Heart onyx pendant 3D print model

While Onyx was revered in many cultures, it was feared in others, considered to be “a bad luck stone” that caused black bile to circulate, especially within the mind. It was believed to invoke sadness and despondency, abrupt changes in mood, and make one angry and difficult. It could separate lovers, sow family discord, and expose one to the assaults of demons, bringing dreadful visions by night, quarrels and lawsuits by day. It was so feared in China, only slaves and menial laborers with no other way to make a living would go into the mines to extract it, where it was then carried out of the country and sold in other lands. The only preventative to these calamities was to also wear a Sard stone, most notably a Sardonyx, to neutralize the influence of the Onyx. [Megemont, 138][Lecouteux, 241-242][Fernie, 314][Kunz, 159-160]

Over the centuries, metaphysical practitioners have come to appreciate the contradictory powers of Onyx and have learned to harness even its negative traits to achieve positive results. It integrates dualities within the Self, and is perhaps the best talisman of Strength and Self-mastery on the planet. This stone connects to the body, to belonging to the earth and family, and putting down roots. It is grounding and stable, taking aggressive energies and using them to build up physical and mental strength, persistence and endurance, helping one to be master of one’s own destiny and to keep one’s own counsel. Yet Onyx also provides the centering and alignment of one’s total being in order to connect to a Higher power for guidance, and absorb from the universe that which is needed. Onyx is reputed to hold physical memories of the wearer within its structure and, if worn too long, can generate depression or re-living the pain of old injury or trauma. However, with work and proper intent, it can be called upon to banish grief and release pain from physical or emotional wounds, and to draw in happiness and good fortune. It is a marvelous stone for wise decision-making and amplifying intuitive gifts, especially instinctual sentience. [Megemont, 138][Melody, 451-452][Hall, 206-207][Simmons, Ahsian, 288-289]

Onyx is a black and white banded variety of Chalcedony, a cryptocrystalline form of Quartz with dense, fibrous layers and a hardness of 7. It is also defined as a black and white banded Agate, also a variety of Chalcedony. They differ only in that Onyx’s alternating layers are parallel to one another while Agate’s layers are curved and more chaotic. While many think of Onyx as a solid black stone, the term refers to the Chalcedony banded black and white. A variant form in which white layers of Onyx alternate with Sard (a reddish-brown Chalcedony) is called Sardonyx. Both have been known and utilized for over 4,000 years for hardstone carving, stone inlay, and jewelry, treasured most for their use in intaglio seals and cameo engraved gems where the white bands are carved away to make the image contrast with the dark background. In some specimens black Onyx may be layered with Sard, and in many cases material may be a combination of all three. [www.mindat.org][en.wikipedia.org][Fernie, 314][www.gemselect.com]

References to Onyx and other closely related stones are found in many ancient cultures and their texts, including the Bible, at times with conflicting definitions and an overlap in terminology. The following is meant to help clarify their meanings and provide additional information: