Opal - Color, Facts, Power, Mythology, History And Myths

97% of the supreme quality Opal comes from Australia. Other sources, where Opal is not found in much abundance, but is mined, are Brazil, Peru, USA, Mexico, and some parts of Africa.

Some facts aboutOpal

• The planet Mars is also said to be the home of this amazing stone as announced by NASA, in 2008.
• Black Opal is the luckiest among all the other variants of Opal.
• The Opal is the birthstone of the people who are born in the month of October, and who are largely born under the astrological sign Libra.
• Opal mainly symbolizes purity, innocence, and hope.

Types of Opals

There is a vast variety in which Opals are present in the market. Some of them are mentioned below:

• Black Opal

Not exactly black, but somewhat with a dark tone, Black Opal is mined in New South Wales. It is one of the most famous and beautiful looking stones. Black Opal comes with shades and hues of other colors as well, which includes Black/Dark BlueOpal, Black-Brown-GreyOpal, etc. Black Opals are considered extremely powerful by magicians and Wiccans. Although Opal is regarded as the stone that brings misfortune, but black Opal is considered to be exceptionally lucky.

• Australian Opals

Australian Opals are the epitomes of purity and passion. Other than assisting a person in emotionally and mentally, it calms the inner soul. Australian Opals are believed to connect the conscious and subconscious, and helps the person in understanding himself clearly. 

• White Opals

Also recognized as 'milky Opal', white Opal exhibit a light and subtle body tone. It is a very common form of Opal found and used. It is believed to activate the functions of the necessary glands, harmonizing desires, creating lovemaking, and alleviating food disorders.

• Crystal Opal

Crystal Opal is a transparent or s semi-transparent form of Opal, which is quite a see-through stone. They can have both light and dark kind of body tone, which has generated terms, like “white crystal Opal”, and “black crystal Opal” in the market.

• Fire Opal

Fire Opals generally exhibit a high amount of red color and red being rarest of the color makes Fire Opals exceptionally valuable. Red or Fire Opal enhances the inner power of a human being and works as a protective shield against fire. Fire Opal is considered great in appealing emotional turmoil.

• Matrix Opal

Naturally displaying a pinfire tone, Matrix Opal is made of precious Opalina silica, which fills the pores of this stone. The pinfire shade is somewhat dark green-blue in color.

• Opalite

Opalite is also a variant of Opal, which is delicate in structure and exhibits milky or white iridescence. When Opalite is placed on the Crown Chakra while meditation, it is believed that it enhances intellectual abilities of the wearer and persuade his visions.  It is also effective in stabilizing mood swings, and pacifying disorders related to kidney and blood.

• Ethiopian Opal

The Ethiopian Welo Opal or Ethiopian Opal is a variant of Opal, however, a little different in its texture, appearance, and properties than Australian Opal. It was discovered in 2008, and the properties due to which it differs from Australian Opal is that it is found in nodules unlike the layers of Australian Opal. A black colored Australian Opal is considered to be the finest and most sought-after quality of Australian Opal, but there is no black color as such reported in Ethiopian Opal.

Ethiopian opal is believed to be an ancient gemstone. An anthropologist in 1939 discovered some evidence of opal in caves of Kenya. However, the stone was re-discovered again in the mid 90’s, and mining was begun.

 In 1939, an anthropologist found evidence of the use of the opal by early man in a cave in Kenya. It was not until the mid-1990s when the opal was re-discovered and mining was begun.

A good quality Ethiopian Opals have a variety of colors to display such as orange, red, green, pink, yellow, brown, white, and blue. Some of the colors of Ethiopian Opals are so exquisite and unique that they are not even found in Australian Opals. The striking pattern formation of Ethiopian Opals makes them look more wonderful.

• Swiss Opal

Swiss opal is a dark green colored gemstone with dull patches of different patterns, like chicken wire or lizard skin. When Swiss Opal is exposed to light it radiated spectacular color and change according to the movement in different angles.  It is renowned for its characteristic green color but could be found in some other hues as well, like dark green, blue etc.

• Pink Opal

Pink opal is basically the stone of tranquility, love and peace. It is vibrant, enriching, uplifting, and delightful. Pink Opal helps in bringing sweetness and liveliness back into the lives of those who wear it and it is a great stone at the time of stress.

Pink Opal is a worthwhile stone in getting rid of the emotional hang-ups, and the unwanted feelings of guilt, shame, and embarrassment. It encourages you to keep out of worries and gives you the clarity in emotions.

According to the healing properties that Pink Opal possesses, it is said to be valuable for diabetes and is apparently soothing for the skin as well.

Other than these, there are few more variants that this amazing Opal family holds, like Redwood Opal, Siberian Opal, Rainforest Opal, Honduran Opal, Brown Opal, Cherry Opal, Hyalite Opal, Blue Opal, Green Opal, Pink Opal, Dendritic Opal, Oregon Opal, Grey Opal, and many more.