorities, certainly does
indicate a species of Agate.
Dan is described in the Book of Genesis as “a serpent by the way, an
adder in the path, that biteth the horses’ heels” (the sign following
Scorpio, Sagittarius—the sign of Gad) “so that his rider shall fall
backward.” The tribe was a mystical tribe possessing the knowledge of
white magic and of black (Judges XVIII. 30). The wisdom of the serpent
is symbolized in it—“Dan shall judge his people.”
The eighth stone of the Breastplate was the Banded Agate, and on it was
engraved the tribe of Gad.
=The Ninth Stone of the Breastplate=
The ninth stone of the Breastplate is Achlamah which, with few
exceptions, is identified as the Amethyst—beyond doubt the correct
identification.
The Midrash Bemidbah gives the colour as purple which is the dominant
shade of this beautiful gem. Purple is also one of the chief colours
associated with the planet Jupiter which in astrology is termed the Lord
of Sagittarius, the ninth sign of the Zodiac. This sign is connected
with rulers and people in authority from very early times; Josephus
mentions that Joseph wore “purple and drove in his chariot through all
the land of Egypt.” The Amethyst was a royal stone and purple a royal
colour the right to wear which was bestowed by the King on inspired men
who, like Joseph, were revealers of dreams. In the Book of Daniel also
Belshazzar promises that the man who reads for him the “writing on the
wall” shall be clothed with purple, shall have a chain of gold about his
neck and shall rule as the third in the kingdom. This promise he
fulfills when Daniel, “the prince of astrologers,” told him what he
would know. A similar promise is made by Darius, the son of Hystaspes,
as a reward for the solving of his questions regarding the strength of
Wine, Kings and Women. It is related in the Book of Esther that the same
honour is bestowed on Mordecai by the King Artaxerxes.
In old Hebraic philosophy it was held that whoso honoureth the prophet
honoureth God. Purple is the colour signifying royal dignity and
imperial power: “to be born in the purple” is to be born essentially
fortunate and, under the elevating influence of the planet Jupiter,
Aclamah—according to Dr. Hirsch—seems etymologically to imply the idea
of being strong. Lord Arthur Hervey and several other writers hold that
the Hebrew word is a verbal one from the root HALOM, to dream. In
astrological deductions Sagittarius is the sign of dreams, prophecy and
philosophy, and in its divine aspect it is referred to the wise centaur
Chiron who tended the young hero Achilles. Sagittarius is the sign of
the Horse and of Horsemen, and its connection with the tribe of Gad is
not hard to understand. Aben Ezra writes on Targum authority that
Jupiter is best expressed by the name Gad, and Dr. Alfred Pearce remarks
that in modern Hebrew TZEDEK, justice, was also translated as Jupiter
“because of the just character of persons born under his influence.”
Gad, David’s seer, is mentioned in 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Chronicles, and the
prophetic nature of this son of Jupiter may well stand as a living
symbol. Gad is heralded by Leah thus: “A troop cometh,” and “she called
his name Gad.”
The Amethyst has ever been a gem symbolizing spirituality in its highest
degree, and by the virtue of its power it opposed evils, drunkenness,
and the sin of distorted appetites. Indeed, the Amethyst was considered
a sign of such holiness that evil was always courted by one wearing it
whilst overindulging in eating and drinking. It was cut into sacred
scarabei by the Egyptians and Etruscans and is frequently found
engraved. Pliny writes of its fitness as a sealstone, and Mr. King
mentions a large pale Amethyst, signed, in the Pulsky collection, on
which is engraved the head of a Syrian King.
The Amethyst has been frequently quoted as a stone of the celestial
Aries, even ancient writers commenting on its sympathetic Aries
vibration. The mistake arose from confounding the Babylonian Mars with
the Mars of the Greeks and Romans. The Babylonian Mars of Centaur form
is clearly identified with the sign Sagittarius.
The Amethyst was the ninth stone of the Breastplate, and on it was
engraved the name of the tribe of Asher.
=The Tenth Stone of the Breastplate=
Regarding the tenth stone of the Breastplate there is a general
disagreement amongst authorities, some preferring simply to give its
Hebraic name THARSHISH without attempting its meaning.
The tenth division of the Breastplate is the division of the zodiacal
Capricorn, the colour of which is generally regarded as black, the
colour of the planet Saturn, and which according to Dr. Simmonite,
William Lilly, Madame Blavatsky and others, is, esoterically, green. The
Targums describe the stone Tharshish as of the colour of the Great Sea,
or sea colour. This is found in the Serpentine variety of a translucent
deep green, oily colour capable of receiving a high polish. The colour
of the Egyptian and Arabian Serpentine (or HYDRINUS) is deep and a
little heavy. Many intagli and camei of antique origin are found cut in
Serpentine; these specimens include Egyptian scarabei and Babylonian
cylinders of about 5,000 years ago, clear evidence that the ancients
knew the stone, appreciated it and worked it.
The sign Capricorn is a strange one, symbolizing the Gateway of Heaven
through which men pass when life on earth is done. Hence it expresses
the mystery of the deep seas which were compared with the seas of space
in sacred philosophy. Amongst others, Manilius recognizes Capricorn as a
sailor’s sign:
_But when receding Capricornus shows
The star that in his tail’s bright summit glows,
Then shall the native dare the angry seas,
A hardy sailor live, spurning inglorious ease._
Rev. Mr. King writes of a cast from a gem engraved with a “double-headed
Capricorn with an owl’s body standing upon and holding in his forefoot a
rudder: in allusion to the doctrine laid down by Manilius that the star
in the sign’s tail is the proper horoscope of mariners and pilots. Or it
may typify the usually fickle temper of one born under the sign. This
sign likewise presided over all the space within tide-mark, the
alternate domain of sea and land; a dominion expressed by the half
terrestrial, half marine composition of the figure. The region
peculiarly under him” (that is, the region astrologically ruled by
Capricorn) “was the West of Europe.” (This is speaking very generally.)
“The owl’s body is given him perhaps as the attribute of Pallas, the
designer of that prototype of navigation, the Argo.”
Godfrey Higgins writes of the “whimsical sign called Capricorn which in
the Indian Zodiac is an entire goat and an entire fish: in the Greek and
the Egyptian the two are united and form one animal.”
The place of dazzling brilliancy, called by the Greeks “The Milky Way”
is the path of the souls, and is referred to by Macrobius, Cicero and
other writers. The author of the “Anacalypsis” writes: "The Milky Way is
placed immediately under that degree of North Latitude which is called
the Tropic of Cancer, and the two tropics of Cancer and Capricorn have
been called by the astrologers “The Gates of Heaven or the Sun,” at each
of which the Sun arrives in his annual progress. The Southern Gate is
called the Tropic of Capricorn, an amphibious animal, half goat, half
fish in our present zodiacs, but in the most ancient zodiacs of India it
is described as two entire beings—a goat and a fish. Here, in this
goat-fish sign Capricorn, are the mermen and mermaids, and the
half-animal, half-fish beings of the sea. Of the tribe of Asher it is
said: “Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal
dainties,” (Gen. 49. 20), a statement very much in agreement with the
sign Capricorn. Again in Deuteronomy (33. 24) we have, according to the
Authorized Version, “Let Asher be blessed with children: let him be
acceptable to his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil”; this
passage, however, may be closer translated as follows: “More than all
the children be Asher blessed: he shall be the most favoured of his
brethren and bathe his feet in oil.”
The tenth Mansion of the Zodiac, the natural “Home” of Capricorn, is the
House of fame, honour, reputation, credit, authority and dignity.
His mother called him Asher because she said, “the daughters will call
me blessed,” Asher being the Hebrew word for “blessed.” A close
translation of verse 17, Chapter 5 Judges, would read: “Asher remained
on the seashore and abode near his bays.”
In all these Biblical allusions to the tribe of Asher there is nothing
out of harmony with the sign Capricorn; in fact, in every line the
connection is clearly marked.
The tenth stone in the Breastplate is the Serpentine and on it was
engraved the tribe Naphtali.
=The Eleventh Stone of the Breastplate=
For reasons stated the Sapir is placed in the eleventh division of the
Breastplate instead of the SHOHAM, and we thus have complete harmony
between the eleventh sign of the zodiac, Aquarius, the eleventh division
of the Breastplate and the Sapir stone which is translated as Sapphire
in the Hebrew Bible, the Authorized Version, the Vulgate; as Lapis
Lazuli or Sapphire by Mr. Wodiska; and as Lapis Lazuli by Dr. Hirsch,
Rev. J. R. Dummelow, and others. The Targums indicate a stone of blue
colour, and that this is the Lapis Lazuli there is no reason to doubt.
In ancient times the Lapis Lazuli was termed SAPPHIRUS; Pliny describes
it accurately as “opaque, sprinkled with specks of gold,” and many
antique intagli in this stone have been found. The Lapis Lazuli was a
very highly esteemed stone amongst the old world peoples, who called it
“The Stone of Heaven,” “The Gem of the Stars,” and the Zemech Stone
connected with all things heavenly. Traditionally it is the stone on
which was engraved the law of Moses. In a quabalistic “Piut” is written:
“O, how dreadful is the place of the heavenly abode; for there the light
dwelleth with him: and above the firmament is a precious stone, as the
appearance of the Sapphire stone which forms the glorious throne, and
thereon He who is clothed with light is seated.” A close translation of
Ezekiel 1. 26, reads: “And above, the vault that was over their head was
like the appearance of a sapphire stone, the likeness of a throne: and
upon the likeness of the throne was a likeness as the appearance of a
man above it.” Chapter X. 1, similarly treated, reads: “Then I saw and
behold, on the vault that was above the head of the Cherubim, there
appeared over them something like a sapphire stone, something similar in
appearance to the likeness of a throne.”
The connection of a blue stone with the blue heavens is consistent with
ancient philosophy, and authorities agree in connecting this colour with
the sign of the mighty heavens—Aquarius. According to tradition Moses,
the law-giver, was born under this sign. Akers in his “Introduction to
Biblical Chronology” gives the date of this event as A. M. 3319, Adar
third, year of the Julian period 2987, which answers to Thursday,
February 13th, 1727 B. C. At that time the sun would be in the Celestial
Aquarius. Aquarius is the water-bearer, and the incident of the striking
of the rock from which water gushed forth is mystically associated with
it. In the Mythologies this waterbearer is Ganymedes, son of Tros, King
of Troy, whom the gods, impressed by his beauty, carried away whilst he
was tending the flocks on Mount Ida, in order that the Lord of Olympus
might have a lovely cup-bearer.
In astrological deductions Aquarius is the sign of friendship—“Naphtali
bringeth pleasant words.” It is also the sign of hopes and desires: Of
Naphtali he said, “O Naphtali, satisfied with favour, and full of the
blessing of the Lord, take thou possession of the West and the South.”
(Deut. 33. 23). Then again, in the Septuagint Naphtali is referred to as
“a spreading tree yielding leafy branches” and the tree raising branches
heavenwards is an Aquarian symbol.
The law of Moses is spoken of as the “tree of Life” which contains the
secret of actual and absolute immortality.
Now we are, according to periodic astrological deductions, at the Gate
of the age of Aquarius, all the world is undergoing the process of
change, and finally all the humanitarianism of Aquarius will replace the
accumulation of evil thoughts that lay by the Gateway. Then will
Naphtali prevail, his captivity will be over, and the slaves will hang
up their chains amongst the sacred cypresses, for the Comforter will
come.
The Lapis Lazuli then, is the stone of the eleventh division of the
Breastplate and on it was engraved the name Joseph.
=The Twelfth Stone of the Breastplate=
Regarding the classification which places Jashpeh in the twelfth
division of the Breastplate much controversy has arisen, and the
consensus of opinion is against it.
Dr. Emil Hirsch holds the opinion that Jahalom should replace JASHPEH,
and in this surmise he is by no means alone. Astrologically Jashpeh has
nothing in common with the last sign of the Zodiac—Pisces—the colour of
which is given as “glistening white” by the Midrash Bemidbah. It has
been more minutely described as “a white glistening colour like a fish
just taken out of the water” by William Lilly and Dr. Simmonite. There
is little doubt that the stone was of a white glistening colour. YAHALOM
is rendered as Diamond by the translations of the Hebrew Bible, the
Authorized Version, by Mr. Cattelle, Dr. Ginzberg and others; but
although the Diamond is mentioned by Pliny, it could not have found a
place among the stones of the Breastplate as they were large stones all
engraved with tribal names. To this treatment the diamond is not
adapted. The YAHALOM is without doubt white crystal which is of a
glistening colour and traditionally associated with the twelfth sign of
the Zodiac.
Diodorus writes that an artist named Satyreius cut on a small crystal a
most exquisite and lifelike portrait of Queen Arsinoe, the beauty of the
work amply excusing the miniature stone on which it was engraved. It is
related that Nero, his star falling, in his rage against the world and
mankind, smashed to pieces two costly crystal cyphi or bowls on which
Homeric subjects were wonderfully engraved. Articles in crystal still
exist to demonstrate its extensive use by ancient nations. Fauno, in his
1553 edition of “Roman Antiquities,” mentions that during the building
of a chapel of the King of France in St. Peter’s, the marble coffin of
Maria, wife of the Emperor Honorius, was discovered. Little remained of
the body, but the jewels of the Empress were there, and amongst them
were a talismanic plate of gold engraved with the names of the
Archangels (Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel), in Greek letters, about
thirty vases and other articles in crystal, and an exquisite Nautilus
shell lamp of pure crystal mounted on gold—no doubt the special charm of
the Empress. The sign Pisces, the sign of “the fish with the glittering
tails,” is symbolically represented by two fishes, which ancient story
tells us were Venus and Cupid thus metamorphosed to escape the giant
Typhon in his fury. In Babylonian story it is told that the fish-god
Oannes—the Dagon of the Book of Samuel—came out of the Erythraean Sea
“which borders upon Babylonia” to teach men how to live, to make laws,
to worship, to soften their manners and to humanize their lives. Thus,
the fish-god was the teacher of the hidden mysteries, and the sign
Pisces has always been associated with occult science and hidden things.
Mummified fish have been found in the Egyptian tombs, and Clermont
Ganneau describes a pair of fish-gods keeping watch over a mummy. Isis
as the Great Mother is symbolized with a fish on her head. The old
Egyptian town of Esna, nearly 500 miles from Cairo, was called by the
Greeks Latopolis on account of the worship of the Latus fish by the
inhabitants, and an interesting old Zodiac can still be seen there
amongst the famous ruins. The Babylonians accepted the fish as the
symbol of the Resurrection, and the ninth chapter of the Book of Luke
describes how 5000 people were fed by 5 loaves of bread (symbolical of
Virgo) and two small fishes (symbolical of Pisces), a connection clear
enough to the student of the mysteries. The fish was the symbol of the
Messiah, and was adopted by the early Christians as the sign of Christ.
The Roman Catholic church today has its fish days, and the Piscina is
the basin that holds the Holy Water.
The tribe of Joseph is the tribe of the twelfth division of the
Breastplate and the twelfth zodiacal sign, Pisces. Joseph in the Book of
Genesis is the inspired prophet who reads the meaning of the famous
symbolic dreams of The Butler, The Baker and The Pharaoh; who has his
divining cup, and who was named by the Pharaoh, ZAPHENATH-PA’NEACH,
which has been translated as “Saviour of the World” by one writer, but
more nearly as “God, the Living One has spoken” by Dr. Dummelow, and as
“God spake and he came into Life,” by Dr. E. A. Wallis Budge.
[Illustration: hieroglyphs]
According to Talmudic story it was this Pharaoh who said that he saw the
colours of rulership about Joseph. Joseph and his brethren are
symbolical of the complete Zodiac. JOSHUA is the Son of the Fish (NUN
the Hebrew word for “fish” is probably connected with the Egyptian NAR),
and Jesus has his fishermen, “fishers of men.” The sign Pisces is the
sign of hidden secrets and is mystically symbolized by a key. On the
external plane it is the sign of increase, in which is concealed the
mandate “Increase and multiply.”
The connection of the sign Pisces with the twelfth division of the
Breastplate is, as in the previous cases, beyond argument. The stone is
the glistening crystal on which was engraved the name of the tribe of
Benjamin.
In reference to Joseph’s Dream of the Sun, Moon and Eleven Stars which
made obeisance to him, Philo Judaeus says:
“The students of sublime wisdom now say that the Zodiac, the greatest of
all the circles in Heaven, is studded with twelve animals from which it
has derived its name. And that the Sun and the Moon are always revolving
around it and go through each of the animals, not indeed with equal
rapidity, but in unequal numbers and periods, the one doing so in 30
days and the other in as near as may be a twelfth part of that time.
Therefore he who saw this Heaven-sent vision thought that he was being
worshipped by eleven stars, ranking himself among them as the twelfth so
as to complete the whole circle of the Zodiac.”
CHAPTER VI
THE STONES OF THE BREASTPLATE AND
THE ZODIAC
“_Heaven’s golden alphabet—
And he that runs may read._”
YOUNG.
The foregoing chapter dealing with the identification of the stones of
the Breastplate has necessitated study and research, and the
classification reproduced in the table following rests on a secure base.
Many of the scholars of the past when endeavoring to render Hebrew stone
names into our own language were hampered by a none too technical
knowledge of the gems themselves, whilst many of the later writers were
handicapped by lack of astrological knowledge so essential in a matter
of this kind. This will be sufficient to explain the numerous
contradictions regarding the identification and allotment of the famous
stones by whose agency the psychic priests communicated with the angels
of God.
It has already been explained in Chapter V why the tribal names do not
agree with the signs of the Zodiac and the stones on which they were
engraved. Some remarks of Philo Judaeus may with advantage be re-quoted
here: In reference to the Breastplate he writes: "Then on his chest
there are twelve precious stones of different colours, arranged in four
rows of three stones in each row, being fashioned so as an emblem of the
Zodiac. For the Zodiac also consists of twelve animals and so divides
the four seasons of the year, allotting three animals to each season.
And the whole place is very correctly called the Logeum since everything
in Heaven has been created and arranged in accordance with right reason
and proportion: for there is absolutely nothing there which is devoid of
reason. And on the Logeum he embroiders two woven pieces of cloth,
calling the one Manifestation and the other Truth. And by the one which
he calls Truth he expresses figuratively that it is absolutely
impossible for falsehood to enter any part of Heaven but that it is
entirely banished to the parts around the Earth dwelling amongst the
souls of impious men.
THE CLASSIFICATION OF THE BREASTPLATE.
──────────────────┬──────────────────┬─────────────────────
Hebrew Name of │ Modern Name of │ Equivalent Sign of
Stone │ Stone │ Zodiac
──────────────────┼──────────────────┼─────────────────────
1. Odem │Red Haematite │Aries
2. Pitdah │Emerald │Taurus
3. Bareketh │Marble │Gemini
4. Nofek │Chrysoprase │Cancer
5. Shoham │Sardonyx │Leo
6. Jashpeh │Jasper │Virgo
7. Lesham │Opal │Libra
8. Shebo │Banded Agate │Scorpio
9. Achlamah │Amethyst │Sagittarius
10. Tharshish │Serpentine │Capricorn
11. Sapir │Lapis Lazuli │Aquarius
12. Jaholom │Crystal │Pisces
──────────────────┴──────────────────┴─────────────────────
──────────────────┬──────────────────┬─────────────────────
Name Engraved on │ Colour │ Approximate Date of
Stone │ │Sun’s Entry into the
│ │ Zodiacal Signs
──────────────────┼──────────────────┼─────────────────────
1. Reuben │Red │March 21st
2. Simeon │Green │April 21st
3. Levi │White │May 22nd
4. Judah │Green │June 22nd
5. Zebulun │Red │July 23rd
6. Issacher │Mixed │August 24th
7. Dan │White and Purple │September 24th
8. Gad │Brown │October 24th
9. Asher │Purple │November 23rd
10. Naphtali │Sea colour │December 20th
11. Joseph │Blue │January 20th
12. Benjamin │Glistening White │February 19th
──────────────────┴──────────────────┴─────────────────────
The Baraita of Samuel deals with astronomical and astrological
philosophies, and in the 6th Chapter there is a detailed account of the
instruction of scholars of Egypt on the original places of the planets
and the zodiacal divisions. This Samuel was a physician and astrologer,
and his remarks on the administration of medicines, the times for
operations, etc., are much the same as those given in the best
astrological treatises of today. He considers the last four days of the
moon as an especially risky period for important operations. This
Baraita of Samuel is a work of the 8th Century.
