This article explains the spiritual nature of Opal. A walkthrough of its history and how Opal can benefit your life and free your inhibitions.

What is Opal’s spiritual power? How can it help me?

One of the rarest stones, Opal has often been associated with the mystical, the bizarre, the spiritual. This form of silica, with its dazzling colors and mesmerizing skin, was one of the most valuable gems in antiquity. In this article, we’re going to explore the metaphysical qualities of opal — coming to grips with its divine nature, incorporeal traits, and its ethereal properties. Opal is one of the most enigmatic stones in existence, and much of that mystery is due to its cryptic history. 

The spiritual nature of Opal — The rare story of Červenica

Opal's history, and part of its mystique, can be traced back to a cave in the outskirts of Kenya. Amid the 20th century, Louis Leakey, a famous anthropologist, uncovered in one of these crevices the earliest known opal artifact. More than 4000 years old, the artifact spoke volumes on why opal was such a rarefied stone and why it was so coveted by early Europeans -- and it can all be traced back to Červenica.

Before the rise of the Roman empire and its vast mining operations, Opal was a myth. It was a stone shrouded in legend and many believed it was nothing more than a fable. Unlike ruby, sapphire, emeralds, and diamonds, Opal was hard to come by and if a traveler ever did journey back to civilization with a sample of the gemstone, it was after they had collected it from a less primitive and much more savage region.

The Romans, one of the most advanced civilizations of its time, began a love affair with opal during the empire’s decline. They were certain that the gem bestowed its wearer the powers of foresight and prophesy, and it was often considered a token of purity and hope.

Mark Antony and his love affair with Opal

Ancient Rome created the first real market for the gemstone — and part of the trade and fascination by its citizens was on account of the gem’s use by noblemen and in the parliament. Mark Antony was enamored of opal. He would flaunt his collection in front of his subjects and shower his lover, Cleopatra, with all manner of jewelry constructed with opal.

Legend even has it that the statesman offered to trade one-third of the empire for a single piece of opal. Antiquity’s obsession with the stone was attributable not only to Opal’s beauty, but also to its rarity and mystical allure.

The Opal fields of Červenica

Today, opal is mainly extracted from Australia and Ethiopia, with some small opal fields in Nevada, Mexico, and, even, Mars — Back in the age of the Caesars, the only vast deposit of opal stood miles from the sanctity and civility of the Roman Empire. Opal could only be mined in a small section of Červenica, beyond the borders and protection of the Roman empire, on the frontier of Slovakia.

Opal specimen from Červenica, Slovakia, Image by Aramgutang

Červenica was a land fraught with savages, nomads, filled with wild tales, strange occurrences, dark un-penetrating forests. It was land covered in shadows and myths. A land that frightened even the Romans. Having Opal not only meant you had the money to buy the rarest gemstone, but it also signaled your willingness to wager everything for your ambitions — the cost of mining opal, back in those days, had to be paid with blood. Each small stone was most likely brought back by explorers and adventurers who had defied death.

Over time, this inherent danger, this extra tantalizing trait, began to increase opal’s spiritual worth. Every civilization began to endow the stone with all manner of supernatural qualities.

The Power of Love — The heart and Solar Chakra

In Indian superstition and most Tantric practices, opal is intricately tied to the heart chakra - particularly pink opal. It is an emotional stone that is supposed to reflect the mood and attitude of the wearer. Gurus and practitioners believe that opal releases inhibitions, unleashes emotions, encourages freedom and independence.

It is a powerful stone that allows users to access those niches and cubbyholes where love, passion, and lust reside. Opal is a seductive stone that intensifies emotions and breaks the shackles of our inhibition — granting us the freedom to express our deepest desires and our most wanton wishes. 

Types of Opal and how they benefit you

• Black Opal: helps us feel grounded, cemented onto the earth. Black opal makes us feel more stable and safe in this wild, vertiginous world.
• Ethiopian Opal: permits us to indulge in the sheer ecstasy of a moment. Grants us the peace of mind needed to embrace the moment.
• Fire-Opal: this variant galvanizes our sexuality, boosts our passion, gives free rein to our deepest desires.
• Pink Opal: opens our heart to love, trust, companionship.
• Green Opal: wards us against jealousy and resentment.
• Yellow Opal: connects us to our warrior spirit — unburdens us from fear’s limitations and allows us to reach our potential. 
• Violet Opal: strengthens our instincts, fortifies our intuitions, gives us faith to believe in ourselves and what our body is telling us subconsciously. 
• Blue Opal: eases communications, improves our sense of being, erases misgivings, and empowers our truth to flow.
• White Opal: bridges the gap between the real and the spiritual. It lets us connect with our higher consciousness, with the ethereal, with the supernatural. 

Blue Violet Opal Solstice Earrings by NIXIN Jewelry

The spiritual Nature of Opal

Opal is a potent spiritual anchor. It allows us to tap into parts of our being that swim right under the surface of who we are. To our subconscious. To those pieces, we have ignored, left behind, neglected. It grants us a bridge between the tangible and the spirit — connecting the schism and allowing us to be whole. 

Opal is an incredibly powerful gemstone. It is a stone whose very history envelops it in magic. To soothsayers in the Middle East, Opal isn’t even from this world. They believe that the gemstone fell from the heavens, on a star that crashed into Earth, bringing with it the might of the cosmos and the unknown.

Today we value rubies, emeralds, and diamonds, but in the age of the Pharaohs, Emperors, Sheiks, and Sultans, they were eclipsed by opal’s splendor.  Here at NIXIN Jewelry, we draw on the wisdom of our predecessors. Come find your splendor.