JACINTH—LODESTONE
JACINTH: JADE: JARGOON: MATURAN DIAMOND: JASPER: THE LYDIAN STONE OF THE
ANCIENTS: THE HELIOTROPE OR BLOODSTONE VARIETY: THOMAS NICOLS AND
ARTIFICIAL INFUSIONS: ST. ISIDORE ON THE JASPER: LEGEND OF THE
CROSS: NUMBER FIVE AND THE STONE OF THE VIRGIN: RARE WORKS IN
JASPER: GALENUS ON ITS VIRTUES: THE ANODYNE NECKLACE: THE JASPER
AMULET OF NECHEPSOS: THE WHEEL OF EZEKIEL: JASPER SIGILS: TRALLIANUS
AND THE JASPER: MOTTLED JASPER, A CHARM TO PROTECT FROM DROWNING:
ZODIACAL REFLECTIONS: THE STONE OF VICTORY: VAN HELMONT’S
EXPERIMENTS: THE JASPER AMONGST THE JEWELS OF THE ROSICRUCIANS: JET:
KAURI GUM: KOLOPHONITE: KUNZITE: KYANITE: LABRADORITE: LAPIS LAZULI:
COLOURS AND NAMES: PERSIAN LAJWARD, ITS VIRTUES: ITS PLACE IN THE
BOOK OF THE DEAD: COMMANDMENT STONES: LAPIS LAZULI IN CHINA:
KATHERINE II AND HER PALACE ROOM: A STONE OF THE ALCHEMISTS:
LIMONITE: LODESTONE: PLINY’S STORY OF ITS DISCOVERY: HOW TERMED BY
TITUS CARUS LUCRETIUS: THE STONE OF HERCULES: LEGEND OF THE
PHOENICIANS: THE AGE OF THE MARINER’S COMPASS: CONSTRUCTION OF ONE
BY THE CHINESE EMPEROR HOUANGTI: PAUSANIAS AND THE STONE IMAGE OF
HERCULES: A CRAMP STONE: A DIVINATORY INSTRUMENT: THE PLAN OF
PTOLEMY PHILADELPHUS: PROFESSOR NOAD AND THE POWER OF THE LODESTONE:
BARRETT’S “ANTIPATHIES”: STORY OF CLAUDIANUS: MAGNET AND THE ONION.
JACINTH. (See HYACINTH.)
JADE. See (NEPHRITE.)
JARGOON. The Jargoon or Jargon, by which name it is known in France, is
derived from the Italian GIACONE. It is a greyish or smoky variety of
the zircon (q.v.), which so closely resembles the diamond that it is
often sold by unscrupulous dealers for the more precious gem. In
allusion to this, Sir A. H. Church in his work on “Precious Stones”
says: “The diamond and the jargoon do not improve or bring out each
other’s qualities for they have too many points in common.” The jargoon,
however, is nearly three degrees softer than the diamond and more easily
injured. It is usually brilliant and rose-cut. At Matura in Ceylon where
it is found in fair quantities it is frequently termed the “Maturan
Diamond.” The jargoon is frequently used set as a talismanic charm
against plagues and disease, for which purpose it was esteemed greatly
in the Middle Ages in the East and in Europe. Worn on the little finger,
set in a ring of silver, it was reputed to help the physician to correct
diagnoses especially if, when in doubt, he held the stone against his
forehead, at a point between the eyes. The jargoon is under the
celestial Virgo.
JASPER.
“_Jasper stone signifies the divine truth of the Word in its literal
sense, translucent from the divine truth in its spiritual sense._”
SWEDENBORG.
Jasper derives its name from the Hebrew YASHPHEH, Greek IASPIS, Arabic
YASB. It is found written as jasp, jaspre, iaspere, iaspar. It is a hard
siliceous mineral of dark, dull colours, chiefly red, green, yellow and
black. In the variety termed RIBAND the mixed and striped colours form
in concentric irregular zones. Ruin Jasper occurs in darker shades of
browns and yellows, giving the appearance of venerable ruins. The lapis
Lydius or Lydian Stone of the ancients—our basanite, commonly known as
Touchstone—is a velvety black flinty jasper, used as much today as ever
it was, for ascertaining the fineness and quality of gold and precious
metals, and says Bacon, “Gold is tried by the touchstone and men by
gold.” Its connection with Mercury is shown in the Greek story of the
transformation of the betrayer Battus into Touchstone by the God. The
Heliotrope or so-called Bloodstone variety is green with spots of red.
Pliny enumerates ten varieties, giving preference to the purple and
rose-coloured. Marbodus in the Lapidarium writes of seventeen species
all differing in colour, the best of all being the bright translucent
green. The jasper was held in high favour by the ancients and Babylonian
seals as old as 1,000 years before the Christian era have been found.
The THET or Buckle of Isis was made chiefly of jasper. In those times
the stone was found in quantities in the vicinity of the historic town
of On or Heliopolis. Thomas Nicols, writing in the 17th century,
protests that the Egyptians knew how to infuse artificial colours into
this gem: “It is ascribed by way of glory to the King of Egypt that the
first adulteration of jasper by tincture was from him, but the glory of
this praise, if I be not mistaken, doth even become his shame.” St.
Isidore of Seville (16th century) writes of the green jasper as “shining
with the greenness of glory,” and this variety—commonly known as
bloodstone because it is spotted with red specks resembling drops of
blood—is regarded as an essentially religious substance, and is
associated with the old Easter ceremonies. There is an old legend,
frequently retold, that the green jasper lying at the foot of the Cross
at the Crucifixion received the blood drops from the five wounds of the
dying Christ, which drops were forever impregnated in the stone. Five is
the number which in mystic writings is identified with the planet
Mercury, and the significance of the blood of the Son of the Virgin in
the stone of the Virgin will be understood by those who search for truth
beneath the mantle of parable. Mr. William Jones in “Finger Ring Lore”
gives an illustration of a Christian octagonal-shaped ring of the 3rd or
4th century, set with a red jasper in which is cut in intaglio a
shepherd and his flocks: the import of this is clear enough. A jasper
bust of Christ in which the red spots are so manipulated by the skilful
artist as to represent drops of blood is mentioned by Professor James
Dana as being in the royal collection at Paris. “Some indeed assert,”
writes Claudius Galenus, the famous physician of the second Christian
century, “that a virtue such as is possessed by the green jasper which
benefits the chest and mouth of the stomach if tied upon it, is inherent
in precious stones.... I have had ample experience having made a
necklace out of such gems (jaspers), and hung it round the neck,
descending so low that the stones might touch the mouth of the stomach,
and they appeared to be of no less service than if they had been
engraved in the way laid down by King Nechepsos.” This is the famous
anodyne necklace so valued, especially in England, and the source of
which the distinguished physician Dr. William Cullen ascribes to
Galenus. Several books are credited to King Nechepsos (circa 600 B. C.).
Galenus alludes to this King’s jasper amulet which took the form of a
rayed dragon. This dragon form symbolizes the mystery of the three
zodiacal signs—Virgo, Libra and Scorpio—known to students of Rosicrucian
philosophy as the Wheel of Ezekiel, and personified in Pallas Athene or
Minerva, the embodiment of wisdom, sympathy and strength. Galenus
carried as his talismanic gem a jasper engraved with a man carrying a
bundle of herbs, as an aid to his judgment in indicating various
diseases—a power long ascribed to stones under the celestial Virgo. A
similar sigil is given by the ancient Israelitish Rabbi Chael: “A man
with broad shoulders and thick loins, standing and holding in his right
hand a bundle of herbs engraved on a green jasper is good against fevers
and if a physician carries it about with him it will give him skill in
distinguishing diseases and knowing the proper remedies. It is also good
for hæmorrhoids and quickly stops the flow of blood.” The same authority
recommends for good luck in buying and selling “Aquarius cut on a green
jasper,” which is also termed “a stone of good counsel for traders” (all
trade is under Mercury, the ruler in astrology of the signs Gemini and
Virgo). A man’s head facing and a bird holding a leaf in its beak, cut
in jasper, was held to give riches and favour; a hare cut in jasper
protected from evil spiritual forces. The green jasper, as before
stated, was also known as the Heliotropion (Heliotrope), a word derived
from Greek HELIOS, the sun, and TROPOS, a turn—probably in allusion to
the planet Mercury which turns nearest the Sun. It is stated that if
