Hematite Meaning: Properties, Chakra, How to Use and How to Cleanse

Hematite means grounding, weight, and the return of scattered attention to the body, and the stone earns that reading honestly: it is iron ore, it is heavy for its size, and it leaves a rust-red streak. This guide covers hematite's geology and color range, the properties and benefits practitioners claim for it, its root chakra association, how to use and cleanse it without ruining the polish, and how to tell real hematite from magnetic hematine.

What does hematite mean in crystal healing?

Hematite means grounding: the pull of scattered attention back down into the body and into the present moment. The hematite meaning practitioners work with comes straight out of the stone's own nature, because hematite is iron ore, it is startlingly heavy for its size, it takes a mirror polish, and when you drag it across unglazed porcelain it leaves a rust-red line. That red streak gave hematite its name. The Greek word haima means blood, and Greek writers called this ore the blood-like stone because it bled red when ground to powder. Roman accounts describe soldiers rubbing powdered hematite on their skin before battle, and the stone still carries that martial reading: courage, armor, holding your line. In current practice hematite is what people reach for when they feel unmoored, after long travel, after hours of screen time, after grief, after any work that leaves the head buzzing and the feet numb. Hematite is not a soft or consoling stone and it is not marketed as one. Practitioners describe hematite as blunt, dense, and quieting, the crystal equivalent of setting a paperweight on loose paper before opening a window. Its message is stay, settle, and finish the thing in front of you.

Hematite's symbolic history is unusually well documented for a crystal, because the mineral had industrial and artistic uses long before it had metaphysical ones. Ground hematite is red ochre, the pigment in prehistoric cave paintings and in burials where bodies were dusted red. Mesopotamian craftsmen carved hematite into cylinder seals precisely because it was hard enough to hold fine engraving and dense enough to feel authoritative in the hand. In the nineteenth century, faceted hematite was cut for mourning jewelry, which is where its association with sober endurance rather than celebration hardened. Every one of those uses says the same thing about hematite: it is the material of blood, earth, weight, and record. Modern crystal writers inherited that reading rather than inventing it. The name occasionally causes confusion with bloodstone, which is a green chalcedony flecked with red jasper and a completely different mineral with a different reputation. Hematite is also sold under trade names, most notably Alaska black diamond, which refers to polished hematite from Alaska rather than any diamond. When a source promises that hematite dissolves negativity or lifts your mood, treat that as drift; hematite's traditional meaning is anchoring, not elevation, and the two are frequently opposite requests.

What is the hematite meaning in one sentence?

Hematite means come back down: it is the stone of grounding, endurance, and holding a boundary, named from the Greek word for blood because powdered hematite is rust red. Practitioners use hematite to condense scattered attention rather than to expand awareness, which makes it the opposite request from stones associated with vision or uplift.

Is hematite the same as bloodstone?

Hematite is not bloodstone. Hematite is iron oxide, metallic gray to black with a mirror shine and a red streak, while bloodstone is a green chalcedony spotted with red jasper. The names overlap because both carry blood associations, but their traditional meanings differ: hematite is read as grounding and boundary, bloodstone as vitality and courage in action.

What does it mean when hematite breaks?

In this tradition a hematite crystal that cracks or a hematite ring that snaps is read as the stone having taken a hit on your behalf and reached the end of its usefulness. The customary response is to thank the piece, return the fragments to soil or a plant pot rather than a bin, and replace it only if you still want one.

What is hematite geologically, and what colors does hematite come in?

Hematite is iron oxide, Fe2O3, the most abundant iron ore on Earth, and it appears in a color range that surprises people who only know the polished silver beads. Hematite crystal specimens run from bright metallic silver-gray through gunmetal, blue-black, and deep steel, and earthy hematite runs brick red to rusty brown. The one constant is the streak: no matter what color the surface is, hematite leaves a rust-red to red-brown mark on unglazed ceramic. Hematite is heavy, with a specific gravity around 5.3, roughly twice what a same-sized piece of quartz weighs, and that heft is the first thing anyone notices when they pick up a hematite palm stone. On the Mohs scale hematite sits around 5.5 to 6.5, hard enough to scratch glass but brittle enough to chip on a tile floor. The mineral forms in several distinct habits that the market sells under separate names: specularite, the sparkling micaceous variety flecked with reflective plates; kidney ore, the smooth botryoidal masses that look like piled bubbles; tabular rosettes known as iron roses; and massive granular hematite, which is what most tumbled stones are cut from.

