Magickal Tools

[freesprouts]

One of the sections I'm working on right now in my book deals with magickal tool construction, and I was wondering how much (if any) experience you all have with constructing your own magickal tools. While the book is focused on the two I assign more masculine properties (the wand and the athame), I'm interested in hearing both about those and

Comments

[animamea]

I'm used to teaching a two hour class on this subject, so let me try to sum up.

My tradition encourages making your own tools, or at least personalizing the ones you buy. So far, I have acid etched my athame, carved my wand, made my pentacle from clay, and will be finishing my custom candle holders after I finish my wand. I still need a few more tools, but I don't have concrete plans for them yet. It's been fun. ^_^

As for elemental energy? Well... uh... Depends on what you mean by that. Different tools are generally associated with certain elements, but they have whatever personal energy you put into them. Here's my quick and dirty guide:

Air: Wand, staff, censer, incense (male)
Fire: Athame, sword, censer, candles (male)
Water: Cup, cauldron, blessed/charged water (female)
Earth: Pentacle, salt (female)

This is not gospel, swearz. Just the generally accepted stuff.

As for the utility tools (kirfane, bolline, scythe) and your miscellaneous items of occult interest (runes, cards, scrying mirrors) they don't have any guidelines for elements, but I can hazard some guesses:
- Forged items: Fire
- Clay/glass items: Earth
- Wood items: Air
- Fortune-telling items: Water

Then you move on to determining masculine vs feminine based on shape or weight or something...

But, as a final sum up, it's up to you. If you're forcing yourself to think that a wand is air when you *really* feel like it's water, it's going to hinder your work.

[freesprouts]

I think that's a really good summary. I've never actually carved out a wand, I generally find desirable sticks of the size and shape I want to work with. I've been meaning to get around to looking up what type of tree it is I keep using before my next Wand Making class, but I've been using the same tree coincidentally for several wands.

My athame is still incomplete for the time being. I'd like to buy one for general use, but the solely ritual one is going to be made out of bone and an apache tear arrowhead.

[freesprouts]

Thanks, I strive to be bitchin' in all my witchin'.

There's going to be a Shiva mantra engraved/burned in it too. It's for more destructive work....