Healing crystals and stones help offer protection, healing, and metaphysical properties that are beneficial to us on our spiritual life journeys. Beautiful and powerful, the Black Obsidian stone is rich with benefits and protection that you definitely want to add to your collection.
You may be thinking, “Wait, Obsidian isn't actually a crystal, so how exactly does it work?”
We've got all the information you need to know about the Black Obsidian stone meaning and how you can use it to bring light, truth and protection into your world.
Where Does The Black Obsidian Stone Come From?
Obsidian, as you already know, is not a crystal. It is, however, an igneous stone. Igneous stones and crystals are formed from cooled volcanic lava, either from active volcanos or from lava in the center of the earth's crust.
Sometimes, volcanic lava cools quickly, which does not allow crystals to form. When this happens, a smooth, volcanic glass-like rock is formed. This type of rock is called a mineraloid. Black Obsidian is a mineraloid with a rich, deep color and smooth surface that is somewhat mirror-like.
The most common colors of Obsidian stones are black. However, Obsidian can also be found in greens, tans, and browns. Rare colors of Obsidian can be found in blues, reds, yellows, and oranges, and even two colors in a swirled-together, marble-like pattern.
Read more about other types of Obsidian stone.
Obsidian is not a rare stone. It is found all over the world, in both North and South America, and many parts of Asia, including eastern Russia and Japan. Most of the Black Obsidian used in jewelry is mined in the United States. However, Obsidian is not found east of the Mississippi River due to a lack of volcanic activity.
What Are The Physical Properties Of Obsidian Stone?
Black Obsidian is a smooth, glass-like stone with a shiny, reflective surface. It has a Mohs hardness scale rating of 5.5.
This stone breaks into fragments with sharp, curved edges, which makes it ideal for cutting. Early peoples used Obsidian as tools and weapons, and the sharpness of the stone can be used today for ceremonial cutting, which we'll discuss below.
The stone's beauty is unsurpassed by even highly reflective, rainbow-colored stones, and the smooth surface makes it an ideal tool for use in “worry stones.” This is helped by the healing properties of Black Obsidian too.
What are the Black Obsidian metaphysical properties?
Black Obsidian is a guardian stone. It's used commonly as a powerful shield against negative energy, self-deprecating thoughts, and wayward actions. In the metaphysical, Obsidian healing properties can:
- Awaken and stimulate the gift of prophecy;
- Siphon out deep insecurities, fears, and problematic behaviors so that you can see them clearly for what they are;
- Ground you to the earth, and ground your spirit and body;
- Offer protection to you as you travel the spirit realm;
- Allow you to develop and enhance your psychic abilities;
- Protect you during contact with guides, or as you receive and send messages in the spiritual world; and
- Allow you to confront shadows and traumatic events from your past and unlock them if you have yet to notice them.
These properties make Black Obsidian a very useful stone to keep in your home, workplace, and close to your body to ward off negativity and ensure you are always being true to yourself and to others.
Black Obsidian Chakra Connections
Healing crystals and stones are typically tied to chakras that allow them to help restore, balance, and transfer energy between themselves and your body.
The Black Obsidian stone is primarily a grounding stone, making it a wonderful accompaniment of the root chakra, a.k.a the base chakra. The root chakra is located at the base of your spine, at your pelvic floor. It attaches you to grounding energy from the earth.
A thoroughly balanced base chakra helps create a solid foundation for your life and provides stability to all other chakras above it. If your root chakra is unbalanced, you will experience instability in all areas of your life, and all remaining chakras will be unbalanced.
Chakra imbalance causes physical illness as well as unbalanced energy flow.
Black Obsidian has a deep vibration that closely matches your root chakra, which can help to balance it and keep it stable. Black Obsidian also aids in balancing the third eye chakra, as it guides you in the self-exploratory journey for universal truth. If you have questions, then the Black Obsidian properties will empower you to shed light on the answers, which can help you see situations correctly.
What Are The Healing Properties of Black Obsidian?
The Black Obsidian crystal meaning helps you come to terms with negativity in your aura and release it once and for all. It's one of the most powerful healing crystals you can possibly add to your collection. It can heal not just physical ailments but mental and emotional pain too. It thoroughly cleanses, heals, and restores your aura from toxicity.
What are the physical healing properties of the Black Obsidian stone?
Because the Black Obsidian stone is deeply connected to the root chakra, it is able to help heal physical illness associated with an imbalance in this chakra. Imbalanced root chakras can have physical manifestations of:
- Bowel problems;
- Bladder and elimination issues;
- Low back pain and pressure;
- Lower extremity issues, pain, and pressure;
- Issues with the feet and trouble with gait and balance;
- Prostate issues in men;
- Disordered eating; and
- Helps with headaches and migranes
Using the Obsidian stone healing properties to help alleviate symptoms associated with these types of illnesses can prove useful. Black Obsidian balances the root chakra, alleviating the negative physical symptoms associated with the imbalance.
What are the Black Obsidian properties for mental and emotional healing?
