Laura Wright 
A stone is an ordinary thing.
We walk across them, build houses from them and toss them aside without much thought. Yet for thousands of years, stones and minerals occupied a very different place in human imagination.
Some were believed to cure disease. Others protected their owners from poison, witchcraft, storms or melancholy. Certain stones promised courage, victory or marital happiness. Still others supposedly rendered their owners invisible.
And some came from considerably stranger places.
Ancient and medieval lapidaries, medical texts and works of natural history described stones found inside animals, dropped from the heavens or even extracted from the heads of dragons.
Many of these objects never existed outside legend.
Others were perfectly real.
Their supposed powers were another matter.
Gargates: The Mysterious Black Amber
Gagates, better known today as jet, is a black organic gemstone formed from ancient wood subjected to pressure over millions of years.
Its dark color naturally encouraged supernatural associations.
Jet became associated with mourning and protection and was sometimes believed to repel evil influences. Various old writers attributed medicinal and magical properties to it.
The English word jet ultimately derives from the ancient name gagates, associated with the River Gagas in Asia Minor.
Queen Victoria would make jet mourning jewelry extraordinarily fashionable centuries later, but its association with death and protection was already ancient.
Garnet: Health, Happiness and Troubled Love
The deep red garnet accumulated numerous legends.
It was associated with health, vitality and protection. Some traditions credited garnets with preserving happiness or warning their owners of approaching danger.
Curiously, other traditions were considerably less optimistic about garnet’s influence upon love.
Apparently even magical stones couldn’t promise everything.
Emerald: A Stone Against Decay
The emerald was one of the most celebrated stones of the ancient and medieval world.
Its brilliant green color encouraged associations with fertility, health and renewal. Emeralds were credited with protecting eyesight and counteracting poison. Some traditions recommended them for women during childbirth.
They were even reputed to resist or reveal sexual infidelity.
The emerald’s supposed ability to preserve things from corruption also made it a symbol of permanence.
Whether it could preserve a marriage was apparently another question.
Draconite: The Dragon Stone
Few legendary stones have a more impressive origin than the draconite, or dragon stone.
According to old lapidary traditions, the stone could be found inside the head of a dragon.
There was a complication.
The dragon supposedly had to be alive when the stone was removed. If the creature died first, the magical properties of the stone disappeared.
This raises considerably more questions than the old texts generally bothered to answer.
Draconite was described in various ways, but traditions credited it with protection against poison and the ability to bestow courage upon its owner.
The difficult part was obtaining one.
Demonius
The mysterious demonius was supposedly associated with what older writers called a “demoniacal rainbow.”
Descriptions of obscure legendary stones often vary from one source to another, and some names survived only through repeated copying in later compilations.
The demonius belongs to that shadowy class of stones whose mythology has survived considerably better than any evidence that the stone itself ever existed.
Chrysoprase
Chrysoprase is a real variety of chalcedony, usually distinguished by its beautiful apple-green color.
Old traditions credited the stone with improving weak eyesight and providing other physical or spiritual benefits.
Like many green stones, it became associated with health and renewal.
Chelidonius: The Swallow Stone
One of the strangest stones in medieval lapidaries was the chelidonius, supposedly found inside a swallow.
Different varieties were assigned different powers. Among its reputed virtues was protection against melancholy.
Animal stones were surprisingly common in old folklore. Toads, serpents, birds and other creatures were all said to contain mysterious mineral objects possessing medicinal or magical properties.
The problem, naturally, was finding them.
Celonites: The Tortoise Stone
The celonites, or tortoise stone, was supposedly found inside a tortoise.
Some traditions claimed that it possessed unusual resistance to fire or other extraordinary properties.
Again, the creature was real.
The magical stone supposedly hidden inside it was considerably more questionable.
Ceraunius and Stones from the Sky
The old article mentions a multicolored stone falling from the sky and reflecting the image of its possessor. This belongs to a broad and fascinating tradition surrounding ceraunia, thunderstones and other mysterious objects believed to descend during storms.
Before prehistoric stone tools were properly understood, people sometimes discovered ancient axe heads and other worked stones buried in the earth.
How had they gotten there?
One explanation was wonderfully straightforward.
Thunder had put them there.
These objects became known as thunderstones and were credited with protection against lightning and storms.
Ironically, what people believed to be supernatural objects from the heavens were often artifacts created by human beings thousands of years earlier.
The explanation was wrong.
The objects themselves could be extraordinarily ancient.
Bezoars: The Famous Antidote to Poison
Unlike many legendary stones, bezoars are real.
