


Onyx absorbs all seven color rays, then brings them into your body through the root chakra. As Onyx's energy rises to your brow, it releases to each chakra the color rays needed by the chakra. This energetic support helps your chakras become more adaptable, enabling you to perform multiple tasks with greater ease and thus to manifest your creative vision in the world.
Onyx can help you—
- Become more grounded and focused
- Break an undesirable habit
- Multitask more easily
- Manifest your goals
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When Onyx Can Help
When you are experiencing—
- Feeling spaced out, ungrounded, or scattered
- Feeling overwhelmed by the need to perform multiple tasks
- Difficulty concentrating or focusing
- Difficulty manifesting your intentions and goals in the world
When you want to—
- Feel more grounded
- Perform multiple tasks with more ease and focus
- Become more productive
- Break an undesirable habit
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Benefits of Onyx
Onyx stabilizes, heals, and strengthens your root chakra so that you may become more grounded and productive in the physical world. A necklace of Onyx crystal spheres brings the seven color rays to all your chakras, except the crown chakra. In this way, Onyx strengthens your chakras at the deepest level so that they may function properly. It also promotes a healthy relationship among all your chakras, particularly between the root and sacral chakras, whose work is closely interwoven.
Some people have negative attitudes about the root chakra or consider it less important than the other chakras. If the root chakra were unnecessary, it would not be part of the human form. When your root chakra is balanced and functioning properly, you have the strength to perform and thrive in the physical world and to develop the higher chakras. Indeed, a strong and stable root chakra is needed to help you withstand the changes that will come into your life as you develop the higher chakras.
It is the nature of Onyx’s energy and its black color to absorb the seven color rays and bring them into the body. Onyx’s energy enters your root chakra. Then it rises up through your body, giving each chakra the message that it is all right for it to open up and accept color rays and other beneficial energies as your body needs them.
Onyx also acts like a lubricant for your chakras. In the course of a busy day, when you are faced with many decisions and must move from activity to activity, it is essential to have well-lubricated chakras that can respond to life’s shifting requirements. If your chakras are stuck and unresponsive, you may feel as though you just can't seem to manifest your goals, dreams, and intentions. For example, you may want to finish a particular project; you have the intention and desire to do it, but things just keep getting in the way, and you can't seem to follow through. By lubricating your chakras and bringing them the color-ray nourishment they need, Onyx helps your chakras become more adaptable, thus enabling you to perform multiple tasks with greater ease and to manifest your creative vision in the world.
Releasing Bad Habits
Onyx can help you break undesirable patterns or habits. These habits may be physical, emotional, or mental. An undesirable habit is a form of disharmony, and where all colors of the rainbow exist in balance, there can be no disharmony. Onyx helps your body become strong enough to accept an optimal and balanced ratio of color rays on its own. When this happens, the overall quality of your energy rises, making it easier for you to recognize your limiting patterns and habits.
To help you let go of a particular habit, Onyx first encourages you to become aware of that habit. It does this by intensifying your attachment to the habit—but only to the point where you recognize that the attachment exists. In this way, Onyx helps you see that what is destructive is not so much the habitual behavior itself, but your attachment to it. For example, many people who habitually drink too much or smoke don't believe they have a problem. When Onyx is worn by a person who has, for example, a habit of smoking, he will find his attachment to smoking intensifying. This doesn't mean that he will smoke more cigarettes or that the habit will get worse. Instead, the intensification will encourage him to recognize his attachment to smoking. With this recognition will come the realization that he is out of control and that the habit is controlling him.
As your attachment to a habit intensifies, Onyx also gives you strength. This strength is important, because it will prevent you from losing balance when the realization dawns that you are out of control. Instead, you will have the strength to let go of the attachment and recognize that it no longer controls you. If you continue to wear Onyx, you will also gain the strength to break the karmic ties with the habit, so that it is less likely to return.
If you want to focus Onyx’s effects on a particular habit, you can simply decide to put your attention on that habit. If you choose a habit that is really a manifestation of a deeper attachment, Onyx will work on the underlying attachment first. For example, if you choose to release a habit concerning food, when the underlying attachment really concerns your concept of giving and receiving love, Onyx will focus on the underlying attachment. If you don’t choose a particular habit, Onyx will first address your attachment to your most destructive habit.
