Published May 2015  •  Updated August 2024  •  Read Time: 8 minutes
Citrine is the golden yellow variety of Quartz and one of the happiest healing crystals.  It is found within Amethyst mines alongside Black Tourmaline, but occasionally it forms its own distinct deposits.  Natural Citrine is usually pale gold.  The vibrant yellow Citrine that is commonly sold in crystal shops is actually heat-treated low-quality Amethyst.  Citrine is one of the few  “self-cleansing” crystals that constantly cleans energy and never gets drained.  It is the energy equivalent of citrus-scented soap.  It shares its joyful vibration generously and invites us to march to our own drum and dance to the music of our heart.

Citrine citrine meaning

Citrine Healing Energy

Spiritual Healing Properties

Citrine has one of the most powerful energies of all crystals. It purifies the energy of everything around it, and is one of the few “self-cleansing crystals” capable of maintaining its own brilliant energy field. Citrine is a potent tool for manifestation, helping us to know our desires and ask the Divine to guide our actions and lead us to success. When the road is difficult, Citrine lends us strength and banishes feelings of heaviness and darkness from our spirit, replacing it with vibrant golden Light.

Vibrations Citrine
Chakra Solar Plexus
Element Fire
Numerology 6
Zodiac Aries, Gemini, Leo and Libra

Emotional Healing Properties

Citrine’s energy is exceptionally joyful and happy, making it one of the most useful stones to use to treat depression and anxiety. Its purifying energy helps protect us from being drained by difficult situations or people. Furthermore, it can help us to set and maintain clear emotional boundaries so that we don’t need to rely on its protection. It helps us to see that it is ok to say “no” and also to be clear about what we WANT rather than merely focused on the minimum we NEED to survive. Citrine encourages us to think and feel clearly about what is necessary for our happiness and to confidently do the work necessary to bring that about. It teaches us that when we do the work, we are properly entitled to enjoy the result.

Mental Healing Properties

Citrine’s purifying energy helps us to keep our thoughts clear and clean, so we can make good decisions and put them into action immediately. It helps us to rapidly digest complex information, particularly as related to power, boundaries, and manifestation. Citrine helps us to organize our thoughts into those which serve us, and those which do not, and to quickly discard those that do not. It is particularly helpful for helping us to understand and move past any mental blocks dealing with money. It helps us to let go of feelings of being “undeserving” or the erroneous belief that money is “evil.” Instead, Citrine shows us that money buys marshmallows and builds hospitals, and can therefore be considered a “good thing” worthy of being gathered, saved, spent, and enjoyed.

Physical Healing Properties

Citrine is recommended for anyone who feels sluggish and wants the crystal equivalent of a shot of expresso. Citrine’s happy and bouncy energy can help us to smile and do what needs to be done, both in the short term and in the long term. Citrine is a comforting talisman when we are dealing with problems affecting the digestive and elimination systems, particularly uncomfortable situations like a bladder infection or constipation. It is also a great talisman when we need to take better care of our endocrine system, particularly the thyroid. Citrine helps us to stay hopeful and act sensible. Citrine can be a good talisman for someone suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome, as long as care it taken to be realistic and not expect overnight miracles. When used pragmatically, Citrine can help us to celebrate each milestone reached and to have endurance for a long healing journey.

Geology of Citrine

Where does Citrine come from?

Quartz is found throughout the world, and occasionally the golden variety known as Citrine can be found in a small quantity.  But in terms of commercially viable deposits, only a few locations have a significant amount of natural Citrine. These include Brazil, Russia and Zambia.

Mining and Treatments

Quartz is found all over the world and is usually a secondary or tertiary mineral in a mining operation, rather than the primary focus.  Citrine, yellow quartz, is a relatively rare variety that is usually mined in tandem with Amethyst and Smoky Quartz.  It is mined in its primary location still associated with the igneous rock matrix.

Much of the Quartz on the market is natural and enhanced only by cutting and polishing. The most desirable varieties are transparent, either clear as glass or with attractive prisms that sparkle in the light and cast rainbows.  High quality Quartz is colorless or has a vivid color, while low quality is pale, dull and unremarkable.

Citrine Placeholder
Citrine

Citrine is always a natural Quartz, but its color may be heat-treated to bring out a more vibrant shade.  Natural Citrine is usually pale gold, bright yellow is very rare.  However, many crystal shops sell vivid yellow specimens, which originally were low-quality Amethyst.  These heat-treated crystals may be left inside a geode, or can be cut and polished.

