[Help] Help me understand if/why I need a wand or pentacle?

[pixel_fortune]

Hi!

"Do I need a wand/pentacle?" is the wrong question because you don't need anything. I mean "can you tell me what its uses are, so I can decide if one would be of use to me?"

Context: I'm not doing any formal traditional lodge stuff (although I do borrow heavily from trad ceremonial magic practices). So I don't need to just walk around holding it as a symbol of office.

I prefer to use my hand / sword mudra for QC/pentagram/hexagram rituals

okay so I've read a TONNE of stuff saying I need the four elemental tools/weapons (with the athame often optional) but then the same books don't contain any rituals that make use of a wand or pentacle, so I don't understand why they insist I acquire one.

Incense burner and candle obviously gets used a lot, and the chalice is used in several rituals - if you use it for holy water to consecrate a circle, but also Nick Farrell's

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or the Lapis Lazuli Wine Blessing from Norman Kraft's Aurum Solis book for eg. It comes up.

Q1: what is a wand used for in solo work, other than casting circles? If I don't use it for that, is it likely I would have any use for it?

Q2: what is a pentacle used for ever? How do you make use of it as a tool?

is it purely symbolic - ie, is its purpose just "experience the process of making one" and "sits on your altar, being symbolic"?

Thanks for any insight you can give!

 

[Roma]

I do not do physical magic, apart from being very careful about objects/furniture brought into the house and their placement/orientation within energy flows in the house

Occasionally I see humans that have been given inner planes devices - often a short rod or a trident. When they consciously wield the device they have access to authority and particular energies. Some humans carry quite a few such devices including swords. The Arthurian account of a "sword" in a stone is one such.

I have seen such a "sword" stored inside a physical sword. Several people could detect the size of the inner sword

Pentacles are geometric devices and thereby resonate with particular energies when properly aligned and activated. TV antennas operate similarly.

There are many energy flows across/into the planet, at all scales. Many flows are contaminated.

Having found a flow into which the human may properly enter, a geometric device can be used to focus/direct the energy for particular purposes.

The tiled pavement used in some Masonic temples is such a device. It is a complex crossing.

 

[pixel_fortune]

Thanks!

 

[DiLoco_DelEted]

Hi!

"Do I need a wand/pentacle?" is the wrong question because you don't need anything. I mean "can you tell me what its uses are, so I can decide if one would be of use to me?"

Context: I'm not doing any formal traditional lodge stuff (although I do borrow heavily from trad ceremonial magic practices). So I don't need to just walk around holding it as a symbol of office.

I prefer to use my hand / sword mudra for QC/pentagram/hexagram rituals

okay so I've read a TONNE of stuff saying I need the four elemental tools/weapons (with the athame often optional) but then the same books don't contain any rituals that make use of a wand or pentacle, so I don't understand why they insist I acquire one.

Well, one reason is each implement (in a Golden Dawn setting) or for use with Opening by Watchtower, is they are used in initiation and Ceremonial Magic rituals.

Another reason is grimoires and the Solomonic traditions require certain tools or weapons.

But does one actually need one is a matter of debate, even with Outer Order Golden Dawn rituals.

The pentacle is used as a plate for offering of bread and salt, or as a shield.

The wand is used ... Especially as a beginner .. to invoke or banish with the LBRP or LRP. Typically one half white for invoking, black on the other half for banishing. The Fire Wand, Lotus Wand are used for other purposes.

Incense burner and candle obviously gets used a lot, and the chalice is used in several rituals - if you use it for holy water to consecrate a circle, but also Nick Farrell's

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

or the Lapis Lazuli Wine Blessing from Norman Kraft's Aurum Solis book for eg. It comes up.

Q1: what is a wand used for in solo work, other than casting circles? If I don't use it for that, is it likely I would have any use for it?

See my reply above.

Q2: what is a pentacle used for ever? How do you make use of it as a tool?

See my reply above.

is it purely symbolic - ie, is its purpose just "experience the process of making one" and "sits on your altar, being symbolic"?

Yes.

Thanks for any insight you can give!

You're welcome

 

[JMPtD]

Check this out check this out check this out.

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[Crows&Ravens]

Check this out check this out check this out.

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You can even feel the energy coming out if you point it at your hand, I was testing different stones as well in which each gave out different energies.

 

[Roma]

You can even feel the energy coming out if you point it at your hand,

Is the same true if you point a finger at the palm of the other hand?