Breaking and letting go of habits causes a change in one’s overall balance. Although this can be uncomfortable, Onyx will not create more imbalances or initiate more changes than you can handle. Because it helps the chakras accept the proper balance of color rays, Onyx will improve your overall balance. Consequently, you won’t be overwhelmed by the changes that come with the breaking of habits. Indeed, you will have the strength to make the changes required.
Becoming Grounded
To live fuller lives, many people must become more secure and grounded in their physical bodies. Because of its effects on the root chakra, Onyx helps its wearer become more grounded. Therefore, people who tend to feel spaced out, disoriented, or detached will particularly benefit from Onyx. So will people who have difficulty concentrating on important tasks or who tend to live almost exclusively on the emotional or mental level. Often, such people struggle to maintain an adequate awareness of what is occurring around them in the physical world. Onyx can be a helpful tool for these individuals, especially when they must drive, use potentially dangerous power equipment, or perform some other task requiring intense concentration for safety reasons. At such times, these individuals should place Onyx on whatever part of the body is safest and most comfortable for them. The Onyx could be worn around the neck, placed in a pocket, or laid in the lap.
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How to Use + Therapies
Wear It Around Your Neck
One of the most powerful and convenient ways to use an Onyx necklace is to wear it around your neck. There the gems will silently work for you as you go about your day. At night while you are sleeping, you can wear the necklace or keep it within three feet of your body to maintain your connection with the gems.
Special Therapies
In addition to wearing an Onyx necklace around your neck, you can use it for more focused treatments. Onyx can also be used for more focused treatments. The simplest treatment is to place it on a specific area of your body to focus its healing energies there. For example, you can curl up the necklace and place it on an ailing, injured, or painful area to accelerate the area’s recovery. Here are two other focused treatments you can perform with this necklace.
Root Chakra Grounding Technique
Placing Onyx on the front and back "doors" of the root chakra lubricates the chakra's biomagnetic poles. This technique improves the functioning of your root chakra, so that you feel more grounded, can adapt to challenges more fluidly, and can perform multiple tasks with greater ease. View instructions.
Chakra Awareness Technique
This technique promotes a greater awareness of your chakras. View instructions.
Time Guidelines
Onyx can be worn continuously. However, it is always wise to be sensitive to your body’s responses. If you start to feel a headache or significant discomfort, take the necklace off for a while. Then allow your body time to adjust to the changes initiated by the gems by wearing them for only an hour or two a day. Gradually increase this time until you can comfortably wear the gems for as long and often as you wish.
Cleanse Onyx Regularly
To maintain their effectiveness, therapeutic gemstones need regular care. As the gems help us release energetic impurities, some of these energies cling to the gems’ surface and inhibit their ability to work at their peak capacity. A simple energetic cleansing will clear these energies and restore the gems to their naturally vibrant state. You can use any of following methods to cleanse your Onyx necklace. Learn more about these methods.
Plant Rejuvenation: 2 – 3 times a week, wrap the necklace around the base of a healthy houseplant or lay the necklace in its branches.
Salt Bed: 2 – 3 times a week, lay the gems in a half-inch of salt for at least an hour or overnight. Place a thin natural-fiber cloth between the salt and the gems.
Water Rinse: Rinse the gems daily for the first two weeks, then 2 – 3 times a week.
Sunbath: Every 1 - 2 weeks, lay the gems in sunlight for a maximum of 20 minutes at a time.
Caution: Avoid clay cleansing, which will dull Onyx’s polish.
When Your Necklace First Arrives
When you put on a new necklace or one you haven’t worn for a while, bring it into your aura with consciousness and a clear intent. We call this “practicing presence.” By opening yourself to the gems’ energies and consciously cooperating with the process of change, you can greatly enhance the gemstones’ benefits.
Learn more about how to use your new gems here.
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What Makes Our Onyx Special?
Onyx is available in a wide range of qualities, not all of which are therapeutic. Gemisphere sells only the highest-grade Onyx spheres, which are a deep, consistent black and precisely cut for maximum therapeutic effectiveness.
Therapeutic Quality Onyx
Therapeutic Onyx spheres are a deep, consistent black, and their shape and drill holes are precise and even. Unlike most other gems, Onyx’s therapeutic power is enhanced by dye. Indeed, black Onyx is derived by dyeing Gray Onyx black.
