Magickal Wand: Wired or Not?

The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and the many magicians who follow in that tradition, used wands for many purposes. The most common wand is used to control the Element of Fire. You can see this mentioned briefly in Regardie’s book on the subject, and more fully described, including methods of construction, in the Cicero’s book.

The wand is the archetypal tool of the magician. Certainly, wands are used by Pagans in forms of simple tree branches (perhaps from different types of trees for different purposes) and by new agers made with complex crystal compositions. But to my knowledge, only the Golden Dawn required the use of a wire (or thin rod) of metal through the length of the wand.

Here is a (poorly copied, sorry) image of a Golden Dawn Fire Wand that appeared in my book, Modern Magick:

The wand was created by Chic Cicero. It’s a bit over a foot long. Although it’s difficult to see, a small metal wire actually pokes out from both the tip, on the left of the image, and the back of the wand. The “wire” is magnetized to help direct the energy.

The problem is that it’s difficult to get a wire through the center of a wand. Drill bits that long tend to wander and not go straight. You could cut the wand in half down its length, cut out a notch in both sides, and glue it together, but then it has to be put on a lathe to make the wand a true cylinder again. In their book, the Cicero’s suggest cutting out a segment, installing the wire, and then covering it up with putty and sanding. I’ve seen other people suggest using bamboo which is naturally hollow.

I was honored with a gift of a wand from the Ciceros, although I painted it myself. Here is a photo of the wand being held by a friend:

Although you can see the colors, you can’t see the lettering or clearly see the metal coming out of both ends.

I have been using this wand for many years. It seems like it becomes more powerful with each use. Perhaps the magnetized rod has something to do with that. Fire Wands without the metal insert just don’t do it for me any more.

But that’s just me. Have you used Fire Wands in a ritual that have or do not have the central metallic core? Does one have better results for you? What is your experience with the Fire Wand? Do you  think the Wire is necessary? How did you get it through the center of your wand?