

For unusually beautiful jewelry with sophisticated flair, combine snowflake obsidian beads with black matte Delica and rock crystal beads (or any other pairings of black and white). Designing with Snowflake Obsidian While snowflake obsidian is a striking gemstone, it is also a durable one-making it popular for use as a "worry stone" as well as in jewelry-making. To learn more about snowflake obsidian and other gemstones, order your copy of Walter Schumann's revised and expanded edition of Gemstones of the World. Proper Care of Snowflake Obsidian This durable stone is easy to care for: just wash gently in warm, soapy water. SiO 2 (approximately 70%) with a range of other trace elements

Snowflake obsidian is found all over the world including deposits in Italy, Scotland, the United States and other locations around the world with historic volcanic eruptions. This glass form later transmutes into a rock, with sunburst-shaped spherlite inclusions forming in the stone.

Snowflake Obsidian Geological Properties This naturally occurring volcanic glass is formed when felsic lava extruded from a volcano cools without crystal growth. Although not a birthstone, it is affiliated with the zodiac sign Capricorn. It is thought to drive out demons and to embody both yin and yang principles. Snowflake obsidian is affiliated with the base and crown chakras.
#SNOWFLAKE OBSIDIAN MEANING CRYSTAL VAULT FULL#
Like a sky full of beautiful snowflakes, snowflake obsidian restores something: a deep, abiding sense of protection and reverence. It's also believed that this material dissolves shocks, fears and traumas, dissolving both physical and emotional pains. A patterned stone, it is thought to help wearers see patterns in their own thoughts and behaviors. Snowflake Obsidian Metaphysical Properties Practitioners believe snowflake obsidian lets them see the dark and uncomfortable sides of their own natures, bringing them back into wholeness. This makes historical obsidian jewelry, tools or weapons a valuable resource to archaeologists for tracking trade routes or dating graves and settlements, as their source volcano and eruption can often be determined through analysis.

The chemical make-up of obsidian also varies among volcanic sources-sometimes even different eruptions of the same volcano have different chemical types. Snowflake obsidian (also called "flowering obsidian") gets its name and patterns from cristobalite (a type of quartz) inclusions formed in the obsidian as it devitrifies. Xenocrates says that Obsian stone is found in India also, and in Samnium in Italy and that it is a natural product of Spain, upon the coasts which border on the Ocean."Ĭolor in obsidian varies, depending on impurities in the parent lava formation. Many persons use it for jewelery, and I myself have seen solid statues in this material of the late Emperor Augustus. This stone is of a very dark color, and sometimes transparent. "Among the various kinds of glass, we may also reckon Obsian glass, a substance very similar to the stone which Obsius discovered in Æthiopia. Obsidian gets its English name from a mistranslation of Natural History by Pliny the Elder (the guy who died at Pompeii): It is not considered a true mineral, as it does not have an entirely consistent chemical content and it does not form crystals. Snowflake Obsidian History Obsidian is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed in swiftly cooling lava that has a high silica content.
