The 2 Colorful October Birthstones: Opal and Tourmaline

What Are the October Birthstones?

October is ruled by Libra, the sign of balance and harmony. Fittingly, October has not just one, but two dazzling birthstones — opal and tourmaline. Opals are prized for their kaleidoscope of color, while tourmalines are celebrated for their stunning variety and symbolic meaning. Both stones are rich in color, history, and symbolism, and are believed to bring beauty, balance, and good fortune to their wearers. This makes the them meaningful choices for jewelry lovers and October birthdays alike.

In this guide, we’ll explore the fascinating history, symbolism, and fashion trends behind these two October birthstones, and why they remain so beloved today.

Opal

Opals are among the most captivating gemstones, known for their brilliant play of color that shifts and dances with the light. Only about 5% of opals are considered “precious opals,” prized for this dazzling iridescence, which creates tiny flashes of jewel-like colors from every angle. It’s easy to see why people can spend hours admiring an opal’s kaleidoscopic beauty.

According to Geoscience Australia, opals are formed from microscopic silica spheres arranged in a precise pattern, with water filling the gaps between them. This unique structure bends and reflects light, producing the shimmering effect known as “opalescence.” Depending on the size of the spheres, opals can display different ranges of color. The name itself may come from the Greek opallos, meaning “to see a change in color,” or from the Sanskrit word for “precious stone” — a reminder that ancient civilizations were just as fascinated by opals as we are today.

The October birthstone, opal, occurs in a wide range of varieties. The rare and valuable black opal is considered the most precious, while other types include gray, green, white, and even colorless stones. Each variation offers its own distinctive beauty, making opals one of the most diverse and mesmerizing birthstones.

The Geography of Opals

Australia produces about 95% of the world’s opal supply, with most mining concentrated in South Australia. The town of Coober Pedy is legendary for its breathtaking opals and unique underground homes, built to shield residents from the extreme desert heat. After WWII, the promise of striking it rich drew miners from across Australia and Europe. Today, Lightning Ridge is especially famous for producing the rare and highly prized black opal. While early miners worked with little more than picks and hand tools, modern opal mining has evolved into a more advanced—though still challenging—industry.

Outside of Australia, smaller deposits of the opal birthstone are found in Mexico, Brazil, Ethiopia, and even Nevada in the United States. Opals often form in thin veins within rock, but extraordinary discoveries have included fossilized opals in the shapes of dinosaur bones, prehistoric plants and even bivalves. These rare finds highlight the remarkable beauty and natural history captured within the October birthstone opal.

Opal Varieties

Opals come in many varieties, with names as colorful as their iridescent contents. Some of these include:

• Jelly Opal- a transparent precious opal with a gelatinous appearance and a bluish sheen.
• Black Opal- Black Opal is known for it’s dark body tone and vibrant play of color, with varieties exhibiting both reds and blues simultaneously fetching the highest prices.
• Mexican Fire Opal- a Mexican opal with dominant red and orange flamelike textures.
• Lemon Opal- an opal with a dominant pale yellow color.

Other evocatively named varieties include Milk Opal, Moss Opal, and Pinfire Opal, so-called for its brilliant, bright points of light.

Opals and Value

The world’s most valuable black opal, the Aurora Australis, was found in 1938 in Lightning Ridge and was named for the bright southern stars in the night sky, whose sparkles it evokes. It was valued at AUD 1,000,000 in 2005.

Opals and Symbolism

To the Ancient Romans, the opal symbolized love and hope, and the Roman scholar Pliny marveled at the kaleidoscopic richness of opals, which could “simulate the flaming fire of burning sulphur and even the bright blaze of burning oil.” With its ability to seemingly contain lightning inside, it has hints of good luck, royalty, and magic.

Opals in Fashion

An 1829 novel by Sir Walter Scott called “Anne of Geierstein” popularized a superstition about wearing opals as a sign of bad luck. But this superstition, with its roots in actual fiction, has been forgotten. Nowadays opals are beloved by fashion designers for their versatility, their striking appearance, and the allure of their individuality, as no two opals are alike.

High-end designers have included opals in their recent collections. Victoire de Castellane, creative director of Dior Jouaillerie, describes the opal as a “very poetic stone”…

“it’s like an invitation to enter a fairy tale, to experience magic. When I look at an opal, I feel like I’m seeing the earth from afar, the ocean, the archipelagos, and the reflections of stars on ocean waves… I see it as nature’s gemstone par excellence, a stone that’s so intertwined with femininity, its connection becomes organic.”

