Which Wand? – Part I

Of all the magical tools out there, wands fascinate me the most. Long before Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone was written, I was searching for the perfect wand. First I was convinced that my wand had to be made entirely by me from wood that had come from a tree that had been struck by lightening. As luck would have it, lightening struck a tree on the property I was renting, and I obtained a wand length of wood from it. I set about following the directions for decorating it, but got frustrated by my inability to carve out a place to put a crystal point without having to resort to epoxy to keep the crystal from falling out. The directions included epoxy as an option, but I just felt that it wasn’t natural. Then I read a book extolling the virtues of metallic wands, and I despaired at ever having the skills to make one or the budget to purchase one. Then I began to wonder, how is a metallic wand different from a sword? So I thought, maybe my wand should be made from some sort of crystal – and of course I ran smack dab into the problem of budget again!

There are a lot of hucksters in the world. The advent of Western esotericism, the repeal of witchcraft laws, and the counterculture movement of the 1960s enabled all sorts of alternative ways of being to emerge. With that emergence came access to information that had hitherto been restricted. In the 1980s, before the advent of the Internet, I could walk into any mainstream bookstore and find books on Paganism, witchcraft and the occult. Heck, there was an entire store dedicated to these subjects a couple of blocks from where I worked! Then came the Internet, and now there is a glut of information on any subject imaginable. As with anything else, there is good information and bad information, true believers and people just out to make a buck. What makes it particularly difficult for those of us on the occult path is conflicting information from the true believers. For example, some say that the wand represents the Element of Air, while others insist that it represents the Element of Fire. Shouldn’t it be just one Element? If so, who is right, and who is just making it all up? Both camps have authors who seem to have a whole lot of esoteric street credentials. What’s a seeker to do?

To be continued…