The Curious Lore of Precious Stones: Being a description of their sentiments and folk lore, superstitions, symbolism, mysticism, use in medicine, protection, prevention, religion, and divination. Crystal gazing, birth-stones, lucky stones and talismans, astral, zodiacal, and planetaryKunz, George Frederick
Religion
The Curious Lore of Precious Stones: Being a description of their sentiments and folk lore, superstitions, symbolism, mysticism, use in medicine, protection, prevention, religion, and divination. Crystal gazing, birth-stones, lucky stones and talismans, astral, zodiacal, and planetary
Kunz, George Frederick
Gems; Gems -- Folklore
My heart which came from my mother, my heart necessary for my
existence on earth, do not rise up against me, do not testify as an
adversary against me among the divine chiefs in regard to what I have
done before the gods; do not separate from me before the great lord of
Amenti. Hail to thee, O heart of Osiris, dwelling in the West! Hail
to you, gods of the braided beard, august by your sceptre! Speak well
of the Osiris N; make him prosper by Nehbka. I am reunited with the
earth, I am not dead in Amenti. There I am a pure spirit for eternity.
To be said over a scarabæus fashioned from a hard stone, coated with
gold, and placed on the heart of the man after he has been anointed
with oil. The following words should be said over him as a magic
charm: “My heart which came from my mother, my heart is necessary for
me in my transformations.”
Take your aliments, pass around the turquoise basin, and go to him who
is in his temple and from whom the gods proceed.
The most ancient inscription of this especially favorite text is on
the plinth of a scarab in the British Museum bearing the cartouche of
Sebak-em-saf, a king of the XIV Dynasty, 2300 B.C. It is made from an
exceptionally fine piece of green jasper, the body and head of the
beetle being carefully carved out of the stone, while the legs are of
gold, carved in relief. The scarab is inserted into a gold base of
tabloid form, and was found at Kurna (Thebes) by Mr. Salt. As green
jasper was believed to possess altogether exceptional virtues as an
amulet, this particular scarab was probably regarded as especially
sacred.
[Illustration: AMBER HEART-SHAPED AMULET.
Italian, seventeenth century.]
[Illustration: AN INSCRIBED SCARAB (GREEN STONE) OF THE TYPE KNOWN AS A
HEART-SCARAB. DATE ABOUT 1300 B.C.
The Scribe Pa-bak: Let him say: “O Heart that I received from my mother
(to be said twice), O Heart that belongs to my spirit, rise not against
me as witness, oppose me not before the judges, contradict me not in
the presence of the Guardian of the Scales. Thou art the spirit that is
in my body, Khnum that makest sound my limbs. When thou comest to the
place of judgment whither we go, cause not my name to be rejected by
the assessors, but let the pronouncement of judgment be favorable, and
such as causes joy to the heart.”]
It appears to have been the rule to engrave certain special chapters
of the Book of the Dead, among those referring to the heart, upon
particular stones. Thus, for instance, the 26th chapter was engraved on
lapis-lazuli, the 27th upon feldspar, the 30th upon serpentine, and the
29th upon carnelian.[345] This may perhaps have been originally due to
some association of the god principally invoked in the text with the
precious substance upon which the text was engraved.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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