Howlite

History

Howlite is found only in North America, so its healing properties have only recently been documented.  It was not included in any of the ancient or medieval Old World lapidaries, texts that describe gemstones and their powers.  It is however, included in many modern lapidaries.  The white stone was first documented in 1868 in a Canadian Gypsum mine in Nova Scotia.  The miners complained about a stone that was getting in the way of their mining, and this complaint soon came to the attention of Henry How (1828-1879), a mineralogist connected with the Nova Scotia Museum.  How soon determined that the stone was actually a new mineral and he included it in his book, The Mineralogy of Nova Scotia, calling it “silico-boro-calcite.”  After How’s death, one of his students, James Dwight Dana (1813-1895), re-named the mineral Howlite in honor of his teacher.

Mineralogy

Where Howlite is Found:

Howlite is found only in Canada (Nova Scotia) and the United States (California). Much of the “Howlite” on the market is actually Magnesite from Zimbabwe

Mining and Treatments:

Most Howlite enters the commercial market as a secondary mineral produced by large-scale Gypsum mines. Gypsum is an important economic mineral that forms in massive deposits in dry desert regions. After being mined, the Gypsum is pulverized to create a fine powder known as ‘Plaster of Paris’, which when mixed with water becomes a lightweight, easy-to-shape clay. Upon drying, the plaster hardens back into pure Gypsum. This process is widely used in construction projects, to protect and decorate inner walls. It was also sometimes used for orthopedic casts to set broken bones. Howlite is mined alongside the Gypsum and may be discarded or sold to collectors, for decorative or metaphysical purposes.

Mineral Family:

Howlite is a Borate mineral. Borates are a group of minerals which contain the elements of Boron and Oxygen. There are more than 230 types of Borate minerals, most of them quite rare.  A few of them, including Howlite, are more common and can form large deposits.  These family of minerals is almost exclusively mined industrially and is not well-known within the healing crystal community.  They are often used to make products that remove stains such as laundry detergent, household cleaners and even personal care products.

Howlite Formation and Crystal Associates:

Howlite is created when volcanic activity causes Borate-bearing solutions to flow into enclosed basins. The liquid floods the basin floor, cools and partially evaporates, leaving behind a stratified mineral deposit, which is subsequently buried under more layers of sentiment. Such Borate-rich deposits are typically found in dry desert environments, such as Death Valley in California, USA. Howlite typically forms white nodular masses which often resemble cauliflower. However, on very rare occasions, it may form into tabular-shaped crystals, for example in Tick Canyon, California, USA and in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Mineralogy:

Chemical Formula: Ca2B5SiO9(OH)5

Mineral Family: Borate

Crystal System: Monoclinic

Form/Habit: Nodular Masses, Rare Crystals

Mohs Hardness: 3.5

Color: White or Pale Gray, Commonly Marked with Gray/Black/Dark Brown Intersecting Veins

Luminescence: Fluorescent, Long and Shirt UV = Orange, Sometimes Blue-White

Streak: White

Transparency: Translucent (Rare) to Opaque (Common)

Howlite Healing Properties:

Howlite is most often used for removing negativity and promoting spiritual growth with its cleansing properties. It can stimulate good decision-making by increasing intuition and clairvoyance while reducing worry and negative emotions. It can also stimulate and support imagination and creativity and is often used as a stone of transition to help one move on from things or let go of issues that no longer serve them.  

Howlite is a calming and soothing stone that can be used to ease stress and anxiety. It can also be helpful in relieving headaches and migraines. Howlite is thought to help with insomnia, and it can promote peace and inner tranquility. This stone is often used for meditation and journeying. Howlite is a great stone for anyone who is going through a time of change in their life.

These healing crystals are a type of stone that can be used for many metaphysical purposes, and their popularity has grown in recent years. Many people believe howlite is a gemstone with strong metaphysical properties, and they turn to it when they wish to achieve a peaceful state of mind or calm their emotions.

Its vibrations can also be used to cleanse and detoxify the body. Howlite helps to heal the mind and spirit, which can help with issues such as depression, lack of motivation, and feelings of loneliness. It is thought that this gemstone can enhance creativity and offer inspiration.

Howlite is a wonderful stone to use if you want to remain calm and centered in situations that would normally cause anxiety. It can help heal emotional trauma from past events and any negative emotions that are currently affecting your life.

The meaning of Howlite is “Stone of Calmness.”

Howlite is associated with inner peace, emotional balance, and spiritual growth. Its distinct white or grayish color, with intricate dark gray or black veins, embodies the calming energy that permeates its surroundings. 

The stone represents the journey toward self-awareness, encouraging introspection, wisdom, and clarity of thought. By facilitating communication between the conscious and subconscious mind, Howlite fosters a deeper understanding of oneself and one’s place in the universe.

There are also accounts of Howlite being a “stone of attunement,” capable of aligning your energy with the universe, facilitating spiritual ascension, and a deeper connection with the divine. 

