Stonewise: Mahogany Obsidian

I missed last week's Stonewise! I'm a bad blogger. (*hangs head in shame*) And I managed to miss yesterday too...ugh. Well, I'm here today, and that's better than never, right? Right?

So I've already talked about Obsidian, but there are several different kinds, and each I feel deserves its own entry. I've been working with Mahogany Obsidian a fair bit lately, and figured it'd be a good topic.

Ardriana says:

Mahogany Obsidian is dark red-grown with black striations through it. It is the friendship Obsidian. Represents male energy and beauty. Clears subconscious blocks.

Yeah, it's a short entry, but that's ok...if she had all the answers, there wouldn't be anything else for the rest of us to do. :D

How I use it in my jewelry...I have loved Obsidian for a very long time. I know I've mentioned how my personal power stone is this wonderful chunk, etc...and yet, Mahogany Obsidian is a relatively new find, in the last ten years or so. Actually, I remember discovering both Mahogany and Snowflake Obsidian about the same time, and was excited to learn there were different types of a stone that I loved so well.

In any case, in a vast variety of stones that have decidedly feminine energy or qualities, Mahogany Obsidian is absolutely masculine, which of course means that I have an interesting relationship with it.

What you mean? Well, as some of you may know, I'm a bit of an Amazon in my temperament, definitely a feminist (not that I'm a man hater by any stretch of the imagination), and I will always gravitate to the feminine before the masculine. So I found it odd that my initial reaction to a variation of a stone I adored was very superficial. I loved how it looked, but didn't have a deeper connection to it the way I do other stones.

It made sense once I learned more, and have grown past my initial reaction. And it still serves as a lesson for me to not always trust my first response to a stone...some of my favorite pieces were once ones that I would have thrown back in the box.

Mahogany Obsidian has become a stone of great power, energy, and vigor for me. Something I'd use for a banishing. You want to bring your greatest strength forward when you want something to really go away. It's the heavy shoulder set into the door, either closing or opening.

I have a fair few tumbled pieces, but nothing really large...and I find that I'm particularly picky about the ones that I keep.

And now you know a little bit more about why I do what I do.

Till next time, be well,

Red

Stonewise: Obsidian

For this week's stone, I've picked Obsidian. My first magickal working stone is this wonderful piece of obsidian, rough but polished, that tucks oh so nicely into my hand. I've gotten a lot of energy from that stone over the years, and even though I've added more to my collection, it holds a place of honor for me.

So, first a little bit about the stone in general...take from my stone book by Ardriana Cahill:

There are several forms of Obsidian, but all are forms of natural volcanic glass. They seem to be opaque, but if you hold a piece up to the light, sometimes you can see its transparency. Obsidian come from the Greek "Opsianos" meaning vision because it was used to make mirrors.

Folklore: Obsidian has been used for tools and weapons for thousands of years. To the Aztecs it was Izili, or sometimes Teotetl, meaning "Divine Stone". It is a shaman stone that holds both Fire and Earth elements.

Magick: A powerful reflective shielding stone. Obsidian is used to help gain understanding of the power of destiny. A scrying stone when made into mirrors. An excellent general healer and strength builder. All forms of Obsidian are excellent grounding stones.

There are several forms of Obsidian, and they all deserve their own moments, as I use them somewhat differently. For now, I'll talk about why I like to use "plain black Obsidian" (as if there's anything plain about it!).

A lot of the fascination for me comes from how Obsidian is formed. The raw transformation from lava to rock is so huge, there's so much pent up potential in the stone. It's like it remembers being lava even though it's no longer free and flowing.

I love the smoothness of Obsidian. It has particular texture that no other stone has, smoother than even Hematite. In knapped pieces, I love the texture and sweeping patterns in the volcanic glass, always interesting and beautiful. In highly polished pieces, there's a shine to it that is very hard to dim.

I have many pieces of Obsidian, in all its forms, most of them larger display pieces that I still love to pick up and hold till it grows warm from my body heat. I don't have a huge quantity of it, as small tumbled pieces were rather hard to come by, so I'd say it's in my top 10 for number of pieces owned.

I use Obsidian mostly for its protective aspects. Adding it to Onyx, Hematite and Tiger's Eye, to make deeply powerful protective pieces of jewelry. And now you know a little bit more of why I do it.

Till next time, be well,

Red