Crystal of the week: Citrine

 The Radiant World of Citrine: The Golden Gemstone of Abundance

Correspondences

The Sun

Aries, Gemini, Leo and Libra

Element: Fire

Chakra: third eye, solar plexus, sacral and root

Citrine, with its warm golden hues reminiscent of sunlight and autumn leaves, is one of the most beloved gemstones in the world. As a variety of quartz, it captivates jewelers, collectors, and crystal enthusiasts alike. Known as the “Merchant’s Stone” or “Stone of Abundance,” citrine has a rich history, fascinating geological origins, and profound metaphysical associations. Let’s take a look at this important and beautiful crystal.

Natural citrine forms in igneous and metamorphic rocks, often in pegmatite veins or hydrothermal deposits, under conditions involving heat and silica-rich fluids.

Natural citrine is relatively rare, typically exhibiting pale yellow, champagne, or smoky golden tones. Major sources include Brazil (especially Minas Gerais), Madagascar, Zambia, Russia, and Bolivia. In Bolivia, citrine can occur alongside amethyst in the same crystal, forming the bicolor gem known as ametrine.

However, much of the citrine on the market today is not entirely natural in color. Most commercial citrine is produced by heat-treating amethyst or smoky quartz, which alters iron oxides to create vibrant yellow to orange-red shades. This process mimics natural geothermal heating but is done artificially at temperatures around 450–900°C. Heat-treated citrine often shows deeper, more uniform colors with possible white bases (from original amethyst), while true natural citrine has subtler, more varied tones and rarely forms in large geodes or clusters.

Historical and Cultural Significance

Citrine’s history dates back to ancient civilizations. The name derives from the French “citron,” meaning lemon, reflecting its sunny color—first recorded in English around 1385. In ancient Greece and Rome, yellow quartz varieties were used for intaglios, jewelry, and talismans. Romans associated it with Mercury, the god of commerce, and carved it into seals.

During the Hellenistic period (300–150 BCE), it adorned decorative items, and in the Victorian era, Scottish jewelry featured large citrines in kilt pins and brooches. The Art Deco era between the World Wars saw citrine in elaborate pieces worn by Hollywood stars like Greta Garbo.

Historically, citrine was often confused with topaz due to similar colors, leading to names like “gold topaz” or “Madeira topaz.” It was believed to protect against snake venom, evil thoughts, and plague. As the November birthstone (sharing with topaz), it symbolizes prosperity and joy.

Metaphysical Properties and Healing Beliefs

Citrine works very well with the Solar Plexus chakra. For self-esteem, confidence-boosting, and bringing about that positive attitude. I pulled this card today from my Mermaid deck. Positive Energy.

Citrine has a deep connection with Mother Earth. When working with this stone our entire lower chakra becomes actively engaged and rooted in Mother Earth

In crystal healing and metaphysics, citrine is celebrated for its uplifting energy. Dubbed the “success stone,” it is thought to attract wealth, prosperity, and positive outcomes—merchants traditionally placed it in cash registers. Associated with the solar plexus chakra, it promotes personal power, confidence, creativity, and mental clarity.

Unlike most crystals, citrine is said to be self-cleansing, transmuting negative energy rather than absorbing it. It encourages optimism, dissipates fear, and supports manifestation. Some varieties, like smoky citrine, blend grounding (from smoky quartz) with abundance energies.

While these properties are rooted in folklore and modern New Age practices, many users report feeling energized and motivated when working with citrine

Modern Uses and Appeal

Today, citrine is widely used in jewelry—faceted into rings, necklaces, earrings, and beads—for its affordability and vibrant color. Raw points, clusters, and tumbled stones are popular for decoration and meditation.

 Crystal of the week

Rhodonite 

Rhodonite is a manganese silicate mineral known for its distinctive pink to red hues, often mottled with black manganese oxide inclusions, giving it a unique, veined appearance.