 

[Crows&Ravens]

Is the same true if you point a finger at the palm of the other hand?

Yes, but not quite the same. Its best to use your dominant hand anyways.

 

[pixel_fortune]

Check this out check this out check this out

Okay so that article says the wand has 2 purposes: to focus energy, and to be a trigger to shift into magical mindset

I prefer to use my hand for directing energy because I can feel stuff better, and I have a ring that I only wear during ritual which performs the same "trigger" function. So it's sounding like I wouldn't have any use for a wand.

I thought Roma's mention of the pentacle as creating a geometric flow was interesting, but that's still pretty abstract - hopefully someone can say "here is a ritual that uses it, and how you use it in that ritual" (if there is a ritual that uses it)

Its best to use your dominant hand anyways.

I think Roma was saying "what if you use your empty dominant hand to point at your other hand, instead of using a wand held in your dominant hand"
(rather than "what if you hold the wand in your other hand")

 

[Roma]

I thought Roma's mention of the pentacle as creating a geometric flow was interesting, but that's still pretty abstract - hopefully someone can say "here is a ritual that uses it, and how you use it in that ritual" (if there is a ritual that uses it)

There are many places/flows/times/entities/karmas. How can one set of actions, devices and supposed names work in all situations?

Perhaps it is better to relate to energies and entities and cooperate with them in each situation.

 

[JMPtD]

Ring idea is cool. Don’t give up for the pentacle if interested. Something I can see is the pentacle can be used for 4:48 am to 4:48 pm and the other side can be used for 7:12 am to 7:12 pm. Based off of the 4 144s of daytime method and the fifth 144 being the morning or evening ‘’hour’’ halfway between midnight and noon. So there is a second frequency one might say which starts 144 (an “hour”) minutes after 4:48 am at 7:12 am and one that ends 144 minutes after 4:48 pm at 7:12 pm. So the 144 or 4 minute sand glass would be a good tool as it can keep one with subtle energies being activated by chemical reactions or sound hitting a pendulum before and after the sun is visible itself. i’ll refer you to my horology post and maybe necromancy. stay creative with the understandings. Maybe trigger the pentacle twice in the morning with tools and intentionality maybe using mantra and let it radiate the time play.

Post automatically merged: Dec 18, 2023

There could be a primordial tap with especially the first and last 144s having the most abstract points (minutes) first and having them last for the next 4 whether that is might or say and the pendulum seems to be quite a lullaby or trance inducer of mystical focus/energies

Post automatically merged: Dec 18, 2023

Whether that is Night or day*

 

[Crows&Ravens]

I think Roma was saying "what if you use your empty dominant hand to point at your other hand, instead of using a wand held in your dominant hand"
(rather than "what if you hold the wand in your other hand")

I mostly always use my fingers.

 

[Yazata]

Hi!

"Do I need a wand/pentacle?" is the wrong question because you don't need anything. I mean "can you tell me what its uses are, so I can decide if one would be of use to me?"

Context: I'm not doing any formal traditional lodge stuff (although I do borrow heavily from trad ceremonial magic practices). So I don't need to just walk around holding it as a symbol of office.

I prefer to use my hand / sword mudra for QC/pentagram/hexagram rituals

okay so I've read a TONNE of stuff saying I need the four elemental tools/weapons (with the athame often optional) but then the same books don't contain any rituals that make use of a wand or pentacle, so I don't understand why they insist I acquire one.

Incense burner and candle obviously gets used a lot, and the chalice is used in several rituals - if you use it for holy water to consecrate a circle, but also Nick Farrell's

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

or the Lapis Lazuli Wine Blessing from Norman Kraft's Aurum Solis book for eg. It comes up.

Q1: what is a wand used for in solo work, other than casting circles? If I don't use it for that, is it likely I would have any use for it?

Q2: what is a pentacle used for ever? How do you make use of it as a tool?

is it purely symbolic - ie, is its purpose just "experience the process of making one" and "sits on your altar, being symbolic"?

Thanks for any insight you can give!

I agree with everything you said. Of course I made the elemental tools according to Kraig's instructions, but they were just useless props that were on the altar. The sword that I made (from a 1 mm thick piece of steel) looked so ridiculously childish
Then over the years I kept taking them out of the closet less and less.
Wands have always seemed like a replacement penis if I'm honest and even though I made several I never saw the point. I went back to the "special" versions of these tools in recent times: I made the dagger according to the grimoires from scratch with AGLA+ON etched in the blade, I made the Blasting Rod with magnetized tips and I made a mirror that has the Sigillum Dei on it. These are tools that DO have a function in ritual (protection / compelling / divination) and I think the elemental versions are preparing you for making these ones.
Only one I haven't been able to make - and probably never will because there was a funny coincidence when it came into my life - is the chalice. I will keep the silver one I bought.

