deepstash
Beta
Deepstash brings you key ideas from the most inspiring articles like this one:
Read more efficiently
Save what inspires you
Remember anything
Understanding people’s obsession with crystals
2
Key Ideas
Save all ideas
Crystals at the forefront
Crystals are at the forefront of recent fashion and wellness trends. Celebrities are putting traces into their new perfume products while stores advertise the crystals' supposed healing powers and energy.
But people's fascination with crystals and other gemstones dates back for centuries. Poets and authors during the Middle Ages used the imagery of crystals in their writing. Some medieval poets also used crystals as a way to examine desire.
58 SAVES
412 READS
Crystals used in past ages
- The word "crystal" comes from the Greek krystallos, literally meaning "coldness drawn together."
- Crystals are both dark and transparent. You can see through them, but not quite. For this reason, crystals have been thought to have magical, healing effects, and energy.
- In the Middle Ages, people thought crystals would bring a spiritual presence. People still have that need, explaining the popularity of crystals. In a way, crystals fulfill the spiritual need for some people.
- Medieval troubadours used the stone and its qualities to describe the beauty of the main character's love interest in their stories. They also used it to describe different aspects of carnal desire and love.
60 SAVES
345 READS
SIMILAR ARTICLES & IDEAS:
8
Key Ideas
Christians marriage ceremonies in the Middle Age
In the Middle Age, Christians did not need to marry inside of the church: whenever they came to the consent over the union, they could get married anywhere.
The difficult part was proving ...
Getting married as a minor of age
In the Middle Age, one only needed to have reached the age for puberty in order to be able to get married.
Furthermore, the parents' approval was not even necessary. However, rules like asking for your landlord's consent or marrying only persons from the same class were given a lot of importance.
Consent to get married
Back in the Middle Age, the consent to get married could be either verbal or physical. Sexual intercourse counted as physical consent.
On the other hand, giving your word to marry somebody or offering a gift to that person, even without having a sexual relationship, would also lead to marriage.
3
Key Ideas
Early European chess players changed the game
Early European chess players turned the chess game to reflect their society's political structure.
- Originally, chess was a game of war. Horsemen, elephant-riding...
Chess: The transformation of the queen
- Initially, the chess queen could only move one square.
- In the 15th century, the queen gained unlimited movement in any direction.
- The queen's elevation to the strongest piece appeared first in Spain during the time when the powerful Queen Isabella was on the throne.
Chess is 'life in miniature'
The 13th-century Dominican friar Jacobus de Cessolis described the ways each chess piece contributes to a harmonious social order.
- He distinguished paws by trade and connected each to its royal partner.
- The first pawn is a farmer and tied to the castle because he provides food to the kingdom.
- The second pawn is a blacksmith who makes armour for the knight.
- The third is an attorney who helps the bishop with legal matters.
Jacobus's allegory becomes the central message of the mini-series "The Queen's Gambit." Beth becomes a figurative queen after she learns to work with other players. Just like the pawn, she converts in her final game.
12
Key Ideas
Egyptian Senet
One of the earliest known board games, Senet was played in 3100 BC and loved by Queen Nefertari and the Pharaoh Tutankhamun.
Played using a longboard having three rows of ten squar...
The Royal Game Of Ur
- Also known as Twenty Squares, this 4500-year-old game, first unearthed in ancient Mesopotamia, is impressive in its complex rules and intricate design.
- The beautiful game board uses twenty squares and has a narrow bridge in the middle part, was played in Iraq, Israel, Egypt, Turkey and many other ancient civilizations.
- To finish the game as winners, players had to race their opponent to the opposite end of the board, moving pieces according to knucklebone dice rolls.
The Game of Mehen
- Named after the Egyptian serpentine deity, Mehen is also known as the Egyptian Snake Game and was played between 3100 to 2300 BC.
- Six players could simultaneously play this spiral board, each having a piece crafted in the shape of a lion or a sphere.
- The rules of this game are not very clear because it lost its popularity after the decline of Egypt’s Old Kingdom and is hardly found in archaeological records.