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1. Aquamarine is one of the wonders of the gem world due to its rarity, beauty, and unique properties. along side gems like ruby, emerald, & diamond. 2. Calms & soothes hot flashes and anger. This gemstone is known to have calming, cooling and soothing energies which are great for relieving extreme emotions. Feeling heated? Grab your aquamarine and meditate on it for a moment. 3. Helps activate the throat chakra to assist with clear communication. Not sure what to say but need to speak on something? Aquamarine can help you find those perfect words to get your point across. Reflect with this stone, write it out, or keep it in your pocket during that conversation that has to be had. 4. Water Element - Aquamarine keeps you in touch with your subconscious, deep emotions, and spirit. 5. Helps dispel emotional numbness so you can clearly communicate your feelings. (especially for men) 6. Helps people realize not all power comes from force. You can be cool, calm, collected and still get things done.  7. Connects you with divine feminine. The divine feminine energies of life want you to be in tune with life energies so you nurture yourself through the waves. Tap in with Aquamarine.
8. Helps you move through rapid change and removes resistance. Ready to let go of a grudge, the past, or change an old habit? Aquamarine can be your best friend in this process of release. 9. Assists with fear of speaking - great for teachers and speakers. This is one of the main reasons I added aquamarine to my collection. The connection aquamarine has with the throat chakra assists anyone with fear of speaking to communicate fearlessly from the heart with courage. 10. Aquamarine means 'Water of the Sea' in latin. 11. This gemstone boasts a high level of durability, thanks to its impressive hardness rating of 7.5 to 8, making it an excellent choice for use in jewelry. 12. Aquamarine gets its blue color from trace amounts of iron present in the crystal structure of the gemstone. Specifically, the iron atoms within the crystal lattice absorb light in the red and yellow portions of the spectrum, while reflecting blue and green light, resulting in the gemstone's characteristic blue-green hue. 13. Valued as a stone of eternal youth & happiness.
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 Of course there are many crystals to choose from. How could you possibly know your favorites? Over the last couple years I can say with confidence my favorites for personal use, wear, and energetically are Citrine, Rhodochrosite, Prehnite, and Dravite. Why? Read below to find out more! Citrine - Known for its golden tones is a stone that touched my heart and soul at an early age. The first memory I have of crystals is a Heated Citrine given to me in the mountains of North Carolina when my family had to evacuate for a tropical Storm. This exact crystal is what gave me the inspiration to start Citrine Tangerine and was my gateway into the energies of stones. Citrine is associated with the fire element and our first three chakras. It has the ability to assist us with our creativity, personal will, mental clarity, and manifestation. More about Citrine here: Rhodochrosite - After learning about the inherent energies of crystals I was looking to heal aspects of myself from childhood that were troubling me through college into my 20's. The subject was touchy and the work I needed to do was deeply personal. This stone stood out to me because of its ability to assist us in healing from trauma. After working with the gentle healing properties of this stone it quickly became a crystal I wear daily. The pink tones and layers remind me of human flesh. This stone is known to assist us with emotional healing, recovery of lost memories & forgotten gifts, Self-love, and compassion. Learn more about this stone in the crystal reading below. Prehnite - This stone just happened to catch my eye one day in a gemstone shop. I'd never heard of it before but after the vibrant green coloring and interesting inclusions caught my attention I looked into the section about Prehnite in 'The Book of Stones'. I immediately knew this stone was essential for everyone to have in their collection as well as wear on the daily!! Turns out the inclusions are Epidote, another amazing stone known to release negativity and uplift those who are feeling the lows of depression, which is a perfect combination with prehnite! Dravite - This is a stone I recently discovered while reading about the birthstones for my jewelry collections. When October came around last year I was frankly overwhelmed by the amount of tourmaline varieties. It was not until this year that I read ALL of them and felt compelled to work with Dravite because of its encouragement to do shadow work. This stone seriously is a must have! We all have a shadow self. Those unconscious aspects of our lives need tending to if we are to have a healthy and thriving experience on this earthly plane. Without self reflection there is no forgiveness or accountability for our actions. There is no growth without accepting ourselves and our mistakes. You are in total denial if you think anyone gets out of there without making mistake or hurting some one! This stone is an excellent one to keep around for that reality check! Hear more about it in the crystal reading below! Some other notable gemstones that are high up on my list are Garnets, Emerald, Moldavite, Smokey Quartz, and Ruby. Would you like to know more about these? Let me know in the comments and maybe I'll give you a bit of insight as to why I like these gems and why you should keep some near by!