None of us are immune to negativity. Even the most balanced and spiritual among us struggle with our humanity and our natural ability to experience anger and fear. Anger and fear can lead to deep emotional resentments, and if left untreated, even hatred. Using the Black Obsidian stone as an introspective tool, you can find the truth in emotional matters.
A Black Obsidian's sharp edges are ideal for cutting through emotional resentments, negative feelings, and unhealthy emotions that hold us back from being fulfilled and reaching our full potential.
Even if you don't have an Obsidian stone with sharp edges, it can help break ties to negativity you are holding. The protective stone is fantastic for crystal healing, especially when it comes to banishing low vibratory emotions.
Simply by focusing on the resentment or negative, non-serving emotion while holding a Black Obsidian stone can help bring it into your aura, allowing the Black Obsidian crystal to absorb it.
Can you use Black Obsidian for spiritual healing?
The Black Obsidian stone is a highly favored stone in mysticism.
Often used by ancient healers and shamans to dispel negative energies, this stone is popular as a talisman and is often kept close to the body. Obsidian rings pull negativity from your aura, clearing out aura pollution.
Obsidian can help you avoid feeling drained, tired, and weighed down by heavy feelings, but it can also help you realize deeper purposes in your life.
Many of us feel that we are here to finish tasks and lessons or to make resolutions for events in our previous lives. If you've felt unsure about your ultimate purpose, or if you feel that there are areas of unresolved conflict in your past life, the Black Obsidian stone can help surface these events so that you can see them, resolve them, and heal from them.
For centuries, Black Obsidian has been used for scrying. Scrying is the practice of looking into a surface for specific meaning, messages, and visions. It's one of its most legendary metaphysical properties. The dark, shiny surface of a Obsidian is the perfect medium for scrying.
Along with scrying, Black Obsidian can help awaken precognitive abilities, even if you've never experienced them. Obsidian can strengthen psychic abilities, deepen your connection to prophetic visions, and help you better explore the spiritual realm. This is why it's said to stimulate the gift of prophecy.
If you feel you have difficulty reaching your spirit guide, Obsidian is the perfect companion stone to bridge the gap between your physical and spiritual body and your spirit guide. Because Black Obsidian is deeply connected to mysticism, it provides safe and easy access to spirit guides and the angels.
How To Use Black Obsidian?
With so many benefits and powers, you'll definitely want to begin using Black Obsidian in your rituals, meditations, and ceremonies. However, Black Obsidian is also a great accompaniment to your everyday life.
Often used in Feng Shui, Black Obsidian is considered a protector of the home and workplace and a dispeller of negative energy. Here's how you can use Black Obsidian in every aspect of your life.
Spiritual Ceremonies And Meditations
Although Obsidian protects against negative energy, it is suggested that your spiritual meditations and ceremonial practices center around the stone's ability to heal yourself rather than simply block low energy from other people.
In meditations and deep reflection, holding Obsidian in your hand, placing it on your third eye chakra, or sitting it nearby can help you:
- See a truer reflection of your innermost self, and give you the courage to face whatever that reflection shows
- Uncover areas of resentment, shame, guilt, and pain that have been deeply buried in your subconscious.
- Give you the ability to contact your spiritual guides if you have trouble reaching them.
Beginners may find it hard to work with Obsidian in the early stages of their practices. It is a deeply revealing stone, capable of bringing forth uncomfortable feelings and unlocking memories from the past. It can be hard to face difficult truths, especially if you are just beginning your spiritual journey.
Black Obsidian for healers
Healers, a piece of Obsidian is an absolute requirement for you in your practices!
Healers are much more susceptible to absorbing negative energy. When working on their clients, low energy can naturally be absorbed into a healer's aura as it leaves their client's aura.
Especially empathetic or emotionally connected healers may find themselves feeling drained, down, or even angry after healing sessions. Black Obsidian's healing properties can help. Wave a Black Obsidian stone over the body to clear the aura of smog and relieve the build up of low vibrations.
Jewelry and charms with Black Obsidian
With so many protective powers, it's no wonder the Black Obsidian stone is popular for jewelry, charms, and talismans. In fact, it's even a zodiac stone, offering a special connection to people born under the Scorpio sign. (The Black Obsidian stone is a secondary birthstone for this sign.)
Combining Black Obsidian with other precious stones is a popular way to make use of the Black Obsidian healing properties. The healing energy of a Black Obsidian stone is felt most prominently when worn on the body. Like most healing crystals, skin on skin contact enhances the crystal healing properties.
Black Obsidian bracelets and rings offer protection to you as you shake hands with new people so that you don't harmonize with their lower frequency.. It also protects another person from siphoning your energy, leaving you feeling tired and drained.
How To Cleanse, Recharge And Activate Black Obsidian
Like every stone and crystal, Obsidian needs to be cleansed, recharged, and activated regularly. If your stone is in an area of high traffic, you'll need to clean your stone more frequently.
Cleansing Obsidian is similar to cleansing other healing crystals and stones. However, because Black Obsidian is a protection stone, it's highly absorbent and, at times, can possess a massive amount of negative energy. You'll want to make sure you clear it thoroughly by meditating on a cleansing intention.
We suggest this general, cleansing intention: “Remove all energy build-up that is not beneficial for the greater good, for all good, for everyone, and for myself.”
