The Lapidary

Lapidarium

The Book of Stones

And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones.

• Revelation 21:19

The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.

• Psalm 118:22

What follows is a chronicle of stones as it might have been kept in the inner chamber of the ancient wise — copied first onto the tablets given at Sinai, transmitted again upon the emerald slab of Hermes, recorded by the priest in the gleaming of the Urim, and gathered by the medieval bishops into illuminated lapidaries. The lapidary is its outward form. Its inward form is older, and belongs to no age.

Stones are the bones of the world. Where the bestiary reads creation in the moving creature, the lapidary reads it in what does not move — the slow speech of the mineral kingdom, the secret light that sleeps in matter. Every stone is a fixed prayer; every gem, a star descended into earth. To know the stones rightly is to read the foundation upon which the cosmos stands.

This lapidary gathers the stones of the Royal Art — the gems, the rocks, the sacred crystals, the legendary lapides — and places each within the Great Work of which all things are parts.

On the Lapidary Tradition

The lapidary is among the oldest forms of sacred natural philosophy. Its roots reach into the Egyptian temples where carnelian, lapis, and turquoise were set into the breast of Pharaoh; into the Sumerian cylinder seals carved from agate and jasper; and into the Hebrew priestly cult, where twelve named stones were affixed to the breastplate of Aaron, each engraved with the name of a tribe. The Greeks gave us the word lithos and the science of mineral virtue; Theophrastus composed the first systematic treatise Peri Lithōn. The Hellenistic and early Christian world inherited this lore and wove it into scripture and liturgy: the High Priest's hoshen, the foundations of the New Jerusalem, the Logos as Cornerstone, the Stone rejected by the builders.

The medieval lapidary flourished alongside the bestiary. Marbodus of Rennes, in the eleventh century, composed a verse Liber Lapidum that named sixty stones with their virtues and uses. Hildegard von Bingen, a generation later, wrote a Physica in which the gemstones were treated as living medicines of God, formed in the fire and water of the early world. Albertus Magnus gathered the Latin and Arabic learning into his De Mineralibus. The alchemists made the stone the very emblem of the Work — Lapis Philosophorum, the Stone that contains all stones, the goal of the entire opus.

The Royal Art continues this tradition as the restoration of the symbolic order through which the mineral kingdom is read as a living book.

I. The Sacred Settings

The stones of the Royal Art are first gathered in the great scriptural settings — those ordained arrangements in which gem is fitted to office, tribe, sphere, or sign.

The Breastplate of Aaron (Exodus 28)

Twelve stones set in four rows of three upon the hoshen mishpat, the breastplate of judgment. Each engraved with the name of one of the twelve tribes of Israel, worn over the heart of the High Priest as he entered the Holy Place.

Sardius (Reuben) · Topaz (Simeon) · Carbuncle (Levi)

Emerald (Judah) · Sapphire (Issachar) · Diamond (Zebulun)

Jacinth (Dan) · Agate (Naphtali) · Amethyst (Gad)

Beryl (Asher) · Onyx (Joseph) · Jasper (Benjamin)

Beside the stones were set the Urim and Thummim, the Lights and Perfections, oracle-stones by which the priest discerned the will of the Lord.

The Foundations of the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21)

Twelve stones laid in the foundations of the holy city descending from heaven, each foundation bearing the name of one of the twelve apostles. The High-Priestly garment translated into civic architecture; the breastplate of the body of Israel become the wall of the body of the redeemed.

Jasper · Sapphire · Chalcedony · Emerald

Sardonyx · Sardius · Chrysolite · Beryl

Topaz · Chrysoprase · Jacinth · Amethyst

The Twelve Stones of the Zodiac

The medieval and Renaissance correspondence-tables matched stone to sign, sign to apostle, apostle to tribe — the same twelve speaking in three registers at once.

Aries — Diamond · Taurus — Emerald · Gemini — Agate

Cancer — Pearl · Leo — Ruby · Virgo — Sapphire

Libra — Opal · Scorpio — Topaz · Sagittarius — Turquoise

Capricorn — Garnet · Aquarius — Amethyst · Pisces — Aquamarine

The Stones of the Planetary Spheres

Each of the seven classical planets has its proper stone, by which it is invoked, talismanned, and known.

Sol — Gold and the Carbuncle

Luna — Silver, Pearl, Moonstone

Mercury — Quicksilver, Agate, Opal

Venus — Copper, Emerald, Rose Quartz

Mars — Iron, Bloodstone, Ruby

Jupiter — Tin, Sapphire, Amethyst

Saturn — Lead, Onyx, Jet, Obsidian

II. The Great Book of Stones

What follows is the central body of the lapidary — the stones of the Royal Art arranged within the Great Work. The four alchemical stages provide the outer order. Within each stage, the stones are gathered under their ruling planet. The same stone may bear several signatures; it is placed where its strongest meaning lies.

