Petrified wood healing properties include the characteristics of grounding and stabilizing. The stone also relates directly to the Hun, the spirit of the Liver, and provides numerous benefits for improving memory and connecting to the past.
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Falling in Love with Petrified Wood
I remember my first summer at overnight camp when I was eight-years-old. While hiking one day, our group came across an area strewn with the most fascinating “rock” I had ever seen. The milky whites, the caramel browns, and butterscotch swatches thrilled me. The textural layers added another dimension that appealed to my sense of touch.
Besides these physical features, the petrified wood felt magical. I pocketed a few special pieces to examine in depth at my leisure.
Furthermore, when I learned that petrified wood used to be a tree, I thought I had just heard one of the greatest secrets in the world. How could that happen? How long ago must the tree have lived to turn to stone?
While I couldn't imagine petrified wood healing properties at that stage in my life, something resonated deep inside me. I just couldn’t label or describe it as a young child.
The next generation connecting to petrified wood
Many years later, when I served as director of the same camp, my daughter also fell in love with petrified wood.
In the intervening years, a full petrified log had been unearthed at the camp. As much as she loved the small pieces she gathered from around the camp, she wanted to visit the petrified log as often as possible. Something magical about the petrified wood tapped into her spirit as well.
When we visited Petrified Wood National Park years later, both of us could get enough of the visual and tactile textures of the larger remnants of these ancient trees. I can’t help but wonder if the fact that petrified wood started life as a tree (or cactus or coral) contributes to its grounding effect.
The Magic of Petrified Wood Healing Properties
As you’ve read in my other healing crystals articles, stones have remarkable power to heal the mind, body, and spirit. Ancient health practitioners in China catalogued and refined stone healing protocols, which enables you to learn about them today.
Functions and Uses
Because of the stone’s ability to stand up to time, it has a grounding and stabilizing effect.
Petrified wood is also indicated for:
- Poor memory, either short-term or long-term, Alzheimer’s, forgetfulness
- The tendency to daydream, suffer from distraction, and sleeping with your eyes open
- Reducing indecisiveness
Additionally, and interestingly, petrified wood facilitates past life recall and astral projection.
Physical Benefits
Physically, petrified wood for healing regulates liver qi and cools liver blood. Symptoms of an imbalance in these areas treated by the stone include red eyes, hypertension, and headaches.
Another physical benefit is resolving liver invading the spleen (a very common Chinese medicine diagnosis). Symptoms include:
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Abdominal distension
- Colicky babies
Which healing crystal is right for you?
Methods of Topical Application
Petrified wood needs direct skin contact to work effectively.
For colicky babies, massage or place the stone on the midline of the abdomen where the ribs meet the base of the sternum, or CV-12.
The stone absorbs excess internal heat contributing to the baby being colicky. The baby won’t necessarily have a fever. Internal heat is a condition in Chinese medicine.
Also, to treat a headache, you can place petrified wood on the navel and heat it with a far-infrared lamp, to pull energy downward.
Internal applications exist, but you need to work with a trained professional to ensure proper dosage for your body.
Intentional Application of Petrified Wood for Healing
Hold and meditate with a sphere of petrified wood just before you go to sleep. Open your mind to see what emerges.
Using Petrified Wood
Cautions and Contraindications
There are no known cautions or contraindications for petrified wood for healing.
Cleansing and Charging Petrified Wood
Cleanse in running water (especially the opalized variety to support the natural water content).
Charge with a quartz crystal or bury in the earth for one or more days.
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Petrified Wood Healing Properties References
Franks, L.J. (2016). Stone Medicine: A Chinese Medical Guide to Healing with Gems and Minderal
Images from a Manual of Acupuncture