Talmudic writers say that besides the twelve tribal names, those of the
patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were at the top of the Breastplate,
and at the end the words, “The tribes of Jeshurun.” Others say that the
final words were “The tribes of Israel;” Maimonides says, “The tribes of
God.” The reason given for these additions was that it was necessary for
the entire alphabet to be employed so that the officiating High Priest
could construct words from the letters, names and colours of the stones
of the Breastplate, and reply in this way to all questions asked. Some
of the Rabbis say that six letters were on each stone, made up of the
tribal names, the names Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the words “Tribes
of Jeshurun.” Thus the whole of the stones contained 72 letters—the
number of Shem Ha Meforash. The number 72 is employed in the mysteries,
and is given in “Numbers, their Magic and Meaning” as the number of the
Angels and of Mercy. In verses 19-21 of 14th Chapter of Exodus the names
of the 72 Angels of the name of God are concealed. It is a martial
talismanic number, lightly cloaking the waxing and waning of the Moon.
CHAPTER VII
OLD LEGENDS
“_Within that awful volume lies
The mystery of mysteries._”
SCOTT.
THE LEGEND OF THE SHAMIR: THE RING OF SOLOMON: RABBI LOW BEN BEZALEL:
AND HIS GOLEM: THE AUTOMATON OF ALBERTUS MAGNUS: DIOCLETIAN AND THE
OSTRICH: PRECIOUS STONES AS GIFTS: MAGICAL STONES: METEORITES:
PRECIOUS STONES OF THE BUDDHISTS.
It was forbidden to use metal in the engraving of the stones of the
Breastplate, neither was it permitted to mark them with pigments or
paint. The work was done by the magical Shamir which had the power of
eating into the hardest substances at the will of its holder. In the
evening light of the first Friday this seventh of the ten marvels of
Creation followed closely by the Stylus, the knowledge of writing, and
the two tablets of stone destined to bear the commandments of God, was
given to mankind. It was no larger than a barley grain, yet its power
was intense: iron lying near it was shattered and stones were sliced
like the leaves of a book. Moses, after tracing the tribal names with
his forefinger on the Breastplate, simply held the Shamir over them and
the letters were as by magic cut clearly into the stones without trace
of fracture or flaw. The Shamir disappeared with the earth-death of
Moses, and was not heard of again until the time of Solomon. When the
occasion came to build the temple the priests reminded the King that it
was not lawful to fashion the stones for the Holy Building with
instruments of iron. “What then shall I do?” enquired the King. To this
one of the priests answered: “O, great King, when the world was created
the Shamir was created also, and with it Moses was enabled to fashion
and engrave the stones of the HOSHEN-HA-MISHPAT.” “But how can I obtain
this wonderful Shamir?” asked Solomon. “What is there difficult for thee
who knowest the secrets of Heaven and Earth?” replied the priest, at the
same time asking Solomon to compel two demons, a male and a female, to
come before him. The King, taking this advice, conjured the demons and
bade them declare unto him the hiding-place of the Shamir. This they
were unable to do, and they begged the Master-Magician to release them
and obtain the secret from the Prince of the demons, Ashmadai. Further
they told the King that amongst certain mountain ranges Ashmadai had
sunk a deep hole which he filled with water and screened with a great
stone sealed with his magical seal. In the dawn of each day he raised
himself to Heaven where he learned heavenly wisdom, descending in the
evening as the light faded to learn the wisdom of earth. Then he would
break the seal, drink of the water, rebind the seal and go his way
again.
Having dismissed the demons, Solomon sent his disciple Benaiah (the son
of Jehoiada) with his own magical chain and ring on both of which was
engraved the Divine Name, and some skins full of wine. Benaiah skilfully
released the water from the pit of Ashmadai, leaving the wine in its
place. As evening was falling the Prince of the Demons returned; the
seal being intact, he raised the stone and to his surprise found wine
where water had been. Murmuring, “Is it not set down, ‘Wine is a mocker,
strong drink is noisy; and whosoever indulgeth therein will never be
wise’?”, he drank deeply and fell asleep. Then Benaiah, stealing forth
from his hiding place, bound him with King Solomon’s chain. Ashmadai
awoke and in rage attempted to break the chain; Benaiah called to him:
“Desist, for the holy name of God binds you, and you are compelled to
come with me to Solomon the King.” Brought before Solomon, Ashmadai
asked: “Why have you brought me to you? Is not the whole world big
enough for you that you would have me also?” “Of thee I want nothing,”
answered the King, “but for the building of the Temple I must have the
Shamir.” “Then ask the Prince of the Sea and his servant the Moorfowl,”
came the answer. “And what does the Moorfowl with the Shamir?” asked the
King. “Splits the barren mountain rocklands in order that the seeds of
the trees and plants which he drops into the crevices may mature and
render these places beautiful and agreeable to the wants of man; and
then he brings it back to the Prince of the Sea who trusts his oath.”
Armed with this information a search was made for the moor fowl’s nest,
and this when discovered was found to contain the bird’s young. The
searchers covered the young birds with glass so that the mother-bird
might see but not reach them. The ruse succeeded. The bird flew away and
shortly afterwards returned with the Shamir, placing it on the glass
which split asunder. At that moment the emissary of King Solomon rushed
from his hiding place and took the Shamir from the nest of the
frightened bird, which thereupon killed itself because it had broken its
oath to the Prince of the Sea.
There is another legend which states that the Shamir was brought from
Paradise—where it had rested since the time of Moses—by an eagle, for
Moses specially intended that the Shamir should be employed in the
building of Solomon’s temple. When the building of the temple was
completed Solomon released Ashmadai, having proved his power over him.
Solomon thus acquired authority over the world of Demons, and in the
“Arabian Nights” the “Story of the Fisherman and the Genii” tells of a
demon who was bottled and bound for ages by this Magician King. The
Arabs say that King Solomon received instructions from the archangel
Gabriel regarding the place where the Shamir was hidden. These and other
legends connected with this wonderful Shamir have attracted the
scientific philosopher. The traditional belief that it was a worm can be
accepted if we connect the Greek SMIRIS, the emery of the ancient
glyptic artists, with the Hebrew SHAMIR, for then the worm would be
regarded as minute worms or grains so tough as to be capable of abrading
and polishing hard substances. The word SHAMIR does not imply the common
or garden variety of worm which is expressed in Hebrew by other words.
It is traditionally related that the four angels of Earth, Air, Fire and
Water came to King Solomon, each giving him a jewel, with the
instruction that the jewels be set in a magical ring which would
symbolize and define his power over the elements. The Arabians say that
the metals used in the construction of the magical ring were brass and
iron—metals of Venus and Mars. Solomon summoned the good genii by
tracing his command with the brass or Venus portion of the ring, and he
compelled the evil genii to attend him with the Mars or iron portion.
Astrologically Venus and Mars are the two planetary principles which
control the emotions and passions of all the world. It is further
assumed that the four jewels of the ring were set on the famous double
triangles called the Shield of David and of Solomon, which symbolically
represented things of earth in relation to things of Heaven. When
Solomon went to bathe, it was his custom to give the ring to Amina, one
of his wives, for safe keeping, for it is not permitted to wear the
talisman when washing the body. One day Sakhr, a powerful evil spirit,
appeared in the form of Solomon and thus obtained from Amina the magical
ring. Thereupon Sakhr sat on the throne of Solomon and ruled for forty
days and forty nights while the King wandered about, unknown and
forlorn. However, the evil spirit could not maintain the form of King
Solomon for longer than forty days and forty nights, so he threw the
ring into the sea, thinking as he saw it sink that Solomon was deprived
forever of his power over the elements. But he had forgotten that water
was one of the elements, and the Angel of the Waters caused the ring to
be swallowed by a fish, which was later caught by some fishermen who,
surprised at its exceptional beauty, carried it to King Solomon. The
King, acting on impulse, cut the fish open, and finding the ring,
regained his power over the elements once more.
Passing on to the 16th Century of the Christian era we come to one of
the great masters of the Quabalah—Rabbi Low Ben Bezalel of Prague. He is
spoken of in the ancient capital of Bohemia as the greatest Bal Shem of
his time. Many legends concerning him are extant in Bohemia. He made a
Golem, an automaton figure to which he gave life by the simple act of
placing under the tongue a charm or Kemea which was exactly like the
SHEM HAMPHORASCH engraved on King Solomon’s ring. It was the Rabbi’s
custom to take the Kemea from under the tongue of the Golem every Friday
at sunset. Once he neglected to do this, and the Golem becoming furious
and swelling to a gigantic size, rushed to the old synagogue, spreading
destruction all around. The hymn welcoming the Bride of the Sabbath had
not been sung. The Golem entered the Synagogue, stalked towards the Ark
and was about to destroy it when Rabbi Low Ben Bazalel ran to the figure
and tore the Kemea from beneath the tongue. The Golem trembled, quivered
and fell in atoms to the ground. An automaton similar to that of the
Rabbi was made by Albertus and destroyed in terror by his pupil, Thomas
Aquinas.
It is related that the Roman Emperor, Diocletian, while on a hunting
expedition, came upon a young ostrich. He had it put in a glass case and
taken to his palace. For three days the mother-bird followed, trying in
vain to break the glass and release her young. After many fruitless
attempts she went away and returned with what is described as a THUMARE
(a name easily identified with SHAMIR) or magical worm. This she dropped
on the glass cage which split into fragments in the same way as the
glass which covered the nest holding the young of the moor fowl.
The belief that the gift of a precious stone brought great good to the
receiver was, and still is, a popular Eastern conviction. It echoes from
the Book of Proverbs to the great new age into which the world is now
entering: “As a precious stone appeareth a prize in the eyes of him that
obtaineth it: whithersoever it turneth it prospereth.” (Proverbs XVII.
8.) The blessedness of giving has always been lauded by the masters who
constantly enlarge on the magical power gained by the act, for, say
they, “God gives.”
The gem given should always be carefully considered especially in
accordance with the philosophy laid down in these pages which is held to
be a true presentation of ancient laws. The wish of the giver then, it
is assumed, is translated into the gem which expresses the wish,
translated in concrete form so that whenever the receiver gazes on it,
realizes it, the wish of good fortune begins to bear fruit and
“whithersoever it turneth it prospereth.” The Talmud relates that
Abraham had a magical jewel which he wore suspended about his neck; some
writers state that it was a pearl that would re-appear at the time of
the Messiah; it was however his own natal stone which, when worn,
enabled him by the touch of his hand to heal the sick—a practice which
has endured, naturally with varied success, through the ages.
The gem in the ring of Aaron was said to shine out brilliantly when the
Elohim favoured the nation; and we are told that when the gem and the
wearer were in harmony the brightness or otherwise of the stone would
indicate faithfully the conditions surrounding him. In the writings of
Bishop Epiphanius a fourth century ecclesiastic of Jewish descent, there
is a passage commenting on the Breastplate in which he repeats a still
older belief that the stones all turned red when war and defeat faced
the Children of Israel. Some Quabalistical writers maintain that various
colours indicating answers to the many questions asked were reflected
from the stones over the whole plate; others say that the stone having
reference to the tribe or to the direct question alone, gleamed out its
special colour; thus, for military triumph the symbol would be expressed
by the beaming of the Haematite; for bountiful production of the fruits
of the earth the Emerald would flash its message of comfort; for success
in matters connected with education the Marble would shine; for promise
of a good water supply the sparkle of the Chrysoprase would suffice; for
the well-being of royalty the illumination of the Sardonyx would promise
well; for a good harvest the Jasper would glisten; for success in
negotiations with neighbouring nations the gleaming of the Opal would
augur well; for protection from epidemics the glaring of the agate would
be accepted as a favourable omen; for prophetic truth the radiation of
the Amethyst would stand; for the welfare of cattle the Serpentine would
vibrate; for the realization of hopes the Lapis Lazuli would electrify
like the deep blue of the Heavens in serene weather; for success in
secret negotiations the Crystal would throw off its flashes of light.
According to the legends in the Targumin, Noah lit up the Ark with a
stone of marvellous brilliancy; this is considered by some students to
denote the Sun at noonday, by others it is called a Carbuncle. The Manna
of the wilderness, it is said, fell from Heaven accompanied by a rain of
the most precious and beautiful stones: this is merely an allegorical
expression of the “opening of the Heavens,” although some more material
writers indicate a fall of meteorites. Meteorites were held in especial
reverence and were termed BETHEL or House of God by the old Jews, and
Baetylus by the Greeks and Romans. They were assumed to carry all
glorious influences from the Heavenly spheres and to bear the blessings
of God. Pliny mentions a curious stone which he terms AMIANTHUS and
which is not affected by the action of fire. This substance, he says,
effectually counteracts all noxious spells, especially those wrought by
magicians. It was considered a bad mistake to barter for a talismanic
gem, that being in itself a crystallization of the sublime forces, and
being holy does not admit of barter. Pliny tells of Ismenius the great
fluteplayer of his time, who loved to display numbers of gems: he set
his heart on obtaining a beautiful emerald—his talismanic gem—on which
was engraved a figure of Amymone (one of the Danaides), the gem being
offered for sale in Cyprus for six golden denarii; he sent his messenger
to purchase it for him, and this man on his return informed Ismenius
that the jeweller had agreed to take two golden denarii less than was
originally asked; on learning this the musician exclaimed: “By Hercules,
he has done me a bad turn in this, for the merit of the stone has been
greatly impaired by this reduction in price.”
The seven precious minerals of the Buddhists are stated by Sir
Moiner-Williams K. C. I. E. to be:
1. Gold.
2. Silver.
3. Pearls.
4. Sapphires or Rubies.
5. Catseyes.
6. Diamonds.
7. Corals.
The list varies and Lapis Lazuli is given instead of pearls by some
authors. There are also seven royal treasures amongst which is the jewel
stone NORBU which throws its rays for several miles on the darkest
nights.
Apollonius of Tyana, described by Barrett as one of the most
extraordinary persons that ever appeared in the world, received during
his travels in India from the sage Iarchus seven rings each of which
contained a jewel symbolical of one of the planets. One of these he wore
every day, according to the planetary order of the days of the week, and
to the virtue of these gems—which Iarchus is stated to have received
from Heaven—Philostratus, the biographer of Apollonius, attributes his
long life, his strength and his attractions. The following were the gems
inset in the rings which Apollonius wore, one on each day of the week:
Sunday Day of the Sun Diamond (In a ring of gold)
Monday Day of the Moon Cloudy Crystal (? Moonstone) (In a ring of
silver)
Tuesday Day of Mars Hæmatite (In a ring of iron)
Wednesday Day of Mercury Pink Jasper (In a ring of silver)
Thursday Day of Jupiter Carbuncle (In a ring of tin)
Friday Day of Venus Coral (In a ring of bronze)
Saturday Day of Saturn Onyx (In a ring of lead)
Justin Martyr had a deep reverence for this great disciple of Pythagoras
and in his writings he expresses wonder at the potency of the talismans
of Apollonius, which calm the fury of the sea, hold back the winds of
Heaven, cause wild animals to become tame;—“Our Lord’s miracles are held
to us only by tradition, but the miracles of Apollonius are uncountable
almost, and truly were evident enough to charm all those who saw them.”
CHAPTER VIII
STONES IN VARIOUS MYTHOLOGIES
THE DWELLING PLACE OF INDRA: THE SERPENT KING: THE CHARIOT OF SURYA:
SURYA’s TEMPLE: RAMA AND THE BRIDGE OF ADAM: THE AVATARAS: THE
TEMPLE CAVES OF KANHARI: NECKLACE OF THE KING OF MAABAR: JAIPAL’s
NECKLACE: THE BUDDHIST TWELVE HEAVENLY JEWELS: THE TREASURES: THE
OFFERINGS OF THE FOUR DEVA SAGAS: THE BLACK STONE OF MECCA: ROLAND
AND THE JEWEL OF THE FOREST KNIGHT: IRISH CHARM STONES: DENDRITES:
GARDEN CHARMS.
Meru or the North Pole, the abode of the great Indra who, according to
the Rigveda, “fixed firm the moving Earth, made tranquil the incensed
mountains, who spread the wide firmament, who consolidated the Heavens,”
is symbolically presented as a shining mountain of jewels and precious
metals.
The Lord of Patala (the infernal regions), Seshanaga, known as the King
of the Serpents, is pictured in the Bhagavad-Gita (Revelations) as:
"Of appearance gorgeous and brilliant. He has a thousand heads and on
each of them is set a crown of glittering gem stones. His neck is
black, his body is black and black are his tongues.
“Like torches gleam his eyes: yellow-coloured are the borders of his
robe: from each ear hangs a sparkling gem stone: his extended arms are
adorned with jewelled bracelets: his hands hold the holy shell, the
radiant weapon, the war mace and the lotus.”
Surya is the great Sun to whose chariot is harnessed seven green horses
driven by the charioteer Arun, the Dawn. In his account of the Temple of
Surya, Hort quotes the following from a very old traveller: “The walls
were of red marble interspersed with streaks of gold. On the pavement
was an image of the radiant Divinity, hardly inferior to himself in
splendour: his rays being imitated by a boundless profusion of rubies,
pearls and diamonds of inestimable value, arranged in a most judicious
manner and diffusing a lustre scarcely endurable by the sight.” The
Hindu work AYEEN AKBERY is also quoted by the same author. In it the
temple of Surya is thus described: “Near to Jaggernaut is the Temple of
the Sun in the erecting of which was expended the whole revenue of
Orissa for twelve years. The wall which surrounds the edifice is one
hundred and fifty cubits high and nineteen cubits thick: having three
entrances. At the Eastern Gate are two very fine figures of elephants,
each with a man upon his trunk. On the West are two surprising figures
of horsemen completely armed, who having killed two elephants are seated
upon them. In front of that gate is an octagonal pillar of black stone
fifty cubits high. Nine flights of steps lead to an extensive enclosure,
in which is a large dome constructed of stone, upon which are carved the
Sun and the Stars: and around them is a border on which is represented a
variety of human figures expressive of different passions: some
kneeling, others prostrate: together with a number of imaginary strange
animals.”
Rama’s monkey army is said to have built a bridge of rocks, called the
Bridge of Adam, from the western point of India to Ceylon. Krishna, the
eighth Avatara or incarnation of Vishnu, is represented in magnificent
dress adorned with garlands of wild flowers and with strings of costly
pearls around his ankles. His complexion is blue, as is also the large
bee usually depicted flying above his head. The Avataras are all adorned
with gems, flowers and loose gauze cloaks interwoven with gold and
silver and colours, while they hold various symbols such as the Holy
Shell, the axe, rings, etc.
