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September 20, 2008, published, doi:10.1098/rsnr.2007.0046622008Notes Rec. R. Soc.

Anna Marie Roosof astrological sigils in the OldenburgLetters'Magic coins' and 'magic squares': the discovery

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MAGIC COINS AND MAGIC SQUARES: THE DISCOVERY OF

ASTROLOGICAL SIGILS IN THE OLDENBURG LETTERS

by

ANNA MARIE ROOS

Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine, Oxford University,4547 Banbury Road,

Oxford OX2 6PE, UK

Enclosed in a 1673 letter to Henry Oldenburg were two drawingsof a series of astrological

sigils, coins and amulets from the collection of Strasbourgmathematician Julius Reichelt

(16371719). As portrayals of particular medieval and earlymodern sigils are relatively rare,

this paper will analyse the role of these medals in medieval andearly modern medicine, the

logic behind their perceived efficacy, and their significance inearly modern astrological and

cabalistic practice. I shall also demonstrate their change instatus in the late seventeenth century

from potent magical healing amulets tied to the mysteries of theheavens to objects kept in a

cabinet for curiosos. The evolving perception of the purpose ofsigils mirrored changing early

modern beliefs in the occult influences of the heavens upon thebody and the natural world, as

well as the growing interests among virtuosi in collecting,numismatics and antiquities.

Keywords: coins; sigils; astrology; Julius Reichelt; OldenburgLetters; medicine

On 11 June 1673, Johannes Gezelius the Younger (16471718), ayoung Finnish theologian

who would succeed his father as Bishop of Turku, wrote a letterto Henry Oldenburg,

secretary of the Royal Society.1 Gezelius enclosed two sheets ofpen-and-ink drawings of

coins and astrological sigils (figures 1 and 2). Gezelius hadbeen visiting England as part

of his Grand Tour since 1671, and in this epistle was serving asan intermediary for Julius

Reichelt (16371719), who became a professor of mathematics atthe University of

Strasbourg in 1667 and was best known for his works oncartography.2 Reichelt was also a

keen collector of medals, coins, sigils and amulets, and wascomposing a book about their

symbolismExercitatio de amuletis, aeneis figures illustratewhichwas published three

years later, in 1676.3 Reicherts work featured a rich variety ofwoodcuts portraying sigils and

their cabalistic devices, including illustrations of the verysigils and coins enclosed in his

epistle to Oldenburg.4 Reichelt subsequently asked Oldenburgwhether the Royal Society had

any sigils different from the drawings he enclosed in theletter, and asked particularly for

information about the magic coins in the lowest row. He alsooffered to communicate

anything of scientific interest occurring in the Germanies.

Reichelts penchant for collecting was not unusual, because manyearly modern virtuosi

were fashionably interested in numismatics. Elias Ashmole(161792) collected more than

9000 coins, and, as Michael Hunter noted, coins and medals werethe most characteristic of

271 This journal is q 2008 The Royal Society

Notes Rec. R. Soc.(2008) 62, 271288

doi:10.1098/rsnr.2007.0046

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all the items that cognoscenti coveted for their cabinets,combining the thrill of rarity and lure

of collectability withagenuine utility and capacity forinstructionor so virtuoso handbooks

of the time averred.5 A fine collection of coins, medals orsigils was a sign of superior

social standing. More pragmatically, as virtuoso Henry Peacham(15461634) noted,

although coins were not cheap, they were cheaper and moreportable for collecting than

Figure 1. Sigil figures enclosed in Reichelts Letter toOldenburg. (Copyright q The Royal Society.)

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statues or inscriptions.6 They therefore would be within thereach of someone, like Reichelt,

from the middling sorts or professions, and it was quite commonfor collectors such as him to

exchange descriptions and drawings of their specimens in books,manuscripts and letters as

communications of knowledge and social status. For example,Ralph Thoresby (16581724),

a Leeds antiquarian and businessman, corresponded regularly withfellow virtuosi and Royal

Society members such as Martin Lister(16391712) about hisextensive collection of coins

and antiquities in his curiosity cabinet.7 It would thereforenot be unusual for Reichelt to write

to the Royal Society in hopes of making connections withlike-minded numismatic

connoisseurs.8

The drawings enclosed with Gerzeliuss letter indicated thatReichelt (as did Ashmole)

showed a particular preference for collecting sigils that hadnumerical squares from cabala.

Some of the medals also had astrological or astronomical signsso as to obtain particular

effects by some celestial virtue.9 Ashmole believed in theirefficacy as part of his deeply

magical view of the world, and Robert Boyle (162791) speculatedthat it might be possible

to find out how tomake efficacious sigils of the exoticEffluviums of. the upper [region] of

the atmosphere.10 Certainly, he would not discourage any curiousor industrious Man from

attempting to satisfie himself by Experiments to test thesecharms.11 This was because even

a seemingly slight discovery in a thing of this nature may be ofno small use in the

investigation. of the Correspondency, which, by the interventionof the Air, the superfi cial

part of the Terrestrial Globe may have . with the Celestial[Regions] of the Universe.12

Other natural philosophers, such as Reichelt, took a completelydifferent approach to their

collection and study, demonstrating a complete antipathy totheir use. His attitude was not

unique. The astrologer John Gadbury in his 1660 Naturaprodigorum included an appendix

Figure 2. Drawing of large cabalistic sigil enclosed inReichelts Letter to Oldenburg.(Copyright q The Royal Society.)

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about the imposturism of some who proclaimed the doctrine ofsigils and talismans.13

Gadburys main problem with sigil-making was that he feltastronomical observations to be

not accurate enough to make them efficacious, particularly astheir powers were governed by

the doctrine of ascendants, or the rise of a planet in the firsthouse of the zodiac.14 Because it

was impossible to time the rising of planets precisely, onecould not cast astrological metalsso they would receive maximumplanetary influences. Reichelt, because he had been a very

successful pupil of the great Hevelius, andconstructed the firstastronomical observatory in

Strasburg in 1673, shared similar views.15 He collected sigilsbecause of his expertise and

interests in astronomy, mathematics and sheer antiquarianism,but after an extensive personal

study of astrology and the cabala, he denied that sigils had anyrelation of sympathy with the

heavens. In his Exercitatio, he criticized astrology in detail,citing the works of Marsilio

Ficino (143399) and Peter of Abano (ca. 12501316), and concludedthat there was no

natural cause in such sigils, and that they were thereforesuperstitious snares of the devil.16

For Reichelt, sigils and amulets were largely fashionablecuriosities, as well as tools for

understanding what he considered the credulous practices ofastrological physicians andmagi. Because portrayals of particularmedieval and early modern sigils are relatively rare,

this paper will analyse Reicherts drawings of them in a morehistorically sensitive spirit.

