Three Thousand Years of Mental Healing - George Barton Cutten (list of ebook readers txt) 📗
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Some further quotations portray to us the efficacy of other stones:
"Heliotropius stauncheth blood, driveth away poisons, preserveth health; yea, and some write that it provoketh raine, and darkeneth the sunne, suffering not him that beareth it to be abused."
"A topaze healeth the lunaticke person of his passion of lunacie."
"Corneolus (cornelian) mitigateth the heate of the minde, and qualifieth malice, it stancheth bloodie fluxes."
"A sapphire preserveth the members and maketh them livelie, and helpeth agues and gowts, and suffereth not the bearer to be afraid; it hath virtue against venoms, and staieth bleeding at the nose, being often put thereto."
Aetius "attributed great obstetrical properties to the lapis aetites, and gagates stone. The sapphire when taken as a potion pulverized in milk, cured internal ulcers and checked excessive perspiration. The amargdine was highly recommended for strabismus...."
"Jasper, hematite and hieratite stones were strongly recommended for unusual sanative virtues, but the sapphire excelled as a remedy for scorpion bites."
"The Bezoar stone had a great reputation in melancholic affections. Manardus says it removes sadness and makes him merry that useth it."
"Noblemen wore the smargdum attached to a chain, in the belief of its potential virtues against epilepsy. The sard prevented terrible dreams, and the cornelian worn on the finger or suspended from the neck pacified anger and provoked contentment. Onyx superinduced troubled sleep, but fastened to the throat, stimulated the salivary glands. Saphirs cured internal ulcers and excessive perspiration, when taken as a potion dissolved in lacteal fluids."
"Of the stone which hight agate. It is said that it hath eight virtues. One is when there is thunder, it doth not scathe the man who hath this stone with him. Another virtue is, on whatsoever house it is, therein a fiend may not be. The third virtue is, that no venom may scathe the man who hath the stone with him. The fourth virtue is, that the man, who hath on him secretly the loathly fiend, if he taketh in liquid any portion of the shavings of the stone, then soon is exhibited manifestly in him, that which before lay secretly hid. The fifth virtue is, he who is afflicted with any disease, if he taketh the stone in liquid, it is soon well with him. The sixth virtue is, that sorcery hurteth not the man who has the stone with him. The seventh virtue is, that he who taketh the stone in drink, will have so much the smoother body. The eighth virtue of the stone is, that no bite of any kind of snake may scathe him who tasteth the stone in liquid."
Even as late as 1624, Sir John Harrington, writing in his "School of Salerne," says: "Alwaies in your hands use eyther Corall or yellow Amber, or a chalcedonium, or a sweet Pommander, or some like precious stone to be worne in a ring upon the little finger of the left hand; have in your rings eyther a Smaragd, a Saphire, or a Draconites, which you shall bear for an ornament; for in stones, as also in hearbes, there is great efficacie and vertue, but they are not altogether perceived by us; hold sometime in your mouth eyther a Hyacinth, or a Crystall, or a Garnat, or pure Gold, or Silver, or else sometimes pure Sugar-candy. For Aristotle doth affirme, and so doth Albertus Magnus, that a Smaragd worne about the necke, is good against the Falling-sickness; for surely the virtue of an hearbe is great, but much more the vertue of a precious stone, which is very likely that they are endued with occult and hidden vertues."
Precious metals as well as precious stones were used in the manufacture of amulets. The Scandinavians carried metal effigies carved out of gold or silver, or incised upon tiles, perpetually as amulets. They were safeguards against diseases and physical infirmities. They were also administered internally in cases where powerful cures were needed. Chaucer says:
The Basilideans, and other sects developed from the Gnostic systems, assigned great power to stone amulets, and prepared them for their initiates, who used them for identification and for curative purposes. They quickly acquired a celebrity undiminished for ages, and were known under the general name of Abraxas. They were composed of various materials, glass, paste, sometimes metals, but principally of various kinds of stones. Through the irresistible might of Abrax, their supreme divinity, the Basilideans were protected and cured. Clement of Alexandria strictly interdicted the use of gems for personal ornamentation, with evident allusion to the Abraxas stones. These stones had various inscriptions carved upon them, most of which had some hidden meaning of great puissance. One of them, for example, is engraven with Armenian letters, and contains a standing invocation for fruitful delivery; in its medicinal property it was evidently a cure for sterility.93
From the stone itself the word "Abraxas" came to be used as an amulet when written on paper. The numerical equivalent of the Greek letters when added together thus, A = 1, B = 2, P = 100, A = 1, Ξ = 60, A = 1, Σ = 200, is 365. The significance of this was that the deity was the ruler of 365 heavens, or of the angels inhabiting these heavens; he was also ruler over the 365 days of the year. Notwithstanding the fact that it was referred to by the Greek fathers, the name was evidently Egyptian in origin, some of the figures on the stones being strictly Egyptian.
