Charmstone

Scottish charm-stones are typically large smooth rounded pieces of rock crystal or other forms of quartz.

They were credited with healing or quasi-magical powers, often through water that the charmstone had been dipped into, which was considered efficacious against various ills of both humans and farm animals.

Some superstitious friends believed that her illness was due to someone casting the evil eye upon her; her father was urged to go to a place where two streams met, select seven smooth stones, boil them in milk, and treat her with the potion.

[3] In the Life of St. Columba it is recorded that he visited King Bridei in Pictland in around the year 565 AD and took a white stone pebble from the River Ness which he blessed, so that any water it came into contact with would cure sick people.

There have been attempts to establish a typology of charmstones according to form in hopes of providing chronological or cultural markers.

The "Archer-Butler Luck Stone", once owned by the Butler family of Garnavilla, near Cahir, County Tipperary , Ireland, was traditionally invoked to protect cattle from disease. It was dipped in drinking water or hung from the neck of a cow. The crystal ball, which weighs 200g, is mounted in a gilded copper or bronze frame with trefoil decoration and a hanging loop. Probably made in Ireland. Hunt Museum