At some point, each magickal practitioner may wish to make his or her own wand. A wand is not necessary by any means for magickal practice but can be extremely beneficial. Energy can be sent out through the fingers or projected mentally with proper visualization and intent, but a wand may help to focus and project that intent as well as add its own natural properties. A wand can be used for casting circles, directing energy such as invoking and banishing pentagrams, waving over the body to invite healing and blessings, placing near an area to ward off negativity or provide protection, placing near the bed to invoke dreams, to attract specific energies into an area, or even placed upon the altar to represent a direction or element based on intent and purpose.
For example:
North/Earth: A wand can represent earth because the wood comes from a tree that is rooted deep in the soil.
East/Air: A wooden wand can represent air because the leaves and branches of a tree move in the wind and the tree’s aroma and pollens travel through the air.
South/Fire: A wand can represent fire because of its transformative properties as well as the fact that wood burns in a fire and transforms into glowing coals and later to ash.
West/Water: A wand can represent water because a tree absorbs and purifies the water in the soil nearby.
To begin the creation of a magickal wand, one must first choose a specimen. A good rule to go by is to find a piece that is about the length of your elbow to your fingertips. This is only for better control and focus but by no means necessary to conduct energy. It can be shorter or longer. Use what feels right to you. It is beneficial to go out into nature and find a specimen from a tree that has the specific magickal properties you are seeking, but if unable to do so, using a dowel rod purchased from a department store or a sawed-off wooden broom handle will suffice. If you find a branch that is much longer than the standard, and you like it as is, by all means use it. Besides, with a bit of work, it can easily be cut to your personal desired length or used as is. If you choose to shorten the wood, be careful to avoid harming yourself in the process. Personally, I have found it much easier to work with a branch that is fairly straight, but this is not necessary. Some practitioners, in fact, prefer a crooked or curved specimen. A straight piece of wood, at least for me, makes it easier to visualize the energy flow. Whatever you choose, just make sure the specimen is thick or hard enough that it will not break or snap under light pressure.
If possible, it is good to find a specimen that has recently fallen to the ground or one that has already died but is still attached to the tree. In this case, check to make sure it is not rotten or infested with termites. I have made many wands from specimens that have fallen, but sometimes it is necessary to cut off a living branch just to ensure that it is not rotten or feeble. If you choose to do this, the tree needs to be asked permission first while stating your intention, and then the branch must be allowed to completely dry before working with it, and the drying process could take up to six months.
Regarding what type of wood to use, please note that some practitioners have made very powerful wands from pieces of wood that simply called to them without knowing what type of wood it is. This is certainly fine to do for general practice because all trees are sacred, and all wood will help to focus energy, but to create an even more powerful wand, I suggest choosing which type of wood you would like your wand to made from first, because most trees correspond to various magickal properties. If you decide to choose a specific tree, the next obvious step is to go out and find the tree. Below are just a few examples of some of the most common woods used to make a wand or even a staff. Please refer to the last chapter of this book for the correspondences of many additional trees.
Alder: shielding, protection, overcoming obstacles, and courage
Apple: awakening otherworld senses, fertility, knowledge, youth, beauty, health, love, spiritual work, and manifesting goals
Ash: strength, energy, facing difficulties, wisdom, endurance and survival
Birch: new beginnings, youth, spiritual evolution, and devotion
Hazel: magick, witchcraft, healing, change, letting go, honesty, and purity
Oak: leadership, laughter and joy, mysteries, magick, wisdom, strength, might, power, victory, and mastering your own life
Pine/Fir/Spruce: longevity, protection, clearing unwanted energies, banishing harmful energies or malevolent spirits, connecting to all worlds and understanding the mysteries as revealed through nature and observation
Rowan (European mountain ash): magick, power, and protection from evil, psychic attack, and all harmful energies
Sycamore: invoking the divine, new beginnings, intuition, love, and healing
Willow: journey to other worlds, spirit communication, astral projection, healing, intuition, psychic abilities, easing pain, vision, confidence, love, magick in general, and balancing emotion
Below are some helpful tips to follow once you have chosen the right type of wood for you, and by the way, nobody says you can have only one wand. Why not have many? I do.
1. Safely cut the wood to the length that you desire.
2. Carefully shave off the outer bark of the branch, and then consider using sand paper to create a smooth surface.
3. If you would like any additional decorations, carefully carve, paint, or wood burn any art or magickal symbols onto the wood.
4. Many practitioners choose to attach a pointed crystal of some sort to the top of the wand to further amplify the energy being sent out and also to incorporate the magickal properties of the stone, but this is not necessary. Honestly, although I do have several wands and staffs that I work with, I have had great success with a small twig I just picked up in the yard without knowing what tree it came from and without modifying it in the slightest way.
5. I recommend using polyurethane to coat the wood once finished solely for hardening the wood and protecting it from external damage while leaving an inch at the bottom and at the top in its natural state. This will also add a brilliant luster. I suggest adding three coats, one at a time, and allowing 24 hours between each coat to dry. This of course is by no means necessary and some prefer to keep the wood in its natural state.
6. Now you may attach any feathers, amulets, charms, or other symbolic adornments to your wand if desired.
7. Once you feel your wand is complete, it is time to bless and empower it.
Blessing, Consecrating, and Empowering a Wand
There are numerous ways to bless and empower your wand. If you are new to the practice of magick or simply do not consider yourself as a Wiccan or a witch, consider using one of the following simple ways to cleanse and charge your wand:
1. Bury your wand in a shallow patch of soil for twenty-four hours. This will allow the earth to absorb any possible prior energies or influences. The wood will still retain its natural inherent magickal properties.
