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Tourmaline

The name tourmaline is thought to have originated from the Sinhalese term turmali, "mixed colored stones."  Tourmaline comes in every color of the rainbow.

Lore

In 1703 a package of tourmaline labeled "turmali" from Sri Lanka was sent by mistake to a stone dealer in Amsterdam.  The dealer noticed that the stones attracted ashes and straw when heated, and named the stones aschenstrekhers, "ash drawers."

Tourmalines are gems with an incomparable variety of colors. The reason, according to an old Egyptian legend, is that the tourmaline, on its long journey up from the centre of the Earth, passed over a rainbow. In doing so, it assumed all the colors of the rainbow. And that is why it is still referred to as the 'gemstone of the rainbow' today.

There have been any claims made for the use of Tourmaline based on its various colors:

• Blue allows one to reject things they don’t want.
• Green is a money and communication stone.
• Pink to red calms the emotions and promotes relaxation.

Tourmaline is thought to be a powerful healing stone and sleep aid.

"Black tourmaline, or schorl, was thought to deflect black magic." ¹  "Quartz penetrated by black tourmaline crystals, is often worn to stimulate astral projection." ²

A stone of harmony, tourmaline, brings equilibrium by balancing the yin and yang.  "It is perhaps the only one of the gems that can be worn by everyone, since its influence is only for good and it attracts only kindly and benevolent entities." ³

Tourmaline is one of the birthstones for October.

1)  Gail A. Butler, W.R.C. Shendenhelm  "Rockhounding California"  pg 117

2)  Scott Cunningham  "Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Crystal, Gem, and Metal Magic"  pg 108

3)  Annie Wood Besant  "Theosophist Magazine January 1930 - April 1930"  pg 261

Love is in the Earth by A. Melody is one of the best gem lore books on the market.