The use of wands in magic can be traced back to ancient times, with the concept first popularized in England during the Middle Ages. Wands have been a real-life item for as long as humans have believed in magic, with prehistoric evidence supporting this. The Celtic Tree Calendar is known to have some significance in pairing wand and wizard. Over thousands of years, wands lost their original meaning of authority and instead acquired the meaning that they are inherently magical.
Wands, rods, and staffs have been used since antiquity. The scepter was carried among sorcerers in the Bible. The Zoroastrians of Persia used a bundle of twigs called a barsom in their scared rituals. Later, in Ancient Greece, Homer wrote about various gods who would wave wands to activate their superpowers, such as Hermes making people fall asleep or Circe changing men into pigs.
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 (wand). Wands could come from scepters, which in turn came from shepherd staffs which symbolized authority in Neolithic pastoral communities.
The apotropaic wand was an Egyptian magical tool, typically carved from a split hippopotamus tusk. One of the earliest examples of a wand-like instrument being used in sacred rituals comes from the ancient Zoroastrians, who used a wand found in the Pyramid Temple of Senwosret, Egypt. The inscription, thanks to the Metropolitan Museum of New York, provides valuable insight into the history and evolution of magic wands.
📹 What is the History of Magic Wands?
Magic wands…we see them everywhere in the modern fantasy genre. But what is the history of these mythological tools? Patreon: …
Is Magic Wand real or fake?
It is not uncommon for individuals engaged in the sale of counterfeit merchandise to utilize the terms “Magic” and “Wand” in an attempt to deceive search engines and consumers. Authentic Magic Wands, however, are consistently identifiable by the Magic Wand logo and the circle ® mark.
Who designed the Magic Wand?
The Magic Wand, formerly known as the Hitachi Magic Wand, is an AC-powered wand vibrator designed for relieving tension and relaxing sore muscles. It was first listed for business use in the United States in 1968 by Japanese company Hitachi. Sex educator Betty Dodson popularized its use as a vibrator and masturbation aid for women during the sex-positive movement in the late 1960s. The wand is 12 inches long and weighs 1. 2 pounds, with stimulation provided by its rubberized 2.
5-inch head. Hitachi claims its sole intended use is for health care purposes. The device was briefly stopped in 2000 due to a conflict with its U. S. distributor, but was later renegotiated with distributor Vibratex. The Magic Wand was featured in a 2002 episode of Sex and the City. In 2013, Hitachi ceased production due to concerns about having the company name attached to a sex toy. Vibratex persuaded the company to continue manufacturing the device under the name “Original Magic Wand”, omitting the Hitachi name. In 2014, the company used the name “Magic Wand Original”.
Who created the first wand?
Wands were first developed in Europe during the B. C. era, with the Ollivander family starting manufacturing wands in 382 B. C. They gained worldwide reputation and the Elder Wand, the most powerful wand in existence, was created in the 13th century. Irish witch Isolt Sayre and her husband James Steward were the first wand makers in North America. Sayre started making wands for her adoptive sons and students at her school, Ilvermorny. Rappaport’s Law restricted wand use for children until they reached seventeen. By the 1920s, wand use became common in North America, but every witch and wizard needed a Wand permit.
Why can’t wizards use magic without wands?
Wands were used by witches and wizards to channel their magic, making their spells more accurate and potent. Only the most powerful and disciplined wizards could perform wandless magic reliably. Transfiguration and charms were particularly difficult without a wand. However, the wand was a European invention, and some cultures did not traditionally rely on such tools for performing magic. Native Americans had predated European colonization practices that did not require a wand, and African witches and wizards only adopted the wand in the 20th century. Wandless magic was not officially taught at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but books on the subject were found in the Restricted Section of the Hogwarts Library.
What are magic wands made of?
