TITANITE: TOPAZ: THE MYSTERY OF THE “ISLAND OF THE MISTS”: THE RING OF THOMAS A’ BECKET CALLED A PERITOT BY THE ABBOT OF GLASTONBURY: THE MEANING OF THE WORD TOPAZ: TOPAZ REMARKABLE FOR ITS CLEAVAGE: ITS USE IN ANCIENT AND MODERN MEDICINE: TOPAZ RHOMBICUS OF THE MINERALOGISTS: M. DUMELLE DISCOVERS HOW TO CHANGE THE COLOUR OF A TOPAZ: “PINGOS D’AGOA,” “GOUTTES D’EAU,” “MINAS NOVAS”: “DIAMOND OF SLAVES”: 12 LBS. OF TOPAZ FOR THREE SHILLINGS: HOW QUEEN MARY’S GREAT BLUE TOPAZ WAS FOUND: THE TOPAZION STATUE OF PTOLEMY PHILADELPHUS: THE PTOLEMAIC BADGE: HADRIAN’S TOPAZ: TOPAZ OF THE GRAND MOGUL AND RUNYEET SINGH: A GIANT EMPEROR’S PLEASURE: SOME OLD INTAGLI: PLINY’S STONE OF STRENGTH: A STONE AGAINST DEATH AND TERROR: SYMBOL OF BOILING WATER: A CHARM AGAINST DROWNING: A MODERN ILLUSTRATION: RABBI BENONI: “BOOK OF WINDS”: TOPAZ CHARMS.

TITANITE. (See SPHENE.)

TOPAZ

At various times the word has been rendered tupase, tupace, topace, topas, thopas, topaze, topasie, topazius, topasius. In the traditional derivation of the word a mystery is concealed. Pliny says that the stone was found in an island difficult for mariners to locate on account of the fogs and mists surrounding it, and Marbodus seems to indicate the true topaz when he says:

The Island was known as Topazios, which owes its origin to the Greek word meaning “to divine, guess, conjecture.” The misty island is the celestial Scorpio which is accounted in astro-philosophy the death sign and the sign of the serpent, the wounder of the heel of man. It also concerns the goods of the departed, their abode in the world to come, etc., hence the Island of the Mists, the place of guess, conjecture or philosophical speculation which the traveller in the flesh can dimly see through the strange cloudy lights of the spirit. The name was originally given to the stone known to us as the Chrysolite which gem is now identified with the occult sign of the Fishes employed in the mysteries in ancient and modern times. The classification as we at present know it, is of very ancient date, and specimens of the modern topaz have been found adorned with various intagli of proven antiquity. Although it has been stated that Thomas A’ Becket wore a topaz ring, there is no doubt that Adam Sodbury, Abbot of Glastonbury, was correct when he says it was a peridot, for the peridot or chrysolite was the stone of the Churchmen and intimately associated with the mystic sign of Christianity—Pisces, the Fishes. The old Abbot wrote that “a gold ring in which was set the stone peritot (an old form of peridot) encircled the finger of our Martyr St. Thomas when he was killed by the swords of evil men.” At that time it is certain that the topaz and the peridot were the stones known as such today and as such they had been known for many centuries before.

The Sanscrit word TOPAS, meaning heat, may well describe the topaz, the colour of which can be changed readily by heat, and which, under heat pressure and friction, exhibits strong electric phenomena.

Scorpio, as before remarked, is the sign of the snake or serpent so intimately connected with the mysteries of life and death, and the topaz is remarkable for its cleavage, for when struck with a hammer it breaks into flakes like the backbone of a serpent. The topaz was considered as of wonderful potency in the treatment of sexual disorders, which astrologically are considered as disorders of the sign Scorpio. It contains from 55 to 58 per cent of Alumina, which substance has been used in modern times by Dr. Richard Hughes, Dr. Teste, Dr. Peters, Dr. Marcy and others in troubles of the sexual system and the mucous membranes. The drug has been used homoeopathically in such morbid conditions and in chronic pharyngitis and diseases of the nose and throat. The nose is ruled by Scorpio in astrological deductions, and the throat by Taurus, its opposite sign. Alumina is most strongly expressed in Corundums, which include the Oriental Topaz, next the chrysoberyl, next the spinel, and next the topaz, but there are certain characteristics of the Topaz which in some way render it distinct from other gems, and these would have been considered by the hermetic schools whence such philosophy originated. Amongst mineralogists the topaz is known as Topaz Rhombicus. It is found in colours golden, yellow, reddish, white, greenish, wine colour and blue. A charming pink is produced artificially by subjecting the real stone to heat, the best results being procured from a golden-brown variety. This process was first discovered by M. Dumelle, a Paris jeweller, in the year 1750. The colour thus obtained is doubtless permanent, the shade being manifest when the stone cools. Great care must be observed in this simple experiment because the stone is so sensitive that unless properly handled it is likely to split under the various degrees of heat and cold.

