holds
in his hand. A stone of this kind gives the wearer, by God's help,
abundant wealth of knowledge, as well as good health and favor.
Shouldst
thou find a stone on which is the figure of a man holding in his right
hand a palm branch, this stone, with God's help, renders the wearer
victorious in disputes and in battles, and brings him the favor of the
great.
Finding
the stone called jasper, bearing graven or figured a huntsman, a dog,
or a stag, the wearer, with God's help, will have the power to hea,l
one possessed of a devil, or who is insane.
A
good stone is that one on which thou shalt find graven or figured a
serpent with a raven on its tail. Whoever wears this stone will enjoy
high station and be much honored; it also protects from the ill-effects
of the heat.24
The
original meaning of the swastika emblem has been variously explained as
a symbol of fire, of the four cardinal points, of water, of the
lightning, etc. Still another explanation is given by Hoernes, who
inclines to the belief that it is simply a conventionalized
representation of the human form, the lower shaft being the two legs
joined together, the two horizontal shafts the outstretched arms, and
the upper shaft the trunk of the body; the four projections would stand
for the feet, the two hands and the head.25
The
Egyptian crux ansata, the hieroglyphic symbol for "life," and the
Phoenician Tau symbol, the "mark" that was to be stamped upon the
foreheads of the faithful in Jerusalem (Ezek. ix, 4), and which in
Early Christian art was frequently substituted for the usual cross, are
both explained by Hoernes in a similar way, and he notes the fact that
the swastika symbol does not appear in
24 From an anonymous Italian treatise in a fourteenth century MS. in the author's collection; fol. 40 verso, 41 recto.
!5 Hoernes, " Urgeschichte der bildonden Kunst," Vienna, 1898, p. 338.
Flickr
Stumbleupon
Scribd