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Read Onyx Chapter
Excerpted from Wisdom of the Gemstone Guardians, by Michael Katz. Order the book here.
Chapter 28
Onyx: Becoming Grounded
I expected to meet the Guardian of Onyx in a dark place, perhaps in a dimly lit cavern deep within the Earth. I was surprised when Spirit led us to a grassy area near a mountain brook. There the Guardian of Onyx sat waiting on a large rock. When he saw Michael and me, he stood, stretched out his hand to shake ours, and greeted us amiably.
The Guardian of Onyx looked as ordinary as any person on Earth. He had jet black hair and dark brown eyes, and he spoke in a quiet, gentle voice. This Guardian seemed to be a rather likable fellow. Judging from the location he chose for his discourse, he dearly loved nature. I felt this love--a kinship with all living things--as I entered his aura.
Although it is considered an earthstone, the material you call Black Onyx has not been made entirely by the planet. Black Onyx is comprised of the Earth's elements, yet has been enhanced by human beings. By this I do not mean that it is man-made. Onyx is surely alive, even though its color has been enhanced to make it appear black. This enhancement only contributes to my mission. Indeed, it makes me what I am. The effects of most other gemstones are dampened by treatment. Without treatment, Black Onyx would not be.
As its Guardian, I have been assigned to watch over Onyx, to guide its vibratory rate, and to care for and work with the people who wear it.
"Does your mission include only the Black Onyx on Earth?" Michael asked.
Yes. My guardianship is for the Earth's Black Onyx only.
"Are you also the Guardian of the material from which Black Onyx is made?"
There is another who serves as Guardian for the material you call Gray Onyx. When Gray Onyx is made black, its effects change considerably.
The Root Chakra
"What is your mission?"
I work exclusively for human beings. My mission is to stabilize, strengthen, and support the root chakra. My vibratory rate, combined with my color, works on stimulating all the chakras except the crown. I give the chakras strength at the deepest level so they may function properly.
Some people have negative attitudes about the root chakra or consider it less important than the other chakras. If the root chakra were not necessary, it would not have been included in the human body. When the root chakra is balanced and functioning properly, you have the strength to develop the higher chakras. Indeed, you need a strong and stable root chakra to help you withstand the changes that will come into your life as you develop those chakras.
It is the nature of my vibratory rate and of my color to absorb the seven color rays and bring them into the body. My energy enters the root chakra. Then it rises up through the body, giving the chakras the message that it is all right for them to open up and accept colors and other beneficial energies as the body needs them. Some of my energy leaves through the sacral chakra, but most of it continues to rise up through the body. As my energy passes each chakra, it deposits the vibratory rate of the colors each chakra is programmed to accept. My energy reinforces the chakras' ability to accept these color rays. It also enlivens their receptivity to all colors.
When my energy reaches the stomach chakra, I let go of the green and yellow vibratory rates, because that chakra has a magnetic attraction for these two rays. The heart chakra has a magnetic attraction for the red and orange rays; this attraction calls the red and orange vibratory rates from my make-up. At the throat chakra I release the blue-ray vibratory rate. And at the brow chakra I let go of the indigo and purple vibratory rates. In some individuals, I deposit the indigo ray with the blue at the throat chakra. My energy does not reach the crown chakra.
All beings react to light, and all beings have chakras, or energy centers, including animals. Perhaps plants do, too--and if one knew how to look for them, their energy centers might be found. Therefore, I believe that all living beings will react to Onyx in a similar way.
Although it may seem paradoxical, when all light converges on a single point, there is darkness. When this phenomenon occurs on a spiritual level, the negative pole of creation is formed. Perhaps this is why black is a symbol of the negative and white a symbol of the positive.
The nature, purpose, and importance of the negative force is to temper Soul. Ultimately, it strengthens the individual--the hard way. Yet, please do not consider Black Onyx a negative stone. When Onyx is worn during a negative situation, its vibratory rate allows light to shine on the situation and reveal its positive side.
Releasing Bad Habits
Onyx can help people break certain patterns or habits. These habits may be physical, emotional, or mental.
I can help the body become strong enough to accept an optimal amount of color rays on its own. When the body does this, the individual's vibratory rate rises. When one's vibratory rate rises, one often recognizes patterns and habits in one's life. This is because a habit is a form of disharmony, and where all colors of the rainbow exist in balance there can be no disharmony.
With this rise in vibratory rate, you might also see that a certain habit is not all bad, because through that habit certain lessons are being learned. Nevertheless, you might also come to realize that you no longer need the habit. Then it will just be a matter of further raising your vibratory rate to completely dissolve your ties with the habit. In most cases, habit resolution also involves dissolving karmic ties with the entity associated with the habit--tobacco, for example, in the case of a smoking habit.
To change a change, you must first recognize it; otherwise, a complete change cannot occur. When you see the reason for certain habits and understand why patterns keep recurring, you will have taken the first step required to change those habits or at least to change their underlying causes.
My effect on patterns and habits is a side effect of my primary mission. However, it is a noticeable one and common to everyone who wears Onyx. The side effects of most gemstones are not experienced by everyone who wears them. In this way Onyx is different from most gemstones. Still, the details of each person's experience with Onyx will be unique.
"Would you explain the mechanics of how you help people let go of habits?"
First, I allow you to become aware of the habit. I do this by intensifying your attachment to it. Yet I do this only to the point where you recognize that the attachment exists. In this way, I help you see that what is destructive is not so much the habitual behavior itself, but your attachment to it.
How many people do you know who smoke or drink but don't think they have a smoking or a drinking problem? When Onyx is worn, an individual who has, for example, a habit of smoking will find that the attachment to smoking intensifies. This doesn't mean that the person will smoke more cigarettes or that the habit will get worse. Instead, this intensification will encourage the person to recognize that the attachment exists. With this recognition will come the realization that "I'm out of control! My habit is controlling my life!"
As the attachment to the habit intensifies, I also give strength. I do this by making sure that each chakra is receptive to the color rays and that the color rays entering the body are being distributed properly.
This is important, because it will prevent the person from losing balance when the realization dawns that he or she is out of control. Instead, the person will have the strength to let go of the attachment and say, "This habit once controlled me, but no more. It is no longer a part of me." Perhaps the person will even continue to smoke, but the attachment to the habit will have been released; the individual will have mastered the habit.
If you continue to wear Onyx, you will also have the strength to break the karmic ties with the habit controlling you. Onyx will protect your aura whenever the habit tries to return.
One can use one's knowledge of how Onyx works to focus my effects. If my wearers understand my effects, they can decide to put attention on the habit that concerns them most. Those who are unaware of my effects will simply realize that certain habits are controlling their lives.
"If someone wearing Onyx has, for example, twenty habits, would the habits be addressed one at a time, or would the attachment to all of them be intensified at once?"
The attachment to the most destructive habit will be addressed first, unless the individual chooses a different habit to focus on. If one chooses a habit which is actually a manifestation of a deeper attachment, I will work on the underlying attachment first. For example, if someone chooses to release a habit concerning food, when the underlying attachment really concerns the person's concept of giving and receiving love, my attention will focus on the person's underlying attachment.
Breaking and letting go of habits causes a change in one's overall balance. This can be uncomfortable, but it is not my intention to initiate more changes than people can handle or to create an imbalance. Because I help the chakras learn to accept the proper balance of color rays, wearing Onyx will improve one's overall balance. Consequently, my wearer will not be overwhelmed by the changes that come with the breaking of habits. Indeed, he or she will have the strength to make those changes.
Becoming Grounded
"Do you have any other effects on the inner bodies?" asked Michael.
To gain a better perspective on their inner lives, many people need to become more secure and grounded in the physical body. Onyx will give them that secure and grounded feeling. It will allow them to experience the mind and emotions from a more solid base and thereby gain a greater, more holistic understanding of themselves.
Thus, people who tend to feel "spaced out," disoriented, or detached will benefit from Onyx. So will those who have difficulty concentrating on important tasks or who tend to live almost exclusively on the emotional level. Often such people struggle to maintain adequate awareness of what is occurring around them on the physical level. Onyx can be a helpful tool for these individuals, especially when they must drive, use potentially dangerous power equipment, or perform some other task requiring intense concentration for safety reasons.
At such times, these individuals should place Onyx on whatever part of the body is most comfortable for them. The Onyx could be worn around the neck, placed in a pocket, or laid in the lap.
"Do you anticipate that your effects on human beings will change in the future?" Michael asked.