Metaphysical Correspondences

• Chakra: Heart (primary) & Root (secondary)
• Element: Earth, Fire
• Planet: Venus
• Zodiac: Taurus, Aries (sometimes Scorpio)
• Deities: Aphrodite, Venus, Diana, Oshun
• Angels: Chamuel
• Tarot: Wheel of Fortune
• Sabbats: Beltane, Samhain 

Meanings & Uses

• Emotional Healing: A "first aid stone" for panic, calming shock, and releasing resentment.
• Love & Compassion: Promotes unconditional love, attracting soulmates, and mending hearts.
• Grounding: Black veins help balance heart energy with worldly challenges.
• Self-Discovery: Encourages giving gifts freely and finding purpose. 

It typically forms in metamorphic rocks and is found in locations like Russia, Australia, and the United States.  The name “rhodonite” comes from the Greek word “rhodon,” meaning rose, reflecting its rosy color.  In crystal lore, it’s valued for its grounding yet uplifting energy, often used in jewelry, carvings, or as tumbled stones for personal use.

Metaphysical Properties

Rhodonite is widely regarded as the “Stone of Love” due to its strong associations with emotional balance and heart-centered energy.  It is believed to clear, stimulate, and reactivate the heart chakra, helping to dissolve emotional barriers and foster self-love.  This crystal promotes forgiveness, compassion, and altruism, encouraging a sense of community and generosity of spirit.  It’s particularly effective for healing recent emotional wounds or old scars from past traumas, reducing anxiety and providing comfort during difficult times.   Rhodonite also supports purpose and cooperation, acting as a talisman for empathy and understanding others’ perspectives.   In metaphysical practices, it’s said to release blockages in the heart chakra, enhancing the flow of love and connection.  Overall, its energy is soothing and restorative, making it ideal for meditation focused on emotional release or building inner peace. 

Medicinal and Healing Properties

In alternative and crystal healing traditions, rhodonite is attributed with various physical benefits, though these are not supported by scientific evidence and should not replace medical advice. It’s thought to aid bone growth and support fertility, potentially benefiting reproductive health.  Rhodonite is also used to relieve insect bites, reduce scarring, and assist with skin healing.  Some sources suggest it helps treat conditions like emphysema and auto-immune disorders by detoxifying and purifying the body.  It’s believed to support the hearing organs and overall auditory health.  Additionally, rhodonite’s calming properties are said to reduce inflammation and promote physical recovery from emotional stress-related ailments.  When combined with other stones like rose quartz, it amplifies loving vibrations for broader healing effects.  Practitioners often place it on the body during energy work to enhance these purported benefits.

Crystal of the week: Yooperlite and its glowing secret

 What is Yooperlite?

Yooperlite is the popular trade name for fluorescent sodalite-rich syenite rocks found along the shores of Lake Superior in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (the “U.P.”). The name is a combination of “Yooper” (what residents of the Upper Peninsula call themselves) and “lite” (because the rocks literally light up under ultraviolet light).

These rocks look like ordinary gray or drab pebbles during the day, but when illuminated with a 365 nm UV flashlight at night, they glow with bright, fiery orange-yellow spots caused by the mineral sodalite fluorescing under the ultraviolet light. The effect is so striking that the rocks appear to be embedded with glowing embers.

Discovery

Yooperlites were “discovered” in 2017 by rock hunter Erik Rintamaki while he was beachcombing near Brimley, Michigan, with a UV light looking for interesting fluorescent minerals. Although sodalite itself has been known to fluoresce for decades, Rintamaki was the first to recognize and popularize these specific Lake Superior beach stones as a collectible item. He trademarked the name “Yooperlite” in 2018 and began selling UV flashlights and guided night hunts.

Geology

•  Base rock: Mostly clasts of syenite or granite that contain grains of hackmanite-tennantite series sodalite.

•  Fluorescence: The orange glow comes from sulfur-rich sodalite (hackmanite). When exposed to UV light (especially short-wave 365 nm), electrons in the sulfur atoms get excited and release energy as visible orange light when they drop back to their ground state.

