Modern Birthstone
Pink Tourmaline is the modern birthstone for October and the gemstone for the 8th wedding anniversary. The name Tourmaline comes from a Sinhalese (Sri Lankan) word turamali - loosly translated as "mixed" and used to describe assortments of multicolored gemstone pebbles found in local regions where sand and sediment were once deposited by running water. Tourmaline's wide range of colors have intrigued people for centuries. In ancient Egypt, legend had it that tourmaline acquired it's many colors by travelling along a rainbow in a journey from the earth to the sun. Other civilizations thought that thought wearing tourmaline could help one become more artistic and aesthetically inclined. Tourmaline is said to balance male and female energies, balance the conscious and subconscious mind and balance the left and right brain, so it should come as no surprise that tourmaline is a perfect gemstone for those born under the sign of Libra, the scales! Pink tourmaline also is a gemstone symbolic of the planet, Venus, which rules Libra and Taurus. Other colors of tourmaline are sometimes said to be linked to the planet Saturn. Due to the electrical properties inherent in this mineral, tourmaline could also be an appropriate gemstone for the planet Uranus (the planet of electricity) and those born under the Uranus-ruled sign of Aquarius.

Numerologists believe that tourmaline vibrates to the numbers 6 and 7 and, to a lesser extent, the number 2. The different colors of tourmaline correspond to the different chakras- pink tourmaline acts on the Heart (fourth) Chakra.