Hematite's classic localities each produce a recognizable look. Cumbria in northwest England yielded the kidney ore specimens that fill museum cases, smooth and lobed with a fibrous red interior. Elba, off the Tuscan coast, produced brilliant crystal plates mined since Etruscan times. Brazil's Minas Gerais region supplies enormous quantities of both massive hematite and the banded rock called itabirite, and it is the source of most tumbled hematite crystal on the market today. The Lake Superior district, including Minnesota's Mesabi Range, made hematite an industrial staple in North America. Hematite is not confined to this planet either: orbital spectrometers detected coarse-grained hematite at Meridiani Planum on Mars, which is part of why that site was chosen for the Opportunity rover, and the rover found small hematite-rich spherules there that the mission team nicknamed blueberries. Crystal sellers enjoy that fact, and it is one of the few genuinely checkable claims attached to any healing stone. Iridescent material sold as rainbow hematite complicates the color question, because some of it is naturally iridescent hematite from Brazilian mines and much of it is coated or vapor-treated. Both look similar in a photograph, so buy iridescent hematite from a seller who will state which one it is.

What is the streak test for hematite?

The streak test drags a hematite specimen across the unglazed back of a ceramic tile, and genuine hematite leaves a rust-red to red-brown line even when the stone itself is mirror-silver. The streak reflects the powdered color of the mineral rather than its surface, which is why it identifies hematite reliably where appearance does not. Polished beads streak less readily, so use an edge.

What is specular hematite?

Specular hematite, also called specularite, is the micaceous variety of hematite made of thin reflective plates that throw off silver or bluish sparkle as the piece turns. Specularite is often left rough rather than polished because the sparkle is the point. Practitioners treat specular hematite as slightly lighter in feel than massive hematite while keeping the same grounding association.

What is rainbow hematite?

Rainbow hematite is hematite showing oil-slick iridescence in pink, green, and gold. Naturally iridescent hematite does occur, notably in Brazilian material, but a large share of the rainbow hematite sold in bead form is surface-coated or vapor-treated to produce the effect. Ask the seller directly, and be suspicious of unusually even, saturated color across an entire strand.

What are hematite's metaphysical properties?

Hematite properties center on weight, reflection, and containment. The first property practitioners name is grounding, but hematite grounds in a specific way: it condenses rather than drains. Where some dark stones are described as absorbing what comes at you, hematite is described as reflecting it, and that mirror quality is the reason its polished surface matters so much in the tradition. The second property is boundary. Hematite is the stone people carry into rooms where they historically over-explain themselves, and the intention is not to become forceful but to stop leaking. The third property is endurance, drawn from hematite's identity as iron ore and its association with Mars, the planet of iron, drive, and conflict. Some practitioners assign hematite to Saturn instead, reading its density as discipline and limit rather than aggression. Hematite is also called a stone of the mind, credited with organizing thought, holding a chain of reasoning together, and cutting the mental static that makes decisions feel impossible. Its elemental assignment is earth, occasionally earth with fire because of the iron. Traditional lore links hematite to blood and circulation on the basis of iron content, a symbolic association rather than a medical one.

What distinguishes hematite from other dark stones in practice is temperature and texture rather than intensity. Practitioners commonly describe hematite as cool to the touch and slow to warm, which it genuinely is, and they build the reading on that sensation: hematite is said to cool a reaction before it becomes a response. Obsidian, by comparison, is treated as confrontational and revealing, while hematite is treated as neutral and closing. That difference shows up in how each is used at the end of a session, with hematite chosen when someone needs to stop feeling things for a while. Hematite is also credited with what practitioners call an anti-scatter effect, useful for people whose energy runs upward and outward by default, and less useful for people who already feel stuck or heavy. This is why experienced readers ask what someone's baseline is before recommending hematite, and why hematite occasionally gets returned as too much. In the zodiac correspondences most commonly used, hematite is offered to Aries for tempering impulse into stamina, to Aquarius for coming back into the body from abstraction, and to Capricorn for endurance. None of these assignments is universal, and different lineages sort them differently.

Is hematite a protective stone or a grounding stone?

Hematite is primarily a grounding stone whose protective reputation follows from that grounding. In this tradition hematite is not described as building a wall around you; it is described as making you heavy and reflective enough that other people's moods slide off rather than stick. Practitioners who want an outward shield usually pair hematite with a stone chosen specifically for that job.

