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smoky quartz - stone of power
As they did with many gems of the quartz family, ancient Romans used smoky quartz to make intaglio seals.
The word morion may come from the Greek word for "baneful or hideous."
The most important deposit of smoky quartz known in the Middle Ages was one in Upper Silesia (now Poland), but by the fourteenth century it was worked out.
The Scottish Highlands are considered to be the mountainous regions of Scotland north of the Highland Boundary Fault.
The sgian dubh, also known as a "sock knife," appeared in military use around 1800 and is still used in kilted dress uniform.
Crom Dubh, Celtic god of the harvest, was also known as the "dark bent one" or the "black bowed one." He is the god most associated with the Irish, Scot and Manx Lughnasadh , the ancient Celtic festival held in celebration of the first fruits of the harvest.
Highlanders adorned much of their apparel with valuable silver and stones for a reason. Besides the inherent pleasure in their beauty, the Scots preferred to wear their worldly wealth, rather than entrust it to banks.
A sgian dhub and sheath made in 1925 for the Edward, Prince of Wales and now in the Royal Armouries Museum (Leeds), was auctioned in 1987 for $403,333.
The world's largest cairngorm crystal weighs 52 lbs. and resides at Braemar Castle in Scotland.
 cairngorm and morion
Scotland has a long historical association with smoky quartz (as well as its very close quartz relative, citrine).

scotland's cairngorms

The Celts, who began colonizing the British Isles around 300 BC, called the dark colored smoky quartz crystals they mined in the Cairngorm Mountains of the Scottish highlands morion and the yellow-brown to gray-brown crystals mined there cairngorm, after ancient mining localities in the Cairngorms.
Beginning in the seventeenth century, craftsmen of Scottish weapons began to incorporate "cairn" stones -- smoky quartz or citrines from the Cairngorm Mountains -- into shoulder brooches, kilt pins and dirk pommels, a trend whose popularity continued to grow with the relative wealth of the population.
the sgian dhub
The national gem of Scotland, smoky quartz was and is a favorite ornamental stone of the Scottish dirk or sgian dhub (Gaelic for "dagger" and "black" respectively) -- a long dagger with a straight blade that is a prerequisite of Highland costume. ("Black" refers to the dagger handle which was and still is often made of bog oak, a hard jet-black wood.)

sgian dhub with cairngorm
photo: best kilt shop

A man's sgian dubh (pronounced "skean dubh"), was invariably carried in a place of concealment, very often under his armpit -- leading some to conclude that dubh ("black") also referred to the fact that the small but deadly dagger was 'secret' or 'hidden.'

When calling on another household, Highland protocol called for men to deposit their weapons -- including claymore or broadsword, dirk, a pair of pistols and a horn -- at the front door.

However, even when visiting 'friends,' Highlanders kept their sgian dhub close at hand -- since in those days of rapidly shifting loyalties it wasn't safe to ever be totally unarmed.

Accordingly, while retaining his dagger, out of courtesy to his host the proper Highland gentleman would remove it from under his armpit and put it somewhere where his host could see it, usually in his stocking -- which may have made it even quicker to access if needed...
John Dee was already 'known' to the court before Elizabeth's request. Upon the accession of her predecessor, her half-sister Queen Mary -- also known as 'Bloody Mary' -- Dee was accused of "using enchantments against the queen's life" and imprisoned for a time at Hampton Court.
The word occult comes from the Latin occultus, meaning "hidden," referring to supposed secret or hidden knowledge. In Elizabethan England, there really was no separation between the "occult" and "science." Most scientific knowledge as we know it today was "hidden" and just beginning to reveal itself to men of curiosity like Dee.
The word scrying derives from the old English word descry, meaning "to perceive from a distance, to discover with the eye." It is a divination technique used by occultists that is a form of clairvoyance or 'far seeing.'
Kelley was an erstwhile lawyer who had already had his ears cropped for counterfeiting before he met Dee. Although Kelly received knighthood at the hand of the Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolph II (1552-1612) as a reward for his alchemical works, in 1595, he was imprisoned by the Emperor in Prague for wizardry and sorcery. Kelly fell in an escape attempt and died a few days later.
diviner to the queen
On the other side of Scotland's border, there lived the renowned Dr. John Dee (1527-1608), alchemist, mathematician, astrologer, magician, and court diviner to Queen Elizabeth I of England (1533-1603).

dr. john dee
photo: cover of the queen's conjuror

Known for his astrological studies, Dee�s fortunes began to rise upon the accession of Elizabeth I, due to the fact that Earl of Leicester, Robert Dudley (the Queen's favorite), asked Dee to pick a propitious day for her coronation. Always interested in the occult, Elizabeth met Dee and was so impressed with him that she had him give her lessons in astrology.
A sphere of smoky quartz in the British Museum is reputed to be the famous 'shew stone' of Dr. Dee, a crystal which he alleged was brought to him by angels. The book Visions & Prophecies talks of how this experience changed the course of Dee's life in 1581:

"[Dee] later wrote of how, as he knelt in prayer late one autumn, 'there suddenly glowed a dazzling light, in the midst of which, in all his glory, stood the great angel, Uriel'. The spirit reported handed Dee a crystal 'most bright, most clear and glorious, of the bigness of an egg' and informed him that by gazing at it he could communicate with otherworldly spirits."

