The magic of jewels and charms

The sâlagrâma is carefully wrapped in linen cloths, and must be often washed and perfumed. The water with which it has been washed becomes a consecrated drink. The master of the house must adore the stone once each day, either in the morning or in the evening. As the sâlagrâma not only brings happiness in this world but also insures felicity in the future world, it is held over the dying Hindu while water is allowed to trickle through the orifice. This ceremony appears to have a certain analogy to the rite of extreme unction administered in the Catholic Church.

It is stated by Finn Magnusen that in Iceland, toward the beginning of the last century, he saw superstitious peasants carefully guard small stones of peculiar appearance in pretty bags filled with fine flour. They treated these stones with great reverence and either wore them on their persons or placed them in their beds or other furniture.[404]

The fossils known as brontiæ, ombriæ and chelonites were all believed to be antidotes for poison and also to make the wearer victorious over his enemies. Hence they were sometimes set in the pommels of swords. That these objects were equally potent in peace, is shown by the fact that Danish peasant women placed them in their milk pails to ward off the effects of any spell that might have been cast over the cow’s milk by a malevolent witch.[405]

David Reich notes the four kinds of astroites, or “victory stones,” given by De Boot; the first, marked with small stars; the second, with rose-like figures; the third, with wavy lines, like the convolutions of a worm; the fourth, with obscure and indefinite markings. To these varieties Reich adds a fifth, the convex side of which was marked with black crosses, while the other, flat side, showed larger crosses surrounded by circles; all these markings were so perfect that an artist could scarcely imitate them; this specimen he had set, with other precious gems, in a silver cross, the flat side of the fossil, at the back of the cross, being covered by a heart-shaped topaz.[406] These were all specimens of fossil coral.

The saga of Dietrich of Bern relates of King Nidung that on the eve of a battle in which his forces were much inferior to those of the enemy, he was filled with despair to find that he had left his “victory stone” in his castle, miles away from where he had pitched his tent. Overmastered by his desire to regain possession of his stone at this critical time, Nidung offered a large sum of money and his daughter’s hand to anyone who would bring it to him before the battle began. The distance was so great and the time so short that the task seemed utterly impossible, and a young esquire, Velint by name, was the only one willing to risk the enterprise. He was favored in his quest by having a horse of wonderful strength and endurance, by whose help he barely succeeded in making the long journey to the castle and returning in time. King Nidung, wearing his invincible stone, was the victor in the battle, and he did not fail to carry out his rather rash promise.[407]

Amulets of fossil coral are freely used in Italy, especially in the province of Aquila, and are called “witch-stones” (pietre stregonie). These are similar to one type of the “asterias” worn as amulets in ancient and medieval times. Many of the Italian amulets are incised or engraved with Christian subjects, one figured by Bellucci bearing the head of Christ on the obverse, and Christ on the cross on the reverse side; on others appears the image of the Virgin Mary.[408]

Crystalline quartz will sometimes show a star either at base or apex, if cut en cabochon. This is due to the presence of acicular crystals of rutile or to air spaces. Those specimens from Albany, Maine and other places present this phenomenon, and Starolite and Astrolite or “star stone” has been suggested as an appropriate name for this variety.