this stone were placed in water it would reflect the blood-red disc of
the sun, and if held before the eyes it would assist in the observation
of the Solar and Lunar eclipses. Trallianus, a 6th century philosopher,
recommends the jasper for pains of an acute nature in the stomach or
bowels—a use for which it was especially esteemed by all ancient
scholars. Mottled jasper was worn to protect from death by drowning, or
from death whilst on or near the water, and this presents one of the
many instances of what astrologers term “sign reflection,” for the water
sign of the Fishes (Pisces) is opposite to the earthy sign Virgo and
serves as an apt illustration of antipathetic action. Another virtue
ascribed to jasper was the calming of uneasy minds and the securing of
victory in battle. In this latter connection, Cardanus, physician,
philosopher and astrologer of the 16th century, says that it has action
on the feelings, causing something akin to timidity which induces
caution and the evading of needless risks—a distinctly Mercurial
attribute. De Boodt advises the wearing of jasper to check hæmorrhage
and relieve stomach pains. The stomach was regarded as the seat of the
soul by the remarkable Baptista van Helmont. Deleuze credits him with
“creating epochs in the histories of medicine and physiology, and of
first giving the name of ‘gas’ to aerial fluids,” adding that without
him, “it is probable that steel would have given no new impulse to
science.” Van Helmont writes: “In the pit of the stomach there is a more
powerful sensation than even in the eye or in the fingers. The stomach
often will not tolerate a hand to be laid upon it because there is there
the most acute and positive feeling which at other times is only
perceived in the fingers.” For purposes of experiment Van Helmont
touched a root of aconite with the tip of his tongue—a risky
action—taking care, however, not to swallow any of it. “Immediately,” he
says, “my head seemed tied tightly with a string and soon after there
happened to me a singular circumstance such as I had never before
experienced. I observed with astonishment that I no longer felt and
thought with the head but with the _region of the stomach_, as if
consciousness had now taken up its seat there. Terrified by this unusual
phenomenon, I asked myself and enquired unto myself carefully, but I
only became the more convinced that my power of perception had become
greater and more comprehensive. This intellectual clearness was
associated with great pleasure. I did not sleep, nor did I dream.... I
had occasionally had ecstasies but these had nothing in common with this
condition of the stomach in which it thought and felt and almost
excluded all co-operation of the head. This state continued for two
hours after which I had some dizziness.” Van Helmont writes of the “Sun
tissue” in the region of the stomach which from the earliest recorded
times has been identified with the zodiacal Virgo around which so many
myths, parables and legends cluster. Jasper is associated with this part
of the body of man, and to dream of it is said to symbolise love’s
faithfulness known to the mind before the heart:
“_Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind,
And therefore is Dan Cupid painted blind._”
Amongst the symbolic jewels of the Rosicrucians this stone was regarded
as the centre stone of the vibrations of light and of its penetrating
diffusions. All varieties of jasper are under the celestial Virgo.
JET
“_Your lustre too ’ll draw courtship to you as a iet (jet) doth
straws._”
BEN JONSON.
The name jet is derived from the Greek GAGATES, from GAGAS, a river in
Syria. It is also written as jesstone, and jeetstone. Dr. Murray gives
the following forms gete, geet, get, geete, geyte, geitt, gett, gette,
geytt, gate, giette, geate, ieet, iete, ieit, ieate, iet, jeat, jett,
jette. It is a variety of coal resembling cannel coal, but harder, of
deeper colour and with a higher degree of lustre. Pliny writes that
“Gagates is a stone so-called from Gages, the name of a town and river
in Lycia.” When burnt it gives out a sulphureous smell which, according
to the Venerable Bede (7th century), drove away serpents. Its virtue was
esteemed in cases of hysteria, in detecting epileptic tendencies and in
loss of virginity. A decoction of jet in wine was esteemed as a cure for
toothache, and in combination with wax it was used in cases of scrofula.