Nigredo — The Blackening

Saturn — Lead, the dark father, the leaden weight of mortality

Onyx — Black banded stone of the underworld; carved in Rome for funerary cameos; the night of the soul made visible.

Jet — Fossil-wood turned to mineral; mourning-stone of the medieval queen; the body of Christ in the tomb.

Obsidian — Volcanic glass; mirror in which the seer beholds his own shadow; knife of the Aztec priest.

Hematite — Iron blackened to a mirror; the tarnished sun; weight of the dissolving body.

Galena — The native ore of lead; Saturn's own crystal; cubic structure that prefigures the cube of the perfected Stone.

Mars — Iron, the burning blade, the warrior's fire

Bloodstone (Heliotrope) — Dark green flecked with red as if with the blood that fell from the Cross at Calvary; stone of the martyr.

Garnet — Dark blood-red iron; carbuncle of the lower fire; the descent into the wound.

Mercury — Quicksilver, the trickster

Pyrite — Fool's gold; the false light; the lure that draws the unwary into the long Nigredo.

Marcasite — Pyrite's brittle cousin; the brilliance that tarnishes overnight.

Luna — Silver eclipsed

Black Moonstone — The moon at her dark phase.

Labradorite — Dull stone that flashes with hidden fire when turned to the light; the soul's secret luminosity preserved through the night.

Stones of the Stage

The Rough Ashlar — The unhewn block as it leaves the quarry; the natural man before the chisel of initiation; the Mason's first symbol of the Work begun.

The Black Stone of the Kaaba — Meteorite said to have descended from heaven white and to have been blackened by the sins of mankind.

Albedo — The Whitening

Purification, the silver dawn after the long night. The soul washed and made luminous; lunar consciousness, the white moon rising upon still waters.

Luna — Silver, the bride, the cup of clear water

Pearl — Born of the wound in the oyster's flesh; the Kingdom of Heaven hidden in the field; the Gnostic soul descended into matter and to be retrieved; supreme emblem of the Albedo.

Moonstone — Stone of the night-sky made small; lunar consciousness held in the hand.

Selenite — Translucent gypsum named for the moon; pillar-crystal of inward light.

Mother-of-Pearl — The shell that bore the pearl; the receptive womb of the soul.

Venus — Copper, the dove, the bride's first ornament

Emerald — Venus' own gem; the green of paradise; in Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival the Grail itself is named lapsit exillis, a stone of the purest kind, said to have fallen from the crown of Lucifer in the war in heaven.

Rose Quartz — Stone of gentle love; the heart cleansed and softened.

Rhodochrosite — Pink-banded carbonate; the rose unfolding in the breast.

Coral — Tree of the sea, blood of the depths whitened in the air; in Christian tradition, a living tree of Christ's blood beneath the waves.

Mercury — Quicksilver washed clean

Rock Crystal (Quartz) — Water turned to stone; the philosopher's lens; emblem of the transparent mind.

White Agate — Banded stone of the lunar pasture; the disciplined moon.

Chalcedony — Cool milk-blue gem of the New Jerusalem's third foundation.

Sol — The morning star

Diamond — Carbon clarified to perfect light; the adamas, the unconquerable; the soul brought to indestructible purity.

Jupiter — Tin, the gentle benefactor

Aquamarine — Sea-blue beryl; the still water under the morning star.

Stones of the Stage

The Pearl — Hidden, costly, retrieved by descent.

The White Stone of Pergamum — To him that overcometh will I give... a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it (Revelation 2:17).

Citrinitas — The Yellowing

The solar dawn, the gilding of consciousness, the lunar silver brightening into gold. Illumination breaking; the colors of the peacock's tail unfolding into a single glory.

Sol — Gold, the solar king, the heart's light kindling

Citrine — Quartz baked golden by the inner fire; merchant-stone of the sun.

Amber — Resin of the ancient forest hardened over millennia; sunlight made portable; carried by the priestess and the prince.

Topaz — Solar stone of the priestly breastplate; gem of the ninth foundation.

Yellow Sapphire — Jupiter and the sun married in a single jewel.

Heliodor — Gift of the sun; golden beryl.

Venus — Copper bright as bronze

Peridot — Olive-green stone gathered from the islands of the Red Sea before dawn; the volcanic Venus.

