Raven Stones & Others..

[ënagualí~ᏉLAᗪἇ ኔጡ።]

Raven Stones & Others..

Among the ancient Estonians, it was believed that incantations and healing remedies were necessary to counter the machinations of evil spirits. The most magical of these remedies—one that could cure all ailments—was the so-called "Raven's Stone." To obtain this precious item, one had to climb into a raven's nest, remove the unhatched eggs, boil them, and then place them back in the nest. The Raven, in an effort to revive the eggs, would journey to distant lands and return with a miraculous stone. With this stone, the eggs would hatch. One must wait until the chicks are fully feathered before taking the stone from the nest.

Raven Stones, Turnip Patches, and Guardian Snakes

A cunning person protects the turnip patch from thieves:

After a new turnip patch was planted, ploughed, and fenced, the owner would summon a snake to guard it. If a thief would try to come into the patch, the guardian snake would attack. It would guard as long as the turnips were growing, until they were harvested. The snakes were summoned as follows:

A stone obtained from a Raven’s nest was put in the mouth and then one would blow in a whistle made from the thighbone of a frog, and coax:

Mato musta, kyy punanen, [Worm black, viper red]
Toukka tuonen tanhuvilta, [Maggot from the land of death]
Nosta pääsi, kuule kutsu, [Rise your head, hear the call]
Saavu tänne, luokki selekä! [Come here, shaft bow back!]

When the summoner then threw their hat on the ground and put the Raven stone and frog whistle on it, the snake would appear under the hat.

SKVR VI2: 7579a. Recorded in Tervo in 1934. (Translated to English by the current author.)

Among stones in the Magic Objects collection of the National Museum in Finland, there are several so-called Raven stones. These are externally similar to the snake’s court stones discussed in an earlier post, namely small, water-polished pebbles. According to folklore, Raven stones were only found in the nest of a Raven, and they could be used in healing, for example for toothache. More often, however, the folklore describes quite extraordinary effects of these stones. One popular theme is that if you put the Raven stone in your mouth, you will become invisible. These kinds of beliefs seem more like fairy tales and fantasy than connected with actual physical objects, that one actually could put in the mouth and see what happens.

Seven Raven stones in a pouch. National Museum of Finland. Photo by S. Hukantaival. CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Still, we do have raven stones in the museum collection. In one case concerning seven raven stones in a pouch, the catalogue tells that they had been passed down in the family for three or more generations. It also includes the popular theme that the raven would bring the stone from the Biblical Jordan River to heal or revive its young if they were harmed. However, it is not known if any of the raven stones in the museum have ever been used to summon a guardian snake to protect a turnip patch.

Snake’s Court Stones

The magic objects collections in Finnish museums include large amounts of small, roundish, water polished pebbles. These are often called “snake’s court stones” in the local tradition (Fin. käärmeenkäräjäkivet). According to folklore, vipers gathered in the spring to hold a court hearing. They needed to find and punish the viper that had bitten more people than the others. In fact, these kinds of snake’s courts can still be observed in springtime. Nowadays we interpret the gatherings as vipers being awakened from hibernation by the spring sun and crawling out of their shared winter lair.

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Folklore tells that during the court the vipers would keep a small pebble in their mouth that circulated from snake to snake. Thus the pebble became “charged” with the power of the vipers. The lucky person who obtained this stone received a magical object that was useful in healing and especially when going to court. When one kept it in the pocket, one would not “tremble”, and thus could be assured that one’s case would be won.

The image shows seven water polished snake’s court stones and a small cupper’s horn in a grey textile pouch. Lappeenranta museums. CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0

Different snake’s stones are known elsewhere in Europe too (perhaps even beyond?). But the beliefs may vary. 

The Strange Imatra Stones

There are seven strange limestone formations among the magic objects in the National Museum of Finland. Two of these are called “Imatra stones” (Imatrankivi) in the catalogue. Imatra stones are chalk coagulates that were formed in clay deposits of the River Vuoksi area during the melting phase of the Ice Age. They are often curiously shaped, smooth surfaced, and formed of darker and lighter layers. The name comes from the Imatra Rapids in the River Vuoksi.

This strange-shaped Imatra stone is from the collections of the Biological Museum in Turku.Photo: The Museum Centre of Turku. CC BY-ND 4.0.

The seven stones in the magic objects collection are either quite round or oval-shaped. One of them is pear-shaped. Two of the stones are formed into spindle whorls. Since the appearance of spindle whorls did not change significantly trough time, it is not possible to assess whether they had been used in textile production recently or perhaps as long ago as in the Iron Age. The catalogue reveals that one of them has been used to heal boils on the skin by pressing them with the object. The use of the other one is not specified in the catalogue beyond that it has been used in magic. Two of the seven stones are called “snake’s court stones” in the catalogue. As mentioned in this blog, it was believed that snakes would pass such a stone from mouth to mouth in their court meetings in the spring.

