came from Alimersai Mountain in Persia [now Iran] or the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, two of the world's oldest-known turquoise mining areas.)
Another possibility could be the name came from the French description of the gemstone pierre turquin, meaning dark blue stone.3 This could have caused the confusion and accounts for the mislabeling of sappir as sapphire rather than turquoise, turquoise being “sapphire-like.” Hebrews and Egyptians in the Middle East would have been much more familiar with turquoise as a gem than sapphire because turquoise is considerably more prevalent in the area. This notion is supported by author Cyril Aldred as he writes about the great value ancient Egyptians had for turquoise, carnelian, and lapis lazuli. He states that turquoise was mined from the Sinai area but that lapis lazuli was not found within the confines of Egypt and needed to be “imported from the Euphrates area whither (sic) it had been traded from Badakhshan in Afghanistan.”4
Evidence for the use of turquoise mounts with information from the book Edgar Cayce Guide to Gemstones, Minerals, Metals, and More by Shelley Kaehr. From her research she believes that the stone spoken of in the Cayce readings as “Lapis Linguis” could very well be turquoise.5 The readings go on to describe them as singing or talking stones. What I noted in another reading I find even more fascinating as to the stone's attributes.6
(Q) Of what value is it? (Lapis Linguis)
(A) Of particular value to those who are interested in things psychic! Read what was in the first effort that was made, as to all those that used the stones as settings to induce the influences from without that would aid an individual in its contact with the higher sources of activity!
440-2
There is some discussion over seeming ambiguity in the Cayce readings as to the nature of Lapis Linguis and whether it could be azurite or turquoise. I believe the geologic formation of turquoise holds the answer. Turquoise is considered a secondary mineral that can be formed from deposits in the earth that include azurite and malachite. This being the case, these minerals are closely related and could share the properties described in the Cayce readings.
The tables of the Ten Commandments were placed in the Ark of the Covenant that was used to communicate with God (the higher sources of activity) by the Hebrews. The mountains of Serabit el-Khadim were filled with turquoise, and with Cayce's reading on turquoise (Lapis Linguis), what better mountain for Moses to go up to communicate with God? This certainly all seems to tantalizingly tie in together.
Accordingly this reading imbues turquoise with the ability to psychically talk and assist one in getting in touch with “higher sources.” It also certainly compares to the Cayce description of the Tuaoi stone of the Atlanteans. A comparison can be seen in the spelling turquoise. Turquoise is a stone that also is believed to protect one's health and from falls, particularly falls from horses. I find this a curious connection with the fall of humankind from God's grace and the possibility that Moses may have had turquoise tablets to help humankind with its fall. Dr. Kaehr writes in reference to turquoise: “…I believe it connects you with the heavens while healing the physical body here on earth.”7 A similar concept to “as above, so below,” bringing heaven to earth, and such is a concept symbolized in the vesica pisces, which will be discussed in Chapter 6.
A tractate from the Nag Hammadi Library, which is popularly known as the Gnostic gospels and consists of early Christian texts discovered near the town of Nag Hammadi, Egypt in 1945, gives credence to support the concept of turquoise tablets. The tractate entitled, “The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth,” is introduced as describing the beginnings of the divine realm and states that the eighth and ninth spheres can be stages of advanced spiritual development. The excerpt says:
“My <son> write the language of the book on steles of turquoise, in hieroglyphic characters…that this teaching be carved on stone…This is the oath I will make him swear by heaven and earth and fire and water and seven rulers of substance and the creating spirit in them8 [Author's emphasis]
The last section of the quote is the oath's significance and will become apparent later with its use of the four elements and seven rulers when comparing them to the four hermetic symbols of the ancient elements, which create a six-pointed star and to the seven chakras (spiritual centers of the body) aligned with the spine.
Further support for the symbolism and use of turquoise in Moses’ time comes from the writing and research of Drs. Lora and Greg Little and John Van Auken in their book, Secrets of the Ancient World. In a chapter discussing the Urim and Thummim of the ancient Hebrews, they state that the Urim and Thummim were special tools for attunement, possibly stones, likely used as a type of oracle to receive divine guidance.9 Their research continues with the possibility of the Urim and Thummim stones being made of sapphire (See the earlier discussion of sapphire/sappir actually being turquoise in Middle East texts). They relate that sapphire/sappir in Hebrew literature had unusual powers and that Moses’ staff was made of sapphire/sappir and engraved with the name of God. This research ties in well with the idea of the symbolic importance of turquoise that has been put forth here. Could these two stones have been triangularly shaped symbols of the Tetragrammaton representing God's name and how to act with and bring together heaven and earth?
A final curious note on the Urim and Thummim comes from writings about Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint Movement. In a book written about Smith by his mother, she describes his creation of the Urim and Thummim to interpret golden tablets given to him by an angel what were triangularly shaped.
“On the morning of September 22, after Joseph had returned from the hill, he placed the article [the Nephite interpreters] of which he spoke into my hands, and, upon examination, I found that it consisted of two smooth three-cornered diamonds set in glass, and the glasses were set in silver bows, which were connected with each other in much the same way as old fashioned spectacles…”10 [Author's emphasis]
An interesting note on turquoise is that it has crypto-crystalline properties. Its crystalline nature is not obvious in the mineral, and the crystalline structure, with rare exception, becomes apparent only under a microscope. Its crystalline structure is hidden within its rounded surface. Another intriguing fact is the shape of these crystals, which is described as triclinic pinacoid bar 1. (See color Fig. 7.)
The full description of the turquoise crystal system is as follows:
The bar stands for the center, a symmetrical inversion through the crystallographic center of the crystal. Faces on one side of the crystal are inverted on the other side. The inversion switches everything about the individual faces; what is left is right and what is up is down. [Author's emphasis] The 1 refers to the one full rotation required to repeat a face or edge about each crystallographic axis. In other words, there is no rotational repeating of faces or edges.
The lack of symmetry gives rise to the thought that the triclinic system is the closest system to amorphism, having no form or order. It is actually the other way around. Triclinic minerals have a more sophisticated ordering of the atoms in their structure than other minerals. [Author's emphasis] Ordering is a way of saying that the atoms are precisely placed into specific sites and these sites, in the case of triclinic minerals, are not symmetrically arranged.11
This is a crystalline mineral, not easily recognized as such; its pyramidal crystals have a single center point. The crystal's shape reverses, as in flipping one triangle over on top of another, and creates a six-pointed star. They have a more sophisticated ordering of the atoms in their structure than other minerals which creates a more ordered structure. Until 1911 this crystal was also thought to be amorphous, meaning
