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SPIRIT BASIS OF BELIEF AND CUSTOM.
MAY, 1896.]
surface have given the Empress Josephine's famous opal the name of the Burning of Troy.63 Crystal through whose indwelling vestal fire wood might be kindled and the actual cautery was performed was a fire stone. So great was its power that, according to the Greek Onomacritus (B. C. 500), the gods could not withstand crystal and were certain to answer the prayer of any one who came before them carrying a crystal in his hand.55 As a fire home the gem Asterites, found inside of a fish called Pan, and which in sunlight shot forth flames, was a potent love charm.56 According to Josephus the gems in the Hebrew High Priest's breast-plate originally shot forth brilliant rays of fire that shewed (in them) the immediate presence of the deity.57 When the people's sins were forgiven the high priest's breast jewels shone bright; when the sins were not forgiven the gems grew dark.58 But more than the abode of an eye, of blood, or of fire the gem was deemed a guardian because in it dwelt the great guardian Light.59 It was because he was a good light-spirit, the opening of whose eyes flooded the land with light, the closing of whose eyes plunged the land in darkness, that in Egypt the up-standing hawk-headed serpent, Chneph, was so suitably housed in a gem. The varying gleams of light in the opal seem to be shot from some life within the gem, which lost its power when exposed to water and regained its brightness when warmed by the hand.61 The light-spirit in the diamond, whose phosphorescence, when brought from the sunshine into a dark room made it a specially striking light-home, disarms even its fierce fiend-brother lightning, Crystal, besides being a fire-maker, was the image or home of eternal light.63 The mysterious gleam in the cat's-eye ever shifting like a restless spirit, now glowing at one point, now at another, has made men honour it as a home of spirits. With the Hebrews and Arabs the carbuncle is the lightflasher. So Laurin, the Dwarf King, had set in the the gold of his helmet a carbuncle so bright that where he rode the darkest night grew brighter than the day, and lightened his cavernpalace with a splendour brighter than day.65 The Hebrews and Arabs say that a ruby was hung in the ark to give light, and that its beam could kindle a lamp.66 According to the Hindus, rubies and diamonds ray light in the dark like the planets."7 The iris, now almost out of use, but once (A. D. 1070) prized as highly as the opal, is described in Marbodus' Lapidarium as full of heaven's own light,68 The moon-stone, whose luminous heart waxes and wanes with the moon, is worshipful because it brightens a dark place by gathering light into itself. The pearl is the home of the purest, serenest and evenest light. It was the lustre of gems that suggested to Plato that the vivifying spirit, whose home is in the stars, was the origin of precious stones." The holiness of the star-sapphire is due to the six-rayed star which appears in the stone when light shines upon it. This was the love-compelling Asterites, the signet of Helen of Troy, which shot forth flames when exposed to the sun.70 A zodiac of gems was strung, each stone ruling
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68 Streeter's Precious Stones and Gems, p. 164. Marbodus (A. D. 1070) adds the Chrysolectrus made of purest fire which flames forth if laid near a fire, and the Asbeston which with eternal flame unceasing glows, and the Hephaestite which shoots rays of fire. King's Antique Gems, pp. 407, 408.
54 At the Eleusinian mysteries new fire was kindled through a crystal ball. Emanuel's Diamonds and Precious Stones, p. 23.
55 Streeter's Precious Stones and Gems, p. 17; Pliny in King's Antique Gems.
68 Emanuel's Diamonds and Precious Stones, p. 28.
57 The jewels had ceased to flash 200 years before Josephus wrote (A. D. 100). According to Josephus the twelve stones of the breast-plate were in four rows. In Row I., Sardius, Topazion, Smaragdus. In Row II., Carbuncalus, Sapphirus, Jaspis. In Bow III., Ligurius, Achates, Amethyst. In Row IV., Chrisolithus, Onyx, Beryl. King's Antique Gems, pp. 134, 135. King believes the breast-plate stones are still in the Sultan's Treasury in Constantinople, as the Turks found them in the saoristy of St. Sophia. King's Antique Gems, p. 137.
58 Emanuel's Diamonds and Precious Stones, p. 282. Compare King's Antique Gems, p. 364.
62 Op. cit. p. 32. King's Antique Gems, p. 27.
64 Streeter's Precious Stones and Gems, p. 168.
50 Streeter's Precious Stones and Gems, p. 174.
61 Emanuel's Diamonds and Precious Stones, p. 185.
68 Orpheus (A. D. 250) in King's Antique Gems, p. 94. 65 Folk-Lore Record, Vol. II. pp. 95, 96. Lamp-lighting power is attributed to the Lychnus which
66 Emanuel's Diamonds and Precious Stones, p. 89.
is the Jacinth or the Ruby. Lucian (A. D. 150) mentiens a lychnus in the head-dress of the Mother of Syria, which at night lighted the temple. The Dutch had a similar belief in a stóne called the osculan or chrysolampis. King's Antique Gems, pp. 25, 26, 53.
67 Streeter's. Precious Stones and Gems, p. 211.
es Streeter's Precious Stones and Gems, pp. 172, 174.
es Emanuel's Diamonds and Precious Stones, p. 24. To Dieulafait's Diamonds and Precious Stones, p. 42.
