The wand is the archetypal instrument of magic. It represents the will of the magician. The purpose of magic is to transform. Through the wand, the power of transformation is projected. A magician uses a wand to cause changes, to make things happen, to bring purposes to realization. In the Harry Potter series of novels, the one thing every young wizard requires is a wand. This fictional detail reflects the mythic importance of this instrument of magic. For centuries, most images of sorcerers, wizards, and necromancers have shown them wielding a wand. Stage magicians once used wands, or pretended to use them, while performing their illusions.

To channel occult force effectively, wands must be enchanted. Yet in modern magic, instructions on how to enchant a wand are surprisingly scanty. In my latest book, Incantations and Enchantments, I provide extensive historical and practical information on the making and enchanting of wands of different types. In this brief essay, I will describe in a more concentrated way how to select, cut, shape, and empower a wand for use in ritual magic.

Dowsing Wands
Magic wands and dowsing wands are often confused in texts where they are described. This is not surprising, since they look similar in many respects, the methods by which they are selected and empowered are similar, and both are used for occult purposes. However, there is a fundamental difference between these two classes of wands based on their usage. The dowsing wand is receptive: the magic wand is projective. When the magic wand is used, intentions flow out through it; when the dowsing wand is used, impressions flow in through it.

A magic wand projects the will of the magician upon the greater world, both on the physical level and on astral levels. A dowsing wand receives impressions from the physical world of a specific nature, such as the location of veins of metals, underground water, or hidden treasures. A dowsing wand may also be used to obtain information on astral planes, although it is seldom employed in this way. For example, the great French seer Nostradamus used a dowsing wand to scry visions in a basin of water, which he described in his quatrains.

A Magic Wand in Five Steps
Below, I describe how to cut a wand, and then prepare, consecrate, name, and enchant it for use in ritual magic. The method I give here is not the only possible method, but it is practical and soundly based in traditional magic. You seldom find these steps set forth with clarity and precision in older texts, because it was the common practice of magicians to conceal details of their art, particularly the incantations that empower wands. Specimens of such incantations are rare, and consist only of snatches of verse overhead and recorded.

1. Cutting
Traditionally, magic wands are made of wood. They are selected and cut by the magician from a living tree. This is not an invariable requirement, but it was the usual practice in past centuries. The selection and cutting of the magic wand is similar to that used for the dowsing wand. Information on the selection of dowsing wands is more plentiful than for magic wands. The method I give here is partially based on descriptions concerning the selection and cutting of dowsing wands.

The wand should be selected in daylight so that it can be examined clearly from all angles for defects while still on the tree. It should be as high on the tree as possible, exposed to the sun and moon, while still allowing you easy access to it when you cut it. Selection is an intuitive process. When you see the right branch for your wand, you will sense its rightness.

The dowsing wand is usually forked, but the magician's wand is more commonly a straight shaft of wood. A slight forking at the lower end is optional. Size may vary, but a convenient length for use is from eighteen to twenty-four inches. In thickness, around the girth of the little finger. These are approximate measures and may vary according to personal taste, bearing in mind that the wand must be a size convenient to carry and manipulate.

There is no single type of wood for the magic wand. Willow, ash, and oak have been used with good results. I recommend maple as a good all-purpose wood for wands. Witch hazel is a traditional choice, as the name of this tree suggests. Hawthorn is another traditional wood for wands. Each tree has its own unique set of occult associations. For example, oak is powerful and associated with lightning; ash is straight and strong and very masculine; willow is a watery, feminine tree appropriate for lunar magic; and so on. I recommend maple as a general-purpose wood, suitable for most magical functions.

Opinions as to the best day of the year to cut a wand vary widely. I believe the phase of the moon is more important than the day of the year. The moon should be waxing and near fullness, a phase when its power is on the rise. If you like, you can choose a special day such as the spring equinox, when the power of the sun is beginning to increase, or the summer solstice, when the power of the sun is at its height.

The branch of your wand should be harvested at the moment of sunrise. Shortly before the sun's rising, give an offering to the tree from which you will cut the branch. Liquid plant fertilizer mixed with water is a suitable offering. Walk once around the trunk of the tree sunwise while pouring out the offering, so that it makes a ring on the ground around the trunk. As you do so, recite the following words, or words of your own composition that have similar import.

This gift I give for what I take,
Of your wood a wand I make;
By sun and moon and stars on high,
Send me a spirit of the sky
Into this branch I now sever,
My true will to serve forever.

Use a single stroke to cut the branch free from the tree. To accomplish this, you will need a machete, sword, or large hunting knife. Alternatively, the branch may be broken off from the tree by your own hands. You should determine the exact minute of sunrise, and try to make the cut exactly at that time. It is important not to let the detached branch touch the ground. Touching the ground will void it of all esoteric potency.

2. Preparing
Take the branch to a place where you can work on it and hang it near the ceiling until an astrologically auspicious day for its preparation. Wednesday, the Day of Woden, Norse god of magic, is a good day of the week on which to work. Mercury, the planet of magic, should be in a favorable place in the heavens, not under any inhibiting influences. For general magical purposes, prepare the branch beneath the rays of the sun. For use in divination, procuring visions, or seeing spirits, prepare it under the rays of the moon.

Preparation of the branch consists of trimming off all leaves, buds, and twigs, and cutting the wand out of the branch. Ideally the wand should be almost the same thickness for its entire length, although a slight taper is not a problem. The ends of the wand should be rounded or slightly pointed. There must not be a split in either end—cut the wand from a place on the branch where the wood is not damaged. You should use a knife that is very sharp, and has been cleansed and consecrated beforehand to its purpose, the preparation of the wand.

