Joyous Yule, Everyone!
One of the things that I have found most enjoyable this winter has been spending some quality time in my garage chipping away at blocks of wood, turning blanks into wands. My day job (a kindergarten teacher) is overstimulating to say the least and the time I get to spend alone on my lathe is invaluable to me. It has been enlightening to discover the different properties of different woods, learn about their origins and the lore that surrounds them.
The Progenitor -- Wood unknown
This is my first turned wand. This piece of wood came off a friends burn pile and was just something I threw on the lathe to practice. I actually have no idea what kind of wood this is. The original "finished product" was a chunky, ugly looking wand who then went into my drawer while I went on to practice on more pieces of wood. Yet, I was always drawn back to that one, and decided to put it back on the lathe and see if I could turn it into something more elegant. It became the basic shape that all of the wands that came after.
This is my personal wand, who I have dubbed "The Progenitor."
Purple Heart
This wand is made of "Purple Heart." Purple heart is known for enhancing ones creative faculties and increasing healing potential (citations needed). One of my favorite woods, the color is absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately, as it is with all of us, the beauty of this wood will fade over the years, becoming brownish to black in color -- which I actually find quite poetic. Bonus similarity: as it is with all of us, the beauty fades faster with exposure to UV.
Ambrosia Maple
These wands are a very interesting wood that results from an unfortunate situation. These four wands are made of a wood called
ambrosia maple. It is a form of "soft maple" (not actually soft, mind you) that has been bored into by an invasive beetle called the
ambrosia beetle. Once there, the beetle spreads its symbiotic buddy, the
ambrosia fungus that feeds its young
. That fungus makes the colored splotches in the wood. To my knowledge, that makes these the only wood I've worked with that results from a combination of flora and fauna.
I bought these by mistake, thinking I was buying regular maple because I am fascinated specifically by sugar maples. It turned out to be quite the happy accident, as this wood took me down quite the journey of knowledge seeking.
Cherry
I know that these wands are all wood, but if I had to pick one type of wand that screamed "wood" it would be these wands. Cherry is a wood that is associated with love. The blossoms of a cherry tree bloom seemingly all at once in a flash of youthful beauty, yet the amorous flowers last only a moment before fading away.
Black Walnut
Black walnut is one of my favorite woods that I've explored. It smelled wonderful while being turned and turned like soft butter! Something about turning black walnut almost felt inviting, like the wood wanted to see what it became just as much as I did. These wands also have some spots that highlight the woods natural
chatoyance, or a foil like quality. The base of all of these wands "rod" portion is a cut out, where one could tie something meaningful if they desired. Right at the center of these cutouts, the light plays a little trick, creating what appears to be a faint ring of gold!
Bolivian Rosewood
This is another wand that I had a blast making. The process of turning it showered me with light pink shavings. The surface of this wood is also glass-like it is so smooth.
While my research did dig up some stories about
rosewood, Bolivian rosewood is not actually a true rosewood (which is endangered)! Specific to this tree, however, I was not able to find anything other than its modern usage as a popular tone wood.
As a musician myself, I found this wand really speaking to me while I handled it.
Olive Wood
Here is another wand that was a joy to craft. This wand was made specifically for my friend, the one who introduced me to the world of new-age spirituality. For him, the wood has special meaning, as it harks back to his youth spent on the Côte d'Azur.
Supposedly, the city of Athens derives its name from a battle (of sorts) between Athena and Poseidon, where both were asked to offer something to the city. Poseidon gave water and Athena gave olive trees. The rest, they say, is history.
Bloodwood
These wands give me the heebie jeebies. First, they feel like iron in your hands because they are so dense and heavy.
The first wand is my latest creation. It cannot be seen in the picture but the wood is extremely chatoyant. It is almost as if it is hard for the eyes to focus in on the wood when looking at it in person. My wife asked me if I was going to include it in my fundraising efforts and a feeling came over me like a certain legendary hobbit trying to give up his ring.
This second wand of bloodwood shattered on my lathe and flew off -- not a good sign. After a bit of convincing, I managed to get it back on the lathe (albeit shorter) and had to work the tip to a finer more dagger-like point that I usually do to accommodate the angle of the break. It's like it wanted that.
Weird wood.
Other Wands
The rest of these wands are a collection of friends that I've picked up in my walk but were not turned on my lathe.
This little wand is the one of the few remaining pieces of an American holly bush that had the unfortunate placement of being too close to a building that needed repair. I took what I can and made holly wreathes, a nice pentacle and a few straight pieces to be made into wands.
Holly is known as a ward against evil, and when inside, to be a place where spirits can find respite against the winter cold.
This big guy was a stick I found wandering around. I love that its generally straight, but full of bends.
I don't really have more information than that!
This wand was created from a refuse pile after the trimming of my neighbor's weeping cherry. This particular piece is a combination of the heart wood and sapwood, so it has a beautiful white belly with a reddish brown back pictured here. It is very reminiscent of a snake.
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Each wand that I have made starts off getting worked outside but then ultimately gets finished at my altar where I craft. Each wand is crafted with with the intention that it be used as a spiritual aid for someone whether it is used it for casting a circle, or as a physical representation of the energy one wishes to invite in. However, as the current trend is for druid to be solitary, there are only so many friends I can give these to.
Regardless, I still want these wands to come of some use to someone, somewhere.
I would like to offer anyone here one of these wands in exchange for a donation. When I am not making wands, I am a kindergarten teacher at a Title 1 school. Many of these kids lack cold weather gear and as a result, we often have to spend very cold days inside. Unfortunately, my classroom did not come equipped with non-academic (play) supplies in case of an indoor recess. If you would like one of these wands, I would be happy to give you one in exchange for a donation to be used to purchase indoor toys like blocks and board games. If I am lucky enough to get everything these kids need, any funds beyond will be donated directly to Child Houses for their work with refugee children.
https://gofund.me/0fe8a266
May the warmth of the Sun return to shine on all of us!
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Kyle
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