Sapphire—Eye of Horus

The ancient Persians believed that Earth rested on a giant sapphire and the blue sky was a reflection of its color. The Greeks identified white sapphire with the god Apollo. They deemed this stone very important indeed: The oracles at Delphi used it to make their prophecies. The Egyptians designated sapphire as the eye of Horus. Star sapphire is especially prized, as the lines crossing the blue of the stone were believed to represent faith, hope, and charity.

Sapphire has been used as an eye cure for millennia. Medieval scientist Sir Albert the Great recorded incidents in which he had seen sapphire used with success as a healer, stating that it was necessary for the stone to be dipped in cold water prior to surgery and afterward, as well. A contemporary of Albert the Great’s by the name of von Helmont advocated using sapphire as a remedy for plague boils by rubbing this gem on the afflicted spots. He did offer the disclaimer that the condition could not be too advanced and explained the science behind his cure with the early theory of magnetism, in which a force in the sapphire pulled “the pestilential virulence and contagious poison from the infected part.”

Part of the myth and magic of sapphires is that they offer a great deal of myth and magic. Magicians and seers love this stone because it adds to their sensitivities and enables them to augur better. Historically, it was regarded as a gem of nobility, and any regal personage wearing this noble gem would be protected from harm, particularly the threat of poison. Another dubious legend is that Moses wrote the Ten Commandments on tables of sapphire, but it is more likely that they would have been carved into the soft and more readily available lapis lazuli. Even with God on his side, where would Moses have gotten sapphires of such massive size and flatness? Sapphire remained popular with the religious; one notable instance was when the twelfth-century bishop of Rennes commended this gem as an ecclesiastical ring due to its obvious connection to the heavens above. The holy— and legal—minded also favored this stone as it was believed to help counteract deception. Once, sapphires were believed to have gender. Dark sapphires were “male,” and light stones were “female.”