Brazilian Citrine - Stone of Abundance and Creative Manifestation - Benefits & Virtues in Lithotherapy

Mineral Properties:

• Citrine is a fine, transparent and solid stone, with a hardness of 7 on the Mohs scale. She is capable of scratching glass. Its crystal system is trigonal and its pleochroism is weak. It is associated with zero fluorescence and conchoidal breakage. Chemically speaking, citrine is written under the formula SiO2. Its boiling point is 2,230°C while its density is between 2.63 and 2.65. Unless dissolved in a concentrated sodium hydroxide solution or in hydrofluoric acid, this mineral is associated with a very stable solubility.

• Citrine essentially owes its citrus color to the tiny quantities of iron hydroxides it contains. It can sometimes be confused with yellow topaz because of their virtually identical hues. With a glassy shine, it has several varieties depending on its tones, ranging from lemon yellow to Madeira red, including golden yellow, brownish orange, golden brown and mandarin orange. The green tips at the heart of the lemon yellow citrine allow you to recognize this variety. For its part, yellow-gold citrine shines like the eponymous precious metal. Madeira citrine is recognized, for its part, by its orange-red tones, thus recalling the color of the famous Madeira wine. Orange and yellow hues combine in tangerine citrine. As for multi-colored citrine, it has a gradient from golden yellow to colorless.

• Belonging to the quartz family, citrine is a stone that is rarely found in its natural state. Its deposits, which are frequently those of amethysts, are mainly located in the United States, Spain, Uruguay and Madagascar. However, Brazil is the main producer of citrine with its significant deposits in the states of Rio Grande do Sul and Minas Gerais. Moreover, the most beautiful stones come from this country, to name only the famous faceted citrine of more than 2,000 carats which is exhibited in Washington, at the Smithsonian Institute.

Virtues and Properties:

On a physical level:

• Soothes and tones the body and mind.
• Stimulates digestion, spleen, pancreas.
• Relieves constipation.
• Helps thyroid, general health, heart, kidneys, liver, muscles, strength, endocrine system, circulatory system, tissue regeneration, urinary system, immune system.
• Useful against fibromyalgia.
• Citrine is also good for eliminating toxins, and overcoming addictions.

On a psychological & spiritual level:

• Keeps away negative influences, illness, nervousness, fatigue, anxiety and stress, in order to let more positive light into the place.
• It can even induce beneficial financial changes and bring prosperity.
• Transforms negative energies.
• Protects the aura.
• Balances and purifies the subtle body and harmonizes it with the physical body.
• Energy recharge.
• Activates the crown chakra and opens intuition.
• Energizing, purifying of the solar plexus chakra.

On the Psychological level:

• It helps you find a certain inner serenity.
• Promotes concentration.
• Stimulates intelligence.
• Stimulates good humor and creativity.
• Brings a vibration of success to all projects or exams.
• Stone of success par excellence (combined with green fluorite).
• Soothes family or collective disagreements.
• Develops a positive attitude and helps to see the future optimistically.
• It increases self-respect and self-confidence.
• Promotes appreciation of personal experiences.
• Helps overcome fears and phobias.

• By holding it in your hands, it brings joy, and eliminates melancholy and negativity.
• Reduces self-destructive tendencies.
• Eliminates nightmares and other sleep disorders.
• Promotes understanding, study, memory.
• Strengthens dynamism and motivation. It helps with decision-making and initiative.
• Strengthens individuality, and desensitizes to negative criticism

On the environmental level:

• In our environment and our living space, citrine is a stone bringing wealth. This stone is placed in the corner of wealth in feng shui: the left corner furthest from the front door or the door of a room.
• Brings positive energy to all areas of life.
• Ideal in an office or for students, Citrine strengthens concentration and revitalizes the mind.

Chakras:

• Solar plexus

Nb: If you yourself own a citrine, please share your feelings with this mineral, by leaving your opinion in the comments below

Stories & Legends... Citrine.

The name citrine comes from the Latin word “citrus”, meaning “lemon” in French, in reference to its color. This stone was already known in Ancient Greece. The Romans used it to make cabochons and intaglios. Ancient men used it, for their part, as precious stones endowed with power. It seems that she had the gift of protecting them from venomous snake bites, the evil eye and negative thoughts. In the 1800s, citrine was used, among other things, as decoration on combs and tiaras.

Origin of the name Citrine:

The name citrine comes from the Latin word “citrus”, meaning “lemon” in French, in reference to its color. This stone was already known in Ancient Greece. The Romans used it to make cabochons and intaglios. Ancient men used it, for their part, as precious stones endowed with power. It seems that she had the gift of protecting them from venomous snake bites, the evil eye and negative thoughts. In the 1800s, citrine was used, among other things, as decoration on combs and tiaras.