Which planet rules hematite?

Hematite is most often assigned to Mars, on the basis that Mars rules iron and hematite is iron ore, which supports readings of courage, stamina, and defense. A second common assignment is Saturn, drawn from hematite's density, its gray color, and its association with limits, discipline, and finishing things. Both assignments appear in respectable sources and neither cancels the other.

Why is hematite called a stone of the mind?

Hematite is called a stone of the mind because practitioners use it for mental organization rather than emotional opening: holding a train of thought, sorting priorities, and settling the static that makes decisions feel impossible. The association fits hematite's broader profile, since a stone credited with condensing scattered energy is naturally credited with condensing scattered thinking too.

What are the benefits of hematite that practitioners describe?

The hematite benefits people report most are steadier focus, less mental spinning, and a sense of being physically present again. Practitioners put a hematite crystal on the desk for deep work, hold one during a difficult phone call, and keep one in a pocket while traveling, where the combination of noise, movement, and other people's stress is the classic case for grounding. A second benefit is boundary support in conversations, where hematite is used as a physical reminder to stop, breathe, and let a silence stand rather than filling it. A third is recovery: hematite is what practitioners hand someone after breathwork, an intense reading, or a long ritual, because the stone is credited with closing an opened system. Athletes and people in heavy physical training use hematite for stamina and for the martial associations it carries. Traditional lore also connects hematite to blood, circulation, and iron, a symbolic link that dates back to the stone's red powder and is not a medical claim. The clearest way to describe the benefit hematite is asked for is subtraction rather than addition: less noise, less drift, less reactivity, and more weight in the feet.

Hematite is unusual among popular crystals in that its reported drawbacks are as consistent as its benefits, and practitioners talk about both. People who carry hematite continuously for a week or more often describe feeling flat, sluggish, or emotionally muted, and the standard advice is to use hematite situationally instead of permanently. That pattern also drives the disagreement about sleep. One camp keeps hematite under the pillow or at the foot of the bed for anxious nights, arguing that it settles a racing mind. The other camp finds hematite too stimulating overnight, reports vivid or heavy dreams, and moves it out of the bedroom entirely. Both experiences are common enough that the practical recommendation is to test it for three nights and act on what happens. A more specific application is transitional anxiety: the moments before a flight, an interview, a medical appointment, or a return to a house that carries history. Hematite's weight in the hand gives the fingers something to do, and practitioners lean on that deliberately, using the stone as an anchor for attention rather than expecting the mineral to do the work unassisted.

What are hematite's benefits for anxiety?

Hematite is used for the kind of anxiety that lives in the head as looping thought rather than in the chest as panic. Practitioners hold a hematite palm stone and put attention on its weight and coolness until the spiral loses momentum. Hematite is not the usual choice for grief or heartache, where softer stones are preferred; hematite's job is to interrupt overthinking.

Does hematite help with sleep?

Hematite helps some sleepers and disturbs others, which is why the tradition is split on it. People who find hematite calming keep it under the pillow or in a bedside dish for anxious nights, while people who find it too activating report heavy dreams and restlessness. Test hematite for a few nights and move it out of the bedroom if sleep worsens.

What are hematite's benefits for focus and study?

Hematite is used to hold attention on one task, which is why students and desk workers keep a hematite crystal within reach while studying. The common method is to set the stone at the top of the page or beside the keyboard and touch it whenever attention drifts, using hematite as a physical cue that resets focus rather than as a passive presence.

Which chakra is hematite associated with?

Hematite is a root chakra stone. The hematite chakra association is muladhara, the energy center at the base of the spine that governs safety, survival, belonging, and the sense of having a place to stand. Hematite qualifies on every traditional count: it is heavy, it is iron, it comes out of the ground in enormous quantity, and it leaves a red streak, and red is the color assigned to the root. Hematite is also widely used at the earth star, the point roughly a foot below the soles of the feet in systems that extend the chakra column outside the body, where its role is to link a person's field to the ground beneath them. That earth star use is why hematite so often appears at the feet in a layout rather than at the pelvis. A smaller group of practitioners places hematite at the solar plexus, reading its Mars associations as willpower, drive, and the capacity to act on a decision. That placement is a minority position but a coherent one. Hematite is almost never assigned to the heart, throat, third eye, or crown, since the entire point of hematite in chakra work is downward movement.

