Another mode of water divination with the ring was to throw three pebbles
into standing water, and draw observations from the circles which they
formed.
Divination by sounds emitted by striking two rings was practised by
Execetus, tyrant of the Phocians.
In the enchanted rings of the Greeks the position of the celestial bodies
was most important. Pliny states that all the Orientals preferred the
emerald jasper, and considered it an infallible panacea for every ill. Its
power was strengthened when combined with silver instead of gold. Galen
recommends a ring with jasper set in it, and engraved with the figure of a
man wearing a bunch of herbs round his neck.[28] Many of the Gnostic or
Basilidian gems, evidently used for magical purposes, were of jasper.
Apollonius of Tyana, in Cappadocia, who flourished in the first age of the
Christian era, and who fixed his residence in the temple of Æsculapius,
considered the use of charmed rings so essential to quackery that he wore
a different ring on each day of the week, marked with the planet of the
day. He had received a present of the seven rings from Iarchas, the Indian
philosopher.[29]
It was a belief among the Poles that each month of the year was under the
influence of a precious stone. Thus January was represented by the garnet,
emblem of constancy and fidelity; February, the amethyst, sincerity;
March, bloodstone, courage and presence of mind; April, diamond,
innocence; May, emerald, success in love; June, agate, health and long
life; July, cornelian, contented mind; August, sardonyx, conjugal
felicity: September, chrysote, antidote against madness; October, opal,
hope; November, topaz, fidelity; December, turquoise, prosperity. These
several stones were set in rings and other trinkets, as presents, &c.
In the early and middle ages it was not only generally believed that rings
could be charmed by the power of a magician, but that the engraved stones
on ancient rings which were found on old sites possessed supernatural
properties, the benefits of which would be imparted to the wearer.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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