Entry № 173
Crystallised Orange Calcite
Calcite (var. orange, crystalline)
Warmth held in a rhombohedral cage.
Chakra
Sacral · Solar Plexus
Element
Fire · Water
Zodiac
Cancer · Leo

I. The Metaphysical Reading
How the stone has been held.
Crystallised orange calcite is worked with as a stone of creative return, kept in studios and kitchens as a warmth-holder for practices that have gone cool. Practitioners hold it as a reminder that pleasure and productivity are allowed to sit next to each other.
- Chakra
- Sacral · Solar Plexus
- Element
- Fire · Water
- Zodiac
- Cancer · Leo
- Keynote
- Warmth held in a rhombohedral cage.
II. The Scientific Reading
What the lattice actually does.
Crystallised orange calcite is the sharply-formed crystalline variety of calcium carbonate whose warm apricot to bright orange hue comes from trace iron and manganese incorporated into the CaCO₃ lattice, rather than from a coating or dye. The strong birefringence (~0.17) is the same double-refraction effect that makes clear Iceland spar famous, only masked here by the pigment.
- Formula
- CaCO₃ (with Fe / Mn trace pigments)
- System
- Trigonal
- Hardness
- 3 (Mohs)
- Provenance
- Mexico, USA, Pakistan, China
References & Sources
Independent mineralogical references used to verify the scientific details above.
Mineral Profile
Fact Sheet
- Chemical Formula
- CaCO₃ (with Fe / Mn trace pigments)
- Crystal System
- Trigonal
- Mohs Hardness
- 3 (Mohs)
- Density
- 2.71 g/cm³
- Refractive Index
- 1.486 – 1.658
- Provenance
- Mexico, USA, Pakistan, China
- Color Origin
- Warm apricot to bright orange rhombohedral and scalenohedral crystals
Related Crystals
Stones that share this lattice
Next in the Atlas
Dali Calcite
The banded marble that named a school of Chinese painting.




