TOURMALINE

Bugsy is inspecting Manitu's tourmaline.

Emerald green mimic toramalli
Born out of a rainbow
The balanced shield of protection
Transform the negative flow

Tourmaline is one of the birthstones for October.  It also happens to be one of my favorite stones.  My first experience with tourmaline was many years ago when I was looking for some stones for feng shui.  One of the stones that I took home was a tourmalated quartz.  The one in the photograph has lived in my pocket for several years now.  To me, tourmaline is that black crystal that provides a shield of protection that feels like a security blanket.  To most people, tourmaline is the beautiful green stone that is often set in  Sterling jewelry.  In reality, tourmaline is much more than either one of these.

Tourmaline is an aluminum borosilicate, silicon aluminum and boron, with a Mohs hardness of 7 to 7.5 and a hexagonal crystal structure.  It can also contain sodium, lithium, calcium, magnesium, manganese, iron, chromium, and other minerals.  It is actually a fairly wide ranging class of stones found mostly in igneous deposits that comes in an array of colors.  Tourmaline can appear somewhat fibrous when viewed with a magnifying glass.  Historically, this gem was mis-identified as other gems, hence the name which is derived from the Sinhalese, tormalli, meaning mixed gem.  Deposits of this gem are found in Brazil, Madagascar, Afghanistan, and the US.

Is tourmaline the energy of the rainbow that you can hold in your hand?  Maybe.  It is thought to spark imagination, play, joy, and prosperity.  Many people carry or wear tourmaline as a shield of protection.  It is believed to cleanse, purify, and transform negative energy.  It can be helpful in balancing polarities and assisting the flow of energy through the chakras.  Some believe that tourmaline helps clear the mind, promotes healing, and encourages unconditional love.

Like most gems that have multiple colors, the color of the tourmaline fine tunes the significance of the stone.

BLACK - protects against negative energy and helps transmute and purify difficult energy.
GREEN - helps move energy and heal the heart chakra.
PINK - helps dispel destructive emotions and attract love.
PURPLE - activates the third eye and encourages creativity and intuition.
​YELLOW - promotes personal power and the courage to overcome obsticals and abuse.