PETRIFIED WOOD At the very essence of CIRCA Hotels
By: Ririn Yaxley
You may have noticed, at CIRCA we love petrified wood. For over 20 years now, we have been using it in so many aspects of our interior design. From stools to basins and tables. So often we are asked by our guests, what it is and where does it come from. Take the time to read beyond the facts about how Petrified Wood was created and you will come to understand, as we did, how we have been able to utilise Petrified Wood at CIRCA Hotels in our design and décor, and how it contributes to the creation of what some call the “intangible element”, the atmosphere of harmony, style and luxury that fills every space within each of our CIRCA hotels and spas. Allow us to elaborate.
From left to right: Dining table at the lounge at Circa 1936, Dining table at the suite at Circa 1928 Albury and Coffee table at the Suite at Circa 1936. Sue Davis Photography
Petrified Wood comes from the Greek root “petro”, which means “rock or stone”, with the actual literal meaning ‘wood turned into stone’. It’s the name given to the fossilized remains of terrestrial vegetation, usually trees. Petrified Wood is the result of a tree turning into stone through the process of permineralization. All the organic materials of the tree have been replaced with silicate minerals, usually a quartz, while maintaining the wood’s original structure.
Unlike other kinds of fossils that are compressions or impressions, Petrified Wood is a three-dimensional representation of the original organic material. The petrifaction process happens underground, when the tree starts to get covered by sediments, whether that is volcanic ash or the sediment in a river. It is preserved at first due to lack of oxygen and then mineral-rich water that’s flowing through the sediments deposits minerals in the tree’s cells. As the tree’s lignin and cellulose start to decay, a stone mould also begins to form. Wood takes approximately a hundred years to petrify.
Organic material needs to become petrified first before it completely decomposes. Elements such as copper, iron, and manganese in the mud or water during the process of petrifaction give Petrified Wood its various colours. Quartz Crystals are colourless, but when contaminants are included, the Quartz Crystals also take on different colours, such as red, yellow, green, blue, pink, orange, black and brown.
Giant log of petrified wood in Indonesia just being cut for a furniture, picture courtesy of PT. Karya Bersama
The Petrified Wood items that we have here at CIRCA are all from Central Java, where it is “mined” from the swamps and riverbeds. It has been carbon dated at approximately 20 million years old. At the factory where the process of making it into its desired forms takes place, huge logs measuring many metres in length and over a metre in diameter can be seen. Interestingly, Petrified Wood is Alberta, Canada’s provincial stone as well as the state gem of Washington, USA. The countries most noted for having quantities of Petrified Wood include Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, China, Czech Republic, Germany, Ecuador, Egypt, Greece, India, Libya, Namibia, Ukraine, and the UK. Recently, a guest at CIRCA 1936 googled Petrified Wood while sitting at one of the tables in the hotel and one result was the movie Petrified Forest, starring Humphrey Bogart and Bette Davis. The movie was set within the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona. Ironically, that movie was one of the top cinema hits from 1936, the year the Corowa CIRCA was built.
Benefits of Petrified Wood
The earth energies present in Petrified Wood will calm your nerves and ease your fears. It will fill you with feelings of security, stability, and well-being. It is an ideal stone for meditation because it will guide you in knowing what’s important and what’s not. It will encourage you to stop obsessing about the things that you cannot control. It will remind you to accept things as they are, and not sweat the small stuff. When Petrified Wood connects to your root and third eye chakras, you will experience an increased sense of awareness and determination. It will be very beneficial for you to have Petrified Wood when you’re not sure how to cope with a certain difficult situation. The energies of Petrified Wood will give you stability and help you recognize the best solutions for your problems. It will give you the strength and courage to pursue them determinedly. It is very beneficial to those who are impatient in waiting for the fruits of their hard work. It will give you the commitment to wait for your inner transformation to take place.
Petrified Wood and Health
When it comes to physical healing Petrified Wood can improve skin conditions and bring back the shine and lustre to the hair. It is also said to help with arthritis, osteoporosis and Alzheimer’s. It is known to be effective in fortifying the skeletal system and with treating teeth-related issues. It can help with cellular damage brought about by radioactive or chemical pollution.
Petrified Wood and Wealth
Petrified Wood is a stone of transformation. If you pair it with March Birthstone, it will help you become the person that you wish to be and will support you in achieving your dreams and goals, especially when it comes to money and finances. Petrified Wood will encourage you to set the pace and stay in pace as long as it’s required. It will strengthen your backbone, both in a physical and metaphysical sense. It will also promote discipline and self-will. It is very effective in removing the obstacles in your life. It’s a stone that you should have if you want to achieve your goals but are having trouble breaking down your barriers. Petrified Wood is also a stone of business success, especially when you pair it with February Birthstone. It will bring you energies of good fortune and good luck. It will stabilize your environment, your emotions, and your thoughts so that you can make the best decisions. It will also infuse you with vibrations of calmness and wisdom so that you will always stay strong in heart, mind, and body. Petrified Wood will also help you become more productive by moving forward in a good and stable manner. It will encourage you to move at your own pace. Not in a hurry and not too slow, either.