However, Dee had little luck at scrying with this 'shew-stone'. He eventually resorted to employing others to do the actual scrying, associating himself with a number of charlatans, the foremost of which was Edward Kelly, who has been described as a "classic Renaissance scoundrel."
Dee, in his last years, was described by his Elizabethan-era biographer, John Aubry, as

"...a beaten old man with 'a long beard as white as milke, tall and slender, who wore a gowne with hanging sleves' [who] earned a pittance telling fortunes and even sold his beloved books, one by one, in order to eat."

He died penniless at the age of 81.
In Sir Walter Scott's era, smoky quartz stones were known as "stones of power."
Proud of his heritage, Scott once wrote, "I am a Scotsman, therefore I had to fight my way into the world."
In the absence of a resident Scottish sovereign between 1660 and 1707 -- when Scotland and England were formally joined -- the regalia were taken to sittings of the Parliament in Edinburgh to symbolically signify the sovereign's presence and his or her consent to the passing of each Act.
In 1707, the Parliaments of Scotland and England were joined to form a single United Kingdom, whose Parliament met in London. A clause in the 1707 Act of Union decreed that the 'Honours' should never leave Scotland. For safekeeping, they were locked up in a chest in the Crown Room in Edinburgh Castle.
Although Sir Walter Scott is noted for 'rehabilitating' Highland culture (after the treasonous Jacobite rebellion of 1745 -- which attempted to restore the Stuart descendants of King James II of England to the British throne -- made Scotland persona non grata), Scott was a Lowlander -- culturally very different from the Highlanders. It's said, by those who know, that his recreations of the Highlands were more than a little fanciful.
The 'Honours of Scotland' were among the most potent symbols of Scottish nationhood. In rediscovering the forgotten 'Honours' and raising their visibility, literally and symbolically Scott was helping to reassure his countrymen and women of their importance and distinctiveness as a nation at the very time they were becoming more and more integrated into the common goals of the British Empire. For that reason alone, Scott is a national hero in Scotland.
A Gothic-inspired monument to Scott was officially inaugurated in Edinburgh in August 1846.
the 'honours of scotland'
A smoky quartz crystal ball, two and a half inches in diameter, surmounts the Royal Sceptre of the "Honours of Scotland' -- as the Crown, Sword and Sceptre of the Scottish Crown Jewels are known.
scottish sceptre
The oldest of the three 'Honours,' the Sceptre was a gift from Pope Alexander VI (1431-1503) to King James IV (1473-1513) in 1494, as a symbol of papal support for Scotland, a 'special daughter of the Holy See.'

Remodelled and lengthened in 1536, it is made of silver gilt and topped by a sphere of Scottish smoky quartz and a Scottish pearl.

The Sceptre includes several Christian symbols. Stylised dolphins, symbols of the Church, appear on the head of the rod, as do images of the Virgin Mary holding a baby Christ, of Saint James the Great, and of Saint Andrew -- the patron saint of Scotland -- holding a saltire (an X-shaped figure in heraldry).

'honours of scotland'

The 'Honours' were first used together at the coronation of the nine-month old infant Mary, Queen of Scots (daughter of King James V, 1566-1625) in Stirling Castle in 1543.
They were last used at the coronation of King Charles II (1630-1685) at Scone Palace -- ancient crowning place of the kings of Scotland -- on January 1, 1651, the last coronation to ever take place in Scotland.
Oliver Cromwell, determined to destroy the Scottish Crown Jewels, as he had the English, desperately tried to stop the crowning of Charles II in Scotland by taking Edinburgh. However, Charles II was successfully crowned in Scone instead, with the Scottish regalia. The 'Honours' were then taken, at great risk to Dunnottar Castle, with an unhappy Cromwell in hot pursuit.
While the English were laying siege, the regalia were smuggled out of the Castle and buried to prevent their discovery and destruction. They remained buried until Charles II returned to the throne in 1660, at which time they were brought back to Edinburgh Castle and brought out during getherings of the Scottish Parliament. However, after the 1707 Act of Union they seem to have been forgotten.

depiction of the 'honours' discovery
photo: scottish snippets

One-hundred and eleven years later, it was the prolific Scottish historical novelist Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) who rediscovered the 'Honors of Scotland.'
In October 1817, Sir Walter Scott obtained permission from King George III to search for the missing 'Honours.' After months of exhaustive searching, they were found on February 4, 1818, when together, the castle governor and Scott opened a locked oak chest where they found the 'Honours' still in their linen wrappings.
They have remained on display at Edinburgh castle ever since, except for a short stint during World War II during which time they were again buried to protect them from possible German invasion.