Properties of Beryl
Beryl is a family of stones, each bearing a different name depending on its color: aquamarine, emerald, morganite, heliodor, etc.
Transparent if pure to opaque, like corundum, this gem receives an appellation based on its color:
- colorless = goshenite
- lemon yellow/golden yellow = yellow beryl
- golden yellow/yellow-green = heliodor
- yellow-green/blue-green = green beryl
- light blue-green = aquamarine
- deep blue = maxixe beryl
- intense bright green = emerald
- pale pink/bluish pink = morganite
- red = bixbite
- magenta pink-red = pezzottaite
The use of beryl in lithotherapy therefore depends on each variety of this stone. The basic composition being Be3 Al2 Si6 O18. The different chemical elements that enter into the stone’s composition produce different colors. The absence of an element results in a transparent beryl, called goshenite.
- Chromium gives the green color, and the beryl then takes the name of emerald; a beautiful gemstone.
- Iron colors the beryl blue, which is then called aquamarine.
- Iron and uranium give the yellow of heliodor.
- Manganese, for its part, will cause a soft pink color, a peach pink in these beryls called morganite.
- A higher concentration of manganese will give a red color: the rarest of beryls: bixbite.