Although human beings may think they change slowly, you really change quite quickly, especially compared to the rate at which gemstones evolve and change. As long as human beings continue to make Gray Onyx black in the same way you do now, my effects will remain the same.
Medicine from the Earth
"Since you are the last of the Earthstone Guardians to be interviewed for this book, would you care to summarize the work of the earthstones?"
The earthstones are not greater than the gemstones and vice versa. They are just different. Earthstones are crucial for the planet, just as crystals are.
Now that you understand how I work and what I do, feel free to experiment with other therapeutic applications. Be creative! I believe this would be the message from all the Earthstone Guardians. When you learn the true nature, purpose, and mission of a stone--whether you call it an earthstone, oceanstone, or gemstone--you will have gained the opportunity to combine this basic knowledge with your creativity and your own knowledge of the human body. In other words, you can experiment.
There is not just one way to use a tool. With creativity, you can use most tools in a variety of ways. For every gemstone, there are at least a hundred and one applications of it, especially when you have a more complete picture of the world of gems.
Do not underestimate your intuition when working with gemstones therapeutically. Some say intuition is God, Spirit, your higher Self, or your Guardian Angel speaking to you. If you feel insecure about using your intuition, substitute the phrase "inner knowingness" for intuition. Always use your inner knowingness to guide you when using any gemstone.
Some people will always need to prove their intuitive insights with mental equations. These people either have not adequately developed the intuition or do not trust it enough. Of course, there are instances when the use of such equations is essential, especially in complex situations.
People have already accepted medicinal plants as gifts from the Earth. We Guardians believe that people are now ready to accept medicinal gemstones as gifts from the planet. Both plants and gemstones can be medicinal. Nevertheless, they are very different. Both plants and gemstones are alive. However, the amount of life and healing force contained in the molecular structure of plants is minuscule compared to that contained in the crystalline structure of a gemstone.
The life force of a plant starts to diminish once it is plucked from its roots. The life force of gemstones does not change when they are removed from the planet. In fact, the harvesting of gemstones is the first step in preparing them to directly assist human beings. If one tears off a piece of leaf, that piece will immediately start to die. If one breaks off a piece of a gemstone, it will stay as alive as the stone from which it was broken.
Plants lose their vibratory rate once they are ingested by the body. The body soon forgets the plant's gift and needs another dose. If you wear a gemstone for one minute and take it off, your body will soon forget the gemstone's vibratory rate. However, it is much easier to wear a gemstone continuously than it is to eat a plant continuously.
My comparison between plants and gemstones could continue. I respect plants. I love them, just as I love all the gifts of the Earth, and I am deeply grateful for them. Plants and gemstones can work well together, and you can certainly receive gemstone and herbal therapy at the same time. As long as the therapies are beneficial, they will not conflict with each other.
The more you know about gemstones, the more freedom you will have to choose from a wider variety of the planet's gifts. These gifts will help you through your changes and support you in your growth.
"We will be interviewing some of the Oceanstone Guardians next. Would you like to introduce the first Guardian?" asked Michael.
The oceanstones are out of my realm. Although we exist on the same planet, we are of different worlds.
"Thank you for sharing your wisdom with us."
That you have recognized wisdom in my words tells me there is wisdom in you as well--otherwise, how could you have recognized it?
I expect we will meet again, perhaps even in the physical world.
"I look forward to it," Michael replied.
I looked at the Guardian of Onyx, who smiled. He had a twinkle in his dark brown eyes. I reached out my hand to shake his, and we said our good-byes. He spoke privately with Michael for several minutes while I waited, enjoying the scenery. They seemed to be enjoying each other's company and forming a friendship.
When their conversation ended, the Guardian stretched his arms toward the clear blue sky and inhaled the refreshing mountain air. Then he turned to watch the water as it tumbled over rocks in the stream next to us. It was indeed a glorious day.
© 1997 Michael Katz. All rights reserved.
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When Onyx Can Help
When you are experiencing—
- Feeling spaced out, ungrounded, or scattered
- Feeling overwhelmed by the need to perform multiple tasks
- Difficulty concentrating or focusing
- Difficulty manifesting your intentions and goals in the world
When you want to—
- Feel more grounded
- Perform multiple tasks with more ease and focus
- Become more productive
- Break an undesirable habit