Wand

Last updated
The Magic Circle, by John William Waterhouse (1886), portrays a woman using a wand to create a ritual space John William Waterhouse - Magic Circle.JPG
The Magic Circle , by John William Waterhouse (1886), portrays a woman using a wand to create a ritual space

A wand is a thin, light-weight rod that is held with one hand, and is traditionally made of wood, but may also be made of other materials, such as metal, plastic or stone. Long versions of wands are often styled in forms of staves or sceptres, which could have large ornamentation on the top.

Contents

In modern times, wands are usually associated with stage magic or supernatural magic, but there have been other uses, all stemming from the original meaning as a synonym of rod and virge. A stick that is used for reaching, pointing, drawing in the dirt, and directing other people, is one of the earliest and simplest of tools.

History

It is possible that wands were used by pre-historic peoples. It is mentioned that 'rods' (as well as rings) were found with Red Lady of Paviland in Britain. It is mentioned by the author in Gower - A Guide to Ancient and Historic Monuments on the Gower Peninsula [1] that these might have been wands and are depicted as such in a reconstruction drawing of the burial of the 'Red Lady'.

Ancient Egyptian apotropaic wand carved from a hippopotamus tusk Apotropaic Wand - Middle Kingdom - Metropolitan Museum of Art.jpg
Ancient Egyptian apotropaic wand carved from a hippopotamus tusk

During the Middle Kingdom of Egypt, apotropaic wands began to be used during birth ceremonies. These wands were made out of hippopotamus tusks which were split down the middle lengthwise, producing two wands, each with one flat side and one curved side. Due to the curved nature of a hippopotamus tusk, these wands were curved, with one pointed end (the point of the tusk) and one blunt end (where the tusk was removed from the hippopotamus). Hippopotamus tusks may have been used to invoke Taweret the hippopotamus goddess of childbirth. [2] The earliest apotropaic wands used in Egypt were undecorated, but "from around 1850 BC, they were usually provided with decorations of apotropaic figures directly related to the sun religion, or particular aspects of it, inscribed on the convex upper side... most of whom carry knives to ward off evil forces". [3] These apotropaic wands were also inscribed with protective text on the flat side, such as "Cut off the head of the enemy when he enters the chamber of the children whom the lady... has borne". [4] The latest apotropaic wand found belongs to the Second Intermediate Period king Senebkay. [5] It seems that the use of these objects in Egypt declines after this point.

The Barsom used by Zoroastrian Magi is a bundle of twigs that was used during religious ceremonies. While the Barsom is not a wand itself, it was also used for divination purposes, and may be a form of prototypical wand from which later magical wands descend. [6]

Circe with her magical wand, in Circe Offering the Cup to Ulysses, an 1891 painting by John William Waterhouse Circe Offering the Cup to Odysseus.jpg
Circe with her magical wand, in Circe Offering the Cup to Ulysses , an 1891 painting by John William Waterhouse

The concept of magic wands was used by the ancient Greek writer Homer, in his epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey . In all cases, Homer used the word rhabdos (ῥᾰ́βδος), which means 'rod', and implies something that is thicker than the modern conception of wands. In those books, Homer wrote that magic wands were used by three different gods, namely Hermes, Athena, and Circe. In The Iliad, Homer wrote that Hermes generally used his magic wand Caduceus to make people sleep and wake up. In The Odyssey, Homer wrote that Athena used her magic wand to make Odysseus old, and then young again, and that Circe used her magic wand to turn Odysseus's men into pigs.

Sarcophagus relief: Daniel in the Lions Den and the Raising of Lazarus Sarcophagus relief - Daniel in the Lions Den; the Raising of Lazarus.jpg
Sarcophagus relief: Daniel in the Lions Den and the Raising of Lazarus

By the 1st century AD, the wand was a common symbol of magic in Roman cults, especially Mithraism. In the 3rd and 4th centuries, there are frequent depictions on sarcophagi of Jesus Christ according to one opinion using a magic wand to perform miracles, such as the raising of Lazarus and feeding the multitude. Others scholars disagree with that. [7] claiming that these objects are staffs since images of Christ with it «appear alongside images of Moses performing miracles with the staff».

Italian fairy tales put wands into the hands of the powerful fairies by the Late Middle Ages. [8]

Mystical and religious usage

Ace of Wands from the Rider-Waite tarot deck Wands01.jpg
Ace of Wands from the Rider–Waite tarot deck

Wands are used in the Enochian magic of John Dee, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Thelema, and Wicca, and by independent practitioners of magic.