The antique Temple Caves of Kanhari at Salsette contain remarkable stone
carvings, some of the statues cut from the main rock being fifteen feet
high. Of these sacred figures some are adorned with helmets, others have
jewelled crowns, others great masses of hair. The famous necklace of the
King of Maabar was composed of rubies, sapphires and emeralds, and the
necklace taken from Jaipal, the Hindu King, by Mahmud (1001 A.D.) was
made up of pearls, rubies and various precious stones, the whole being
valued at over 500,000 dollars. These necklaces were regarded as
religious objects. Buddha was worshipped symbolically as a black square
stone, and the ancient Zodiac of the Buddhist has been known as the
Twelve Heavenly Jewels. This is symbolized as:
An antelope or horse (in the place of Aries)
A bull
Twins
Crab
Lion
Virgin
Scales
Scorpion
Bow and arrow (in the place of Sagittarius)
Elephant (in the place of Capricorn)
Waterbearer
Swastika (in the place of Pisces)
The Zodiacal Treasures of the King are:
The Elephant equalling Capricorn
The Horse equalling Aries
The Beautiful Jewel equalling Libra
The Wife equalling Virgo
Holy Guide of the House equalling Aquarius
The General equalling Sagittarius
The Swastika equalling Pisces
Mr. Samuel Beal, B.A.R.N., etc., gives the following account of the
offering of the Alms Dish in his “Buddhist Records of the Western
World”: “The four Deva Sagas coming from the four quarters each brought
a golden dish and offered it. The Lord sat silently and accepted not the
offerings on the ground that such a costly dish became not the character
of a hermit. The four Kings casting away the golden dishes offered
silver ones. Afterwards they offered vessels of Po-Chi (crystal), Liu-Li
(Lapis Lazuli), Ma-Nao (Carnelian), Ku-Chi (amber), Chin-Chu (ruby), and
so on. The Lord of the World would accept none of them. The four Kings
then returned to their palaces and brought as an offering stone patras
of a deep blue colour and translucent. On their again presenting these
the Lord to avoid accepting one and rejecting the others joined them all
in one and thus accepted them. Putting them one within the other the
Lord made one vessel of the four. Therefore four borders are to be seen
on the outside of the rim of the dish.”
Black stones have been repeatedly mentioned in the history of man. We
have seen them in the transition of Aglauros, in the Buddhistic
devotion, and in the Biblical narratives. These Matsebah have been found
engraved with the twelve signs of the Zodiac, sometimes symbolized as
the twelve Gods of Assyria. Gramaldi in “Zodiacs and Planispheres”
mentions a black stone which exhibited ten out of the twelve zodiacal
signs and ten decans out of the thirty-six. It was found near the Tigris
in Bagdad, and is perhaps the oldest zodiacal monument extant, its date
being set down at 1320 years before the Christian era. But the most
famous of all black stones is the HAJER-ALASVAD which is now set into
the south-east corner of the KA’BAH. The story of this sacred relic is
told very completely by Hadji Khan and Wilfred Sparrey in “With the
Pilgrims to Mecca”: Having determined to form man in his own image, the
Creator called the angels Gabriel, Michael and Israfil, each at a
different time, requesting that they should bring for his purpose seven
handfuls of earth from seven earth strata, and seven colours. But the
Earth cried out that the anger of God would one day fall on her through
the wickedness and folly of man, and so the angel departed without
accomplishing the work. God then sent the Angel Azrail who, listening to
no appeal, remorselessly carried out his divinely appointed task. God
then made Azrail the Angel of Death, who ever after separated the souls
of men from their useless bodies. The Earth was then set down between
Mecca and Tayef where, having been pressed to a proper degree by the
angels, it was shaped as a man by the Creator. The mass was then left
for 40 years, being visited only by the Angels. But the angel Edris who,
“from being of those that are nearest to God, became the Devil,” grew
furious because he knew that man was designed to be his master. So with
a vow that he would always oppose him, Edris kicked the image of earth
which responded with an empty sound. Then the Creator breathed into the
image His own Spirit and Man arose. He was given Paradise to inhabit,
and out of his left side Eve was taken. When Man fell and was found no
longer worthy of Eden, a peculiar stone fell too and, says the
narrative, “this stone became the most cherished possession of the
Muhammadan world.” The story continues: "It (the stone) was restored to
Paradise at the Deluge, after which it was brought back to earth by
Gabriel and given to Abraham who set it in the south-eastern corner of
the Ka’bah which he is said to have built. There it remained till the
Karmatians overturned the fundamental points of Islam, bearing it away
in triumph to their capital. The citizens of Mecca sought to redeem the
stone by offering no less than 5000 pieces of gold for it. The ransom
was scornfully rejected by the impious sectaries. Some 22 years later,
however, they sent back the stone voluntarily, covering their
discomfiture by declaring it to be a counterfeit. The dismay of the
Meccans was allayed when they discovered that the stone would swim on
water, that being the peculiar quality of the stone they had lost; so
they were satisfied that the true one had been returned to them. At
first the stone was whiter than milk, but it grew to be black by the
sins of mankind. All believers, whatever may be the cause to which they
attribute the change of colour, agree that the defilement is purely
superficial, the inside of the stone being still as white as the driven
snow. The silver box wherein it lies is about twenty inches square and
is raised a little more than five feet from the ground. A round window
having a diameter of some nine inches is kept open to enable the
pilgrims to kiss or touch the treasure within, the treasure being known
as “the right hand of God on Earth.” In colour it is a shining black; in
shape hollow like a saucer, presumably the result of the pressure of
devoted lips. If a pilgrim fails to touch the Stone he must make a
reverential salaam before it and pass on. Special prayers are also said.
The guide accompanying the authors recited the following lines from the
Fortuhul Haremeyn before leaving:
“Think not that the KA’BAH was made from the earth: in the body of the
world it took the place of the heart. And the stone you call the Black
Stone was itself a ball of dazzling light. In ages past the Prophet
said it shone like the crescent moon until at last the shadows falling
from the sinful hearts of those that gazed on it turned its surface
black. Now since the amber gem that came to the earth from Paradise
with the Holy Ghost, has received such impressions on itself what
should be the impressions which our hearts receive? Verily, whosoever
shall touch it being pure of conscience, is like unto him that has
shaken hands with God.”
Other accounts state that the stone is about seven inches in diameter,
oval and irregular, made up of a number of smaller and variously sized
pieces, which inclines one to the opinion that it was at one time
shattered by some hard blow and afterwards put together again. The most
recent descriptions of the stone of Mecca agree that it is of a dark
reddish-brown colour with a brown border seemingly of pitch and small
sand stones, the whole being set in a band of silver.
The most wonderful thing regarding the history of this relic of Islam is
that one little stone, the Black Stone of Mecca, should have such
powerful attraction for over 222,000,000 of the inhabitants of the
world.
Included in Guerber’s “Myths and Legends of the Middle Ages” is the
following story of Roland and the Jewel:
“Charlemagne learning that the Robber Knight of the Ardennes had a
precious jewel set in his shield called all his bravest noblemen
together and bade them sally forth separately with only a page as escort
in quest of the knight. Once found they were to challenge him in true
knightly fashion, and at the point of the lance win the jewel he wore. A
day was appointed when, successful or not, the courtiers were to return,
and, beginning with the lowest in rank, were to give a truthful account
of their adventures while on the quest. All the knights departed and
scoured the Forest of the Ardennes, each hoping to meet the robber
knight and win the jewel. Among them was Milon, accompanied by his son
Roland, a lad of fifteen, whom he had taken as page and armour-bearer.
Milon had spent many days in vain search for the knight when, exhausted
by his long ride, he dismounted, removed his heavy armour and lay down
under a tree to sleep, bidding Roland keep close watch during his
slumbers. For a while Roland watched faithfully: then, fired by a desire
to distinguish himself he donned his father’s armour, sprang on his
steed and rode off into the forest in search of adventures. He had not
gone very far when he saw a gigantic horseman coming to meet him and by
the dazzling glitter of a large stone set in his shield he recognized
him to be the invincible Knight of the Ardennes. Afraid of nothing,
however, the lad laid his lance in rest when challenged to fight, and
charged so bravely that he unhorsed his opponent. A fearful battle on
foot ensued, each striving hard to accomplish the death of the other.
But at last the fresh young energy of Roland conquered and his terrible
foe fell to the ground in agony. Hastily wrenching the coveted jewel
from the shield of the dead warrior, the boy hid it in his breast. Then
riding rapidly back to his sleeping father he laid aside the armour and
removed all traces of a bloody encounter. Soon after Milon awoke and
resumed the quest, when he came upon the body of the dead knight. He was
disappointed indeed to find that another had won the jewel, and rode
sadly back to court to be present on the appointed day. In much pomp,
Charlemagne ascended his throne amid the deafening sound of trumpets.
Then seating himself he bade the knights appear before him. Each in turn
told of finding the knight slain and the jewel gone. Last of all came
Milon. Gloomily he made his way to the throne to repeat the story that
had already been told so often. But as he went there followed behind him
with a radiant face young Roland, proudly bearing his father’s shield in
the centre of which shone the precious jewel. At the sight of this all
the nobles started and whispered that Milon had done the deed. Then when
he dismally told how he too had found the knight dead, a shout of
incredulity greeted him. Turning his head he saw to his amazement that
his own shield bore the gem. At the sight of it he appeared so amazed
that Charlemagne set himself to question Roland, and thus soon learned
how it had been obtained. In reward for his bravery in this encounter
Roland was knighted and allowed to take his place among the paladins of
the Emperor. Nor was it long before he further distinguished himself,
becoming to his father’s delight the most renowned among all that famous
company.”
The Irish Charm stones used to charm away vermin, are about one inch in
thickness and about four inches long. The Australian natives carried
magical stones which could never be seen by women.
Certain stones known as Dendrites exhibit markings which take the _form
of trees_, grass, moss, etc. (see Moss Agate). The ancients considered
them fortunate for prosperity in farming and in general affairs of life.
Brigadier General Kenneth Mackay mentions in his book, “Across Papua,”
various carved stones which were employed by the natives as garden
charms.
CHAPTER IX
STONES AND THEIR STORIES
ABRAXAS STONES. These were stones used by the Gnostics or Knowers who
existed in the early ages of Christianity. “Amongst this Christian
philosophic sect,” writes King, “the figure of Abraxas was held in high
esteem. They used it as a teacher in obedience to whom they directed
their own peculiar transcendental inquiries and mystic doctrines: as a
token or password amongst the initiated to show that they belonged to
the same sect: as an amulet and talisman: and lastly as a seal for their
documents.” The figure of Abraxas was composed as follows: Cock’s Head,
Human Body, legs formed like serpents. In one hand he holds the whip of
power, in the other the shield of wisdom. These are the five mystical
emanations symbolically expressed—the Sun, the Inward Feelings, Awakened
Understanding, Dynamis (Force), Sophia (Wisdom). Basilides, the Egyptian
who is supposed to have founded the sect, is criticized in the writings
of Augustine because he “pretended the number of the Heavens to be 365,
the number of days in the year.” Hence he glorified a “sacred name” as
it were, namely the word ABRAXAS, the letters in which name, according
to the Greek methods of enumeration, make up that number. The principal
Abraxas stones were of Jasper, Plasma, Sard, Loadstone and Chalcedony.
ALECTORIUS. The Alectorius or as Camillus Leonardus has it, the
ALECTORIA, is said to be a stone never bigger than a large bean, which
stone is taken from a cock. When this stone becomes perfect, says
Leonardus, the bird will not drink.
The Alectorus is said to be a stone like Crystal, and very bright. It is
related that Milo of Croton, the great wrestler and strong man of the
ancients who lived in the year 520 B. C., carried a specimen with him
always and only lost his strength when he lost the stone. Its virtues
were many: it gave a wife favour in her husband’s eyes; it banished
thirst, bestowed eloquence and persuasive power, brought domestic peace,
harmony, victory and honour. As the stone is attached to the zodiacal
Scorpio it may have been a white topaz but identification is uncertain.
BEZOAR STONES
“_Everything that frees the body from any ailment is called the Bezoar
of that ailment._”
LEONARDUS, “Mirror of Stones.”
These stones the name of which is derived from the Persian PAD-ZAHR,
poison-expelling (Zahr, poison; Pad, to dislodge) are concretions found
in the stomach of the stag or goat, and are credited with great
medicinal virtues, being said to dislodge poisons and to remove
poisonous diseases. In India and Persia the belief in the virtue of
Bezoars is very widespread; it is said that those taken from the stomach
of the wild goat of Persia (Caprea Acyagros), especially if large
specimens, are sold for their weight in gold. Dr. Anthony Todd Thomson,
M.D., quotes Garner, an old writer, who gives the following curious
origin of the Bezoar which he obtained from the Arabians: “When the hart
is sick and hath eaten many serpents for his recoverie, he is brought
into so great a heate that he hasteth to the water and there covereth
his body unto the very ears and eyes at which distilleth many tears from
which the stone (the Bezoar) gendered.” These Calculi are composed
chiefly of superphosphate of lime, but concretions of phosphate of
ammonia or magnesia are also found. The Bezoar was highly esteemed as a
remedy for diseases of the bladder and kidneys. Dr. Anthony Todd Thomson
says that the belief in the curative power of these Bezoars “affords an
addition to the many thousand proofs of the influence of mind over body,
and how truly efficacious Imagination may prove in removing disease.”
It was usual to bind the Bezoar to the part affected where that was
possible. In China the MO-SOH or Bezoar was credited with the power of
renewing youth and bestowing beauty, and similar beliefs prevail in
parts of India. The Malays obtain this stone from monkeys and
porcupines, and its magical virtues are held in great esteem. Known as
the GULIGA the Bezoar is exported in great quantities from Sarawak to
Hindustan especially, where it is used as a remedy for asthma. It is
said that the Guliga is procured from a red-coloured monkey of the
Semnopithecus species, and the Guliga Landak which is rarer and more
highly valued from the porcupine. Jean Baptiste Tavernier (Baron
d’Aubonne) during his travels in the East in the 17th century became
acquainted with the Bezoar stone which he describes in his writings.
“Genuine stones,” it is stated, “if placed in the mouth spring up and
attach themselves to the palate, or if placed in water will make the
water boil.”
DRACONITE. The Draconite is described as a white brilliant gem which
must be cut from the head of a living dragon if its lustre and virtue
are to be retained. Philostrates writes that the seekers for the
Draconite weave certain letters in gold into a robe of scarlet and
infuse opiates into the letters. The Dragon lured out of his cave by
musical charm succumbs to the power of the soporific robe. Immediately
he does so the Indians rush on him and cutting off his head take from it
gems of bright hues and indescribable virtues. But a dragon has often
seized the man and his weapons and drawn him into his den. The Draconite
is associated with the zodiacal Scorpio and is partly, if not wholly,
symbolic.
ENHYDROS or HYDROLITE. This is a well-known water stone and within its
crystal cover water can usually be seen clearly. Marbodus says that this
stone “ceaseless tears distils.” The Enhydros is said to be a cure for
gout and affections of the feet, and a charm for bestowing inspiration
and clearness of thought. The water contained within the Enhydros is
said to be highly poisonous if taken internally. The stone is under the
zodiacal Pisces.
GNOSTIC STONES. Besides the figure of the mystic Abraxas the talismanic
stones of the Gnostics were engraved with various devices. A large
loadstone in the King collection is engraved with a figure of Venus
dressing her long hair. Venus stands for the mystic Sophia or Achamoth
and as such represents Truth.
IRIS. The “Iris resplendent with the crystal’s sheen” which the “swarthy
Arabs glean” is now known as Rainbow Quartz. The iridescence is produced
by the reflection of light from the cracks in the stone. The same effect
is produced if the crystal is first subjected to heat and then plunged
quickly into cold water. The Iris obtained its name from the beautiful
companion of Juno, who travelled on the rainbow with wings extended
clothed in glorious colours, radiant lights around her head. She was the
guide and helper of the souls of women released from their bodies.
LAPIS ARMENUS, or Armenian Stone, is a copper carbonite used as a
medicine against infection. It is related in Arab books that a solution
of this substance will retain its power for 10 years. In the East copper
has been long used as a safeguard against cholera, and it has been
observed that workers in copper mines have enjoyed immunity from the
disease. Dr. Richard Hughes notes the value of copper in Asiatic
cholera, adding: “There is now abundant evidence of its efficacy both
among the workers in the metal and in those who have worn a plate of it
next the body during the prevalence of the epidemic.” The Lapis Armenus,
like all copper compositions, is under the rulership of the planet
Venus.
LAPIDES FULMONIS. These Thunder stones which are believed to be formed
by the lightning in the clouds (see Obsidian) are known by the peasants
of Calabria as CUOGNI DI TRUONI. The traditional belief is that they are
plunged by the lightning stroke six feet into the earth and that every
time it thunders they are drawn one foot nearer the surface. After the
sixth or seventh thunder storm it is said that the stones are raised to
the surface. The peasants test them by suspending them above a fire,
attached to a blue thread; if the thread does not burn the stone is
adjudged a true thunder stone and is carefully treasured as a potent
talisman against the lightning stroke.
LAPIS MEMPHITICUS. This stone of Memphis is described as a sparkling
round body of about the size of a hazel-nut. It is mentioned by Pliny as
deadening the pain of surgical operations if taken in wine and water
beforehand. If it be reduced to powder and applied, according to
Dioscorides, as an ointment to that part of the body to which a surgeon
was about to apply either fire or the knife, it produced insensibility
to pain. This is an early instance of the recorded action of a local
anaesthetic.
LUZ or LUEZ. This is said to be a stone or indestructible bone in the
human backbone. Dr. John Lightfoot, a great Hebraic scholar of the 17th
century, details the following legend:
“How doth a man revive in the world to come?” was asked by the Emperor
Hadrian of Rabbi Joshua Ben Hananiah. “From Luz in the backbone,” he
made reply and then went on to demonstrate this to the Emperor. He
took the bone Luz and put it into water, but the water had no action
on it. He put it in the fire but the fire consumed it not. He placed
it in a mill, but could not grind it. He laid it on an anvil, but the
hammer crushed it not."
MANDARIN’S JEWELS. Each of the nine Khioupings or Mandarins of China
proclaims his rank by a distinctive button of about an inch in diameter
worn at the top of his cap and distinguishing dress and insignia. The
chief officers wear a ruby on the cap. They are divided into civilian
and military sections.
The military wear a robe on which is embroidered a unicorn, the girdle
being adorned with a jade clasp set in rubies. The civilian mandarin is
distinguished by a crane embroidered on both back and front of the robe.
Those of the second order wear a coral button in their caps. The
military are distinguished by an embroidered lion and a gold girdle
clasp inset with rubies, the civilian by a golden pheasant.
Those of the Third Order wear a sapphire in the cap. The Military
display a leopard and a clasp of wrought gold, the Civilian a peacock.
Those of the Fourth Order wear an opaque blue stone in the cap. The
Military display on their robes a tiger and silver button clasp, the
Civilian a wild goose.
Those of the Fifth Order have their caps adorned with a crystal, the
Military their robes with a bear and a plain gold clasp with silver
button, the Civilian a silver pheasant.
Those of the Sixth Order wear on their caps an opaque white shell. The
Military adorn their robes with a tiger-cat and clasp of
mother-of-pearl, the Civilian with an egret.
Those of the Seventh Order wear on their caps a wrought gold button. The
Military robe displays a bear and has a silver clasp, the Civilian a
Mandarin duck.
Those of the Eighth Order wear a plain gold button on their caps. The
Military have on their robes a seal and a horn clasp, the Civilian a
quail.
Those of the Ninth Order wear on their caps a silver button. The
Military are distinguished by a rhinoceros and a clasp of buffalo horn,
the Civilian by a long-tailed jay.
MEDIAN STONE. This is a mysterious gem, possibly symbolic, which is
described as of black colour. Marbodus says “’Tis white to heal us,
black to slay our foes.” It would then be symbolical of Black and White
Magic.