Magical wands and staffs can be made from various materials like wood, stone, bone, or metal. Some of the most popular trees for creating these wands include birch, rowan, ash, alder, willow, hawthorn, oak, hazel, and holly. Almond (Prunus communis) is associated with fertility and prosperity, making it a great choice for divination magic and protection against the evil eye. The apple tree (Pyrus malus) is associated with eternal youth, fertility magic, love spells, ancient knowledge, strength, healing, and wisdom.
The apple tree is also known as the fruit of the underworld and is associated with the goddess Freya, making it a suitable choice for goddess-based magic. These trees offer unique and powerful properties that can be used to create magical wands and staffs.
What is the origin wands?
During the Middle Kingdom of Egypt, apotropaic wands were used during birth ceremonies, made from hippopotamus tusks that were split down the middle lengthwise. These wands were curved, with one pointed end and one blunt end, and may have been used to invoke the Taweret the hippopotamus goddess of childbirth. The earliest apotropaic wands in Egypt were undecorated, but from around 1850 BC, they were usually provided with decorations of apotropaic figures related to the sun religion, inscribed on the convex upper side. They were also inscribed with protective text on the flat side. The latest apotropaic wand found belongs to the Second Intermediate Period king Senebkay.
The Barsom, a bundle of twigs used by Zoroastrian Magi, was used for divination purposes and may be a form of prototypical wand from which later magical wands descend. The concept of magic wands was used by ancient Greek writer Homer in his epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey, using the word rhabdos (ῥάβδος), which means ‘rod’. Homer wrote that magic wands were used by three different gods: Hermes, Athena, and Circe.
In The Iliad, Hermes used his magic wand Caduceus to make people sleep and wake up, while Athena used her magic wand to make Odysseus old and young again, and Circe used her magic wand to turn Odysseus’s men into pigs.
What is the oldest wand?
The Elder Wand, created by Death and given to Antioch Peverell, was the most powerful of its kind and the most sought after of the Deathly Hallows. It was fifteen inches long, made of elder wood, and had a core of Thestral tail hair. The wand was loyal to the witch or wizard who had won it from its previous owner, causing significant conflict between those seeking it. Also known as “the Deathstick” and “The Wand of Destiny”, the Elder Wand was wielded by wizards like Grindelwald, Voldemort, Dumbledore, Draco Malfoy, and Harry Potter.
What is the power of wands?
Wide-area network (WAN) technology innovations enhance secure, fast, and reliable information access for organizations. WAN architectures are based on the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model, which visualizes computer networks in seven layers. Different networking technologies operate on these layers, creating a working WAN. The application layer, closest to the user, defines user interaction with the network and manages booking logic, such as sending invitations and converting time zones. This layer is crucial for business productivity and continuity. Understanding these layers is essential for effective WAN implementation.
Why are magic wands so big?
The Magic Wand is a powerful vibrator that produces strong, “rumbly” vibrations, unlike most toys that produce a buzz. Its oversize rubber head distributes these vibrations to as many clitoral nerve endings as possible at once, with the rumbles being revved up to 6, 300 rpm. The Wand’s ROI is clear: it works every time and for everyone. The invention of the Magic Wand was put to the ultimate test when the iPhone created a cultural desire for smaller, sleeker, and sexier toys.
Stockholm-based toy company LELO launched the LILY, a rechargeable vibrator that looked more like an earbud than a vibrator. However, the Magic Wand’s effectiveness and portability are more important than its cuteness, and the brand still reports half a million sales every year. The Magic Wand remains an IYKYK legend for decades, and its popularity was tested with the launch of the LILY, a rechargeable vibrator that looked more like an earbud than a vibrator.
Why do magicians use magic wands?
Magic wands, which often resemble a broom, are an indispensable element of magic shows. They are used to create illusions and to make objects disappear or appear at will. Such apparatus are indispensable to performers, enabling them to manipulate their props and construct a more logical and engaging illusion.
What does a wand symbolize?
The wand, which may be considered a phallic symbol, is thought to symbolize traditional masculine qualities such as drive, ambition, aggression, and life. Additionally, it is believed to evoke the “I” or ego, awareness of self, and individuation, with a focus directed outward.
