Good wood grounds the Mercurial nature of human beings. There is something about being surrounded by beautiful wooden furniture that soothes and calms the excitable two-legged former monkey. Wood does not contain any free electrons and is an insulator, rather than a conductor of an electric charge. For further information on the effects of high velocity electrons on wood, I recommend EJ Lawton’s article in Science, Vol. 113, Issue 2936. The chemical composition of wood is made up of cells. These cells are made up of three types: cellulose 50%, lignin, and hemicellulose.
Wooden Furniture: The Grounding Spiritual Calm of Wood’s Electrons
As many of you would know, wood acts just like a sponge when it comes into contact with water. It absorbs water and swells up with it. It releases this water when the temperature heats up and the air dries. The reason that wood absorbs water, is because trees are designed to carry water from their roots through to their limbs. Some woods can absorb several times their own weight in water. Wood is a water carrier; and this understanding can be applied to its elemental qualities, when appreciating the nature of wood.
The Chinese worked with wood a great deal; and they honour wood by recognising it as a distinct element in their traditional philosophy. Chinese craftsmen created exceptionally beautiful wooden furniture and used wood in their sacred buildings as a decorative material. There is great appreciation of wood as a conductor of spiritual energy in their religious and cultural traditions. In Chinese astrology, I am a Wooden Dragon and our Dragon qualities are distinct from Dragons born in the metal, water, earth or fire years. Wood carries water remember, so wood Dragons are filled with feeling.
When you touch a beautiful piece of wooden furniture, which has been lovingly made by a master craftsman, you can feel something. Wooden furniture: the grounding spiritual calm of wood’s electrons. Your beautiful timber bed may emanate a timeless spell. Wooden furniture can help set up a peaceful scene for a business meeting. Timber is seasoned before it becomes suitable as a material for furniture making. It is dried in the open air or in kilns. Wood is cut with special attention to its grain, especially for furniture making. There is plainsawn and quartersawn wood, each which gives different grain effects. Woods are then treated, if they are not left raw, Creosote may be applied, and wooden furniture is often varnished, and, perhaps, stained prior to this, to achieve different colours and tones.