MOLOCHITE. Mr. King is of the opinion that the Molochite is clear green
jade, and so he agrees with Pliny’s description of the stone, “opaque of
hue with the vivid green of the emerald.” Its virtue protected babies
from harm, gave luck and beauty and opposed the spite of witchcraft.
OPHITES. Ophites or Snake Stones are stones of black or grey colour
described by Orpheus as “black, hard, weighty, portentous balls
surrounded by furrowed lines in many a mazy bend.” It is variously
described. There are in India snake charmers called Sampoori who assert
that they can extract the snake stone from the head of a snake, but
these assertions are unfavourably commented upon by some Indian authors.
Still, it has been shown by Sir J. Tennent in his work on “Ceylon” and
by Buckland in “Curiosities of Natural History” that some striking cures
from snake bite have ostensibly been effected by the use of a so-termed
snake stone which is said to absorb the poison if applied to the bite
with a little blood before the poison has had time to invade the system.
Some authentic cures are quoted, notably that of a man bitten by a
Cobra; in this case the man was saved by “two small snake stones the
size of a large pea.” The snake stone, it is said, clings for a short
time to the wound and then drops off. It is reported to be composed of
some vegetable substance; the Cobra stone, according to Farraday, the
distinguished chemist, is but charred bone filled with blood a number of
times and then again charred. In England and Scotland snake stones
strung together used to be given to cattle to chew if bitten by vipers.
The stone was considered to be a very potent charm against the evil
blasts of occult forces. Albertus Magnus carried a stone which guarded
against epidemics, evil magic and the bites of serpents, and by the aid
of which he was able to attract serpents.
ORITE. This stone is described as black and round. If mixed with the oil
of roses it will cure fatal wounds, protect from wild animals and
prevent childbirth.
OVUM ANGUINUM. The Ovum Anguinum is described by Pliny as a Druidic
badge the size of an apple, surrounded by a gristly crust covered with
protuberances like the suckers on the arms of a cuttle fish. The story
goes that at a certain season of the year a crowd of snakes are found
intertwined and bearing above them the magical Ovum, which the hunter
had to catch in some soft material before it tumbled to earth, for if it
did so it would lose its power. As soon as the hunter seized the magic
stone the serpents rushed after him and his fate was sealed if they
reached him before he crossed a flowing stream.
PANDARBES. Philostratus relates how Chariclea escaped unharmed from the
funeral pyre on which she was condemned to perish by the jealous Arsace
by secretly wearing the wonderful ring of King Hydrastes. In this ring
was set a stone called Pandarbes which was engraved as a talismanic
charm against the fury of fire.
PANTHEROS. It is probable from the description, given by old writers,
that it was a mottled brown Egyptian Jasper Opal. It was said to protect
the wearer from enemies, wild animals and fear, which last, according to
the healthy philosophy of the Rosicrucians, is the greatest of the vices
and the gateway of weakness and failure.
PHILOSOPHER’S STONE. The Philosopher’s Stone is also known as Lapis
Philosophorum, the Eye of the Philosophers, the Egg of the Philosophers.
French writers call it “Pierre Philosophale,” and German writers “Der
Stein der Weisen.” In the Rosicrucian mysteries it is known as “The
Stone of the Wise,” “The Sacred Stone,” “The Stone of Wisdom,” etc. In
spite of the assertions made by over-sanguine critics as to the fallacy
of the Philosopher’s Stone on the material plane, scientists—mystic and
material—have never ceased to search for a substance so precious.
Phillips (Transmutation of Metals, 1702) says that “this transmutation
is what the Alchymists call the Grand Operation or Secret of finding the
Philosopher’s Stone which they give out to be so curious an Universal
seed of all metals. If any metal be liquefied in a vessel, and this
‘Power of Perfection’ be thrown into the mass it will transform it into
gold or silver.”
Some of the philosophers call it “The Stone,” Noster Lapis, “The Sublime
Stone,” “Our Stone.” It is related that King Henry VI granted “4
successive Patents and Commissions” to several knights and Mass Priests
to find “The Philosopher’s Stone.” In his recent work on Alchemy, H.
Stanley Redgrove, B.Sc., F.C.S., etc., writes: “We must not assume that
because we know not the method now, real transmutations have never taken
place. Modern research indicates that it may be possible to transmute
other metals (more especially silver) into gold, and consequently we
must admit the possibility that, amongst the many experiments carried
out, a real transmutation was effected.” Timbs (Alchemy and Chemistry)
emphasizes the fact that many of the opinions of the alchemists have
been vindicated. He specially notes the condition of Allotropism or the
quality which certain bodies possess of assuming two marked phases of
chemical and physical existence. “This shatters the opinion,” he writes,
“on which our absolute repudiation of the doctrine of transmutation was
based.” Dr. Colange explains Allotropy as that branch of chemical
science which takes account of the different sets of properties possible
to one and the same body. Organic solids occur under one of the three
conditions, viz., the crystalline, as the diamond; the vitreous, as
glass; the amorphous or shapeless, as clay, chalk, etc. But there are
many bodies any one of which without undergoing a change in chemical
composition may yet appear under one of the above three conditions with
striking changes in physical and even chemical properties while still
retaining, so to speak, its chemical identity. Thus, ordinary white
phosphorus may by the application of heat be converted into a hard
amorphous substance which is its allotrophic form. An excellent paper on
“Allotrophy or Transmutation” was read before the British Association at
Sheffield, England, a few years ago by Dr. Henry M. Howe. In it Dr. Howe
dealt at greater length with what has been previously advanced on the
subject. Since the discovery of Radium and the extensive experiments of
the late Sir William Ramsay, Mr. Cameron and others in the department of
transmutation and disintegration, modern science has projected itself
into the Halls of Alchemy and has joined hands with its parent science
to search for that which the world of a few years back regarded with
ignorant ridicule. In the space at disposal it is impossible to enter
into details of the numerous accounts of successful alchemy recorded. A
number of these will be found in Dr. Franz Hartmann’s works and in the
excellent works on the subject by H. Stanley Redgrove and others.
Perhaps the case noticed by Dr. Franz Hartmann is one of the most
romantic. It came before the court at Leipsig on August 9th, 1715 and is
reported in the acts of the judicial faculty of that town. A gentleman
came late one night to the Castle of Tankerstein where the Countess of
Erbach resided. He said that having accidentally killed a deer which
belonged to the Palatine of Palatia he was being pursued, and therefore
he asked protection. The Countess hesitated, but being impressed with
the stranger’s appearance she ordered that a room be given him. He
remained in the castle several days, and then being granted an interview
with the Countess, he thanked her for her protection in return for which
he offered to transmute all her silver into gold. The lady was
incredulous but, her curiosity overcoming her, she gave the stranger a
silver tankard which he melted and with a stone transmuted into gold.
The Countess sent the gold to a goldsmith in the town, who having tested
it pronounced it to be the purest gold. After this she asked the adept
to transmute all her silver into gold. This he did and receiving the
lady’s thanks as he tendered his own, departed. The Countess’s husband,
a great spendthrift, serving as an officer abroad, hearing that his wife
by some means had suddenly become wealthy returned home quickly. He
demanded the gold for himself but the Countess would not surrender it.
Thereupon the Count brought his wife before the Court, claiming that as
Lord of the territory (Dominus Territorii) on which the Castle belonging
to his wife was built, all treasure found upon the land was his. He
asked that the Court should order the gold to be sold and that after new
silver had been purchased for his wife the balance of the money be paid
to him. The defence urged that as the gold had been artificially
produced it could not come under a law relating to buried treasure;
again that the silver had been transmuted into gold for the sole benefit
of the Countess. The Court was asked to allow the lady to retain the
gold thus obtained and judgment was given in her favour.
[Illustration:
A Perfect Specimen of the English Gold Noble (1344) in the Kelsey I.
Newman Collection. Traditionally Stated to have been Made from
Alchemical Gold]
]
Some years ago a medal was exhibited in the Imperial Treasury in Vienna,
which had been partly transmuted into gold by the stone used by the monk
Wenzel Seiler who had been ennobled by Leopold I with the title
Wenzeslaus Ritter von Reinburg. Recent tragic events make its present
whereabouts doubtful. It is traditionally stated that the true
Philosopher’s Stone was hung in the Ark by Noah to give light to life
and radiance to the world after the Flood-darkness. This legend is a
parable expressing the highest truth, for the Philosopher’s Stone that
carries light into the darkness of materialism is the true Stone of the
Wise. Among the discoveries made in the search for the Philosopher’s
Stone the following are given by Dr. Brewer; the invention of Dresden
porcelain by Botticher, that of gun powder by Roger Bacon, of the
properties of acids and various substances by Prince Geber, of the
nature of gases by Van Helmont, of salts by Dr. Glauber, etc.
POLISH STONES, POLAND STONES, POLES’ STONES. It has frequently been
stated that the Poles originated the wearing of birth stones, but this
practice is a very remote one and was recommended by ancient
philosophers long before the Polani came to Polska. The Poles are
naturally gifted with fine imagination and psychic intuition, therefore
they readily absorbed the spiritual philosophies of the Jewish wanderers
who received asylum in Poland. The fondness of the Poles for beautiful
gems is proverbial and the spread of the knowledge of the occult virtues
found to exist in these beautiful crystallizations was more marked in
Polska than in any other country. It is also not to be wondered at that
so many of the lists given are incorrect. In this book an endeavour is
made to set right the many errors that have so naturally crept in.
Usually the Poland Stones are doubtfully classified as follows:
THE MONTHS
January Garnet, emblem of constancy.
February Amethyst, emblem of sincerity.
March Bloodstone, emblem of courage.
April Diamond, emblem of innocence.
May Emerald, emblem of love success.
June Agate, emblem of health and longevity.
July Carnelian, emblem of contentment.
August Sardonyx, emblem of married happiness.
September Chrysolite, emblem of protection from insanity.
October Opal, emblem of hope.
November Topaz, emblem of fidelity.
December Turquoise, emblem of prosperity.
The emblems of the stones are fairly correct.
THE PLANETS
Saturn Lead Turquoise
Jupiter Tin Carnelian
Mars Iron Emerald
Sun Gold Diamond
Venus Copper Amethyst
Mercury Quicksilver Loadstone
Moon Silver Crystal
The metals of the planets are correctly given and do not appear ever to
have been disputed. The Turquoise of Saturn is correctly the Odontolite
or Bone Turquoise. The Emerald is a stone of Venus, the Amethyst a stone
of Jupiter, the Loadstone a stone of Mars. The Crystal has often been
admitted as influenced by the Moon although it is more acceptable for
quabalistic considerations to identify it with Neptune.
THE ZODIAC
1. Aries Ruby
2. Taurus Topaz
3. Gemini Carbuncle
4. Cancer Emerald
5. Leo Sapphire
6. Virgo Diamond
7. Libra Jacinth
8. Scorpio Agate
9. Sagittarius Amethyst
10. Capricorn Beryl
11. Aquarius Onyx
12. Pisces Jasper
The confusion here is very marked and the reader is referred to the
chapters dealing with the High Priest’s Breastplate.
RINGS BEARING STONES OF INVISIBILITY. Perhaps the most famous of these
rings is the ring of Gyges, the shepherd King of Lydia, described by
Plato and Herodotus. When the stone was turned inwards the wearer was
rendered invisible. By its aid Gyges assassinated King Candaules and
seized his wife and children. It is related that Otnit, King of
Lombardy, wore a ring given him by his mother, which had power similar
to the ring of Gyges, as well as the special virtue of preventing the
wearer from losing his way. Nizami, the poet of Persia in the early 13th
century, tells the story of a shepherd, a story similar to that of King
Gyges. Another ring of invisibility is the ring of Eluned or Sunet in
the old romance of Ywaine and Gawaine.
RING OF POPE INNOCENT III. It is related by Matthew Paris that Pope
Innocent III, well knowing the love that the English King John had for
jewels, sent to him four gold rings set with precious stones. The Pope
comments on the emblematical character of the gift, saying: “The
rotundity of the rings signifies eternity, for we pass through time to
eternity. The number four which is a square number indicates the
firmness of mind which is neither depressed in adversity nor elated in
prosperity. It signifies the four virtues which make up constancy of
mind, viz., justice, fortitude, prudence, temperance. The material
signifies wisdom from on high which is as gold purified in the fire. The
greenness of the Emerald moreover denotes faith; the blueness of the
Sapphire, hope; the redness of the Garnet, charity; the brightness of
the Topaz, good works. In the Emerald, therefore, you have what to
believe, in the Sapphire what to hope for, in the Garnet what to love,
and in the Topaz what to practise. So that you ascend from one virtue to
another until you see the Lord in Zion.”
RING OF REYNARD. In the story of Reynard the Fox, said to have been
written by Hinreck van Alckmer though in reality it was written in the
15th century by Hermann Barkhusan of Rostock, Reynard believes himself
possessed of a famous ring set with stones of red, white and green. The
white stone cured all diseases, the red rendered night as bright as day,
and the green made the wearer invincible. The story introduces Rabbi
Abron of Trent who was wise above men, who spoke every language and knew
the nature of every kind of herb, animal, and precious stone.
RING OF SOLOMON. Solomon, according to Rabbinical tradition, gazed on
the stone of his ring and immediately knew everything concerning worldly
affairs and much concerning heavenly. This ring is the subject of many
legends.
ROCK CRYSTALLIZATIONS. Certain hair-like substances are found enclosed
in crystals. They are also termed “penetrating minerals” and comprise
Rutile, Asbestus, Actinolite and Tourmaline. These acicular crystals are
called in France Flèches d’Amour (Love’s Arrows). They are also known as
Venus’s Hair Stone, Thetis’s Hair Stone, Pencils of Venus, Cupid’s
Arrows, Cupid’s Net, The Goddess’s Tresses, etc. These specimens cut and
polished are interesting and beautiful, and have always been esteemed as
charm stones for ensuring a growth of beautiful hair, for beauty, for
grace, for skill and fascination in dancing, etc.
SAGDA. A mysterious ocean stone which fixes itself to the keels of
ships. A protection against shipwreck, it will cling to the ship so long
as the timbers are not cut. It is said to be of dark green colour,
similar to Prase.
SAKHRAT. The Mohammedans say that the Sakhrat is a marvelous stone of
green colour which reflects the deep blue tints on the crystal vapours
of the heavens. The possession of the merest fragment of this holy stone
bestows on the possessor the knowledge of all the secrets of the
Universe.
SALAMANDER’S WOOL. Asbestos is so termed. It is also known as Mountain
Flax, and is believed by the Tartars to be the root of a tree.
SARCOPHAGUS. The word is derived from the Greek SARX, SARKOS, flesh, and
PHAGO, to eat. A stone found at Assos in Troas. Used by the ancients, it
was said to consume an entire dead human body with the exception of the
teeth in 40 days. It was known as Lapis Assius, and is noted by Pliny.
Sarcophagi were generally employed throughout the ancient world.
SAURITE. The Saurite is said to be a stone cut from a green lizard with
a sharp reed knife.
SCORPION STONE. This may have been a stone of the agate class but its
composition is obscure. It is mentioned by Orpheus who says that if the
hunter Orion had known of its existence he would have given all the
stars to gain this remedy for his fiery pain. It healed the wounds of
arrows, the stings of insects and the bite of the scorpion.
TOAD STONE. That the toad “wears a precious jewel in his head” was a
profound belief in the Middle Ages, and a belief much commented upon in
the works of writers of that period. Francis Barrett states that the
stone of the toad was a cure for toothache. It was also given as an
antidote for poison. In this latter connection it is said that if set in
an open setting and worn on the finger it burnt the skin if poison were
near. According to Fenton, a writer of the 16th century, “There is to be
found in the heads of old and great toads a stone they call Borax or
Stelon, which being used as rings gives forewarning against venom.” The
toad was believed to have a natural fear of man, throwing out poison at
the sight of him. In some parts of the world the stone is said to be
extracted from the head by numerous cunning means. It is generally
described as a species of black pebble. One of the special virtues of
the Toadstone was to protect children from molestation by the fairies.
It was also a cure for diseased kidneys and stomach disorders. According
to Praetorius, the Prince of Alveschleben was given a ring of this land
by a Kobold Brownie or Nixe as a house talisman to safeguard the
fortunes of his family. A large toad is said to have dropped a black
stone on to the bed of the wife of the Elector of Brandenburg after the
birth of her son. Friedrich Wilhelm I ordered his jeweller to set the
stone in a ring, which ring has always been worn by the head of the
House of Hohenzollern as a symbol of prosperity, protection and good
fortune. It was recently stated that the loss of this toadstone during
the war was regarded as an evil omen for the ruling house.
WORLD STONE. The World Stone or Axial Loadstone of the Earth is included
in the philosophic mysteries of the old Rosicrucians.
CHAPTER X
THE GREATEST CHARMS IN THE WORLD
“_A deceased King is said to have entered the boat of the Sun in the
form of the scarab._”
DR. WALLIS BUDGE.
We will now turn to the ancient land of Egypt and dwell awhile on the
sacred Scarabaeus which was, without doubt, the most popular and
venerated charm of antiquity. The Scarab was a copy in steatite,
faience, obsidian, gold, beryl, crystal, haematite, cornelian, jasper,
amethyst, turquoise, lapis lazuli, granite, serpentine and other stones,
of the large black beetle, scarabaeus sacer. It was known in ancient
Egypt as Khepera (he who turns), and besides symbolizing the eternal
return of the Sun after the passing of the night reign, it represented
the everlasting progress of life and as such was not only inserted in
the position of the heart in the bodies of the dead but was placed in
the tombs also. It was worn by those living on earth as a symbol of
everlasting life and good luck, being specially prepared as a talisman
by the priests of the various temples. The Greeks called it the
Cantharus or Heliocantharus, the Latins the Scarabaeus. Throughout Egypt
this sign of immortality was ever before the people. It was used in
government offices bearing the Pharaoh’s cartouche (oval case in which
his name was inscribed), was carried in battle by soldiers, was worn by
the people generally throughout the land. It entered into their very
lives, reminding them of the power of the deathless spirit, ever
progressive, active and vital, moulding dull matter to its will. Hence
the scarab was the ideal luck charm, the mere sight of which reminded
man of his divine origin, and it was said that the soul of Ra impressed
the seemingly inert matter which made up the scarab, giving it a life
which ages could not destroy.
Generally strange stories connected with scarabs are explained in every
way but the correct one. The ancient Egyptians were until the time of
their decline essentially a religious people, and their knowledge of the
continuity of life may be one reason for their existence as a nation for
so many thousands of years—an existence only terminated by excess of
luxury and the dominance of materialism by which so many great nations
have been destroyed.
Four diverse species of the scarabaeus or Ateuchus Sacer have been
identified in the hieroglyphical inscriptions, viz., 1. Ateuchus
Semipunctatus; 2. Ateuchus Laticollis; 3. Ateuchus Morbillosus; 4.
Ateuchus Puncticollis. Professor Flinders Petrie recognizes other
varieties of beetles. Misses Brodrick and Norton, in their useful and
concise “Dictionary of Egyptian Archaeology,” observe: “The Scarabaeus
is remarkable for the peculiar position and shape of its hind legs which
are placed very far apart and at the extreme end of the body. This is to
enable the insect to roll the ball of refuse containing its eggs into
some place of safety. At first these balls are soft and shapeless, but
as they are pushed along by the scarab’s hind legs they become firm and
round, and increase in size until they are sometimes an inch and a half
in diameter. This insect is looked upon by the Arabs as an emblem of
fertility.”