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Mineral Family

Citrine is a type of Quartz and a Silicate mineral.  Silicate minerals are the largest family of minerals, including more than 25% of all known minerals and 40% of all common minerals. In addition to being a major part of the Earth’s crust, silicate minerals have also been found on the moon and in meteorites. Silicates are minerals which contain the elements silicon (a light gray shiny metal) and oxygen (a colorless gas). Together, these two elements form a tetrahedra – a shape similar to a pyramid – with a silicon atom in the center and oxygen atoms at each of the three corners. These tetrahedra connect with other chemical structures, in six different ways, to form a wide variety of minerals and rocks.  There are six main groups of silicate minerals, and these main groups are further subdivided into secondary subdivisions, such as Quartz and Feldspar.  The Quartz family has two main main groups, macr0-crystalline and micro-crystalline.  The macro-crystalline minerals form large well-shaped crystals that are often transparent, while the micro-crystalline only form microscopic crystals and are always opaque.  Citrine is the golden-yellow variety of macro-crystalline Quartz.

Citrine’s energy works well with its family – other macrocrystalline Quartz minerals.  Try it in combination with Amethyst, AmetrineClear Quartz (including Lemurian Quartz), Prasiolite, Rose Quartz, and Smoky Quartz.

Citrine Formation and Crystal Associates

Citrine is created when liquid magma from a volcanic eruption cools down and transforms into igneous rocks. During this cooling down period, silica acid bubbles shift from being a gas/liquid into a solid compound. The bubble becomes a hollow space in the igneous rock and the silica acid becomes Quartz crystals.  Once the Quartz has formed, a large hollow is often called a “druze,” while a smaller hollow is a “geode.”  These druze and geodes can be removed from the host rock and then split open to revel the crystals inside.

If no trace elements are present to change its color, the silica acid becomes Clear Quartz.  If trace minerals are present, then the color changes.  For example, Amethyst, Citrine, and Prasiolite all get their coloring from trace particles of iron heated to different temperatures. Citrine requires the highest temperature.  As a result, it is often the product of heat-treating low-quality Amethyst.  Ametrine is the rarest variety of Quartz, found only in Bolivia, it is a natural two-toned crystal that has both Amethyst and Citrine within it.

Citrine’s energy works well with its “friends” – crystal associates formed in the same geological environment.  Try it in combination with Amethyst, Danburite, Muscovite, and Smoky Quartz.

Mineralogy Stone
Chemical Formula SiO2
Cleavage None
Color Pale Gold
Crystal System Hexagonal/trigonal
Form/Habit Prismatic
Fracture Conchoidal
Hardness – Mohs Scale 7
Luminescence Pale yellow, white, or blue (short and long wave)
Luster Vitreous
Mineral Family Tectosilicate
Specific Gravity 2.7
Streak White
Transparency Translucent to opaque

History of Citrine

Citrine was not included as a distinct mineral in most early lapidaries, texts which describe gemstones and their powers. Instead the name “Citrine,” which comes from the French “citrini”, which comes from “citreus” the Latin for lemon, was used as a generic name for many kinds of yellow stones including Beryls (Golden Beryl and Helidor), Corundum (yellow Sapphire), Quartz (modern Citrine), Topaz (Golden Topaz and Imperial Topaz) and Zircon (Hyacinth and Jacinth). During ancient and early medieval times, these little golden stones were playful called “merchant’s stones” since they were believed to bring financial prosperity to their owners. The name Citrine was first used to denote purely yellow Quartz starting in 1546.

During ancient and early medieval times, any yellow stone might be considered the birthstone for November. By contrast, modern birthstone charts typically list yellow Topaz as the proper birthstone, although some list Citrine as an alternative. Today, some wily merchants continue to use the terms Citrine and Topaz interchangeably, since Topaz is considered a precious gemstone and typically commands a higher price than the semi-precious Citrine. As a result, various shades of Citrine are sometime called by titles such as; “Citrine Topaz,” “Madeira Topaz,” “Palmyra Topaz,” “Saxon Topaz,” “Spanish Topaz,” and “Topaz Quartz.” All of these names are considered a misrepresentation by gemologists. By contrast, there are some names that denote where a particular form of Citrine was mined or its specific shade of color. Citrine that goes by the name of “Cairngorn” is mined in Scotland, near the city of the same name. Whereas sang de beouf (French for “ox blood”) refers to a Citrine which is a dark reddish-brown in color, rather than a bright yellow.

Lemons Grow On A Branch In A Garden Close Up, Citrine

To confuse the matter even more, few Citrines currently on the market are in fact Natural. Instead the vast majority are Burnt Citrines, or heat-treated Amethysts or Smoky Quartz. Burnt Citrines have been produced for more than 200 years, after it was discovered that when Amethyst and Smoky Quartz are carefully heated between 470 and 560 degrees they take on a bright golden color. This discovery gave mines and gem dealers a a way to transform low grade Amethyst and Smoky Quartz into a more desirable commodity. Most of the Citrine on today’s market is Burnt Citrine from Brazil. One of the few locations currently producing Natural Citrine is in Madagascar.

Citrine offers Pure Joy

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