📹 The Folklore & History of MAGIC WANDS
TONIGHT 8pm eastern LIVE we discuss MAGIC WANDS and some if its history and folklore!!! hosted by former occultist George …
One thing about wands I realized recently: I practice tarot reading, and the association between the suit of wands and fire always confused me. Then, this summer I learned how to start a fire with a bow-drill, and I realized once I was done that in a very literal sense I just used a wand (the spindle of the drill) to make fire from nothing. Pretty cool!
Maybe staffs are so common as a symbol of a priestly class because like, most professions require tools and those tools become a symbol of the profession, sword for a soldier, hammer for a blacksmith, scythe for a farmer ect, but since the main job of a priest doesn’t really require physically doing anything, their symbolic tool was kind of a blank slate, so they often picked the simplest tool, a stick.
It’s said of all divination tools that there is some mutual attraction but that is not to say that the object chooses the subject. Some people say of every day objects that “this was made for me” so it seems that there is some attraction of non-magical objects too. I’m sure that everyone can relate to that and that some will say that objects called to them or spoke to them that I believe is also a reflection of the attraction.
This makes me think of the podcast episodes “Pointing” by “Stuff to blow your mind”, iirc they talk about how pointing at someone makes people uneasy and cite a few (evolutionary) psychology papers/studies. And while there are many ways of pointing (e.g. iirc, with the chin or nose, with the finger straight or bend, with a head nod or eyebrow, or a stare) they can often be not as direct and unambiguous. While both staff and wand will be much less ambiguous, less undeniable, more uneasy-making. So it would be a great tool for rituals and authority figures. It’s not so surprising that this uneasy feeling that “just becomes” you when someone is only pointing at you, can give rise to magical interpretations. Especially amplified, when the pointing is accompanied by an unmistaken ritualized tool that’s used with similar clear (mal)intent and authority coming from the pointer.
Great article! The fixedness of size of wands suggests their primary purpose was measuring. Elbow to fingertip would give a suitably sized ruler for agricultural measurements with a built-in dibber! So the wand would be used by the director of operations. Much the same would apply to laying out plans for a new building. The person whose job it was to define standards of measurement would wield considerable power.
I think a lot of people have wands of sorts in their day to day spiritual practices, maybe without even knowing it. You could say it is a trendy idea, having a stick of fallen wood on your mantle or place where you pray, but actually… it is a symbol of taking back your power to communicate with the divine.
I mainly associate magic wands with Celtic culture/religion (mainly due to reading The Mabinogion as a child, those stories are full of wands!!) At least in that context, the power of wands seems to be connected with the veneration of sacred trees. In The Mabinogion, the type of wood it’s made from influences its use/powers. I remember rowan & I think elderwood wands being mentioned, & others I can’t remember! In one of the stories in The Mabinogion someone uses wands to turn enemies into pigs & hinds as punishment! Which I always found hilarious & delightful!
Okay, now I’m starting to see where this origin quest is going. I think I know what’s up. When he mentioned the effectiveness of certain wands made from certain woods of certain so- called sacred trees, it became apparent to me that magic wands are nothing more than the superstitious based, religiously diluted, later day version of ancient tree worship, before the concept of a spirit world even evolved in the mind of man, hundreds of thousands of years ago. Interesting.
The wand is a powerful object, for one who understands the true nature of ritual, the power is not in the object itself, but what it represents, or “invokes” within and without the practitioner according to intent…it goes back to primal instincts, our ancestors held a stick in their hand and envisioned the possibilities…tho I doubt our most primitive ancestors could have foreseen the baseball bat, or the pencil, or the Nimbus 2000…
Huh, interesting. I actually have been whittling wands and staves/walking sticks for a few years, now. I don’t follow the words of a grimoire or anything. Though my only rule for it is that the wood can’t have been cut from a tree, it must have already been on the ground. It’s about respect for nature and the energy with it.
