When discussing powerful and beautiful crystals, it’s impossible to gloss over Tourmaline, a stone with an incredible potential for physical and mental healing. A complicated and divine stone with many colors and many uses, Tourmaline has a beautiful history and is found in many different parts of society, including being the birthstone for October.
Let’s discuss Tourmaline, its meaning, its uses, and its potential for mental and physical healing.
What Is Tourmaline Stone?
To fully understand Tourmaline or to incorporate it into your lifestyle, it is first important to discuss its physical and scientific properties to tie it to the physical world.
Scientifically, Tourmaline is the name of a large group of boron silicate minerals with similar crystal structure and physical properties. However, that’s just about where the similarities between types of crystals stop. The various kinds of Tourmaline all vary in their chemical makeup, and different elements combine to create the beautiful eye-catching colors that Tourmaline can be.
While black is by far the most common color for Tourmaline, other minerals within the stone’s crystal makeup can create colors of many hues, including blue, green, yellow, pink, red, and many others. Single crystals can combine a wide variety of colors into many zones. It’s generally agreed that minerals such as iron, titanium, and manganese can create all the colors in Tourmaline.
Geologically, Tourmaline occurs in both igneous and metamorphic rocks as a result of hydrothermal activity underground. Its crystal makeup follows the hexagonal geometric structure, giving it an equally unique shape to go with its unique color.
The Meaning Of Tourmaline Stone
The many meanings of Tourmaline are associated with the different colors of the stone. Each variant of the crystal has its own special and unique characteristics and meanings and can be connected with different energies. Here are some of the most common colors and their meanings:
- Black Tourmaline: By far the most common variant of Tourmaline, Black Tourmaline is considered to be a very grounding stone, connecting its user to the Earth and the spiritual simultaneously. It acts as a bridge connecting the two and allows its user to see more clearly, giving a sense of empowerment, self-confidence, and certainty. In ancient times, the stone was used to protect against Earth demons and is thus also considered to have protective capabilities.
- Pink Tourmaline: This variety of Tourmaline can range from very light pink to a deep, dark red. However, all reddish hues of Tourmaline are connected to the heart and have a deep emotional connection. Pink Tourmaline evokes compassion and gentleness and links its user with the most gentle and kind-hearted aspects of the emotional center.
- Purple Tourmaline: While Pink Tourmaline is associated most commonly with the emotional center, Purple Tourmaline is associated with mental calmness and serene energy. Like the deep blacks of the Black Tourmaline stone, Purple Tourmaline provides its user with a meaningful centering that allows emotional release and deep relaxation throughout its use.
- Green Tourmaline: Thought to be the most physically healing of all Tourmaline varieties, Green Tourmaline channels health, vitality, and life to give its users a sense of courage and strength. It is often considered to be the masculine counterpart to the pink variant, so for every ounce of emotional strength that pink Tourmaline provides, green provides physical strength and energy as well.
- Blue/Blue-Green Tourmaline: This variant represents the peace and tranquility of calm waters. It connects the user to the truth inherent in the flow of the universe and channels open, truthful communication in its vibrations. It is also said to encourage the openness of the mind.
Healing Properties of Tourmaline
Like many crystals, understanding the healing properties of Tourmaline may at first seem daunting. However, at a closer glance, it’s pretty easy to keep track of them all. The healing properties of Tourmaline, like the meanings, directly correlate to the color of the crystal itself. For example, Green Tourmaline boosts the healing of many physical properties and is thought to improve physical stamina.
What’s more important, however, is the internal, mental, and emotional healing properties of Tourmaline. For example, any time you connect your inner self to the energy of a crystal, you’re opening yourself to the energy of that crystal. In short, when you open yourself to the charged energy of Tourmaline, you’re allowing the mentally healing and positive elements of that stone to wash over you.
Millennia of geological formation expand to allow your energy to recharge and absorb the positivity and blessing of the stone, transforming your negative energy into positive.
Cleansing And Charging Tourmaline
One of the most important aspects of the use of crystals is how you care for them. Tourmaline is no exception, and its cleansing and charging routines are incredibly important. The two most common methods of cleansing Tourmaline involve soaking it on saltwater once a month or storing it in brown rice for 24 hours. With either of these methods, immediately dispose of the water or rice, as it retains the energy you’re trying to cleanse out of the stone.
As for charging Tourmaline, there are also two common methods. The first method of Tourmaline charging goes back to its crystal formation. Because Tourmaline is created using high levels of heat, you can actually squeeze the crystal in your hand, allowing it to absorb the heat energy from your skin and putting it under pressure. Doing so will allow the crystal to charge quite rapidly and effectively, as the contact with human skin will actually speed up the charging process.
The second method for charging Tourmaline is just setting it out in direct sunlight. This process will take slightly longer but will also allow for a more complete charging of the crystal.
Tourmaline Stone And The Zodiac
Because the Tourmaline stone is actually associated with the month of October as its birthstone, it is most commonly associated with the Libra sign. Those born under this sign will experience a higher connection with the crystal energy, more direct application, and longer results.
Libra represents balance, positivity, and a strong, decisive nature; therefore, it makes sense that the energy inherent in those born under Libra will connect more effectively with the energy within a Tourmaline crystal.
Tourmaline Chakra Association
Like every other factor that the Tourmaline crystal is associated with, the chakra association is tied to color as well. For example, because Black Tourmaline is a grounding, centering stone that reduces stress, it is associated with the Root chakra. Additionally, the Pink Tourmaline crystal is associated with compassion and positive emotional energy and is therefore associated with the Heart and Crown chakras.
The Bottom Line
At the end of the day, the crystals you choose to incorporate into your lifestyle are entirely your choice. Hopefully, by reading this article, you find yourself more knowledgeable and are more prepared to care for your Tourmaline stone.
Additionally, now that you’re aware of the complexity and depth inherent in the vast assortment of varieties and colors of Tourmaline, you’ll be able to select the variety that’s most useful to you no matter what life throws at you.
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