This belief is closely related to the idea that Howlite can aid in the development of your spiritual gifts, enabling you to access higher wisdom and guidance from your spirit guides or angels. Its white color gives it a purifying energy that clears bad influences in your life.

Physical Healing Properties

The physical properties of howlite make it an excellent choice as well; this stone is very durable and will not break easily, plus its low specific gravity makes it light enough to wear on your body without weighing you down.

Here are a few of the healing properties you may benefit from if you use the howlite crystal:

Insomnia - If you have trouble sleeping, howlite can help. It calms the mind and relaxes the body, allowing for a peaceful night’s rest that will leave you refreshed in the morning.

Muscles - If you suffer from strained tendons or muscles, using howlite while treating your condition will reduce inflammation and help soothe any discomfort you’re feeling.

Nausea - Use howlite as a natural anti-nausea treatment if you feel sick to your stomach, especially from morning sickness or motion sickness. Place this stone on your forehead and take slow, deep breaths until nausea subsides.

Reiki Healing - As with most other stones, howlite can be used during Reiki sessions to help heal the patient’s physical ailments.

Pain Relief - You can also use howlite as a natural pain reliever, as it relieves the pain associated with arthritis as well as other conditions.

Emotional Healing Properties

Howlite Emotional Healing Howlite is a stone of calming and relaxation. It can help its wearer to relax when they are feeling tense or overwhelmed. It also stimulates thinking by enhancing logical thought processes, making it helpful for studying or working in the thinking “box” in your brain – the place where reason and logic take place.

If you’re working on any of these areas, using a howlite stone will aid you in your quest to grow and evolve into a more conscious being:

Self Care

Howlite will help you to get in touch with your inner nurturing abilities and improve your relationship with yourself. Remember to be gentle with yourself! As you grow emotionally, it’s certainly fine if you decide to nurture a relationship with a friend or a family member.

Calming

If you’re feeling overwhelmed and not sure how to calm down, have a chat with your stone of rational thought! Howlite will help you overcome your overactive mind and help you reason through the situation at hand to help you regain emotional balance. You can enter a state of calm and contemplative silence when you use these stones.

Empowerment

Howlite also stimulates the mind by enhancing logical thought processes, making it helpful for studying or working in the thinking “box” in your brain. If you’re looking to work on this area, use a howlite crystal beforehand and allow it to help you think through problems and come up with creative solutions.

Expression

If you are looking to become a more emotive person, use howlite stones when you are working through difficult emotions. Allow yourself to contemplate what it is that makes you feel the way you do and let the stone help bring these thoughts out of your subconscious where they can be dealt with in a constructive manner.

You will find that wearing or having a howlite stone around during the day will help you go through all sorts of emotions and experiences with an open, calm, and logical mind.

Metaphysical Healing Properties

Howlite gemstones can be used with virtually any metaphysical purpose. Some people prefer using them for psychic protection, especially if they feel that negative energies are following them around or hanging overhead.

These stones will help you stay in a place of emotional neutrality and not take on others’ emotions so that it is less likely that their negative vibes will affect your own. They can also be used for protection against geopathic stress and electromagnetic frequencies. Tune in to howlite crystals when you need to heal the heart center and dissipate any negative energies around you.

In addition to the healing properties mentioned above, howlite crystals have metaphysical powers that help you remove negative energies and engage with conscious living. Some of the metaphysical benefits include the following:

Past Life

If you’re interested in accessing past lives and working with your multi-dimensional self, howlite stones will help you find the “time portal” to go back and work with different aspects of yourself.

Psychic Ability

If you are experiencing difficulty while using your psychic abilities, howlite crystals can help channel all your senses into a state where you tune into the other side. This can be extremely helpful if you’re feeling completely blocked. The howlite stone energy will also help you tap into the collective consciousness of humanity so that your psychic abilities aren’t so “lonely.” This is because it will activate a state of empathy where you can tune in to what other people are feeling at any point.

Insight

Howlite stones will give you access to information by spiritually accessing your “Akashic Record.” You can easily follow this link to your past lives and gain wisdom about future events and gain powerful insight into the present.

Spiritual Development

Howlite stones will help you gain a deeper understanding of yourself, as well as empower you to live deliberately and with purpose. This powerful stone can aid your spiritual development by clearing the subconscious mind of obstacles that block your ability to access higher realms. It can even assist you in manifesting what you truly want from life. You can use it to enhance spiritual attunement and help you pick up on the energy of the universe so that you stay in tune at all times.

Channeling

Howlite stones are useful for channeling, whether for channeling higher beings or channeling your own spiritual guides. These stones will clear away any interference from lower vibrational energy and can be used to help you open up to receiving messages from guides and angels.

Dreams

Dream recall can be difficult for some people, but howlite stones will make it easier for you to remember and analyze your dreams. This is because the energy gives you a gentle reminder of what’s going on in your subconscious mind so that you don’t forget your dreams once you wake up.

Grounding

Howlite crystals will help you to attune with the earth and stay grounded, without being too “earthy.” This unique quality helps immensely when working with angelic realms and other high vibrational beings. Howlite stones will boost your metaphysical abilities so much so that practicing yoga or meditation feels effortless. They will activate your intuition and align you with the earth’s energies so that you can maintain a state of calm yet focused awareness at all times.

