Red tourmaline is also called rubellite. This red stone is closely tied to the red or base chakra and is closely tied to robust physical health. While many stones are closely connected to women using them for energy work and for adornment, red tourmaline is closely tied to male energy and muscular strength.
The Chemistry of Red Tourmaline
The word tourmaline comes from the Sinhalese word turmali, which refers to a mixed color stone. It comes in many colors, though the most common are black, pink and watermelon, or a pink stone with a green rind. If you live in the United States and are looking for a place to harvest your own watermelon tourmaline, check out public quarries in Maine. Red tourmaline is actually a clean, deep pink stone. These stones are a boron silicate.
The History of Tourmaline
While quartz stones were used for adornment and energy before humans were tracking time, tourmaline was actually discovered in the 17th century in Italy. Currently it is mined across the planet, but the most remarkable specimens come from Pakistan and Mongolia. Tourmaline is hard enough to be safe from erosion but breaks or splits consistently for jewelry creation. This is a stone that also polishes up well if you are interested in using it as an energy stone.
How to Use Red Tourmaline in Your Energy Work
Tourmaline is a very predictable stone in terms of how it breaks and polishes up for display. It’s closely connected to the Libra sign. If you are feeling agitated or badly out of balance, try laying flat for part of your meditation and placing a red tourmaline on your abdomen to get help finding your center.
If you spend lots of time working on a computer and can’t always get into the woods or onto the walking trail, consider wearing a red tourmaline pendant to protect your body from radiation and environmental poisons.
Red Tourmaline in Combination with Other Stones
Because of the way that gemstones form in the fissures of the earth, you can find red tourmaline embedded in other stones. However, if you are in the market for a beautiful healing stone that features red tourmaline, you can find some beautiful quartz stones that are embedded with tourmaline in many different colors.
For those interested in working their own gems either for healing or for jewelry, take care to learn to polish by hand. Tourmaline is slightly harder than quartz. To get these combination stones to polish up nicely together and shine without abrading over time, a hand polishing cloth will get you the best results.
Different Grades of Tourmaline
The more clear a gemstone is, the more valuable it is for use in jewelry. However, cloudy tourmaline can also be beautiful and can serve well as a healing stone. Blended stones may feel a bit different and offer different energetic energies, which may or may not serve you as you work to heal yourself and others as you handle and focus on the stone.
Tourmaline is a stone that you can harvest for your own use, both as a gem and has a healing stone. While red tourmaline may be difficult to find in the United States, you can purchase carefully handled and properly sourced red tourmaline for your own energies and protections.