Wands were introduced into the occult via the 13th-century Latin grimoire The Oathbound Book of Honorius . The wand idea from the Book of Honorius, along with various other ideas from that grimoire, were later incorporated into the 16th-century grimoire The Key of Solomon . The Key of Solomon became popular among occultists for hundreds of years. In 1888, there was the publication of an English translation of the Key of Solomon by Samuel Mathers (one of the co-founders of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn), which made the text of the Key of Solomon available to the anglophone world. That 1888 English version inspired Gerald Gardner, the creator of Wicca, to incorporate the wand and various other ritual objects into Wicca.

The creators of the Golden Dawn got their idea to use a wand, as well as their other main ritual objects (dagger, sword, hexagrammic pentacle, and cup), from the writings of the mid-19th-century occult writer Eliphas Levi. Levi himself mentioned most of those objects (all except for the cup) in his writings because they are in the Key of Solomon, whereas he got the cup from the tarot suit of cups. In Levi's 1862 book Philosophie Occulte, he wrote a fake excerpt of a Hebrew version of the Key of Solomon, and that fake excerpt was part of the inspiration for the Golden Dawn's ritual objects, and especially their lotus wand.

The ceremonial magic of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn uses several different types of wands for different purposes, the most prominent of which are the fire wand and the lotus wand. In Wicca, wands are traditionally used to summon and control angels and genies, [9] [10] but have later come to also be used for general spell-casting. Wands serve a similar purpose to athames (ritual daggers), though the two objects have their distinct uses: an athame is used to command, whereas a wand is seen as more gentle, and is used to invite or encourage.

Wands are traditionally made of wood— practitioners usually prune a branch from an oak, hazel, or other tree, or may even buy wood from a hardware store, and then carve it and add decorations to personalize it, though one can also purchase ready-made wands. In Wicca, the wand can represent the element air, [10] [11] or fire (following the wiccan author Raymond Buckland, who got his element associations from the Golden Dawn), although contemporary wand-makers also create wands for the elements of earth and water.

Tarot cards

The suit of wands is one of the four suits in the 1909 Rider–Waite–Smith occult tarot deck, and other, later tarot decks that are based upon that deck. The suit of wands replaced the suit of batons from earlier, non-occult tarot decks. The Rider–Waite–Smith tarot deck also replaced the suit of coins from earlier, non-occult decks, with the suit of pentacles. The Rider–Waite–Smith tarot deck was designed by two members of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn- Arthur Edward Waite and Pamela Colman Smith. Waite provided the general guidelines for the deck (including the names of the four suits, and thus the suit of wands), and detailed guidelines for the designs of the Major Arcana, and he hired Smith to do the painting, and to make original artwork for the Minor Arcana. Waite instructed Smith to not paint actual wands in the wand cards, but rather to paint large tree trunk staffs with some foliage growing on them, so as to make an association between wands and Eliphas Levi's phrase "the flowering rod of Aaron" from Levi's fake fragment of The Key of Solomon.

Status symbolism

In British formal government ceremony, special officials may carry a wand of office that represents their power. Compare in this context the function of the ceremonial mace, the scepter, and the staff of office. Its age may be even greater, as Stone Age cave paintings show figures holding sticks, which may be symbolic representations of their power. [12] [ better source needed ]

Fiction

In the 18th-century ballads "Allison Gross" and "The Laily Worm and the Machrel of the Sea", the villainesses use silver wands to transform their victims into animals, in emulation of the Odyssey that preceded them. [13] In C. S. Lewis's 1950 novel The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe , the White Witch's most feared weapon is her wand, whose magic is capable of turning people into stone. This, again, employs the Odysseyan motif of an evil female witch who uses a magic wand to maliciously transform her victims.

In the mid-20th century, the MGM and Disney media companies popularized magic wands via four films in which wands were wielded by benevolent female fairy characters. Those films were The Wizard of Oz (1939; MGM; a wand-staff was wielded by Glinda the Good Witch of the North), Pinocchio (1940; Disney; a wand was wielded by the Blue Fairy), Cinderella (1950; Disney; a wand was wielded by a fairy godmother), and Sleeping Beauty (1959; Disney; a wand was wielded by each of three fairies). In The Wizard of Oz and Pinocchio, the fairies' wands are embellished with a star-shaped ornament on the end, whereas in Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, the fairies have wands with traditional plain tips.

Magic wands commonly feature in works of fantasy fiction as spell-casting tools. Few other common denominators exist, so the capabilities of wands vary wildly. In J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, the first book of which was published in 1997, personal wands are common as necessary tools to channel and project each character's magic, they are used as weapons in magical duels, and it is the wand that chooses its owner. A wand is also present in the Children of the Red King series in the possession of Charlie Bone as well as the popular MMORPG World of Warcraft where caster classes such as the mage and warlock use wands offensively.

