Opal

Opal

Water Element

The name of the mineral comes from the Latin word opalus to the Sanskrit upala - "precious stone". From a physical point of view, opals are hydrogels of silica. In other words, opal is an amorphous quartz containing 6 to 10% water. Opals are painted very differently - with all the colors of the rainbow; There are dark gray and even black stones. There are more than one hundred varieties of this mineral of various kinds of opencams, which are due to impurities of iron, manganese, nickel and other elements.

The color of the noble opal is white, gray or black. Still Pliny the Elder wrote that the main advantage of opal is opalescence, i.e. The ability to "radiate successively different bright rays under the influence of sunlight".

Opalescence causes a variety of color games, in connection with which a number of varieties of opal are distinguished. Harlequin or eastern opal is called stones with opalescence on a fire background, a cat's eye (the rarest, the most expensive variety) - with a bright green concentric-zonal coloration, royal - opal with a dark red core and an emerald-green border with an outer unpainted zone, dzhirazolem - bluish-white opal with reddish-golden opalescence, fiery or fiery - reddish or orange stone without opalescence.

Depending on the color, some opals have their own names, although the situation with them resembles the case with agates - the diversity of both minerals is too large to be given a consistent classification. Opals with mottled mosaic red, green, yellow and blue patches of light are called harlequins. Pale-milk stones with bluish or reddish faint patches of light are called dzhirazolami or gazazolyami (from Italian girare - "rotate" and sole - "the sun"). There are white milk opals, red and yellow fire opals. Hyalits are transparent opals, reminiscent of color glass (Greek hyalos - "glass"). Curious features are hydrophanes (Greek hydor - "water" and phaneros - "visible") - placed in water, they become translucent.

Opal - a deceptive stone, you can not always wear it on your hand. It is considered useful during the day to rearrange the ring with this stone from one finger to the other. Opal inspires deceptive hopes; He "closes his eyes" to trouble "under his nose." Opal is a stone of misanthropes, a stone of loss. He promises deceitful hopes. This stone brings happiness only to the magicians, or those to whom he was inherited, and ordinary people can not wear it if you were not born under the sign of Cancer and Pisces. Only Pisces and Cancers can safely restrain such energies. Opal can be worn by those magicians who can defeat the evil tendencies. This is the stone of secret passions and vices. It is believed that dreamers and poets can not be worn because they have a tendency to schizophrenia. It's not contraindicated to people who are stupid and self-confident, but they can not wear opals all the time. The most valued are the so-called noble opals with an iridescent play of colors on the surface. Their properties, these stones can be lost as a result of loss of water or contact with fats and oils. Therefore, the owners of opals must protect them from contact with cosmetics and periodically lower them into the water.

Opals are mined in Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Gandurasai, Guatemala. Deposits of opals exist in the USA, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Japan. In Russia, these minerals are known in Transbaikalia and Kamchatka.

Opals have long belonged to quite expensive stones. History has informed us about the disgrace of the ancient Roman senator Nonnia ; This stone was estimated at 2 million sesterces. Today, large opals of jewelry quality are again in vogue. Noble opals usually do not grind. They are shaped like cabochons and inserted into rings and pendants, brooches and earrings.

When aged, opal loses some of its water and turns into chalcedony, a kind of quartz with a cryptocrystalline fibrous structure.

Perhaps, due to the variety of its color, opal in ancient times was a symbol of impermanence. Opals symbolize a changeable fate. They sharpen intuition and encourage inspiration. In the East, especially in India, noble opals have long been deified, considering them to be stones of love, faith and compassion.

Opals enlighten the mind with the play of light on their veracity , disperse gloomy thoughts and fears. Looking at the opals, Indian magicians recalled their previous incarnations. The same properties were granted to opals in Hungary, the Czech Republic and Germany. In other European countries opals were symbols of happiness, hope and tender love. These stones were associated with pure thoughts and sympathy.

He treats heart diseases, calms nerves, prevents melancholy and fainting, restores visual acuity.