Snowflake Obsidian
Finding balance is never easy. We all have darkness and light inside us. Masculine and feminine. Pleasure and pain. Strikes and gutter balls.
Bringing a balance to mind, body and spirit, Snowflake Obsidian can provide equilibrium during times of upheaval and change and help to keep us centred and focused when any type of chaotic situation (work, peak hour commuting, trying to find one pair of clean undies in a precarious pile of identical black fabric five minutes before your date arrives…) rears its ugly head
AFFIRMATION: “I ask my guides for help to find my best path forward”
BEST FOR: emotional healing, self-acceptance, strength, meditations, grief
ORIGINS: Australia, Africa, USA, Mexico, Iceland
COMPANION STONES: to break bad habits or addictions – amethyst; connecting to spirit – petrified wood
RARITY: common
The History of Snowflake Obsidian
Obsidian gets its English name from a mistranslation of Natural History by Pliny the Elder (that guy who died at Pompeii).
This naturally occurring volcanic glass is formed when felsic lava, extruded from a volcano, cools without crystal growth. This glass form later transmutes into a rock, with sunburst-shaped spherulite inclusions forming in the stone.
The Obsidian crystal stone meaning can be traced back to Palaeolithic times where it was used to make arrowheads and other tools. Obsidian mirrors were used by some Aztec priests to conjure visions and make prophesies. They were connected with Tezcatlipoca, God of Obsidian and sorcery, whose name can be translated from the Nahuatl language as 'Smoking Mirror’
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.
Recognising Snowflake Obsidian
Made of dark volcanic glass, Snowflake Obsidian has a unique appearance. Its surface is sleek and shiny to the eye and to the touch, and the white and greyish inclusions are unique to this stone.
These inclusions resemble snowflakes (thus the name), they’re called spherulites, and they are composed of needle shaped Cristobalite, a type of Quartz. Colour in Obsidian varies, depending on impurities in the parent lava formation.
Snowflake Obsidian has a hardness of 5-6 on the Mohs scale.
What is Snowflake Obsidian used for?
The Snowflake Obsidian is a stone of purity. It symbolises the need to regularly clear your body, heart, mind, and spirit of toxins that can prevent the free flow of positive energies. The healing energies of this stone will help you achieve a balance in your body, mind, and spirit.
As it has throughout history, Snowflake Obsidian will work as a mirror, reflecting who you are as a person. It will show you what your weaknesses are and how you can turn them into strengths.
It will help bring peace and balance, both to your mind and body, by keeping you hopeful and realistic, without taking away your sense of wonder. The energies of Snowflake Obsidian will allow you to know your true self, and to be confident and secure about who you are. Because of its dark colour, Obsidian can absorb dense or dark energy. You can hand over the darkness to your stone and allow it to carry those energies for you so you can move on to brighter days.
Just make sure to regularly cleanse your Obsidian under running water, as the stone tends to absorb environmental pollution as well as geopathic stress.
Physically Snowflake Obsidian is an excellent detoxification stone. It will help your body shed toxins that are preventing from functioning at its peak and has also been used as a weight loss aid (maybe don’t throw away your Noom membership just yet though…).