Specifically, we will analyse the role of these healing andprotective medals in medieval and

early modern medicine, the logic behind their perceivedefficacy, and as their significance in

early modern astrological and cabalistic practice.

THE CONTEXT OF SIGILS

According to Weill-Parot, the concept of having astrologicalimages on sigils is exclusive to the

Christian Latin West.17 In theSpeculum astronomie, a workthought to have been written in the

mid-thirteenth century by Albertus Magnus, the philosopherproposed the creation of a type oftalisman whose power restedcompletely in natural causes, excluding illicit forms of

necromantic magic. This natural magic included the use of sigilswith astrological images

that would contain the astral power of the planets. The writingsof Pico della Mirandola

(146394) and Marsilio Ficinos recovery of Hermetic andneo-Platonic texts in fifteenth-

century Florence also contributed to the popularity of the useof astrological talismans. These

talismans included elements of cabala as Ficinos circle becameinterested in Jewish mysticism,

and the Christian humanist Johann Reuchlins conversations withPico led to his publication of

theDe arte cabalistica in 1517, which was one of the first Latinbooks on the Jewish cabala

written by a Christian.18 Reuchlin was interested in cabala outof a desire to reinvigorate

Christian theology, but other writers wished to explore themagical and esoteric applications ofcabala. Heinrich CorneliusAgrippa (14861535), in his Philosophia occulta siva magia(1531),

subsequently provided instructions for the use of Hebrew symbolsand numerology in

magical sigils.

Early modern literature on the medical and protective efficacyof sigils was indeed quite

prevalent, especially in Germany and to a lesser degree inEngland. Johannes Trithemius

(14621516), Abbot of Sponheim and Wurzberg, cryptographer andmagician, wrote a

sixteenth-century work on sigils that was republished throughoutthe seventeenth century.19

Israel Hiebners Mysterium sigillorum was published in Saxony in1650 with eight

subsequent editions, and the Jena physician Jacob Wolffs laterCuriosus sigilorum scrutator

(Frankfurt, 1692) was a magnum opus of 400 pages with acatalogue o fdiseases he felt were

curable by the use of sigils and herbal bags worn around theneck.20 In England, one of

the most comprehensive works was a 1671 treatise of astrologicalmedicine by the

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late-seventeenth-century physician Joseph Blagrave.21 Reichelt,in hisExercitatio, provided

a sceptical description of all the medical cures that were saidto be effected by astrological

sigils and other herbal amulets, gleaned from treatises byantiquaries and physicians such as

Thomas Bartholine (161680) and Johann Schroder (160064).22

In curing disease, most of these devices were thought to work bythe principles of signatures,antipathy or sympathy.23 The doctrineof signatures was an extraGalenic principle popularized

by Paracelsus and promoted by Bartholomaeus Carricher, theKrauterdoktorresident at the

Imperial court of Maximillian II at the beginning of theseventeenth century.24 Subsequent

English publications such as Nicolas Culpepers English physitianenlarged(1653) further

linked sigils and herbal cures with astrology.25

Paracelsian herbal remedies, through the system of astralparallels, went by the principle

that each organ, herb and metal is bound with its own planet,and maladies could be cured

sympathetically by employing plants or metals belonging to theplanets causing the disease.

In the case of plants, each plant had a signature of its medicalapplication, usually resembling

the part of the body or the ailment that it could cureforinstance, lentils and rapeseed werethought sympathetically to curethe smallpox, a lunar disease, because the seeds were similar

to the spots of the Moon (and pox pustules). The appropriateherbs were bundled and worn

about the neck to effect the cure.

Alternatively, some cures for a disease caused by a particularmorbificant planet could be

healed antipathetically by a herb of the opposing planet. Forexample, lunar diseases were

considered to produce an abundance of cold and moist humours, asthe Moon controlled the

waters in the tides. Diseases that produced phlegm and causedsneezing, or those that

produced fluid-filled tumours, such as scrofula, were thusconsidered governed by the Moon.

These lunar diseases could be cured by means of solar herbs ortinctures, which were hot

and drying as sunbeams. In a similar vein, oneseventeenth-century English empiric,

Lionel Lockyer, widely publicized a secret preparation calledPilulae Radiis Solis Extractae

purported to be a medicine of a solar nature, dispelling ofthose causes in our Bodies,

which continued, would not only darken the Lustre, butextinguish the Light of Our

Microcosmical Sun.26

The same principles of sympathy and antipathy governed thepreparation of astrological

sigils made of metal. The Sun was astrologically andalchemically associated with gold, so a

gold sigil would be struck with a picture of the Sun (usuallywhen it was at its stronge st

influence, during the vernal equinox) or an astrological signruled by the Sun, such as Leo.27

The solar sigil was believed, by means of antipathy, to protectagainst lunar diseases. The

wearer was protected from the malignant influence of theheavens; as Hiebner explained in

theMysterium Sigillorum, the antipathetick noxious Influencegoes into the Metal, then Man,and Man is preserved from thethreatening Illness; but when the Illness is already in thebody,

[the metal] extracts it by degrees.28

REICHELTS SIGILS AND ASTROLOGY

Several of Reichelts sigils portrayed in Gerzeliuss letter weredesigned to work by

sympathetic principles. Reichelt realized that sigils 14 and 68(infigure 1) were sigils of the

Sun in his astrological house of Leo, and an example of sigilthree survives in the coin cabinet

of the Vienna Kunsthistorisches Museum (figure 3). Their designseemed to have been

influenced by instructions given in the pseudo-Arnaldus medicaltreatise De sigillis,

attributed to Arnaldus de Villanova (ca. 12401311), who was aCatalan professor of

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medicine in Montpellier.29 Villanovas work demonstrated how toprepare seals for each of

the signs of the zodiac, and the Leo seal orsigillumleonisoffered particular protection against

kidney ailments and fevers. The kidneys were governed by Leo onfigures of medieval

zodiacal men guiding phlebotomy, and severe fevers wereassociated with the heat of the Sun.

