Petrified Wood
quartz/chalcedony/opal replacing wood tissue
Wood in which every cell wall was templated and then replaced by silica, molecule by molecule, so the structure survives while none of the original material does. Arizona's Chinle Formation produces the rainbow material; Madagascar, Indonesia and Argentina supply most of the commercial stock. People carry it for grounding, calm and grief.
Seen · you don't have this one yet
Mineral facts
Hardness
6.5-7 Mohs
Formula
SiO2 (with Fe, Mn, Cr trace colourants)
Family
organic
Where it comes from
USA (Arizona, Chinle Formation; Washington; Oregon), Madagascar, Indonesia (Java), Argentina, Namibia
What it is
Wood in which every cell wall was templated and then replaced by silica, molecule by molecule, so the structure survives while none of the original material does. Arizona's Chinle Formation produces the rainbow material; Madagascar, Indonesia and Argentina supply most of the commercial stock. A near-perfect object lesson in gradual total change.
What it is confused with
actual-wood, picture-jasper, septarian, banded-jasper, resin-fakes
The wood's own anatomy preserved in stone: concentric growth rings visible in cross-section, and long parallel grain lines running lengthwise along the piece, sometimes with knots, bark texture and individual cell structure visible under 10x. Colours follow the grain rather than cutting across it. Fully silicified material has a glassy conchoidal fracture and takes a high polish. The combination of hard glassy stone with unmistakable woodgrain is conclusive.
How to tell
It should be hard (scratches glass), cold and heavy, real wood is none of these. Growth rings and cellular structure should be visible under magnification and should continue three-dimensionally into any chipped edge, not just sit on the surface.
Occasionally dyed or resin-stabilised where the material is punky. Note that collecting from Petrified Forest National Park is a federal offence in the USA; legitimate material comes from private land and other localities.
What it means for you
The Moon is at 1° Scorpio today. Petrified Wood is a organic, 6.5-7 on the Mohs scale, and it is the stone traditionally carried when the problem is proximity rather than intensity.
You know what this one would do for you. You just don't have it.
Petrified Wood for every sign
Aries
The growth rings are the tree's actual years.
Every cell wall was templated and then replaced by silica, molecule by molecule, so the structure survived while none of the original material did. The growth rings are the tree's actual years. Nothing about that process could have been hurried and none of it needed supervising.
Taurus
It is total change that happened without anything moving.
Every cell wall was templated and then replaced by silica, molecule by molecule, so the structure survived and none of the original material did. Arizona's Chinle Formation produces the rainbow material. It is total change that happened without anything moving.
Gemini
The structure survived and none of the material did.
Collecting it inside Petrified Forest National Park is a federal offence. Every cell wall was templated and then replaced by silica, so the structure survived and none of the original material did. Growth rings and grain should keep going into any chipped edge, not just sit on the surface.
Cancer
The shape of a tree with none of the tree left.
Silica replaced every cell wall one at a time, so what you have is the shape of a tree with none of the tree in it. Growth rings still read in cross-section and the grain still runs the length of the piece. Total replacement, and the record survived it.
Leo
The shape survived. Not one atom of the wood did.
Every cell wall was templated and then replaced by silica, so the structure survives while none of the original wood does. Growth rings, knots and bark texture still read in cross-section. Arizona's Chinle Formation makes the rainbow material, and collecting inside the National Park is a federal offence.
Virgo
The structure survives while none of the original material does.
Every cell wall was templated and then replaced by silica, so the structure survives while none of the original material does. Growth rings should carry three-dimensionally into any chipped edge instead of sitting on the surface. Collecting it inside Petrified Forest National Park is a federal offence.
Libra
Total replacement that changed nothing anyone could see.
Every cell wall was templated and then replaced by silica, molecule by molecule, so the growth rings and the grain survive while none of the original wood does. Colours follow the grain rather than cutting across it. Total replacement that changed nothing anyone could see.
Scorpio
Nothing original is left. The structure survived anyway.
Every cell wall was templated and then replaced by silica, so the structure survived while none of the original material did. Growth rings, knots and bark texture continue three-dimensionally into any chipped edge. Total substitution that changed nothing anyone can see.
Sagittarius
The structure survives while none of the original material does.
Every cell wall was templated and then replaced by silica, so the structure survives while none of the original material does. Arizona's Chinle Formation makes the rainbow material, and Madagascar and Indonesia supply most commercial stock. Collecting inside the national park is a federal offence.
Capricorn
The structure survives. None of the original material does.
Every cell wall was templated and then replaced by silica, so the structure survives while none of the original material does. Growth rings, knots and bark texture all stay readable under a loupe. It is a complete object lesson in gradual total replacement, and it took several million years.
Aquarius
The same object, and none of the same atoms.
Every cell wall was templated and then replaced by silica, so the structure survives while none of the original material does. Growth rings and bark texture are still readable under a loupe. The same object, and none of the same atoms.
Pisces
What survives is the shape of something no longer there.
Every cell wall was templated in silica and then the original material left, molecule by molecule, so what survives is the shape of something no longer there. Growth rings and bark texture are readable under a loupe. Arizona's Chinle Formation produces the rainbow material.
Correspondences
What tradition attaches to this stone. Folklore, not chemistry.
Element
earth
Planet
Saturn
Chakra
root
Signs
taurus, virgo, capricorn
What tradition says
In crystal lore, petrified wood is associated with ancestry, patience and long-term stability, and is sometimes called a stone of past lives; the attributions follow from its literal age and mode of formation.
Care
- Water is fine. Dry it afterwards.
- Hard and stable where fully silicified. Partially opalised material can be porous and should not be soaked. Warm water and a soft brush.
Common questions
What does petrified wood mean?
Petrified Wood is carried for grounding, calm and grief. Wood in which every cell wall was templated and then replaced by silica, molecule by molecule, so the structure survives while none of the original material does.. Tradition links it to the root chakra.
Is petrified wood real or fake?
Petrified Wood is not faked often, but it is still worth checking. It should be hard (scratches glass), cold and heavy, real wood is none of these. Growth rings and cellular structure should be visible under magnification and should continue three-dimensionally into any chipped edge, not just sit on the surface.. Occasionally dyed or resin-stabilised where the material is punky.
Can petrified wood go in water?
A short rinse is fine for petrified wood, then dry it.
Common · brown, tan, red, yellow, grey, black, rainbow banded
Where this leads
This stone belongs to
Related crystals
FOR ENTERTAINMENT AND REFLECTION. NOT MEDICAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL, FINANCIAL OR LEGAL ADVICE. How this works