Hematite
Hematite, the magical mineral 🔥
Hematite is the principle ore of iron and one of the most abundant minerals on earth, black to steel or brown to red in colour and with a large variety of uses.
The name Hematite comes from the Greek “haimatitis” which means “blood-red” and stems from the colour of Hematite when crushed to a fine powder.
In the past, Hematite was largely used as a red and brown pigment. Cave paintings dating back to 40,000 years ago were created with Hematite pigments and during the Renaissance, when many painters began using oils and canvas, Hematite was one of the most important pigments they used.
Hematite is also used as a gemstone. It is cut and polished into cabochons for jewellery and ornaments, fashioned into beads for bracelets and necklaces and carved into ornamental figures.
It is also believed that the slight magnetism in Hematite has healing, grounding and calming properties and that it re-balances the chakras.
Huge quantities of Hematite are mined throughout the world (China, Australia, Brazil, India, Russia, Ukraine, South Africa, Canada, Venezuela and the USA) for industrial production: it is the source for roughly 90 percent of all iron mined in the United States. It is also used for radiation shielding around medical and scientific equipment because of its density and it is used to make compounds to polish brass, gold and silver jewellery.
And finally, NASA has discovered that Hematite is one of the most abundant minerals on the surface of Mars which gives the landscape a reddish brown colour. That is why the planet appears red in the night sky and it is the origin of Mars’ “Red Planet” nickname.
