====== Onyx ======
<div #singlebox>
---- dataentry gem----
latin_names: 
folk_names: 
energy_tags: Projective
gender_tags: 
planet_tags: Mars, Saturn
element_tags: Fire
deity_tags: Mars
effect_tags: Protection, defensive magic, reducing sexual desires
----
</div>
<ifauth @user>
===== Magical Uses =====
Onyx is a protective stone worn when facing adversaries in battles or conflicts of all kinds-or while hurrying down a dark street at midnight. (Isn't it nice that magic is practical?)

In classical ceremonial magic, the image of the head of the god Mars or a figure of the hero Hercules was engraved on onyx and carried for courage.

Onyx is used for protection as well as defense against negativity consciously directed toward you. While such things as "psychic attack" or "hexing" are rare and often exist only in the mind of the "victim," performing defensive rituals can be psychologically cleansing.

*A defensive spell:* Place a square mirror on your altar. Set a purple candle before it so that the flame is reflected in the mirror.

Empower nine onyx stones with reflective, or defensive, energy. Place one piece of onyx three inches from the candle's right side. Then place eight more stones in a semicircle around the candle, working from right to left, until the candle is half-ringed with onyx toward you, but is clear of it in front of the mirror.

Light the candle. Visualize the onyx as collecting the negativity and sending it into the candle's flame. Then see the flame acting as a lens, focusing the negativity and sending it into the mirror.

The mirror is a doorway on to the spiritual plane. The negative energy is sent through it back to the original sender.

Protection is conferred.

Onyx has been used to reduce the sexual impulses. This is dangerous, for sexual release is a natural part of life. When it is repressed, mental illness, physical illness, antisocial behavior, religious delusions, and even murderous tendencies can result.

Natural sexual impulses exist for pleasure, for union with other humans and the divine, and for the continuance of human life. Suppression of them leads to hatred, isolation, and a lessening of respect for all life forms.

However, in these times of risky sexual contact, perhaps onyx can be used to help curb uncontrollable sexual urges. Sex, especially when regularly performed with new partners (one-night stands), can be psychologically addictive. This can lead to neglect of nonsexual matters, sexual dysfunction (impotency or frigidity), and disease.

If uncontrollable desire is a problem, lie down fully clothed. Hold a piece of onyx about two inches above your groin. Let its soothing, spiritual vibrations bombard you. Visualize yourself desiring less sex, remembering that quality-not quantity-is all that matters. Do this for a few minutes once

a day-but for no longer than a week. Wait a week before repeating this ritual.

Then again, onyx can be used to quell sexual desire when there is no chance of quenching it with your sexual partner-for example, during long physical separations or illness.

Though self-stimulation (masturbation) can and should be a natural, satisfying release, many of us need the energy exchange with another person for fulfilling sex. Societal training has also plagued us with the false notion that masturbation is dirty, unnatural, and the cause of disease.

If this is the case and you have no access to sexual relations, either awake your own sexuality or, failing that, empower a piece of onyx and hold it a few inches above your groin, visualizing your sexual desire lessening.

When your partner is again available to you, stimulate your sexual desire with a diamond or carnelian so as to fully enjoy the contact.

Both of the above techniques can be dangerous. They shouldn't be done without careful thought. Never continue using onyx to repress your sexual desire for longer than a month or two, and reopen the sex center afterward.

Don't let this scare you away from onyx, however. When empowered for protective purposes, for example, it affects the sex center in different ways. Sex is linked with the survival of our species. So, it "protects" life. Wearing onyx or utilizing it in protective rituals channels sexual energy into the stone and from there creates protection.

A safe but expensive alternative to the above rituals entails having a diamond-it doesn't matter how large or small it is-set in onyx. When the diamond (which is sexually arousing) is surrounded by the sexually inhibiting onyx, it symbolizes control over our sexual natures.
===== Ritual Lore =====
In times past, onyx was thought to be the manifestation of a demon imprisoned in the stone. This demon woke up at night and spread terror and nightmares to any persons within its range of influence.

This demon was also thought to provoke discord between lovers (though see below for the reason why "discord" might occur if this stone is misused).</ifauth>
===== Notes =====
==== Related Stones ====
* [[gem:diamond]]