MOSS AGATE MOCHA STONES, HINDOOSTAN.
The beautiful and terrible figure of a dragon. If this is found on a ruby or any other stone of similar nature and virtue, it has the power to augment the goods of this world and makes the wearer joyous and healthy.
The figure of a falcon, if on a topaz, helps to acquire the goodwill of kings, princes, and magnates. The image of an astrolabe, if on a sapphire, has power to increase wealth and enables the wearer to predict the future.
The well-formed image of a lion, if engraved on a garnet, will protect and preserve honors and health, cures the wearer of all diseases, brings him honors, and guards him from all perils in travelling.
An ass, if represented on a chrysolite, will give power to prognosticate and predict the future.
The figure of a ram or of a bearded man, on a sapphire, has the power to cure and preserve from many infirmities as well as to free from poison and from all demons. This is a royal image; it confers dignities and honors and exalts the wearer.
A frog, engraved on a beryl, will have the power to reconcile enemies and produce friendship where there was discord.
A camel’s head or two goats among myrtles, if on an onyx, has the power to convoke, assemble, and constrain demons; if any one wears it, he will see terrible visions in sleep.
A vulture, if on a chrysolite, has the power to constrain demons and the winds. It controls demons and prevents them from coming together in the place where the gem may be; it also guards against their importunities. The demons obey the wearer.
A bat, represented on a heliotrope or bloodstone, gives the wearer power over demons and helps incantations.
A griffin, imaged on a crystal, produces abundance of milk.
A man richly dressed and with a beautiful object in his hand, engraved on a carnelian, checks the flow of blood and confers honors.
A lion or an archer, on a jasper, gives help against poison and cures from fever.
A man in armor, with bow and arrow, on an iris stone, protects from evil both the wearer and the place where it may be.
A man with a sword in his hand, on a carnelian, preserves the place where it may be from lightning and tempest, and guards the wearer from vices and enchantments.
A bull engraved on a prase is said to give aid against evil spells and to procure the favor of magistrates.
A hoopoo with a tarragon herb before it, represented on a beryl, confers the power to invoke water-spirits and to converse with them, as well as to call up the mighty dead and to obtain answers to questions addressed to them.
A swallow, on a celonite, establishes and preserves peace and concord among men.
A man with his right hand raised aloft, if engraved on a chalcedony, gives success in lawsuits, renders the wearer healthy, gives him safety in his travels and preserves him from all evil chances.
The names of God, on a ceraunia stone, have the power to preserve the place where the stone may be from tempests; they also give to the wearer victory over his enemies.
A bear, if engraved on an amethyst, has the virtue of putting demons to flight and defends and preserves the wearer from drunkenness.
A man in armor, graven on a magnet, or loadstone, has the power to aid in incantations and makes the wearer victorious in war.[191]
An Italian manuscript, dating from the fourteenth century, gives the following talismanic gems:
If thou findest a stone on which is graven or figured a man with a goat’s head, whoever wears this stone, with God’s help, will have great riches and the love of all men and animals.
If a stone be found on which is graven or figured an armed man or the draped figure of a virgin, bound with laurel and having a laurel branch in her hand, this stone is sacred and frees the wearer from all changes and haps of fortune.
When thou findest a stone on which is graven the figure of a man holding a scythe in his hand, a stone like this imparts strength and power to the wearer. Every day adds to his strength, courage and boldness.
Hold dear that stone on which thou shalt find figured or cut the moon or the sun, or both together, for it makes the wearer chaste and guards him from lust.
A jewel to be prized is that stone on which is graven or figured a man with wings having beneath his feet a serpent whose head he holds in his hand. A stone of this kind gives the wearer, by God’s help, abundant wealth of knowledge, as well as good health and favor.
Shouldst thou find a stone on which is the figure of a man holding in his right hand a palm branch, this stone, with God’s help, renders the wearer victorious in disputes and in battles, and brings him the favor of the great.
Finding the stone called jasper, bearing graven or figured a huntsman, a dog, or a stag, the wearer, with God’s help, will have the power to heal one possessed of a devil, or who is insane.
A good stone is that one on which thou shalt find graven or figured a serpent with a raven on its tail. Whoever wears this stone will enjoy high station and be much honored; it also protects from the ill-effects of the heat.[192]
The original meaning of the swastika emblem has been variously explained as a symbol of fire, of the four cardinal points, of water, of the lightning, etc. Still another explanation is given by Hoernes, who inclines to the belief that it is simply a conventionalized representation of the human form, the lower shaft being the two legs joined together, the two horizontal shafts the outstretched arms, and the upper shaft the trunk of the body; the four projections would stand for the feet, the two hands and the head.[193]
The Egyptian crux ansata, the hieroglyphic symbol for “life,” and the Phœnician Tau symbol, the “mark” that was to be stamped upon the foreheads of the faithful in Jerusalem (Ezek. ix, 4), and which in Early Christian art was frequently substituted for the usual cross, are both explained by Hoernes in a similar way, and he notes the fact that the swastika symbol does not appear in Egyptian or Phœnician art, drawing the inference that all three symbols originated in the same form or figure.[194] To all these symbols were attributed talismanic virtues and they were frequently engraved on precious stones.
MONOGRAM OF THE NAME OF CHRIST ENGRAVED ON AN ONYX GEM.
From the “Cabinet de Pierres Antiques Gravées,” of Gorlaeus, Paris, 1778, Pl. XCV.
The so-called “Monogrammatic Cross” was very freely used in work of the fifth century. This is simply a modification of the monogram formed of the first two letters of the name Christ as written in Greek, a device which first appeared after the time of Constantine the Great (d. 337 A.D.). This monogram usually assumed the following form: ☧, and the “Monogrammatic Cross” was made by changing the position of the Greek X (chi), and making one of its arms serve as the straight stroke of the P (r), thus giving the following form: ⳨.