Magic wands and staves are often used in the magical girl genre of anime and manga (or other media) as well.

Other usage

Based on their magical symbolism, stage magicians often use "magic wands" as part of their misdirection. [14] These wands are traditionally short and black, with white tips. A magic wand may be transformed into other items, grow, vanish, move, display a will of its own, or behave magically in its own right. A classic magic trick makes a bouquet of flowers shoot out of the wand's tip.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn</span> British magical order (1887–1903)

The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, more commonly the Golden Dawn, was a secret society devoted to the study and practice of occult Hermeticism and metaphysics during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Known as a magical order, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was active in Great Britain and focused its practices on theurgy and spiritual development. Many present-day concepts of ritual and magic that are at the centre of contemporary traditions, such as Wicca and Thelema, were inspired by the Golden Dawn, which became one of the largest single influences on 20th-century Western occultism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A. E. Waite</span> British occultist mystic, poet and writer

Arthur Edward Waite was a British poet and scholarly mystic who wrote extensively on occult and esoteric matters, and was the co-creator of the Rider–Waite tarot deck. As his biographer R. A. Gilbert described him, "Waite's name has survived because he was the first to attempt a systematic study of the history of Western occultism—viewed as a spiritual tradition rather than as aspects of protoscience or as the pathology of religion."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Athame</span> Ceremonial blade, generally with a black handle

An athame or athamé is a ceremonial blade, generally with a black handle. It is the main ritual implement or magical tool among several used in ceremonial magic traditions, and by other neopagans, witchcraft, as well as satanic traditions. A black-handled knife called an arthame appears in certain versions of the Key of Solomon, a grimoire dating to the Renaissance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minor Arcana</span> Type of occult tarot cards

The Minor Arcana, sometimes known as Lesser Arcana, are the suit cards in a cartomantic tarot deck.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Major Arcana</span> Trump cards of tarot decks in occult practices

The Major Arcana are the named or numbered cards in a cartomantic tarot pack, the name being originally given by occultists to the trump cards of a normal tarot pack used for playing card games. There are usually 22 such cards in a standard 78-card pack, typically numbered from 0 to 21. The name is not used by tarot card game players.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rider–Waite Tarot</span> Tarot deck

The Rider–Waite Tarot is a widely popular deck for tarot card reading. It is also known as the Waite–Smith, Rider–Waite–Smith, or Rider Tarot. Based on the instructions of academic and mystic A. E. Waite and illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith, both members of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the cards were originally published by the Rider Company in 1909. The deck has been published in numerous editions and inspired a wide array of variants and imitations. It is estimated that more than 100 million copies of the deck exist in more than 20 countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Magician (tarot card)</span> Card in the tarot deck

The Magician (I), also known as The Magus or The Juggler, is the first trump or Major Arcana card in most traditional tarot decks. It is used in game playing and divination; in the English-speaking world, the divination meaning is much better known.

<i>The Pictorial Key to the Tarot</i> 1910 book by A. E. Waite

The Pictorial Key to the Tarot is a divinatory tarot guide, with text by A. E. Waite and illustrations by Pamela Colman Smith. Published in conjunction with the Rider–Waite tarot deck, the pictorial version followed the success of the deck and Waite's text The Key to the Tarot. Both Waite and Smith were members of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Waite was very concerned with the accuracy of the symbols used for the deck, and he did much research into the traditions, interpretations, and history behind the cards.

A pentacle is a talisman that is used in magical evocation, and is usually made of parchment, paper, cloth, or metal, upon which a magical design is drawn. Symbols may also be included, a common one being the six-point form of the Seal of Solomon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wheel of Fortune (tarot card)</span> Tarot card (X)

Wheel of Fortune (X) is one of 78 cards in a tarot deck and is the tenth trump or Major Arcana card in most tarot decks. It is used in game playing as well as in divination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tarot of Marseilles</span> Standard pattern of 78 cards

The Tarot of Marseilles is a standard pattern of Italian-suited tarot pack with 78 cards that was very popular in France in the 17th and 18th centuries for playing tarot card games and is still produced today. It was probably created in Milan before spreading to much of France, Switzerland and Northern Italy. The name is sometimes spelt Tarot of Marseille, but the name recommended by the International Playing-Card Society is Tarot de Marseille, although it accepts the two English names as alternatives. It was the pack which led to the occult use of tarot cards, although today dedicated decks are produced for this purpose.

