Opal

14K "New Born" Cameo/Opal
Birthstone Pendant

The October Birthstone

Opal comes in a wide variety of colours many of which have specific names. These include white opal (more accurately a milky grey), fire opal (various shades of red), hyalite (colourless), prasopal (apple green - literally leek green), and hydrophane (cloudy due to lack of water).

Opal in general is an abundant stone, much of it coming from Australia. Precious opal is far less common and much sought after. It has a distinctive iridescence of various hues.

Opal isn't a very hard stone and can be damaged or dry out if not cared for properly.

Symbolism and Lore

If some stones such as peridot suffer from a lack of ancient lore, opal has the opposite problem - there's almost too much myth associated with it! Opal has been known for many things both fortunate and less so.

In Greek mythology, opal was formed from the tears of joy that Zeus wept after defeating the Titans. In Indian lore opal was formed when the Goddess of Rainbows was turned to stone whilst fleeing the romantic advances of the other gods. In the Arabic world it was believed that opals fell from the skies in lightning flashes which gave them their fire.

Traditionally opal has been considered a stone of fortune. The Romans thought opals were symbolic of hope and purity, the Greeks that they gave the gift of prophecy. It has also been said to confer invisibility and hence to be favoured by thieves.

More recently it has been considered unlucky to wear opal if it isn't actually your bithstone. This idea appears to trace back to Sir Walter Scott's novel "Anne of Gierstein" where the protaganist has her life force (soul?) trapped in a cursed opal.

And perhaps most bizarrely of all, opal was believed to prevent blonde hair from losing its colour!

With all these different symbolic attributions of opal it's perhaps not surprising that Shakespeare used it as a symbol of unpredictability and inconstancy:

"Now, the melancholy god protect thee, and the tailor make thy doublet of changeable taffeta, for thy mind is a very opal" - Twelfth Night, Act 2 Scene 4