A Little Voodoo with Black Tourmaline

I live my life by the Jewish proverb, “What you don’t see with your eyes don’t invent with your mouth.”  That being said, I tend to be incredibly skeptical.

Don’t think the irony escapes me. I recognize that most of what I do is in the metaphysical world comes from unseen forces… but, I have high standards and want demonstrable proof before I’ll just believe. Such was the case with black tourmaline.

Black tourmaline, for those of you who aren’t familiar, is touted to have the “power” to repel any and all negativity. Don’t get me wrong, I believe that all gemstones have some innate vibration that can assist people, but there has always been a part of me that is skeptical as to whether it is the stone in and of itself or the intent the individual places on the stone. My experience with black tourmaline, at least in its case, is it’s the stone.

Now on to the story…

At one of my previous “day jobs,” I was having a difficult time with my boss. While she is an incredibly ambitious person for whom I have a great deal of respect, however she is also controlling and a bear to work for. After months of struggling to smile and nod through the negativity and wade through the palpable heaviness that permeated the office, I decided I needed to do something. ANYTHING. So I did…

I went home and shifted through my collection of rocks, searching for my chunks of black tourmaline. The piece I selected was about the size of a small plum which I stuck in the back of my office desk. To my amazement, my boss – who is the, “I’m going to lean over your shoulder while you work and criticize what you do” type – stopped coming into my office! Rather, upon approaching my office she would stop abruptly at the doorway and bark orders from there… but would no longer cross the threshold. I was relieved but didn’t want to get my hopes up as maybe I was trying to see something that wasn’t there.

The new behavior from my boss continued for about a week, at which point several co-workers took notice and asked “Dawn, what type of spell did you cast??” They too had noticed that our boss no longer entered my office and seemed to steer clear of me. As I informed them of my small stone, they laughed. Part of them probably thinking, “Kooky Dawn…”

All that mattered to me was the black tourmaline seemed to be doing its job. Tensions in the office had paled some for which I was grateful. Maybe the job wasn’t that bad. And, maybe, just maybe, it really would be all that I had hoped for.

For those of you familiar with stones, you know that it is helpful to charge them. This can be done by placing them in the moon and/or sunlight, placing the on another crystal or placing them close to Mother Earth. As the full moon approached, I decided I should charge the black tourmaline so on a Friday before the next full moon I grabbed it, took it home and placed it on my porch.

Monday morning came. Rushing to get to work, I forgot the chunk of tourmaline. Monday turned into Tuesday, Wednesday and then Thursday and Friday.

That week was a challenge… the negativity was back (and from my perspective worse than ever). On Friday, several of my co-workers commented that my stone didn’t seem to be working anymore. When I told them I had left it at home, they laughed even harder.

You better believe that the next Monday the stone was back in my desk. And sure enough, it did its job and minimized the negativity. But over that next couple of weeks, I came to a realization. If I had to depend upon a stone to protect me from negativity, the environment was unhealthy and not one I wanted to remain in. As a result, I handed in my resignation (you better believe I had a piece of black tourmaline on me that day!)

What happened to the black tourmaline I kept in my desk? I left it to my co-workers. Not only had I become a believer in its “power,” but so had they! The icing on the cake for them came a few days before my last day. Everyone in the office went out to celebrate our Administrative and Executive Assistant. At that point, I’d cleared out most of my belongings out of my office but had opted to keep the black tourmaline around… just in case. It had worked so well so far, why abandon it at the end? But, I didn’t want to forget it so I carried it around in my purse. At the restaurant, two open seats (one at either end of the table) remained open when my boss flew in. She went towards the open one closest to me and her Executive Assistant but as she was pulling out the chair to sit she abruptly stopped and moved to the seat at the other end of the table. The Executive Assistant gave me a knowing glance, snickered and stated “You have that stone on you don’t you??” I just smiled back.

Since I’ve left, I haven’t heard whether the stone is still having its desired effect in the office. But the experiences I had were proof enough for me. I’ve become a believer!

---