Edder stanes

An edder bead, edder stane^[a] or Gloine nan Druidh (Druid's gless)^[b]^[5] is a kynd o stane whilk is maistlins gless-like an haes a naiturally-creautit hole in it. Thay hae been descrieved bi Sir John Mactaggart as "aboot the size o a hazlenut, oval-shapit, o a lammer hue, but full o specks o ither bonnie colours. The hole throu thaim is aboot hauf an inch in diameter, an muckle eneuch tae fit a bairn's wee finger".^[6]

Thare are three theories why thir stanes begin: First, thit thay'r the haurdenit saliva o snakes comin thegither, the cuts an holes bein caused by thair tongues; seicont, thit the stane comes fae a snake's heid, or is creautit by an edder's sting; or third (the mair modren): that the holes hae been craftit by watter naturally borin throu the stane.^[7]

Druids

Edder stanes war heichly vailyied amang the Druids o auld lang syne; the Auncient Rouman naituralist Pliny the Elder spak anent the naitur an qualitees o the stane as an amulet amang the Gauls.^[8]

Modren era

In 1824, Sir John Mactaggart wrat that edder beads haed becam kenspeckle in museums an "ither repositories o rarities".^[6] Robert Huddleston's eedition o John Toland's History of the Druids says that the amulets o gless an stane, whilk are still preserved an uisit in mony pairts o Gaelic-speakin Scotland (a 'Ghàidhealtachd) an are brocht lang distances tae help cuir disease, cam fae this auld Druidic tradeetion.^[9]

Notes an references

↑ or ether-stane^[1]
↑ Thay are kent bi the Scots edder stanes in the sooth o Scotland an the Gaelic Gloine nan Druidh ("Druid's gless") in the north. In ither pairts o Breetain thay are kent as hag stanes,^[2] Glain Neidr ("edder gems" in Welsh),^[3] or milpreve in Cornwall.^[4]

↑ Burns, Robert. "The fete champetre". BBC - Robert Burns. Retrieved 22 September 2020. ... When Politics cam there, to mix / And make his ether-stane, man, ...
↑ Grimassi, Raven. "Encyclopedia of Wicca & Witchcraft". p. 201. Retrieved 1 November 2012.
↑ Duffin, C. J.; Gardner-Thorpe, C.; Moody, R. T. J. (2017). Geology and Medicine: Historical Connections (in Inglis). Geological Society of London. p. 176. ISBN 978-1-78620-283-3.
↑ Popular Romances of the West of England (in Inglis). Austrian National Library. 1865. p. 220.; Semmens, Jason; Paynter, William H. (2017). Cornish Witchcraft (in Inglis). Lulu.com. p. 99. ISBN 978-0-9546839-3-1.
↑ Jamieson, John (1879). An etymological dictionary of the Scottish language (PDF) (in Inglis). A. Gardner. p. 7. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
↑ ^a ^b Mactaggart, John (1824). The Scottish Gallovidian Encyclopedia: or the Original Antiquated and Natural Curiosities of the South of Scotland (in Inglis). Morrison. pp. 4–8.
↑ Roud, Steve (2003). The Penguin Guide to the Superstitions of Britain and Ireland. Pub. Penguin : London. P. 420.
↑

There is a sort of egg in great repute among the Gauls, of which the Greek writers have made no mention. A vast number of serpents are twisted together in summer, and coiled up in an artificial knot by their saliva and slime; and this is called "the serpent's egg". The druids say that it is tossed in the air with hissings and must be caught in a cloak before it touches the earth. The person who thus intercepts it, flies on horseback; for the serpents will pursue him until prevented by intervening water. This egg, though bound in gold will swim against the stream. And the magi are cunning to conceal their frauds, they give out that this egg must be obtained at a certain age of the moon. I have seen that egg as large and as round as a common sized apple, in a chequered cartilaginous cover, and worn by the Druids. It is wonderfully extolled for gaining lawsuits, and access to kings. It is a badge which is worn with such ostentation, that I knew a Roman knight, a Vocontian, who was slain by the stupid emperor Claudius, merely because he wore it in his breast when a lawsuit was pending.

"Pliny, Naturalis Historia Book XXII" Archived 2016-10-12 at the Wayback Machine, para XII, http://www.history-archive.org/
↑ The Esoteric Codex: Magic Objects I, April 18, 2014 by Mark Rogers

Links outwith

Henkin, Leo J. "The Carbuncle in the Adder's Head." Modern Language Notes, Vol. 58, No. 1 (Jan., 1943), pp. 34–39.
ghostvillage.com: Dictionary of Superstitions A-Z
Witchcraft & second sight in the Highlands & islands of Scotland. John Gregorson Campbell, pg 84.

[2] r ether-stane^[1]

[6] Thay are kent bi the Scots edder stanes in the sooth o Scotland an the Gaelic Gloine nan Druidh ("Druid's gless") in the north. In ither pairts o Breetain thay are kent as hag stanes,^[2] Glain Neidr ("edder gems" in Welsh),^[3] or milpreve in Cornwall.^[4]

[1] Burns, Robert. "The fete champetre". BBC - Robert Burns. Retrieved 22 September 2020. ... When Politics cam there, to mix / And make his ether-stane, man, ...

[3] Grimassi, Raven. "Encyclopedia of Wicca & Witchcraft". p. 201. Retrieved 1 November 2012.

[4] Duffin, C. J.; Gardner-Thorpe, C.; Moody, R. T. J. (2017). Geology and Medicine: Historical Connections (in Inglis). Geological Society of London. p. 176. ISBN 978-1-78620-283-3.

[5] Popular Romances of the West of England (in Inglis). Austrian National Library. 1865. p. 220.; Semmens, Jason; Paynter, William H. (2017). Cornish Witchcraft (in Inglis). Lulu.com. p. 99. ISBN 978-0-9546839-3-1.

[7] Jamieson, John (1879). An etymological dictionary of the Scottish language (PDF) (in Inglis). A. Gardner. p. 7. Retrieved 18 September 2020.

[Mactaggart-8] Mactaggart, John (1824). The Scottish Gallovidian Encyclopedia: or the Original Antiquated and Natural Curiosities of the South of Scotland (in Inglis). Morrison. pp. 4–8.

[Roud-9] Roud, Steve (2003). The Penguin Guide to the Superstitions of Britain and Ireland. Pub. Penguin : London. P. 420.

[10] 

There is a sort of egg in great repute among the Gauls, of which the Greek writers have made no mention. A vast number of serpents are twisted together in summer, and coiled up in an artificial knot by their saliva and slime; and this is called "the serpent's egg". The druids say that it is tossed in the air with hissings and must be caught in a cloak before it touches the earth. The person who thus intercepts it, flies on horseback; for the serpents will pursue him until prevented by intervening water. This egg, though bound in gold will swim against the stream. And the magi are cunning to conceal their frauds, they give out that this egg must be obtained at a certain age of the moon. I have seen that egg as large and as round as a common sized apple, in a chequered cartilaginous cover, and worn by the Druids. It is wonderfully extolled for gaining lawsuits, and access to kings. It is a badge which is worn with such ostentation, that I knew a Roman knight, a Vocontian, who was slain by the stupid emperor Claudius, merely because he wore it in his breast when a lawsuit was pending.

"Pliny, Naturalis Historia Book XXII" Archived 2016-10-12 at the Wayback Machine, para XII, http://www.history-archive.org/

[11] The Esoteric Codex: Magic Objects I, April 18, 2014 by Mark Rogers

[a]

[b]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]