The Egyptians saw in the number of its toes (thirty) the days of the
month; and the time it took to deposit its ball was compared to a lunar
month. The passage of the ball was compared to the sun and its operation
on the earth. Being regarded as of the male sex only, the scarabaeus
symbolized, according to Horapollo, the self-begotten, the self-created.
The god Khepera is the father of all the gods, the self-created one
identified with the god NEB-ER-TCHER. A hieratic papyrus in the British
Museum is thus translated by Dr. Wallis Budge: “I developed myself from
the primeval matter which I made. My name is Osiris, the germ of
primeval matter. I have worked my will to its full extent in this earth,
I have spread abroad and filled it.... I uttered my name as a word of
power from my own mouth and I straightway developed myself by
evolutions. I evolved myself under the form of the evolutions of the god
Khepera and I developed myself out of the primeval matter which has
evolved multitudes of evolutions from the beginning of time. Nothing
existed in this earth (before me). I made all things. There was none
other who worked with me at that time. I made all evolutions by means of
that soul which I raised up there from inertness out of the watery
matter.”
[Illustration:
Large Scarab
William Howat Collection
]
[Illustration:
Rare Scarab of Rameses II, a Famous Pharaoh of the Bible
Mrs. C. G. King’s Collection
]
[Illustration:
Rare Antique Scarab of Black Jasper
Talismanic Charm—Mercury, Guardian
of Sailors
Mrs. C. G. King’s Collection
]
Large numbers of funereal scarabs have been discovered in different
substances, the best being formed from a hard green basalt or a
serpentine. These were suspended on a gold wire from the neck of the
mummy, or attached to a heart on which were the symbols for life,
immovability, preservation.
Ornamental scarabs were very largely worn. Dr. Wallis Budge says of
these: “By an easy transition the custom of placing scarabs on the
bodies of the dead passed to the living, and men and women wore the
scarab probably as a silent act of homage to the Creator of the world
who was not only the god of the dead but of the living also.”
It has been suggested that scarabs were used for exchange or barter, but
Mr. Percy E. Newbury (“Scarabs”) points out that such contention “is not
supported by the inscriptions or by any of the scenes depicted in the
monuments.” He continues: “But we do find that during the Hyksos period
(circa 1700 B.C.) and later under Amenhetep III (circa 1400 B.C.), the
Khetem or ‘seal’ is given as a measure of value, although here it is
probable that it was not the seal itself that is meant but the
_impression_ of it upon another substance. Polyaemus relates that the
Athenian general Timotheus, being in want of money to pay his troops,
issued his own ‘seal’ for coin, this substitute being accepted by the
traders and market people, trusting in his honour. This can only mean
that _impressions_ of his signet on clay or some other substance were
put into circulation as representatives of value and were so received by
the sellers. It is in the impression of a seal or stamp upon a piece of
gold or other metal that we have the origin of coined money.” The
inscriptions, mottoes and symbols on the Egyptian scarabs are diverse
and numerous. A large number have the names of the Kings, Queens,
members of the Royal Household, Public Officers, etc. One rare specimen
in the British Museum is adorned with the name of the very ancient King
NEB-KA-RA; another has the name KHUFU. M. de Morgan describes one of
Lapis Lazuli bearing the name NE-MAAT-RA (Amanemhat III) found at
Dahshur. The Cairo Museum has a beautiful Queen’s scarab, found also at
Dahshur, on which is “The Royal Wife who is joined to the Beauty of the
White Crown.” Many bear the seal of the famous Thothmes III
(MEN-KHEPER-RA), the Rameses, Shashanq, and all the kings of Egypt. The
Queen of Amenhetep is called on the scarabs “The Royal Wife Thyi,” and
“The Great Divine Wife Thyi beloved of Isis.” Amenhetep IV is inscribed
“Lord of the Sweet Wind.” The Queen of Rameses II is immortalized as
“The Royal Wife UR-MAAT-NEFERU-RA, daughter of the Great Chief of the
Kheta.” The horse of Amenhetep II is shown in a scarab of yellow jasper
with his name “Firm of Heart”; this scarab is now in the British Museum.
Many have inscriptions denoting office, such as “The Royal Sealer and
General, SA-NAB,” “The Superintendent of the Meat Department, HOR-ANKH,”
“The Scribe of the Army, NEFER-IU,” “The Director of Stores,
SEHETEP-AB-RA,” “The Chief Secretary of the Great Prison, SA-SEBEK,”
“The Superintendent of the Labour Bureau, ANTEF,” “The Superintendent of
the Royal Temple, AAHMES,” “The Mayor of Heliopolis, BEN son of MA,”
“The Superintendent of the Gold Workers, HAAIU,” “The Superintendent of
the Granary of Amen, AAHMES,” “The Hereditary Mayor and Priest,” “The
Governor of the Royal City,” “The Vezir Paser.”
On some motto and charm scarabs are ANKH NEFER, Life and Beauty; NEFER
MAA, Beauty and Truth; An Eye; Two Fish; A Fish and a Scorpion (perhaps
astrological); The Lotus; Flowers; Monkeys; Uraei, etc. Besides these
there are the famous Heart Scarabs, Mystic Scarabs, and those known as
Hunting and Historical Scarabs. But whatever the Scarab has stood for,
it was primarily a symbol of good fortune, long life and divine
protection. Its universal popularity has made it the greatest charm in
the world. So great was its fame that it travelled beyond the Egyptian
borders to other lands.
Next to Egyptian, the most famous scarabs were those of Phoenicia
(especially in green jasper), those of Greece, and those of the
Etruscans who carved them out of hard stones such as the Sard, Agate and
Carnelian, engraving them with exquisite figures, in fine intaglio
style, usually of the gods and goddesses of ancient Greece, sometimes
accompanied by Etruscan inscriptions or words and encircled with an
engrailed or guilloche margin. When we consider the Egyptian Priests’
practice of speaking “words of power” into these scarabs, we have cause
for additional wonder at the recorded act of the great Law-Giver in
striking the rock instead of speaking to it, as he had been commanded.
PRECIOUS AND SEMI-PRECIOUS GEMS
ARRANGED IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER
CHAPTER XI
AGATE-AMAZONITE
AGATE
“_By the rushing fringed bank
Where grows the willow and the osier dank
My sliding chariot stays,
Thick set with agate._”
MILTON.
The name occurs as agath, agget, agot, agat, agett, agott, aggat, aggot,
achate, etc. The great Greek philosopher and scientist, Theophrastus, in
his writings “Of stones,” says that the agate obtained its name from the
river Achates—now known as the Drillo—in Sicily, because near its banks
the first specimens were found. Dr. Bochart derived the name from the
Hebrew word NAKAD, meaning “spotted.” Most authorities agree that this
stone was the eighth stone in the Breastplate of the High Priest and
that it was known in Hebrew as SHEBO. In Rabbinical writings there is an
allegorical story of the discussion in Heaven of the import of the lines
in Isaiah (Chap. 54 v. 12) “And I will make thy windows of agates,” but
it is a matter of considerable doubt if the Hebrew word KADKOD can
correctly be rendered agate. In the controversy between Judah and
Ezekiel, sons of Rabbi Hayya, in the same writings the former calls it a
beryl, the latter a jasper, and the voice of God said “Kadkod will
include both of these,” in allusion to the unity of all things.
The agate is a variegated chalcedonic variety of quartz, formed of
successively attracted coloured layers, and is remarkable for the beauty
and peculiarity of the patterns. Lines or bands run through the stone:
when these are straight or ribbony the agate is called the “ribbon
agate”; when they are zigzag it is known as the “fortification agate”
because of its resemblance to a fortification; when the lines follow the
form of an eye the term “eye agate” is often employed. In this last form
it was considered an excellent instrument for the seer or prophet to
hold, as it symbolized the third eye now known as the Pineal Body.
Clearly the gray tint of the eye of stone approaches in colour the
matter of the human eye. The importance of this peculiar organ, which
lies upon the corpora quadrigemina of the brain in front of the
cerebellum, was held in great respect by ancient scholars who regarded
it as the organ of occult sight, of inner perception and intuition. This
hidden eye is bigger in a child than in an adult, and in the woman it is
bigger than in the man. There is little doubt that the ancients regarded
these markings on the agate stone as symbolic of the faculties of the
high spirit of man, of prosperity in peace, and protection in war. The
ring of Pyrrhus is recorded by Pliny as representing in its natural
colours Apollo with his lyre standing amongst the nine Muses, each with
her correct attribute. The Muses and their attributes as indicated in
their statues are as follows:
1. Calliope, the muse of epic poetry. A tablet and stylus, or a
roll of paper.
2. Clio, the muse of history. An open scroll.
3. Euterpe, the muse of lyric poetry. A flute.
4. Melpomene, the muse of tragedy. A tragic mask, the club of
Hercules or a sword.
5. Terpsichore, the muse of choral dance and song. A lyre and the
plectrum.
6. Erato, the muse of erotic poetry. The lyre.
7. Polyhymnia, the muse of sublime hymn. Pensive and meditative,
carries no attribute.
8. Urania, the muse of astronomy. Staff and globe.
9. Thalia, the muse of comedy or idyllic poetry. A comic mask, a
shepherd’s staff or a wreath of ivy.
The Rev. C. W. King mentions that agates are still found “adorned with
designs which one feels the greatest difficulty in admitting to be the
mere fortuitous result of the arrangement of their shaded strata, so
exactly does that result imitate the finished production of art.” He
instances the “Egyptian Pebble” in the British Museum which shows the
head of the poet Chaucer covered with the hood, a faithful portrait even
more remarkable when it is considered that the specimen was just broken
in two pieces and not even polished. A specimen in the Galleria of
Florence shows in the markings of yellow and red a running Cupid. Such
curious markings are continually exhibiting the silent, magical symbols
of Nature by the aid of which the great but humble philosophers of
ancient days read the messages of the Divine. Many and various are the
virtues ascribed to the agate by the ancient masters, and when
considering these it is well to remember their passion for making
meanings obscure in order that the hidden secrets might be successfully
guarded. The “pleasant scent of the agate”—obtainable most truly by
rubbing together two polished specimens—is lauded by Pliny, and Orpheus
recommends that the “changeful agate” be steeped in wine to improve the
flavour. Powdered and bound on wounds, it healed them, and Rabbi Benoni
of 14th century fame advised that an agate be held in the mouth to
quench thirst and soothe fever. It was regarded as a charm against
poisons, which no doubt accounts for its being used to form vases,
bowls, cups, and vessels for holding foodstuffs, specimens of which are
still found in more or less perfect state in the excavations. Mr. King
mentions the Carchesium or two-handled agate cup of Charles the Bold
(presented by that King to the Abbey of St. Denis) which was used to
hold the wine at the ceremony associated with the coronations of the
kings of France. It was stolen in 1804, the year Napoleon Buonaparte was
crowned Emperor at Paris, and was not used, therefore, at his
coronation—a significant circumstance in the career of this man of
Destiny who, with his innate love for the occult must have known long
before this event that the agate was his birthstone. Shortly after the
vase was recovered uninjured, but its jewelled setting had been removed
from it, never to be seen again.
The agate, especially the eye agate, was reputed as a cure for tired
eyes, also bestowing on the wearer strength and health, and inclining
him to grace and eloquence. As one of the seven sea gems, a banded agate
was credited with the power of taking away the terrors of the ocean,
while to dream of one was held to denote a sea journey. Being
astrologically connected with the death sign Scorpio, it was potent in
seeking divine aid in this life and in the life to come. It rendered the
wearer agreeable, gave him the favour of God, if he employed it as a
holy instrument it turned the words of his enemies against themselves,
rendered him—symbolically speaking—invisible, gave him victory and
induced happy dreams. It was a charm against lightning, thunder,
tempests, and all wars of the elements. Albertus Magnus gives it
efficacy against eruptive skin diseases; the Mohammedans engraved on it
the symbols of Hassan and Hussein, the grandsons of the Prophet of
Islam, and placed it round the necks of children to protect them from
falls and accident. They also mixed it, in powdered form, with certain
fruit juices and administered it as a cure for insanity. It was also
prescribed for haemorrhage, the spitting of blood, boils, ulcers, gravel
and affections of the spleen and kidneys. Used as a powder it hardened
tender gums and arrested bleedings. Some Arabian writers advise against
the use of powdered agate as an internal medicine unless carefully
blended with other substances. An agate worn about the neck banished
fear, indigestion and lung troubles. It was recommended by Dioscorides
as a charm against epidemics and pestilential diseases. It protected
from the bites of serpents and insects, and was bound to the horns of
oxen to induce a good harvest. It was said to have been the “fortune
stone” of the Trojan hero Æneas, protecting him in war, voyages and
storms.
The agate is always adorned with a system of bands which exhibit variety
in hue, shade and tint. The Chalcedony (See Chalcedony) is more compact
and regular in colour, the two stones therefore being easily
distinguishable. Swedenborg sets the agate down as the symbol of the
spiritual love of good. It is astrologically attached to the martial
sign Scorpio.
ALABASTER
“_Why should a man whose blood is warm within,
Sit like his grandsire, cut in alabaster?_”
SHAKESPEARE.
The Greek ALABASTROS was derived from Alabastron, a town in Upper Egypt
where this beautiful white massive variety of gypsum was found. It was
used by the ancients for fashioning perfume bottles, the vials to hold
oil for anointing kings, priests, initiates into the mysteries, etc.
These articles were commonly called alabastra, and the name continued in
use long after other materials had replaced alabaster in their
manufacture. The quarries of Hat Nub and those near Minieh supplied
ancient Egypt with the material which was compared by ancient masters to
the purity of the soul. No doubt this accounts for its use in holy
works, and in the making of sarcophagi, statues, etc. In the Book of
Matthew we read of the woman having an alabaster box of very precious
ointment. In Mark “she brake the box and poured it (the ointment) on his
head.” In Luke we are told that “a woman in the city brought an
alabaster box of ointment,” etc. “Box” is a mistranslation; the “box”
holding the oil was an alabastrum, and this “oil of holy ointment
compound after the art of the apothecary,” as set down in the Book of
Exodus, was put in the alabaster vases which were sealed in such a way
that the tops had to be broken in order to release the liquid. This was
seemingly done to prevent evaporation. Many of these vases have been
found amongst the ruins, together with other Egyptian vases called
Canopic jars in which were placed the embalmed viscera of the departed.
On the covers of these canopi were drawings of the heads of the genii of
the dead known as the four children of Horus—Kesta, Hapi, Tuamutef, and
Qebhsennuf. A vessel surrounded by receptacles for holding a number of
alabastra was called an ALABASTRO-THECA.
Pure specimens of alabaster were also employed as milk-stone talismans.
Oriental alabaster, known as the Algerian onyx, is a solid crystalline
carbonate of lime, precipitated from water in stalagmitic form. This
Oriental alabaster is considerably harder than true alabaster which is
easily scratched. Pliny writes of columns of alabaster over thirty feet
in height. In ancient times it was regarded as a species of onyx, and
was made into cups, vases and other utensils. Pliny says that it was “of
the colour of honey, opaque and spirally spotted.” There are also
specimens in colour brown mixed with lemon, and others of the colour of
the finger-nail.
Leonardus regards alabaster as the right substance for preserving
unguents, and Dioscorides employed it in medicine. It was used as a
charm against accidents, especially whilst travelling, for securing
public favour, for success in legal affairs, etc.
It may be mentioned that the beautiful sarcophagus of alabaster which
was found by Giovanni Belzoni in 1817 in the tomb of Seti I (circa 1400
B. C.) and purchased by Sir John Soane for £2000 sterling, now rests in
the Soane Museum in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London. It is adorned with
texts and scenes from the Book of the Gates. In this old Book the names
of the Twelve Gates of the Tuat, or underworld, and of the Guardians of
the Gates are given. The denizens of each section are identified, as
well as their petition to Ra and his responses. The Book of the Gates,
rich in magical formulae, is one of the oldest books in the world.
Alabaster proper and Oriental alabaster are under the zodiacal Cancer.
ALEXANDRITE. The Alexandrite is a variety of the chrysoberyl. This
remarkable gem was discovered about 60 miles from Ekaterinburg, on the
birthday of Czar Alexander II of Russia, from whom it obtains its
name—The Horoscope of that Emperor indicates the stone as a symbol of
misfortune to him.
The alexandrite presents the curious phenomenon of changing its colour
according to the different rays of light to which it is exposed. By
daylight the gem is of a charming olive or emerald green tint, which
changes in artificial light to a columbine or raspberry red. The stone
is favoured by Russians on account of its blend of national colours, red
and green. These mixed colours are distinctly Aquarian. No mention seems
to have been made of this peculiar variety of chrysoberyl in ancient
writings, and it stands as a herald of the new Aquarian Age into which
we are now moving. The Alexandrite has been described as an emblem of
loyal regard, and to dream of it is a symbol of struggle and progress.
It is under the zodiacal Aquarius.
AMAZONITE OR AMAZON STONE. The Amazon Stone is a green variety of
Feldspar. The name is said to have been derived from the Amazon River,
but no specimens have been found there. The meagre evidence available
about this stone certainly does not favour its connection with the
Amazon River in any way. This river was named the Amazon in the 16th
century by the Spanish explorer Orellana in consequence, it is said, of
an encounter he had with a band of women warriors on its banks. He
called the mighty stream the Amazon after the women described by
Herodotus, Diodorus, etc., and the Amazon stone also was named after
them. In a letter to the author (1905) the late Comte de Glenstrae
wrote: "It is to the Amazons led by Myrina (Diodorus Siculus) that we
owe the establishment of the Samothracian mysteries which their Queen
founded after aiding Isis and Horus in the war against Typhon, as the
Amazons of an earlier date had aided Neith (Athene) and Amoun against
the usurpation of Chronos. I have always had a great admiration for the
Amazons, and few again have noticed that the coins of the seven cities
of Asia (Apocalypse) bore generally the figure of an Amazon as each of
those cities was said to have been founded by one of their Queens. There
is much in their symbolism. That story of their breasts being amputated
is nonsense, being refuted by every monument. As Sanchoniathon says,
“the Greeks confused nearly every legend.” It was said that the Amazons
had their right breasts singed off, the better to enable them to draw
their bows; but the word Amazon does not mean “without breast,” nor does
it appear to have any connection with the word “mazos” meaning “a
breast.” There does not seem to be any reason to doubt that the
Circassian word “Maza,” the moon, explains its origin. The Amazons of
Thermodoon in Asia Minor are termed “worshippers of the moon.” The
Amazons were votaries of the “chaste Diana” in one of her attributes,
and no male was allowed to live among them. No matter by what name she
is called, Diana is a moon goddess and a woman’s goddess, and no male
was allowed to offend her modesty. Actaeon who saw her bathing was
charmed into a stag, and fell a victim to his own hunting dogs, while
the hunter Orion, ardent in his passion for Eos, the Morning, was slain
by the “sweet arrows” of Diana.
Thus, the Amazon stone received its name from the romantic Amazons or
worshippers of Maza, the moon. It is under the Zodiacal Cancer.
CHAPTER XII
AMBER—AZURITE
AMBER
“_Pretty, in amber to observe the forms
Of hairs, or straws, or dirt, or grubs, or worms!
The things, we know, are neither rich nor rare,
But wonder how the devil they got there._”
POPE.
