Description
This gorgeous 2.5" high Fairy Spirit Humboldt County, Nevada Opal exhibits large areas of electric blue, turquoise, bright coral pink, and bright sky blue, with flashes of electric purple and green iridescence sparking all across its face. This gorgeous Humboldt County has varying shades of colors of the dawn: blue, green, & sparks of golden fire visible in the photos here. See other views of this amazing & stunning stone below.
This Fairy Spirit opal still retains a portion of a sandy colored matrix on its back side, which is further proof of its origins. Because of the widespread production of synthetic opals, which began in the 1970s, mineral collectors love to see a little matrix on the stone!
The arid, desolate, high desert Virgin Valley opal fields of Northern Nevada are famous for black fire opal, lemon, fire, white and crystal opals. The black fire opal is the official gemstone of Nevada. Humboldt County opals were created by the replacement of woody material with mineral deposits in very wet sedimentary conditions, and some Nevada opals have been dated to the Miocene age, some 5-23 million years ago.
Geologists theorize that Virgin Valley was at one time home to a lake surrounded by dense forests of sequoia, birch, cedar, hemlock, spruce and other high-altitude loving trees. A series of prehistoric volcanic eruptions later buried the entire area with layers of ash.
Over a period of millions of years, the activity of Virgin Valley hot springs located deep underground sent silica-rich water percolating up through the layers of ash, and the minerals in the hot water bubbling up resulted in the replacement of buried tree limbs and other wood with hydrated silica, and eventually the amazing Humboldt Valley opals were born. Naturally, these Humboldt Valley opals have a high water content as a result of the conditions under which they were formed.
Rockhounds keep their amazingly hydrated Virgin Valley opals in water. After all, these amazing gemstones are up to 14% water, in comparison to the more prolific Australian opals, which are usually around 5% water content. Unsurprisingly, these aqueous gemstones can become somewhat unstable over time if they become dehydrated.
Since these gorgeous and rare Humboldt County opals may desiccate and crack if they dry because of their high water content, this beautiful opal is presented to you in a laboratory vessel full of water with a rubber cork. To display the opal, sit it on its rubber stopper, and watch the fireworks as you observe the scintillating color play on the opal's face from different angles.
Geologists, rockhounds and Lightworkers have all found that these energetically powerful, unique and rare gemstones can be kept in a vessel of water for decades with no problems and no special care of any kind!
Mineralogical and Metaphysical Properties of Opals
The word opal comes from the Sanskrit word "upala", meaning "precious stone," and the later Greek word "opallios", meaning "to see a change of color." Opal is the gemstone of the month of October and of people born under the sign of Scorpio.
Opals are hard, very light and somewhat fragile gemstones composed of micro-spheroids of hydrous silica, and is never found in crystalline form, but rather in small veins, globules or crusts in rock formations. When these tiny microscopic spheres stack in an orderly fashion, forming a complex latticework structure, the play of light refracted through the latticework creates the various beautiful colors we associate with the opal. The size of the spheres and the cavities within the latticework determines the color spectrum that the opal exhibits to the naked eye.
In the Western mystery school traditions, which we know from many medieval sources, both approved by the Church and outside their purview, the opal was considered a unique alchemical stone because of its peacock-like appearance, displaying many colors.
Western mystics believe that the opal possesses all the metaphysical properties of all the gemstones displaying similar color to the opal in question.
For instance, this gorgeous Humboldt County Fairy Spirit opal could be said to possess all the qualities of blue gemstones like sapphire, purple gemstones like amethyst, aquamarine gemstones like paraiba tourmaline, golden stones like citrine, rose gems like rose quartz and green gemstones like emerald.
This multi-colored Fairy Spirit Opal would also resonate with the energy of the various chakras considered to be golden, blue, green, aquamarine and purple -- the crown, throat, heart and third eye chakras in particular.
Thus the Humboldt County Fairy Spirit Opal activates and energizes all of the upper chakras simultaneously! To connect with the energy of the Fairy Spirit Opal, simply place the opal on your altar or table, and sit quietly, viewing the stone from different angles and meditating upon its origins. Try to visualize the series of geological changes that the Virgin Valley underwent while producing this amazing gemstone like a little movie in your mind. Talk to the opal and ask that it share the energies of completely pure blue, green, rose, aquamarine, purple and gold with you. Close your eyes and concentrate on those colors. Visualize them in your mind's eye. When finished, say a word of Thanksgiving to Grandmother Earth, who is sharing her treasure with you, a little piece of her own nervous system, and also thank the opal for all the beautiful visions it has sparked in you.
Opal is a stone of visions, a stone to promote lucid dreaming, and a stone prized by artists and creative people to stimulate the imagination and trigger inspiration. Native American shamans and Australian aboriginal medicine men use opals to stimulate clairvoyant visions, to obtain meaningful dreams foretelling future events, and to connect with the "dreamtime", the state of Unity consciousness that transcends the space-time continuum as we know it.
Opal is known as a stone of successful relationships, and has been used traditionally as an expression of unconditional love, as the love of a mother for her daughter, and also to promote steadfast fidelity in love relationships between the sexes.
The fire within the opal is said to stimulate the inner fire of the bearer, helping to activate the kundalini energy which is said to reside in the root chakra, and which, when activated, rises to the crown of the head, triggering a variety of mystical experiences.
This crystal has been cleaned with Universal Life Force Energy, and given an energy attunement using Reiki, a Japanese technique of energy healing, so it will continue to receive and transmit Universal Life Force Energy direct from the Source of Creation. It has also been cleaned and charged with the natural energy of sunlight. It is ready for you to program according to your own needs and desires.
Net weight is 1.45 ounces or 41 grams.