The Curious Lore of Precious Stones Being a description...

Of planetary stones453 there is assigned to the sun the jacinth and the chrysolite, when this latter name was applied to the yellow Brazilian chrysoberyl, while the moon controls the beryl, the rock-crystal and also the pearl. To the share of Venus fall the sapphire and carbuncle as well as coral and pearl; usually the emerald is the stone of Venus. Mars lays claim to the diamond, jacinth, and ruby, the last-named stone according with the ruddy hue of our neighbor planet. Under the control of Jupiter are placed the emerald, sapphire, amethyst, and turquoise, so that this planet has the richest assortment of gems; it will be remarked that the celestial sapphire unites the influence of Venus and Jupiter, the two especially propitious planets. Lastly, far-away Saturn must be content with all dark, black, and brittle stones; there was, indeed, little inducement to wear a Saturnian stone, for the influence of this cold and distant planet was always regarded as baleful.

The planetary controls of precious stones as given in the Lapidario of Alfonso X, according to “Chaldaic” tradition, show that the same stone was influenced in many or most cases by more than one of the “seven planets” (including the Sun and Moon). Thus the diamond, belonging to the first degree of the sign Taurus, was dominated by both Saturn and the Sun; the emerald was controlled by Jupiter, and also by Mercury and by Venus. The red jargoon was influenced by Mars, the yellow variety by Jupiter and the white jargoon by Venus. The carnelian received virtue from the Sun and from Venus. The ruby, although more especially a sunstone, came as well under the influence of the Planet of Love. Coral belonged both to Venus and to the moon, while lapis-lazuli and chalcedony only owed allegiance to Venus; this planet also lent virtue to the beryl.454

Among the Mohammedans, six of the seven heavens were supposed to be made of precious substances: the first was of emerald; the second, of white silver; the third, of large white pearls; the fourth, of ruby; the fifth, of red gold; and the sixth, of jacinth. The seventh and highest heaven, however, was of shining light.455 Here we have the three precious colored stones, emerald, ruby, and sapphire (jacinth), to which is added the pearl.

Rabelais,456 describing the temple of the oracle of the “Dive Bouteille,” says that of its seven columns the first was of sapphire; the second, of jacinth; the third, of “dyamant”; the fourth, of the “male” balas-ruby; the fifth, of emerald, “more brilliant and glistening than were those which were set in place of eyes in the marble lion stretched before the tomb of King Hermias”; the sixth column was of agate, and the seventh of transparent selenite, “with a splendor like that of Hymettian honey, and within appeared the moon in form and motion such as she is in the heavens, full and new, waxing and waning.” We are then told that these stones were attributed to the seven planets by the Chaldæans, as follows: