Description
This enigmatic sphere, which in Arjona is popularly known as "La Piedra de los Deseos" or "Las Casualidades," was incorporated into the city of Arjona in 1995. Despite these "titles" with which the stone currently counts or is known, it is a bethyl or sacred stone. This type of "Sacred Stone," comes from an excavation that took place in the ancient Gothic Cathedral of Jaén, which reaches Arjona by the hands of our illustrious countryman Juan Eslava Galán.
If we look at it from the geological point of view, it is a sphere of sandstone / limestone, which is very eroded by having been buried along with strong water currents, which have contributed to forming an countless number of holes along its entire surface, giving it even more if that character of lunar appearance is there. Leaving aside its geological nature and approaching its symbolic nature, we can say that it is a ritual or sacred stone as we have previously called it, whose name within the archaeological argot is Betilo. This type was used by prehistoric sedentary communities near the Neolithic. Its value was ceremonial or ritual, as they were considered to be divinities associated with the fertility of the land or of the woman. This type of betils were usually placed around the primitive sanctuaries or houses / caves of the community leader and around it were held rituals.
In the case of our "Stone of the Desires," we find that at the top, it has an orifice of deep broth, the purpose of which was to bear the pagan divinities once they take human figure, or later for the Christian communities to place the cross, an unequivocal symbol of Christianity.
This sphere reached Arjona in 1995, a year of terrible drought, in which the fields of Arjona offered a desolate aspect. The same day that the stone arrives in Arjona, a great storm is unleashed that changes the look of these fields, which have been damaged by the terrible drought that has been in this town for months. It is curious how the power of this stone was quickly associated with rituals of Mediterranean cultures that have water as the main rite. That water that makes the earth fertile, that you water the fields and that gives life to the crops, offers us the enigmatic aspect of this stone, whose ancestral function for which it was created, was to symbolize the fertility of the earth, fertility that is achieved only by rain, in this case and thousands of years later the stone exercises that same symbolic power just after reaching its new destination, Arjona.
In the nights of San Juan there are numerous Arjoneros, who come to this stone to practice rituals specific to Mediterranean culture. But this stone not only works on the night of San Juan, from its location in or privileged place of the Plaza de Santa María, is available to the visitor and Arjonero any day of the year. For the visitor's wishes to be fulfilled, in Arjona we have devised a ritual to follow. This ritual consists of placing the 5 fingers of either of the two hands, in holes of similar size, once this ritual has been performed a desire is asked.
From here we want our "Stone of the Desires" to grant you health and happiness.