Apparently, in 1301, Pope Boniface VIII (12941303) noted that heused a gold sigillum

leonis, held in place on the body by a girdle or truss, to betreated for kidney stones. 30

The obverse of sigils 2, 4 and 6 (infigure 1) also displays thesign of the heart of the lion

cor leonis, which is Regulus, the brightest star in theconstellation of Leo, as well one of the

brightest stars in the night sky. The astrological symbol wasthought to have portrayed the

animals mane, but it also might be the animals tail, and the dotor star within its curves was

Regulus at its heart. The cabalistic symbol for Regulus was ,which is engraved on the obverse

of sigils 1, 2 and 7. The symbol for the cor leonis wasapparently cultural currency among

artists in the early modern period. Nowotny has noted that theheart of Regulus was used

by Albrecht Durer in his portrait of patrician JohannKleeberger. This was because Kleeberger

was born in this significant conjunction of the Sun and Regulus(Sol in CordeLeonis), on 15

August when the Sun sets and rises very near to Regulus31(figures 4and5).32

The sigils astral power could be further enhanced byincorporating scriptural quotationsand the names of Biblicalprophets.33 Inscribed on sigils 1, 2, 4 and 6 is the common

apotropaic formulaVincit Leo de tribu Iuda, radix DavidfromRevelation 5: 5, a reference to

the biblical David and to astrological Leo. As Skerner noted inhis study of religious

benedictions and textual medieval sigils:

a longer version of this formula . offers the cross of the Lordas a powerful shield

turning demons to flight (Ecce crucum demoni, fugite partesadversae, vincit Leo de tribu

juda, radix David, alleluia or Behold the Cross of the Lord!Flee demonic foes! The Lion

of the tribe of Judah, the root of David has conquered.Alleluia). 34

Similarly, some of Reicherts sigils were inscribed with wordsfrom the Gospel of

John: Verbum caro factum est, causing demons to flee before thepower of the Word

made Flesh.35

(a) (b)

Figure 3.Sigillum leonis. (a) On the obverse of the coin we seethe Sun in Leo. (b) On the reverse we see the Verchielangelicsymbol, followed by the sign for Regulus, and the cabala symbol forLeo. Coin Cabinet, KunsthistorischesMuseum, Vienna. (Copyright qKunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna; reproduced with permission.)

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REICHERTS SIGILS AND CABALA

Inscribing the names of angels on sigils was also thought to beefficacious, a tradition begun

in the thirteenth century by the increasing influence of Jewishcabalistic texts such as the Sefer

Figure 5. Close-up of the Regulus symbol in the Kleebergerportrait ( figure 4). (Copyright q KunsthistorischesMuseum, Vienna;reproduced with permission.) (Online version in colour.)

Figure 4. Albrecht Durers portrait of patrician JohannKleeberger (1526). The Regulus symbol is in the upperleft.(Copyright q Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna; reproduced withpermission.) (Online version in colour.)

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Yezirahand the Sefer Raziel. These works were used by Jewishastrologers who served as

courtiers in medieval Spain, and were later incorporated in Picodella Mirandolas cabalistic

theses in 1486. The texts claimed that the secret names of theGod and the angels provided

the means by which the powers were called down into the sublunarlevels of thecosmos, and

hence used an intricate and often bewildering angelology inritualistic magic.36

The SeferRazielat its beginning gives directions for invokingthe angels that change according to the

month, day and hour, and for using them for a peculiar purpose,such as prophecy or

protection.37 Because astrological influences were also thoughtto be time-dependent, it is not

difficult to see how the two magical traditions of astrology andcabala merged in the casting of

sigils. In sigils 1 and 7, Verchiel is inscribed. Verchiel wasinvoked as the angel of the

month of July, ruler of the sign of Leo. Verchiel (here calledZerachiel) is also governor of the

Sun and grants powers of the intellect, language, learning andmathematics, which may have

been part ofthe appeal of these sigils to a mathematician suchas Reichelt, who studied cabala

extensively.38 Certainly, early modern virtuosi were interestedin curiosities featuring

Hebrew writing. A Jewish phylactery appeared in Nehemiah Grews1685 catalogue of theRoyal Society Repository, from whence Grewclaimed the use of Charms amongst

Christians was first learned, and Ralph Thoresby had a Jewishshekel, half shekel and selah

in his collection, along with four very rare and finetalismans.39

Several of Reichelts sigils also bear geometrical characters oftriangles, circles and lines,

which he realized represented the intelligences and demons ofthe planets based on

numerical associations made with the heavenly bodies derivedfrom the rules of cabala. There

is also a magic square or grid of numbers engraved on sigil 10(in figure 1) devoted to the

planet Mercury. The use of these magic squares and geometricalplanetary characters on

Reichelts sigils seems to be based on Book II of Agrippa ofNettesheims Philosophia

occulta siva magia (see figure 6). For Agrippa (as for otherearly modern philosophers),mathematics and magic were intimatelyconnected.40 From his doctrine that the elements of

the body were mingled in geometrical proportions, and that thesouls elements combined

numerically, Agrippa determined that the derived geometrical andnumerical figures had

peculiar corporeal and spiritual powers.41 Agrippacontinued:

It is affirmed by Magicians, that there are certain tables ofnumbers distributed to the

seven planets, which they call the sacred tables of the planets,endowed with many, and

very great virtues of the Heavens, in as much as they representthat divine Order

of Celestial numbers, impressed upon Celestials by the Ideas ofthe divine mind. . For

materiall numbers, and figures can do nothing in the mysteriesof hid things, but

representatively by formall numbers, and figures, as they aregoverned, and informed by

intelligencies, and divine numerations, which unite the extreamsof the matter, and spirit

to the will of the elevated soul, receiving . by the Celestialpower of the operator, a

power from God.42

Agrippa subsequently noted that planetary sigils weretraditionally impressed on their

obverse with a cabalistic magic number square or KAMEA specificto each planet. Magic

squares first appeared in Arabic sources in AD 900 and werefigures in a square grid that would

add to the same number in four directions. The number was thetotal of the numerological values

of the consonants in a particular Hebrew name, because eachHebrew consonant was assigned a

numerical value in cabala.43 As Calder has noted, magic squareswhich had no apparent

counterparts in observed nature were assumed to stand in arelation to entities and truths existing

in a higher realm than the sensible.44 For Agrippa, the numbersthemselves in the squares acted

directly on the soul, as the elements of the soul were mingledin arithmetic proportion.

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Agrippa arranged the magic square of the seven planets known inthe early modern

period (Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury and theMoon) in the order of their

orbital velocity. The smallest number of units used to form oneside of a magic square was

three assigned to the slowest planet, Saturn, progressing up toseven for the rapid orbit of

the Moon. As Nowotny stated, Three kinds of magic square can bedistinguished according

to the number of units in a side: those containing an unevennumber; those with an even

number whose halves are uneven; and those containing an evennumber whose halves

were even.45

Agrippa derived the uneven magic square of the numeral three forSaturn from the natural

square (a square of sequential numbers numbered from left toright) and turned it 458to the

right, inserting numbers thus left on the opposite sides (figure7). For other planets with even

Figure 6. Magic square for a Mercury Sigil from Agrippa42, p.249. (Copyright q Wellcome Library, London;reproduced withpermission.)