Amber is a fossil vegetable resin which has undergone change owing to
chemical action. The name is derived from the Arabic word AMBAR. Amber
is also known as Succinum (a word derived from the Greek Succum, juice)
on account of its vegetable origin. At one time it was also known by the
Oriental word Karabe, straw-attractor. Hash-mal was its name in Hebrew
and by the Greeks it was known as ELEKTRON, from which our word
electricity has been derived. That painstaking scholar of the 17th
century, Dr. Philemon Holland, thus translates from the 37th Book of
Pliny: “To come into the properties that amber hath; if it bee well
rubbed and chaufed between the fingers, the potentiall faculty that hath
within is set on work and brought into actuall operation whereby you
shall see it to draw chaffe, strawes, drie leaves, yea and thin rinds of
the Linden or Tillet tree after the same sort as the loadstone draweth
yron.” According to Callistratus it is good as a preventative of
delirium, and as a cure for strangury if taken in drink or attached as
an amulet to the body. This last author gives the name CHRYSELECTRUM to
an amber of golden colour which presents most beautiful tints in the
morning, attracts flame with the greatest rapidity, igniting the moment
it approaches fire. Worn upon the neck, he says, it is a cure for fever
and other diseases, “and the powder of it either taken by itself or with
gum mastick in water is remedial for disease of the stomach.”
The writer has had strong evidence of the efficacy of amber in the cure
of asthma, hay fever, croup and various diseases of the throat, and
knows a number of medical practitioners who are convinced of its
beneficial action. A well-known chemist also assured him that his wife
had suffered from asthma all her life until five years ago, when she
expressed a desire to wear a string of amber; since wearing this she has
not experienced the slightest symptom of her former trouble. The writer
has an amber necklet, the beads of which are mud-coloured and cracked
after having been worn for a few months by a lady suffering from hay
fever. There is no doubt of its curative influence, no doubt that
ancient observation was correct, and the statement in some modern
medical text books that amber has “absolutely no curative value” is
difficult indeed to follow. It is remarkable that distilled amber
yielding a pungent, acrid but not unpleasant oil, known as Oil of Amber
or Oil of Succinite, is recognized as a potent ingredient in various
embrocations. It is, therefore, hard to reconcile the statements that
while amber has “absolutely no curative value,” Oil of Amber has. Mr. C.
W. King says: “Repeated experiments have proved beyond doubt that the
wearing of an amber necklace has been known to prevent attacks of
erysipelas in a person subject to them.” He also writes of its efficacy
“as a defender of the throat against chills.”
Ancient writers said that amber eased stomach pains, cured jaundice and
goitre, and acted against certain poisons, Camillus Leonardus
recommending it as a cure for toothache and affections of the teeth. In
the Middle Ages it was used as a charm against fits, dysentery,
jaundice, scrofula and nervous affections. Thomas Nicols, a 17th century
writer, says: “Amber is esteemed the best for physic use, and is thought
to be of great power and force against many diseases, as against the
vertigo and asthmatic paroxysmes, against catarrhes and anthreticall
pains, against diseases of the stomach and to free it from sufferings
and putrefactions and against diseases of the heart, against plagues,
venoms and contagions. It is used either in powder or in troches, either
in distempers of men or of women, married or unmarried, or in the
distempers of children.” The dose formerly administered for coughs,
hysteria, etc., was from ten to sixty grains.
Amber cut in various magical forms was extensively used as a charm
against the evil eye, witchcraft and sorcery. It was and still is used
as a mouthpiece for cigar and cigarette holders and smoking pipes, etc.
Its employment in this capacity was originally talismanic, for it was
implicitly believed that amber would not only prevent infection, but
would act as a charm against it. Francis Barrett, in his work on Natural
Magic, says that amber attracts all things to it but garden basil or
substances smeared with oil. In China today amber is greatly esteemed,
being used in the making of certain medicines, perfumes, and as an
incense which use dates back to the Bible times. In such esteem is amber
held in the East that the Shah of Persia is said to wear a block of
amber on his neck to protect him against assassination. Perhaps no
legend has been more ridiculed than the one which relates that amber was
the solidified urine of the lynx; but the old writers Sudines and
Metrodorus show that the lynx was not an animal but a tree from which
amber is exuded, and which was known in Etruria as a Lynx. Pliny repeats
from Ovid’s Metamorphoses the tradition among the Greeks that amber was
the tears of the Heliades (Phaethusa, Ægle, Lampetia), the Sun Maidens,
who harnessed the steeds of the Sun to the chariot when their rash
brother Phaethon set forth on his fatal journey. The horses of the Sun
were wild and strong, fire flew from their nostrils, and the youthful
charioteer was not strong enough to keep them to their rightful course.
The chariot, as its speed grew faster, became luminous, electric and
fiery, the hair of the driver caught fire, the earth began to smoke and
burn, Libya was parched into a waste of sand, Africa was afire, rivers
were dried up, vegetation was destroyed, and the heat was so intense
that the inhabitants of the stricken countries changed from white to
black. Gaea, in fear for the earth, called on Jupiter for protection,
who, with a lightning-bolt, struck the chariot, hurling the “stricken
waggoner,” as Shakespeare calls him, lifeless into the River
Eridanus—(the Padus or Po)—at the mouth of which river were found the
Electrides Insulae (Amber Islands). The three sad sisters were
transformed into poplars, and their tears of amber never ceased to flow.
“To these tears,” says Pliny, “was given the name of Electrum, from the
circumstance that the Sun was usually called Elector.” It requires but
little thought to unveil this beautiful allegory which told the exact
truth even while the nature of amber was disturbing the minds of
scholars, its vegetable origin being doubted.
The old story that amber was a concretion formed by the tears of the
birds is a variation of the Phæthon legend which Thomas Moore has so
gracefully rendered in “The Fire Worshippers.”
“_Around thee shall glisten the loveliest amber
That ever the sorrowing sea-bird hath wept._”
That amber is found containing the material remains of extinct insects,
etc., is alluded to by Pope in his lines quoted at the head of this
chapter. That it was especially well known and esteemed in the ancient
world can be accepted without the slightest doubt. Amber beads have been
found in the tombs of Egypt as far back as the 6th dynasty (B. C. 3200),
of the ancient Empire, a dynasty which ruled in old Chem long before the
time of Joseph. HASHMAL as the Hebrew for amber has been doubted by some
scholars who take it to signify the metal electrum, a substance
combination of 4 parts of silver and one of gold, used by the Greeks,
and from which some of their coins were struck; but other authorities
accept it as indicating amber which was known long before electrum was
compounded. Delitzsch believes the Hebrew HASHMAL to be derived from the
old Assyrian word ESHMARU, and the connection is a very probable one.
The Rabbis employ other words to express amber, as for example, KEPOS
HAYA-RUDIN, amber of the Jordan. This occurs in a curious passage in
which Rabbi Nathan states that if honey were mixed with the amber of the
Jordan it became “profane.” Honey, according to Porphyry, is a symbol of
death, and hence could not be mixed with amber which is a symbol of
life. This would be as repulsive to the Rabbinical mind as the violation
of the command: “Thou shalt not seethe a kid in its mother’s milk” would
be. Libations of honey could only, according to Porphyry, be offered to
the terrestrial gods. Philo Judæus in Book III explains the matter as
follows: “Moreover it also ordains that every sacrifice shall be offered
up without any leaven or honey, not thinking it fit that either of these
things should be brought to altar. The honey perhaps because the bee
which collects it is not a clean animal, inasmuch as it derives its
birth, as the story goes, from the putrefaction and corruption of dead
oxen, or else this may be forbidden as a figurative declaration that all
superfluous pleasure is unholy, making indeed the things which are eaten
sweet to the taste but inflicting bitter pains difficult to be cured at
a subsequent period, by which the soul must of necessity, be agitated
and thrown in confusion not being able to settle on any resting-place.”
In addition, the lines of Virgil, Georgic IV, may be considered:
“_His mother’s precepts he performs with care:
The temple visits, and adores with prayer:
Four altars, raises: from his herd he culls
For slaughter, four the fairest of his bulls:
Four heifers from his female store he took,
All fair and all unknowing of the yoke.
Nine mornings thence, with sacrifice and prayers,
The powers atoned, he to the grave repairs.
Behold a prodigy! for, from within
The broken bowels and the bloated skin,
A buzzing noise of bees his ears alarms:
Straight issue through the sides assembling swarms.
Dark as a cloud, they make a wheeling flight,
Then on a neighboring tree, descending, light:
Like a large cluster of black grapes they show,
And make a large dependence from the bough._”
DRYDEN’S TRANSLATION.
We must again look to symbology if we desire to understand the meaning.
Of old the Bee was a symbol of the Soul, and by the laws of Mohammed
bees were admitted to the joys of Heaven. The votaries of Ceres adored
the Moon under the symbol of a bee—a symbol appearing on some of the
Greek coins, notably on those of Ephesus where Diana, goddess of the
Moon, was worshipped and whence the cry, “Great is Diana of the
Ephesians,” reached the ears of Paul (Acts XIX). Porphyry writes: “The
Moon presiding over generation was called a bee and also a bull, and
Taurus is the exaltation of the Moon.” He adds symbolically: “But bees
are oxbegotten, and this appellation is also given to soul proceeding to
generation.” (“Cave of the Nymphs.”) The explanation of the veiled
mystery is that the Moon at the full is the symbol of the soul, the
emblem of which is a bee. It comes from the body of a bull or Taurus,
the second sign of the zodiac, in which as Porphyry observes she is in
her exaltation and powerful; Taurus is the earth sign of the planet
Venus in the guise of the goddess of Generation, and as the soul enters
the world, new born, the waters of the Jordan are needed to purify it
as, when it leaves the body, water was left for it to wash off the
emanations of its deserted covering. Further into the mysteries it is
unnecessary to go. The veil of Isis hides the truth, and only he who
will strive to understand heavenly wisdom can hope to pierce that veil.
Amber has been placed under the sign Leo, the sign of the Sun, by some
of the old masters, while others have allotted it to the sign of Venus
(Taurus), to which it more probably belongs. It is very soft, is easily
cut with a knife, and burns freely. Large quantities are found on the
coast of the Baltic, which the Greeks called in consequence the Amber
Sea. In Oriental story Amberabad (Amber City) was a city of Jinnistan
(Fairy Land).
To dream of amber was said to denote a voyage, and according to the
philosophy of the Quabalah the indication was of some kind of movement
or change.
Amber has been imitated in preparations of Mellite, Copal and Anine,
also by a blending of sulphur and gutta percha at high temperature,
etc., but Mellite is infusible by heat, burning white. Copal catches
fire and falls from the instrument on which it is heated in flat drops,
while the general attracting power of most substitutes falls far short
of the true substance.
AMETHYST
“_The purple streaming amethyst is thine._”
TENNYSON.
The amethyst is a species of transparent, violet-coloured quartz, the
name of which is derived from the Greek AMETHYSTOS, from the traditional
belief that this stone possessed the power to oppose the effect of the
fumes of intoxicants, an opinion not entirely shared by Plutarch.
Amongst the Greeks and Persians an amethyst bound on the navel was said
to counteract the evil effects of wine. The amethyst is described by
Trevisa in the 15th century as “purple red in colour medelyd wyth colour
of uyolette,” and in Sir Philip Sidney’s “Arcadia,” we read:
“_The bloodie shafts of Cupid’s war
With amatists they headed are._”
The stone is found under the names ametist, ametiste, amatites,
amaethist, and it was not until about the middle of the 17th century
that its present form began to be adopted. To enjoy the full vibrations
of the amethyst an old custom recommended that it be worn on the third
finger of the left hand—a practice at one time followed by medical
practitioners—and some form of ancient belief demanded that the amethyst
must come in contact with the left hand before its action could be
appreciated and understood.
It is well known that the magic of the ancient Egyptian temples included
the art of magnetism, and the action of various mineral substances on
the magnetized patient has also been noted by the more modern
investigators including Dr. Babbitt, Baron Reichenbach, Dr. Ennemoser,
Dr. Edmonson and Dr. de Lignieres. Stones of the earth have been
especially employed by these scholars with results of such marked
importance that the contention of the ancients regarding the amethyst as
a charm against drunkenness, deserves respect. To be effective in the
induced magnetic sleep, stones had to be placed in the left hand.
Connected with the ancient belief in the sobering power of the amethyst
is the beautiful allegorical legend telling that Dionysius, enamoured of
a graceful nymph, pressed his love upon her, but Diana intervened,
transforming her into a purple amethyst. In respect for the transformed
nymph Dionysius vowed that whosoever wore the amethyst would be
protected from the evils of intoxicating wines.
The amethyst was worn in ancient Egypt, and a scarab cut from a specimen
was held in great esteem by soldiers who carried it on the field of
battle as a charm against death by the shafts and swords of war. This
practice was carried far into the Middle Ages, and many amethysts were
worn for the same purpose in this last terrible war of nations. When
worn by a Bishop of the Church, the amethyst is a glyptic symbol of
heavenly understanding. Swedenborg likens it to a “spiritual love of
good,” and Dr. Brewer writes of purple shades, indicating “love of truth
even unto martyrdom.” It is stated by Patrick in “Devotions of the Roman
Church,” that the wedding ring of the Virgin Mary and Joseph was of
amethyst or onyx. Mr. King writes that this ring, exhibited in the Abbey
St. Germain des Prés, is engraved “with two nobodies—probably
liberti—whose votive legend: ‘Alpheus with Aretho’ is but too plainly
legible in our Greek-reading times.” The ring, having been saved at the
burning of the Abbey in 1795, was secured by General Hydrow and given to
the Imperial Russian Cabinet.
In what is described by Camillus Leonardus of the 16th century as one of
the magical books of King Solomon, a charm for gaining influence over
princes and nobles is a rider on horseback holding a sceptre, engraved
on an amethyst and set in double its own weight in gold or silver.
The amethyst has always been regarded as symbolical of the pioneer in
thought and action on the philosophical, religious, spiritual and
material planes. The virtues ascribed to this stone are many. It was
regarded as a charm against witchcraft, poison and evil thoughts; it was
an aid to chastity, a power against all forms of over-indulgence and a
strengthener of the mind; it was a charm for securing the favour of
princes, rulers, churchmen, people of wealth, influence and power,
people with prophetic ability, poets, travellers, publishers, etc. It
would strengthen the wisdom, faith and religion of the wearer and aid in
prayer and in dreaming. If bound to the left wrist the amethyst enabled
the wearer to see the future in dreams; to dream of the stone itself
indicated success to a traveller, clergyman, sailor, philosopher,
teacher or mystic, also protection, faith and fruitful thoughts. For
pains in the head (headache, toothache, etc.), it was recommended that
an amethyst be immersed in hot water for a few minutes, taken out, dried
carefully and gently rubbed over the parts affected and the back of the
neck.
Almost all authorities agree in translating the Hebrew ACHLAMAH as
amethyst and in identifying it as the ninth stone of the High Priest’s
Breastplate. It was the seventh precious stone which the sage Iachus
gave to Apollonius of Tyana as an emblem of piety and dignity.
Many writers on the subject of planetary influences have placed this gem
under the celestial Pisces, the fishes, because anciently Pisces was one
of the mansions of Jupiter; but the sign of the Fishes is transparent
and glistening in hue whilst in the nature of kinship a fiery gem
belongs to a fiery zodiacal sign. In this direction the fiery Mars, as
ruler of the sign Aries, has been confused with the Babylonian and
Assyrian MARDUK or MERODACH. Marduk or Merodach represented the planet
Jupiter, and to him Nebuchadnezzar addresses his songs of praise:
“Merodach, the great lord, the senior of the gods, the most ancient has
given all nations and people to my care.” “I supplicate the king of
gods, the lord of lords in Borsippa, the city of his loftiness.” “O, god
Merodach, great lord, lord of the house of the gods, light of the gods,
father, even for thy high honour, which changes not, a temple have I
built,” etc. The “house of the gods” is the ninth celestial house,
naturally the sign Sagittarius, and in the Quabalah the ninth heavenly
sphere is the Primum Mobile, the star-decked Heaven. (See “Numbers,
their Meaning and Magic.”) The name Merodach or Marduk is a corruption
of Mardugga (the sacred son), and because they saw the life-giving orb
rising from the sea, the ancient Chaldean masters accounted Jupiter his
first offshoot, hailing him as “Marduk:”—“Marduk, first born of the
mighty deep, make us pure and prosperous.” The giving of prosperity is
ever an attribute of Jupiter, and the measure and the source of the gift
are shown in the nativity or map of the heavens at a person’s birth.
An effective talisman for the protection of horses and their riders was
a winged horse cut on an amethyst. The ancients connected the amethyst
with the ninth celestial mansion—the mansion of Sagittarius—and there is
no reason for allotting it to any other.
ANATASE. The name is derived from the Latin ANATASES, elevation. It was
so named from the length of its chief axis. This mineral is composed of
Titanic acid which crystallizes in fine, transparent stones of brown,
dark blue or black, of adamantine lustre. The anatase, which equals the
opal in hardness, cannot be traced in ancient writings. It is rarely
used in jewellery. In harmony with the philosophy of gem influence it is
connected with the sign Sagittarius.
ANDALUSITE. This stone, first discovered in Andalusia, derives its name
from that rich mineral province of Spain—the Tarshish of the Bible, the
Tartessus of ancient geography, the Bætica of the Romans. Its colours
are light bottle-green, pearl grey, flesh and pink. It is extremely
dichroic, showing the twin colours red and leaf-green—the red gleaming
from the stone in antithesis to its common hue. The Andalusite is as
hard as the garnet or zircon. Professor Dana moistened specimens with
nitrate of cobalt, after which they assumed a blue colour. This mineral
may have been known to the ancients, but identification is difficult.
Ancient philosophy would connect it with the zodiacal Aquarius.
APATITE. Apatite is a mineral which obtained its name from the Greek
word APATAO, to deceive, because it deceived old students who confounded
it with aquamarine, chrysolite, tourmaline, etc. Abraham Werner (the
author of the Neptunian theory that all mineral substances were once
contained in watery solution), first demonstrated in the 18th century
the true nature of apatite which is a phosphate of lime with fluorite
and chloride of calcium. The lustre varies from transparent to opaque,
and is vitreous to sub-resinous. It is much softer than tourmaline, its
degree of hardness being but 5; for this reason it is but little used in
the manufacture of jewellery. Its colours are pale sea-green, blue-green
(in which colouring it is sometimes called Moroxite), yellowish-green
(in which colouring it is often called Asparagus stone), yellow, violet,
white, grey, brown, red, colourless, and transparent. Professor Judd,
F.R.S., found a concretion specimen of apatite when cutting a mass of
teak wood—a particularly rare find. In agreement with the ancient system
the apatite is astrologically under the zodiacal Pisces.
APOPHYLLITE. Apophyllite is a hydrous silicate of potassium and calcium
which obtains its name from the Greek word APOPHULLIZO, to exfoliate,
because it falls in leaves before the blowpipe. It is extremely soft,
being from between 4 and 5 in Mohs’s scale. The stone is found in a
variety of colours—milk-white, greyish, green, yellow, red, pink. It is
seldom used by jewellers. The apophyllite is under the sign Taurus.
AQUAMARINE. (See BERYL.)
ASBESTOS. The word is derived from the Greek ASBESTOS, inconsumable, and
is identified with the Amianthus (impollutible) of the ancients. It is a
variety of hornblende, of a fine and fibrous texture, of which Marbodus
wrote:
_“Kindled once it no extinction knows
But with eternal flame increasing glows.
Hence with good cause the Greeks Asbestos name,
Because once kindled nought can quench its flame.”_
The incombustibility and weak heat conducting qualities of asbestos
render it extremely useful as a protection against fire. The ancients
used it for the wicks of their temple lamps, and in order to preserve
the ashes of the departed their dead bodies were laid on asbestos before
being placed on the funeral pyre. Cloths of asbestos were thrown in the
flames for the purpose of cleaning them. So fine and flaxy is the
mineral that gloves have been made of it. Asbestos is under the zodiacal
Gemini.
