CHAPTER XIII

The Lore of Charms

The Meaning of "Luck"--Symbolism of Charms--Colour Symbolism--Death as a Change--Food and Charms for the Dead--The Lucky Pearl--Pearl Goddess--Moon as "Pearl of Heaven"--Sky Goddess connected with Pearls, Groves, and Wells--Night-shining Jewels--Pearl and Coral as "Life Givers"--The Morrigan and Morgan le Fay--Goddess Freyja and Jewels--Amber connected with Goddess and Boar--"Soul Substance" in Amber, Jet, Coral, &c.--Enamel as Substitute for Coral, &c.--Precious Metal and Precious Stones--Goddess of Life and Law--Pearl as a Standard of Value in Gaelic Trade.

Our ancestors were greatly concerned about their luck. They consulted oracles to discover what luck was in store for them. To them luck meant everything they most desired--good health, good fortune, an abundant food supply, and protection against drowning, wounds in battle, accidents, and so on. Luck was ensured by performing ceremonies and wearing charms. Some ceremonies were performed round sacred bon-fires (bone fires), when sacrifices were made, at holy wells, in groves, or in stone circles. Charms included precious stones, coloured stones, pearls, and articles of silver, gold, or copper of symbolic shape, or bearing an image or inscription. Mascots, "lucky pigs", &c., are relics of the ancient custom of wearing charms.

The colour as well as the shape of a charm revealed its particular influence. Certain colours are still regarded as being lucky or unlucky ("yellow is forsaken" some say). In ancient times colours meant much to the Britons, as they did to other peoples. This fact is brought out in many tales and customs. A Welsh story, for instance, which refers to the appearance of supernatural beings attired in red and blue, says, "The red on the one part signifies burning, and the blue on the other signifies coldness".[135]

[135] Lady Charlotte Guest, _The Mabinogion_ (Story of "Kilwch and Olwen" and note on "Gwyn the son of Nudd").

On their persisting belief in luck were based the religious ideas and practices of the ancient Britons. Their chief concern was to protect and prolong life in this world and in the next. When death came it was regarded as "a change". The individual was supposed either to fall asleep, or to be transported in the body to Paradise, or to assume a new form. In Scottish Gaelic one can still hear the phrase _chaochail e_ ("he changed") used to signify that "he died".[136] But after death charms were as necessary as during life. As in Aurignacian times, luck-charms in the form of necklaces, armlets, &c., were placed in the graves of the dead by those who used flint, or bronze, or iron to shape implements and weapons. The dead had to receive nourishment, and clay vessels are invariably found in ancient graves, some of which contain dusty deposits. The writer has seen at Fortrose a deposit in one of these grave urns, which a medical man identified as part of the skeleton of a bird.

[136] Also _shiubhail e_ which signifies "he went off" (as when walking).

Necklaces of shells, of wild animals' teeth, and ornaments of ivory found in Palæolithic graves or burial caves were connected with the belief that they contained the animating influence or "life substance" of the mother goddess. In later times the pearl found in the shell was regarded as being specially sacred.

Venus (Aphrodite) is, in one of her phases, the personification of a pearl, and is lifted from the sea seated on a shell. As a sky deity she was connected with the planet that bears her name[137] and also with the moon. The ancients connected the moon with the pearl. In some languages the moon is the "pearl of heaven". Dante, in his _Inferno_, refers to the moon as "the eternal pearl". One of the Gaelic names for a pearl is _neamhnuid_. The root is _nem_ of _neamh_, and _neamh_ is "heaven", so that the pearl is "a heavenly thing" in Gaelic, as in other ancient languages. It was associated not only with the sky goddess but with the sacred grove in which the goddess was worshipped. The Gaulish name _nemeton_, of which the root is likewise _nem_, means "shrine in a grove". In early Christian times in Ireland the name was applied as _nemed_ to a chapel, and in Scottish place-names[138] it survives in the form of _neimhidh_, "church-land", the Englished forms of which are _Navity_, near Cromarty, _Navaty_ in Fife, "Rosneath", formerly Rosneveth (the promontory of the _nemed_), "Dalnavie" (dale of the _nemed_), "Cnocnavie" (hillock of the _nemed_), Inchnavie (island of the _nemed_), &c. The Gauls had a _nemetomarus_ ("great shrine"), and when in Roman times a shrine was dedicated to Augustus it was called _Augustonemeton_. The root _nem_ is in the Latin word _nemus_ (a grove). It was apparently because the goddess of the grove was the goddess of the sky and of the pearl, and the goddess of battle as well as the goddess of love, that Julius Cæsar made a thanksgiving offering to Venus in her temple at Rome of a corslet of British pearls.

