Wand Making
Part 1: Choosing and harvesting your wand
Research what type of wood you want to use. It should complement either your own character or the purpose for which you want to use it for. You can use a variety of books for this or the internet and any good book of correspondences should reveal what wood is used for what type of magic or is linked to your birth date.
I personally tend to use either Oak or Willow for almost all my wands regardless of purpose. This is because I feel a strong connection to both and not because a table in a book told me I should use it. So if you prefer go visit your local woods or go out into your garden and use a tree you are drawn to or feel a close connection with.
There are three ways of collecting wood from Trees for the use of wands. I will now look at each one in turn:
Method 1: Find a living tree, locate a section of its branch which is relatively straight and free of spurs or rough bits. (This is because each of these spurs will cause energy to leak from them when you come to use the wand in order to conduct magickal energy.) It should measure from the tip of your longest finger to your elbow. At this point thickness need not matter and that is a matter of personal preference.
You should always ask the tree permission before harvesting your wand. It is also good practice to water and feed the tree. If you have never worked with the tree before you might even want to visit it over a number of weeks in order to build up a relationship with it. However it is better if you work with a tree that you know and in return knows and is used to you.
Some sources suggest removing the wood on a Wednesday, the day of Hermes a god of magick, when the moon is waxing before the next full moon. Lastly before cutting sit and sing or talk to the tree and ask for its approval.
Cut as quickly as possible and cover the wound with mud so that infection does not occur. Remember the tree is a living thing and although it is different from us animals it can feel and is aware of its surroundings. Some also believe that each tree has its own Dryad Spirit and it is important not to anger them or cause them harm.
Method 2: This is the method I use most often and one that also helps the environment as well as provides me with the wood I need. Join with a coppicing project. Most parks, campsites or farms with woods on their land will welcome help especially if offered free around coppicing time (late autumn/ early winter). Coppicing is the managed removal of dead wood, broken and damage branches and for making room for new growth in the spring.
You may already grow trees in your own garden which you may need to coppice or cut back. In that case you may well be able to make use of this wood.
In either case you must still ask the tree for its permission and water and feed its roots before removing the wood. In this case however the Park Ranger, Campsite Owner or farmer may well be able to advise you on more appropriate after care techniques for the tree.
Also still try and do your coppicing on a Wednesday if possible or failing that whilst the moon is Waxing. That way you will be ready to start empowering your wand by the full moon.
Method 3: The last method is to go out after a storm and strong winds and look for newly fallen trees or branches and use them. That way you are helping to clear the wood lands, recycle and helping to keep the spirit of the fallen tree alive. Try not to use wood that has been dead a long time as it is often more brittle and harder to shape and work with. In rural woods it will often go rotten very quickly and succumb to the elements. A rotten wand will not work and may pervert or distort the out come of any magickal workings.
Well that just about sums up how to choose and harvest your wood. I will add in my next post what some of the more common woods are used for and which days of the week and star signs they are connected to. I just have one last point to make before ending this first part.
In all cases no matter which method you use always thank the spirits of the Trees and the Woods before you leave the harvest site.
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