Stone Archive

Mahogany Obsidian

Provenance

Mexico

Concept

Kiln-Fired Brick

TRACE & NARRATIVE

Obsidian with patches and streaks of iron oxide running through it. Reddish-brown against black produces a tone resembling mahogany timber. Not wood, but stone—carrying the visual warmth of a living material.

Formed by rapid cooling of lava, like all obsidian, with iron partially oxidising during the process. The distribution is never uniform, so no two pieces share the same pattern.

Found in Mexico, Japan, and the American Southwest. A stone that suggests something organic—unusual among minerals. Touch it, and it is colder than it looks. The warmth is only for the eyes.

PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES

MOHS SCALE

MOHS 5.5 ｜ GLASSY STRUCTURE

LATTICE STRUCTURE

AMORPHOUS STATE | FLUID SOLID

VISUAL METRICS

Black stained with red-brown. Less rigid than pure obsidian — it lets a controlled warmth into the palette without conceding the dark base.

MAINTENANCE

Volcanic glass — chips more easily than it looks.
Avoid impact and drops onto hard surfaces.

SYMBOLIC INDEX

ORIENTAL PHASE

FIRE PHASE, EARTH PHASE

CLASSICAL ELEMENT

IGNIS (Fire), TERRA (Earth)

PHYSIOLOGICAL FOCUS

Root | Muladhara

ASTROLOGICAL PERIOD

Scorpio

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROJECTION

Liberation — Depth — Inquiry

Peels back old self-imposed limits. Gentler than standard obsidian, but the reach is deeper. Long-held assumptions begin to feel less certain — quietly, without fanfare. A slow, careful questioning.

SELECTOR'S NOTE

An assumption held long enough stops looking like an assumption. It becomes scenery — part of the view, unquestioned. I chose this stone for the person still willing to place a quiet question mark in that landscape. It doesn't strip anything away. It simply makes noticing possible. Gentle mechanism, deep reach.