Isidore Kozminsky

“ When vibrated this stone produces musical notes, and it was regarded as expressive of music and harmony, poets singing its praises. It was the emblem of love, beauty, protection and charm, and it graced the holy altars. For the altar of earth the symbolic jade stone was of yellowish hue, whilst during lunar festivals white jade was employed. Black—mentioned, but doubtful indeed—was the North Jade, and red the South. White was the West and green the East. It was said that in sickness the heat of the body drew out virtues from the jade, healing virtues soothing and life protecting. ”

“ This ethereal Venus is the immaculate glorious woman whose absolute beauty the greatest poets, writers, painters, sculptors and musicians have striven to express in words, in form, in colour and in sound. Thus is Venus the noble cogency of divine pure love which has been striving through all the ages to make the world a paradise and to bring man back again to the Eden he has lost. No blood sacrifices stained the altars of this 41lovely goddess, and the ancients delighted in bringing to her temples sweet blossoms and fragrant spices for incense. ”

“ Nature is a veritable alchemist, a royal transmuter, turning the precious into the base and the base into the precious, regardless of dignity, rank or name. Parable and symbol have ever been the ornate coverings beneath which lie securely hidden from the superficial gaze the secrets with which searching man has played for ages. The work of these intrepid scientists had, at certain periods of the world’s history, to be carefully concealed from the vulgar and intolerant mind which was continually endeavouring to bind the thoughts of men within the slavery of a fixed dogma. ”

“ Both Pliny and Discorides poetically state that dew or rain from Heaven fell into the open pearl shells and were transformed by the secretions of the oyster into precious pearls. There is an old legend which tells that the tears of joy shed by the angels for the ultimate destiny of man were the tears that fell into the pearl oyster shell to be transformed into beautiful pearls. ”

“ The tourmaline is symbolical of wisdom, strength of mind, eloquence, learning and the power of knowledge. It is the stone for the author, poet, editor, and teacher. To dream of it means—in harmony with ancient philosophy—success through knowledge in all walks of life. ”

“ 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 SAPPHIRE AND THE ZODIAC.
RUTILE
“Fair tresses man’s imperial race ensnare,
And beauty draws us with a single hair.”
Pope. The name Rutile is derived from the Latin RUTILUS, red, and it appeared under the form RUTIL in 1803 when it was first applied to the mineral by Dr. A. G. Werner. The mineral occurs in brown, red, yellow and black colours and is composed of oxygen and Titanium. In hardness it is about the same as a peridot. The name Veneris Crinis (Hair of Venus) was first given to fibrillous rutile in quartz crystal known as Sagenite, from a Greek word meaning “a net.” ”

“ The explanation of the veiled mystery is that the Moon at the full is the symbol of the soul, the emblem of which is a bee. It comes from the body of a bull or Taurus, the second sign of the zodiac, in which as Porphyry observes she is in her exaltation and powerful; Taurus is the earth sign of the planet Venus in the guise of the goddess of Generation, and as the soul enters the world, new born, the waters of the Jordan are needed to purify it as, when it leaves the body, water was left for it to wash off the emanations of its deserted covering. ”

“ In my later remarks on the Onyx I have noted the ancient philosophy regarding the descent of the Soul through the Gate of Cancer and its ascent through the Gate of Capricorn. Peter symbolically represented at the Gate of Heaven, is a veiled allusion to the stone (Petros) gateway through which the departing spirits of Earth pass on their everlasting pilgrimage in search of the pearl above price—the hidden knowledge of perfect truth—a stone so gloriously brilliant that mortal eyes can never gaze on it. ”

“ Nature claims her own, the material goes to the material, “dust to dust,” and earth processes turn the visible parts of animals and plants, etc., into its identical crystal form. And the controlling powers about which these perceptible forms materialize, seek the realms of finer forces to which they truly belong. Rightly say the venerable philosophers whose inspired utterances have taught us so much, “The Spirit strips itself to go up and clothes itself to go down.” ”