Howlite Chakras

Howlite Chakra Healing and Balancing Energy Howlite is a white, soft stone that brings balance to all the chakras, as well as cleanses and aligns them. It allows us to go within ourselves and find inner peace by calming the mind and emotions and balancing intuition with logic. That being said, this highly emotional stone works best with the crown chakra and third eye chakra.

• Crown Chakra - Howlite stone aligns all the chakras, balances them, cleans them, and enhances spiritual growth. The crown chakra is located at the top of the head, and it pertains to our spirituality and connection with the higher self as well as our purpose in life.

• Third Eye Chakra - The place of our infinite inner wisdom and deep heartfelt intuition.

Using Howlite

Heavenly Howlite deserves a place in your life, especially if you are seeking a stone that is all about attunement, inner vision, and calm conscious living. Whether you choose Howlite as a gorgeous gemstone bracelet adorning your wrist or if you look to having an alter or set of meditation tools that includes Howlite, there are many ways to bring even more healing and harmony into your world.

Home and Office:

Once you bring Howlite into your home you can kick back and relax as this magic stone does its work. Howlite is all about detoxing environments and shaking the strands of anger away. If there is any tension in your home or workplace, then bringing in a piece of Howlite or hanging some Howlite beads can soak up all that negative energy, enhance communication and connection, and generally get everyone together on the same page. For those who struggle with sleeping at night or inviting the mind to shut down, you can also tuck a Howlite stone beneath your pillow and let the soothing nature of the snow and veining work its magic.

Jewelry:

Howlite jewelry is a joy to behold thanks to its soft color scheme and its delicate dance of light when pressed against the skin. There are so many ways in which you can enjoy Howlite and its gentle nature but choosing to wear it in jewelry form can be one of the best ways to make the most of its healing benefits. When crystals have direct contact with the skin they are better equipped to transmute their powers and healing vibrations in alignment with your own energy. Whether you choose a Howlite Energy Bracelet, a ring featuring the soft white stone or even a pendant, you can be sure that all that energy is flowing your way without even a pinch of distraction.

Meditation and Grounding

Howlite can be used for meditation to help you focus and connect with your intuition. The vibration of the howlite crystal will help you to clear away any interference from lower vibrational energy and can be used to help you open up to receiving messages from guides and angels. The calming energy of the howlite crystal will help you to stay centered and focused during your meditation practice.

This calming stone can also be used to ground yourself, without being too “earthy.” This unique quality helps immensely when working with angelic realms and other high vibrational beings. Howlite stones will boost your metaphysical abilities so much so that practicing yoga or meditation feels effortless. These stones will activate your intuition, encourage emotional expression, and align you with the earth’s energies so that you can maintain a state of calm yet focused awareness at all times.

Howlite properties are very beneficial during meditation, making it easy to connect with one’s higher self or guides. It is also an excellent stone for past life work, as well as connecting to the Earth’s energy. It brings balance and clarity to the mental body, reducing scattered thinking or confusion due to chaotic energies or stress.

Cleansing and Charging

It is important to cleanse your Howlite regularly (usually once or twice per month) as well as cleanse and charge it when you initially bring it into your home. The following are a few of the ways you can cleanse your crystal:

• Brown Rice - You can place any crystal in brown rice for 24 hours to remove negative energy safely. All you need is a bowl or jar of brown rice that you can bury your stones in to completely cover them. After removing the stones from the brown rice, you can use a soft brush to remove dust. Dispose of the rice as it will have absorbed the negativity from the crystals.

• Full Moon - Cleansing your stones with the full moon is an excellent way to remove negativity. At twilight, place your crystals on a windowsill or a place where they will be able to absorb the light of the moon (and its vibrations). Remove the stone the following morning before the sun gets too high into the sky. You can also place several stones on a grid to charge with a specific intention.

• Visualization - Visualization is a safe and powerful way of charging any of your crystals. Take time to center your energy and ground yourself, then pick up the sone in your hands. Focus on filling your hands with a radiant light through visualization for a minute or two. Focus on removing the negativity from the stone, allowing it to be cleansed and recharged with purpose. You should be able to feel the energy within the stone shift into positivity.

• Running Water - Holding a stone in running water for about a minute each can both cleanse and charge many hard stones. Access to a natural spring is always best, but faucets also work as long as the stone can be completely submerged. You can also place them in a fountain to allow the water to run over the stones. Dry with a soft cloth when you remove the stone from the water.

• Smudging - Pass the Howlite through the smoke of burning sage or palo santo while reciting positive affirmations to cleanse and re-energize the crystal.

• Clear Quartz - Place your Howlite next to a Clear Quartz crystal, allowing its cleansing and amplifying properties to purify and recharge the Howlite.

• Singing Bowls - Place the Howlite near a singing bowl and play it, using the sound vibrations to cleanse and restore the crystal’s energy.