Note 83 — Chapter XIII · The Symbolism of Jade

Apparently the god who was husband and son of the Great Mother was connected with jade. The Mother was the life-giver, and the son, as Osiris, was “the imperishable principle of life wherever found”.83 If men died, the seed of life in the body was preserved by jade amulets; the plants might shed their leaves, but the life of the plants was perpetuated by the spirit of jade. “In the second month”, says The Illustrated Mirror of Jade, “the plants in the mountains receive a brighter lustre. When their leaves fall, they change into jade.”84 The mountain plants in question appear to be the curative herbs that contained, like jade, the elixir of life, and the chief of these plants was the ginseng (mandrake), an avatar of the Great Mother. The plant, or ground jade, or food or moisture from the jade vessel renewed youth and prolonged life. All the elixirs were concentrated in jade; the vital principle in human beings and plants was derived from and preserved by jade.