Magicians, it is said, make use of Gagates in the practice of what is
known as “Axinomancy”—a form of magic in which a piece of jet is placed
on a red-hot axe—prophesying events according to the burning of the
substance. Jet is highly electrical and will attract fluff in the same
way as amber does, hence it was known as Black Amber, especially in the
16th century, by the people of the Baltic coast. It was much used in
magical ceremonies, especially those in connection with the dead, as a
charm against evil magic, spells and envy, and as a cure for dropsy,
colds, chills and loss of hair. The fumes from burning jet are no doubt
very relieving in what is commonly known as cold in the head, the action
being homœopathic in this case, as such discomforts are Saturnine and
the employment of jet is the employment of a saturnine substance for the
removing of a saturnine affliction. The use of jet for rosaries is noted
by Cardan: it cooled the passions and protected the wearer against evil
influences. Its fumes were considered potent in female disorders.
Boetius says that it protected the wearer against nightmares and night
terrors. Mr. King mentions the discovery of a number of jet ornaments at
Cologne in 1846 which were believed to have belonged to the ancient
priestesses of Cybele or Rhea, the goddess of the mountain-forests and
caves of the earth. Her worship was wild and weird, her votaries with
torches ablaze rushing through the trees in the darkness of the night,
fighting and wounding each other to the accompaniment of the screeching
of the pipes, the clashing of cymbals and the mad uproar of drunken
song. Cybele was associated as a mountain goddess with the forest-god
Pan, the goat-god, who is identified with the Zodiacal Capricornus, and
jet was used in her worship. It was regarded as a banisher of
melancholia and a protective badge for travellers. To dream of it was
said to signify sadness. In the form of a shield against the bites of
serpents it was advised that powdered jet be taken and mixed with the
marrow of a stag. To many writers this has seemed ridiculous but beneath
the surface the true meaning may be detected. Astrologically jet is
under the zodiacal Capricorn and the planet Saturn, the stag is under
Gemini and the planet Mercury, the marrow of the stag is ruled by Venus
and in this case signifies the essence supreme, the serpent is under the
planet Mars. Interpreted, this symbolic passage would read: Use wisdom
and caution (Jet) knowledge (stag) and love (marrow) then wilt thou
overcome, subdue and defeat the lower self (serpent) and the sting of
sin. Crypts of this kind were very frequently employed by Hermetic
brotherhoods for conveying their teachings to each other. The use of
parables, secret signs, tokens and symbols was the real method of
conveying truths employed by the ancient masters. By this means
concentration was impelled and the soul prepared to receive great
truths.
KAURI GUM
“_As some tall Kauri soars in lonely pride._”
RENWICK.
Kauri obtains its name from the Maoris and appears in various forms:
kowrie, cowry, courie, coudie. It is gum of a light amber colour which
has exuded from the Kauri pine (Dammara Australis) a species of Dammar
growing in New Zealand. The gum is obtained by digging over spots where
the trees once grew, and it is found sometimes in lumps the size of a
football. Kauri gum is electric and much softer and less durable than
amber. It has been suggested as a useful substitute for amber in throat
troubles, asthma, hay fever and glandular swellings. It is under the
celestial Taurus.
KOLOPHONITE. (See GARNET.)
KUNZITE. (See SPODUMENE.)
KYANITE. Kyanite derives its name from the Greek KUANOS, blue. It is
also written as Cyanite and, because of its unequal hardness, Disthene
(twice strong). White specimens are termed RHOETIZITE. Chemically
kyanite harmonizes with andalusite (q. v.) for both are silicates of
aluminium, but as Dr. Smith writes, “points of difference show how large
a share the molecular grouping has in determining the aspect of
crystallized substances.” Usually kyanite is found in long, thin
blade-like crystals and more rarely in short, full crystals. Its colours
are light blue, blue and white, white, grey-green and, more rarely,
black. Its hardness varies from 5 to a little over 7 in Mohs’ scale.
When cut the blue variety resembles the light sapphire although it
cannot display the same brilliancy. The stone is, however, very little
employed in jewellery. The peculiarities of kyanite place it under the
celestial Aquarius.
LABRADORITE
“_The beautiful opalised kind of felspar called Labrador stone._”
PINKERTON.
Also written Labrador, is an opalescent grey-blue felspar of
extraordinary gleam, often reflecting green, yellow and red. It obtains
its name from the place of its origin, as it was first found by Moravian
missionaries in 1770 at St. Paul Island off the coast of Labrador.