[137] When depicted with star-spangled garments she was the goddess of the starry sky ("Milky Way") like the Egyptian Hathor or Nut.

[138] Professor W. J. Watson, _Place-names of Ross and Cromarty_, pp. 62-3.

The Irish goddess Nemon was the spouse of the war god Neit. A Roman inscription at Bath refers to the British goddess N[)e]m[)e]t[)o]na. The Gauls had a goddess of similar name. In Galatia, Asia Minor, the particular tree connected with the sky goddess was the oak, as is shown by the name of their religious centre which was _Dru-nemeton_ ("Oak-grove"). It will be shown in a later chapter that the sacred tree was connected with the sky and the deities of the sky, with the sacred wells and rivers, with the sacred fish, and with the fire, the sun, and lightning. Here it may be noted that the sacred well is connected with the holy grove, the sky, the pearl, and the mother goddess in the Irish place-name _Neamhnach_ (Navnagh),[139] applied to the well from which flows the stream of the Nith. The well is thus, like the pearl, "the heavenly one". The root _nem_ of _neamh_ (heaven) is found in the name of St. Brendan's mother, who was called _Neamhnat_ (Navnat), which means "little" or "dear heavenly one". In _neamhan_ ("raven" and "crow") the bird form of the deity is enshrined.

[139] Dr. Joyce, _Irish Names of Places_, Vol. I, p. 375.

Owing to its connection with the moon, the pearl was supposed to shine by night. The same peculiarity was attributed to certain sacred stones, to coral, jade, &c., and to ivory. Munster people perpetuate the belief that "at the bottom of the lower lake of Killarney there is a diamond of priceless value, which sometimes shines so brightly that on certain nights the light bursts forth with dazzling brilliancy through the dark waters".[140] Night-shining jewels are known in Scotland. One is suppose to shine on Arthur's Seat, Edinburgh, and another on the north "souter" of the Cromarty Firth.[141] Another sacred stone connected with the goddess was the onyx, which in ancient Gaelic is called _nem_. Night-shining jewels are referred to in the myths of Greece, Arabia, Persia, India, China, Japan, &c. Laufer has shown that the Chinese received their lore about the night-shining diamond from "Fu-lin" (the Byzantine Empire).[142]

[140] _Ibid._, Vol. II, p. 378.

[141] The two headlands, the "souters" or "sutors", are supposed to have been so called because they were sites of tanneries.

[142] _The Diamond_ (Chicago, 1915).

The ancient pearl-fishers spread their pearl-lore far and wide. It is told in more than one land that pearls are formed by dew-drops from the sky. Pliny says the dew-or rain-drops fall into the shells of the pearl-oyster when it gapes.[143] In modern times the belief is that pearls are the congealed tears of the angels. In Greece the pearl was called _margaritoe_, a name which survives in Margaret, anciently the name of a goddess. The old Persian name for pearl is _margan_, which signifies "life giver". It is possible that this is the original meaning of the name of Morgan le Fay (Morgan the Fairy), who is remembered as the sister of King Arthur, and of the Irish goddess Morrigan, usually Englished as "Sea-queen" (the sea as the source of life), or "great queen". At any rate, Morgan le Fay and the Morrigan closely resemble one another. In Italian we meet with Fata Morgana.

[143] _Natural History_, Book IX. Chap. LIV.

The old Persian word for coral is likewise _margan_. Coral was supposed to be a tree, and it was regarded as the sea-tree of the sea and sky goddess. Amber was connected, too, with the goddess. In northern mythology, amber, pearls, precious stones, and precious metals were supposed to be congealed forms of the tears of the goddess Freyja, the Venus of the Scandinavians.