AVENTURINE. Aventurine or goldstone is a quartz of a brownish,
semi-transparent character, spangled with spots of golden-yellow mica.
This stone is identified with the stone called by Pliny the
“Sandaresus”—“of stars of gold gleaming from within.” The name
Aventurine (_per adventura_, by accident), arose, it is said, from an
accident in a Venetian glass factory, where a workman found that eight
parts of ground glass, one part protoxide of copper and two parts of
oxide of iron well heated and allowed to cool slowly, produced the
peculiar appearance admired in the real gem to even better effect. The
aventurine variety of quartz is under the zodiacal Leo.
AXINITE. The name Axinite is derived from the Greek AXINE, an axe, on
account of the sharp and axe-like form of the crystals. The axinite is
about the same degree of hardness as the Spodumene or the demantoid
garnet (6.5 to 7). It is pyro-electric and highly vitreous. The colours
vary between pearly-grey, clove, brown, honey-yellow, violet, plum-blue.
The axinite is under the zodiacal Sagittarius.
AZURITE. Azurite is a blue copper carbonate obtaining its name from its
colour. It is kindred with malachite, from which it differs but
slightly. Some mineralogists call it blue malachite. It is under the
zodiacal Libra.
CHAPTER XIII
THE BERYL FAMILY
THE BERYL FAMILY: SOME LARGE SPECIMENS: VAUQUELIN’S DISCOVERY: THE
CELESTIAL SIGN OF THE BERYL FAMILY: OLD MINES OF KLEOPATRA: WOMEN
SEARCHERS OF EGYPT: THE CANOPY OF HOLOFERNES: STARS OF THE PLEIADES:
EMERALD AND THE EYES: POPE JOHN XXI AND HIS ASSERTION: THE SERPENT’S
GAZE: TAURUS, SCORPIO AND THE STORY OF EDEN: THE TRUE VENUS:
REPTILES OF OVER-INDULGENCE: CIRCE AND THE SWINE: DIANA, GODDESS OF
THE MOON: VIRTUES ASCRIBED TO THE EMERALD: ESMERALDA: THE DRAGON OF
THE EMERALD MINE: PRESCOTT’S STORY: PIZARRO’S LARGEf EMERALD: THE
TRICK OF PEDRAZA: INDIAN BELIEF: APOLLONIUS OF TYANA AND THE EMERALD
OF IARCHUS: THE EMERALD IN ROSICRUCIAN PHILOSOPHY: SWEATING
EMERALDS: EMERALDS IN OLD EXCAVATIONS: ESTEEM OF THE ROMANS: PERSIAN
BELIEFS: ALBERTUS MAGNUS, CARDANUS AND THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE
MASTERS: MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS’ STONE IN BRAZIL: HINDOO BELIEFS: THE
HEAVEN OF THE MUSLIMS: THE INHABITANTS OF PARADISE: PARACELSUS AND
THE EMERALD: EARLY CHRISTIAN EMBLEM: BERYL IN MAGICAL RITES: “THE
TEMPEST”: RECOMMENDATION OF LEONARDUS: WATER DIVINATION: STORY OF
THE RING OF POLYCRATES: FISH AND RING STORIES: HERODOTUS AND OLD
WRITERS ON THE RING OF POLYCRATES: PHILIP II AND THE FATAL RING OF
SPAIN: SPAIN’S DEFEAT BY THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE BURIAL
OF THE ILL-OMENED RING: GIFT OF POPE ADRIAN VIII TO HENRY II:
EMERALD OF KING ARTHUR: POPE INNOCENT’S PRESENT TO KING JOHN:
SWEDENBORG’S EMERALD CORRESPONDENCE: THE FALSE AQUAMARINE AMONGST
THE BRITISH CROWN JEWELS: THE FATAL EMERALD OF RUSSIA.
BERYL
“_What rings of Eastern price his fingers hold.
Gold decks the fingers, beryl decks the gold._”
PARNELL.
The name beryl is derived from the Greek and Latin BERYLLUS; some say
also from the Persian BELUR. Some of the old fashions of writing the
name are included in the following: beril, beryll, berall, birrall,
byral, byrrall, byralle, berial, beryall, bureall, beryl stone.
Dr. Holland’s rendering of Pliny’s remarks on the beryl (Chapter 36) is
interesting: “Many are of the opinion that beryls are of the same nature
that the emeraud, or leastwise verie like: from India they came as from
their native place, for seldom are they to be found elsewhere.”
Beryls are pale green stones coloured by iron. Some very large crystals
have been found. Professor Rutley mentions one specimen found at
Royalston in Massachusetts, which weighed nearly 2½ tons.
EMERALD
“_As when an emerald green enchas’d
In flaming gold, from the bright mass acquires
A nobler hue, more delicate to sight._”
J. PHILIPS.
The name in days of old was variously written: emeraud, emeraude,
emraud, emeroyde, emmorant, emerant, ameraud, emerode, emrade,
hemerauld, smaragdus. The derivation is from the old French word
ESMERALDA, through the modern French EMERAUDE; Greek SMARAGDOS, Latin
SMARAGDUS.
Amongst some large sized emeralds Professor Dana notes one in the
cabinet of the Duke of Devonshire, which specimen is 2¼ inches long by
about 2 inches in diameter; a finer specimen weighing six ounces, once
in the possession of Mr. Harry Thomas Hope; one formerly in the Royal
Russian collection, 4½ in. in length, 12 in. in breadth, 16¾ pounds troy
in weight; another weighing six pounds, which is 7 in. long and 4 in.
broad.
Dr. Holland’s translation of Pliny (Book 37) is as follows:
“True it is that we take great delight to behold green hearbes and
leaves of trees but this is nothing to the pleasure we have in looking
upon the emeraud, for compare it with other things, be they never so
green, it surpasseth them all in pleasant verdure.”
The Emerald is the beautiful green variety of the beryl family, coloured
by chromium.
AQUAMARINE
“_One entire stone of a sea-water green known by the name of agmarine._”
STOW. CHRON.
1598.
The word is derived from the Latin AQUA, water, and MARE, the sea. It
was known under various forms: aigue marine, ague marine, aque marine,
agmarine, etc. In colour the aquamarine is pale blue, bluish green and
light sea-green.
Here may be mentioned the Golden Emerald—an emerald of charming golden
colour, and the Rose Beryl named Morganite after the late J. Pierpont
Morgan.
The whole beryl family is classified under the sign Taurus. Their
crystalline form is hexagonal (six-sided), and six is the traditional
number of Venus, whose earth house or mansion in astrology is the
heavenly Taurus. Beryllium enters largely into their composition, and
because of the sweetness of its salts this element is also termed
Glucinum (Greek GLYKYS, sweet). Glycina was first discovered by the
great chemist Vauquelin while experimenting with emeralds in 1797. Much
confusion has arisen amongst authors on the subject of gems and the
Heavens, from confounding the beryl with the tourmaline—a distinctly
Mercurial gem. The beryl, aquamarine and emerald present only colour
shade differences. It is more difficult, however, to find really fine
emeralds than it is to find other varieties of the same family. The
emeralds found in the workings of the old Kleopatra mines, whose very
existence was at one time doubted, are of the lighter or beryl variety.
These gems were much sought after in ancient times, the Egyptian women
being esteemed the best searchers “because of their superior eyesight.”
There is no doubt, as before noted, that the sex was considered as well
as the sight, and the selection of women “daughters of Venus” for this
work was not without design.
The splendour of the canopy of purple and gold under which Holofernes,
the Assyrian general, rested was enriched according to the Apochrypha
with emeralds and precious stones (Judith X. 21). This symbol of
Assyrian luxury—considering the accredited virtue of the emerald amongst
the ancients—was of evil import to the leader of the army of
Nabuchodonosor, the “King of all the earth.”
Astrology notes that a person born in the sign Taurus, especially from
the 20° to the 30° amongst the nebulous stars of the Pleiades, or with
violent stars in that sign at birth, has his sight always affected to a
greater or lesser extent, hence the accredited virtues of the emerald as
an eye stone, and no pharmacy of the Middle Ages would have thought of
omitting it from its dispensary. As eye stones the stones of the beryl
family have always been held in high esteem, Pope John XXI affirming
that a diseased eye treated with an emerald became sound again. It was
not claimed that the emerald would restore lost sight, but it was
regarded as extremely potent in eye disease, injury or trouble of any
kind. Sometimes it was sufficient, especially in the case of inflamed
eyes, to bathe the eye in water in which emeralds had been steeped for
six hours; at other times the stone was reduced to the finest powder, an
extremely small quantity of which was placed in the eye at stated
intervals, Tom Moore sings in Lalla Rookh:
“_Blinded like serpents when they gaze
Upon the emerald’s virgin blaze._”
The tradition that when a serpent fixes its eyes on an emerald it
becomes blind is echoed from Hebrew philosophy, and Ahmed Ben Abdalaziz
in his “Treatise on Jewels” has it that the lustre of emeralds makes
serpents blind. As this ancient statement has occasioned some mirth and
ridicule amongst those swayed by surface considerations it may be as
well to consider the matter from another point of understanding. The
symbolist will at once perceive the hidden parable: in astrology,
serpents have been classed under the Scorpion of the zodiac, and the
Venusian Taurus in the zodiac is opposite to the Scorpion. In the story
of the Garden of Eden it is the Scorpion (snake) who tempts Eve, and her
fall is held by occult students as a symbol to compel Man to exert his
highest strength to enable his triumph over the lowest to be complete.
The zodiacal Scorpio is accursed on its lower expression, and is
symbolical then of the corruption which can menace virgin purity. Man on
the lowest borderlands to which over-indulgence will ever draw him has
been faced by serpents and reptiles whose immaterial lives exist only in
those dark realms. The story of Circe and the Swine finds its parallel
in the power of the pure and beautiful Venus to expel even by her
symbolic emerald lust, envy, malice and grossness, to destroy the
serpent’s gaze and to call the blind and suffering Man back to his
peaceful Heaven again. So, as the Moon in astrological philosophy is
exalted in Taurus, Diana the goddess of the Moon is the friend of chaste
women. In Cutwode’s “Caltha Poetarium, or the Humble Bee,” written in
1599, Diana adorns the heroine with an emerald ring.
It can easily be seen why the emerald is the emblem of true happiness
and the preserver of chastity, and why it was said to fracture if
chastity were violated: to one taking vows of chastity and breaking
them, the emerald could never appear the same again—before his spiritual
vision it would be broken and shattered. Leonardus said that the emerald
protected women in childbirth, and most old writers are impressive in
warning men to wear one as a charm against spiritual and mental
weakness.
The Peruvian goddess Esmeralda was said to reside in an emerald as big
as an ostrich egg, and it was the custom of this little Venus in her
symbolic emerald egg to receive emeralds as offerings from her devotees
who also, it was said, sacrificed their daughters to her.
Stevenson (“Residence in South America”), writing of the emerald mine of
Las Emeraldas, says: “I never visited it owing to the superstitious
dread of the natives who assured me that it was enchanted and guarded by
an enormous dragon who poured forth thunder and lightning on those who
dared to ascend the river.” It is peculiar how the symbols of mankind
coincide: the dragon is another of the zodiacal Scorpio varieties ever
opposite Taurus, and was of old regarded as the agitator of thunders,
lightnings and earth commotions. Prescott, in his “History of Peru,”
tells us how the Spaniards after murdering the trusting Indians raided
their dwellings and seized their ornaments and precious stones, for this
was the region of the esmeraldas or emeralds. One of the jewels that
fell into the hands of Pizarro was as large as a pigeon’s egg. Fra
Reginaldo di Pedraza, one of the Dominican missionaries, told the
Spaniards that the method of proving the genuineness or otherwise of
emeralds was to try if they could be broken with a hammer; Prescott
adding: “The good Father did not subject his own jewels to this wise
experiment, but as the stones in consequence of it fell in value, being
merely regarded as coloured glass, he carried back a considerable store
of them to Panama.” The Indians held that the emerald protected against
poisons and cleansed man from sin.
As an emblem of Eternal Spring, Iarchus included the emerald in the
mystic necklace of Apollonius of Tyana. In Rosicrucian philosophy it is
advised that if an emerald set in a ring of gold be placed on the solar
finger of the left hand when the Sun entered Taurus, the wearer would
attain his cherished aim and be enabled by the sweating of the stone to
detect poisons. Experiment has shown that heat causes the emerald to
lose water but does not affect its colour, hence the reports of the
“sweating” emerald cannot be set aside as mythical. Specimens of the
beryl family have been found in tombs and in old excavations, and there
is little doubt that the stones “of the colour of transparent sea-water”
found by the old Romans at Cyprus belonged to it. The Romans greatly
esteemed the emerald as an eye stone and a natural specific for
ophthalmia, holding that what healed and calmed the spiritual eye would
heal and calm the natural eye. The Persians applied ashes of burnt
emeralds to ulcers with curative effect. They said that the emerald
brought mental tranquility, cured unnatural thirst, stomach troubles,
jaundice, liver troubles, obstructions, gravel, stricture, bodily pains
and epilepsy. Albertus Magnus also recommends it as a cure for epileptic
attacks. Mystics have always regarded the emerald as of the highest
worth. It is spoken of by Cardanus as an ideal gem for divinatory
purposes—no doubt because of its pure spiritual import. Aristotle writes
that an emerald hung from the neck or worn on the finger protects from
the “falling sickness.”
The ancient writers held that all kinds of divination were helped by the
emerald, and when worn during the transaction of honest business it gave
favour to the wearer. In Brazil, medical students on becoming doctors of
medicine wore on their fingers rings of emeralds as an indication that
they had received their diploma. The lighter emerald, or beryl, bound
man and wife together in mutual love, and raised the wearer to success
and honour.
Among the Hindoo philosophers the emerald held its place as a gem of the
zodiacal Taurus, and in the First Heaven of the Muslims the tents of the
faithful are represented as studded with emeralds, pearls and jacinths.
Mr. E. W. Lane (“Modern Egyptians”) writes that the inhabitants of
Paradise are said to be clothed “in the richest silk, chiefly of green,
and all superfluities from their bodies will be carried off by
perspiration which will diffuse an odour like that of musk”—a plant
recognized by old astrologers as belonging to the sign Taurus.
Paracelsus wrote that the emerald was in sympathy with the metal
copper—also recognized as the chief metal of Venus. Mr. King notes a
fine emerald, a quarter inch square, belonging to the earliest Christian
periods, on which is cut a fish, which besides being an early Christian
emblem is symbolical of Venus and later of the Virgin. Venus is exalted
in the Zodiacal sign of the Fishes which enters largely into the
Christian mysteries. The beryl was used in magical rites as an
instrument for foretelling future happenings. For special magical
purposes the stone was held in the mouth when—says Freeman, writing in
the early part of the 18th century—a person may call an elemental and
receive satisfaction for any question he might ask. In this connection
one is tempted to think of the delightful Venusian spirit Ariel in
Shakespeare’s “Tempest.” Again the beryl is recommended by Leonardus as
a charm against diseases of the throat and jaws. In the “water
divination” of the Middle Ages a beryl stone was suspended just to touch
the surface of the water in the bowl, and it answered questions by
automatically striking the edges of the vessel. It was also thrown into
a shallow dish of water, information being gathered from the reflections
seen in sunlight in the water.
Herodotus tells the story of the Thalassokrat (Sea-king) Polycrates of
Samos whose never-failing fortune so alarmed his friend and ally, the
Pharaoh Amasis of Egypt, that he wrote to him begging him to sacrifice
something he valued most highly to propitiate the fateful Nemesis,
goddess of retribution. In obedience to this request Polycrates, with
many regrets, threw from a boat his precious emerald ring into the sea
far from the shore. Some few days afterwards a fisherman caught a fish
so large and shapely that, thinking it a prize for the King, he took it
to the palace of Polycrates. When the cook was preparing the fish for
the King’s table he found within it his master’s emerald ring. Amasis,
when informed of the incident by Polycrates, was greatly concerned as it
foretold to him a fatal end for the Thalassokrat, with whom he broke off
negotiations and alliances. Polycrates, being induced by his crafty
enemy the Persian satrap Oroetes to visit him, was seized and crucified.
The story is discredited by some historians—notably Grote—but this is
not the only story of a fish swallowing a ring or some other article of
value. The legend of Solomon’s ring has been already alluded to. Mr.
King collecting evidence from Herodotus, Pausanius, and other old
writers finds that the ring of Polycrates was a “signet of emerald set
in gold, the work of Theodorus of Samos.” That famous father of the
church, Titus Flavius Clemens, better known as Clemens Alexandrinus,
says that on the emerald ring of Polycrates was engraved “a musical
lyre.” A fine quality emerald bearing a similar device was found about
fifty years ago in a vineyard at Aricia, and that this may have been the
famous ring is not impossible.
In the reign of Philip II, of Spanish Armada repute, there appeared in
Spain a strange ring of gold, in the centre of which was an emerald cut
so as to contain a ruby surrounded by diamonds. This curious ring is
said to have been the symbol of misfortune wherever it came. The church
which received it as a gift from the King was destroyed by fire; the
fatal ring, rescued from the fire, was placed in a museum that was badly
damaged by lightning; whilst again in the possession of the King of
Spain, Spain was defeated in the war with the United States of America.
Then this ring of ill-omen was buried in an iron coffin in a secret
place. Its evil influence can readily be accounted for in the light of
occult philosophy—the ruby is a stone under the Celestial Leo, the
emerald is under Taurus. These signs form the evil square, being counted
in astrological science 90° apart. A square aspect is always accounted
an evil one. The admixture of the beautiful crystal symbols was
unfortunate. Spain again is under the celestial Sagittarius, and would
not hold gems of Taurus. Philip II himself had an evil influence on
Spain. Astrologically neither the emerald nor the ruby would be in
harmony with his nativity and the diamond would be fatal.
John of Salisbury states that Pope Adrian VIII confirmed the right to
hold and govern Ireland on Henry II of England with the gift of a rare
emerald set in a ring of gold, and the Papal bull or seal. The right to
bestow all islands was claimed by the Pope by virtue of the laws of
Constantine. It is curious in connection with this historical
transaction that Ireland and the emerald come under Taurus, and that the
right of Henry II as sovereign of Ireland is confirmed by the Papal
Bull!
Tennyson in “Elaine” says that Arthur, “the glorious King”
“_Had on his cuirass worn our Lady’s Head,
Carved of one emerald centred in a sun
Of silver rays, that lighten’d as he breathed._”
The beryl was the symbol of undying youth, the emerald of
incorruptibility and triumph over sin, the aquamarine of social
uplifting. One of the four rings sent by Pope Innocent III in the year
1205 to King John of England was an emerald which, wrote the donor, is
the emblem of faith. To dream of beryls is said to denote happy news to
come; to dream of aquamarines is interpreted as symbolical of loving
friendships; to dream of emeralds is set down as a sign of worldly
benefit and goodness. The Angel of the beryl family is the inexpressibly
beautiful and tender Anael. Emanuel Swedenborg says that the beryl
signifies “the good of charity and faith or the spiritual love of truth;
the emerald the appearance of the divine sphere of the Lord in the
lowest heavens; the emerald family as indicating the sphere of divine
love and wisdom.”
The wonderful aquamarine which adorned the crown of James II of England
has been recently found to be merely a piece of coloured glass. This
fact was recently communicated by Sir George Younghusband, so well known
as the keeper of the Jewel House in the Tower of London. It is presumed
that the real stone was replaced by this imitation, but how and when is
a matter of speculation. The whole emerald family were regarded as
stones of fortune for King James II.