2. Set your wand in a pile of salt for twenty-four hours.
3. Allow the wand to bask beneath the sunlight in the day and under the moonlight at night.
4. Hold the wand in your hand and visualize a white light descending over the wand and see all impurities flow out and into the earth.
5. Simply call upon whatever name you give to the higher power and ask for cleansing and blessings.
6. Once you have done one of the above techniques, hold the wand in your hand and concentrate on the purpose of the wand. Keep your focus and hold your intent until you feel that the wand is ready.
The above options are simple, and anyone can use them. However, I prefer a different technique that is based in Wiccan practice. Even still, there are many other possibilities, but the following is my personal favorite. This can also be used for any object such as a stone, a piece of jewelry, a staff, athame, etc.
1. Set up a magickal altar or workspace.
2. Upon the altar should be a representation of earth such as a pentacle or a bowl of salt or dirt, a representation of air such as burning incense or a feather, a representation of fire such as a lit candle, a goblet or chalice filled with water, and a representation of the God and Goddess.
3. Start in the east and cast a circle clockwise with one or two fingers pointing to the ground while visualizing a white light projecting to the surface. The direction of east represents creation and the natural flow of new energy upon the earth because it symbolizes the rising sun in the morning and new beginnings. This is opposite in the southern hemisphere.
4. Pass your wand through the smoke of the incense or touch it to whatever you have chosen to represent air and say something similar to this: “By the power of air, I consecrate and empower this wand (or name of tool) and ask for your blessings.”
5. Quickly pass the wand through the candle flame and say, “By the power of fire, I consecrate and empower this wand and ask for your blessings.”
6. With your fingertips splash a bit of water upon your wand and say, “By the power of water, I consecrate and empower this wand and ask for your blessings.”
7. Touch the wand to the representation of earth and say, “By the powers of earth, I consecrate and empower this wand and ask for your blessings.”
8. Raise your wand into the air above your head or place it close to your heart and say, “In the name of the Goddess, the God, and the Great Spirit, I ask that you bless and empower this wand to be used in your service and in my magickal workings.”
9. Visualize a white, blue, purple, or golden light descending onto your new magickal tool.
10. With authority state, “So mote it be!”
11. Open the circle by starting once again in the east and moving counter-clockwise and draw the energy used to cast the circle back into you or disperse it back into nature.
12. It is done.
Enjoy using your wand and show it off to your friends and fellow practitioners if you wish, but take care to keep it guarded and limit how many people can hold it because you don’t want it to absorb any possible harmful energy.
The meaning and purpose of a staff is threefold. To begin, the staff may be used in magickal workings and practice much like a wand or athame (a double-edged blade) and can be a tool with which to direct energy.
In addition, the staff has historically been a symbol of elderhood and leadership in the magickal arts and is generally not carried by a beginner. One reason for this is that the staff is a bit more difficult to use than a wand. Another is that it takes much more time, thought, and dedication to create one. In general, the length of a staff is relevant to the height of the individual, and if one is young and still growing, he or she will outgrow it. The staff itself is tall and this alone represents adulthood and even more; it represents magickal maturity and one who walks between the worlds. The staff is also a symbol of the World Tree that penetrates the realms of above and below and we can find numerous examples in mythology and sacred texts where it was an elder that carried a staff such as Moses and Aaron, Merlin, and the Egyptian pharaohs. Many deities of ancient mythology also carried a staff or something similar that may possibly represent this very same principle such as Thor’s hammer, Poseidon’s trident, Hermes’s caduceus, Zeus’s lightning bolt, and can also be a symbol of elderly wisdom such as the papal cross carried by the Pope or the walking stick or cane of our seniors.
An interesting example can be found in the Old Testament of the Bible, Exodus 7:8–13. Moses and his brother Aaron faced the Egyptian pharaoh who demanded they display a miracle. Aaron threw down his staff and it transformed into a serpent. The pharaoh’s magicians and wise ones (wizards) in turn threw down their staffs and these also transformed into serpents. Aaron’s staff swallowed up the others. Moses was eighty years old and Aaron was eighty-three. In ancient times the serpent was a symbol of wisdom, knowledge, and age. If you feel the need to create a magickal staff, simply follow the same instructions used for making a wand.
I hope that most will keep the symbolism of the staff sacred and choose not to create one until the time is right, but if you really feel compelled to do so, by all means proceed.
Make a Magickal Herbal Tree Triad
It has been said, although likely invented or made up after their time, that the Druids used a combination of three plant types to create a magickal herbal amulet, sachet, or incense. Regardless of whether or not the Druids actually used this method is of little importance because it can certainly be quite effective if made with proper knowledge and intent. The formula is very simple; use equal parts of either the dried leaves, blossoms, or wood from a tree, from a flower, and from a non-tree herb. This combination of plant specimens (tree/flower/herb) can be carried in a sachet or placed under a pillow or over a doorway to attract or repel specific energies, burned as an offering, burned to create a sacred fire, used to create sacred space, or used as a correspondence to boost magickal workings.
Below are three examples; however, I suggest that you do additional research to create your own as there are infinite possibilities and combinations:
To Attract Love and Beauty
• One part apple blossoms, leaves, or wood
• One part rose leaf or petal
• One part lavender
To Protect and Ward off Evil
• One part spruce or pine needles, or oak, hawthorn, locust, or rowan
• One part sage
• One part fern, geranium, or marigold
To Draw Luck and Money
• One part aspen or maple
• One part cinnamon or ginger
• One part chamomile flower
The examples above represent three of the most commonly desired workings and include non-tree herbs and flowers. However, it is just as effective to use three different types of trees only. Please refer to the next chapter to choose three or more equal parts or combinations of the dried wood, leaves, flowers, or even sawdust to create a magickal tree herbal combination, and for the specifics of each tree, please browse through the detailed properties and descriptions provided in the field guide in Section Two.