As with most black crystals, black tourmaline is wonderful at shielding and one of the good old standby crystals to protect the home. Black tourmaline is also known as schorl and the most common type of tourmaline.

Did you know? Tourmaline comes in all sorts of colors like green, pink, blue, yellow, white, orange, red, purple, and brown. So, when we say 'tourmaline' we're talking about a family of minerals that share a similar crystalline structure but different chemical composition. If we say 'black tourmaline' we're talking about one specific mineral which happens to be the most popular in the tourmaline family that happens to get its black color from containing iron, titanium, and manganese.

While pink and green tourmaline is all about love and compassion, black tourmaline is all about divine protection and protects anything it touches from harm.

Black tourmaline is a piezoelectric crystal where it can turn mechanical energy into electrical energy.

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What is Black Tourmaline Used For?

Black tourmaline crystals are ideal for your home (and even where you work) to help protect from challenging people or circumstances. You know anywhere where you don't want the 'bad vibes' to reign. When you use black tourmaline as a crystal to protect your home, you're essentially plugging into the grounding forces in the Earth's energetic field.

Black Tourmaline Properties + Meaning

For many people, the meaning behind black tourmaline is one of protection, purification and even calming. It's an auric vacuum cleaner where if you walk into a situation that's so no bueno, having this on your person is a way to keep your emotions in check.

Beyond relieving stress and anxiety, it will absorb negative energies so you can go about your life in a zen kind of alignment.

Many have used black tourmaline for aiding in anxiety, reducing fear, physical and psychic protection, EMF pollution and spiritual protection.

Basically, it's like having your own energy bodyguard on duty no matter where you place it.

Black Tourmaline Placement In The Home

Before you even place the crystals in your home, let's talk about the property outside your abode. At the four corners of your property, starting in the Northern corner and moving clockwise, if possible you' ll want to bury one crystal in each corner while setting the intention that these crystals are here to protect the home and property.

Now as to where to place black tourmaline in the house you'll want to start at the front door (or wherever most people enter your home) and place one crystal there. This will help to mitigate the negative energy should a negative nelly come a knockin'.

Next, you'll want to also place a black tourmaline crystal in each of the four corners of your home on the ground floor. If your home has multiple levels and you notice negative energy in an upper-level room, then placing additional crystals is the best course of action.

Additionally, I like to place black tourmaline crystals in front of devices and appliances that are emitting EMF. Remember that black tourmaline will absorb this "smog" so consider placing it in front of your computer, external hard drives, microwaves, televisions, and wi-fi devices like your router.

If you'd like to have the energy radiate throughout the entire space of a room, you should get yourself a black tourmaline sphere. Crystals formed into spheres radiate their energy in all directions. (I've written a post on where to buy crystals online here)

Should you put black tourmaline in the bedroom?

Depends. Some people like to travel in their dreams and may find that black tourmaline inhibits that process. Others find that because it is a protecting and grounding crystal and it can be a strong shield against psychic attacks. Some have also found that it helps calming the obsessive thoughts that show up in the middle of the night and to keep nightmares at bay as the master protector crystal.

So if you're looking for a crystal to clear negative energy happening within the bedroom, then placing four black tourmaline crystals in each of the four corners of the bedroom to form a protective shield.

Black Tourmaline Side Effects?

Generally, black tourmaline isn't considered a crystal that has bad side effects however that isn't to say it can't happen. We're all different and sometimes we can be affected in different ways by specific crystals.

For those who haven't grounded themselves in a while, using black tourmaline could make them feel drained as they get grounded.

I find from time to time that keeping black tourmaline in my pocket all day is too grounding but there isn't a rhyme or reason to it that I've been able to correlate.

Other times, it's just what I need to get my head out of the clouds. At the same time, I never remove my black tourmaline and other crystals that are in front of my computer ever. The electromagnetic field protection they give me by sitting there is crucial so that I'm not exhausted after a full day working.

Does Black Tourmaline Need Cleansing?

Yes because, after all, it is a vacuum of sorts and must be cleansed after doing all of that deep cleaning of deflecting that negative and sometimes harmful energy.

You can cleanse your black tourmaline by either using sound to sound resets the crystal back to its OG vibrational frequency or backlighting up the sage and letting the black tourmaline take a healing smoke bath.

Should You Get Rough or Tumbled Black Tourmaline?

After you've sat around the crystal campfire for a while you'll find that this comes down to personal belief and choice. The theory goes that a rough (untouched, straight from the Earth) crystal holds its original energy while a crystal that has been polished may have had its energy altered by the tumbling and polishing process.

How the tumbled and polished stone's energy is altered is also bandied about all the time. Some feel that it raises the energy while others feel it would decrease the energy aura which sometimes make a tumbled stone a better option for those who are super sensitive to crystal energies.

Sometimes you do want a polished and shaped crystal because it contains asbestos or mercury, but with black tourmaline you're safe with it being in its all natural state.

When it comes to picking a crystal I've got two rules that I live by.

1. If I'm buying a crystal in person, I go to the crystal that I'm attracted to and then hold it to see if I like its energy.

2. If I'm buying a crystal online I tune in to my intuition and connect through the image online if I am purchasing the EXACT crystal shown in the listing and if I'm getting a random tumbled crystal, I cross my fingers and hope that I get one I fall in love with but know that if I don't I've only spent a few bucks on it.

So Does Black Tourmaline Really Work?

I absolutely believe it does. While I should do a video for you, I have used my trusty copper dowsing rods to see if it reduced the EMF coming from my computer that I work on daily. And while it doesn't block all of the harmful EMF (and nothing would do that with the only way to do that is by not using the computer) it does seem to block a good portion.

I'd encourage you to give it a try and do your own experiments to see what your experience is.

Black tourmaline is one of the crystals that should be a part of your basic crystal kit and preferably one that you've placed all over your home/ office to keep the good vibes flowing at all times.