Pure speculation, but I think the association with staffs and magic power likely came from old “sages”, “priests”, “wisemen”, or whatever you want to call them who talked about magic, spirits, and gods but always had a staff to help them walk because of their age. So the staff became an associated image that went along with those things
Maybe you are right about the wands falling into the category of multiple meanings. I have a feeling like although there is much information to back theories on them being magical, I think it holds something deeper. Perhaps, the “wand” was merely a handle of a tool. Hear me out… A wand is a tool used for the caster to focus their energies in order for something to manifest or be altered, etc. This usually involves what is said in D&D to fall into the category of material, somatic (gestural), or verbal. The handle of a tool is used in the same way; Whether the handle holds an axe head, or makes a hammer, or it’s a spear head, etc. The somatic movements of a given tool differ depending on the head piece. The essence being that if you take care of your wand (which is an extension of you/your arm; a cubit), you can use it for anything you want to manifest, given the proper head piece and knowledge of magic (somatic, verbal, material). Maybe our current day situation w/ tools (phones, computers, etc) mirror this same concept.
Also out of curiousity would the dowsing rod be considered a magic wand? For some people it works, mainly in finding underground water and petrol oil usually as a last resort survival tool where hi tech is too financially expensive. Also the relic of the Holy Sacred Lance was also consider having magical properties. And the trident of Neptune was also a magic symbol also used by other cultural ascetic priests like the hindu mainly for protection from vexation.
Many British institutions have an ornate mace and an official who carries it in processions: these are not very wand-like. Each order of chivalry has an administrator, with titles like Gold Stick, Silver Stick, etc: the best known of these is the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod, who is an official of the House of Lords. There is some magical thinking behind the feeling that the mace/rod has to be present for the proper functioning of an assembly. The mace of the House of Commons is taken down or covered when the chamber is used for a “committee of the whole house.” Roman centurions used to carry a vine staff, both as symbol of authority and to beat soldiers and civilians with. This may have been the ancestor of the “swagger stick” formerly carried by soldiers (latterly only officers). Canes have been emblems of the teaching profession for millennia. The ceremony for conferring the mediaeval degree of Master of Grammar used to conclude with the new master ceremonially caning a boy hired for the purpose. Men carrying bundles of canes (fasces) used to symbolise the authority of Roman magistrates. These were adopted by the 20th century authoritarians who called themselves “fascists.”
Could it be that it actually DID originate as a walking stick? Something to the extent of old = wise = ‘magic’ (knowledge of herbs and such practices)? I assume old people have always needed a stick to wander the terrain, and the older the more likely. So maybe they associated wiseness with this staff, and then continued the association as the modern concept of magic was developed! I assume old people would also usually lead rituals. It is also a well-known portrayal of magical wielders that they are old (the trope of an old beggar woman or some old outcast/lone man is old, I’m sure!) I love to think of symbolic items as starting as practical and turning out magical – and I’m pretty sure it holds true for most things! Granted, old people didn’t live to be quite as old back then, but the work was heavier etc., so I’m sure the oldest ones have still needed them to some extent 😊
I think that the old saying ‘speak softly but carry a big stick’ must be a mental concept that would be immediately recognisable even to our pre-verbal ancestors before anatomically modern humans emerged, so it would be a very small step for us to go from that to ‘rods of power’ and ‘magic wands’. And I daren’t even mention any possible phallic connotations.
I liked the article but find it important to ad that Snorri’s Edda was written 200years after the christening of Iceland. Therefore it’s very uncertain whether the stories he retells where part of a pre-Christian belief system or simply his own creations. The paper “The performance of Christian and Pagan storyworlds” elaborates further on what it means to examine Snorri’s Edda critically.
In sleight of hand, magic wands are purely utilitarian. The ability to move the tip of the wand quickly and easily makes for a very effective source of distraction, and when holding a wand, it becomes vastly simpler to palm an object while still keeping the hand in a natural and non-suspicious position. Otherwise, without a lot of practice, the hand looks scrunched up and awkward while palming something like a coin. I have long presumed that this was the origin in the belief in magic wands. Charlatans asserted that the stick in their hand was important to perform magic, and audiences had no reason to doubt it; when the reality was that the stick in their hand was important to perform their prestidigitation.
