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.”