•  Age: The original igneous rocks are part of the ~1.1 billion-year-old Midcontinent Rift system. The fluorescent fragments were eroded, transported by glaciers during the Ice Age, and eventually rounded and deposited on Lake Superior beaches.

Where to Find Yooperlites

The classic location is the Lake Superior shoreline in the eastern Upper Peninsula, especially between Whitefish Point and Grand Marais, with hotspots around:

•  Crisp Point Lighthouse area

•  Muskallonge Lake State Park

•  Deer Park

•  Woodland Park beach in Grand Marais

They can wash up anywhere along the south shore of Lake Superior, and similar fluorescent sodalite stones have since been reported in parts of Ontario, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.

How to Hunt for Them

1.  Go at night (or very early morning).

2.  Use a strong 365 nm UV flashlight (long-wave 395 nm lights work much more weakly).

3.  Walk slowly along the water’s edge or cobble beaches, shining the UV light on the rocks.

4.  Look for bright orange-yellow glowing spots—even tiny ones. Larger pieces can have dozens of glowing spots.

5.  Pick up anything that glows, because in daylight they often look completely unremarkable.

Fun Facts

•  Some Yooperlites also show tenebrescence (hackmanite’s ability to temporarily change color from UV exposure—gray to pinkish-purple in sunlight).

•  The current world-record largest Yooperlite weighs over 100 pounds.

•  Because they are just glacial erratics, they are legal to collect on most public Lake Superior beaches in Michigan (check local regulations).

Yooperlites turned ordinary beachcombing into a glowing treasure hunt and quickly became one of the biggest rockhounding crazes of the last decade. If you ever visit Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, bring a UV light after dark—there’s a good chance you’ll find your own piece of “Lake Superior fire.”

Here’s the straight answer, with a wink from the rockhounds who’ve spent way too many freezing nights on that beach:

Officially? Zero.

Yooperlite is just fluorescent sodalite syenite. Geologists and scientists will tell you (correctly) that its only “magic” is physics: UV light excites electrons in sulfur-rich sodalite, they drop back down, and boom—orange photons.

But ask anyone who’s actually held a screaming-hot glowing Yooperlite in their bare hand at 2 a.m. while the northern lights flicker overhead, and you’ll get a very different answer. The rockhounding community (and a surprising number of crystal-people who normally wouldn’t touch anything that isn’t quartz) have quietly adopted Yooperlites and loaded them with unofficial lore. Take it with as much salt (or Lake Superior water) as you want:

Most common “magical” properties people claim:

1.  Fire energy on steroids
That intense orange glow is seen as pure elemental fire—passion, creativity, courage, life-force. A lot of people carry a small one when they need to feel unstoppable.

2.  Night vision for the soul
Because it only reveals itself in darkness with the right light, it’s become a metaphor (and supposedly a real tool) for seeing hidden truths, spotting deception, and illuminating things that are normally invisible in your life.

3.  Joy activation
Seriously, it’s impossible to stay grumpy when a rock suddenly lights up like the sun in your hand. People use them for instant mood resets and to break depression spirals.

4.  Aurora-in-a-rock
Upper Peninsula locals swear some pieces “store” the northern lights. Hold one that was found under an aurora show and it feels… different. Warmer. Brighter. (Placebo or not, try it sometime.)

5.  Manifestation cheat code
The running joke/not-joke: “Make a wish when it first lights up—the exact moment the UV hits it and the glow appears is a liminal second where the universe is listening.” More than one person has told me (dead serious) that they wished on a fresh Yooperlite and life went absurdly right afterward.

6.  Protection against bad vibes
Because sodalite in general is already considered a stone of logic and emotional balance, the fluorescent version gets upgraded to “burning away negativity” status.

Will any of this hold up to double-blind testing? Of course not.

But when you’re alone on a beach at midnight and a rock you just picked up suddenly blazes like a fallen star… logic kind of takes a backseat.

So the real magic of Yooperlite isn’t in the stone.

It’s in what happens to the person holding the UV light when the shore lights up for the first time.

That moment changes you.

And that, my friend, is as close to real magic as most of us ever get.