In a full layout, hematite is typically placed last and removed first. Practitioners lay their opening stones along the body, work the session, and then set two pieces of hematite by the ankles or in the palms during the final minutes so the person comes back into the body before standing up. Skipping that step is what produces the floaty, unsteady feeling after energy work that hematite is specifically meant to prevent. A common configuration uses one hematite crystal below the feet at the earth star and one at the base of the spine, with the practitioner asking the recipient to feel the weight of both, which turns an abstract instruction into a physical sensation. When hematite is used alone for the root, the simplest method is to lie down, rest a tumbled hematite stone in the crease where the hips meet the thighs, and breathe until the stone stops feeling cold. Practitioners who work with the root systematically often alternate hematite with red jasper or smoky quartz across sessions, because hematite's effect is sharp and abrupt and the others are described as gentler on the same center.

Why is hematite linked to the root chakra?

Hematite is linked to the root chakra because it matches every attribute assigned to that center: density, iron, red color in powdered form, and origin deep in the earth. The root chakra governs safety and physical presence, and hematite is the stone practitioners reach for when someone feels unsafe, uprooted, or disconnected from their own body.

What is the earth star chakra, and how does hematite relate to it?

The earth star chakra is a point located below the soles of the feet in systems that extend the chakra column beyond the body, treated as the anchor connecting a person to the planet. Hematite is one of the standard earth star stones, placed at the feet during layouts and visualized as a weight running down from the base of the spine into the ground.

How do you place hematite in a chakra layout?

Place hematite at the base of the spine, in the hip creases, or by the ankles, and add it near the end of a session rather than the start. Practitioners commonly use two pieces, one at the earth star below the feet and one at the root, then ask the recipient to notice the weight of each before they sit up.

How do practitioners use hematite day to day?

Hematite is used most often as a pocket stone, because the whole point is contact and weight. A tumbled hematite crystal in a trouser pocket or a smooth palm stone in a bag gives the hand something dense to close around at the moment attention starts to scatter. Hematite rings are the second most common form, worn on the non-dominant hand when the intention is to draw energy down and on the dominant hand when the intention is to push a boundary outward. Beaded hematite bracelets and anklets are popular for the same reason, though anklets are the more traditional placement given hematite's earth star association. At a desk, practitioners put hematite between themselves and the screen, or at the far corner of the workspace as a marker for where work stops. In the car, hematite goes in the console for long drives and traffic. At home, hematite is set at the corners of a room or at the threshold to mark an edge, and small pieces are buried in the soil of houseplants. In grid work, hematite occupies the outer points and holds the perimeter while a lighter stone sits in the center.

The most specific hematite technique is the one practitioners use to close a session: a stone in each hand, arms relaxed at the sides, attention moved deliberately from the crown down through the torso to the feet, holding the sensation of the two weights until the body feels settled. Hematite works well for this because it is cold, heavy, and smooth, and those three sensations give attention something concrete to land on. A related habit is the thumb groove, where a hematite worry stone with a dished center gets rubbed during a call or a difficult meeting, which practitioners describe as a way to keep the hands busy while the mind stays put. Pairings matter more with hematite than with most stones because of how strongly it pulls in one direction. Hematite with clear quartz is common, though quartz amplifies hematite's heaviness rather than lightening it. Hematite with citrine or carnelian is used when someone wants stability without dullness. Hematite with amethyst is the standard combination for anxious sleep. Hematite with black tourmaline doubles down on the dark end and suits someone genuinely overwhelmed by other people.

Where should you keep hematite in the home?

Keep hematite by the entrance, at the corners of a room you want defined, on a desk during focused work, or tucked into the soil of a houseplant. Practitioners avoid stacking hematite in the bedroom unless it demonstrably helps their sleep, since a share of people find hematite too activating overnight and report heavy dreams.

How do you use hematite in meditation?

Hold a hematite stone in each hand with the arms relaxed and move attention slowly from the head down to the feet, using the weight and coolness of the stones as the anchor. Practitioners use hematite at the end of meditation rather than the start, because its role is returning to the body rather than opening awareness.

Which crystals pair well with hematite?

Hematite pairs with amethyst for anxious sleep, with citrine or carnelian when stability is wanted without heaviness, and with black tourmaline when someone has been badly overloaded by other people. Pairing hematite with clear quartz intensifies rather than softens it, so practitioners use that combination deliberately and not as a default.

