Hematite in Depth
Iron oxide that bleeds red
Hematite is iron oxide, the primary ore of iron and one of the most economically important minerals on earth. Polished it looks like gunmetal or dark silver, but the identifying test is the streak: drag it across unglazed porcelain and it leaves a red-brown line every time, regardless of how metallic the surface looks. The name comes from the Greek for blood for exactly that reason.
It is noticeably heavy. Specific gravity around 5.3 means a hematite palm stone feels roughly twice as dense as a quartz one of the same size, and that weight is a large part of why people describe it as grounding. It forms as metallic crystals, as rounded kidney ore, and as the specular variety with a glittering micaceous surface. It also colors Mars, which is where the planet's red comes from.
The magnetic hematite problem
Those magnetic hematite bracelets and beads sold everywhere are not hematite. Real hematite is only weakly paramagnetic and will not stick to a fridge or to itself. The magnetic material is a manufactured barium or strontium ferrite, sold under trade names like hematine or magnetite composite.
It is not a scandal, just mislabeling, but it matters if you care what you are holding. Test with a magnet: if beads snap together audibly, it is synthetic. Also note that magnetic jewelry carries a standing warning about pacemakers and other implanted medical devices, so anyone with one should check with their doctor rather than assume it is fine.
Care and durability
Hematite is 5 to 6 on Mohs, so it scratches, and the mirror polish that makes it attractive shows every scuff. More importantly it rusts. Left wet, left in salt water, or worn in a shower, hematite develops orange corrosion at edges and drill holes that will not come off.
Dry it thoroughly after any contact with water, avoid salt entirely, and store it away from humidity. Sweat will corrode a hematite ring over months. Cleanse it with smoke, sound, moonlight, or a rest on selenite instead of anything wet.
Use and pairings
Hematite's role in practice is almost entirely about weight and return to the body: after intense meditation, after a long stretch on screens, during travel. Holding one in each hand for a few minutes is the standard technique, and stones at the feet are the standard layout position.
Aries and Aquarius are the usual sign associations, and it belongs to the root chakra. It pairs with clear quartz to keep an amplified arrangement anchored, with amethyst as a common bedside combination, and with black tourmaline when the goal is protection as well as grounding. Many practitioners deliberately do not pair it with moonstone or labradorite, since the heaviness tends to flatten the qualities those stones are chosen for.