Published May 2020  •  Updated March 2024  •  Read Time: 9 minutes
Barite is a common mineral that is used widely industrially, but less often for spiritual purposes.  Partially that’s because its a very soft mineral and so it can break easily if tumbled or polished.  Typically only the rare blue crystals might be seen in a metaphysical store.  That’s a shame because Barite has a wonderful healing energy and is connected to some powerful stories.  Barite teaches us that hatred and pain can be transformed by acts of love and compassion.  It helps us to navigate the complex real world and empowers us to become our Highest Self.  If we are in pain, Barite helps us to acknowledge and release those feelings, and then lights our path back to peace.

Barite

Barite Meaning

Spiritual Healing Properties

Barite connects us with the spirit world where our beloved ancestors watch over us and guide us as we travel through life. It assists us in releasing old karma and ancestral trauma, by showing us how we can transform the world we live in today. Barite empowers us to step into our Highest Self, and to use the wisdom of that Self to bring peace and goodness into the world. It helps us speak and act in ways that can make this life a Heaven on Earth. Barite helps us to navigate the complexities of the real world, with compassion in our heart and a hint of laughter in our eyes. It is an excellent tool for anyone interested in interdimensional astral travel, especially if one seeks to learn lessons and then bring them back to this plane to make a practical difference in the lives of those around us. Barite is recommended for dream analysis and lucid-dreaming. It is also a powerful crystal for earth-healing rituals.

Metaphysical Properties Barite
Chakra Third Eye and Crown
Element Storm
Numerology 1
Zodiac Aquarius

Emotional Healing Properties

Barite teaches us that the most sacred work we can do in this life is to take ancient hatred/pain and transform it by acts of love in the present-day. Barite reminds us that we have power. We cannot solve all the world’s problems by ourselves, but we can play a role in moving the world in a better direction. Barite encourages teamwork, enhances friendship and helps us to nurture our relationships. At the same time, Barite encourages us to stand in our own power, and not let the expectations of other people hold us back or determine our own expectations of ourselves. Barite gives us permission to release the painful emotions that may have become trapped inside us, such as grief, anger and confusion. Its soothing energy brings us a sense of calm self-assurance. Barite reduces shyness and helps us communicate our thoughts and feelings to others. It gives us courage to face our fears, and do the things we know we need to do.

Mental Healing Properties

Bartite encourages us to go after our dreams and turn them into reality. It gives us energy to finish projects and helps us to manifest big ideas. Barite helps us to find our purpose and to be deeply aligned with it, showing that alignment through our words and actions. It encourages us to be willing to change and able to admit when we’re in the wrong. Barite assists us in thinking deeply about the most challenging problems in the world, all of which are outside of our own control, yet still affect us and can be affected by us. Barite helps us to take action against injustice and be excited about the opportunity to do good.

Physical Healing Properties

Barite is recommended for anyone suffering from substance-abuse or other forms of self-harm. It helps us to be compassionate with those parts of ourselves that are acting out from fear or desperation. It reminds us that the habits of the past do not have to dictate today’s choices or our future. Barite also can help us understand that sometimes our thought processes are just habits, and those habits may be a physical manifestation of our brain’s chemistry, for example a lack of dopamine or serotonin may leave us feeling sad. Rather than dwelling on the feelings or trying to cover them up, Barite helps us to problem-solve the root issue on a physical level. Barite reminds us that when our brain chemistry is balanced, we automatically feel happier! Barite is an excellent talisman for helping us depersonalize, question and transform negative thoughts and habits, rather than simply accepting them as a fact of life. Barite is also a sweet talisman for anyone who has experience a brain injury or illness, as well anyone in need of general soothing.

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Barite Mineralogy

Where does Barite come from?

Barite is found in many locations worldwide. Notable deposits are in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, China, Congo, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Greenland, Iceland, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, Namibia, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romany, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the United States (California, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, South Dakota, and Tennessee).

Mining and Treatments

Barite is mostly mined at the industrial level and only rarely at the artisanal level. It is the most common of the Barium minerals and is the element’s principle ore. Barium is a soft silvery metal that does not appear in freeform naturally, but can be smelted from ore.  Barite is also commonly found in Lead and Zinc veins in various industrial mines.  Barite is very important for oil and gas production and is used in the drilling process.  It is also used in automotive, paper, cloth, and paint industries.  The Barium inside the mineral is used in fireworks to create green explosions.

All Barite on the market is natural, enhanced only through tumbling, cutting, and polishing.

Barite Placeholder
Barite

The Environmental & Social Impact of Crystals

Your crystals should have a healing energy that is clean, powerful, & makes a positive difference.

Mineral Family

Barite is a Sulfate mineral. Sulfates are a group of minerals whose crystal structure has four Oxygen atoms forming a square with a Sulfur atom in the center. There are approximately 200 types of Sulfates, with Gypsum and Barite being very common and the rest being quite rare.  Barite is usually white, but it can also be blue or green.

Barite’s energy works well with its family – other Sulfate minerals.  Try it in combination with Angelite, Celestine, and Selenite

Barite Formation and Crystal Associates

Barite forms in both igneous and sedimentary rocks and is deposited by many processes, including biogenic, hydrothermal and evaporation. Because of all these variables, Barite grows in a variety of formations, from massive to stalactitic, as well as beautiful tabular crystals and “desert rose” aggregate rosettes.

