The black Onyx is a stone of Mental and Physical balance. It brings energies of stamina and self-confidence to your mind and body, helping you face negative situations positively. Onyx can be thought of as a future-oriented stone, as it confers on you the strength to let go of the past so that you can face the future. An altogether positive stone, Onyx’s properties improves one’s better judgement across many difficult situations involving finance and relationships. With its help, people can tide over anxiety, negativity and self-doubt.
Black Onyc as a Semi-Precious Gemstone
Black Onyx is a variety of the microcrystalline quartz, called chalcedony. The name “Chalcedony” comes from Calchedon, an ancient maritime town of Bithynia in Asia Minor. Ornamental materials were once mined in that Chalchedon and it was an active center for stone trading. Onyx were used widely in the past as bases and handles for gold items, as well as for inlay work in architecture and weaponsmithing. Onyx seals were very popular with the Romans, who carved the pattern of the seal in negative relief to give a raised point. They often used stones with several layers, each of a different colour, which were then individually carved to produce a different pattern each year. They originally used the onyx name for a variety of marble having white and yellow veins. Onyx is the Greek word for “claw” or “fingernail” because these veins resemble the colours of a fingernail, believed in mythology to be from the trimmed fingernail clippings of Aphrodite/Venus, the goddess of love. The marble is still called “onyx marble,” being less valuable and softer than onyx which has a hardness rating of 7. Onyx was also traditionally used for carving cameo brooches.