 

[pixel_fortune]

Ring idea is cool. Don’t give up for the pentacle if interested. Something I can see is the pentacle can be used for 4:48 am to 4:48 pm and the other side can be used for 7:12 am to 7:12 pm. Based off of the 4 144s of daytime method and the fifth 144 being the morning or evening ‘’hour’’ halfway between midnight and noon. So there is a second frequency one might say which starts 144 (an “hour”) minutes after 4:48 am at 7:12 am and one that ends 144 minutes after 4:48 pm at 7:12 pm. So the 144 or 4 minute sand glass would be a good tool as it can keep one with subtle energies being activated by chemical reactions or sound hitting a pendulum before and after the sun is visible itself. i’ll refer you to my horology post and maybe necromancy. stay creative with the understandings. Maybe trigger the pentacle twice in the morning with tools and intentionality maybe using mantra and let it radiate the time play.

Post automatically merged: Dec 18, 2023

There could be a primordial tap with especially the first and last 144s having the most abstract points (minutes) first and having them last for the next 4 whether that is might or say and the pendulum seems to be quite a lullaby or trance inducer of mystical focus/energies

Haha okay that needs a lot simpler sentences for me to understand it! I'm not across the significance of those times or what it means to "use" a pentacle for it.

(However since I'm not getting up at 4:48am, you probably don't need to waste your time clarifying it. I appreciate your point about being open to not creative uses)

Post automatically merged: Dec 18, 2023

I agree with everything you said. Of course I made the elemental tools according to Kraig's instructions, but they were just useless props that were on the altar. The sword that I made (from a 1 mm thick piece of steel) looked so ridiculously childish

That makes me feel better! Don't want to metaphorically take down a fence if I don't know why it was put up.

The chalice I bought after repeatedly thinking "it would be nice to have a chalice for that". Whereas that never happened with the wand. I did own one, ended up giving it to my 6 year old niece, who's getting a LOT more use out of it.
(She immediately stuck a bunch of plastic rainbow gems all over it. I like to imagine whatever spirit dwells in it is happy to be actually participating in someone's life now)

 

[Romolo]

“The wand creates, the sword destroys, the vessel preserves, the pentacle ordains,” writes Crowley somewhere in Magick in Theory and Practice. I find it useful to include one “artifact” of each of the tarot suits in my practices. As an aphant (someone without inner eye) I really need those external objects to manifest.

I consider wands an extension of the finger. I also believe that the first hominids used branches to point at the world, hereby “naming” the world, and literally creating the world by doing so. Wands, for me, are branches that either fall on my shoulder or appear in front of me while walking. They cannot be otherwise taken or sought (this is just a constraint that I put myself) On one particular wand, actually more like a rod, I wrapped an amethyst and a wisteria seed pod at the tip. I call this rod my “dragon claw” and use it for ceremonial practice and rites of passage.

Lastly I would say that holding and waving a wand diversifies and intensifies the movements of the body. It helps to break out of what I call “the city body”. It helps to easier slip into the World-in-Between.

 

[Anziel_Merkaba]

Honestly, external tools are mainly used to help form mental associations with actions to reduce the amount of things you have to keep focused on during ritual. If you associate a certain 'tool' with a certain 'action', for example a pentacle to protect, it makes it easier for you to keep 'protection' in your mind during the ritual. Basically using subconscious connections to enable easier conscious focus.

 

[DiLoco_DelEted]

I have to say my laziness and or grandiose plans to make the most awesomeness pentacle ever, is the entire reason why Ive not even made a
Tau robe, let alone the pentacle. Or the lamp for that matter.
The tau robe for me is complicated as I suck at sewing.
The pentacle I wanted to build nbecame so complicated the idea is out of the question for me now.
The pentacle, which can be used as a shield or a plate (of bread and salt usually), can also be used to draw invoking earth triangles, earth pentagrams, etc.
It can be simple as a hockey puck I should buy and some paint kit as well. That should be enough to create a simple Earth pentacle.
It could be required as a sort of cosmic initiation badge, or permit if you will. There are occult police.