Crystal of the week: Garnet

 Garnet: The Badass Winter Stone That’s Been Lowkey Running the World for Centuries

Let’s talk about garnet. Not the moody red stuff you see in every January birthstone necklace (though yeah, that’s mostly it), but the whole garnet family: deep blood-red pyrope, spicy orange spessartine, emerald-green tsavorite, color-changing alexandrite-lite varieties… garnet’s got range. And for something that literally means “seed-like” (from the Latin granatum, because it looks like pomegranate seeds), this stone has been planted in every major magical tradition like it owns the place.

First off, garnet is the ultimate ride-or-die stone. Ancient warriors—Egyptians, Romans, Persians—were out here embedding it in armor, sword hilts, and shields because they believed it stopped bleeding and made you basically unkillable. There’s this wild 3rd-century story about a Roman soldier who took an arrow to the chest and lived because his garnet amulet “drank the blood” instead of him. Probably propaganda, but the vibe stuck. Even in the Middle Ages, crusaders wore garnet signet rings both as protection and as a seal (because hot wax + garnet = sexy medieval flex).

Magically? Garnet doesn’t mess around. It’s pure root-chakra energy—heavy, grounded, “I will burn the world down if you touch my people” energy. If you’re into the whole elemental correspondence thing, it’s Fire with a capital F, sometimes with a splash of Earth when it gets moody. Planet-wise, it’s been claimed by Mars (war, passion, don’t-mess-with-me vibes) and Saturn (commitment, endurance, “I said forever and I meant it”). Modern witches slap it with Pluto too because, yeah, it’s got that underworld, transformative, sexy-dangerous edge.

What it does best:

•  Protection on a demonic level. We’re talking banishing nightmares, warding off energy vampires, and straight-up making negative entities go “nah, I’m good.”

•  Passion that doesn’t quit. Not just bedroom stuff (though hello, it’s been called “the Viagra of the mineral kingdom” for a reason); it’s creative fire, ambition, the kind of drive that makes you finish the thing at 3 a.m. covered in paint/coffee/blood (depending on your art form).

•  Commitment glue. Garnet has been the “we’re in this for the long haul” stone forever. Victorian lovers exchanged garnet jewelry during long separations because it supposedly kept the heart loyal and the bond unbreakable. There’s even folklore that if a garnet glows brighter when your lover thinks of you… bro, that’s next-level soulmate tech.

Color magic breakdown, because garnet isn’t just red:

•  Red garnet (pyrope/almandine): blood, life force, courage, raw survival instinct.

•  Green garnet (tsavorite/grossular): heart healing but in a “I’ve been through hell and grew anyway” way. Abundance too, if you’re into that.

•  Orange (spessartine): joy, creativity, anti-depression in crystal form.

•  Purple-ish (rhodolite): spiritual passion, the kind that makes you want to meditate AND make out with the universe.

In folklore, it gets darker and hotter. Noah’s Ark supposedly used a giant garnet as a lamp (the original red nightlight). Persian mythology said the world rested on a garnet that changed colors to warn of danger. Native American healers used it for blood disorders and heartbreak (same thing, honestly). Even in Hindu tradition, garnet (especially the super-rare star garnet) was linked to the first chakra and the coiled kundalini serpent—pure primal power.

Wear it when:

•  You’re going through it and need to remember you’re a goddamn warrior.

•  Your love life needs more heat than sweetness.

•  You’re doing shadow work and want something that can handle the intensity without cracking (literally—garnet’s tough as hell, 6.5–7.5 on Mohs).

•  January hits and you want to lean into your birthstone without being basic.

Garnet’s that friend who shows up in a leather jacket, hands you a coffee and a knife, and says, “Let’s go fix your life.” It’s not soft, it’s not subtle, and it doesn’t do half-measures. It’s the stone equivalent of a shot of whiskey and a bear hug from someone who’d kill for you.