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squares, such as for Jupiter (square of the number 4) or Mercury(square of the number 8), the

natural square was numbered right to left. The magic square wasformed by leaving in

positions one half of the numerals of the natural square andturning the other half by 180

degrees (figure 8). In Reichelts collection, sigil 10, which isdevoted to the planet Mercury,

has a magic square for that planet engraved on its obverseaccording to Agrippas method.

The geometric figures seen on several of the Leo medalsrepresented Nachiel, the angel of

Leos governing planet, the Sun. In Hebrew, Nachiel isrepresented as . According to the rules

of cabala, divine language is alphanumeric; the Hebrew letterscan be identified with numbers

Figure 7. Construction of the magic square of Saturn by Agrippasmethod. Agrippa derived the uneven magic squareof the numeral threefor Saturn from the natural square (a square of sequential numbersnumbered from left to right)and turned it 458 to the right,inserting numbers thus left on the opposite sides.

Figure 8. Construction of the magic square of Jupiter by themethod of Agrippa. The magic square of Jupiter is formedby leavingin position one-half of the numerals of the natural square andturning the other half by 1808.

Table 1.Hebrew alphabet and alphanumeric values in cabala.

number letter name value

1 a aleph 12 b beth 23 d gimel 34 c daleth 4

5 he 56 vav 67 zain 78 cheth 89 teth 910 yod 1011 kaph 20

12 lamed 3013 mem 4014 nun 5015 samech 6016 ayin 7017 peh 8018tzaddi 90

19 qoph 10020 resh 20021 shin 30022 tau 400

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1 to 22, each number identified with a divine attribute (table1). Spelling out NACHIELs name

thus gives a numerical sequence: 30C1C10C20C50Z111. Thegeometric figure for the

intelligence of the Sun is formed by joining the numericalvalues of the letters forming the name

of the angel NACHIEL on the Suns magic square, the tens andhundreds often expressed by

ones if the number is not extant in the square. So, in the caseof our magic square for number 6,

table of the Sun, beginning with the first row, we connect3C1C10C20C5, which gives us

our figure that we see engraved in sigils 1 and 2 in Reicheltscollection (figure 9).

The use of Christian cabala is also seen in the large amulet infigure 2, which invokes both

biblical and Jewish patristic names and is therefore written inboth Latin and Hebrew. Its

importance to Reichelt was indicated by his placement of thedrawing of it in the frontispiece to

the Exercitatio. The amulet seems to represent a concentricuniverse of increasing ranks of

divinity from inner to outer. Just as the changeable and corruptEarth was considered to be atthe centre of the cosmos, surroundedby spheres of increasing perfection and beauty, the

amulet mirrored this structure. In the innermost circle we seethe inscription Abiron, Daton,

et Effron. Daton and Abiron were the sons of Eliab, the son ofPhallu, of the tribe of Ruben

in the Old Testament. They rebelled against the authority ofMoses and Aaron, aggrieved as

the Rubenite tribe was deprived of the leadership that they sawas their right by birth, being

descended from the eldest son of Jacob. The Bible (Numbers 6:134) relates that as

punishment for their actions against Gods chosen one, Daton andAbiron were swallowed up

by the earth and brought to hell. Their inclusion on the sigilmay be a reminder of the perfidy

of humanity, or a warning about the power of divine wrath andthe necessity of obeying

divine authority when using inscription and incantation toattain magical power, or even asimple protective curse. In earlymedieval Cluniac monasteries, a common curse referred to

Daton and AbironIf anyone raises calumnies, may he incur thewrath of almighty God and

be in hell with Daton and Abiron, and Daton and Abiron werefrequently invoked with Judas

Iscariot in some of the most potent medieval curses.46

In the next circle are the different ranks of angels in Latin(Seraphim, Cherubim, Wheels,

Thrones, Dominions, Principalities, Powers, Archangels andAngels). The third concentricity

(the names in large lettering) in Hebrew can be translated asYWWH of Hosts, God (Eloha),

God (Elohim) is great, God (El), YHWH, God (Elohim), YHWH, I am.The three words that

are translated as God are three different Hebrew words fordeity, and YHWH is the

Tetragrammaton, the English transcription of the Hebrew name ofGod that modern biblical

scholars speculate was pronounced as Yahweh.47 Rabbis forbid theutterance of the

Tetragrammaton to avoid the desecration of the sacred name ofGod, and it was a common

6 32 3

11 27 28 8

34 35 1

14

20

29

5

10

22

16 5 23

1721

9 26

7

9

18

25

36 33 4 2 31

12

13

24

30

Figure 9. The magic square of the Sun, its planetary angelNachiel, and figure of the angel. Nachiel Z . Tracingthe numbers ofNachiel, namely 30 (3)C1C10C20C50 (5), from the upper row to thelower gives thevisual figure.

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symbol in magic Jewish papyri and amulets.48 Going one spherebeyond, the Hebrew names

can be translated as Lord, Shaddai (usually translated asAlmighty), God, Hosts (the

heavenly hosts of angels). So, these circles represent God asconceptualized by the Judaic

faith. The Hebrew names in the outermost circle, however, readYeshu (Jesus) our God,

YHWH (God) is one, which is a Christian humanist interpretationof Deuteronomy 6: 4,Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord isone. This would be the pinnacle of holiness

for a Christian humanist such as Reuchlin, who saw cabala asreinvigorating the Christian

faith; the mysteries of the Judaic faith and Christianity areunited in this sigil with this paean

to Jesus and to Yahweh.

REICHELTS EVILEYE AMULETS AND IRONAGE COINS

Not all of the objects portrayed in Reichelts letter weretechnically sigils with

astrological or cabalistic associations. Some, such as the twohand-shaped objects infigure 1, were simple amulets designed toprotect the wearer from the Evil Eye or

bewitchment.49 Still made in Spain out of jet or coral in thepilgrimage town of Santiago de

Compostela, the amulet represents a gesture of the hand called afighand or mano fico, supposed

to resemble a hanging fig. Some anthropologists have claimedthat because fica or fig is also a

common slang term for the female genitals, the hand gesture inthe amulet represents the sexual

act with the thumb as the phallus. Alan Dundes has claimed thatin cultures that believe in the

evil eye, life is seen to depend on liquids, whether the waterof life or bodily liquids such as sem*n,

blood, saliva or milk.50 The Evil Eye is thought to dry up suchfluids and is therefore repelled by a

symbol of fertility or sexual potency such as the fighand. Inhis study of amulets, Reichelt

noted that babies and children are often given these amulets towear because they are thoughtparticularly susceptible to the powerof the Evil Eye. Both weaker and also more attractive,

youngsters are believed more likely to draw upon themselvesenvious and maleficent glances.

