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An excerpt from a recently released book, Menhirs, Dolmen and Circles of Stone, published by Algora Publishers.
The use of stones for protection against illness, evil and demons is a long one. They have also been used to obtain profit, power and happiness. Ancient texts prescribe certain stone combinations to be strung on necklaces or to be carried on the person in leather bags. Thomsen noted that certain stone necklaces were worn “against the anger of specific gods, bad omens, ghosts, fear and diseases, to undo witchcraft, or in order that the god should take pity on a man.” (1)
In ancient Mesopotamia certain consecration rituals were conducted to purify the selected stones—these rituals normally included submerging the stones in water along with such purification items of cedar, salt, and tamarisk. Stone necklaces were worn around the neck until an illness was cured or for prescribed time depending on the purpose. For example, Thomsen writes, “after an apotropaic ritual against evil portended by a malformed newborn animal, the man affected by this omen had to wear a necklace with stones for seven days.” (2)
Practitioners of the dark arts, to protect them from the very demons that they called forth, also valued amulets. One ancient text calls for the use of an amulet made from “sweet-smelling lodestone” cut in the shape of a heart and engraved with the image of Hecate. (3)
The common use of stone amulets during the early Christian period worried the Church. These obviously Pagan practices were a threat to the newly dominant religion and at the Council of Laodicea in 355 CE formal prohibitions were adopted. The decree stated “that priests and clerks must be neither enchanters, mathematicians, nor astrologers, and that they must not make ‘what are called amulets,’ for these were fetters of the soul, and all who wore them should be cast out of the church.” (4) It is interesting how the church condemns mathematicians along with the use of Pagan symbols. Both are indicative of “hidden” knowledge, which the church leaders found heretical.
The continuing use of these stones of power has demonstrated that the church’s prohibitions fell, for the most part, on deaf ears. French writer Marcelle Bouteiller wrote “magical objects and stones are transmitted from father to son. One would never part with them but would not refuse to lend them. Occasionally one consents to rent them to oblige a sick person. Certain of these pieces must be utilized while the possessor of a secret recites the ritual incantation, others function solely by their virtue of being.” (5)
Quartz charms were worn in Scotland to protect against malevolent spirits and other evil powers that haunted the landscape. The church disapproved of such amulets but the practice was so ancient that is was impossible to eradicate. (6)
Some stones, however, were given much credence by the church as objects of great power and holiness.
THE BLARNEY STONE & THE STONE OF DESTINY
Perhaps the most famous stone in the world is the Blarney Stone. The stone, thought to be part of the legendary Stone of Scone, rests in the high battlements of Blarney Castle in Ireland. The stone is believed to be half of the Stone of Scone that originally belonged to Scotland. Scottish Thirty-four Scottish kings were crowned over the stone, because it was believed to have special powers.
The Blarney Stone is not so richly imbued with history as the Stone of Scone but it does have its own lore attached. The most well known story about the stone is that a witch cast a spell upon the stone as a reward to a king who had saved her from drowning. When the king kissed the stone he was given the gift of eloquent speech so that he could talk anyone into anything that he desired.
In 1314 the stone was given by Robert the Bruce to Cormac McCarthy as a reward for McCarthy’s support of Bruce in an important battle. Since the 14th century the stone has rested in the battlements of Blarney castle and has no doubted been kissed millions of time by those seeking the “magic tongue.”
The Stone of Scone, also known as the Stone of Destiny has a much longer and nobler tradition. Physically the stone is a 336 pound slab of sandstone, 26 inches long, 16 wide, and 11 inches high. An equi-armed cross is carved on one side. It is important to note that such crosses were not originally Christian in origin. The Celtic cross, ancient before Christianity was ever conceived, is equi-armed. The equi-armed cross comprises the cardinal axes and the four elements of the world which are united in the center, which becomes the fifth point of the cross. Legend has it that the Stone of Scone originated in the Holy Land where it was used by Jacob as a pillow the night he saw the angels of Bethel. This stone, according to legend, became the coronation stone of the early kings of Israel. It was brought to Scotland in 850 CE via a circuitous route through Egypt, Sicily, Spain. The stone had been kept in Ireland from approximately 400 CE to 850 CE where it had been used for coronations of the Irish Kingdom of Dalriada. St. Patrick blessed the stone upon its arrival in Ireland for its use in coronation ceremonies of Irish kings. Legend has it that the stone could identify the rightful ruler by emitting a loud cry-hence its name of Lia Fail, or the “Speaking Stone”. Called the “Stone of Destiny”, the Lia Fáil was also traditionally called Bod Feargius, or “Fergus’s Phallas” after the Pictish King.
