Tools Used in Magickal Workings: Staff

1. Obtain the wood that you will use.
2. There are several ways that you can go about acquiring the wood.
3. The wood needs to be at least as tall as you are at a  minimum (yet it may be taller).
4. Absolute straightness is not required.
5. Not any type of wood is best to use,  look up the meanings of different woods and decide what is best for your purposes.

You can find a stick on the ground to use or you cant cut a branch from a tree. If you choose the latter method, then it would be wise, though not mandated, that you thank the tree for its wood. Also, you should cut the stick using your Magickal Knife, if at all possible. If not, use a saw that you have consecrated and/or purified.

One other form thatyou can use, though it is exceedingly rare to obtain, is to find an entire tree that is no longer growing and is small in diameter, and pluck it out, including the stump.

When obtaining a staff, if you are cutting it, then you need to cut it during dawn or twilight. Now, you must also cut the stick at the right lunar phase (full moon for healing, new moon for destruction, if you want to do both, then cut when the moon is 50% full). It must also, for best results, be done at  midsummer.

2. Prepare the new staff

Shave the bark off of the wood using your Magickal Knife (not your Athame, unless you are a practitioner of Kitchen Witchcraft).

Once you have finished, sand the wood down until it is smooth.

3. Infuse the wood with your own life energy.

Visualize your  energy coursing through the wood and bonding with it.

4. (Optional) Elementally charge your new staff.

a. Create a Circle of Magic  and summon the Elements into the circle. Ask them to charge the staff with their energies. Thank, and dismiss the Elements. Close the Circle.

b. (Advanced) Create an Orb of tempered glass that fits tightly about the tip of thy staff and fill it with the substance of the desired element. For example: if you want a staff of water, fill the orb with water. After you have done this, firmly place the front end of the staff into the opening of the orb and tightly wrap it shut, use woolen string for the best effect.

5. (Optional) Carve symbols onto the staff.

6. (Optional) Take a leather pouch filled with charged gemstones and attach it to the staff.

7. (Optional) Hollow out a little bit of the forward end of the staff and set a crystal point stone in it (glue and any other methods may be used).

8. (Recommended) Allow the staff to come to full power by charging it with the moon. Do this by allowing it to sit three days under the Full Moon (positive working staff), three days under the New Moon (negative working staff), or three days under Full and New Moons (neutral staff) OR 60 hours under both Full and New Moons (neutral staff).

9. (Optional) Decorate the staff.

--THUNOR