Lucky news for those born in October, then, who get to have the opal as their birthstone. Opals can be seen these days in beautiful earrings, necklaces, and ring settings alike. Style icon Taylor Swift wore opal earrings to the 2020 Golden Globe awards, proving that opal jewelry is making a comeback.

As well as being October’s birthstone, they are an increasingly popular choice for engagement rings.

Tourmaline

Tourmaline colors & Crystal structure

The second October birthstone is tourmaline, often called the “rainbow gemstone” because it appears in nearly every color. Tourmaline is a complex group of boron silicate minerals, and its crystal structure gives it a fascinating quality known as pleochroism — meaning it displays different colors when viewed from different angles or lighting conditions.

Common varieties of tourmaline include green, blue, pink, and yellow stones. The gem’s diverse colors are caused by trace minerals: iron and titanium typically produce green and blue tones, while manganese creates shades of red, pink, and sometimes yellow.

What makes tourmaline especially distinctive is its triangular, prismatic crystal structure. This unique formation can create gems with multiple colors within a single stone. Some cut tourmalines resemble layers of Neapolitan ice cream, showcasing several hues in one dazzling piece. A well-known variety, watermelon tourmaline, features striking bands of pink and green that make it a favorite among collectors and jewelry lovers.

Where Tourmaline is Found

Tourmaline was first recorded in 1554 by Francisco Spinoza as “Brazilian emerald“. The tourmaline birthstone occurs in significant deposits across Brazil, the United States (notably California and Maine), Madagascar, and Ethiopia. Its name comes from a Singhalese word, touramalli, meaning “mixed colored stones,” a fitting description for such a vividly diverse gem.

Beyond its beauty, the October birthstone tourmaline also has fascinating physical properties. When heated, tourmaline crystals develop a positive charge at one end and a negative charge at the other, allowing them to attract lightweight substances. This phenomenon, known as plezoelectricity, has even been used in scientific instruments such as pressure gauges — proving that tourmaline is as functional as it is beautiful.

Mystical Associations of Tourmaline

In feng shui, tourmaline is believed to balance yin and yang energies, bringing masculine and feminine forces into harmony. It’s also thought to create a protective barrier against negative energy, helping the wearer feel grounded and secure.

Across spiritual traditions, tourmaline is closely linked to the chakras — the body’s energy centers described in Sanskrit teachings. Each color of tourmaline is associated with a different chakra:

• Pink tourmaline – encourages joy and love
• Green tourmaline – connected to the heart chakra
• Blue tourmaline – tied to the third eye and throat chakras, inspiring insight and self-expression
• Watermelon tourmaline – with layers of pink and green, associated with the heart chakra, passion and love.

Many believe wearing tourmaline can help restore balance and vitality by “recharging” these energy centers.

Tourmaline in Fashion and History

Tourmaline’s allure extends far beyond its mystical associations. The Chinese Dowager Empress Tz’u Hsi was famously devoted to pink and red tourmalines from San Diego County, California. Her passion for the stone fueled massive exports to China in the early 1900s, where artisans transformed the gems into jewelry, snuff boxes, and courtly treasures. Between 1902 and 1910, more than 120 tons of pink tourmaline were shipped from California to China. When the Qing Dynasty collapsed in 1912, so too did the U.S. tourmaline trade , but the surviving artifacts remain striking examples of tourmaline’s beauty and versatility.

Native American cultures also revered tourmaline, particularly pink and green varieties, often using them as funeral gifts. to honor the deceased.

Today, tourmaline is admired worldwide for its vast color palette and unique optical effects. Jewelers favor it for pendants, rings, and necklaces, where it often shines alone or paired with diamonds for dramatic contrast. Tourmaline’s multicolored crystals also inspire creative cutting patterns such as concave faceting, which can produce dazzling, flower-like reflections.

Different regions are known for distinctive colors: Brazil produces vibrant blues, California yields pink and green bicolors, Maine is famous for pink tourmalines, and African deposits often contain copper-rich greens. Each origin brings its own character and charm to the gemstone.

Express Your Style with October’s Birthstones

Whether you’re drawn to opal’s kaleidoscopic play of color or tourmaline’s rainbow spectrum, October’s birthstones embody beauty, history, and meaning. These gems aren’t just jewelry — they’re personal statements, rich with symbolism and style.

Explore Brinker’s Jewelers’ curated collection of opal and tourmaline jewelry, and find the perfect piece to celebrate an October birthday or simply your own connection to these timeless stones.