The traditional and modern birthstone charts fully agree when it comes to the stones designated as October Birthstones: Pink Tourmaline and Opal. Tourmaline is even the spiritual birthstone of Libra. Both Tourmaline and Opal extremely radiant stones, and can be very expensive… especially Opal of gemstone quality.
The Month of October is a host of two astrological signs: Libra and Scorpio. If you are either one of them, read on for more info on your potential personal stone.
The Spiritual Birthstone of Libra
Regardless of color, Tourmaline is the spiritual birthstone of Libra according to the the spiritual birthstones chart (see “Mystical Birthstones” by Olga Rezo). This is because during the time of this sign, from 23.09. to 22.10., our planet receives some mighty outpourings of subtle spiritual energy from the Temple of Liberty, the main Temple of Libra. Tourmaline is specially susceptible to the radiation of this temple. Therefore, all individuals born under the sign Libra can get a beneficial energy boost if they choose Tourmaline as their birthstone.
Pink Tourmaline Properties and Meanings
In the following we will turn our attention to Tourmaline and specifically to Pink Tourmaline as the main October birthstone.
Tourmaline is one of the gemstones that can be found in almost every possible color. The pink color of Tourmaline is one of them.
Some pink Tourmalines can be rather pale. Others can have a vivid deep red color. In the past, reddish Tourmalines of perfect color and quality have frequently been confused for Rubies.
The clarity is another important aspect. Tourmaline can be as clear and transparent as a Diamond, but more often than not you will find opaque crystals that are not so perfect.
Besides pink, some of the other possible colors are green, yellow, brown, blue, red, gray, and black.
But that’s not all. Very often you will encounter bi-colored specimens, or even multi-colored ones. A famous example of this type is Watermelon Tourmaline.
Watermelon Tourmaline is green at one of its ends, while pink at the other, or pink inside the stone and green at its outside portion. Just like a real watermelon.
By composition, Tourmaline is aluminum borosilicate. Besides aluminum, boron, silicon and oxygen, it contains iron, magnesium and other cations. If manganese atoms are present in a sufficient concentration, the dashing pink color of Tourmaline is produced.
What really sets Tourmaline apart from almost all the other stones and minerals are its unusual electric properties.
When heated it yields positive electric charge at one of its ends and negative at the other. As a result, it is capable of attracting dust and other tiny particles. This phenomenon is called pyroelectricity. The same effect can be induced by rubbing the stone.
Tourmaline can also be charged if subject to external pressure along the vertical axis. This phenomenon is called piezoelectricity.
Tourmalines you can find in many crystal and mineral stores, if not tumbled, are usually prismatic, elongated and slender. If sliced, the cross-section is triangular.
Pink tourmaline is related to the Heart Chakra. It opens the heart for unconditional love, promoting compassion, tolerance, love and tenderness. Those are basic human qualities that not everyone is consciously aware of, but nevertheless they are present in every human being.
One of the greatest mystics and esoteric teachers of the 20th century, Rudolf Steiner, showed special interest and great admiration for Tourmalines. That’s certainly an indication as to how important and powerful this stone is when we speak about spirituality and personal transformation.
As a stone of the heart energy center, Pink Tourmaline is directly related to our emotional body. It can convey love and healing energy to our emotional world, helping us nurture and cultivate positive feelings and emotions. For this channeling purpose, especially useful are untreated tourmaline wands.
Direct the termination of your Pink tourmaline wand from your body if you need to release some accumulated negative energies, or toward your body if you want to bring in fresh and positive spiritual energy.
Conclusion
If you are born in the sign of Libra or Scorpio, you may consider yourself really lucky because Pink Tourmaline is such an amazing gemstone to have by your side. Opal, the alternative choice you have at your disposal, is no less attractive.
Photo 2 credit: jessa1155