Kenneth I, 36th King of Dalriada, moved the capital of his kingdom from Ireland to Scone, what is now Perthshire, Scotland in 850 CE. While it was moved several times over the years it was always taken back to Scone for the coronation of Dalriadic kings. The last Scottish coronation of which the Stone was used was in 1292, upon the coronation of King John Balliol. Then in 1292, the English king Edward I invaded Scotland and confiscated the stone. It was housed in the English Coronation Throne in Westminster Abbey, made to contain the stone, in 1301. The last English monarch to be installed upon the Stone of Scone was Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. While the English had signed a treaty in 1328 to return the stone, that didn’t occur until November 1996.
Other Royal Stones
Around the world there are several large stones which have the footprints of kings carved in them—many dating from the Mesolithic age. One such place is Tintagel, the supposed birthplace of Arthur. At the summit of the high cliffs, which hold the ruined castle, a rock outcrop exist which has a curious carved depression on its surface. Obviously old, the depression is that of a left footprint, slightly smaller than my own. Researcher Paul Broadhurst says that the depression “is typical of early royal inauguration marks, where an incoming ruler confirmed, by placing his foot in the symbolic shape, his domination over the land.” (7) Another site sporting a stone footprint is that near Dunadd in Argyll where the early kings of the Scottish Dalriadic empire were coronated. The proposed king’s feet had to fit within the stone’s footprint or he was not fit to rule. Similar sites are found throughout the world, such as the Zasliai stone in Lithuania, and attest to the ancient sanctity of Mother Nature and the rulers of humankind.
“The Romans were accustomed to carve pairs of footprints”, says researcher Nigel Pennick, “on a stone with the inscription pro itu et reditu, ‘for the journey and return’.” (8) Pennick notes that the Romans did so as a protective travel ritual to mark the beginning and end of a journey.
On a different note stone prints were also used for other purposes. The Giant’s Lap-Stone, located on the North York Moors, contained a large foot-shaped depression approximately two feet deep. Local belief held that it could determine a woman’s virtue. If the lady could not fit her foot within the depression she was surely a virgin! The Giant’s Lap-Stone was also sought out for its reported powers to ensure healthy children. The ritual called for the stone to be visited on a Monday and for the seeker to climb to the top, recite a verse and then throw a shoe into the nearby brook.
Stone circles were also used to enthrone a king. Up to the 14th century stone circles in Cornwall were an important part of the coronation ritual. The king would stand in the middle near the center stone with his nobles arranged on the outside standing at other stones. The royal center of the Pict kingdom, now in a churchyard at Clackmannan and a circle near Cavan are two such examples of these “crowning places”. (9)
The Ritual Use of Stones
Stones, magical, mysterious and imbued with supernatural powers, have been used for thousands of years for healing, cursing, luck and divination. In 1900 John Rhys wrote of the winter bonfires in Wales:
“A bonfire was always kindled…on the eve of the Winter Calends…Besides fuel, each person present used to throw into the fire a small stone, with a mark whereby he should know it again. If he succeeded in finding the stone on the morrow, the year would be a lucky one for him, but the contrary if he failed to recover it.” (10)
New Guinea natives wrap magical stones in bast (11) and bury them at sowing time and leave them in the soil until time to harvest in the belief that the stones promote the growth of plants. Maringer wrote “they wrap them in bast so as to preserve that power, and guard them jealously, to prevent an enemy from stealing them and using them for his own ends.” (12) This contemporary practice is duplicated in ancient Neolithic Swiss lake-dwelling sites indicating that similar beliefs were held by early agricultural societies around the world.