Barite’s energy works well with its “friends” – crystal associates formed in the same geological environment.  Try it in combination with Calcite, Chalcopyrite, Fluorite, Galena, Pyrite and Vanadinite

Mineralogy Barite
Chemical Formula BaSO4
Cleavage Perfect
Color Generally colorless/white, but can also be yellow, brown, reddish-brown, blue
Crystal System  Orthorhombic
Form/Habit Tabular to prismatic
Fracture Uneven
Hardness – Mohs Scale 3-3.5
Luminescence On occasion – yellowish-white (long wave)
Luster Vitreous (glassy), pearly
Mineral Family Sulfates
Specific Gravity 4.5
Streak White
Transparency Transparent to opaque

History of Barite

The vast majority of Barite is mined industrially and then finely ground and mixed with water to help create a muddy drilling fluid for oil and gas exploration. The mud cools the heat of the drill and Barite’s heavy weight helps to reduce the high pressures of drilling that can lead to dangerous blowouts. The deeper the borehole, the more Barite is needed. It is estimated that 99% of Bartite used in America is for this mud. But it is also used for a variety of other purposes, including making white paint and dye, as well as giving weight to the paper used in playing cards, so that they can be dealt more easily around the table.  Barite also forms some truly lovely crystals, with high-quality specimens in demand among collectors. Among the most desirable are sky-blue Barites which look similar to an Aquamarine, but are more fragile.

In most healing crystals books, this crystal will be listed as Barite, which is the American-spelling of the name. In the United Kingdom, the crystal is spelled Baryte. The International Mineralogical Association initially used the American spelling and then later changed its mind and endorsed the British spelling. The decision was controversial and rejected by American mineralogists who continue to use their own spelling. Since many of the more famous modern lapidaries, texts that describe gemstones and their powers, were written by Americans, unsurprisingly they too use the American spelling. Regardless of whether you prefer the I or the Y, the name itself comes from the Ancient Greek word barus, meaning “heavy” because it is noticeably heavy for a non-metallic mineral.

According to Melody’s Love Is In the Earth, there is a Native American legend that Barite and Selenite “desert roses” were carved by warriors who had passed on to the spirit world. The spirit warriors would gather together, for purposes unknown, and carve the Barite roses. The crystals would then be scattered across a large area, so as not to reveal the exact location where the spirit warriors meet. Alternative versions of the story posted on various New Age websites suggest that the roses were scattered to protect the homeland or to remind the living that their ancestors were still watching over them.

The most well known modern myth is that these beautiful crystals commemorate the Trail of Tears (1831-1860).  This was the forced relocation and ethnic cleansing of southeastern Native American tribes to “Indian Territory” west of the Mississippi River.  The Cherokee, Chicksaw, Choctaw, Muscogee (Creek), and Seminole tribes were each forced at gunpoint to leave their ancestral homelands by order of the United States government.  Thousands died along the trail and thousands more upon arrival in the inhospitable prairies.  Traveling with the Native American tribes, were thousands of their black slaves, who likewise suffered horribly.  The Cherokees were the last to be removed, and by this point the relocation was essentially a death march in which there was little food or supplies and disease ran rampant.  The Cherokee traveled 2000 miles to their new reservation in Oklahoma.  They refer to this march as, nu na hi du na tlo hi lu i (the trail of tears).  As the story goes, the people were forced to move and neither Heaven nor Earth could stop the horrors.  But the Great Spirit saw the suffering of the people and acknowledged their pain. For every tear that was shed upon the trail, a Barite desert rose appeared in Oklahoma.  While the story is beautiful and tragic, it’s a modern invention created by rock sellers.  Representatives of the Cherokee Nation have disavowed this legend and point out that Barite roses are not found on Cherokee land in Oklahoma.

During the 1960s, rock collectors successfully campaigned to make Barite Roses the official state rock of Oklahoma.  This boosted the popularity of the stone and made it more attractive to collectors around the country and world.  The story connecting these stones to the Cherokees was popularized at the Timberlake Rose Rock Museum in Noble, Oklahoma run by Nancy and Joe Stein.  The story was included on packaging in their gift shop.  An almost identical story is told about Cherokee Roses, a lovely white flower with a yellow center, but it’s not clear which story came first.

Unfortunately, non-native New Age writers, teachers, and retailers have often commercialized Native American spiritual traditions and traumas for their own gain.  Native American and First Nation activists use the terms “White Man Shaman” and “Plastic Medicine Man” to describe the misappropriation and misrepresentation of indigenous spiritual cultures. The owner of Moonrise Crystals has chosen to share the modern myths because they are now part of the historical record, while also making it clear that these stories are neither traditional nor native in origin.  When this article was originally written it included the famous Trail of Tears painting which was created by a white artist.  During a subsequent update and expansion, a search was done for native artists.  This second painting is a mural made by a member of the Muskogee Nation in Oklahoma, one of the tribes which walked the Trail of Tears alongside the Cherokee.

Monah Mural ( ) barite

Mvskokvlke ‘Temeckv Nene (Mvskoke Trail of Tears) by Johnnie Diacon

Additional References:

  1. Brown, Jennifer. “Old mystery still flowers in Rose Rocks, Diggers make living on state’s treasure” in The Oklahoman, August 5, 2001 https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/2001/08/05/old-mystery-still-flowers-in-rose-rocks-diggers-make-living-on-states-treasure/62136060007/
  2. Everett, Dianna. “Rose Rocks” in Oklahoma Historical Society https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=RO030
  3. Jones, Chris. “State couple on rocky road, but life’s just rosy” in The Oklahoman, April 30, 2000 https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/2000/04/30/state-couple-on-rocky-road-but-lifes-just-rosy/62200389007/
  4. Melody. Love is in the Earth: A Kaleidoscope of Crystals (Wheat Ridge, CO: Earth Love Pub, 1991) p. 146
  5. “Rose Rocks” in Oklahoman Geological Survey (University of Oklahoma) https://www.ou.edu/ogs/generalinterest/rose_rocks

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