The bark of the tree may be removed or left in place. It is usual to leave the bark on dowsing wands, in the belief that the fresh sap under the bark has esoteric power, being the life-blood of the tree from which the wand was cut. If the bark is removed, the wand must be allowed to completely dry before doing any other steps; you don't want it sticking to your fingers or picking up bits of dust and dirt while you are trying to work with it.

3. Consecrating
To consecrate a thing is to formally devote it to a higher spiritual purpose. By consecrating your wand, you explicitly define the wand as an instrument of magic. It ceases to be just a piece of wood and becomes an instrument of transformation. Consecration is done through the use of prayer and anointing the wand with pure oil. Extra-virgin olive oil is suitable for this purpose. The wand is in this way devoted to a higher magical function. Religious consecration practices can provide a model for this process, if you wish to compose your own consecration ritual. Here, I will give a simple but effective consecration procedure.

Pour a small amount of extra-virgin olive oil into a cup or small dish. Light a candle. Pass the wand in both hands through the flame of the candle smoothly but quickly so that it does not blacken or burn. Do this three times. After each pass, dip the tip of your right index finger into the oil and touch it to the wand. Touch the first drop to the back end of the wand, the second drop to the front end, and the third drop to the middle. (The front end of the wand is the part that was growing higher on the tree—it will be slightly more slender than the back end.) As you touch each drop of oil to the wand, recite one of the lines of the following verse.

By this drop, devoted be,
By this drop, serve only me,
By this drop, the power of three.

4. Naming
Why would you name your wand? There is only one reason: because a living spirit dwells within it. This is a little understood secret of the magic wand. It is the dwelling place of a spiritual being who serves the will of the magician. The spirit made to indwell in the wand at its creation provides the focus and direction for its working. The raw will of the magician, carrying within it the ritual purpose, passed into the wand, and the spirit of the wand shapes and directs this raw power in a way most effective for its fulfillment. Wands are more than just pieces of wood—they are vessels for spirits.

By giving a name to the spirit in the wand, you give that spirit a unique identity in very much the same way that naming a baby gives it an identity it can call its own throughout its life. The name is important. It should never be of a frivolous or mocking kind, as this will taint the spirit that receives it. The naming must be a solemn act that forms a compact between the magician and the spirit to which it is given. It should be a name appropriate to the functions of the wand, and a name that honors the spirit receiving it.

At an auspicious hour and on an auspicious day—for example, the first hour after sunrise on Wednesday (hour and day of Mercury)—immerse the wand in a vessel of pure, clean water, then draw it out and hold it up as an offering to the heavens. Speak the following words, or words of similar purpose.

In faithful service to me,
I dedicate and name thee,
________, so let it be.

Dry the wand, wrap it in clean white linen or cotton cloth and put it away in a secure place where it will not be seen or touched by others.

5. Enchanting
The wand must be enchanted if it is to act as a conduit for the will of the magician. When the heavens are right astrologically for your purpose, perform a ritual work of enchantment that will forever after define your wand as the instrument of your will.

Place the wand within an inverted circle of the zodiac signs, which you can mark on the floor or on a large sheet of paper set upon a small table or altar. Why inverted? Because you are bringing the zodiac down from the heavens to the earth, which mirror-inverts it. This means the signs proceed around the circle in opposite the usual direction. Inside the four quadrants of the zodiac circle inscribe the symbols of the four elements. Place the green triangle of Earth next to Taurus, the red triangle of Fire next to Leo, the blue triangle of Water next to Scorpio, and the yellow triangle of Air next to Aquarius. In the center of the zodiac circle, place the symbol of Spirit, which I like to represent by a white circle with three lines crossing through its center, to represent the three dimensions of space. The wand should rest on top of the Spirit symbol, and be completely contained within the zodiac circle.

Walk once sunwise around the circle, sprinkling grains of salt over it, which you pinch up from a small bowl of salt you carry with you. As you do so, speak the following words: "By the angel Uriel and the power of Earth, I give thee strength."

Walk around a second time, sprinkling droplets of water from the tips of your fingers, by dipping them into a small bowl of water you carry with you. As you do this, speak these words: "By the angel Gabriel and the power of Water, I give thee sense."

Walk around a third time with a smoking incense stick in your hand, holding the incense close to the circle and blowing lightly downward so that its smoke touches the wand. Speak these words: "By the angel Raphael and the power of Air, I give thee thought."

Walk around a fourth time with a burning candle, and at each of the four quarters, allow a drop of wax to fall into the circle upon one of the four elemental symbols, but do not get the wax on the wand. Speak these words as you do so: "By the angel Michael and the power of Fire, I give thee will."

Walk a fifth time around the circle with a mirror in your hand that is turned down to reflect the wand inside the circle back upon itself. Speak these words as you do so: "By the angel Mettatron and the power of Spirit, I give thee life."

Take up the wand from the circle in your right hand (or left hand if you are left-handed) and elevate it as high as you are able. Call out the name of the wand to awaken its spirit, and speak these words.

By this hand I cut thee,
By this hand I shaped thee,
By this hand I consecrated thee,
By this hand I named thee,
By this hand now serve me!

Keep the wand wrapped in clean white linen or cotton cloth in a private place so that it will not be touched or seen by others. When you wish to use it, take it forth, hold it pressed between your palms, and breath upon it gently to awaken the spirit that dwells within it, whispering as you do so the spirit's name. Then hold the wand in your dominant hand (right hand if you are right-handed) and point with it to channel your will through it.