Amulets in the form of inscriptions were called "Characts," the word Abraxas being an example. The very powerful word "Abracadabra" was derived from Abraxas, and when written in the proper way and worn about the person was supposed to have a magical efficacy as an antidote against ague, fever, flux, and toothache. Serenus Samonicus, a physician in the reign of Caracalla, recommends it very highly for ague, instructing how it should be written, and commanding it to be worn around the neck. It might be written in either of two ways: reading down the left side and up the right must spell the same word as at the top; or, having the left side always start the same, reading up the right side should be the same as the top line. Below are the two forms:
ABRACADABRABRACADABR
RACADAB
ACADA
CAD
A ABRACADABRA
ABRACADABR
ABRACADAB
ABRACADA
ABRACAD
ABRACA
ABRAC
ABRA
ABR
AB
A
Julius Africanus says that pronouncing the word in the same manner is as efficacious as writing it. The Jews attributed an equal virtue to the word "Aracalan" employed in the same way.94
Bishop Pilkington, writing in 1561, protests against a then current practice in this way: "What wicket blindenes is this than, to thinke that wearing Prayers written in rolles about with theym, as S. Johns Gospell, the length of our Lord, the measure of our Lady, or other like, thei shall die no sodain death, nor be hanged, or yf he be hanged, he shall not die. There is so manye suche, though ye laugh, and beleve it not, and not hard to shewe them with a wet finger." The same author observes that our devotion ought to "stande in depe sighes and groninges, wyth a full consideration of our miserable state and Goddes majestye, in the heart, and not in ynke or paper: not in hangyng writtin Scrolles about the Necke, but lamentinge unfeignedlye our Synnes from the hart."
The following charact was found in a linen purse belonging to a murderer named Jackson, who died in Chichester jail in February, 1749. He was "struck with such horror on being measured for his chains that he soon after expired."
"These papers have touched the three heads of the holy Kings at Cologne. They are to preserve travellers from accidents on the road, headaches, falling sickness, fevers, witchcraft, all kinds of mischief, and sudden death."
Belgrave prescribes a cure of agues, by a certain writing which the patient wears, as follows: "When Jesus went up to the Cross to be crucified, the Jews asked him, saying Art thou afraid? or hast thou the ague? Jesus answered and said, I am not afraid, neither have I the ague. All those which bear the name of Jesus about them shall not be afraid, nor yet have the ague. Amen, sweet Jesus, Amen, sweet Jehovah, Amen." He adds: "I have known many who have been cured of the ague by this writing only worn about them; and I had the receipt from one whose daughter was cured thereby, who had the ague upon her two years."95
Among other written amulets, the first Psalm, when written on doeskin, was supposed to be efficacious in childbirth. It was necessary, however, for the writer of such amulets to plunge into a bath as soon as he had written one line, and after every new line it was thought necessary that he should repeat the plunge.
The following process for avoiding inflamed eyes is taken from Marcellus, 380 A. D.: "Write on a clean sheet of paper ουβαικ, and hang this round the patient's neck, with a thread from the loom. In a state of purity and chastity write on a clean sheet of paper φυρφαραν and hang it round the man's neck; it will stop the approach of inflammation. The following will stop inflammation coming on, written on a clean sheet of paper: ρουβος, ρνονειας ρηελιος ως' καντεφορα και παντες ηακοτει; it must be hung to the neck by a thread; and if both the patient and operator are in a state of chastity, it will stop inveterate inflammation. Again, write on a thin plate of gold with a needle of copper, ορνω ουρωδη; do this on a Monday; observe chastity; it will long and much avail."96
In Africa, prayers taken from the Koran are written and worn as amulets at the present time.
After the death of the philosopher Pascal some manuscript was found sewed in his doublet. This was a "profession of faith" which he always wore stitched in his clothing as a sort of amulet.
In the East, generally, the amulet consists of certain names of the Deity, verses of the Koran, or particular passages compressed into a very small space, and is to be found concealed in the turban. The Christians wore amulets with verses selected from the Old and New Testaments, and particularly from the Gospel of John. The amulets or charms, called "grigris" by the African priests, are of similar description. These were used for preservatives against thunderbolts and diseases, to procure many wives and to give them easy deliveries, to avert shipwreck or slavery, and to secure victory in battle. One, to be used for the last purpose, which had belonged to a king of Brak, in Senegal, was found on his body after he had the misfortune to be killed in battle with the amulet upon him. It had the following sentences from the Koran: "In the name of the merciful God! Pray to God through our Lord Mohammed. All that exists is so only by his command. He gives life, and also calls sinners to an account. He deprives us of life by the sole power of his name:
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