Chrysoprase — Apple-green chalcedony of the New Jerusalem.

Malachite — Banded green copper-stone; the spiral of Venus written in the rock.

Jupiter — Tin, the king's open hand

Sapphire — Stone of the throne of God in the vision of Ezekiel; as it were the body of heaven in his clearness (Exodus 24:10); celestial vision, kingly counsel; in some midrashim, the substance of the Tablets of the Law.

Lapis Lazuli — Heaven made stone; ground to ultramarine for the robes of the Virgin; deep blue salted with gold.

Mercury — Quicksilver gilded

Tiger's Eye — Banded chatoyant quartz; the watchful golden gaze.

Yellow Agate — The disciplined messenger.

Stones of the Stage

The Peacock-Stone (Bornite, Chalcopyrite) — Native ores that tarnish to the iridescent spectrum; cauda pavonis in the mineral kingdom; sign that the Work approaches its consummation.

Native Gold — The metal-king crystallized; the kingdom of Sol made small; perfection of metal incorruptible by fire.

Rubedo — The Reddening

The crowning of the Work, the divine marriage, the King restored. Red sun at meridian; the blood of the Christ poured into the chalice; the Stone made manifest.

Sol — Gold in glory

Ruby — Solar carbuncle; blood of the Christ poured into the chalice; sovereign stone of the East; ruled by Mars in its fire and by Sol in its kingship.

Carbuncle — The legendary glowing red gem said to shine in the dark by its own light; emblem of the Stone perfected.

Mars — Iron made instrument of the King

Red Jasper — Stone of the warrior become priest; jasper of the New Jerusalem's first foundation.

Carnelian — Sun-warm chalcedony; the disciplined fire of Mars in priestly setting; first stone of the breastplate.

Spinel (red) — Long mistaken for ruby; the Black Prince's Ruby in the English crown is in fact a spinel; the inheritance won by descent.

The Royal Pair

The Red King — Sulphur in stone; ruby, carbuncle, garnet at their highest; the Christ-bridegroom enthroned.

The White Queen — Mercury in stone; pearl, diamond, moonstone at their highest; the Sophia-bride.

The Opal (Rebis) — Stone of all colors held in one body; the conjunction of opposites; sometimes called the Eye of Heaven for the way it gathers the peacock's tail and the rose into one play of light.

Stones of the Stage

The Philosopher's Stone — Last and first of the lapidary; the Stone that contains all stones; the perfected matter that transmutes the lower into the higher; gold from lead, body from spirit, spirit from body.

The Cubic Stone (Perfect Ashlar) — The rough block hewn into a perfect cube; the Mason's emblem of the soul brought to true measure; the City foursquare descending from heaven.

The Crowned Carbuncle — The Stone enthroned; the gem set in the diadem of the King.

The Mythic Stones

Stones whose meaning lies in legend, scripture, and chronicle — those lapides that have crossed from the mineral kingdom into the symbolic firmament. They belong to no single stage but cross all four, expressing covenant, threshold, sovereignty, and the unity of opposites.

The Foundation Stone (Even ha-Shtiyah) — The rock at the center of the Temple Mount upon which the world is said to be founded; said to seal the abyss; the navel of the cosmos.

Jacob's Pillow (Bethel, the House of God) — The stone upon which Jacob laid his head and dreamed the ladder; raised as a pillar and anointed with oil; said by lineage to have become the Stone of Scone.

The Cornerstone — The Stone rejected by the builders that became the head of the corner (Psalm 118:22; Matthew 21:42); the Christ.

The Lapis Exillis — Wolfram's Grail-stone; a stone of the purest kind upon which an inscription appears every Good Friday; said to have fallen from the crown of Lucifer in the war in heaven.

The Lia Fáil — The Stone of Destiny; sovereignty-stone of Tara that cried out beneath the rightful king of Ireland.

The Stone of Scone — Coronation stone of the Scottish and English monarchs; said by tradition to be Jacob's Bethel carried west.

The Black Stone of the Kaaba — Meteorite set into the eastern corner of the Kaaba at Mecca; said to have descended from heaven white.

The Smaragdine Tablet (Tabula Smaragdina) — Emerald slab of Hermes Trismegistus, on which the formulae of the Hermetic Art are written: as above, so below.

The Tablets of the Law — Sapphire (in some midrashim) hewn from the Throne of Glory and given to Moses on Sinai; broken and remade.

The Urim and Thummim — Lights and Perfections, oracular stones kept in the High Priest's breastplate; how the priest discerned judgment.

