Perhaps making a good trickster wand requires going with the flow.
Hiya, I made a student of mine a wand in trade for her artwork. Below I share my process.
A branch fell from my backyard’s huge oak. The wand is from that. I didn’t cure the wood. That tree helps my Druidic practice.
One can think of the wand’s tip as two pronged, though one prong is tiny. Or if one does not think such a small protrusion constitutes a prong, one could think of wand tip as crooked. After I chose the piece for the wand, I decided I wasn’t happy with its crooked/pronged tip. I was in trance, and here’s what came to me:
* Of course it’s crooked—this wand is for a trickster.
* A wand does not need to be straight for energy to come out of the wand straight. In the same vein, the bend won’t make the magic bend, going awry, off-target.
* The curve is a reminder Trickster has Her hand in all endeavors, including magic, making things curve this way and that, even when the path overall moves in a straight line.
* Thus a curved tip creates a spell powerful.
* Plus the curve reminds us we can’t control whether we reach goals through magical or mundane means.
I anointed the wood with organic Bulgarian Rose Essential Oil, which cost me about 180 bucks for 1/8 oz. No surprise I’m possessive of it, but spirits told me to anoint the wand with it. Also anointed with essential oils of Peru Balsam, Spruce, and organic Lime Peel.
I left the handle end bare, so you’re touching oak when doing ritual.
Peyote stitch beading is labor-intensive, providing lots of hands-on time to bless the wand. During the initial beading, I held the wand upside down, which I intuited as good for a trickster’s wand. In one peyote stitch tube, I free-form beaded to add larger beads here and there. Felt the wand’s power building.
Upcycling silk from a gorgeous hand-me-down skirt, I built a silk tube around the wand. Felt important this practitioner have silk on her wand.
The cord is waxed cotton. As two photos show, I knotted it so its two fringes are on opposite sides of the wand, repeating the two prongs’ energy.
However—I love this!—the two fringes go in different directions from the prongs, making the wand’s end represent the sacred four directions. The implications of that are awesome. Don’t you love how magical realizations happen if you go with the flow when making a magical object? It’s like with the crooked tip: had I rejected that crookednees, I never would’ve had all the realizations about it.
And isn’t learning by going with the flow such a trickster lesson? … Perhaps making a good trickster wand requires going with the flow.
Hanging from wand:
* a coin because it’s Irish, money, gorgeous, and has a peacock and harp on it
* a little bell because a trickster needs a bell. I think the natural beads are rose quartz and goat horn, and the bell silver, but all three items are upcycled so I’m not sure. I don’t mind being uncertain because the wand’s nature doesn’t rely on labeling the items in question but on energy I felt in them.
A few note to my student:
I’m excited about our trade!
I wanted to add Dentillium shell and coral, but Dentillium is fragile and coral felt wrong. I was told they’d bless the wand by being kept near it. I put them in an organza bag for you, if you want to keep them in a bag.
Dentillium was money in ancient California and is deeply sacred to me. I only pass it on when Divinely guided. And this shell is even more special: in the photo is a note from the vendor.
The coral is dyed so can run if wet.
You could add items—e.g., herbs with magical properties you like—to the bag, if you want.
Your wand has been blessed and empowered, but I think most wands need power and blessing added by their owner.
The fabric in the photos is from a huge swatch of a silk two of my married initiates dyed and gave me. When I send the wand, I’ll wrap it in a piece of that silk. It is unhemmed.
If you don’t like the wand, no problem; I’ll know it’s for someone else.
To ensure the “price” is comparable to your artwork’s, I’ll throw in the other wand you like, which should more than do it.
My beadwork is strong. This one-of-a-kind useable art is made to last, but beadwork is inherently fragile. This isn’t a wand to make snapping motions with, or wave around in a ritual hard, or anything like that. In that vein, though the bead tubes can move up and down the wand, I’d not move ’em.
Same goes for the macramé: if it twists around, e.g., aligns with the directions the prongs are in, leave it. You have to treat the wand gently, let it shape as it will, and then it’ll make good magic for you. Heh, trickster stuff.
This handmade wand is designed by the power that flows to it from its parts, the earth, and an artisan-shaman. Aside from that and what I said above, I can’t explain what was in my soul when making the wand. However, it’s in the wand itself, which can explain itself. After all, it is your wand, made for you (unless you decide otherwise). And if you feel it is yours, but it doesn’t explain itself, that may not matter—if it is yours, it is yours.
Guarantee: if the wand breaks within two years, I repair or replace it.
Respond here or by email.
Love, honor, power, FDG
