The Hindus included the pearl amongst the five precious stones in the magical necklace of Vishnu, the other four being the diamond, ruby, emerald, and sapphire. The golden pearl was the emblem of wealth, the white of idealism, the black of philosophy, the pink of beauty, the red of health and energy, the grey of thought. Lustreless pearls are considered unfortunate, as also are pearls that have lost their sheen when on a dying person’s finger, as sometimes happens. It is curious how pearls improve in lustre when worn by some persons and how they deteriorate when worn by others. A recent writer commenting on this advised that if “pearls turned colour temporarily when worn by certain persons they should be put away for a few days and the detrimental effects of constitutional acids will be found to have entirely disappeared.” To an extent this is correct, but it is equally certain that if the person by whom the pearls were affected were to continue wearing them they would be destroyed altogether. This is quite in accord with the occult philosophy of the ancient masters who held that only people who had favourable planets in Cancer—the Celestial sign of the Ocean—or in whose nativities the lunar aspects were favourable could wear pearls. The Moon, however, in the sign Capricorn was not considered favourable for wearing pearls, and some writers also include the sign Scorpio. A half-moon shaped whitish stone of about 25 lbs. weight was oftentimes used by the Ceylonese pearl divers, tied around their waists, when making the plunge for the pearl oyster, and the crew of 20—a lunar number—which made up the Ceylon pearling boat company may have traditional authority, and may be something more than mere coincidence. The Princess of Yemen, previously mentioned, wore seven strands of pearls. Seven is the positive number of the Moon or the Moon’s number when going from new to full. This was recognized by ancient nations and it may be well assumed that the symbolic meaning was understood by the advisers to the Princess. A custom exists in Madagascar which finds a parallel amongst the ancients: it is believed that if at an afflicted birth pearls be buried good will come to the child and will continue to come unless the pearls be unearthed.