Indeed, as Hildburgh has noted, seventeenth-century portraits ofchildren from the noble classes

portrayed them wearing such amulets:

the portrait of the baby Infanta of Spain, Dofia Ana de Austria,painted by Juan Pantoja de la

Cruz about the beginning of the seventeenth century, shows herwearing, for her protection,

a quite considerable array of objects, some of themcrosses andlittle reliquaries

religious in inspiration, othersincluding a jet fig-hand mountedin enameled gold.51

It is not known exactly when fighands first appeared, butHildburgh speculated that, in

Spain, it was before the conquest by the Moors in the seventhcentury AD.The last talismans I shall analyse in Reicheltscollectionthe bottom row of coins for

which he asked the Royal Societys assistance in identifyinginfigure 1pre-date even the

fighand symbol. There is no Royal Society record that Reicheltwas ever given a satisfactory

reply to his query; this may simply have been because the replywas lost, or Oldenburg did

not have the expertise to give an answer. Oldenburg may wellalso have been ambivalent

about discussing magic and its efficacy. A canon of Sarlat whotried to interest Oldenburg in

his ideas on magic and alchemy in the same period was ratherprimly informed by the Royal

Societys secretary to limit himself to the natural history ofPerigord.52 At any rate, Reichelt

himself remained puzzled at their origins of the coins with theodd symbols, assuming only

that they were magic coins of some type. The confusion of theseearly modern antiquarians

is not surprising. As Rosemary Sweet has demonstrated, earlyeighteenth-century antiquarians

had little sense of prehistory, archaeology was in its infancy,and the firm foundations of

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numismatics were only beginning to be laid, correctclassification usually being restricted to

ancient Greek and Roman coins.53 The drawings in fact are of12-carat gold Iron Age coins

(1000750 BC) from Germany, weighing probably between 5.5 and 7.5g. Number 13 is of a

stater (the term is borrowed from ancient Greek coins of asimilar size) from He ssen and

Rheinland; numbers 14 and 15 are of staters from SouthernGermany (Bavaria).54

RalphThoresby considered it notable that he had one Nordic coinwith rune symbols in his

collection, believing it to be the only one known to be in anyMuseum in Europe, so Iron

Age coins with their inscrutable symbols would have presented anexotic puzzle indeed.55

Because many of the Iron Age coins had horse motifs, earlyeighteenth-century connoisseurs

believed them to be Phoenician, an assertion not disproved untilWilliam Borlases

numismatic work on the Carn Brea Hoard discovered in Cornwall inthe 1740s.56 Even in

the mid-eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the perception ofthe motifs on Iron Age

coins as druidical or mystical symbols was fairly universalacross western Europe.57 The

crescents on the coins such as Reichelts, for instance, werethought to portray the Druids

lunar calendar, orthe golden hook with which their Priests withso much solemnity cut thedivine mistletoe.58

Although today we can determine the time periods of these coins,comprehending their

symbolism is still problematic.59 Dr John Sills, an expert onIron Age and Celtic coins, has

speculated that the curves capped with circular balls on theobverse of Reichelts coins may

represent torcs, or the collars or bracelets of a twisted narrowmetal strip worn by ancient

Gauls and Britons.60 The quite literal representation of itsportrayal on the coins and the fact

that the torc may be regarded as the mostcharacteristic relic ofprimitive Celtic and Teutonic

art makes such an identification likely.61

5. CONCLUSION

Three years after his letter to Oldenburg, Reichelt went on topublish his Excercitatioto great

success, and his work was later often appended to Jacob Wolffsmagnum opus, the Curiosus

sigilorum scrutator.62 Though interest in sigils persisted amongvirtuosi in the late

seventeenth and early eighteenth century, Reichelts attitudetoward their lack of efficacy and

association with superstitious practice eventually became thepredominant one among natural

philosophers. Rather than magical talismans, sigils becamerelegated to the realm of queer

and interesting curiosities. Readers of question-and-answercoffeehouse newspapers designed

to appeal to polite society such as the Athenian Mercury(169197) and the British Apollo

(170811) continued to submit questions about astrological medalsas a result of their statusas curious objects. One reader of theMercuryin 1691 asked, Whether the force and virtues

of the Old Egyptian Talismans and their other Magical Operationswere true and real, and

another reader of the Apollo queried whether moonbeams could betrapped in physical

objects.63 The editors responses show that they sneered at themaking of such charms, the

Mercurys editors denying that sigils that the maker or userbelieved woud receive and keep

the Critical Influences of the their [the planets] designdaspects had effects on medicine or

anything else.64 In 1693, even the fairly radical mystic writerWilliam Freke (16621744)

showed his disappointment in their supposed powers. He claimedthus Telesmes, or

Talismans also are a spawn of Astrology . of just as much forceas Powder of Post .; for

my part I once madea Telesme of Venus my self in Silver, butfound no more effect in the

Mettal than before.65 From potent magical healing amulet tied tothe mysteries of the

heavens, to an object kept in a curiosos cabinet, the use andpurpose of sigils such as

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Reicherts mirrored changing early modern beliefs in the occultinfluences of the heavens on

the body and the natural world. Empirical verification of theirpowers or lack thereof may

have subsumed their magic power, but not their inherentfascination.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I thank Keith Moore, Head of Library and Information Services atthe Royal Society, and

Professor Lisa Jardine at Queen Mary, University of London, fortheir encouragement and

assistance. I also thank Dr John Sills for his expert adviceconcerning Reichelts Iron Age

coins, Dr Rebecca Lesses of Ithaca College for her assistancewith Hebrew translation, and

Dr Adrian Popescu of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, for hishelp with the

identification of Reichelts coins. My husband Ian graciouslylent his expertise in creating

the magic squares illustrations. I am grateful to the editorofNotes and Recordsas well as to

the anonymous reviewers for their suggestions for theimprovement of this article.