“ In astrology, to which science perhaps on its more esoteric side we are impelled, we can quickly recognize the twelve signs of the Zodiac—six Northern and six Southern—in the twelve tribes of the children of Israel, more distinctly emphasized on the breastplate of the High Priest. The engraving on the two onyx stones, one of which would necessarily be somewhat lighter in colour than the other, can never be explained in our prosaic terms for they were attuned to the whisperings of the Heavenly Hosts and typified the eternal wanderings of the Soul. ”

“ Clearly the gray tint of the eye of stone approaches in colour the matter of the human eye. The importance of this peculiar organ, which lies upon the corpora quadrigemina of the brain in front of the cerebellum, was held in great respect by ancient scholars who regarded it as the organ of occult sight, of inner perception and intuition. This hidden eye is bigger in a child than in an adult, and in the woman it is bigger than in the man. ”

“ It arose again in flower-like beauty with Venus when she emerged in all her glory from the sea, symbolical of the exaltation of Venus in the zodiacal Pisces, and in this connection also concealing a deeper meaning. No gem has been more employed as a charm for averting the fell spell of the evil eye than the innocent coral which was credited with the power of destroying the first stroke of the glance, after which it—like the drawn fang of the serpent—was rendered incapable of injury. ”

“ Amongst Rosicrucian students the cross is symbolical of the pain of matter, for on it matter is fixed;—the circle the ascent of the soul which is above matter and never ending; the semi-circle which surmounts the whole, the spirit which is over all everlastingly. Evidences of the old custom—still followed in many countries—of placing pieces of white marble in the grave with dead bodies was some few years ago brought to light in Ireland. ”

“ The amethyst has always been regarded as symbolical of the pioneer in thought and action on the philosophical, religious, spiritual and material planes. The virtues ascribed to this stone are many. It was regarded as a charm against witchcraft, poison and evil thoughts; it was an aid to chastity, a power against all forms of over-indulgence and a strengthener of the mind; it was a charm for securing the favour of princes, rulers, churchmen, people of wealth, influence and power, people with prophetic ability, poets, travellers, publishers, etc. ”

“ So it is that William Shakespeare, the inspired master of the “spacious times of great Elizabeth,” breaks through the narrow limits of sea-girt England and encompasses the whole world of women and men, detaches his unmaterial self from the period of his earth life and endures—a perpetual source of pleasure,pleasure, philosophy, wisdom and music. Throughout his works William Shakespeare mentions seventeen distinct stones of adornment, viz.: agate, amber, carbuncle, chrysolite, coral, crystal, diamond, emerald, flint, jet, lapis lazuli, marble, opal, pearl, ruby, sapphire, turquoise. ”

“ The fisheries of the Great Pearl Bank extend along the West from Ras Hassan half way up the Gulf. To the Eastern no pearl is so beautiful and full of colour as the pearl from the Persian Gulf. The colour is very enduring and improves by being worn next the skin—especially of a person whose jewel it is. The Ceylon fisheries have not been yielding so well of late years, but with wisdom will no doubt regain their old place. The main oyster bank is near Condatchy, about twenty miles from the shore. Twenty men, ten of whom are divers, under a tindal or captain, comprise the crew of each boat. ”

“ The pearls which formed the cross were at first thought by many to be joined together by craft, but experts with powerful magnifying glasses speedily dispelled this illusion and proved that nature, not man, was the artist who reproduced the Star Cross of the Heavens—the Cross of Australian Unity—in pearls in a sea oyster. ”

“ The Flame Queen, the rarest stone yet won from the barren sun-baked opal fields of Lightning Ridge, New South Wales, near the borders of Queensland, Australia—takes its place amongst the famous gems of the world. ”

“ Mercury as the Egyptian Tehuti or Thoth, or the Greek Hermes, is ever connected with the spirits of the dead in the Hall of Judgment and, in harmony with the brilliant flashing white stone, the everlasting uplifting and spiritual progress. The sign Gemini but lightly veils the peculiar occult meaning associated with twins and connected names in hermetic philosophy. From Cain and Abel many may be enumerated including Simeon and Levi whom we find implicated in the massacre of the defenceless people of Shihem for which crime they drew upon themselves their father’s curse. ”

