New Moon Old Magick

Hello My Dears!

In the past few posts we’ve looked at Valentines Day and some of the other fertility festivals of Mid-Winter. Well, what would would be a common magickal symbol of fertility? On the male side, a magick wand, of course.

The wand traditionally is an extension of the power of the individual. Power is the sphere at the top of the male side of the Tree of Life. Now, I’m not talking about an ejaculatory symbol only, although the release of power in a magick rite can be said to mimic a sexual orgasm. No the wand is a much more complex symbol, representing the channels of energy, blood, and life force that one would find in a limb.

Yes, we know that a wand is a piece of wood, or sometimes, metal. But remember that as we are using magickal tools, we are also creating a form within our own minds that we will use to move energy. Your wand becomes an extension of your arm, and as such, the more real it is to you then the more effective it will be to move your energy.

Spring Wand

Now is the time, just past the feast of Imbolc, when we can begin the construction of the first of our magickal tools. This is the time during the Wheel of the Year when the Light has just returned.  The fire festival of Imbolc relates astrologically to 15 degrees of Aquarius, in the same way that Beltane relates to 15 degrees of Taurus, and Samhain relates to 15 Scorpio.  These are the peak times of these Elemental signs.  Aquarius is a sign of air, and is of a fixed nature.  Stay with me!  15 degrees of a fixed sign is the strongest expression of that element.  So Imbolc and the fertility festivals take place during the time when the Air Element is at it’s peak.  Strangely, most traditions place the Wand in the South, the place of Fire. So, I guess you could say that we SHOULD begin with the ceremonial knife, the tool of air and the mind.  Also, (Common Sense Alert) if you were to follow this path as if you were living in a pagan and somewhat primitive setting, it would be logical for you to construct your ceremonial knife first.  After all, you’d have to have something to cut off your wand with!

I think that this seeming contradiction is a good example of how fluid the world really is.   The Life Force of the world ebbs and flows and sometimes we are active, sometimes we are not.  Indeed, it has been said, “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.”  In our modern technological society, we have become drones who run on schedules like tiny frantic machines.  We have times to eat, sleep, fixed times to work, think, and if you are trying to become pregnant, fixed times for that as well!  We are now culturally conditioned AWAY from the Life Force, and have become slaves to a man-made concept: the clock.  Walking this path, for me, as a way back into Reality, and away from mental slavery.

Now, most probably, you would be working at making your Knife during the time of early winter, taking the metal or the stone from the Earth element, during the time when the elemental sign of Capricorn would be at it’s peak, and working on it while you had time, during the dark months before February: the early birthing season for lambs or cattle or the planting season, when your time would most likely be completely overtaken by your agricultural duties.  By the time of the Imbolc and fertility festivals you would have had your knife ready for blessing and use, and could proceed to cut your next tool, the wand.

However, due to the baggage that many folks hold in their consciousness about knives and weapons, we will start this wheel in the South, and with Fire, the Life Force, and the Wand.

With this seeming contradiction in timing, you can clearly see why some traditions place the knife in the East and the Wand in the South, and some folks get confused and reverse that attribution. Nothing in this path is writ in stone. We’ll go with what works in its own good time.

Now that I’ve thoroughly confused everyone, lets get to the Wand itself.

So perhaps one would start with the Dark Moon in Pisces, just after the late night of the 21st through the 23rd, if you have your own property or know of a place where you could walk in the woods in safety; or next on the 26th and 27th, when the Moon will be in fertile Taurus and past Diana’s Bow.

Consider yourself to be ‘seeding’ a Wand. It is an agricultural symbol, after all, as well as one that symbolizes the Life Force. So how do you begin? Well, traditionally the Wand is the branch of a Tree. It is said that your Wand should be made to your measurements like a garment. From the point of your elbow to the tip of your middle finger.  How thick should this wand be? Usually about as thick as your thumb at the base, and about the thickness of your little finger at the far end.

• Well, now that it is really cold outside, you are to go out and locate such a branch, a LIVING branch on your tree. In good Western Tradition, it should be budding, or ready to, and if it is a tree that will flower or fruit, even better.
• Begin by taking your canteen (you are a boy/girl scout, right? Brought water??) and, after taking a moment, place a hand on the tree and ask to take the branch, pouring a bit of the water as an offering at the foot of the tree. As always, when we ask for information, we are supposed to LISTEN to the answer.
• If the tree does not give you a yes feeling, then move on and find one that is more comfortable. It’s not necessary to hear a booming bass voice declare Yes! But a positive feeling in answer to your query will suffice.

The Green Man

• Mark the tree in a way that will not harm it. Tie a ribbon around your branch, for example, so that you can find it again. Hopefully you will find a tree and branch that are easy for you to get to, as you will be making this trip several times over the next few weeks. The wand is a very important magickal tool, and you will get out of it what you put in.
• So several times a week, for the next two or three weeks, you will go out to your tree and energetically connect. Meditate, communicate if you want to or are able to, reinforce that you will be taking the branch, and always offer water.
• Traditionally it is said that this gives the tree time to withdraw it’s energies from the branch.  but I think this is more likely the time it takes to become energetically connected to the tree itself, so that both the tree’s energies and yours will be in your wand.

• When the moon is in the last few days before the dark once more (more on this when the time approaches), and the time is appropriate for pruning, then take a sharp pair of pruning shears or cutters, and cleanly slice off the branch, about 3/4 to an inch away from any joint, and at a 45 degree angle.
• Once more offer water, and if you can, some compost tea to the tree. Express your gratitude sincerely before you take your leave with your new wand.

What should you do if you do not have access to a parkland or woodland where you can cut off a piece of a branch? It’s not safe, it’s not legal, it’s not nearby, etc? Find a specialty woodworking store that sells hardwood dowels. This is not as rare as it might seem. Folks who build cabinets and furniture makers, both hobbyists and professionals, use these. So you should be able to find something in screaming distance, or even online. I think going to the shop yourself would be preferable to online if you can manage it, simply because you can hold the wood and feel its energy.

I’ve seen some lovely wands made of other materials, with some very enterprising crafters creating copper wands from pipe and crystals.  This is a lot of fun, and I’ll be happy to post on making this kind of spiritual chachke.  But for your first serious wand, consider going with wood as a way of really connecting with the Life Force that you will be working with.

In the next installments of this Wand series, I’ll post about some things you can do with your wand once it is cut, like how long you need to cure it, and how to decorate it and consecrate it.  And maybe even how to make runic discs for divination with the trimmings!

In the meantime, enjoy the afterglow of the fertility festivals and don’t eat too much of that sale Valentine’s candy!

Blessed Be, my dears.

Marie Angeli