Black Tourmaline Tower

A polished black tourmaline tower, matte-dark with fine lengthwise striations still showing under the shine, dense and cool in the hand. The guard stone, Dadi called it — for holding the day's noise and other people's moods at the threshold — and stood upright as a tower it marks a steady point for a room to settle around. Many keep one near the front door, the desk, or the phone, point upward. Keep it away from water: the iron in it can rust and the surface flake, so dust it dry and rest it on selenite or in the moonlight a little more often than your other stones, since its whole work is soaking things up. Natural tourmaline, each tower a little different in its grain.