LISTEN UP WITCHES, THIS IS A CRYSTAL PSA
Hello all, I’m Robin and I’d like to talk about man made or processed stones and crystals. I’m sad there’s not a lot of discussion about “unnatural” or man-made stones. They’re kinda unfairly thrown under the rug, which is honestly heartbreaking as a lot of them hold so much potential in witchcraft. Here are just a few.
Red Goldstone: “Ugh, but Robin, goldstone is just silica and metal particles, you cannot tell me there’s an ounce of natural in that!” Do you know what silica is? Glass made from quartz sand. Red goldstone is made primarily of QUARTZ and COPPER particles, to give it that gorgeous reddish hue. So you get an awesome frankenstone with the combined properties of both quartz and copper, which I think has many very interesting implications.
Blue Goldstone (also see Blue Sandstone): Same process as any goldstone, just infused with cobalt instead of copper. I’ve been having a bit of a love affair with cobalt lately, it’s honestly so intriguing. Although man made, it still responds very positively, some even claiming a stone treated with it obtains a “peculiar” healing property. I love any element with a personality, and I’d be very interested in obtaining such a piece in the future to investigate myself. (Also have you seen it, it’s a chunk of the night sky)
Aura quartz: Tumblr has been gawking over aura quartz for a while now, but I still see people stick up their nose, which is so sad! A true aura quartz has been heated to just under 900° and metal vapour is added to coat the crystal and give it that luster we all love so much. The metal and colors vary (gold, cobalt, etc.), so you can have some very interesting property combinations. Some witches even believe the memory of heat effects the stones nature, similar to stones made in hot metamorphic conditions. But I digress.
Heat Treated Stones: many stones, even highly valued ones, can occur naturally in a murky color (rubies, saphires, etc). To give it a more vibrant hue, they are cooked a bit more to clear away the darker tones, or some “unwanted” colors, like brown on amethysts. It’s just heat folks. The ruby is still a ruby, the amethyst is still an amethyst. If you prefer the natural color, by all means power to you, but stop scaring others away.
Lab-Heated Citrine I’m exasperated with the number of “call out posts” citrine gets. “Is your citrine FAKE??”, “3 easy ways to tell your citrine point is NO GOOD!!” Chill the fuck out, unbunch your panties right now. There’s an awesome article about citrine here, but I’ll summarize briefely. Lab-Heated Citrine and natural occurring citrine ARE THE SAME GODDAMN THING. The coloring will be different due to the difference between a miner’s oven (citrine will be white at the base, honey colored at the tip) and the earth’s mega oven (occurs in varying shades), but they are BOTH GENUINE CITRINE. Please read the article, it will go into the details. If you feel like your lab-heated citrine has a disconnect from mother nature, bury them in your backyard a bit so it can get re-attuned, but stop demonizing them for no good reason.
There are many more stones and crystals that need addressing, but I’ll finish my rant here. If you still prefer natural over processed, that is 100% fine, and I support you. But I implore you, please stop attacking witches who genuinely enjoy and find processed stones useful in their craft. Thank you very much for your time.