NOTES

1 Johannes Gerzelius Jr to Henry Oldenburg. 11 June 1673, RoyalSociety MS G, no. 37. This letter

has been translated in The correspondence of Henry Oldenburg(ed. and transl. A. Rupert Hall

and Marie Boas Hall), vol. 10, no. 2248 (Mansell, London, 1975).Gezelius the Elder (161590)

is considered the father of Finnish popular education,organizing ambulatory schools to teach

literacy to the general population. He also founded the countrysfirst printing press and became

vice-Chancellor of the University of Turku. His son continuedhis initiatives in education. See

Johannes Gezelius the Elder and Johannes Gezelius the Younger in100 faces from Finland.A biographical kaleidoscope (SuomalaisenKirjallisuuden Seura, Helsinki, 2000); Toivo

Harjunpaa, Liturgical developments in Sweden and Finland in theera of Lutheran orthodoxy

(15931700),Church Hist.37, 1435 (1968); Donald Smith, Schoollife in Medival Finland:

mainly in the town of Viborg, illustrated by royal letters andlocal records, Trans. R. Hist. Soc.

13, 83116 (1930).

2 Peter H. Meurer, Die Deutschland-Karte des StrassburgerMathematikers Julius Reichelt (etwa

1680) [The Map of Germany of the Strasbourg mathematician JuliusReichelt (around 1680)],

Speculum Orbis 2, 96102 (1986). Reichelts map was firstpublished asS. Imperium Romano-

Germicum oder Deutschland . engr. by A. Hobeboom (N. Visscher,Amsterdam, 1680);

Reichelt was also an anonymous author of town views in CirculiSuevici Succinta Descriptio

(W. Michahelles & J. Adolph, Nurnberg, 1703).3 JuliusReichelt, Julii Reichelti exercitatio, de amvletis, aeneis figurisillustrate (Argentorati,

Apud Joh. Frid. Spoor, and Reinhard, Wechtler, 1676).

4 The drawing of the amulets infigure 1was reproduced exactly inReichelts Exercitatio, and the

larger cabalistic amulet in figure 2 served as a frontispiece.Sigils were small pieces of metal or semi-

precious gems, engraved with astrological symbols and a pictureof the planet on one side and often

a magic square of gridded numbers on the back or geometricalfigures reflecting the cabalistic

belief that there was a number assigned to each planet. Theywere designed to be worn about the

neck and were engraved when a planet was in a particularastrological configuration, so as to capture

that planets power. Sigils could be engraved metal, but theycould also be small pouches of herbal

preparations and parts of animals or mineral powder designed tofend off disease or bring luck.

5 Michael Hunter, Science and the shape of orthodoxy:intellectual change in late seventeenth-century Britain (Boydell& Brewer, Woodbridge, 1995), p. 37.

6 Ken Arnold,Cabinets for the curious (Ashgate, Aldershot,2006), pp. 6768.

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7 As a representative example, see Ralph Thoresby, A Letter fromMr. Ralph Thoresby, to

Dr. Martin Lister, Coll. Med. Lond. & S. R. S. Giving anAccount of a Roman Pottery, Near

Leeds in Yorkshire, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. 19, 319320 (169597);Ralph Thoresby, Part of a

Letter from Mr. Ralph Thoresby, FRS to Dr. Martin Lister, Fellowof the Colledge of Physicians

and R. S. Concerning a Roman Shield,Phil. Trans. R. Soc.20,205208 (1698). MS Lister 35 inthe Bodleian Library, Oxford, alsoindicates that the two antiquarians exchanged shells for their

respective collections.

8 Thoresbys museum is described in Ralph Thoresby,MuseumThoresbyanum, or A Catalogue of

his Museum, with the Curiosities Natural and Artificial, and theAntiquities; particularly the

Roman, British, Saxon, Danish, Norman and Scotch coins, withModern Medals (1715) and also

in Ralph Thoresby,Ducatus Leodiensis: or, the topography of theancient and populous town and

parish of Leedes, . (London, 1715).

9 For Ashmoles penchant for astrological sigils, see Hunter, op.cit. (note 5), pp. 2729.

10 Robert Boyle, Of Celestial and Aerial Magnets, inTractscontaining I. Suspicions about Some

Hidden Qualities of the Air; with an Appendix touching CelestialMagnets, and some other

Particulars.

(W. G., London, 1674), p. 53. This work may also be found invol. 8 of Theworks of Robert Boyle(ed. Michael Hunter and Edward B.Davis) (Pickering & Chatto, London,

19992000).

11 Boyle,op. cit. (note 10), p. 53.

12 Boyle,op. cit. (note 10), p. 53.

13 John Gadbury, Natura prodigiorum . with an Appendix Touchingthe Imposturism of the

Commonly-received Doctrine of Prophecies, Spirits, Images,Sigils, Lamens, the Christal, &c

( J. C., London, 1660).

14 Gadbury, op. cit. (note 13), p. 185.

15 Johannes Gerzelius Jr to Henry Oldenburg. 11 June 1673, RoyalSociety MS G, no. 37.

16 Lynn Thorndike, Illicit magic, in History of magic andexperimental science, part IV,

pp. 569570 (Kessinger Publishing, New York, 1958). As MatthewKlemm has indicated, Peterof Abano considered the question ofwhether an incantation pronounced by a physician could

restore health, and determined to find out the source of itsefficacy by means of empirical

observation. On Peter of Abano, see: Eugenia Paschetto, PietrodAbano: Medico e filosofo

(Nuovedizioni Enrico Vallecchi, Firenze, 1984); Matthew KlemmIncantations in the medical

philosopy of Petrus de Albano (12501316),http://www.aseweb.org/Papers/Klemm.

htm#_edn1 (accessed 15 November 2007); Nancy Siraisi, Arts andsciences in Padua: The

studium of Padua before 1350 (Pontifical Institute of MediaevalStudies, Toronto, 1973); and

Lynn Thorndike, A history of magic and experimental science(Macmillan, New York, 1923),

vol. 2, pp. 874947.

17 Nicholas Weill-Parot, Les images astrologiques au Moyen Ageet a la Renaissance:

speculations intellectuelles et pratiques magiques (XIIe-XVesiecle) (Sciences, Techniques etCivilisations du Moyen Age alAubedes Lumieres, 6) (HonoreChampion, Paris, 2002).

18 Johann Reuchlin,De arte cabalistica; on the art of theKabbalah (University of Nebraska Press,

Lincoln, NE, 1983).

19 Johannes Trithemius,Veterum sophorum sigilla et imaginesmagicae, siue, Sculpturae lapidum et

gemmarum secundum nomen Dei tetragrammaton: cum signaturaplanetarum & iuxta certos

coeli tractus. (1612). This tract was reprinted as part of theTrunum magicum, siue, Secretorum

magicorum opusin Frankfurt by Conradi Eifirdi in 1630 and 1673,and these works were edited

by Caesare Longino. This work also exists in aseventeenth-century manuscript that is identified

as Tritheim ( Johann), Abbot of Spanheim, Veterum Sophorumsigilla et imagines magic,

Sloane. 3663 in the British Library.

