Often the pink in tourmaline wasn't there when the crystal grew. Pale crystals holding a little manganese can slowly blush pink over long ages as faint natural radiation from the surrounding rock works on them. In a watermelon tourmaline, that blush sits in the heart of the crystal, wrapped in a rind of green.
The watermelon tourmaline meaning is a joyful, balanced heart: tenderness and growth side by side, like the fruit it's named for. And there's a simple reason a single crystal can switch from pink to green partway through growing.
Watermelon tourmaline quick facts
- Chakra: Heart, third eye
- Zodiac: Capricorn, Virgo, Libra
- Element: Earth
- Birthstone: October (tourmaline)
- Color: Pink to red center with a green rim, or pink at one end and green at the other
- Hardness: 7 to 7.5 on the Mohs scale
- Commonly from: Brazil, Afghanistan, Madagascar, Maine and California (United States)
- Pairs with: rose quartz, green aventurine, clear quartz
Pink and green, joy and balance
Slice a watermelon tourmaline crosswise and it looks just like the fruit. Its meaning comes straight from those two colors living together.
Joy. Its bright pink center is linked to lightheartedness and to finding fun again after a heavy stretch.
Balance. Pink and green together stand for a heart that both gives and grows, tenderness with roots under it.
Love. As a heart chakra stone, it's a favorite gift for partners and close friends.
The name tourmaline comes from the Sinhalese word tōramalli, an old name for carnelian, a sign of how easily colorful gems were mixed up in the old trade. Tourmaline's other great fan was China's Empress Dowager Cixi, who bought large amounts of pink tourmaline from California's Himalaya Mine for jewelry and carvings.
Two colors at the heart, and the October link
Watermelon tourmaline belongs to the heart chakra, and its pink and green are the two colors that center is known by. Many guides also place it at the third eye. Capricorn and Virgo, both earth signs, share its element, earth. Libra joins through the birthday: tourmaline is an October birthstone, alongside opal, and most of October falls under Libra.
What each tourmaline color means
| Color | Name | What it's chosen for |
|---|---|---|
| Pink | Rubellite, pink tourmaline | Tenderness, love and kindness |
| Green | Verdelite, green tourmaline | Growth, renewal and openness |
| Black | Schorl, black tourmaline | Protection and grounding |
| Pink and green | Watermelon tourmaline | A joyful heart, tenderness and growth together |
Where watermelon tourmaline fits
- A gift for a partner, a best friend or a sister
- An October birthday present
- A reminder to make room for fun after a heavy season
- A heart chakra stone for meditation
- A cheerful piece for a window, where its colors catch the light
Earrings, a moon and a mixed bracelet
Wear it. Our platinum plated watermelon tourmaline tree of life earrings dangle 2 inches and wrap watermelon tourmaline in the tree of life, long a sign of family roots and new branches. The stretchy tourmaline crystal chip bracelet strings polished tourmaline chips on stretch cord, a little of the family on one wrist.
Give it a window. The 8.25-inch watermelon tourmaline moon décor is made with watermelon tourmaline, trails a rainbow of chips from red jasper to clear quartz, and hangs from a woven loop.
Hold its dark cousin. Black tourmaline, the most common tourmaline of all, also grows as needles inside clear quartz, as in our black tourmaline in quartz palm stone, dark needles caught in clear stone.
A two-color check-in. Hold your watermelon tourmaline and look at the pink, then the green. Ask yourself two questions: what brought me joy this week, and what am I slowly growing? Write one answer to each on the back of a receipt and tuck it under the stone.
Watermelon tourmaline with rose quartz, green aventurine and clear quartz
Rose quartz deepens the pink side, the tenderness, as our rose quartz guide explains. Green aventurine echoes the green rind, adding luck to growth, and the green aventurine guide has the details. Clear quartz is the classic partner for tourmaline, which often grows right through it (clear quartz guide).
For more pink and green stones, see our heart chakra crystals.
Caring for tourmaline
Tourmaline is 7 to 7.5 on the Mohs scale, durable for everyday wear, though watermelon slices and crystals can have natural cracks. Avoid sudden heat and steam or ultrasonic cleaners, which can widen cracks, and store it apart from harder gems. Under warm display lights tourmaline picks up a slight static charge and draws dust, so a soft brush now and then keeps it bright.
Leave it on a windowsill on a full-moon night, then take it in before the morning sun warms it. Quick care facts for every stone we carry are in our crystal care chart. Every crystal in our shop is smudged with sage and charged in the moonlight before it ships.
Watermelon tourmaline FAQ
Is watermelon tourmaline natural?
Yes. Real slices show a natural, slightly uneven boundary between pink and green, and often small cracks. Perfectly even, bright beads at a low price are more likely dyed glass or quartz.
Is watermelon tourmaline rare?
Clean, gem-quality slices with sharp color zones are uncommon and prized. Small pieces and chips are affordable.
Is watermelon tourmaline real tourmaline?
Yes. It's a variety of elbaite, the tourmaline species behind most colorful gem tourmaline.
Is tourmaline a birthstone?
Yes. Tourmaline is one of the two October birthstones, along with opal.
Can watermelon tourmaline get wet?
Yes. Wash it in warm soapy water, but never move it from hot water to cold.
Which wrist do you wear a tourmaline bracelet on?
Many choose the left, close to the heart, for a heart chakra stone.
How one crystal grows two colors
Tourmaline crystals grow slowly in pegmatites, coarse granite rocks where the last, mineral-rich fluids cool. As a crystal grows, the fluid feeding it changes. When it carries more manganese, the tourmaline can grow pink, and often the pink deepens only later, as natural radiation in the rock works on that manganese. When iron or other elements take over, the new layers grow green. A crystal that starts pink and finishes green ends up with a pink core and a green skin, and slicing it across reveals the watermelon.
Tourmaline is also pyroelectric: warm it or cool it and its two ends take on opposite electric charges. Dutch traders who brought it from Ceylon called it the Ceylonese magnet, because a warmed crystal would pull hot ashes toward it and then push them away. Maine's pegmatites are famous for watermelon tourmaline, and the first gem tourmaline found in the United States came from Mount Mica in Paris, Maine.
Each piece we sell is one of a kind, and the one pictured is the one you'll receive.