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 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”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:

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

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 homoeopathic 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

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

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

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 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.