The Imatra stones in the magic objects collection of the National Museum are mostly similar to this stone in the Biological Museum in Turku. Photo: The Museum Centre of Turku. CC BY-ND 4.0.

One of the stones is called a cunning person’s stone (tietäjänkivi) in the catalogue. This stone has come to the collection in 1903 together with some other objects collected from different places in North Ostrobothnia. The collector has provided the same information about the use of all these objects: “If someone had a sore foot, eye, or other body part due to sorcery or contagion the cunning person places the magic objects into a wooden bowl, adds water from a spring or river and washes the sore with the water (the magic objects are kept in the water during washing). Then the water is taken where the cunning person advises or they will take it there themselves.”

It seems that the curious Imatra stones were useful as magic objects, but perhaps not always as their own category. Sometimes they could be snake’s court stones, sometimes cunning person’s stones, and perhaps sometimes other powerful objects. Moreover, for the time being, it is unclear whether the name Imatra stone is given by geologists or if it is an old name for these fascinating stones.

Cross-Cultural Cross Stones

This cross stone (staurolite crystal) belonged to a cunning man from Iisalmi before 1894 when it was bought by the museum. National Museum of Finland (KM F1249). Photo by S. Hukantaival.

There are nine so-called cross stones (ristikivi) in the magic objects collection of the National Museum of Finland. One of these is a smooth, oval pebble with an inscribed cross on its surface. According to the museum catalogue, this one was kept in a pocket when venturing on a dangerous journey. The other eight stones are more or less roughly cross-shaped staurolite crystals.

Unfortunately, the catalogue does not give much information on the staurolites. One of them was owned by a cunning man from Iisalmi. There is no information how he might have used it or for what purpose. The other seven belonged to a set of objects in a birch bark container owned by a cunning woman in Suistamo. The catalogue mentions only that these have been used to heal boils and swellings on the skin. The same information is given for two “snake’s court stones” and one wooden gnarl in the same medicine box. This is a common use for the two latter types of objects, but the only case where staurolites are used similarly.

Staurolite crystals are widely known as magic objects. Sometimes they are called crosses of Coadry and used as charms against evil, such as several staurolites from France in the collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum of the University of Oxford. They may also be called fairy crosses. In their article Geology and the Dark Side, Christopher J. Duffin and Jane P. Davidson (2011) mention that one folklore explanation for the these crystals is that they are the petrified tears shed by fairies on hearing of the crucifixion of Christ. Ethnologist Auvo Hirsjärvi, who published the cross stones in the collection of the National Museum of Finland in 1965, also mentions that staurolites have sometimes been called stones of St. Peter or St. John. He adds that in Germany, these stones have protected against evil spirits and shock and they would heal fevers and bleeding.

Raven stones are in German folklore also known as, magical lights made from the undigested eyes of executed criminals. Raven stones are so named because they are obtained from Ravens that picked out the eyes of corpses hanging on gallows.

According to lore, Raven stones emit a light visible only to their owners and are used by thieves.

Due to their curious natural shape, staurolites are still sold as souvenirs and amulets. In fact, as Hobart M. King notes in his online text about these minerals, “if you see a selection of these for sale that are all the same size, the same shape and containing gas bubbles, they might be manufactured”.

 

The Unique Witch’s Stone

Most of the magic objects that occur in the Finnish museum collections are common in the sense that either there are similar objects in the collections or at least they are mentioned in folklore accounts. As to every rule, there are a few exceptions.

One of these exceptions is a so-called witch’s stone (Fi. noitakivi). The collection of the National Museum in Helsinki includes four objects that are labelled with this name, so it is not the name that is unique. However, what makes this stone special is its shape: it has been carved to resemble an animal’s head. Which animal, you might ask? That is not so easy to determine. Something with a muzzle, eyes pointing forward, and ears that are only small holes. Even though the mouth does not quite fit the interpretation, I would say that it is something belonging to the reptilian family, a snake or a lizard perhaps.

This so-called witch’s stone in the National Museum of Finland is unique among the Finnish magic objects. Photo: S. Hukantaival.

Another thing that makes this object interesting is a short remark about why it is effective. According to the information in the museum’s catalogue, the stone has been used to heal pain by pressing with it three times on the ailing part of the body. It heals pain because it “has been smeared with the blood of nine Ravens”.

The form of healing depicted here is quite common and the part of the blood of nine ravens would fit the tradition, however, the unique shape of the object does beg some questions. Was this stone shaped by the healer or was it found somewhere looking like this (shaped by someone else, perhaps much earlier)? Was its use the innovation of one particular healer or are we missing information about this tradition? Finally, what if it did not belong to any tradition but was a scam? We may never know for sure.

The witch’s stone has come to the museum in 1914 from Artjärvi (nowadays part of Orimattila), but unfortunately the catalogue does not include further information on its user or donator/seller.