Specimens have also been found in stones of meteoric origin. The stone
is effective and might with advantage be more extensively used in
jewellery. Its hardness is the same as the opal. Labradorite is under
the celestial Aquarius.
LAPIS LAZULI
“_The appearance of the Lord’s divine sphere in the spiritual
Heavens._”
SWEDENBORG.
LAPIS LAZULI derives its name from the Latin word Lapis, a stone, and
the Arabic Azul, blue. It has been variously written as Zumemo Lazuli,
Zemech Lazarilli, Stellatus, Lapis Lazary, Lapis Coelestus, the Azure
Gem, the Armenian Stone, Lapis Lazari. Its composition includes for the
greater part silica and alumina, with soda, lime, iron, sulphuric acid,
sulphur, chlorine and water. It is assumed to be a product of contact
metamorphism, and is described by Pliny as “opaque and sprinkled with
specks of gold” (yellow pyrites). It is found in Persia, Tartary, China,
Thibet and Siberia. Badakhshan or Budukhshan in Central Asia is famous
for its Lapis Lazuli mines in which, it is recorded, the rock is split
with the help of fire. The stone is often found in tints of green, red,
violet, or colourless, but these may be termed varieties. The miners of
Budukhshan call the blue Lapis “Nili,” the sky-blue “Asmani,” and the
blue-green tints “Sabzi.” Some of the finest lajward (lapis lazuli) is
sent from the Persian markets whence formerly specimens of rare beauty
were exposed for sale at the fairs of Nijni-Novgorod. From very remote
times Persia supplied the ancient world with the greatest quantities of
lajward. The “sapphirus” of old is the Lapis Lazuli of today, and it is
recommended that the 26th chapter of The Book of the Dead should be
recited before a deific figure cut from this stone. As early as 1500
years before Christ we have a record that the Lapis Lazuli placed on the
neck of a sick child reduced fever. Many of the Egyptian priests wore
images formed from the stone which was regarded as an emblem of the
heavens. Epiphanius, Bishop of Constantia in Cyprus, at the latter part
of the 4th century, quotes from older sources the tradition that the
tables of the Law of Moses were written on two blocks of Lapis Lazuli,
which is identified as the eleventh stone of the magic Breastplate. In
the ceremonies of the Temple of Heaven in China, ornaments of LIU-LI
(Lapis Lazuli) were used, and the Chinese sacred writings record how at
one time the priest-kings bore it as an offering to the Lord of the
Universe. In accordance with the desire of Catherine II of Russia her
favourite room in the Zarskoe Selo palace was adorned with lapis lazuli,
symbolic of the country she governed, and amber, as a symbol of herself.
The ancient Greeks and Romans considered a piece of Lapis Lazuli—the
stone of Heaven—as the most fitting distinction to bestow for personal
bravery. It was regarded as a true stone of friendship and of the
affection arising from friendship. Ancient physicians regarded this gem
as of potent value in eye troubles, one old prescription advising that a
specimen be placed in a bowl of water, warm but not hot, for the space
of some few minutes, and then that the eye affected be bathed in the
water which must be as pure as can be obtained. The stone was also
valued if placed, just warm, on swellings or seats of pain. It was also
regarded as a cure for ague, melancholia, disorders of the blood,
neuralgic affections and spasmodic action. As a talisman it was worn to
protect against injuries, especially to the ankles, to attract friends,
gain favours and realize hopes. Lapis Lazuli was used by many of the old
alchemists in special work of an esoteric nature and is frequently
alluded to as the Stone of Heaven in which the stars are held. It is
under the zodiacal Aquarius.
LIMONITE. This stone was named Limonite by Professor Hausmann in 1813
from the Greek word LEIMON, a meadow. It is a species of brown haematite
(scarcely as hard as the opal) which according to Professor Dana appears
to have been the result in all cases of the decomposition of other
iron-bearing rocks or minerals. It is under the celestial Aries.
LODESTONE
“_The magnet weds the steel, the secret rites
Nature attends and th’ heavenly pair unites._”
(CLAUDIANUS OF ALEXANDRA.)
