Understanding and Using the Power of Gemstones - Black Onyx Meaning

Black Onyx is a popular and powerful gemstone. The keywords behind Black Onyx meaning are Intuition, Rejuvenation, Divination, Strength, Change, Balance, Grounding, Focus, Self Confidence, Banishing Negativity, Protection, Letting Go, Decreased Sexual Desires.

Wearing Onyx is one of the best ways to access the power of this beautiful gemstone. Placing it on your altar at home, or using them during rituals and meditations are all great methods as well.

Onyx was a popular stone of the ancient Greeks and Romans, the name derived from the Greek word onux, meaning fingernail. While fingernails may be the last thing that comes to mind in association to Onyx the ancient Greeks and Romans believed the stone came from the Goddess Venus' fingernails, hence its popularity.

The story is one day Cupid was feeling mischievous and decided to cut Venus’ fingernails with his arrowhead as she slept soundly on the beach. When he left her fingernail clippings scattered on the sand, the fates turned them into stone so as to leave no part of a heavenly body to perish.

In ancient magic lore it was believed that Onyx was a manifestation of a demon imprisoned into the stone. The demon would awake at night to spread terror and nightmares to people within its range of influence. Today, it is known to be quite the opposite, protecting people against black magic as well as being a defense against negativity directed towards you.

Personal -
Onyx is believed to bring rejuvenation when feeling depleted of energy. A powerful gemstone to use in difficult or confusing times of our lives as it grounds us, keeping us focused and on task. It is also know to bring happiness, and heighten one's intuition and instinct.

A great aid for letting go or releasing past attachments to people, places, things, bad habits and even addictions. Sometimes known as the sobriety stone, use it in conjunction with amethyst for even greater assistance on your path to recovery.

Onyx will help you gain emotional balance, strength and self control; very powerful when you need help moving through a lesson or task. Onyx brings change into our lives by helping us to realize and see patterns or old beliefs that no longer serve us and provides us with the strength to change them.

Relationships -
Because of its power of assisting in letting go it is wonderful to have around if going through a break up or divorce. It is also great for keeping negative people away from you and out of your life. However, because it can decrease sexual energies it is not a good idea for a couple to have a lot of onyx present in their home, especially the bedroom.

Career -
Onyx is great for anyone who needs a boost in their self confidence; wear it or keep one in your pocket for an interview, presentation or when asking for a raise. Its strength giving energy is wonderful for athletes or individuals whose work puts them under extreme mental or emotional stress such as doctors, nurses or EMTs. Perfect for entrepreneurs and inventors because of its blocking of negativity from others.

Healing -
Helpful for the treatment and healing of teeth, bones, blood disorders, feet and epilepsy. Wearing Onyx or laying it directly on the body is good practice, especially since its power is developed over time.

Water charged with Onyx is known to be wonderful for healing infected wounds and skin aliments; fungal infections, sunburns, inflammation and rashes. Pat the Onyx water directly onto the skin periodically through out the day, cover the infected area with an Onyx water compress at night.

Metaphysical - A powerful stone to use in protection rituals and for banishing negativity or people from your life. Also a stone to be used for psychic workings as it carries the energies of the possessor; often used as a scrying stone.

You should discharge Onyx once a week by placing it under running water. When used over a long period of time, it is good practice to bury it in the earth overnight once a month in order to regenerate it and keep its energies strong.