Is Your Magic Wand Bent?

After using your magic wand, do you experience any of these symptoms?

- dizziness
- watery eyes
- rituals gone awry
- crooked magical shielding

These are just a few of the things that can go wrong when you use a magic wand. More specifically, this is what can happen if you use a wand that is not very straight. In other words, a bent magic wand.

What's Up With a Bent Wand?
How do you end up with a bent magic wand? It's really no mystery. The magic wand, being a tool of the element Air, is usually made out of wood, usually a lightweight and light-colored wood, such as white pine, birch, peeled willow, aspen or yucca-stalk. The wood for a wand is usually a limb cut from a live tree.

If you happen to select a limb that's got a few too many twists and bends in it, then you end up with a crooked wand. For instance, cutting a wand from a corkscrew willow (pictured here) will bring you nothing but trouble. You need to start with a tree with relatively straight limbs. Sometimes it can be difficult to tell whether a limb is straight enough to use a wand, since you usually don't use the entire length of the limb. You just need a straight piece of wood that measures from your elbow to the end of your middle finger. So sometimes even a bent limb will work as long as you can cut a straight piece from it.

Some magical practitioners work well with wands that are slightly bent. The way you know whether your wand is too bent is by trying it out. If you experience any of the symptoms listed above, your wand is probably too far bent. In these cases, it is best to find a new limb and make a new wand.

Why Bent Wands Don't Work
The reason bent wands don't work is because they don't direct energy in a straight line. For instance, if you try to put up an energetic shield using a bent wand, chances are the lines that form your shield will be crooked. A crooked omnil, or circular personal shield, will make you feel dizzy. A psychic message sent with a bent wand won't reach its intended target. Ditto for any healing work you do with a crooked wand.

Tip: If you wand rituals, shields, and healing work have been a little "off" lately, check the straightness of your wand. You may need to make a new one.

For more hints on using a magic wand, check out our Wand Ebook.
Or, for the complete course on wands, magical tools, spellwork, tarot and more, check out the online Basic Magic course.

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Photo credit: Corkscrew Willow Tree - Winter Patterns

How to Make Your Own Magic Wand

Probably the best known magic tool is the magic wand. Anyone who has ever seen the Wizard of Oz is familiar with Glenda the Good Witch and her magic wand, not to mention all the other fantasy type shows with characters performing all sorts of miraculous feats with a magic wand. But is there such a thing in real life as a magic wand? Yes, there is.

The Wand is the tool that is used with the element Air. You can buy a Wand online, but we prefer that you make your own and always have our Basic Magic students make their own. This way your wand is personalized to your own energies. It is made even more personalized when it is "keyed' using the firebowl. A magic wand is the magical tool that is useful for communication and any sort of mental activity. Some of the procedures that this magical tool is useful for are:

• Healing
• Sending messages
• Increasing communication between people
• Protection and self defense
• Changing and lifting one's energy

Magical practitioners use the Wand to extend their own energies. Many of the same techniques done with a Wand can be done with bare hands, but the Wand allows the practitioner to have a longer "reach" as it can handle more Air energies than the hands can. The Wand is also a good tool for beginners to start with since it cannot do as much damage as for example the Athame which is the tool for Fire energy. The colors associated with the Air element are clear, white and sky blue. These are the only energies that should be handled with the Wand.

Making Your Own Magic Wand
Making your own magic wand is not a process that should be rushed as your magic tools are a very important part of your magical practice and choosing them is a very personal experience. Take your time selecting just the right wood from just the right source. You want to use wood from a live tree and it should be a type of wood that is oriented to handle Air energies. This means it should be lightweight and light colored. White Pine, Birch, Willow, Apsen or Yucca Stalk are all possibilities. Balsa wood is a light wood, but it is too soft, so considered the strength and hardness of the wood you select also. You may find Wands made of glass online, but these are not a good choice because they have too much Water energy. Crystal is also not a good choice because it is an infinite spectrum material which makes it hard to control. The best choice is wood from a live tree or that has recently fallen from a live tree. When taking a limb from a tree, be sure to communicate first with the tree spirit and ask permission before taking a limb. If the tree does not give permission, it may be that the spirit knows that particular limb is not a good match for you. Do not use dowels or other types of processed wood or "dead" wood. The limb you select for your magic wand should be from ¼ to 3/8 inches in diameter. That would be about as thick as your thumb or as thin as your little finger. The length should be the distance from the bend of your elbow to the base of your middle finger.

Once you have selected the limb and received permission to take it, you need to peel off the bark and sand it just enough to get a smooth, satiny finish. Then using a knife, such as one used for whittling wood, you make a point at the tip and a notch at the base. The growing end of the limb is the tip end and the base is the end that was closer to the trunk of the tree. At the base end, make a large open notch to be sure the Wand can easily draw in Air energies. That's it, you now have your own personal magic wand. When storing your Wand you will want to protect it by putting in a natural material cloth such as cotton, leather, silk or wool, and place it with the notched base pointing East and tip pointing West.

Directions for making a Wand, keying it with a firebowl, techniques for using it and lots of information about other magical tools and their uses are available in our How To Do Voodoo ebook. This is a great resource for beginners or seasoned practitioners. Magical tools will expand what you can do magically. So start the quest for your Wand and get started learning all the wonderful things you can do with the safer Air energies.

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