The lodestone, which is also written though not so correctly, Loadstone,
obtains its name from the Anglo-Saxon LAD, a course, LITHAN, to lead,
and STAN. Another form is Lodysshestone, the stone that shows the way.
It is also known as Magnetite or the ancient Magnet, from the Greek
MAGNES. The lodestone or magnetite is a black iron ore of high magnetic
quality, and this peculiar attracting force is said to have first
indicated what we now term magnetism. According to Pliny a Greek
shepherd—Magnes, by name—whilst tending his sheep on Mount Ida, found
pieces of lodestone clinging to the ferrule of his shepherd’s staff.
Titus Carus Lucretius, in his great philosophical work “De Rerum Natura”
(about 55 B. C.), calls the Magnetite the Magnesium Stone, which he said
obtained its name from Magnesia, a town in Thessaly. Another name
applied to this stone is SIDERIT, but its best-known appellation in the
ancient world was HERACLION, or stone of Hercules. It is interesting to
recall the legend of the old Phoenician mariners, which tells that
Hercules, admiring their daring and skill, desired to help them in the
science of navigation. For this purpose he obtained from Helios a cup of
Heraclion which always turned to the North. This seems to indicate that
the mariners’ compass is of older date than the 11th century; indeed the
Chinese assert that in the year 2634 B.C. the Emperor Houangti first
constructed a magnetic compass. The Greek traveller and historian
Pausanias in his “Helbados Periegesis” published in the second century,
writes of the rough stone image of Hercules in the Temple at Hyettos,
which the sick came but to touch in order to be healed of their
disorders. As a stone of healing the lodestone was highly esteemed as a
cure for gout, rheumatism, cramp, disorders which frequently yield to
treatment wherein iron is employed. It was used during childbirth and in
diseases of the generative organs. Finely powdered and mixed with oil or
grease it was regarded by ancient writers as a preventive of or cure for
baldness. In the Orphic Lythica it is stated that holding this stone to
the head, the voices of the gods could be heard, heavenly knowledge
gained and divine things seen. It is here advised that one should sit
alone in earnest meditation asking the celestial powers for guidance or
help in some particular trouble, when the reply flowing through the
stone would be quickly sensed and understood by the sincere petitioner.
A woman’s moral character was said to be betrayed by the lodestone which
endowed strength, will and the ability to look into the future. It was
also carried as a charm to protect against shipwreck. It is related that
after the death of his sister-wife Arsinoe, Ptolemy II (Philadelphus)
planned with his architect Dinochares a temple to be built of lodestone
in order that her iron statue would be held for ever in suspension,
seemingly in space, but death defeated the plan. In referring to the
power of lodestones Professor Noad (“Electricity”) states: “The smallest
stones have greater attractive force in proportion to their size than
larger ones.” Francis Barrett under the heading of “Antipathies” writes
that a diamond disagrees with a lodestone and being present suffers no
iron to be drawn to it. However, it is as a lovers’ token that the
lodestone is most extolled; it is often found set in lovers’ rings of
the Middle Ages. Claudianus in his “Idyl” published in the latter part
of the 4th century gives a record of a temple wherein was a statue of
Venus in lodestone, and another of Mars in iron—symbols of the
attraction of the wife for the husband and of the husband for the wife.
There is an old belief that the magnet was affected by the onion, and in
this connection the following extract from “Notes and Queries,”
December, 1917, is interesting: “The notorious Count de Benyowsky at the
end of Chapter III of his ‘Memoirs and Travels’ mentions the stratagem
which he tried at sea to falsify the compass by the use of iron and
garlic. I now find that in the 17th century the belief actually
prevailed in England that an onion would destroy the power of the
magnet. Thus Sir John Pettus of Suffolk, Kt., after describing his visit
as a youth to the lead mines of Derbyshire in company with Sir Thomas
Bendish says that having magnetized the blade of his knife and hearing
that contact with an onion would utterly destroy that power, he
preferred to believe rather than risk losing his magnet. The passage
occurs in a rambling note on ‘Mineralls’ in the second part of his
‘Fleta Minor.’” It might be considered in connection with such stories
that the onion as well as the lodestone is of the zodiacal Scorpio. To
dream of the lodestone warns of subtle dealings and contentions. It is
under the celestial Scorpion.