Tourmaline

Tourmaline is renowned as the gem of sensitive poets and creative artists. (Shakespeare even had a small collection of tourmaline jewelry to help him overcome writer's block.) Tourmaline is believed to inspire creativity and was used extensively as a talisman by artists and writers from the Renaissance through the Victorian Age. When heated or rubbed, tourmaline acquires an electric charge and attracts small objects like dust, ashes and other lightweight objects, much like amber. This phenomenon is called piezoelectricity (pay-zoh-electricity), and it is considered a unique property.