Before closing this account of the beryl family it may be interesting to
recall the fatal emerald of Russia. This large and beautiful gem was
given to Peter of Holstein-Gottorp (afterwards Peter III), by Empress
Elizabeth Petrovna. Peter was assassinated. Emperor Paul wore it next
and was strangled. Alexander II then had the stone newly set and it fell
from his finger after his assassination. Alexander III would not wear
it, but Nicholas II, allured by its beauty, did. Who now has the fatal
emerald?
CHAPTER XIV
BALAS—CRYSOCOLLA
BALAS: BLOODSTONE: BONE TURQUOISE: CAIRNGORM, AN ANCIENT CAUTERISER:
CARBUNCLE: THE PATHWAY OF THE FOURTH HEAVEN ILLUMINATED THE ARK OF
NOAH: “A BURNING GEM”: THE MAGICIAN OF KING KAJATA: THE LUSTROUS
CARBUNCLE OF CEYLON: NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE’S STORY: VIRTUES OF THE
STONE: A CAPTAIN’S TALISMAN AT GALLIPOLI: CARNELIAN AND THE SARD:
SENSITIVENESS OF THESE STONES: SARD INTAGLI: ALARIC THE GOTH AND HIS
CARNELIAN: MADAME BLAVATSKY AND THE SHAMANS OF TARTARY: OCCULT
VIRTUES OF THE CARNELIAN: MEANING IN ROSICRUCIAN MYSTERIES: MOSLEM
TRADITION. CATSEYE, ITS CURIOUS OPALESCENCE: LORE OF THE CATSEYE:
RABBI BEN ADOULAH’S ASSERTION: THE EYE OF BELUS: CEYLINITE:
CHALCEDONY: PERSIAN CYLINDERS: SIGNET OF DARIUS: EARLY
IDENTIFICATION BY ALBERTUS MAGNUS: PLINY’S DESCRIPTION: STONE OF ST.
STEPHEN: VIRTUES OF THE CHALCEDONY: CHALCEDONYX: CHERT: CHIASTOLITE:
STONE OF ST. JAMES: PEDRO THE CRUEL: MIGUEL PEREZ AND THE BLOOD-RED
CROSS: MARSHAL SOULT’S PLUNDER: THE STONE OF COLUMBUS: CHRYSOBERYL,
ITS VIRTUES: CRYSOCOLLA, A MUSICAL CHARM.
BALAS. See SPINEL.
BLOODSTONE. See HAEMATITE and JASPER.
BONE TURQUOISE or Odontolite. Bone turquoise is often mistaken for true
turquoise. It is really fossil teeth or bones coloured blue by the
action of phosphate of iron. Its organic difference can easily be seen
under a good glass. ODONTOLITE is under the influence of the zodiacal
Capricorn; it is a degree less in hardness than the true turquoise,
being in this respect equal to apatite and lapis lazuli.
BORT. (See DIAMOND.)
CAIRNGORM or SCOTCH TOPAZ.
“_O Caledonia, stern and wild!_”
SCOTT.
The mountain cairngorm, the name of which comes from the Gaelic
CARNGORM, meaning Blue Cairn, is between the shires of Aberdeen, Banff
and Inverness, and it is there that the cairngorm stones are mostly
found. The stone is a variety of quartz of a fine smoky yellow or brown
colour. It is found in other places than the Cairngorm Mountains, and
has usurped many of the attributes of the true topaz. It is remarkable
for its brilliance and beauty, and was known to the ancients. According
to Pliny, this stone was used by old physicians for cauterizing affected
parts of the body by directing the sun’s rays through it after the
manner of a “burning glass.” It was carried in times of epidemics as a
protective charm, and it was held to bestow a degree of craft and
subtlety on the wearer. As a martial stone in harmony with Scotland, it
was set in the head of dirks and other knives, and adorned the Highland
dress. The Cairngorm was considered a talisman against venereal
diseases, sore throats, etc.
It is under the zodiacal Scorpio.
CARBUNCLE
“_The Carbuncle
Which from it such a flaming light
And radiancy ejecteth
That in the very darkest night
The eye’s to it directed._”
DRAYTON.
The name Carbuncle is derived from the Latin CARBUNCULUS, diminutive of
CARBO, a coal. During the past centuries it has been written as
charbucle, charbokel, charbokll, cherbukkill, carbokyl, charboncle,
carbunculum, karboncle, carbunacle, carbuncle stone. Of it Dr. Wilkins
writes: “It is believed that a carbuncle does shine in the dark like a
burning coal, from whence it has its name.”
The carbuncle is the Iron Alumina Garnet known as Almandine or
Almandite, which varies in colour shades from red, ruby red, columbine
red to brownish red. The name is said to be derived from the town of
Alabanda in Asia Minor where, according to Pliny, the Carbunculi
Amethystozontes were cut. Dr. Holland’s translation of the passage
relating to the carbuncle in Pliny, Book XXXVII, is as follows: “Amongst
these red gems the rubies otherwise called carbuncles challenge the
principall place and are esteemed richest; they have their name in Greek
of the likenesse unto fire, and yet fire hath no power of them which is
the reason that some call them apyroti.” The apyroti is our pyrope which
indicates “fiery” in Greek. It is a magnesia alumina garnet and was, as
it now is, cut en cabochon. Specimens chosen for this purpose are from
deep to black red.
Almandines form the pathways of the Fourth Heaven (Dar as-Salam) of the
Muhammedans; and the traditional symbol of the Ark illuminated by a
large carbuncle stone occurs in the Rabbinical writings. To students of
the mysteries this must ever appeal as a forceful and subtle symbol of
man’s immortality and sublime power. Leonardus writes of the carbuncle
“brandishing its fiery rays on every side and in the dark appearing like
a fiery coal.” “It is regarded,” he says, “as the first among ‘burning
gems.’” That the carbuncle gave out a glowing light without reflection
is frequently repeated by ancient authors, and the Palace of the
Magician in the Russian story of King Kajata was hewn out of a single
carbuncle which lit up the whole surrounding district. Sir E. Tennant
quotes from a Chinese work a narrative which tells that “early in the
14th century the Emperor sent an officer to Ceylon to purchase a
carbuncle of unusual lustre which was fitted as a ball to the cap of the
Emperor of that country. It was upwards of an ounce in weight and cost
100,000 strings of cash. Each time a grand levee was held at night the
red lustre filled the palace, and hence it was designated the Red Palace
Illuminator.”
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s beautiful story of “The Great Carbuncle” in his
“Twice-told Tales” is based on the Indian tradition which is, he says,
“too wild and too beautiful to be adequately wrought up in prose.”
Nevertheless the author does so with old-world charm: “Some few believe
that this inestimable stone is blazing as of old, and say that they have
caught its radiance like a flash of summer lightning, far down the
valley of the Saco. And be it owned that many a mile from the Crystal
Hills I saw a wondrous light around their summits and was lured by the
faith of poesy to be the last pilgrim of the Great Carbuncle.”
In the Middle Ages the carbuncle was worn as a charm to protect the
wearer against the plague, and it was said to protect travellers on long
voyages by sea from drowning, and by land from accidents. It was also
credited with the power of resisting poisons, of averting evil thoughts
and dreams. It was an up-lifter of the soul and a preserver of the
health of the body. When its lustre changed, the death of the wearer was
indicated. In addition to being the stone of undying hope and the
dispeller of sadness, the Indians and Arabs credit it with protecting
from wounds and harm in the midst of battle. A story was told to the
author by the mother of an Australian Captain born, according to
astrology, with the Sun rising in the sign of the Archer. This officer
wore at the author’s suggestion a ring of carbuncle. At Gallipoli he,
with a few men, was cut off by incessant gunfire which, although
directed their way, did not injure them and from which they were
eventually rescued. During this ordeal the Captain looked often at his
calm, flame-burning ring, the unearthly brightness of which seemed to
him an emblem of salvation.
Emanuel Swedenborg compared the carbuncle with the good of celestial
love, and it was regarded as a heart stimulant by some old medical
writers. It represents the red arterial blood and is connected with the
fiery sign of the zodiac Sagittarius. A great part of Australia is much
influenced by this sign according to astrology and large quantities of
extremely beautiful almandines—which were at one time mistaken for
rubies and termed “Australian rubies”—have been already found.
To dream of the carbuncle was said to indicate acquirement of wisdom.
The carbuncle is under the zodiacal Sagittarius.
CARNELIAN
“_Let not the Muse the dull Carnelian slight,
Although it shine with but a feeble light._”
MARBODUS.
The Carnelian obtains its name from the Latin word Carnis, flesh, which
describes its colour. The Sard (Greek, Sarx, flesh) called by Swedenborg
and the ancients the “sardine Stone,” of a deeper brownish red is said
by Pliny to have been named from Sardis in Asia Minor. Carnelian is also
written cornelian, cornelien, and carnelion. Woodward in his “Natural
History” (1695) alludes to the ancient Roman tradition that the pale red
carnelians were called females and the deeper colours males. The yellow
carnelian was anciently regarded as the female loved by the Sun. These
gems are extremely sensitive, being affected by oils and acids. It has
been demonstrated from olden times that carnelians exposed to the rays
of the sun were brightened and heightened in colour, a result which
could not be obtained by ordinary heat. The carnelian and sard were
greatly used in all ages, and many beads, charms and ornaments have been
found in the old lands. The writer had in his possession two beautiful
Etruscan scarabs of sard—one bearing a portrait of Æsculapius and the
snake, the other portraying Venus disrobing—neither of which had
suffered much from the attacks of time.
Mr. King describes a sard intaglio showing an Ibis stepping out of a
nautilus shell, seizing a snake—a symbol of the eternal war between the
Sun, represented by the Ibis, on the stone of the Sun, and the earth
moistures, represented by the snake. Another from the Rhodes collection
represents Venus showing Cupid how to use the bow, appropriately cut on
a sard or heart stone; another, also cut on sard, shows Cupid riding on
a lion—symbol of the Sun and the heart (organ of the Sun in
astrophilosophy).
Alaric the Goth entered the city of Rome with his victorious army August
27th in the year 410 A. D. His birthday cannot be ascertained with any
degree of certainty, but it may have been somewhere near that time for
he wore on his finger a large carnelian talismanic ring on which was
engraved: “Alaricus Rex Gothorum.”
Madame Blavatsky relates stories of the Shamans of Tartary who carried
carnelians under their left arms, and by employing these stones in
certain ways they were enabled to separate the astral from the physical
body. The carnelian was used by them in certain magical work and was
reputed to be a stone of wonderful power. It is significant that these
Shamans carried the carnelians on their left sides, near the great Sun
of the human body—the heart. Madame Blavatsky herself possessed a
carnelian to which special virtue was attached. She was born when the
Sun was in the sign of the Lion, and the carnelian was therefore one of
her chief talismanic gems. The carnelian was called the Stone of the
Martyrs. It is said to bestow the power to see into the astral plane if,
when placed before a light for about four minutes, it is steadily gazed
upon. Considering the powerful effect the Sun has on the carnelian, it
were best that, if phenomena of this order are to be obtained through
the agency of such an instrument, the stone be first exposed to the rays
of the Sun. It is inadvisable, however, to look directly at the sun with
the naked eye.
The carnelian is said to bring content to the wearer, and Albertus
Magnus said that it made the soul happy, drove away the evil effects of
sorcery, witchcraft, enchantment and fear. It was the stone of the
victor and of victory, and was used as a charm against bad temper—for
bad temper according to the masters is a form of black magic. Black
magic was evilly directed in the light of a waning moon, and it was
detected by the varying sheen of the protective carnelian or sard. Also
in dreams the stone was a symbol that evil thoughts were being directed
against the dreamer. It represented the magical force of Faith and the
weakening folly of scepticism in the Rosicrucian mysteries. Medicinally
the stone was used to stop bleedings, and in the Middle Ages it was
administered in powdered form. At this period it was stated that the
yellow variety was the gem for Dies Solis or Sunday. Both the carnelian
and sard are attached to the zodiacal Leo, the Mansion of the Sun, and
the connection apart from tradition is proven scientifically by the
effect of the solar rays on the stone itself. It is said to promote
coolness in argument and dignity in dispute, and the Muhammedan
tradition tells that Muhammad held that to procure contentment and
blessings, it was necessary with right mind to Allah, to wear a
carnelian.
CATSEYE
“_The Catseye is one of the jewels of which the Singhalese are
especially proud._”
TENNENT’S “CEYLON.”
The catseye is a chalcedonic quartz, translucent, of various
colours—yellow-green, yellow-brown, hyacinth-red, grey, green-grey, etc.
It is of a peculiar opalescence, resembling the eye of a cat, when cut
en cabochon, an effect produced by amianthoid asbestos filaments which
run parallel through the stone. The virtues ascribed to the catseye are
many. It was said to put colour into pale faces, to give pleasure to the
mind, to relieve the soul of melancholy, to cure chronic disorders and
wasting diseases, and to keep the wearer from financial distress and
ruin. It is said to have been successfully employed in relieving croup
and asthma. Pressed on to the forehead between the eyes it aided thought
and helped foresight. Carried by those with Capricorn rising in the
horoscope, or with the Sun, Jupiter or Venus in Capricorn, it is
credited with especial value as a charm for success in speculative
ventures. Enwrapped in women’s hair, it was employed as a birth charm,
and if calcined and applied to wounds, said Rabbi Ben Adoulah, it healed
them. Further, it cured inflammations of the eyes, if lightly rubbed on
the closed lids. To dream of a catseye was said to warn of treachery. It
was the Eye of Belus in old Assyria, and a talisman which made the
wearer invisible to his enemies. Old Indian masters advise that the
specimen worn be as perfect as possible, saying that bad stones should
not be worn at all.
The Catseye is attached to the sign Capricorn.
CEYLONITE. (See SPINEL.)
CHALCEDONY
“_With lustre fair is the Calcedon graced._”
MARBODUS.
The chalcedony obtains its name from Chalkedon in Asia Minor, and
appears written as calcedony, calsydoyne, calcidoine, chalcedun,
calcideny, chalcidonye, calcedon, calchedonie.
This stone includes a number of varieties such as carnelian, sard,
agate, catseye, prase, plasma, heliotrope, chrysoprase, moss agate,
onyx, sardonyx, hornstone or Chert, and flint. Chalcedony is classed
under the great Silica family. It is translucent, waxy, white, pale
grey, light brown or bluish.
The Blue Chalcedony is identified with the ancient Sapphirine—a stone
confused with our sapphire. Mr. King says that the “finest Persian
cylinder known, engraved with the usual type of the King fighting with
the lion, was formed out of this variety: the signet doubtless that once
graced the wrist of some Darius or Artaxerxes of the latter days of the
Persian monarchy.”
It is said that Albertus Magnus first identified the chalcedony of today
in the 13th century, although according to many authorities this was not
done until the 15th century at the very earliest. The ancient chalcedony
is classed amongst such stones as the Leucachates and Cerachates. Pliny
describes the ancient chalcedony as of “green mixed with blue as the
feathers of the peacock’s tail or of the pigeon’s neck,” and Holme
quoting from Pliny in the Armoury, 1688, says: “The chalcedon or
calchedoine, being well chafed and warmed, will draw a straw or a rush
to it.” The calcedon described by Pliny was not found in his time, but
our chalcedony was greatly used in fine art work in all ages. A
chalcedony showing tiny red and brown spots has been termed the stone of
St. Stephen, in allusion to the martyrdom of that Saint as described in
Chapter 7 of the Acts.
The chalcedony is a symbol of enthusiasm, and is the emblem of Victory
Divine amongst the jewels of the Rosicrucians. It has also been termed
the Mother Stone, and under the name of Leucachate was sacred to Diana.
It protected the voyager on the ocean tracts from tempests and terrors,
drove away evil spirits, banished sadness and melancholy, secured public
favour and protected the wearer in times of political revolutions.
The chalcedony is under the zodiacal Cancer.
CHALCEDONYX. The chalcedonyx is really a chalcedony adorned with lines
of white and grey. It is included in the zodiacal Cancer.
CHIASTOLITE
“_On her white breast a sparkling cross she wore._”
POPE.
The Chiastolite obtains its name from the Greek word CHIASTOS, crossed.
It is also known as Macle, from the Latin Macula, a spot. It is a form
of Andalusite found in certain metamorphic rock. During the process of
crystallization certain impurities of a carbonaceous nature are
dispersed across the stone which displays from this cause different
forms of cross, tessellated or lozenge-shaped markings, which show out
curiously when the stone is cut or broken. The hardness of the stone is
not great—specimens sometimes being as low as 3 in Mohs’ scale. The
colour varies from grey to yellow, pink, red, white, and deep brown.
The chiastolite is reported to have been first found in Andalusia in
Spain, at which place legend says St. James suffered martyrdom. A
further amplification of this legend tells that the origin of the
chiastolite dates back to that time when it sprang into being just where
the Apostle laid his hands on the rocks. At the time of Pedro the Cruel
of Spain (14th Century), a peasant, by name Miguel Perez, found a rare
specimen of this stone over an inch in diameter, exhibiting two crosses,
the most marked being of a rich dark red hue. Wishing to obtain this
remarkable gem as a present for his ally Edward the Black Prince (whose
title, be it said, was not bestowed from the colour of his armour but as
Froissart says, “from the terror his arms inspired”), Pedro ordered the
peasant to bring it to him. When Perez was ushered into his presence the
King demanded the gem under pain of death. The terrified peasant, after
faltering for a few moments in nervous fear, at length held out the gem
for the King to take. As Pedro was about to seize it, the blood-red
cross met his gaze and he fell in a swoon on the palace floor. The stone
seems to have disappeared for a long period, and it is believed to have
been discovered in the possession of Philip V of Spain who carried it as
a jewel charm till his death when it was hung about the neck of the
statue of St. James in the St. Jago di Compostella. Marshal Soult,
having plundered the Cathedral during the Peninsular War, gave the
stolen stone to Napoleon Bonaparte, who presented it to Murat.
Astrologically, the chiastolite would not be a fortunate stone for
Pedro, Soult, Napoleon, Murat or the Black Prince—notwithstanding the
latter’s name. It would be a fortunate stone for Philip V.
It is quoted as a fact that when Columbus sailed on his voyage of
discovery to America he wore a charm of chiastolite. The historical
Chiastolite of Spain is said to be at the present time in the possession
of the French family De Bodts.
The chiastolite is a symbol of prudence, faith, caution and sincerity.
To dream of one is a sign of struggle, delay or limitation. It is a
stone of the zodiacal Capricorn. Chiastolite is also written as
chiastolith and chiastolithe. The name was bestowed on it in the year
1800. Some very fine specimens have recently been found in South
Australia.
CHRYSOBERYL
“_Time will run back and fetch the Age of Gold._”
MILTON.
The name is derived from CHRYSOS, golden, and BERYLLOS, beryl. Suitable
stones are cut into catseyes of opalescent gleam. The chrysoberyl is
harder than the topaz, and is composed of alumina and glucina. The
colours of the stone are asparagus green, grass green, greenish white.
The Alexandrite variety changes its colours in real and artificial
light.
The chrysoberyl was credited as a charm against evil spirits and a
disordered imagination, against deceit, craft and conspiracy. To dream
of a chrysoberyl was a warning against waste. It is under the zodiacal
Pisces.
CRYSOCOLLA. This hydros copper silicate derives its name from the Greek
CHRYSOS, gold, and KOLLA, cement. It obtained its name from its
resemblance to a gold solder known and used by the ancient Greeks. It is
a very soft, light substance, varying in colour from a blue-green to a
sky or turquoise blue. The texture is enamellike, and the occurrence is
earthy and massive. Chrysocolla is a musical charm, to dream of which
was favourable for musicians, florists and singers. It is under the
zodiacal Taurus.