With all due respect Brysing. In the magician point of view, you "NEED" a wand. A wand is for various purposes. I read in some books that a magician needs to have a wand. You are not ordered to have 1 wand but many various types. When you call upon a demon, you NEED a magic wand. There are some types of wood that has influence on magical operations and as such is a need. You can use Elder wood to try summoning various elementals or other spirits, you can use willow but it won't be as much as effective as Elder wood. Even charge as much will as a thousand people. The material does have a contribution. Do not merely think a wand is just a tool to direct energy. It is more than that, I have been taught it is the most important of all the magical weapons. It can heal, conjure, etc. Various things you can do with it. You have to admit you can do lots of things with the wand than a chalice or a pentacle as such with the athame.
A good wand that produces physical phenomena is a metal wand or staff that is made of any conductible metal such as copper. You charge it with an electromagnetic pulse that makes it a good fluid condenser, It can be used by will to absorb that energy to your body creating more electromagnetism in your body and makes a much more magical experience. You should handle your tools like relics not just something that you can replace. It is a part of you soul and when lost must have a proper way of disposal via burn it or bury it. Not throw it in a garbage can.
Zelater. You may believe whatever you wish. I have been a practising witch for over sixty years, and I have never had a wand. My witch teacher never had one either! She would cast a protective circle just using her hand. As I still do!
A wand is merely a tool to help the practice in aspects of the Craft. Some use many "tools", some just a few, or none! But what I have said is true; they are not really necessary.
Brysing, Did you not read the post correctly?
I said if you read it from a magician's point of view. As you know a witch and a magician are 2 very different things. I knew you would say that, that is why I specifically said magician. Are you a magician. I know I am. If you do not believe me then then refer it to the book "Practice of Magical evocation" by Franz Bardon. It makes a lot of sense. If you are interested of course.
I will post the same advice given to me by my witch teacher many years ago.
"Do not believe everything you read; and only half of what you see!"
Books are important, but not so important as a "personal" teacher.
Wands are more than anything just used for the direction of energy. I do not find them necessary, and in my seventeen years of practice, I have never needed one either. More often than not, I prefer my index finger.
As for how to make a wand, as said by Brysing, there are a wide variety of posts currently on the site that give a decent, thorough explanation on how to make a wand- try researching every now and again. Here's a few links nevertheless.
Sorry Zelator - a witch and a magician, when referencing modern practitioners, are the same thing.
The definition of "witch" goes as such;
"a person, now especially a woman, who professes or is supposed to practice magic, especially black magic or the black art"
Now if we were to ask literally any serious practitioner who uses the term "witch" we would discover that the old social prejudices about magick found in this word ("especially a woman" and "especially black magic or the black art") are left out and so we are left only with "a person who professes or is supposed to practice magic."
Let's look at the definition of "magician" now, excluding those definitions which specifically reference stage magic;
"a person who is skilled in magic"
... so a person who professes to use magic and a person who is skilled with magic.
Sounds pretty damn similar, don't you think?
In modern usage the only difference is which groups prefer which terms - something no more significant than preferring the term "dog" over "canine" in daily usage.
The only reason they are separate words is because English is primarily of Germanic origins but was heavily influenced by 11th century invasion of the Normans, who introduced the linguistic precursor to French. "Witch" comes from our Germanic side, "Magician" comes from our French side.
That's it.
As for your pointing out that "when you call upon a demon, you NEED a magic wand," congratulations - you've observed a tool required for a specific magickal working. If we are to take the logic that assumes that a wand is therefore necessary for all magicians, every tool, sigil, stone, plant, incense, oil, and article of clothing used in a specific ritual is suddenly necessary.
haii! i guess you dont NEED a wand, but its cool to have and i guess its just whether you want one or not.( and who doesnt wanna be like " hey check out my WAND!!" "wait ur magic?" "heck yea" :] )
i made mine by googling it and willowroot magic wands came up. I used that, but you could always use the ones on this site. have fun making your wand!!! :]
