Wands are not just fictional objects in the Harry Potter books. People have been using real wands for thousands of years and wands are still being made and used today! Here is some information on real wands.
What The Hell Is A Wand
Wands are long thin hand held sticks made of wood, stone, ivory or metal and are associated with magic. They are used in paganistic, ecclesiatical, governmental and ceremonial uses. They represent power. Wands have been depicted for thousands of years in Ancient Egyptian art and further back to Stone Age cave paintings.
In Ancient Egypt magic wands, amulets and magic books were entombed with Pharoahs for their Ka (soul) to use in the afterlife.
In classical Greco-Roman mythology, the God Hermes has a special wand known as Caduceus.
In Wicca, wands are used to channel energy. Wicca practitioners usually make their wands out of wood by cutting a branch and personalising it with carvings. Some may also buy wood from a hardware store and others simply purchase ready made wands.
In Wicca, the wood that the wand is made of determines which of the four elements (Water, Air, Fire, Earth) the wand gravitates towards.
Wands are used by Pagans, witches and Shamans for healing purposes and spell casting.
Wands may have originated from Central Asia and Siberia where Shamans used wands as drumming sticks for religious, healing and magical ceremonies.
Wands Made Of Wood
A wand made of wood is the most popular choice of wand. Many people see trees as holding energy and natural magic. Some regard trees as special beings. Trees are home to birds and animals and come directly from the earth. Some people believe trees embody a spirit and people leave offerings to the spiritual presence.
Most Native Americans, Shamans, witches, Pagans and those who practice Wicca believe that trees possess powers of healing and magic. Different trees possess different energies, magic curative powers and medicinal properties. No two trees are exactly the same. Some hold positive energy and others hold negative energy.
Trees are seen as possessing past and present knowledge. The older the tree is, the wiser it is and therefore, older trees are revered.
Making A Magic Wand
In order for a wand to be magical they must be made of a natural substance which can channel energy, for example wood or stone. A plastic resin wand will possess little or no magical properties.
Unfortunately, most official and unofficial replica Harry Potter wands are made of cheap plastic resin and painted to look wooden. Though these replica wands are fantastic as movie collectibles (I have two replica wands myself, Professor McGonagall's and Professor Sprout's) they hold no real magic and are therefore, technically, fake wands.
Wands will hold most power for those who create the wand themselves. A chosen branch should be cut from a chosen tree after first asking permission from the tree to cut the branch. This can be done by meditating underneath the tree. A gift offering should also be given to the tree as a way of thanks. This offering can be a stone such as quartz or even a coin.
After cutting the branch, some people might leave the branch exactly the way it is, prefering not to tamper with its natural magical state.
Others prefer to remove the bark and personalise the wood by sanding it and carving it to form a magical bond with their wand.
Some people prefer not to cut a branch from a living tree as this deliberately hurts the tree and kills the branch. Instead they will find dead wood lying on the ground and use this to make their wand.
Others desiring a specific wood may buy wood from a hardware store, though wood that has been bought is thought to hold less magical properties than wood that has been found and chosen personally by the wand maker.
Some people prefer to just buy a ready-made wooden wand.
Taking Care Of Your Wand
All wooden wands require some level of care in order to preserve them and keep them looking their best. In order to care for a wand, I recommend only using beeswax.
Beeswax is a completely natural product made by honey bees. Every 10 pounds of honey made by honey bees yields 1 pound of beeswax. Honey bees use the beeswax to build honeycomb cells in which they raise their young and store honey and pollen.
Take a soft cloth and apply a small amount of beeswax to cloth. Rub the beeswax into your wand until the whole wand has been treated and then using a dry part of the cloth gently wipe the wand. This will hydrate the wand and prevent it from becoming dry and brittle and will thus prevent it cracking or splitting. The beeswax will also produce a nice lustre to the wand.
Beeswax is a preferable way to clean and hydrate the wand rather than polishing it with wood polish or varnishing it. Beeswax maintains the wand's natural state without the interference of man made products.
Wand Cores
Since wands in the Harry Potter books have a core element I favour giving my wands a core too. I use the feather of an ostrich, however peacock and pheasant feathers are popular too.
Ostriches are regarded as being the symbol of pride, truthfulness, happiness and luck. The medicinal properties of the ostrich is to teach us to enjoy little things and to uncomplicate our lives.
Birds in general, even the flightless ostrich, are believed to possess higher powers, ethereal knowledge and being open to wisdom.
The ostrich, though it has wings, does not possess the ability to fly. This represents being well grounded. The ostrich uses its long legs and neck to obtain the ethereal knowledge and its flightlessness to ground that knowledge and wisdom for practical use. The ostrich uses its wings for balance when it is running symbolising the need to remain balanced when life is racing by.
Ostriches are known for their healthy appetites. This represents a hunger for more knowledge and an appetite for greater wisdom. Ostriches also swallow stones to aid digestion symbolising the need to digest knowledge before acting on it. Acting on knowledge without first digesting it leads to flighty, inappropriate actions. This is another way of staying grounded.
The ostriches speed symbolises its ability to outrun its adversaries in the quest for self protection.
No comments:
Post a Comment