crystal study Group; obsidian

I thought I'd post about some recent experiences in which I've been shopping around town here in LA -- a fairly well-stocked city of not insignificant size -- and I've been having difficulty in locating basic black Obsidian. Has anyone else noticed such a trend in other cities?

The "sheens" are easy enough to find: gold-sheen, silver-sheen, rainbow-sheen... Snowflake Obsidian is readily available. Apache Tears are pretty commonplace. Spiderweb Obsidian isn't too difficult to locate.

But pure black Obsidian...? Good luck! After calling and/or visiting a half-dozen of the most well-established shops here, I so far have actually found but one single piece of the black stuff...but it was a big, ungainly massage-thing that I didn't connect with at all, and I didn't want to force a purchase. I have two places left to try in person, as they both told me over the phone that they do have a few pieces (although what these really look like, I won't know until I go and behold in person)...and they're of course the two that are the geographically farthest from my home... I'll still go, and will hope for the best, but I'm just really surprised by this. I guess I was assuming that the primary form of this material would be the most plentiful, but as it turns out...not. And if these two other places don't pan out, I know I can always order something from the internet, even though I'd way rather hold something in my hand first before buying...but I figured I'd share this experience and see if anyone else has bumped into the same thing...?

Try Mail order as a last resort, Frac ture. I got a great obsidian from 13 moons.com. They have a large selection of crystals and I haven't gotten a bad one yet.

Thank you very much for that reference, pink daliha -- I've bookmarked that site now for future use! It looks like a site that could easily eat up hours of my time!

As an update, I did make a trek out to one of the last remaining shops in the area whose Obsidian I hadn't yet inspected in person...and they also had no truly pure black pieces! I did find a large Rainbow-Sheen Obsidian egg for a great price that I ended up buying, and I love it -- it's beautiful, and I aim to attempt some meditation and some scrying with it -- but I do wonder if maybe a truly pure black piece is just not something that occurs as naturally as I'd been assuming...

I can go shopping for you if you wish, Frac_ture - my local go-to crystal shop has had nice pieces of it in the past; they normally carry it. Let me know.

Lotus Padma said:

I can go shopping for you if you wish, Frac_ture - my local go-to crystal shop has had nice pieces of it in the past; they normally carry it. Let me know.

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Wow, thanks so much, Lotus, that's really generous of you! You know, I'd hate to ask you to put yourself to any trouble, and especially before I've made the trip to the last of my own go-to shops here in my town...but if you do go to your shop for your own sake before I can report back here, I'd love to hear what your store's pieces look like! I'm just intensely curious now to know if my presumptions of a pure black Obsidian are just naive and inaccurate. Maybe it always has a sheen to it of some kind? Input from you or anyone else reading would be most welcome...and meanwhile, I'll try to get to that other shop here within the next week or so if I can, and I'll post an update here after that. Thank you again, though, for your kind offer! More soon...

frac_ture said:

Wow, thanks so much, Lotus, that's really generous of you! You know, I'd hate to ask you to put yourself to any trouble, and especially before I've made the trip to the last of my own go-to shops here in my town...but if you do go to your shop for your own sake before I can report back here, I'd love to hear what your store's pieces look like! I'm just intensely curious now to know if my presumptions of a pure black Obsidian are just naive and inaccurate. Maybe it always has a sheen to it of some kind? Input from you or anyone else reading would be most welcome...and meanwhile, I'll try to get to that other shop here within the next week or so if I can, and I'll post an update here after that. Thank you again, though, for your kind offer! More soon...

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I will go this Sunday, Frac_ture. Insofar as I know, black obsidian has a certain glassy finish to it - as to a sheen, I haven't seen opalescent obsidian, in the sense of white sheen...well, anyways, I will check it out at my local - if photos are allowed there, I will post pics, and you can choose

Lotus Padma said:

I will go this Sunday, Frac_ture. Insofar as I know, black obsidian has a certain glassy finish to it - as to a sheen, I haven't seen opalescent obsidian, in the sense of white sheen...well, anyways, I will check it out at my local - if photos are allowed there, I will post pics, and you can choose

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Thanks very much, Lotus -- that's really sweet of you! Looking forward to seeing what you uncover at the shop!

I've been reading up on this whole issue a bit more, and some sources seem to actually define "Black Obsidian" as being the same thing as Apache Tears. That was never my original understanding -- I was always under the assumption that these were two different things. Apache Tears look black and opaque until you hold them up to a light source, when they become translucent. On the other hand, I thought Black Obsidian would remain opaque regardless of light...? And then the varieties of Obsidian I've encountered that do remain opaque all seem to have a gold sheen or a rainbow sheen (plus, there are also the Snowflake, Spiderweb, and Mahogany varieties, but as they're not pure black, I wasn't really worrying about them in this line of inquiry...although they are at least opaque!). Maybe I'm all turned around on this point...

All I can go by is what I have seen at the store I shop at - they have Obsidian "arrow heads" there...and my parents had an idol from Mexico carved in black obsidian (I think I mentioned it in the first page or two of this thread). To me it looks like an opaque-ish stone, black with a slight green tinge or undertone to it...almost like opaque glass - it still allows some light in, but overall, merely looks a glossy black. I did not realise that apache tears were one and the same!

As it is not a stone I am attracted to, I tend not to "see" it - notice it, in other words. So I don't have much to go on! lol...

Lotus Padma said:

All I can go by is what I have seen at the store I shop at - they have Obsidian "arrow heads" there...and my parents had an idol from Mexico carved in black obsidian (I think I mentioned it in the first page or two of this thread). To me it looks like an opaque-ish stone, black with a slight green tinge or undertone to it...almost like opaque glass - it still allows some light in, but overall, merely looks a glossy black. I did not realise that apache tears were one and the same!

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Well, like I said, only some of my resources say that about Apache Tears and Black Obsidian being synonymous, so I now don't know what to believe on this score. I wish there was some official body we could go to for rulings on stuff like this...

Obsidian arrowheads sound awesome! I'm guessing you put that in quotes because they're not true artifacts once used by people many years ago for actual hunting, but are rather modern creations shaped like the heads of arrows would be...? They do still sound pretty cool to me!

Lotus Padma said:

As it is not a stone I am attracted to, I tend not to "see" it - notice it, in other words. So I don't have much to go on! lol...

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I hear you here -- we probably all have stones like this that don't appeal to us very much personally, so they barely register with us. In fact, I'm having a hard time even thinking of some of mine right now, because they're so off my radar!

yep on the quotes - they are carved into arrow head shapes it is thought that if you are feeling vulnerable or are under attack, you can use an array of Obsidian arrow-head points in front of you (laid on your desk, for instance) in a semi-circle arch with the points facing outwards, and that the energy fusion between yourself and the arrow heads of intent, so to speak, will protect you. I don't know how much credence I would put into that, however, I do believe it is a rather powerful piece of mineral - so perhaps it is true! I will see if they have any - they generally retail for about $8 each, and are around 2.5/3 inches long, if memory serves.