Alternative Names: Heavy Spar
Origin: Worldwide
Mineral Species: Baryte
Mineral Group: Sulphates
Chemical Formula: BaSO4
Hardness: 3-3.5
Crystal System: Orthorhombic
Colour: Colourless, white, cream, grey, bluish, greenish, beige.
Typical Appearance: Typically found as thick to thin tabular crystals, usually in clusters with the crystals growing parallel to one another, or nearly so. Also as bladed masses, known as Cockscomb Baryte.
Birthstone: Aquarius (general)
Chakra Alignment: Throat
Element: Air and Water
Origin of Name & Mythology: Named in 1800 by Dietrich Ludwig Gustav Karsten from the Greek βάρυζ, heavy, due to its unusual heaviness for a non-metallic mineral.
Baryte’s primary gift is expansion (inner expansion), often followed by release. Most of us will hold stress, old trauma, or even over-thinking “monkey mind” as tight little bundles of tension within the body or intellect. Baryte can relax the over-wound mechanism. The colour will have a direct bearing on where this expansion takes place, so each variety of baryte has its own unique qualities.