Honestly? In a world full of wishy-washy rose quartz energy, garnet’s out here like, “Cry about it later; first we win.” And I respect the hell out of that. Garnet: The Badass Winter Stone That’s Been Lowkey Running the World for Centuries

Let’s talk about garnet. Not the moody red stuff you see in every January birthstone necklace (though yeah, that’s mostly it), but the whole garnet family: deep blood-red pyrope, spicy orange spessartine, emerald-green tsavorite, color-changing alexandrite-lite varieties… garnet’s got range. And for something that literally means “seed-like” (from the Latin granatum, because it looks like pomegranate seeds), this stone has been planted in every major magical tradition like it owns the place.

First off, garnet is the ultimate ride-or-die stone. Ancient warriors—Egyptians, Romans, Persians—were out here embedding it in armor, sword hilts, and shields because they believed it stopped bleeding and made you basically unkillable. There’s this wild 3rd-century story about a Roman soldier who took an arrow to the chest and lived because his garnet amulet “drank the blood” instead of him. Probably propaganda, but the vibe stuck. Even in the Middle Ages, crusaders wore garnet signet rings both as protection and as a seal (because hot wax + garnet = sexy medieval flex).

Magically? Garnet doesn’t mess around. It’s pure root-chakra energy—heavy, grounded, “I will burn the world down if you touch my people” energy. If you’re into the whole elemental correspondence thing, it’s Fire with a capital F, sometimes with a splash of Earth when it gets moody. Planet-wise, it’s been claimed by Mars (war, passion, don’t-mess-with-me vibes) and Saturn (commitment, endurance, “I said forever and I meant it”). Modern witches slap it with Pluto too because, yeah, it’s got that underworld, transformative, sexy-dangerous edge.

What it does best:

•  Protection on a demonic level. We’re talking banishing nightmares, warding off energy vampires, and straight-up making negative entities go “nah, I’m good.”

•  Passion that doesn’t quit. Not just bedroom stuff (though hello, it’s been called “the Viagra of the mineral kingdom” for a reason); it’s creative fire, ambition, the kind of drive that makes you finish the thing at 3 a.m. covered in paint/coffee/blood (depending on your art form).

•  Commitment glue. Garnet has been the “we’re in this for the long haul” stone forever. Victorian lovers exchanged garnet jewelry during long separations because it supposedly kept the heart loyal and the bond unbreakable. There’s even folklore that if a garnet glows brighter when your lover thinks of you… bro, that’s next-level soulmate tech.

Color magic breakdown, because garnet isn’t just red:

•  Red garnet (pyrope/almandine): blood, life force, courage, raw survival instinct.

•  Green garnet (tsavorite/grossular): heart healing but in a “I’ve been through hell and grew anyway” way. Abundance too, if you’re into that.

•  Orange (spessartine): joy, creativity, anti-depression in crystal form.

•  Purple-ish (rhodolite): spiritual passion, the kind that makes you want to meditate AND make out with the universe.

In folklore, it gets darker and hotter. Noah’s Ark supposedly used a giant garnet as a lamp (the original red nightlight). Persian mythology said the world rested on a garnet that changed colors to warn of danger. Native American healers used it for blood disorders and heartbreak (same thing, honestly). Even in Hindu tradition, garnet (especially the super-rare star garnet) was linked to the first chakra and the coiled kundalini serpent—pure primal power.

Wear it when:

•  You’re going through it and need to remember you’re a goddamn warrior.

•  Your love life needs more heat than sweetness.

•  You’re doing shadow work and want something that can handle the intensity without cracking (literally—garnet’s tough as hell, 6.5–7.5 on Mohs).

•  January hits and you want to lean into your birthstone without being basic.

Garnet’s that friend who shows up in a leather jacket, hands you a coffee and a knife, and says, “Let’s go fix your life.” It’s not soft, it’s not subtle, and it doesn’t do half-measures. It’s the stone equivalent of a shot of whiskey and a bear hug from someone who’d kill for you.

Honestly? In a world full of wishy-washy rose quartz energy, garnet’s out here like, “Cry about it later; first we win.” And I respect the hell out of that.