Category: Thunderstones
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Paintings by Frans Francken the Younger
Frans Francken the Younger (1581 –1642) was a Flemish painter and the best-known and most prolific member of the large Francken family of artists. He painted large altarpieces for churches as well as smaller historical, mythological and allegorical scenes. His depictions of collectors’ cabinets established a popular new genre of art in the era. Francken often collaborated with other artists, adding figures and narrative elements…
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Decline of thunderstone mythology
Even as late as the 17th century, a French ambassador brought a stone hatchet, which still exists in the museum at Nancy, as a present to the Prince-Bishop of Verdun, and claimed that it had healing properties. Andrew Dickson White described the discovery of the true origin of thunderstones as a “line of observation and thought ……
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Fossils as thunderstones
In many parts of southern England until the middle of the nineteenth century, another name commonly used for fossil Echinoids was ‘thunderstone’, though other fossils such as belemnites and (rarely) ammonites were also used for this purpose. In 1677 Dr. Robert Plot, the first keeper of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, published his classic book The Natural History of Oxfordshire. Plot recorded that in Oxfordshire what are now…
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Thunderstones (and Touchstones) in Asian Tradition
In Burma they are used as a cure and preventative for appendicitis. In Japan they cure boils and ulcers. In Malaysia and Sumatra they are used to sharpen the kris, are considered very lucky objects, and have been credited with being touchstones for gold. A touchstone is a small tablet of dark stone such as slate or lydite, used for assaying precious metal alloys. It has a…
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Thunderstones in European Folklore
In Scandinavia thunderstones were frequently worshiped as family gods who kept off spells and witchcraft. Beer was poured over them as an offering, and they were sometimes anointed with butter. In Switzerland the owner of a thunderstone whirls it, on the end of a thong, three times around his head, and throws it at the door of his dwelling at the approach of…
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A 12th century Bishop of Rennes asserted the value of thunderstones as a divinely appointed means of securing success in battle, safety on the sea, security against thunder, and immunity from unpleasant dreams
During the Middle Ages many of these well-wrought thunderstones were venerated as weapons, which during the “war in heaven” had been used in driving forth Satan and his hosts. Hence, in the 11th century the Byzantine emperor sent to the Holy Roman emperor a “heaven axe”; and in the 12th century, a Bishop of Rennes asserted the value of thunderstones as a divinely appointed means…
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Albanians believed the supreme powers of thunderstones were formed during lightning strikes
Albanians believed in the supreme powers of thunderstones (kokrra e rrufesĂ«Â or guri i rejĂ«s), which were believed to be formed during lightning strikes and to fall from the sky. Thunderstones were preserved in family life as important cult objects. It was believed that bringing them inside the house would bring good fortune, prosperity, and progress to people, especially in livestock and agriculture,…
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Humans have been interested in echinoid fossils (the fossilised remains of sea urchins) for millennia, considering them lucky and imbuing them with magical powers linked to their deities
A folk tradition in Denmark and southern England imagined sea urchin fossils to be thunderbolts, able to ward off harm by lightning or by witchcraft, as an apotropaic symbol. Another version supposed they were petrified eggs of snakes, able to protect against heart and liver disease, poisons, and injury in battle, and accordingly they were carried as amulets. These were,…
