Hematite

Chakra

Root

Element

Earth

Planet

Mars

Signs

Aries, Aquarius

Tarot

King of Pentacles, The Emperor

Crystal correspondences are traditional; the descriptions are original to this site.

What Hematite means

Ground to powder, hematite's metallic black surface gives way to a deep red streak, and that colour is where its name comes from, the Greek haima, for blood. The same red dust once served as ochre pigment, among the oldest colours humans ever used.

Emotional properties

On a scattered day, with attention in five rooms and none of it in your own body, pick up hematite. Nearly twice the weight of a quartz pebble its size, it pulls the mind back down to the hand holding it. There is nothing showy about how it works. Heaviness is the whole point.

Spiritual properties

Mars is red with iron oxide dust, and the Opportunity rover was sent to a plain where orbiters had spotted hematite, finding it there in small grey spheres. The same mineral grounds you here and colours the planet that rules it. In meditation, weigh a worry against that distance, and see how much of it survives the trip.

Physical properties

Hematite has a dull, metallic shine no other crystal quite matches, and it takes a polish as smooth as a ball bearing. Its weight makes it useful as a literal anchor for restless hands, rolled between the fingers during a meeting that will not end or a wait that keeps stretching longer. Set it against your palm before you stand up to speak.

Care and cleansing

Rinse hematite quickly and dry it at once to keep a polished face bright; it is iron fully oxidised, so water will not rust it, though magnetic 'hematite' is usually a manufactured ferrite that can spot, so dry every piece at once. Charge it pressed into a pot of garden soil overnight. A cloth pouch stops it scratching softer stones.

A question to sit with

Seen from as far off as Mars, which of today's worries would still be visible?