How do you cleanse and charge hematite safely?

Cleanse hematite with dry methods and keep it out of salt water. This is the single most repeated instruction about hematite care, and the reasoning is worth stating accurately: hematite itself is already fully oxidized iron oxide and does not dissolve in plain water, but salt water pits and dulls the mirror polish, prolonged soaking works into cracks and matrix in unpolished specimens, and any metal findings, glue, or stringing in hematite jewelry corrodes long before the stone does. Magnetic hematite, which is a manufactured ferrite composite, does genuinely rust and can stain skin and fabric orange. Given all that, the safe cleansing methods for hematite are smoke from incense or dried herbs, sound from a bell or bowl, a night on a selenite plate, moonlight on a windowsill, dry brown rice for a few hours, or a short burial in soil inside a cloth pouch. If hematite gets wet, dry it immediately and buff it with a soft cloth. Skip ultrasonic and steam cleaners entirely. Charging hematite follows the same logic: put it on earth, stone, or a quartz cluster, and choose the full moon if you like lunar timing.

How often hematite needs cleansing depends on how hard you have been using it. A hematite crystal carried daily through crowds, commutes, and difficult conversations is typically cleansed weekly, while a piece sitting on a shelf can go a month or more. Practitioners also cleanse hematite immediately after any session where it was used to close someone's field, and always after buying a secondhand or estate piece, since hematite has been cut into jewelry for well over a century and older pieces carry history. The physical maintenance is just as important as the energetic kind. Hematite scratches against quartz, so store it apart from your quartz points and tumbles rather than loose in a shared pouch. Fingerprints show badly on polished hematite and lift off with a dry microfiber cloth; skip commercial jewelry dips, which are formulated for metal and can etch the surface. Sunlight will not fade hematite the way it fades amethyst, so a few hours on a sill is fine, though practitioners who prefer lunar charging point out that hematite's associations run to night, earth, and weight rather than to solar energy, and charge it under the moon on those grounds.

Can hematite go in water?

Hematite tolerates brief contact with plain water but should not be soaked, and salt water should be avoided completely. The mineral is stable, yet salt pits the polish, water penetrates cracks and matrix in rough specimens, and glue and metal in hematite jewelry fail quickly. If hematite gets wet, dry and buff it right away with a soft cloth.

How often should hematite be cleansed?

Cleanse hematite roughly weekly if you carry or wear it every day, monthly if it lives on a shelf, and immediately after using it to close an energy session or after acquiring a secondhand piece. Practitioners also cleanse hematite whenever it starts to feel dull or inert in the hand, which is the traditional signal that a stone is saturated.

Can hematite go in sunlight?

Hematite can sit in sunlight without fading, unlike amethyst or rose quartz, so a few hours on a windowsill causes no harm. Many practitioners still prefer moonlight or a selenite plate for hematite, since the stone's correspondences run to earth, night, and weight rather than solar energy, and matching the method to the stone is the usual principle.

How do you spot fake or man-made hematite?

The most common fake hematite is magnetic hematite, and the test takes one second: natural hematite is only very weakly attracted to a magnet, so if a bead snaps onto a fridge magnet or clicks together with its neighbors in a bracelet, it is not natural hematite. That magnetic material is a sintered ferrite composite sold under names including hematine, hemalyke, hemalike, and magnetic hematite, manufactured by pressing iron oxide powder with other compounds and magnetizing the result. It is a real product with real uses and nothing is wrong with buying it knowingly, but it is not the mineral. The second test is the streak: drag an edge across the unglazed back of a ceramic tile and look for a rust-red to red-brown line, since man-made hematine typically streaks gray to black or leaves nothing. A third check is weight, because natural hematite is dense enough that a bracelet feels heavier than it looks, though composites are heavy too. Finally, examine the shape. Molded beads show faint seam lines, perfectly identical proportions across an entire strand, and a uniformity of polish that cut stone rarely achieves.