Amber, like pearls, was sacred to the mother goddess because her life substance (the animating principle) was supposed to be concentrated in it. The connection between the precious or sacred amber and the goddess and her cult animal is brought out in a reference made by Tacitus to the amber collectors and traders on the southern shore of the Baltic. These are the Æstyans, who, according to Tacitus, were costumed like the Swedes, but spoke a language resembling the dialect of the Britons. "They worship", the historian records, "the mother of the gods. The figure of a wild boar is the symbol of their superstition; and he who has that emblem about him thinks himself secure even in the thickest ranks of the enemy without any need of arms or any other mode of defence."[144] The animal of the amber goddess was thus the boar, which was the sacred animal of the Celtic tribe, the Iceni of ancient Britain, which under Boadicea revolted against Roman rule. The symbol of the boar (remembered as the "lucky pig") is found on ancient British armour. On the famous Witham shield there are coral and enamel. Three bronze boar symbols found in a field at Hounslow are preserved in the British Museum. In the same field was found a solar-wheel symbol. "The boar frequently occurs in British and Gaulish coins of the period, and examples have been found as far off as Gurina and Transylvania."[145] Other sacred cult animals were connected with the goddess by those people who fished for pearls and coral or searched for sacred precious stones or precious metals.

[144] Tacitus, _Manners of the Germans_, Chap. XLV.

[145] _British Museum Guide to the Antiquities of the Early Iron Age_, pp. 135-6.

At the basis of the ancient religious system that connected coral, shells, and pearls with the mother goddess of the sea, wells, rivers, and lakes, was the belief that all life had its origin in water. Pearls, amber, marsh plants, and animals connected with water were supposed to be closely associated with the goddess who herself had had her origin in water. Tacitus tells that the Baltic worshippers of the mother goddess called amber _glesse_. According to Pliny[146] it was called _glessum_ by the Germans, and he tells that one of the Baltic islands famous for its amber was named _Glessaria_. The root is the Celtic word _glas_, which originally meant "water" and especially life-giving water. Boece (_Cosmographie_, Chapter XV) tells that in Scotland the belief prevailed that amber was generated of sea-froth. It thus had its origin like Aphrodite. _Glas_ is now a colour term in Welsh and Gaelic, signifying green or grey, or even a shade of blue. It was anciently used to denote vigour, as in the term _Gaidheal glas_ ("the vigorous Gael" or "the ambered Gael", the vigour being derived from the goddess of amber and the sea); and in the Latinized form of the old British name Cuneglasos, which like the Irish Conglas signified "vigorous hound".[147] Here the sacred hound figures in place of the sacred boar.

[146] _Natural History_, Book XXXVIII, Chapter III.

[147] Rhys rejects the view of Gildas that "Cuneglasos" meant "tawny butcher".

From the root _glas_ comes also _glaisin_, the Gaelic name for woad, the blue dyestuff with which ancient Britons and Gaels stained or tattooed their bodies with figures of sacred animals or symbols,[148] apparently to secure protection as did those who had the boar symbol on their armour. For the same reason Cuchullin, the Irish Achilles, wore pearls in his hair, and the Roman Emperor Caligula had a pearl collar on his favourite horse. Ice being a form of water is in French _glacé_, which also means "glass". When glass beads were first manufactured they were regarded, like amber, as depositories of "life substance" from the water goddess who, as sky goddess, was connected with sun and fire. Her fire melted the constituents of glass into liquid form, and it hardened like jewels and amber. These beads were called "adder stones" (Welsh _glain neidre_ and "Druid's gem" or "glass"--in Welsh _Gleini na Droedh_ and in Gaelic _Glaine nan Druidhe_).

[148] Herodian, Lib. III, says of the inhabitants of Caledonia, "They mark their bodies with various pictures of all manner of animals".

A special peculiarity about amber is that when rubbed vigorously it attracts or lifts light articles. That is why it is called in Persian Kahruba (_Kah_, straw; _ruba_, to lift). This name appears in modern French as _carabé_ (yellow amber). In Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese it is _carabe_. No doubt the early peoples, who gathered Adriatic and Baltic amber and distributed it and its lore far and wide, discovered this peculiar quality in the sacred substance. In Britain, jet was used in the same way as amber for luck charms and ornaments. Like amber it becomes negatively electric by friction. Bede appears to have believed that jet was possessed of special virtue. "When heated", he says, "it drives away serpents."[149] The Romans regarded jet as a depository of supernatural power[150] and used it for ornaments. Until comparatively recently jet was used in Scotland as a charm against witchcraft, the evil eye, &c. "A ring of hard black schistus found in a cairn in the parish of Inchinan", writes a local Scottish historian, "has performed, if we believe report, many astonishing cures."[151] Albertite, which, like jet and amber, attracts light articles when vigorously rubbed, was made into ornaments. It takes on a finer lustre than jet but loses it sooner.

