Gems and Superstitions

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The Myths and Lore of Diamonds

Almost regardless of the time and culture, the diamond has had an important role in gemological superstitions. The diamond's brilliance, color, and especially hardness were valued then just as it is now. As we will soon see, many of these superstitions make sense when you take a diamond's physical characteristics into consideration.

If worn in battle, diamonds were supposed to bring victory to its wearer, giving him strength, fortitude and courage. Diamonds are also believed to bring its wearer good fortune and make the wearer invincible. As was mentioned previously, if a diamond was sold to another person and not given as a gift, the diamond would lose its beneficial properties.

The diamond was said to be the natural enemy of the devil due to its color, brilliance, and its extremely strong nature. Because of this, it was worn in direct contact with the skin to ward off evil spirits and allow its wearer to have a good night's sleep.

The diamond is believed to allow couples to reconcile or become closer to one another (an attribute still advertised today in an indirect way). Diamonds were supposed to be able to signify a person's honesty. If a person asked a question and they were lying the diamond would grow dim, and if the person was truthful the diamond was to shine brighter than ever.

Medicinally speaking, diamonds were had a mixed reputation. It was believed in India that if a person used high quality diamonds for medicinal purposes, they would cure insanity, bladder infections, and as a cure for poisons in general. However, diamonds of inferior quality were believed by Hindus to cause lameness, jaundice or leprosy if used for medicinal purposes. In Europe, diamond dust was thought to work as a poison, while swallowing whole diamonds was though to cause a great amount of damage to a person's digestive system.