20 Israel Hiebner von Schneeberg,Mysterium sigillorum, herbarum& lapidum; oder, VollkommeneCur und Heilung aller KranckheitenSchaden und Liebes- auch Gemuths-Beschwerungen durch

underschiedliche Mittel ohne Einnehmung der Artzney; Mysteriumsigillorum, herbarum &

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lapidum. Containing a compleat cure of all sicknesses anddiseases of mind and body, by means

of influences of the seven planets. Adorned with copper plates& figures, shewing the foundation

of this astronomical and coelestial science (transl. B. Clayton( Johann Birckner, Erfurt, 1651;

Leipzig, 1653; Erfurt, 1696; Erfurt, 1731; Frankfurt, 1735;Leipzig, 1735; Frankfurt and Leipzig,

1737; W. Downing, London, 1698). For a discussion of Wolff, seeMartha Baldwin, Toads andplague: sigil therapy inseventeenth-century medicine, Bull. Hist. Med. 67, 227247(1993),

at p. 227.

21 Joseph Blagrave,Blagraves Astrological Practice of Physick.(S. G. and B. G., London, 1671).

22 On page 50 of hisExercitatio, for instance, Reichelt referredto knotted grass amulets said to cure

earaches and described the work of Johannes Schroderus. SeeMichael Ettmuller, Opera

pharmaceutico-chymica. Ejus scilicet I. Schroderus dilucidatus,seu Commentarius in Joh.

Schroderi Pharmacopoeiam medico-chymicam . (Lugduni, 1686), 1.4,p. 77. Johann Schroder

was the first to realize that arsenic was an element. Bartholinewas cited by Reichelt in a

discussion of the efficacy of mercury, and sigils of the planetMercury in effecting cures on p. 274.

Bartholine is credited with discovering the lymphatic system,and Reichelt cites his Historarium

anatomicarum rariorum centuria IVI(Copenhagen, 165461).23 Theexplanation in the following paragraph about how sigils work islargely taken from one of my

earlier articles: Anna Marie Roos, Luminaries in medicine:Richard Mead, James Gibbs, and the

influence of the Sun and the Moon on the human body in earlymodern England,Bull. Hist. Med.

74, 433457 (2000), at pp. 448450.

24 See Bartholomeaus Carrichter, Krautterbuch des Edelen undHochgelehrten Herzen Doctoris

Bartholomei Carrichters (Antony Bertram, Strassburg, 1609). (Ithank Adam McLean and

Hereward Tilten of the Alchemy Academy Discussion Group for thisreference.)

25 Nicholas Culpeper, The English physitian enlarged: with threehundred, sixty, and nine

medicines made of English herbs that were not in any impressionuntil this . (Peter Cole,

London, 1653). In Hiebner,op. cit. (note 20), the publisherspreface to the reader recommends

looking at the works of Culpeper, and those of the astrologicalphysician Joseph Blagrave, for therules of the gathering and theapplying of the herbs, signature A4v. Joseph Blagrave (161082)

published works in the same tradition as Culpeper, and wasresponsible for the enlarged edition

of Culpepers English physitian.

26 Lionel Lockyear,An Advertisem*nt Concerning those mostExcellent Pills Called Pilulae Radiis

Solis Extractae(London, 1685), fol. A2r. For a similardiscussion of such medicaments, see also

[P. J. L. De Loutherbury],Sanguis Naturae Or a ManifestDeclaration of the Sanguine and Solar

Congealed Liquor of Nature(A. R., London, 1696). Themicrocosmical Sun was considered to be

the heart, as it animated the body with the animal spirits, muchas the Sun animated the Earth with

its rays. See Roos, op. cit. (note 23), p. 465.

27 In ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt, five thousand years ago,the Sun passed through Leo in

midsummer solstice. Leo was thus the constellation of highsummer and affiliated with the Sun,an association that continued inthe medieval and early modern era.

28 Hiebner, op. cit. (note 20), p. 160.

29 Don. C. Skerner,Binding words: textual sigils in the middleages(Pennsylvania State Press, State

College, 2006), p. 132.De sigillisin turn was probably based onthe Picatrix, an eleventh-century

Arabic work that was translated into Spanish in the thirteenthcentury. See Henry Kahane, Renee

Kahane and Angelina Pietrangeli, Picatrix and the talismans,Romance Philol. 19, 574593

(1966).

30 Marc Haven [E. Lalande], La vie et les oeuvres de MaitreArnaud de Villeneuve (Paris, 1896;

reprinted by Slatkine Reprints, Geneva, 1972), pp. 6364; JosephZiegler,Medicine and religion,

c. 1300: the case of Arnae de Vilanova (Clarendon Press, Oxford,1998), pp. 245250, noted in

Skerner,Binding words, p. 132.31 Karl Anton Nowotny, Theconstruction of certain seals and characters in the work of Agrippaof

Nettesheim,J. Warburg Courtauld Insts 12, 4657 (1949), at p.56.

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32 Nowotny, op. cit. (note 31), p. 56.

33 Skerner,op. cit. (note 29), p. 132.

34 Skerner,op. cit. (note 29), p. 132.

35 Verbum caro factum est, et habitavit in nobis et vidimusgloriam, eius gloriam quasi unigeniti a

Patre, plenum gratiae et veritatis[And the Word became flesh,and made His dwelling among us;and we have seen His glory, glory asof the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth].

36 Deborah E. Harkness, John Dees conversations with angels:cabala, alchemy, and the end of

nature (Cambridge University Press, 1999), p. 174.

37 Ludwig Blau, Angelology: cabalistic view,http://jewishencyclopedia.com/ (accessed

1 December 2007).

38 Papus, Traite elementaire de science occulte [Fundamentals ofoccult science] (Carre,

Paris, 1888).

39 Nehemiah Grew, Musaeum Regalis Societas, or a Catalogue andDescription of the Rarities

Belonging to the Royal Society and Preserved at Gresham Colledge(Tho. Malthus, London,

1685), p. 377; Whiston Bristow, Musum Thoresbyanum. A catalogueof the genuine and

valuable collection of that well known antiquarian the lateRalph Thoresby,. All which .

(London, 1764), pp. 4 and 8. See also Thoresby, DucatusLeodiensis, op. cit. (note 8),

pp. 275276.

40 For the connections between mathematics and magic, see JohnHenry, Magic and science in the

sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, inA companion to thehistory of modern science(ed. R. C.