I don’t know everything about magic wands but I do know this, magic wands are not magic. I use a wand in my professional work as a healer but not always. A wand has no power within itself and is used to magnify the intent of the one using it. One can throw energy much further with a wand than by just thought alone. Choose your manifestation and project that energy by swinging your wand over your shoulder and the intent is sent with much greater strength. There is so much to be said about wands but the bottom line, no magic wand is magic, it’s just a piece of wood or metal. The magic is created inside the one using the wand and that magic is then intensified with the expectation that comes from the physical swinging or slamming if you will, of a stick up against reality. I use a wand in my psychic work. I paid $1.50 for a 2-foot piece of metal at the local thrift store. That’s after looking online at wands retailing for $80.00 or more. You’re not buying magic you’re buying a stick and in all truth, they have those things all over the place lying around on the ground. $1.50 and my wand works. Wands are part of the spirit world where money is never necessary. Everything is through thought energy. Peace.
Wood is made of carbon, carbon is electrically conductive. Probably could be fashioned into a sort of battery or tune wand. Acoustics was popular back then, harmonics are paired waves of sound. Sound is the pressure difference in a medium like air, air is also conductive but very poorly. Squishing the air would help website electrical power in an area, likely not far if only the wand is being used. Maybe in a field of higher then ground level voltage, like how the warden cliff tower was that Tesla made. The tower is really similar in concept to the largest pyramid in terms of structural design. Tldr: aliens are ancient humans that learned how to fly like spiders with the help of an local power source charging the air in that zone of influence. Paired with directed sound, higher current could be beamed or focused like a flash light to ideal targets, a target like a thing you can ride that balloons like a crab spider.
I will definitely watch replay with Gary week as I am perusal replay of this one. The harry Potter character teacher Snape always cracked me up because he reminded me of a fictional version of “that teacher that always send you to the office guaranteed to return with an ISS slip aka in school suspension’ for laughing or talking in class.
I recently saw an article about ark being found. Makes sense this would be reported before anyone tries to claim they have those items. I recall reading in my studies years ago, they have the Levites, all prepares for 3rd temple. This was back when they reported they found the snail necessary for the proper dye for the fabric.
Someone without understanding of the power of God might assume it was magic done with a wand. Remember Simon, in the Bible, thought he could purchase the power of God. It is not surprising, therefore, that someone without understanding would depict Jesus with a wand. It is certainly not an eye-witness account, simply an attempt to make sense of what they did not otherwise understand.
I want to comment on some things said … the rod that budded was “Aaron’s rod” Numbers 17. Maybe they shared the rod. 🤷♀️ When Aaron’s leadership was challenged, God had all the leaders from the 12 tribes bring their rods and Aaron’s rod budded and brought forth almonds. God asked Moses at the biting bush, “What is that in your hand?” then proceeded with the miraculous things to show Pharoah. Exodus 3 I do not believe the rod had power in itself, but God used it as a symbol to the people of His power. Jesus even says, “an evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign.” Matthew 12:39 We know Pharoah was evil and the children of Israel were adulterous in that they were quick to turn to other gods.
My question would be one to understand fortunately Jewish culture culture of the time. See if the high priest in the temple used one thing to the best nature for certain sermon or are we just to say that Jesus was the inventor of the first one or acquired a wand if you will from a different country in his travels for his actual ministry start. In my next question is understanding who Jesus is that Jesus is the second Adam that he is the Messiah, that he is the son of God why would this son of God need a conductor or a wand. I think to just assume that these things were from Jesus is walking on thin ice. Also understand that reasons why they may not be written in the Bible because of that Bible was controlled by the Catholic Church. It would be interesting to know what the Catholic Church has in his archives and catacombs from underneath Rome but I don’t particularly by Jesus used A wand