 Citrine is one of my favorite gemstones for obvious reasons but there's more to it than a name. The energy is purely uplifting, all stones are, but natural Citrine has something incredible about it. It's said that gloom and negativity do not exist around it. Citrine will assist you with concentration and manifestation of your intentions. Citrine attracts luck, prosperity, success, wealth, abundance and encourages you to share this with others. The stone inspires creativity, promotes self-expression, and helps resolve conflicts within a group. Citrine protects your aura and cleanses your chakras. It's no wonder this stone is so widely available and sought after by many. Citrine is golden yellow or orange-brown in color. The color range of Citrine is often imitated by heating amethyst. This variant is less potent than naturally occurring citrine. Smokey citrine is a naturally occurring combination of citrine and smokey quartz uniting the properties of both stones. Ametrine is a another naturally occurring mixture of amethyst and citrine also uniting the properties of both stones. How can you tell if your Citrine is heated? It's pretty easy to tell if you ask me! The color is just too dark of an orange or too bright of a yellow with crackles within the crystal. More than likely the 'Citrine' in your collection is an imitation. While it's not completely worthless, it's not the same energy! It bothers me that people aren't informed about this heating process of amethyst because you're not getting the full truth. When it comes to energy, that's not good energy! Sure we can chuck it up to the seller not knowing but they should know this about their products! When you dive into gemstones you can easily buy one stone under the guise of another. It happened to me a few times when first getting into crystals and gemstone beads. For example I was once sold a strand of Yellow Calcite marked as Citrine but quickly realized the hardness of the beads were not at quartz levels. SMH WHY? Natural Citrine is not hard to find when you're really looking for it. So how can you tell if your stone is actually Citrine, not heated, or some other yellow stone? Experience! First off - Know that any rock shop selling Citrine is often selling Heated Citrine not Natural Citrine, especially if their labels don't clearly indicate 'heated' or 'natural'. Don't be afraid to ask staff. If they don't know, take that as a good indication they've got no idea about this phenomenon and are likely selling Heated Citrine. Coloration is the most obvious indication of heated or natural Citrine. Coloration is the first identification of its authenticity. Heated Citrine is a deeply saturated vibrant yellow often next to clear and/or white quartz. Heated Citrine is also Bright Orange to Deep Orange in hue. If the base of the crystal is white, it's likely heated Amethyst. There is some times a crackled texture within the crystal as well. Certain types of crackles within the crystal are indications of heat treatment. *Please note that color is not always fool proof. I've been collecting Citrine for several years and some of my African Citrine are almost as Orange as heated Citrine but not modified in any way. The color differentiation is subtle but you can still tell between the two!* Crystal Formation is another indication of natural verses heated Citrine. I've yet to see a Citrine Geode. Sure you'll see a cascade formation or even a small cluster but a geode? Never. If you see a crystal labeled as Citrine but it's part of a geode, I can almost guarantee that's a heat treated Amethyst! Most Citrine in my collection are single points or chunks. Locality is a huge topic the gem world is tackling right now. Does the shop you're purchasing from know what country, region, or continent your Citrine is from? My personal collection of Citrine is sourced from different localities in Africa. Not all places produce Citrine from their regional mines. If they don't know where their Citrine is from I'd bet it's heated more often than not. Elements within Citrine and Amethyst are slightly different. Both Citrine and Amethyst are Quartz varieties. What gives them their color are slightly different mineral compositions. Citrine features Iron within the mix. Amethyst features Iron and Aluminum. Amethyst is also purple from natural or applied irradiation. Heating amethyst, turning it orange or yellow doesn't ruin the stone but it is obviously different and still is amethyst deep down. Crystals are used to incredible geothermal temperatures. The heating process added to the stone definitely creates a different vibration and energy within the stone. I mean, you're turning a purple stone into its opposite color! Amethyst and Natural Citrine also have different healing properties. Heated Citrine is not the same as Natural Citrine when you get into the chemistry of it all. Can you spot the heated Citrine? The heated Citrine is farthest left with white on the bottom. This piece of Citrine I was given as a little girl the first time I panned for gems in North Carolina. I am fairly certain its country of origin is Brazil. This crystal the reason I call myself Citrine. BUT As you can see the color of the three other Citrine sourced from Tanzania are similar in color and one is even more orange than the heated Citrine. This is why I say experience is most important when identifying Heated Citrine. It's also important to source Citrine, or any crystal really, from a trusted source.
