Although Turquoise is a traditional birthstone for December, its cousin, Chrysocolla also has some suitable traits in the month of holidays. Chrysocolla is a secondary copper mineral known to occur all over the world including Israel, Egypt, the Congo, Peru, Chile, Australia and is especially bountiful in the southwestern United States (Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico). It forms when high temperature copper-bearing fluids interact with reactive rocks or when hydrothermal fluids alter copper-rich rocks. This is why Chrysocolla is most commonly found in regions where there is or once was volcanic activity, and why it generally forms as encrustations or along fractures.
The name Chrysocolla comes from the two Greek words chrysos, meaning “gold” and kolla, meaning “glue”. Why would a stone be named after gold when it’s quite obviously a blue-green color? Well, to know the answer to that we have to go back in time to 300 BC when ancient civilizations mined this copper ore mineral to create solder for gold. Therefore this stone was literally “gold glue” because it was the primary component used to bond pieces of gold together.
Chrysocolla combines hues of meadow green and sky blue due to the presence of copper (Cu) in its atomic structure (Cu,Al)2H2Si2O5(OH)4*n(H2O). Due to this coloration, Chrysocolla can be considered a combination of the feminine earth and water energies associated with our living planet.
A stone of compassion, Chrysocolla instills a sense of nurturing as well as a desire to care for Mother Nature. According to “The Secrets of Crystals” by Shani Toder, Chrysocolla also helps us resolve emotional pain and renew our emotional resources when in chronic, high-stress environments. By allowing us to communicate our emotions in a clear and grounded manner, this stone alleviates some of the major stressors experienced between parent & child or individuals in negotiations. This stone also helps us tap into the Divine Feminine in order to balance our physical (represented by earth) and emotional (represented by water) bodies.
Some claim that the turquoise colored jewelry worn by Cleopatra was in fact Chrysocolla and that she carried this stone everywhere she went to aid in diplomatic endeavors and to pacify violence. This makes sense considering Chrysocolla occurs in and around Egypt. In fact, Eilat Stone, which is the sacred stone of Israel, contains Chrysocolla as one of its mineral components.
Based on the properties of Chrysocolla to instill nurturing, compassion and empathy, as well as aid in communication and diplomacy, it only seems appropriate that a mantra to attribute to Chrysocolla is none other than “the Golden Rule.” Whether you know this phrase in its more modern version “do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” or its more ancient roots “do not do unto others what you do not want done unto you,” the point is learning empathy and cohesion. During the holiday season, Chrysocolla reminds us to nurture ourselves and those around us while also forgive and make peace with those in our lives. Chrysocolla reminds us that we are all part of a greater whole and oneness that extends even beyond our humanity to Mother Earth as a whole.