Using stones to curse an enemy was also a common practice in the ancient, and not so ancient, past. In Ireland the “Fire of Stones” ritual was used to curse enemies. According to Conan Kennedy the ritual called for the collection of as many fist sized stones as possible. They were placed in a pile to resemble a fire, then “the curser places his/her curse on the enemy…praying that, until the heap of stones shall burn, the curse shall stay in place”. (13) After the incantation is made the stones are scattered because, should the enemy find the stones and collect them all together again, the curse could be removed. Kennedy states that another form of stone cursing involved “turning” the stones on an altar. This involved, Kennedy writes, “turning the stones around three times on an anti-clockwise direction” with other incantations offered. (14) The most notable success recorded for this curse was the sinking of the HMS Wasp, a British gunboat sent to evict the residents of Tory Island off of County Donegal. Reportedly the island’s resident curser activated the curse stone, which resulted in the Wasp striking rocks and sinking, drowning the whole crew. According to official records the iron hulled HMS Wasp struck an “isolated rock” near the island and sank on September 22, 1884.
A different version of this legend also involves a sacred stone but it is a standing stone called a gallaun—a monolith with a vaguely human shape with outstretched arms, which, according to writer Lyall Watson, “serves the islanders as a secret weapon. When threatened they gather on the cliffs and point it in the direction of marauders, tax-gatherers and other forms of piracy. And, they say, it never fails to spell disaster for an invader.” (15) It is this gallaun that dooms the HMS Wasp to a violent and unexpected storm.
A similar method was employed in Scotland where “certain river stones were believed to have magical properties and these could be used both as amulets against evil, or, in the case of black magic, as charms to promote harm”. (16) Ross notes that these river stones of power were “often blackened in the fire, and incantations were made over them in order to bring harm to some unfortunate person who had incurred the hostility of the charmer.” (17)
Stones with holes in them were useful not only for healing purposes but to see spirits. 19th century researcher Charles G. Leland wrote that belief in Tuscany was that one should take a stone from the sea with a hole in it, “then go to a burying-ground, and, standing at a little distance from it, close one eye, and, looking at the cemetery with the other, through the stone, repeat:-
“’In the name of great Saint Peter
And for Saint Blasius’ sake,
By this stone I fain would see,
What form the spirits take!” (18)
After the invocation is said the various spirits may be seen, either as flames (for those who died without peace) or in their previous forms while alive.
Stones with naturally occurring holes in them, as previously discussed, possessed a wide variety of supernatural powers to heal and to protect. They also were used to control the weather. Noted folklorist Sir James Frazer noted that the shamans of New Caledonia could create a drought “by means of a disc-shaped stone with a hole in it. At the moment when the sun rises, the wizard hold the stone in his hand and passes a burning brand repeatedly into the hole, while he says: ‘I kindle the sun, in order that he may eat up the clouds and dry up our land, so that it may produce nothing.’” (19)
The use of certain stones in Native American ritual was common although the exact purpose for early pre-historic sites requires a lot of contextual and ethnographic correlation and a lot of guess work. That certain stones were of religious and ritualistic use is known due to the very nature of the stone, or its design, or its location in a specific area as well as corresponding evidence from similar cultures existing today.
A few stone discs found in southern California appear to represent the ritual life cycle of members of certain Indian groups as well as “the structure of the sacred enclosure and the universe.” (20) According to archaeologist Charles Irwin, one of these stones “is circular, (9 ½” diameter), flat (3/8” thick), contains a hole in the center (3 ¾” diameter), bears a constriction showing two opposing sets of parallel grooves, one containing seven grooves and the other six.” (21)
Irwin summarizes the artifact by saying that it “may have been (a) material symbol of the social order, a dual system through which everyone passed to reach the ‘Milky Way’” (22)—the Milky Way being the transition from death to afterlife. Further, Irwin states that the artifacts may have been given representing the stage in time when an individual was initiated into the mysteries of the tribe’s religious universe.
The Power of Crystal
Crystal is perhaps the most used in the occult sciences. Sought out for healing, foretelling the future, for channeling energy—it has been used since ancient times around the world for a variety of purposes. Rock crystal used as charmstones was, and still is, an important aspect of North American, particularly Southwestern, American Indian ritual belief. They are a common find in 8,000-year-old archaeological sites in California. Contemporary tribes living in southern California (including the Paipai, Kumeyaay, and Kiliwa), “without exception”, refer to the stone as a “living rock”, “live rock”, or “alive”. (23) Anthropologist Jerome Levi refers to these stones as “the most powerful objects in the supernatural universe. Its unique vitality, its efficacy for individual gain, and its potency in malevolent magic all make it a paranormal force that is regarded with the utmost fear. Clearly, it is one of the most potent and distinctive objects in the witches’ paraphernalia.” (24) What is the power of these stones that make them so powerful? According to Levi the stone itself does not have the power for good or evil but it has the capacity to absorb power and to have that power focused by a shaman to do either good or evil. The worse scenario is for a layperson who has no training as a shaman to possess a crystal, thus making the power uncontrolled. The only way to neutralize the crystal in this instance is to submerge it in water, insulating the power and protecting the person who was in mortal danger.
