Gripla - 2022, Page 132

GRIPLA130
understanding of the stone’s capabilities: in Marbode, the stone allows the
user to make women bend to their will.81 AM 194 8vo’s reading, which is
shared by Hauksbók’s lapidary, instead emphasises the acquisition of hid-
den knowledge, rather than the controlling of human behaviour.
Non-human/environmental aids
While the majority of the stones’ properties pertain to human health and
capability, their virtues do not exclusively begin and end with humans.
Some stones act on the material non-human world: Saffirus is able to
unlock doors from inside and outside,82 Smaralldus can calm the sea,83
Topacius stops water from boiling.84 These glimpses into the effects of
stones on non-human matter suggest an understanding of agency that
need not be strictly anthropocentric: while humans might be particularly
concerned with harnessing stones to improve human life, this concern does
not preclude the idea that these same stones could also equally act on the
non-human world (though nonetheless still in ways that benefit humans).
Operation and handling of the stones (haptic, topical/pharmaceutical
and internal)
The lapidary often stipulates conditions of usage for the stones. Some-
times, stones need merely to be adjacent to the body to work: e.g., Lapis
helps pregnant women if it is “hia lagdr” (placed nearby).85 More often,
though, stones should be placed in direct contact with the flesh, typically
worn on the body as a necklace or bracelet (e.g., Caledonius should be
held on the neck or the finger;86 Onix should be worn around the neck;87
Adamantis on the left hand).88 When stones are used in this manner, the
text implies a kind of haptic transmission of the stones’ properties, often
contingent on the human user creating just the right conditions to unlock
the stone’s potentials: e.g., Lapis’s full properties only manifest when it
81 De Lapidibus, 69.
82 AÍ, 77–78: “ok ef honum er slegit aa luktar dyR utan eda innan, þa lukaz þær upp ok aa
sỏmo leid bỏnd af bandingium.”
83 AÍ, 79: “kyRir hann sio.”
84 AÍ, 80: “stodvar vellanda vatn.”
85 AÍ, 77.
86 AÍ, 78: “aa halsi eda fingri.”
87 AÍ, 79: “aa halse.”
88 AÍ, 82: “aa vinstri hendi.”