Citrinitas represents the yellowing stage of alchemical transformation, positioned between albedo and rubedo in some alchemical schema, though its status remains contested among traditions. Derived from Latin citrinus (yellow or citrine), this phase was associated with the dawn, solar consciousness beginning to emerge, and the colour of sulfur - a crucial alchemical substance. In texts that include citrinitas as a distinct stage, it marks the transition from the lunar, reflective awareness of albedo toward the full solar realization of rubedo, functioning as an intermediary awakening or preliminary illumination.
Many alchemical traditions, however, collapsed citrinitas into rubedo or treated it as a variant rather than a separate stage, reducing the magnum opus to a threefold rather than fourfold process. Where it appears distinctly, citrinitas often symbolizes the development of intellectual or spiritual insight - a brightening that precedes complete transformation. Carl Jung gave limited attention to this stage compared to the primary triad, though some interpreters link it to the emergence of intuitive wisdom or the first glimpses of the Self before full individuation. The ambiguity surrounding citrinitas reflects broader tensions in alchemical literature between three-stage and four-stage models of transformation.