[149] Book I. Chapter I.

[150] Pliny, Lib. XXXVI. cap. 34.

[151] Ure's _History of Rutherglen and Kilbride_, p. 219.

The fact that jet, albertite, and other black substances were supposed to be specially efficacious for protecting black horses and cattle is of peculiar interest. Hathor, the cow goddess of Egypt, had a black as well as a white form as goddess of the night sky and death. She was the prototype of the black Aphrodite (Venus). In Scotland a black goddess (the _nigra dea_ in Adamnan's _Life of Columba_) was associated with Loch Lochy.

The use of coral as a sacred substance did not begin in Britain until the knowledge of iron working was introduced. Coral is not found nearer than the Mediterranean. The people who first brought it to Britain must have received it and the beliefs attached to it from the Mediterranean area. Before reaching Britain they had begun to make imitation coral. The substitute was enamel, which required for its manufacture great skill and considerable knowledge, furnaces capable of generating an intense heat being necessary. It is inconceivable that so expensive a material could have been produced except for religious purposes. The warriors apparently believed that coral and its substitutes protected them as did amber and the boar symbol of the mother goddess.

At first red enamel was used as a substitute for red coral, but ultimately blue, yellow, and white enamels were produced. Sometimes we find, as at Traprain in Scotland, that silver took the place of white enamel. It is possible that blue enamel was a substitute for turquoise and lapis lazuli, the precious stones associated with the mother goddesses of Hathor type, and that yellow and white enamels were substitutes for yellow and white amber. The Greeks called white amber "electrum". The symbolism of gold and silver links closely with that of amber. Possibly the various sacred substances and their substitutes were supposed to protect different parts of the body. As much is suggested, for instance, by the lingering belief that amber protects and strengthens the eyes. The solar cult connected the ear and the ear-ring with the sun, which was one of the "eyes" of the world-deity, the other "eye" being the moon. When human ears were pierced, the blood drops were offered to the sun-god. Sailors of a past generation clung to the ancient notion that gold ear-rings exercised a beneficial influence on their eyes. Not only the colours of luck objects, but their shapes were supposed to ensure luck. The Swashtika symbol, the U-form, the S-form, and 8-form symbols, the spiral, the leaf-shaped and equal-limbed crosses, &c., were supposed to "attract" and "radiate" the influence of the deity. Thus Buddhists accumulate religious "merit" not only by fasting and praying, but by making collections of jewels and symbols.

In Britain, as in other countries, the deity was closely associated as an influence with law. A Roman inscription on a slab found at Carvoran refers to the mother goddess "poising life and laws in a balance". This was Ceres, whose worship had been introduced during the Roman period, but similar beliefs were attached to the ancient goddesses of Britain. Vows were taken over objects sacred to her, and sacred objects were used as mediums of exchange. In old Gaelic, for instance, a jewel or pearl was called a _set_; in modern Gaelic it is _sed_ (pronounced _shade_). A _set_ (pearl) was equal in value to an ounce of gold and to a cow. An ounce of gold was therefore a _set_ and a cow was a _set_, too. Three _sets_ was the value of a bondmaid. The value of three sets was one _cumal_. Another standard of value was a sack of corn (_miach_).[152]

[152] Joyce, _A Smaller Social History of Ancient Ireland_, p. 478.

The value attached to gold and pearls was originally magical. Jewels and precious metals were searched for for to bring wearers "luck"--that is, everything their hearts desired. The search for these promoted trade, and the _sets_ were used as a standard of value between traders. Thus not only religious systems, but even the early systems of trade were closely connected with the persistent belief in luck and the deity who was the source of luck.[153]

[153] Professor W. J. Watson has drawn my attention to an interesting reference to amber. In the _Proceedings of the British Academy_, Vol. II, p. 18, under "Celtic Inscriptions of France and Italy", Sir John Rhys deals with Vebrumaros, a man's name. The second element in this name is _m[=a]ros_ (great); the first, _uebru_, "is perhaps to be explained by reference to the Welsh word _gwefr_ (amber)". Rhys thought the name meant that the man was distinguished for his display of amber "in the adornment of his person". The name had probably a deeper significance. Amber was closely associated with the mother goddess. One of her names may have been "Uebru". She personified amber.