Hematite: Meaning, Healing Properties and Uses

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Hematite stone is abundant on Earth’s surface and can easily be mined. Hematite is known to reduce negative emotion and used as a defensive ward. Discover more about Hematite stone meaning and healing properties to know its benefit.

Table of Contents

What is Hematite Stone?

Hematite Stone

Hematite stone is abundant on the Earth’s surfaces and is one of the most widely harvested minerals around. It exists on the shallow crust of the planet and can easily be mined. Hematite is an iron oxide that manifests in a wide variety of host rocks, from metamorphic rocks to sedimentary rocks.

Hematite is also known for forming in igneous rock formations across the globe. It is not rare, but this doesn’t reduce its value. Ores like hematite are widely mined in countries like Australia, Canada, the United States, and even Venezuela. While hematite stone is used for jewelry, it also has several industrial applications that are just as important: heavy media separation, the raw material for ballasts, and so on.

Where is Hematite Stone Found?

Raw Hematite Stone with bubble like feature is commonly called kidney ore.

Hematite has been mined throughout the world for centuries, and in the United States, small mines in the United States even have small stone furnaces that helped produce hematite en masse. Admittedly, this iron ore was difficult to exploit and around the 1800s, the locations where iron ores like hematite can be found were scarce.

What Color is Hematite?

Maya wood sculpture from 6th century made of red hematite and wood. (photo courtesy of The MET)

All hematite variants will produce a reddish color when you strike or rub them across a streak plate. Streak plates are used to mechanically extract mineral powders from mined minerals. Some variants of this iron ore will naturally produce a brilliant streak, while others will produce a duller and darker color.

Freshly mined hematite stone is brittle, and the person handling the hematite should be careful as samples (even the larger ones) can crack easily. Any mineralised powders extracted from hematite is not powdered in the truest sense of the word, but rather, a “tail” of small fragments left behind by the larger sample.

Hematite exhibits metallic, submetallic, and earthy color depending on the quality of the sample, and pigments made with hematite tend to be in the red to reddish-brown spectrum. Outwardly, hematite can look anywhere from black to brown to steel-grey, depending on the presence of other minerals or elements that may change the visual properties of this mineral.

What Chakra Is Hematite?

Hematite is a powerful grounding stone, and its linked chakra is the root or base chakra. This crystal is said to provide high levels of protection and offer strong energetic support, making it an excellent choice for those who are looking to ground themselves into their physical body.

Holding hematite can help keep us connected to our environment, allowing us to remain in the moment without feeling overwhelmed. When this particular chakra is balanced, it can help to heighten our sense of connection with ourselves and the world around us.

Is Hematite stone magnetic?

Hematite is not naturally magnetic, though in some instances it may contain a sufficient amount of magnetite that it will show some degree of attraction to common household magnets. One special type of hematite that looks silvery in appearance is the specular or micaceous hematite.
On the outside, this hematite looks like it was sprayed with lustrous mica. In reality, the shiny flake structure is just hematite. A streak test will reveal the pigmentation inside: red or reddish-brown. Hematite can exhibit banded iron formations, usually, silver from the hematite and reddish layers from jasper are interspersed with one another. Such hematite is called taconite and is considered a rare type of hematite.

Multi-cavity hematite with larger inner formations is called kidney ore hematite as it visually resembles the organ. Despite the unusual appearance, kidney ore hematite is among the purest in this class of minerals, as it is rarely contaminated with sedimentary clay, or streaks from the host rock, whatever the host rock happens to be. Sedimentary environments produce the best iron ores. It is believed that iron oreslike hematite began forming some 2.4 billion years agowhen the Earth’s oceans were still filled with dissolved iron.

What Does Hematite Do?

Meaning of Hematite Stone

In ancient England, it was said that hematite imbued weapons and talismans with warrior energy and courage. You may not be a soldier or warrior, but anyone can benefit from this kind of strength, especially now in our uncertain world.

Healing Properties of Hematite

Because of the naturally high iron content of hematite, the ancient Greeks who mined and transformed hematite to pigments associated it with “haima” or blood.

Ancient cultures revered hematite because it had a mysterious, lustrous sheen that contrasted heavily with its natural, red streak from its iron content. Like other minerals, hematite has its special metaphysical properties that make hematite do good for the body.

Hematite can be used as a simple defensive ward against toxic or negative emotions. A person who is stressed because of his/her negative emotions can use minerals like hematite to reduce the impact of other people’s negativity to him/her. Hematite is thought to be able to draw away the negativity and create a simple force field that can neutralise additional negativity from the environment.

Hematite can be used for energy balancing and unlocking. Energy practitioners often use hematite for clearing the blocked root chakra, as this is the chakra that is often grounded first so other chakras can easily release their negative energies.

Are you feeling down because of all your problems? Use hematite to regain your confidence and self-esteem. Use it to bring forth your stores of inner strength and courage, so you will be more confident in making decisions and solving problems.

Often, people get stuck with their problems because they feel paralyzed. Let hematite help you by unfreezing you and making you more proactive in the way you solve your problems.

Hematite Beads for DIY bracelet (Click to buy)

Read more: Gemstones Healing Properties

How To Use Hematite Stone?

Though millions of years old, Hematite stone is still made use of today to aid in the healing process. Believed to bring feelings of strength and power, this natural mineral can be used in a variety of ways that will help with physical ailments. When worn as jewelry, it is known to help the body focus on any negative emotions or energies so they may be released. Placing a piece flat onto parts of the body prone to pain and discomfort can relieve soreness and swelling.

Fans of crystals treasure how grounding hematite is due to its high iron content, which helps increase energy levels and resist all kinds of illnesses.

Read more: How To Carry Your Crystal?

How To Cleanse Hematite Stone?

Cleansing a Hematite stone is simple and doesn’t require many items. All you need is clean water, an open window or terrace for nature’s breeze to cleanse the energy, and intention.

Hold your Hematite stone in both hands and focus your intention on cleansing it from any negativity that may have built up from use. Visualize light emanating from the stone, washing away all the negative energies in it, allowing it to begin clean and anew. Afterward, rinse the Hematite with clean water and place it directly outside under natural sunlight or moonlight so that the energy of those sources can further cleanse the crystal.

Allow it to recharge its energy within these natural elements before bringing it back inside. Enjoy your newly clean Hematite crystal!