The Wand in the Willows

I recently read a blog post on wands, it was the buy or make debate and as any good pagan knows make always wins.

I come from rural Alberta and around my hometown there are Poplar, Birch and Willow groves. For decades we have maintained a sacred grove here and have several sacred sites that we use for various reasons, one of them is a Willow grove that produces beautiful diamond willow. Three generations of sacred tools (wands, staffs and staves) have been found here by my family circle and it is where on a trip there many many years ago my wand began…I chose Litha for my wand finding pilgrimage. my Dad drove me out in the late evening to the Willow grove and went off on his own to leave me to my search. I wandered around a bit just drinking in the feel of the place and talking with the Willows, touching them, singing to them, raising energy as I explained why I was there and that I hoped to be honored with a wand. I left an offering of an apple for the Goddess and God, a small quartz and a dime for the Willows and the Fae then sat down to commune with the spirits of the grove, after a while I felt a pull toward the northern area of the grove with the whisper of sister sister sister and on the ground in front of the most sensual willow ever was the beginning of my wand and it was exactly what I had envisioned
I was so giddy I squealed and so excited I almost ran out of the grove to the truck with out saying thank you ( J remembering it still gives me the thrill of excitement) I caught myself tho and thanked the Goddess and the Willows for such and amazing gift!!
Over the next couple weeks I stripped and sanded all of the bark off, carefully carving and sanding out the diamonds, singing power into my wand with every session. I rubbed it with my personal power oil and thought I was ready to dedicate it. I took it to show my parents and my Dad asked me if I thought it was finished? Did it feel balanced to me? I told him that it was as best as it was going to get my original idea had been a wand woven of different woods and that was not this wand. He said no but we could incorporate other woods if I wanted and that he would show me how. My dad was an amazing woodworker and he helped me to make my wand perfect. We discussed the woods I wanted to use and why. I wanted to add Oak for the God and Birch for the Goddess and I wanted them to some how support the main part of the wand the Willow which I  consider my tree, I have been drawn to it since I was a child and love it so much I named my first born daughter in its honor. So my father helped me to created the perfect handle half Birch and the other half Oak then we turned it on the lathe to make it a perfect fit for my hand. He showed me the secrets of splicing the wood together and helped me to fit it to the main willow part but it still was not finished. I really wanted a crystal at the end and in true form my Dad already knew that :) he pulled out a quartz point that he had collected in the Caribou Mountains when we lived up north. We fitted the point and now it was PERFECT!! It was dedicated on my birthday which is the eve of Lughnasadh. I have made three other wands since for various reasons but MY wand is my favorite tool and this spring my oldest daughter will begin crafting hers after a pilgrimage to the Willow grove.

MY Wand

Half Birch Half Oak handle

Quartz point