Similar to those other stones that contain the human spirit, “live” crystals are alive because they too contain beings inside of their hard surfaces. Some crystals are simply crystals and not alive or able to focus power. Levi states that the living crystals, called in the Yuman language wii’ipay, “are like people….it should be understood that they are unlike ordinary people because the stones can tap, if not generate, cosmic power. Thus, a wii’ipay is more like a powerful Yuman shaman that it is like an average lay person.” (25) In addition, the wii’ipay may be male or female, may have emotions, can move freely on its own, can speak and must be fed and given attention.
A similar belief existed among the Cherokee who thought that crystal had “great power to give aid in hunting and also in divining”. (26) Kunz wrote of one Cherokee individual who kept “his magic stone wrapped up in buckskin and hid it in a sacred cave; at stated intervals he would take it out of its repository and ‘feed’ it by rubbing over it the blood of a deer. This goes to prove that the stone…was considered to be a living entity and as such required nourishment.” (27)
Noted anthropologist James Mooney who studied the Cherokee in the late 19th century elaborates on the magical crystal of the Cherokee which, he noted, was called the Ulûñsûtĭ—“Transparent”:
“It is like a large transparent crystal, nearly the shape of a cartridge bullet, with a blood-red streak running through the center from top to bottom. The owner keeps it wrapped in a whole deerskin, inside an earthen jar hidden away in a secret cave in the mountains. Every seven days he feeds it with blood of small game, rubbing the blood all over the crystal as soon as the animal has been killed. Twice a year it must have the blood of a deer or some other large animal. Should he forget to feed it at the proper time it would come out from its cave at night in a shape of fire and fly through the air to slake its thirst with the lifeblood of the conjurer or some of his people.” (28) This problem could be avoided if the owner told the crystal that it would not be needed for sometime, for then the stone simply sleeps until needed again. Mooney went on to say “no white man must ever see it and no person but the owner will venture near it for fear of sudden death”. (29) Upon the owners death the stone is buried with him to protect the rest of the tribe. Why take such fearsome risks for this crystal? The owner is assured of success in hunting, rainmaking, business, prophecy and love.
Indians of the Mount Lassen area in California also valued quartz crystal as charm stones and kept them safely hidden in rattlesnake dens. The charms owner “would secretly rub them on himself to gain good luck in gambling or other pursuits…”. (30)
Crystal was viewed and used as a rain-making tool in both Australia and the Upper Nile. Frazer wrote that the Upper Nile shaman-chiefs, when desiring rain, “plunges the stones in water, and taking in his hand a peeled cane, which is split at the top, he beckons with it to the clouds to come or waves them away in the way they should go, muttering an incantation the while.” (31)
The power of crystal to heal is another aspect of the stone. Crystal ground into fine powder and ingested was believed to have the power to cure mental illness. (32) Crystals have been an important part of every shaman’s tool kit around the world for healing and transferring evil. The use of crystals in contemporary society appears to be increasing in popularity as well. They are placed on the body during massage, used in meditation, and said to be helpful to cure infection, hearing loss, emotional health, lowering cholesterol, increase the immune system, help with kidney stones, food disorders, headaches, increase vision (both normal vision and psychic), and stabilize blood sugar. There seems to be a different crystal for every purpose. Many mystics stress that crystals should not be handled by anyone other than the user and that they should be neutralized of stored energy before each application. This may be done by soaking them or burying them for 24 hours.