Olby, G. N. Cantor, J. R. R. Christie and M. J. S. Hodge), pp.583596 (Routledge, London,

1990); Katherine Neal, The rhetoric of utility: avoiding occultassociations for mathematics

through profitability and profit,Hist. Sci.37, 151178 (1999);Peter Zetterberg, The mistaking

of the mathematics for magic in Tudor and Stuart England,Sixteenth Cent. J. 11, 8397

(1980). (I thank the anonymous reviewer for suggesting thesearticles to me.)

41 I. R. F. Calder, A note on magic squares in the philosophy ofa*grippa of Nettesheim,

J. Warburg Courtauld Insts12, 196199 (1949), at p. 197.42 HenryCornelius Agrippa,Three Books Of Occult Philosophy (R. W., London,1651), book II,

p. 239.

43 See Ernest A. Wallis Budge,Sigils and Superstitions: TheOriginal Texts with Translations and

Descriptions of a Long Series of Egyptian, Sumerian, Assyrian,Hebrew, Christian, Gnostic, and

Muslim Sigils and Talismans and Magical Figures, with Chapterson the Evil Eye, the Origin of

the Sigil, the Pentagon, the Swastika, the Cross ( Pagan andChristian), the Properties of Stones,

Rings, Divination, Numbers, the Kabbalah, Ancient Astrology,etc. (Oxford University Press,

London, 1930).

44 Calder,op. cit. (note 41), p. 197.

45 Nowotny, op. cit. (note 31), p. 50. The description of theconstruction of the squares is largely

taken from Nowotnys article.

46 Brittan Bouchard, Sword, miter, and cloister: nobility andthe Church in Burgundy, 9801198

(Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, 1998), p. 212; H. Martin,The Judas Iscariot curse, Am.

J. Philol. 37, 434451 (1916), at p. 435.

47 Crawford Howell Toy and Ludwig Blau, Tetragrammaton,http://jewishencyclopedia.com/

(accessed 18 February 2008). (I thank the anonymous reviewer forthis reference.)

48 Ibid.

49 W. L. Hildburgh, Images of the human hand as amulets inSpain,J. Warburg Courtauld Insts18

(12), 6789 (1955).

50 Alan Dundes, Wet and dry: the Evil Eye, in The Evil Eye: afolklore casebook (ed. Alan

Dundes), pp. 257312 (Garland Publishing, New York, 1981). Seealso Clarence Maloney, The

Evil Eye(New York: Columbia University Press, 1976).

51 Hildburgh,op. cit. (note 50), p. 69.

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52 The correspondence of Henry Oldenburg(ed. and transl. A.Rupert Hall and Marie Boas Hall),

vol. 10, pp. 398406 and 436 (Mansell, London, 1975). Oldenburgsreluctance to talk about

magic was noted by Christopher Hill in his review of theOldenburg correspondence in English

Hist. Rev. 91, 645646 (1976), at p. 646.

53 Rosemary Sweet, Antiquaries: the discovery of the past ineighteenth-century Britain(Continuum International PublishingGroup, London, 2004).

54 No. 13 is of Dembski, p. 76, 467 type; no. 14 is probablyclose to Kellner, Manching, no. 2236;

and no. 15 is of Dembski, no. 444 type. Dembski ZGuntherDembski, Muenzen der Kelten

(Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Vienna, 1998); KellnerZHans-Jorg Kellner,Die Munzfunde

von Manching und die keltische Fundmunzen aus Sudbayern (FranzSteiner, Stuttgart, 1990).

55 Thoresby,Ducatus Leodiensis,op. cit. (note 8), p. 339. RobertPlot, the keeper of the Ashmolean,

actually possessed an Iron Age coin, which he firmly believedportrayed the face of Boudica. See

Robert Plot, The Natural History of Oxford-Shire(Oxford, 1677),p. 335.

56 W. Borlase, Observations on the antiquities historical andmonumental, of the county of

Cornwall. Consisting of several essays on the first inhabitants,. (Oxford, 1754), p. 247. This

was the earliest publication about a British Celtic coin hoardand was very influential.

57 Personal communication with Dr John Sills, 3 December 2007.For other eighteenth-century

works on Iron Age coins and symbols, see S. Pegge, An essay onthe coins of Cunobelin(London,

1766); and J. Whitaker, The history of Manchester in four books.Book the first, containing the

Roman and Roman-British period (London, 177173).

58 Borlase, op. cit. (note 57), p. 261.

59 The earliest interpretive guide to the symbolism of Iron Agecoins is J. C. Hedler, Diatribe

historica de nummis scyphatis nordmannorum, quos vulgoRegenbogenschuslein appellant

(Berlin, 1730). Also of relevant interest is M. A. Voigt,Schreiben an einen Freund; von den bey

Podmokl einen in der Hochfurst. Furstenbergischen HerrschaftPurglitz gelegenen Dorfe in

Bohmen gefundenen Goldmunzen (Prague, 1771), and Franz StrebersUber due sogenannten

Regenbogenschusselchen(Munich, 186062).

60 Personal communication with Dr John Sills, 29 November2007.61 Sir Daniel Wilson, The archology and prehistoric annals ofScotland(London, 1863), vol. II,

bk IV, sect. vi, p. 472.

62 Jacob Wolff,Curiosus sigilorum scrutator. In quo de natura etattributis illorum . ac in specie

de zenechtis, vel qu pesti opponuntur agitur. Cui accessit J.Reichelti exercitatio de sigilis,

etc. (Frankfurt, 1692).

63 The Athenian Mercury, 22 December 1691, vol. 5, no. 7,question 1; The British Apollo, Monday

9 January to Wednesday 11 January 1710, vol. 3, no. 86, pp.12.

64 Anna Marie Roos, Luminaries in the natural world: the Sun andthe Moon in England,

14001720 (Peter Lang Publishing, New York, 2001), p. 240.

65 William Freke, Of Astrology, in Select Essays Tending to theUniversal Reformation of

Learning (Tho. Minors, London, 1693), p. 32. According to theOxford English dictionary, atalisman is a stone, ring, or otherobject engraven with figures or characters, to which are

attributed the occult powers of the planetary influences andcelestial configurations under which it

was made; usually worn as an amulet to avert evil from or bringfortune to the wearer; also

medicinally used to impart healing virtue; hence, any objectheld to be endowed with magic

virtue; a charm. So a sigil could be a talisman, but not alltalismans were sigils. The Oxford

English dictionary also notes that in England the term talismanwas often conflated with the

term telism, although telisms are properly statues set up, orobjects buried under a pillar or the

like to preserve the community, house, etc. from danger.

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