The Cipher Manuscripts are a collection of 60 folios containing the structural outline of a series of magical initiation rituals corresponding to the spiritual elements of Earth, Air, Water and Fire. The "occult" materials in the Manuscripts are a compendium of the classical magical theory and symbolism known in the Western world up until the middle of the 19th century, combined to create an encompassing model of the Western mystery tradition, and arranged into a syllabus of a graded course of instruction in magical symbolism. It was used as the structure for the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.

A watchtower or guardian in ceremonial magical tradition is a tutelary spirit of one of the four cardinal points or quarters. In many magical traditions, they are understood to be Enochian angels or the Archangels Uriel, Raphael, Michael, and Gabriel. They are also variously associated in other traditions with each of the four classical elements or stars. Originating with the Enochian tradition of John Dee, a version of it was popularized by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, which became hugely influential in modern Western Esotericism, including Wicca. The watchtowers are invoked during the ritual of casting a magic circle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hermetic Qabalah</span> Western esoteric tradition

Hermetic Qabalah is a Western esoteric tradition involving mysticism and the occult. It is the underlying philosophy and framework for magical societies such as the Golden Dawn, has inspired esoteric Masonic organizations such as the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia, is a key element within the Thelemic orders, and is important to mystical-religious societies such as the Builders of the Adytum and the Fellowship of the Rosy Cross.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magical tools in Wicca</span> Tools used in the practice of magic in the religion of Wicca

In the neopagan religion of Wicca a range of magical tools are used in ritual practice. Each of these tools has different uses and associations and are commonly used at an altar, inside a magic circle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suit of wands</span> Tarot card suit

The suit of wands is one of four suits in tarot, collectively known as the Minor Arcana. Like the other tarot suits, the suit of wands contains fourteen cards: ace (one), two through ten, page and knight, queen and king. When Tarot cards are to play Tarot card games, where wands corresponds to the suit of batons. Tarot cards came to be utilized for divinatory purposes by esotericists such as Eliphas Levi and were regularized into the divinatory form most known today by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and the Rider–Waite Tarot, created by a Golden Dawn member.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tarot card reading</span> Using tarot cards to perform divination

Tarot card reading is a form of cartomancy whereby practitioners use tarot cards to purportedly gain insight into the past, present or future. They formulate a question, then draw cards to interpret them for this end. A traditional tarot deck consists of 78 cards, which can be split into two groups, the Major Arcana and Minor Arcana. French-suited playing cards can also be used; as can any card system with suits assigned to identifiable elements.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Birth tusk</span> Wand used in ancient Egypt to ward off evil

Birth tusks are wands for apotropaic magic, mainly from the Middle Kingdom of Egypt. They are most often made of hippopotamus ivory, are inscribed and decorated with a series of figures. Most of these tusks were found in burials at Thebes, Lisht, Abydos and at other places, but a few examples were also found at settlements, such as Wah-Sut or Avaris, but also in Ugarit and Megiddo.

References

  1. ↑ Gower - A Guide to Ancient and Historic Monuments on the Gower Peninsula ISBN   1-85760-073-8
  2. ↑ "BM EC38192". Egypt.swan.ac.uk. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  3. ↑ Vink, Fred. "The Principles of Apotropaic Magic on Middle Kingdom Wands, in: AEM 99 (2016-17), 12-17". Academia.edu. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  4. ↑ Steindorff, G. 1946. The magical knives of ancient Egypt. Journal of the Walters Art Gallery, 9, 41-51; 106-107.
  5. ↑ Stephen Quirke: Birth Tusks: the Armoury of Health in Context - Egypt - 1800 BC, Middle Kingdom Studies 3. London 2016, ISBN   9781906137496, pp. 208-209
  6. ↑ "The magic wand". Esotericarchives.com. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  7. ↑ https://library.biblicalarchaeology.org/article/jesus-the-magician-why-jesus-holds-a-wand-in-early-christian-art/
  8. ↑ "Raffaella Benvenuto". Italian Fairies: Fate, Folletti, and Other Creatures of Legend. Endicott-studio.com. Retrieved 2021-06-06.
  9. ↑ Gerald Gardner, The Gardnerian Book of Shadows
  10. 1 2 Alex Sanders, The Alexandrian Book of Shadows
  11. ↑ Janet Farrar and Stewart Farrar, A Witches' Bible, 1981
  12. ↑ David Colbert, The Magical Worlds of Harry Potter, p 195, ISBN   0-9708442-0-4
  13. ↑ Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, v 1, p 315-6, Dover Publications, New York 1965
  14. ↑ "The magician's wand | ISBNdb.com – Book Info". ISBNdb.com. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.