All tourmalines are striated crystals. They are found in many colours and have very different properties and uses according to their colour. The very best quality coloured tourmalines are hard to find in the healing crystal market (at least at good prices!) as most of the top material is snapped up by the jewellery trade for cutting as gemstones. Tourmalines can also be multi-coloured - bi-coloured ones having 2 colours present within / adjacent to each other. Blue, paraiba (neon blue) and indicolite tourmalines are good with the throat and 3rd eye centres and with all aspects of communication. Tourmaline is often found is association with quartz and is a common inclusion: when the inclusions are blue (indicolite) it creates a mineral known as blue quartz (anything else called blue quartz is something much different - usually an agate or aventurine!) In this formation the quartz powerfully amplifies the tourmaline and this makes a very unusual and effective communication crystal.