The glowing ruby should adorn
Those who in warm July are born;
Then they will be exempt and free
From love’s doubt and anxiety.
With July, the heat of the sun begins to burn into bright flame the colors of approaching autumn. The range of red is in the ruby, from pale pink to that deep shade known as pigeon-blood. Rarest of all stones, the flawless ruby was endowed with the mightiest powers. The ancients, feeling its hidden forces, called it “the stone of life.”
The wearer of the ruby had naught but courage in his heart; he knew no fear. Well might this be, for in his mind the ruby rendered him invincible. The Russian Czar, Peter the Great, who scorned jewelry, always carried loose rubies in his pocket; he held one clenched in his fist when he gave orders for the exploits that justify his name.
Among the healing virtues ascribed to the ruby is power over ailments of the skin. Held between the palms of the hands, it is supposed to put an instant stop to internal hemorrhage. Worn against the skin a necklace of rubies, strung on silk, similarly made the skin impenetrable to sharpest blade or deadliest venom. In these days of the venomous pen and the deadly fall-out, it is interesting to note that the ruby necklace has again become popular.
To dream of rubies, one may read in the Arabic dream-books (which have many more years of authority than Freud), is to be destined to great felicity. Good news, good fortune, good health, all lie ahead.
Of those who possess a fine ruby, Sir John Mandeville says: “The fortunate owner of a brilliant ruby will live in peace and concord with all men; neither his land nor his rank can be taken from him.”