“ The Scarab was a copy in steatite, faience, obsidian, gold, beryl, crystal, haematite, cornelian, jasper, amethyst, turquoise, lapis lazuli, granite, serpentine and other stones, of the large black beetle, scarabaeus sacer. It was known in ancient Egypt as Khepera (he who turns) , and besides symbolizing the eternal return of the Sun after the passing of the night reign, it represented the everlasting progress of life and as such was not only inserted in the position of the heart in the bodies of the dead but was placed in the tombs also. ”

“ Antimony is a brittle flaky metal of bluish-white colour and crystalline texture. No gem can exhibit “the brilliant and intense lustres” more than the precious opal which is not only brilliant and lusterful but beautiful, tender and comprehensive of all the colours of the rainbow. What gem can answer so to the Talmudic identification of the qualities of Venus, viz., Splendour? The Venus of Libra is more ethereal than the Venus of Taurus and is well presented in the charming statue of the Venus of Medici, that of Taurus being expressed in the figure known as the Venus of Milo. ”

“ In spite of the assertions made by over-sanguine critics as to the fallacy of the Philosopher’s Stone on the material plane, scientists—mystic and material—have never ceased to search for a substance so precious. Phillips (Transmutation of Metals, 1702) says that “this transmutation is what the Alchymists call the Grand Operation or Secret of finding the Philosopher’s Stone which they give out to be so curious an Universal seed of all metals. If any metal be liquefied in a vessel, and this ‘Power of Perfection’ be thrown into the mass it will transform it into gold or silver.” ”

“ Thus the turquoise—as the stone of Sagittarius—was a stone of dreams, the horse, philosophy, religion, etc., and its grand symbolic purpose was to help the spiritual person to resist the weakness, evils and temptations so intermixed with material life. The turquoise was said to be a charm against the evil eye and evil thoughts. The Arabs say that the stone is sensitive to weather changes and that its colour is affected by the state of the atmosphere. ”

“ Boetius (“De Natura Gemmarum”) writes that the sapphire was worn by priests as an emblem of chastity, for none of evil thoughts, bad minds or vicious habits dare wear this gem of pure heavenly love which was used of old by those consulting the sacred oracles. In his messages to the Bishops of the 12th century Pope Innocent III asked that they should have their pure gold rings set with “that stone which is the true seal of secrecy.” When the Roman Catholic church received her novices into the Sisterhood a sapphire ring blessed by a Bishop was given as a holy symbol of the mystical marriage. ”

“ Thus it is in harmony with the royal sign Leo—the sign of the Sun—and the Monarch who is astrologically ruled by the Sun. The pearl is correct for the Moon; the diamond is not a stone of Saturn; the sapphire is not a stone of Jupiter; the emerald is correct for Venus; the amethyst is not a stone of Mercury. The assigning of jacinth and sardonyx to the North and the South Nodes of the Moon has not the support of astrological science. ”

“ We have evidence of its early use by man, Egyptian scarabei and Babylonian cylinders having been found, dating back as far as 1500 B.C. In the trial of Psyche—that beautifully symbolic legend—Venus gives this graceful lover of Eros the magical vase of pure crystal with the request that it be filled with the waters from the Fountain of Forgetfulness. The Fountain waters flowed through a narrow channel at the summit of a steep mountain, and they murmured: “To attempt is to perish. Be warned. Be warned. To attempt is to perish; fly from us.” ”

“ The students of sublime wisdom now say that the Zodiac, the greatest of all the circles in Heaven, is studded with twelve animals from which it has derived its name. And that the Sun and the Moon are always revolving around it and go through each of the animals, not indeed with equal rapidity, but in unequal numbers and periods, the one doing so in 30 days and the other in as near as may be a twelfth part of that time. ”