Pagan Blog Prompts: Your Tools

Today’s post is all about tools! I thought this would be a short entry considering how few tools I actually own, but you know me — always rather verbose.

Prompt: Your Tools

What tools do you use, if any?
Tarot or other divination tools?
Athame, chalice, candles, wand, etc?

Why have you chosen to use these tools? How do you prepare and maintain them? Where/how do you store them?

Like I said, I have very few, but those that I do own are incredibly precious to me.

First, my wand. I don’t know from what kind of tree it came, but my wand came into my life when I was at university. I had been struggling for a while with my personal faith, and just earlier that week, I had come to terms, again, with my spirituality and embarking on a path that was completely my own. It was a moving day for me, when I was walking with a friend to one of my classes and came across the perfect branch on the ground. It had fallen from a tree on campus, and was just the right length and width. I picked it up from the ground, covered in a light layer of dirt, and dusted it off to reveal a beautiful piece of wood with notches in all the right places, including one just before the “handle” ended.

Inspired, I took it home and brushed off what was left of the dirt, then got to work peeling off the outer bark to reveal the phloem underneath. Appropriately, the phloem is the “pipeline” through which food is passed to the rest of the tree. Always regenerating, the phloem loves for only a short time, then it dies and turns to cork to become part of the protective outer bark. I removed it only as far as the notch that creates the handle, thinking that I wanted my wand to represent who I was at the time: Chipping away bits of myself, enough to leave a protective layer on the outside, but showing my true self on the inside, the part that’s always changing and evolving. It is, by far, the most important tool in my practice, even if I don’t get to use it all that often!

A couple years ago, at a Witches Meetup in Orlando (with some awesomely amazing friends whom I miss so dearly!), we were playing around with crystals and beads and other decorative stuff, and I took both my wand and a piece of quartz I’ve had for years, threaded the quartz on the wand with some wire, and felt the power even more strongly than before. It was like acknowledging that part of myself and beautifying it… simply incredible.

Second, in the midst of all this “finding myself” I did at university, I stumbled across the Pagan Student Association (PSA) and became good friends with quite a few of its members. During one of their weekly meetings, we had a contest for… something. You know, I honestly don’t remember what! But I actually won something:

This beautiful vial! It had a cork, but I somehow misplaced that. Hm.

Since I’ve had it, it’s been a place for me to store bits of incense and smolder from important magickal workings, liquids for various purposes, and just to serve as something pretty on my altar. It rather holds the same meaning as my wand: Beautiful on the outside, just waiting to be filled with other beauties, trappings, and knowledge that only magick can provide.

Third, my pentacle disc. While living in Tallahassee, I came across this little shop, Crystal Connection. It was right off the bus route from university, so once in a while (during Publix trips and other random excursions), I’d pay a visit to the teeny shop and peruse their wares.

I wasn’t looking for anything in particular the day I found my disc, but I did have the Charge of the Goddess in my head for days, so when I came across this piece, I HAD to have it.

Along the sides is carved, from the Charge, “I am the beauty of the green earth and the white moon among the stars.” This disc has been with me everywhere, either hanging on the wall over my altar or serving as the charging disc (and how appropriate that the disc actually has a Charge inscribed right in it!). Many pentacles have come and gone, but this one will be in my life forever.

And finally, this is such a silly piece on the outside, but on the inside, it means the world to me. When I was 13 and first started researching Wicca (which then evolved into eclectic Paganism), I had the Goddess on my mind pretty much every minute of every day. One day, when I was about 15, I found myself in the Dollar Tree searching for… well, actually, it was probably candy. What I came out with, though, provided more satisfaction over the years than all the Reese’s I could buy:

For someone who felt Spirit’s presence everywhere, and finding a piece that could even remotely come close to a representation of the female aspect of the Divine… I was over the moon (no pun intended!). I picked Her up and held Her in my hands for a bit, just reveling in the feeling of having found something quite like it. Her veneer allows me to personify Her any way I’d need, and Her posture just seemed so serene and… Goddess-like.

Definitely the best $1.06 I had ever spent, and it’s been with me now for over 10 years. Each time I pull her out to place on my altar, I can’t help but smile and reflect on how far I’ve come. And She has seen me every step of the way.