Japanese tradition states that smaller rock-crystal originated in the breath of the White Dragon and larger crystal was the saliva of the Violet Dragon. The importance of this analogy is that the dragon is considered the highest element of creation. Kunz notes that the name given to rock-crystal by both the Japanese and Chinese people is suisho which refers to water that had been frozen for so long that it could no longer be liquefied. (33) This same perception was common in early Christian traditions as given by St. Jerome who said of crystal, “while a stone to the touch, it seems like water to the eye.” (34)
Druid’s Eggs
The Roman historian Pliny wrote of “Druid’s Eggs”, or “Serpent’s Eggs”, which were said to be made from the spittle of snakes and were valued by the Druids for their ability to bring victory in law courts, among other things. The eggs were believed to enhance the rhetorical powers of the Druids. While no Druid Egg has been discovered for certain there have been five stone eggs found in Scotland made from serpentine and other “unusual and visually interesting stones” that appear to date to Roman times and may be the magical eggs. Two of these stones, according to historian Miranda Green, “come from what is arguably a ritual deposit, made in an earlier stone cairn.” (35)
Folklorist Lewis Spence wrote that the Druids would wear these stones, which he believed were made from “an oval ball of crystal”, around their necks as symbols of Druidic office. (36) According to Spence, “this magical amulet was known to Celtic tradition as the Glainnaider or the Glain-nan-Druidhe, the Druid’s glass…chiefly employed for counteracting incantations.” (37)
CHAPTER NOTES
1. Thomsen, Marie-Louise. “Witchcraft and Magic in Ancient Mesopotamia” in Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: Biblical and Pagan Societies, ed. Bengt Ankarloo and Stuart Clark. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press 2001, 59-60
2. Ibid, 60
3. Kunz, George Frederick. The Curious Lore of Precious Stones. New York: Dover Publications, Inc. 1971, 40
4. Ibid, 42-43
5. Bouteiller, Marcelle. Medicine populaire: d’hier et d’aujourd’hui. Paris 1966, 57
6. Ross, Anne. Folklore of the Scottish Highland. Glouchestershire: Tempus Publishing Inc. 2000, 95
7. Broadhurst, Paul. Tintagel and the Arthurian Mythos. Launceston: Pendragon Press 1992, 133
8. Pennick, Nigel. Celtic Sacred Landscapes. London: Thames and Hudson 1996, 40
9. Ibid, 45
10. Rhys, John. Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx. Vol. 1. New York: Gordon Press 1974, 224-225
11. “Bast” is a fibrous material made from bark, commonly used to manufacture ropes and mats.
12. Maringer, Johannes. The Gods of Prehistoric Man: History of Religion. London: Phoenix Press 2002, 179
13. Kennedy, Conan. Ancient Ireland: The User’s Guide—An Exploration of Ireland’s Pre-Christian Monuments, Mythology and Magic, Ritual and Folklore. Killala: Morrigan Books 1997, 72
14. Ibid
15. Watson, Lyall. The Nature of Things: The Secret Life of Inanimate Objects. Rochester: Destiny Books 1992, 35
16. Ross opt cit, 90
17. Ibid
18. Leland, Charles G. Etruscan Roman Remains. Blaine: Phoenix Publishing (originally published 1892), 333-334
19. Frazer, Sir James. The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion. Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions Ltd. 1993, 78
20. Irwin, Charles N. “A Material Representation of a Sacred Tradition”, in The Journal of California Anthropology, Summer 1978, Vol.5, No.1, 94
21. Ibid, 91
22. Ibid, 93
23. Levi, Jerome Meyer. “Wii’pay: The Living Rocks—Ethnographic Notes on Crystal Magic Among Some California Yumans”, in The Journal of California Anthropology, Summer 1978, Vol.5, No.1, 43
24. Ibid, 44
25. Ibid, 46
26. Kunz, op cit, 254
27. Ibid 254-255
28. Mooney, James. Myths of the Cherokee. New York: Dover Publications, Inc. 1995, 298
29. Ibid
30. Schultz, Paul E. Indians of Lassen. Mineral: Loomis Museum Association 1988, 158
31. Frazer, op cit, 85
32. Curtin, Roland G. "The Medical Superstitions of Precious Stones, Including Notes on the Therapeutics of other Stones." Bulletin of the American Academy of Medicine, 8 (December 1907), 467
33. Kunz, op cit, 217
34. Ibid, 100
35. Green, Miranda J. The World of the Druids. London: Thames and Hudson Ltd. 1997, 58
36. Spence, Lewis. The Magic Arts in Celtic Britain. Mineola: Dover Publications, Inc. 1999, 21
37. Ibid
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