Citrine in ancient history:

Citrine has been present in human history for millennia. But sometimes doubt is allowed as to its identification in the texts. In the Old Testament, for example, a text precisely describes the gems of Aaron's breastplate (volume 10 of Exodus). They are twelve like the twelve tributes of Israel but interpretations and translations differ concerning the stone in the fourth row of the necklace: it is sometimes called beryl, sometimes citrine! In ancient Egypt, the high priests and priestesses actually practice lithotherapy. The colors of the stones have a strong symbolic power and determine their therapeutic uses. The yellow color of the engravings is obtained with iron oxide from the mountains; citrines are found there too, near Aswan and Abu Simbel. Citrine and agate are commonly used against snake venom. Citrines are recognized as having soothing properties; Egyptian women priestesses wear them to prevent jealousy. These magnificent golden quartz also calm the lioness-headed goddess Sekhmet, the formidable daughter of Ra, the Sun god. An aggressive and angry goddess, she has the power to trigger illness, and citrines bring her peace and the gift of healing. Sekhmet the villain then transforms into Bastet with a cat's head, the gentle protector of happy homes.

In Greece, Aristotle taught the first foundations of scientific mineralogy. In the field of arts and crafts, the Greeks preferably use colored stones and crystals and favor those that they can engrave and sculpt. Citrine is therefore frequently encountered in this civilization. Greek mythology is populated with gods and various creatures who are more or less sympathetic, and citrine will be associated this time with a hero adorned with all the qualities: Chiron, son of the god Chronos. This good centaur is a doctor and excellent tutor, he counts among his students Achilles and Asklepios, future Greco-Roman god of medicine. Chiron knows all the secrets of nature, animals, plants and certainly the mineral world. Through it, all the powers of citrine are found: healing, well-being, the ability to learn, teach and memorize. The centaur symbolizing the astrological sign of Sagittarius is generally associated with Chiron. The Romans also knew and used citrine. Like the Greeks, jewelers and artists greatly appreciated it for its generous color and its ability to be cut. She is associated with the God Apollo, God of light, harmony, medicine and music. The same virtues and the same skills attributed to citrine are thus found in the different civilizations of antiquity.

Citrine and the legend of Anahi:

Legend has it that once upon a time, in a region on the shared borders of Brazil and Bolivia, a sorcerer imprisoned the purple-colored Mantle of Dawn in a crystal. Exacerbated, the sun then hid it in the depths of the Earth, thus giving its color to the stone. Several years later, a conquistador received a sample of this stone from his wife named Anahi. She is a princess from the Ayoeros tribe, who is none other than one of the sorcerer's descendants. She was sacrificed by her people to avoid seeing her leave with her husband for Spain. While she was dying in her husband's arms, she placed the stone in his hands to show him her eternal love. Miners who worked in the Anahi mine in the 19th century said that sometimes they could still hear the cries of the conquistador, mourning his loved one.

Citrine in modern history:

In the 16th century, Georges Bauer known as Agricola, a German scholar, recorded and deepened the mineralogical and gemological knowledge of his time. It was perhaps he who definitively gave the name “citrine” to the citrine that interests us. Before him, confusion still reigned; we noted in the inventory of the Duke of Berry's possessions in 1416 "a squared citrine sapphire" and also "a citrine sapphire in the shape of an eye" acquired from a jeweler for 23 crowns. 'gold. Yellow sapphires or citrines? No one knows. In 1536, another inventory concerns the possessions of the most powerful figure of the Renaissance: Charles V. The emperor owns (among other things!) " a flat gold cross in the shape of a ring garnished with five large citrine stones .” Closer to us, citrines, symbols of joie de vivre and dynamism, became very fashionable during the reign of Charles , nor very active.

Another famous crowned head, Queen Victoria loves citrines with a passion. The deposits of the Isle of Arran in Scotland produce the magnificent citrines emblematic of Scottish outfits. They are worn in all ways, often set in daggers or most often mounted on silver brooches. These “Kilt Pins” are traditionally made up of a large citrine surrounded by small matt and colored stones. Large Scottish balls take place at Balmoral when Victoria stays there. The guests wear the tartan of their clan and attach it to the shoulder with this brooch. The queen is delighted to contemplate the beautiful yellow crystals bursting with light! René Lalique, the famous master glassmaker and jeweler, will perhaps think of these beautiful Scottish evenings when creating in 1910, in the style of Art Deco, a famous square brooch decorated with square citrines. The dazzling citrine, a messenger of happiness and prosperity, still lights up the adornments and crowns of royal houses, notably those of Luxembourg and Thailand.