Coating is the other thing to watch, particularly with iridescent material. Rainbow hematite in bead form is frequently produced by depositing a thin metallic film on hematite or on quartz, giving an oil-slick sheen far more saturated and even than natural iridescence. Naturally iridescent hematite exists and is collected from Brazilian localities, but it is scarcer and pricier than a strand of glossy rainbow beads suggests. The practical rule with iridescent hematite is that unnaturally even color across every bead means treatment. Terminology also gets loose in the trade. Hematite is sometimes sold as Alaska black diamond, which is polished hematite and not diamond, and hematite jewelry marketed for health benefits from magnetism is almost always the ferrite composite, since natural hematite could not produce the effect being advertised. Price is a weak guide, since natural hematite is abundant and cheap. The most reliable purchase is from a seller who names the locality, states whether iridescence is natural or applied, and does not describe their product as magnetic hematite while calling it a natural stone.

Is magnetic hematite real hematite?

Magnetic hematite is not natural hematite. Natural hematite is only weakly attracted to magnets, so material that grips a fridge magnet or clicks onto neighboring beads is a manufactured ferrite composite sold as hematine, hemalyke, or magnetic hematite. It is a legitimate product when labeled honestly, but it is a factory material rather than mined stone.

What does the streak test prove about hematite?

The streak test proves the powdered color of the material, which stays constant even when the polished surface does not. Natural hematite streaks rust-red to red-brown on unglazed ceramic, while magnetic hematine usually streaks gray or black. It is the single most decisive at-home identification for hematite and it needs nothing more than the back of a tile.

What is hemalyke?

Hemalyke, also spelled hemalike, is a trade name for man-made magnetic material that imitates polished hematite, produced by binding iron oxide powder with other compounds and magnetizing it. Hemalyke appears in inexpensive bracelets and molded shapes, identifiable by strong magnetism, faint mold seams, and beads that are identical to one another across an entire strand.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is hematite good for?

Hematite is used for grounding scattered attention, steadying nerves before something difficult, holding a personal boundary, and finishing tasks that require sustained concentration. Practitioners keep hematite on a desk during focused work, in a pocket during travel, and in the hand at the end of meditation to bring awareness back into the body. It is also the stone most often reached for after intense energy work, when the head feels light and the feet feel far away.

Can you wear hematite every day?

Hematite can be worn every day, and daily wear is the most common way people use it, usually as a tumbled stone in a pocket, a band ring, or a strand of beads. The practical limits are physical rather than energetic: hematite is brittle, so rings chip on door frames and beads scratch against harder stones like quartz. Some people find continuous hematite wear makes them feel heavy or flat after several days and switch to wearing it only when they need it.

Why did my hematite ring break?

A hematite ring usually breaks because hematite is brittle and a thin polished band has almost no give, so a knock against a countertop, a car door, or a gym weight snaps it. Hematite sits around 5.5 to 6.5 on the Mohs scale, which describes scratch resistance, not toughness. Tradition reads the break as the stone having absorbed or deflected something on your behalf, and the customary response is to thank it, return the pieces to soil, and replace the ring if you want one.

Is hematite safe to wear in the shower?

Hematite is best kept out of the shower, though not because the mineral dissolves. Hematite is already fully oxidized iron oxide and is chemically stable in plain water, but shampoo, soap film, and repeated wetting dull the mirror polish, loosen glue in strung beads and cabochon settings, and corrode any metal findings. Magnetic hematite, which is a sintered ferrite composite rather than natural hematite, degrades far faster and can leave orange staining on skin and fabric.

What chakra is hematite for?

Hematite is a root chakra stone, associated with muladhara at the base of the spine, and is also used at the earth star point below the feet. The pairing rests on hematite's weight, its iron content, and the rust-red streak it leaves, all of which read as base-of-body material in this tradition. A smaller number of practitioners place hematite at the solar plexus when the intention is willpower and follow-through rather than grounding.

Which hand should you wear hematite on?

Hematite is traditionally worn on the non-dominant hand, which is usually the left, because that side is treated as receptive in this system and hematite is being asked to draw excess energy down and out. Practitioners who want hematite to project a boundary outward instead wear it on the dominant hand. Neither placement is a rule, and many people simply wear hematite where the ring will take the fewest knocks, which matters more given how easily hematite bands snap.

How can you tell if hematite is real?

Real hematite leaves a rust-red to red-brown streak when dragged across the back of an unglazed ceramic tile, and it is only very weakly attracted to a magnet. If a stone jumps to a fridge magnet or clicks onto its neighbors in a bracelet, it is magnetic hematine, a man-made ferrite composite, not natural hematite. Real hematite also feels startlingly heavy for its size, and hand-cut pieces show slight variation in polish rather than the flawless uniformity of molded beads.