Petrified Wood, Love and Relationships
Petrified Wood will make you feel safe and secure, and it will remove all your survival-based fears. It will remind you that love is about being brave and taking risks. Whenever you feel like you’re holding back because of your fears of getting hurt, the energies of this stone will give you that push in the right direction. It will also infuse your relationship with fun, playful and positive energies. It will fill you with loving and beautiful energies that will make your beauty radiate from within.
This stone will make you feel ageless! Petrified Wood is also effective in stabilizing your emotions, especially when you’re experiencing a difficult time in your relationship. It will make you grounded, and it will prevent you from blowing up. It will prevent you from bringing up the past whenever you get into an argument with your significant other. It will also show you how you can fight fair, even when you’re feeling so many emotions. Petrified Wood will help you find the answers that you seek that will give you peace of mind. It will ease the worries in your heart and mind, and it will reassure you that everything will work out alright! Petrified Wood will make you content in the love of your significant other. Whatever the two of you share, it will give you much happiness and satisfaction.
Petrified Wood will also encourage you to forget about your petty worries and avoid silly and repetitive mistakes. It will remind you that committing mistakes may be one of the best ways to learn about love, but it need not become a habit! Petrified Wood is a stone of general protection. It will wrap you in a warm, gentle and loving embrace that will make you feel secure and reassured. Having this stone in your life will also bolster your commitment to the person you love and give you the longevity to weather the storms!
How to Use Petrified Wood for the Best Results?
If you live in the city, placing a piece of Petrified Wood inside your home is an excellent way to attract the vibrations of nature. Petrified Wood can often be bought or shaped in lots of interesting ways, and even its natural appearance is very evocative and quite inspiring. Because of that, you’ll have no difficulty in finding aesthetically elegant ways of welcoming this presence and energy into your home, and you really needn’t be surprised if it becomes something of a talking point for your guests because of it. If you live in the city, keep Petrified Wood in your home to have the vibration of nature close by. It’s a great way for city dwellers to keep the vibrations of nature near in the concrete jungle. This is why it’s often also called Fossilized Wood in some circles – it’s a piece of the past, frozen in time to connect you to the modern world. You will also hopefully find that it promotes a sense of harmony and patience among your family while they are at home, and this is especially useful if you are worried about frayed familial relationships, or have got children who are going through periods of life in which they are often angry and confused. However, Petrified Wood also has a lot to offer you as an individual too, and you’re just as advised to keep some of this energy for yourself or work with it exclusively as to put it into your home as an ornament. The energy will manifest either through you or around you, depending on your approach, but will offer all of its awards with kindness. When you meditate with Petrified Wood, it will help you go back to that time when your spirit was still nurtured by nature. Carry a piece of Petrified Wood with you when you feel disconnected from your environment. It will also remind you to respect nature and take care of it in your own little way. It will remind you to live simply and in harmony with the spirit of nature and the energies of the earth.
Other Facts About Petrified Wood
In mythological times, Petrified Wood was believed to possess divine power. To this day, it stands as a symbol of man’s genuine connection to the natural world and helps with mental longevity. It was once an ancient, living, breathing tree that has fossilized over thousands of years. Many people like to use Petrified Wood to help connect with the energies of the Earth. You may find that when you meditate with Petrified Wood, or use it in massage, you will be taken back to a time when your spirit was cradled by nature.
CIRCA SPA Petrified Wood
At our day spa, you have the option to choose your type of massage and one of the unique choices is our Petrified Wood hot stone massage. Instead of the usual bassalt stones, we use Petrified Wood stones that iare especially carved for our spa in different sizes. With our Petrified Wood hot stone massage, you will not only experience the benefits usually associated with bassalt hot stone massage but also the healing properties that are attributed to Petrified Wood. The warm stones that sit on your body, will help to put you into a state of relaxation, releasing tension and helping to soothe sore muscles. The healing properties of petrified wood will help you to reconnect with the energy of the earth leaving you with a feeling of physical and mental peace.
Kitabisa Petrified Wood
As you can see from the above article, Petrified Wood is not just a beautiful product, it has numerous natural benefits. Whether it’s a fruit platter, a set of bookends, a bathroom basin or a dining table, take the time to browse the range of stunning pieces in the Kitabisa showroom at CIRCA 1928 in Albury.
Acknowledgement: www.crystalsandjewelery.com