Imitation Citrine is widely available and probably most common. Heated Citrine doesn't have the same energy of Natural Citrine, but it has its own properties. While I don't prefer heated Citrine, it's pretty incredible that a purple stone can be heated into its complementary (opposite) color on the color wheel. It's impossible when mixing paint pigments to turn purple into yellow and vice versa. This is a mysterious process of its own. Pretty interesting don't you think? Every year we reach January and it's time to play with Garnet varieties again. I can't say I'm surprised to feel their energy quite potently already. After reviewing the crystal reading for Grossular and Spessartine garnets - just two of many varieties of garnets - I gathered a mixture of gemstones and jewelry to play with. Listen to the crystal reading above for more reference on why I selected the items and crystals for this energy tapping cocktail! Lets get into the nitty gritty of it!  From top to bottom the items in the photograph are a Spessartine Garnet, Copper Electro-Formed Faceted Moldavite Ring, Hessonite Garnet, Grossular Garnet Bracelet, Moldavite, Spessartine Garnet Ring, and a Carnelian Heart. I conjured these items after listening back to the crystal reading from The Book of Stones about Grossular and Spessartine Garnets. What do you know after cleansing these items and placing them together I received a clear indication on what to do to make a couple sales. They say garnets are quite the attractors of abundance and prosperity and this is a FACT if you're tapped in. So what exactly happened?  I smoke cleansed these items and played with them first. Stacking the items together, arranging them, and even photographing different compositions. Then the next day after letting the items get acquainted, I put all the jewelry on. What do you know inspiration struck, I put the inspiration to action, manifested the idea. I listed those two creations on my website, shared the links and I woke up to not only one sale but two! And a custom order as well... This is a clear indication that the attractive, prosperous, abundant energies of garnets are REAL! There is no denying the actions I took are directly linked to what manifested.  Are you playing with garnets this month? If so, what varieties? I never skip out on the moldavite when putting together an energy cocktail. I want to concoct another garnet mixture to see what new energies come to light. Perhaps I'll get the Andradite out as well as my rainbow garnet specimen. Ohhh and a rutilated quartz point would be another potent crystal to add into this next wave of energy..
I highly recommend adding as many garnet varieties to your collection as possible. Contact me directly for custom crystal kits if you're looking to build a similar set of jewelry and gemstones like what I just featured in this post. <3 Be blessed! Citrine Tangerine I've been working with Dravite -- Brown Tourmaline since reading about it's healing properties in The Book of Stones. Dravite invites us into our shadow so we can heal old wounds and even discover hidden talents that might have been rejected too soon. It's like a heart filled healing of your past. The color is striking. These gems look a lot like black tourmaline but upon closer inspection you notice a deep transparency of brown. When the sun shines through or you shine a bright, direct light through them, you'll notice a distinct brownish tone illuminate.  It was not simple to source Dravite crystals although what I did find were available on Etsy! After a refined combing through search results I was able to source rough beads as well as collectable pieces. Some I might electro-form with copper. The crystal shape is distinct and often doubly terminated or a complete crystal. There is a texture on some surfaces indicative of their source materials. Other pieces still hold part of their matrix. Dravite appear different from other varieties of tourmaline formations in that they are mostly short and thick nodules displaying geometric plains.  Before working with these new gems I bathed them in sage / lavender smoke to cleanse their energy. Next I placed them into a hand made ceramic bowl with freshly cracked salt, warm water, Michigan grown lavender flowers and jasmine leaves. After letting the beads and gems soak in the cleansing energy, I dried them off and sorted through them. To explore the energies of Dravite, I made myself a ring and a bracelet to wear. I've also been crystal gazing into the specimen in my collection. One thing I've noticed is I've felt more relaxed around my family. And it feels like I've been able to forgive myself and others for happenings of the past in general. It's never a bad idea to work on healing old emotional wounds or traumas. It's very personal work that often happens in silence but it is the most rewarding because your soul is set free. The weight on your back and shoulders eases. Life feels lighter.  I've noticed specific dreams about class mates from the past or places that feel familiar. Most recently I had a dream about a small gathering of friends from k-12 schooling. There were a room full of smiles and laughter. I've had a few other interesting dream visions. It's been good vibes and over all I feel more at ease about who I am, where I've been, and where I'm going. I feel rooted in my body and my heart is cutting old ties. Jewelry and crystal kits featuring Dravite will soon be available on Citrine Tangerine as well as Smokey Citrine. The full crystal reading for Tourmaline is available here. There are a plethora of tourmaline varieties featured in The Book of Stones, some I did not include in the crystal reading series.  |
About the Author & Artist
Megan LaCroix also known as Citrine is the daughter of a Navy Veteran. She’s lived all over the US but has roots in Michigan where her family is from. Spending summers in Northern Michigan exploring nature inspired her to create art work starting with jewelry and photography. She’d spend hours looking for rocks and creating assorted beaded jewelry with her sisters. In 2014 She graduated from University of Michigan School of Art & Design with a BFA then moved to Detroit where she is currently living and working. She is a multi-media artist with ever expanding skills but is best known for her jewelry, screen printing, photography, and paintings. Detroit Graffiti has a significant influence on her painting and drawing style. She’s participated in ArtPrize 2015 & 2021 and currently has a studio in the Village Arts Factory of Canton, MI. Archives
April 2023
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