They are masses of indigestible material that can form inside the digestive systems of animals and humans. Historically, certain animal bezoars became extraordinarily valuable because they were believed to neutralize poison.
For royalty and aristocrats living in societies where poisoning was a genuine fear, that was no small promise.
Bezoars could become treasured possessions and were sometimes mounted elaborately in precious metal.
Their reputation as universal antidotes greatly exceeded their actual medical abilities.
Still, of all the strange stones in old lapidaries, the bezoar has one advantage.
You can actually find one.
Beryl: A Stone for Marriage
Beryl is the mineral family that includes emerald and aquamarine.
Older traditions credited beryl with numerous virtues, including preserving affection between married couples.
Considering the history of marriage, perhaps people were willing to try anything.
Belocolus: The Stone of Invisibility
The mysterious belocolus was described as a pale or white stone marked by something resembling a black pupil.
Its most desirable alleged property was extraordinary.
It could render its wearer invisible.
Stones conferring invisibility occur repeatedly in magical literature and legend. Unfortunately, surviving accounts provide considerably more testimony about their powers than physical specimens.
Balasius
Balas, or balas ruby, was historically a name applied to certain reddish or rose-colored spinels.
Older lapidary traditions attributed various virtues to such stones, including health, moderation and reconciliation.
Like many gemstones, their symbolic value became intertwined with their beauty and rarity.
Anthrax: The Burning Stone
The ancient mineral term anthrax should not be confused with the disease bearing the same name.
The Greek word referred to something resembling a burning coal and was applied to brilliant red gemstones.
Old descriptions sometimes attributed healing powers to these fiery stones, including the treatment of boils and swellings.
Antiphates: Protection Against Witchcraft
A mysterious black stone called antiphates appears in older lapidary traditions.
Among its reputed powers was protection against witchcraft.
Whether anyone ever agreed precisely what mineral antiphates actually was is another question.
Serpent Stones
Serpent stones were traditionally believed to protect against snakebite or other venomous animals.
Objects identified as serpent stones varied tremendously between cultures. Some were actual minerals. Others were fossils, manufactured objects or biological materials whose origins were misunderstood.
Their purpose, however, remained remarkably consistent.
Something associated with the serpent was expected to cure what the serpent inflicted.
This is a classic example of sympathetic magic.
Kidney Stones
Certain stones and amulets were believed to relieve pain in the kidneys, loins or urinary tract.
The association of jade with kidney ailments became particularly strong in European tradition. Indeed, the name jade itself has historical connections with beliefs concerning pain in the side or kidneys.
The cure may have been doubtful.
The linguistic legacy remains.
Bloodstone
Bloodstone, traditionally a dark green stone marked with red spots, accumulated an enormous body of Christian, medicinal and magical folklore.
Its appearance naturally encouraged associations with blood.
It was therefore believed capable of stopping hemorrhage.
Later Christian legend sometimes claimed that bloodstone was formed when drops of Christ’s blood fell upon green jasper at the Crucifixion.
The stone was real.
The blood was symbolism.
The legend endured.
Milk Stones
So-called milk stones were used in folk belief to encourage the production of milk.
Depending upon the tradition, they might be associated with nursing mothers or dairy animals.
A farmer whose livelihood depended upon a cow producing milk had considerable incentive to keep any charm that supposedly helped.
Brimstone
Brimstone, an old name for sulfur, is now strongly associated with Hell and damnation through biblical imagery.
Curiously, substances associated with evil were sometimes also used to repel it.
Sulfur therefore acquired protective and purifying associations in various folk traditions.
The logic isn’t as contradictory as it initially appears.
Something powerful enough to accompany demons might also be powerful enough to frighten them away.
Why Were Stones Considered Magical?
There is something understandable about the old fascination with stones.
Unlike plants and animals, stones appear almost immortal.
They don’t visibly age. They emerge from the earth already formed. Some contain extraordinary colors or patterns. Crystals seem almost unnaturally geometric. Amber can contain creatures that died millions of years ago. Fossils preserve recognizable forms of animals turned literally to stone.
Before geology explained these things, imagination did.
A stone discovered inside an animal could become an antidote.
A prehistoric axe emerging from a field could become a thunderbolt.
A red mineral could stop bleeding.
A green one could restore sight.
And somewhere, according to the old books, there might even be a black stone waiting inside the skull of a dragon.
We understand considerably more about minerals today.
But perhaps that knowledge hasn’t completely destroyed their mystery.
People still carry birthstones, collect crystals, wear gemstones for symbolic purposes and sometimes attribute healing or spiritual properties to particular minerals.
The old lapidaries may have disappeared.
Stone lore hasn’t.
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