Wand-Making
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Lesson Four




Staffs



Staffs are wonderful things to have and very useful. If you are not using them for spellwork, they can be used as a walking stick, something to poke awake a sleepy student or a large baton to practice twirling.

There are many staffs that are famous -- if only because of the wizards and witches that wielded them.

If you desire to have a staff, the same principles apply as making your wand. The wood, the designs on it, the coverings and/or core -- all the symbology is still there, you just have more of it.



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In the spring of 2006 I was walking where some trees had been fallen in order to make way for a road. I was communicating with the spirits of the trees and plants whose bodies had been 'destroyed' by a Muggle who hadn't even had the courtesy to tell them what was going to be done. I was shown, by the surviving plants and the spirits of the downed plants and trees, to walk to a certain area and up a hill.

There, lying in the grass and mud, was a portion of the severed trunk of a young tree. It was about 6 1/2 feet long. The smaller end of it was bigger around than my hand could grasp while the larger end was rather huge, and I had to hold it with my two hands.

The message was clear and implicit -- this was my staff. I was not even certain what kind of wood it was; now I believe it is alder but am not certain. Most of the trees cleared from that area were alder, and the bark had that appearance but there were no leaves for a final identification guide.

I picked up the piece of wood, my staff, and carried it home with me. It was hefty in weight; it'd been sitting on the ground absorbing rain water for a while. (While it didn't start out being heavy, it certainly seemed to have doubled in weight by the time I got home!)

Obviously, my staff needed some treatment to become handy and useful. It needed to dry out on a flat surface. I needed to take the bark off and shorten it to my height.

I laid it on the railing of the front porch, where it would get some evening sun and be on a flat surface. It remained there all summer long. Some of the bark lifted away but nost of it stayed on.

A few months later (in October, 2006) I scraped away most of the bark. I used a saw and shortened it to 5' 5" (my height), only cutting the narrow end down a couple of inches to remove any splitting of the wood and taking away most of the excess from the larger end.

It stood by the bookshelf in the front room for a year or so. Then one day in Autumn 2007 I had an internal signal that I am ready for a staff. I started smoothing it down and reducing the diameter with a wood planer. It is still a little large for me to grasp so I smooth it down more whenever I have an urge to do so, to reduce the diameter. I've no idea of what it will look like when 'finished'. I've been smoothing it down now for a couple of years. I'm starting to wonder if it is a regular staff, which one can carry easily and even use as a hiking stick if so desired, or a quarter-staff (a staff used for sparring or fighting) as it certainly seems to be rather substantial (and heavy) still.

In June 2009, I was at a local SCA event (Society for Creative Anachronism) and walked into a merchant's tent, thinking I was looking for a sword. Instead of finding a sword, though, I felt magnetized to a wall stand which held, amongst other items, a staff which literally called out to me. I picked it up and it was amazingly light, yet felt 'tough'. (It is of bamboo, which is known for being light in weight yet exceedingly durable.) It's 5 feet and one inch in length and 3-1/4 inches diameter. It had been marked with a dark spiraling band going the full length and is quite beautiful!

I purchase this wonderful staff and now have 2 staffs -- and my 'staff collection' now feels complete. I'm no longer drawn to continue reducing the diameter of my original staff. Perhaps some day I will start smoothing it down again, but right now it's fine as it is.



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