The White Stone of Pergamum — Given to him that overcometh, with a new name written upon it (Revelation 2:17).

The Stone of the Wise (Lapis Philosophorum) — The crowning lapis of the alchemists; not one stone among many but the One Stone of which all others are figures.

The Touchstone — Black slate against which gold is rubbed to test its purity; emblem of the testing of the soul.

The Bezoar — Concretion drawn from the stomach of certain beasts; antidote against poison; alchemical figure of the medicine extracted from the bowels of corruption.

The Adamant — The unconquerable stone of legend; later identified with the diamond; emblem of incorruptibility.

The Loadstone (Magnetite) — Stone that draws iron to itself; figure of love, of providence, of the soul drawn to its source.

III. The Folk-Stones

The stones of common piety, of charm and talisman — those petrae that pass through the hand of the cottager, the cunning-woman, the pilgrim. Where the Bestiary's third chapter gathers the cryptids and faerie creatures, this gathers the stones of folklore and folk-medicine.

Of the Healing Stones

Hildegard's Stones — Sapphire for the eye, jasper for the womb, beryl against the throat-sickness; the gemstones administered as living medicines in the Physica.

The Toadstone — Said to grow in the head of an ancient toad; antidote against poison and guard against witchcraft.

The Snake-Stone (Glain Naidr) — Welsh and Cornish charm-stones, supposed to be condensed from the breath of serpents at midsummer.

The Adder-Stone — Holed stone of natural water-cut flint; protection against the evil eye and the night-mare.

Of the Charm Stones

The Hag-Stone — Holed stone, hung over the byre, the cradle, the hearth; protection against the witches.

The Witch-Bottle — Stone-stoppered bottle filled with pins and urine; turning back of the curse.

The Worry-Stone — Smooth stone carried in the pocket and rubbed against the thumb in trouble; English and Greek folk-piety.

Of the Sovereign Stones

The Coronation Stone — Stone upon which the king is enthroned; sovereignty made tangible; cousin of the Lia Fáil.

The Standing Stones — Megalithic pillars of Albion and Hibernia; menhirs and dolmens; circles of Avebury and Callanish; the bones of an older liturgy.

Of the Builder's Stones

The Mason's Rough Ashlar — The unhewn stone of the apprentice.

The Mason's Perfect Ashlar — The cubic stone of the fellowcraft, ready for the wall of the Temple.

The Trestle Board — Drawing-stone of the architect; pattern of the Work.

The Keystone — The stone that locks the arch; emblem of the Royal Arch degree, beneath which the Lost Word is recovered.

The Cubic Stone — Perfected ashlar; emblem of the soul squared and ready for setting in the wall of the New Jerusalem.

Of the Wonder Stones

The Sun-Stone — Translucent feldspar said by the Norse to have been used to navigate by the position of the sun behind cloud.

The Eagle-Stone (Aetites) — Hollow stone with a smaller stone rattling inside; said to be carried by eagles to their nests; held by the laboring woman as an aid to birth.

The Thunder-Stone — Neolithic axe-head turned up by the plough; supposed by the medieval peasant to have fallen from the sky in storm.

The Fairy-Stone — Quartz crystal or holed pebble said to grant sight of the aes sídhe.

Within the Royal Art Opus

The Lapidary is one volume in the wizard's tower of the Astral Library — companion to the Bestiary, the Herbal, the Atlas, the Book of Hours, the Book of Angels, the Book of Emblems, the Grimoire, the Songbook, the Genealogy, the Tarot, and the Book of Correspondences.

Each stone set down here is also a station the Exiled Prince meets along his Arc — the rough ashlar at the threshold of the Quest, the carbuncle that gleams in the deepest cave of the Nigredo, the pearl drawn up from the wreck of the lower waters, the sapphire of the Throne in the high vision, the cornerstone laid in the rebuilt Temple of the heart, and at the end of all the road the Stone Itself, the Lapis Philosophorum, set as the diadem upon the brow of the King.

Among the Five Sacred Objects of the Royal Art — Temple, Grail, Stone, Rose-Cross, Crown — the Stone is one. Yet it is also the substance of which all five are made. The Temple is built of stone; the Grail in the Wolframian tradition is a stone; the Cross was raised upon the stone of Golgotha; the Crown is set with stones; the Stone itself is the Work in its perfection. The whole lapidary, then, is a single meditation upon the Lapis — first as rough ashlar in the quarry of the soul, last as the cubic stone of the perfected King.

Related Pages

The Bestiary

The Symbolic Codex

The Philosopher's Stone

The Foundation Stone

The Cornerstone

Sources