The Forge Scale Hallowing

Your wand's own forge scale

Every wand I make is forged to order. As it is heated and hammered at the anvil, thin flakes of its own outer skin crack away and fall: the forge scale, or hammerscale. It is the same metal as your wand, shed in the very moment it became itself. Iron scale is blue-black and magnetic, and will cling to a magnet the way it clung to the wand. Copper scale is dark red and black, the colour of the metal in the fire.

I gather the scale from the anvil as each wand is made and send it with the wand in a small pouch, with a printed card of this rite. As far as I know, no other wand maker offers it. It is a real piece of your wand's making.

Download the printable ritual card (PDF, A5)

Iron keeps out; copper calls in

Iron has been trusted to guard and to bind for as long as folk have worked it. It was nailed over doors as horseshoes, buried under thresholds as knives, and carried on long roads, because the old stories held that ill spirits and the fair folk could not abide it. Smiths themselves were thought to have an uncanny touch.

Copper is the other half of the old craft. It is warm and bright and quick to carry heat, and it has long been sworn to Venus, to healing and to drawing good things in. The alchemists gave iron the sign of Mars (♂) and copper the sign of Venus (♀), and both are on the ritual card.

What you will need

• Your wand and its pouch of forge scale
• A small dish, with a pinch of salt or a little earth from a place that matters to you
• A candle, and a little water in a cup
• A quiet hour. A new moon suits beginnings and a full moon suits strength, but any hour chosen with intent will serve.

The rite, step by step

I. Clear the space. Light the candle. Wipe your wand from grip to tip with a soft, dry cloth, as if brushing the workshop from it. Breathe slowly until you are settled.

II. Earth, the grounding. Pour the scale into the dish with your salt or earth. Lay the wand across it, or touch its tip to the scale, and say:

From the earth you were dug, in the fire you were made. This is your own metal, shed as you took your shape. Be rooted, be steady, be whole.

III. Fire, the birth. Pass the wand slowly above the flame, never in it, and keep copper moving. Say:

You were born in fire and you do not fear it. Carry its light and its warmth to my work.

IV. Water, the smith's quench. A smith settles hot metal by quenching it. Touch one drop of water to the tip, then dry it at once. Say:

As the smith cooled you and set you true, so I settle you. Be calm in my hand.

V. Air, the naming. Hold the wand in both hands, breathe three slow breaths along its length, and speak your name aloud. Then say:

I breathe on you and name myself to you. From this day you answer to me alone.

VI. The binding. Pour a little scale into your open palm and hold it beneath the wand, so the wand looks down upon its own shed skin. Say:

I offer you the skin you shed to become your true self, so that you may see my true soul, and we are bonded eternally.

Close your hand over the scale, then open it. Return a pinch to the pouch and keep it with your wand. Iron scale may be laid across your threshold to keep ill things out; copper scale kept by the door or hearth to draw warmth, love and luck in; or bury a little in the earth, so the metal returns whence it came. Give thanks to whatever you work with, put out the candle, and use your wand at once for something small and good.

Looking after your wand

Whenever your wand feels dull, or has passed through other hands, lay it on its scale overnight to ground it again. Keep iron dry and give it a light rub of beeswax or oil now and then. Copper will darken to a warm patina; polish it if you like it bright. Keep the scale in its pouch, away from small children and pets, as the flakes are tiny and can be sharp.

Read more in my guide to hand forged wands, or have your wand carved with runes or initials.