The Power of the Magic Wand
Does a magic wand really work?  Can it turn a frog into a prince?  Can it defeat enemies?  Romantic literature and Disney films sometime give the wand a simplistic power of its own that can be wielded by anyone who holds it.  Every child dreams of having such a magic wand with which they can do anything. The truth is that the wand has no power of its own but only acts as an extension of the holder.  To understand this better it is necessary to look at the origin of the wand and see where it came from and what its purpose was.

It is possible that the magic wand has its roots in Central Asia and Siberia with the shaman. When performing religious, healing, and magical ceremonies they would use a drumstick to bang on a drum or point at people and objects.  Bones and sticks and would be obvious items to use as pointing devices.  The act of pointing is to draw the viewer’s attention from the wand holder to the object that is being pointed at.  In other words, the effect is to focus upon the desired object being pointed at.

Origin of the Magic Wand
It is this concept of drawing attention away from the holder and using the wand to focus it somewhere else that is at the heart of the wands perceived power. From this point on it easy to understand how the users of the wand might want to give the wand as much status as possible.  Wands themselves began to be special, after all not any old bone or stick would do.  To make the wand special it had to have some special attributes, and the making of a wand became a highly secretive ritual.

In the second century BC, semi-circular ivory wands, decorated with fearsome deities, were used by the Egyptian priests. The Druids, whose name derives from "man with the wisdom of the wood", bear very similar features to shamanism, particularly in some of the magical feats that Druids were said to have performed. The Druid wand was a naturally occurring wooden spiral formed by the action of a creeping vine such as ivy or honeysuckle. It could not be taken from the tree unless it was dead.  These were known as a ‘dragon’.

In the Middle Ages, the more familiar witches and wizards, literally ‘wise men’ were associated with the use of wands.  These were usually made of hazel. Great care would be taken when creating the wand; it would be cut and stripped with a special knife at sunrise and stained with sacrificial blood. Prayers would then be said to encourage the greatest possible energy force in to the wand.

Variations and Uses
Wands, batons, sceptres, rods and the staff, all are essentially the same thing. Since the dawn of mankind they have been used in healing rituals, blessings of everything including births, buildings, animals, marriages, fields and conducting symphonies as well as crowds.  In addition they have been seen as symbols of power and have been used to lend an aura of power to officials, despots and dictators.  They have been used to protect the precious and curse the enemy and even to bring forth water from a rock in the desert.

What is a magic wand? A magic wand is simply a tool for focusing attention during a magic trick. A magic wand is a channel and embodies a focal point of energy. Based on their magical symbolism, stage magicians use "magic wands" as part of their misdirection, to focus your attention wherever the magician wants it to be.  Does a magic wand work? The answer to that question depends upon what your expectation is as well the expectations of the audience on who you are using it. 

This article was written specifically for www.BestMagicSite.com and all copyrights are reserved. You may reproduce this article only if this copyright notice is included and the hyperlink to the Best Magic Site is included

Magic (home) | Sitemap | Contact us