Wand

A stick used to point and to direct attention. Any stick will do.

A wand is a slender stick that a witch uses to point: to draw a circle in the air, to direct her attention to a candle or a bowl, to mark the beginning of a working. It makes a direction visible, much as a conductor's baton does.

Staffs and rods appear in stories of magick from antiquity onwards; Circe turns the companions of Odysseus into pigs with one. The wand as a regular tool comes from the books of ceremonial magick, which give long rules for cutting it. Modern witches are more relaxed. A fallen branch about the length of your forearm, a wooden spoon or your own finger serve equally well. Traditions disagree on whether the wand belongs to the element of air or of fire.

Do not cut a wand from a living tree that is not yours, and never point one at a person as a threat or a joke.

Related: tools of the craft, athame, circle.