Baryte

Baryte occurs in a wide range of colors, including colorless, yellow, blue, and white. However, its softness, brittleness, perfect cleavage, and high density make it of little use as a gemstone. Crystals vary a great deal and may be transparent or opaque, with a variety of habits from tabular to massive.

A baryte stone is easily damaged. So, it is cut for collectors only because of its low hardness, i.e., 3 on Moh’s hardness scale.

Baryte occurs as a white, orange, or greenish stone. It is commonly available and appears as a vitreous clear crystal or as a fibrous mass. Barite facilitates communicating intuitive vision. It is a traditional journeying stone and stimulates both dreaming and dream recall. If anonymity and stealth are required for ritual working, baryte confers this and guides you safely back.

Spiritually, barite is a handy stone for rebalancing and cleansing the entire chakra system. Psychologically, barite enhances autonomy. If you have conformed to others’ ideals instead of your own, or have been at the beck and call of others, barite sets you free. Conversely, it supports loyalty to an appropriate ideal or person. This stone overcomes shyness and assists with interpersonal communication and mental focus.

It teaches you where your boundaries lie. A strongly motivating stone, barite benefits people whose energies are exhausted or scatters. Mentally, it is supportive for the memory and encourages efficient functioning of the brain, heightening your ability to organize and express thoughts.

Emotionally, barite is beneficial for platonic friendships and encourages intimacy and insight into relationships of all kinds. A powerful transformer, it may bring about a catharsis in which old emotional patterns, fears, and obsessions are released (a process best undertaken with a qualified therapist). So, other crystals may be required to restore equilibrium. The emotional catharsis may release long-repressed emotions and restructure the emotional body to restore calm.

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Baryte Healing Properties

Barite assists in vitality, over-sensitivity to cold or temperature changes, memory, chronic fatigue, detoxification, vision, the brain, sore throat, and addiction. It balances brain chemistry and calms the nervous system and stomach.

Occurrence

Baryte commonly occurs in lead and silver mines. It is also found in limestone and may be deposited by hot springs. Crystals up to 1m (40in) in length have been found in Cumbria, Derbyshire, and Cornwall in England. Other localities include Italy, the USA, Germany, Romania, and the Czech Republic/Slovakia.