As you may recall, I blogged about a crystal workshop that some of the Kitchen Witch posse went to a little while back. Just in case you didn’t see it, you can find it here
Three new crystals came home with me and I promised that I would find out all I could about them and blog my findings.
The first one is Petrified Wood. It is quite fascinating that this shiny dark stone was once part of a tree!
Holding it in my hand, I get quite a grounding energy from it. It conjures up ancient boggy forests to me, the smell of decaying wood, moss and dark cool soft earth... I like it!
Petrified Wood is in fact, a fossil, which we know occurs when the material is buried by sediment and protected from the elements - and therefore decay and other organisms and this matter – in this case, wood – slowly becomes saturated in water that is within the sediment which then replaces the wood material with either silica or quartz, calcite or pyrite, using the plants cells as a template for mineralization. Volcanic explosions are also responsible for some of the many specimens of petrified wood – the trees are covered in volcanic ash and fossilization occurs in the same way as the sediment.
The silica/quartz or calcite takes on various colours during this process – depending on the minerals in the surrounding soil or sediment. This is what gives petrified wood its various colours of reds, browns, yellows, oranges and blacks. Some also have green or blue inclusions too! The process isn't quick either! It can take from 5000 to 10000 years, although most cases in nature took place during the Triassic or Jurassic periods 50 – 260 million years ago – Wow!
Petrified Wood has many healing and magical properties. It is, of course, a stone of transformation, a stone of patience. It is beneficial in working with the skeletal structure for ailments like arthritis and osteoporosis as well as for the skin and hair.
The stone can be work with in past life healing and for connecting to the Akashic Records. It’s a wonderful stone for connecting to the element of Earth. Good for grounding, dispelling fear, panic and anxiety. To accept things as they are and not to sweat the small stuff! A stone for stability.
Carry with you when you feel disconnected from your environment. If you work with computers a lot or if you do a lot of travelling, carrying some will help you from feeling ungrounded.
Petrified Wood will also remind you to respect nature and to live in harmony with it which is definitely a good thing!
Element – Earth and Spirit
Chakra – Root, Solar Plexis, Heart and Third Eye
Planet – Earth and Saturn
Resources: Geology.com
Fossildesign.it
