According to Australian Aboriginal legend, opals were formed when the creator came down to Earth on a rainbow to bring a message of peace. When his foot touched the ground, the stones came alive and started sparkling in all colors of the rainbow. Their legend also has a great opal in the sky governing the stars, the gold mines, and all human love. The Ancient Greeks claimed that opals were the tears of Zeus, shed after his victory over the Titans. Ancient Arabs said opals came to earth from bursts of lightning. And in India, it was believed that the Goddess of Rainbows turned herself into an opal to escape the advances of other gods.
Mark Antony loved the opal so much that he banished a senator who would not sell him his stone. Napoleon presented Josephine with an opal he called the “Burning of Troy.” In the Middle Ages, opal talismans were said to keep the wearers invisible and so became the stone of thieves and spies. Readers in England were convinced that the stone brought bad luck after a character in one of Sir Walter Scott’s novels died after losing her opal. But the stone was brought back to its rightful place of good fortune when Queen Victoria wore opals throughout her reign.
From the Greek, opallios, “to see a change in color,” opals heal broken hearts, restore inner harmony and bring eternal hope.