Translucent achromatic topaz is called Pingos d’Agoa (drops of water) by the Brazilians, and Gouttes d’Eau by the French. In England the variety is called Minas Novas, after the Minas Novas in the State of Minas Geraes in Brazil where it is extensively found. In Portugal this type of topaz is called the “Diamond of Slaves.” The large British Museum specimen of this White Topaz which, according to Mr. Emanuel, weighs over 12 lbs. (avoirdupois), was sold for three shillings by a marine store dealer who used it to hold open his door. The great blue Queensland topaz in the possession of Queen Mary of Great Britain is said to have been discovered by a shepherd who, thinking it was a common stone, threw it at a howling dog during the night and wakened in the morning to discover the precious nature of his missile. The Topazion Statue of 4 cubits high which Pliny mentions as having been made by the order of Ptolemy Philadelphus to the memory of his sister-wife Arsinoe, has puzzled investigators. It has been set down as indicating a statue of jasper, agate, prase, chrysoprase or rock crystal of the Citrine or the Smoky Quartz varieties. Probably this latter suggestion is right but the real meaning will no doubt lie in the sign Scorpio, which was known in old Egypt as the Eagle—(the symbolic badge of the Ptolemaic dynasty)—and was the sign of material death and spiritual life. The Emperor Hadrian is said to have had a large topaz ring on which was engraved:

Tavernier writes of a great topaz in the possession of the Grand Mogul weighing 157 carats and worth about 100,000 dollars. Runyeet Singh’s topaz, half the size of a billiard ball, was worth 200,000 rupees. The Great Braganza, 1680 carats, which adorned the crown of Portugal and was supposed to be a diamond, is a white topaz. One of the pleasures of the giant Emperor Maximilian, of whose strength so many stories are told, was to crush topazes to powder in his fingers. Why he indulged in this form of sport is unknown; probably he found it recreation after killing an ox at a blow or knocking out the teeth of an unfortunate horse. Mr. King mentions a Head of MÆcenas on topaz attributed to Solon at Florence, and another—wrongly attributed to Dioscorides—of a girl’s head in the Marlborough collection. The Topaz was called “Stone of Strength” by Pliny for the martial Scorpio is the wrestler’s sign and the sign of strong people. The power of the topaz was said to increase as the moon increased, especially if the night orb was at new or full in the sign Scorpio. It banished the terrors of the night, protected the wearer during epidemics, soothed the wild passions and gave a glimpse of the beyond. It banished the fear of death and secured a painless passing from this life to the next; it gave strength to the intellect and enabled the wearer to receive impressions from astral sources. It preserved from miasmatic conditions and lost its colour when in the presence of poisons. The power attributed to it of quenching boiling water is symbolic of the fiery Mars, planet of power in the watery Scorpio. It was also said by the old masters that the topaz preserved against drowning, and a curious illustration of this belief came recently under the writer’s notice. He advised the wife of a well-known Australian to purchase a very beautiful topaz, which was mounted under his direction as a charm of the sign Scorpio. During the late war this lady and her daughter had need to travel to England. The voyage was about half accomplished when the vessel was submarined. The boat in which the lady and her daughter were, capsized and all the struggling passengers were thrown into the sea. She seized a piece of wreckage and supported her daughter and herself until they were both dragged into a boat some considerable time after. The lady had clutched the topaz charm from her neck and was holding it tightly in her hand while struggling in the water. Just as they got into the boat she felt someone give a heavy blow on her hand and take the gem from her. She grieved for the loss of her beautiful topaz charm which she regarded as the symbol of her own and her daughter’s salvation.

Leonardus said that the topaz was a charm against asthma and Rabbi Benoni calls it the emblem of strength and the easer of hÆmorrhage. In the “Book of Wings” it is recommended that to secure favour with kings, princes, nobles and important personages a topaz engraved with the figure of a flying falcon should be worn. This charm was to be constructed as a charm of power when the well aspected moon was passing through the 5th, 6th and 7th degrees of the heavenly Scorpion. Another topaz charm given is for acquiring riches: this takes the form of a man holding a lamp. It had to be mounted in gold and constructed when the increasing moon, in good aspect to the direct Jupiter and the Sun, was passing through the 5th, 6th, 7th, 26th and 27th degrees of Scorpio.

In a dream the topaz is a symbol of movement, protection from harm, poisons, etc. The symbolic dream introducing this stone is a symbolic message from the departed.

The topaz and its varieties are under the celestial Scorpio.