Chapter 3: Preface

You hold in your hands Magical Wands - A Cornucopia of Wand Lore, one of the most popular and widely used textbooks on wand lore, even if I do say so myself. Although I specifically wrote this book for the wand lore class I teach at The Isle of Skye School of Magick, I am more than a little proud to note that it has been used in several other schools, both here in the British Isles and across the pond in America. My publisher even tells me that it is often used when young witches and wizards do not attend a proper school of magic but are home schooled instead.

When teaching wand lore, I cover the first four chapters during the fall semester and remaining four chapters during the spring semester. Although this book was specifically written for fourth year students, I sometimes allow the more advanced third year students to enroll, and they usually do not find the material too challenging even though the book is considerably longer than the typical third year textbook.

As the word cornucopia in the title implies, this textbook covers almost all of the important topics of wand lore. It begins with a quick review of the foundations of magic including the metaphysical elementals, phases, genders, and their associated spells and spell sets. It then dives into the many important principles of wand making. This is followed by chapters on the materials used in the crafting of wands including magical creatures for the wand's core, magical woods for the wand's shaft and handle, and finally the mystical crystals and metals often found on the wand's tip and end cap. The remainder of the book largely deals with the wands of famous and infamous mages throughout history including many examples of how the selection of wand components frequently enabled their wands to excel at strengthening and focusing the spells they cast most often.

In spite of its rather large size, this book does not cover every aspect of wand lore. For instance, it does not detail the proper ways to obtain wand-making materials and many of the practical aspects of crafting a wand from them. These are advanced topics more appropriate for a fifth year hands-on course in wand making. Neither does it teach the casting of spells, which is rightly the subject of a series of courses on spell casting.

And now it is time to dive into - dare I say it - the magical world of wand lore. I wish you all success in mastering the theory of wand lore, and. I hope you consider following this course with one covering the actual crafting of magic wands. Finally, I hope one or two of you consider a career of wand making once you graduate. After five years as an apprentice, you will become a master wand maker and enjoy a life of crafting fine wands, a mage's most important instrument.

Wolfrick Ignatius Feuerschmied, M.W.M.

The Isle of Skye School of Magick

14 June 1967