Entry tags:

wizarding world:magic:wands

Wand Materials
First off: I'm new here, and I hope I'm following protocols ...

Background for this bit: I started trying to adapt the Harry Potter universe into a d10 (White Wolf style) RPG system about a year ago, mostly for my own amusement, and in the course of this decided to assign values and meaning to the various wand cores and woods. This was an outgrowth of that search: it only covers canon characters and speculation as to the meanings of the woods their wands are crafted from, and whether it's deliberate or accidental, the findings amused me to no end. This draws heavily on both the Celtic Ogham and neopagan herb-magic for the associations; sources are listed at the end of the essay.

Oak, Ash, and Thorn -- Famous Wands

Trees have long been held to have magical powers in folklore and folk magic all over the world. Whether these powers were drawn from the physical characteristics of tree, from uses, or from other things entirely, trees have come to have magical associations. Drawing on these associations as presented in modern magic, one finds some noteworthy things.

Lily Potter: willow

• Willow is one of the traditional materials in wands, surviving into the neopagan communities of today. A feminine plant, associated with the moon and water, it was often used for creation of divining rods and for water-witchery. It was supposed to hold powers over love, fertility, and women's magic.
  
• In the Celtic Ogham, willow was called saille, and associated with intuition and imagination; turned up in a divinatory reading, saille predicted dangers for yourself and those you love.
  
• Most important, however, in associating the willow with Lily Potter is the willow tree's role as protector. Willow is purported to guard against evil. More importantly, willow supposedly possessed a healing aura that blessed all it touched. Considering Lily's love protects Harry even after her death, it seems willow was an apt choice for her wand.

Tom Riddle / Lord Voldemort: yew

• On a purely mundane level, yew is extremely poisonous; only the berries of the plant are harmless. It also tends to grow to a great age, even for a tree.
  
• In magical associations, yew is associated with Saturn and water, and its chief power is related to the dead -- or even raising the dead. Burning yew was a means of contacting the dead.
  
• Called idad, idho, or ioho by the Celts, yew was related to death, immortality, and transformation in the Ogham. Death as implied by idho was not true death, however, but transformation from one state to another (as with the Death card in tarot), often accompanied by discomfort and loss.

Harry Potter: holly

• Like willow, holly is a plant noted for its great protective powers, guarding against "lightning, poison, and evil spirits". In old rituals, holly-water was sprinkled on infants to protect them. It is also associated with prophecy. Holly is masculine, associated with Mars and fire.
  
• In the Ogham, holly is tinne, which signifies balance, justice, and retribution. In particular, tinne implies revenge taken for wrongs done to friends and family. The challenge of tinne can manifest in a lack of ability to deal with present hardships, but the tree implies that one's strength will increase with adversity, and always rise to match the problem. Turned up in divination, it signifies steadfastness in the face of troubles.

Others

• In Hagrid's case, his wand being made of oak may simply imply his vast size -- the oak is often viewed as a broad, sturdy tree. However, the oak carries in the Ogham the meaning of strength and endurance, and is said to make a hero of one who knows its power. Since Hagrid's wand was snapped he may not quite comprehend the power of the oak, but he certainly has acted in the hero's aid. Furthermore, oak is also a strongly protective wood. Ironically, in the Ogham oak (called duir) is associated with the profession of wizard (coming from the Druids).
  
• Ron's new wand is willow: he has also served as a sort of a guardian for Harry, and while most of the qualities of willow may not be manifest, this one certainly is. The challenge of saille in the Ogham is in the need to discover important aspects of the self one is ignoring, and Ron is one who has a lot of growing up and self-discovery to do.

Sources Used:
Cunningham, Scott. Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs. St. Paul: Llewellyn Publications, 1985.
Hopman, Ellen Evert. A Druid's Herbal for the Sacred Earth Year. Rochester: Destiny Books, 1995.
McCoy, Edain. Celtic Myth and Magic. St. Paul: Llewellyn Publications, 1995.
Thorsson, Edred. The Book of Ogham: the Celtic Tree Oracle. St. Paul: Llewellyn Publications, 1994.

Content © Aderyn Dhu Productions, 2003. Harry Potter and associated topics are property of J. K. Rowling and others. No infringement upon those copyrights is intended.

And for the record, no, that RPG system has still not been finished, because I am the Queen of Procrastination.