Whichever method you use to cleanse your Obsidian, remember to hold the protective stone while you cleanse it and focus on that intention.
Moonlight
Many stones and crystals love moonlight. You can charge and cleanse your Black Obsidian stone in the lunar energy by setting it outside when the moon is at its largest and brightest. Because Black Obsidian is a grounding stone, it can be helpful to sit your stone on the earth.
Sitting your stone on the earth while in direct moonlight can allow for the transfer of old energy back into the earth, while the moonlight recharges the stone.
Sound
Obsidian is a high vibratory stone, and its vibrations can connect and balance your root chakra. Using sound to cleanse and restore your Black Obsidian stone is a great way to connect with the Obsidian's vibrations, balance it and harmonize it with positive energy.
Using a tuning fork, sound bowl, or by reciting chants, involve your Obsidian in a cleansing ceremony to help clear the pollution from the stone and increase the power of its vibrations.
Sound cleansing is especially helpful if you have more than one crystal or stone to cleanse at one time. Sound cleansing washes over large areas with purifying and healing energy.
Salt cleansing
Just like how a Black Obsidian bracelet can cleanse your soul, salt can cleanse your Black Obsidian. The salt pulls out negativity and weight in the stone while it soaks. Place your Obsidian in sea salt for around six hours to cleanse it.
Smudging
In the same way that you smudge your house with sage, you can cleanse your healing crystals and stones. Smudging is a great way to cleanse multiple stones at once because the smoke effects of smudging cover larger areas.
To smudge your Black Obsidian stones, light your white sage bundle as you normally would and ensure your Obsidian stone passes through the smoke veil several times until it has been fully covered. Remember to keep your cleansing intention in mind while smudging.
Cleansing and recharging tips and tricks
Cleansing and recharging can be done as frequently as you would like. If you are experiencing a period of particularly toxic energy, bad thoughts, or are having difficulty reaching your spirit guides, that's a good indication it's time for a cleanse.
Stones that are in areas where numerous people pass through each day (workplaces, businesses, shops, etc.) should be cleaned on a frequent and regular basis. When cleansing your Black Obsidian stone, be sure to follow these guidelines:
- Avoid placing your Black Obsidian stone in the sunlight or water. Sunlight can fade your stone and cause it to lose some of its brilliance, and water could damage the delicate stone.
- When cleansing stones in jewelry, make sure you check with the manufacturer to get specific care instructions. Many times the precious metals that make up your favorite pieces of jewelry should not be left in water.
FAQ on Black Obsidian
Who should wear Black Obsidian?
Black Obsidian is a powerful stone that can help to cleanse and protect the aura. It is also said to help attract love and abundance. Anyone can wear black obsidian, but it is especially recommended for people prone to negative thinking or working through difficult life circumstances.
Who should NOT wear Black Obsidian jewelry?
Wearing Black Obsidian jewelry is not recommended for people under the age of 16 or over 70. It is also not recommended for people who have high blood pressure or are prone to anxiety, as it is believed to intensify these conditions.
Feng Shui practitioners advise pregnant women not to wear a Black Obsidian bracelet.
Is Black Obsidian Dangerous?
Black Obsidian is not dangerous; rather, it is protective. It absorbs negative energy and can help to shield you from harmful influences. However, because it is such a powerful stone, it is essential to use it with care and respect.
Can I wear a Black Obsidian bracelet while sleeping?
Yes, black obsidian is an excellent stone to wear while sleeping. It can help to protect you from negative energy and promote restful sleep.
Where should I put my Black Obsidian stone?
The home is the best place to start when placing Black Obsidian stones for protection. Black Obsidian is a part of the family of water elements. Feng Shui attributes wisdom, depth, fluidity, career, and social networking with the water elements.
So where should you put Black Obsidian in your house? As Obsidian is used in the home as a shield of protection to ward off toxic energy, it's recommended to put it in your bedroom, kitchen and entryways.
Black Obsidian is also popular in the workplace and can protect you from all kinds of workplace gossip, jealousy, competition, and mistreatment.
The Takeaway
Obsidian isn't a crystal. It's a volcanic glass stone that is highly protective and absorbent, with abilities to act as a shield against negativity and evil. Commonly used for grounding your energy and elevating your psychic potential, a piece of Obsidian is great for self-confidence, crystal healing and following your inner truth.
If you would like to explore your deepest, innermost self, uncover unknown memories or areas of negative emotions and experiences in your past, and safely heal from them, Black Obsidian can facilitate that journey. Its groundbreaking protection is world-renowned, so you'll feel safe and secure on your inner journey.
Obsidian vibrates closely with the base chakra, helping to ground you and provide a safe foundation for you to do spiritual work that can sometimes be difficult. Obsidian is deeply connected with the spirit realm, and is a very effective medium for scrying and for seeing your true reflection.
Adding a Black Obsidian stone to your practices, home, and workspace can help protect you from the bad energy of others and help absorb malicious energy from your aura. The Black Obsidian stone meaning is on a par with other healing crystals that promote balance, joy and happiness. Wield it with a protective or grounding intention and you can't go wrong.
