Cult of Tarot Forum

I made a wand from a stick. It was a beautiful straight stick that I picked up in a mixed woodland area at nightime.

Here are some pictures - it has been carved, sanded and oiled. I would love to be sure what the wood is. I suspect alder? Can anyone verify?

Do you have any samples of the original wood. Also you mentioned it was nighttime but do you now if the tree was deciduous?

No this is all I have. And yes, the wood it was collected in was deciduous. It was quite a hard wood to carve.

I am really leaning towards Alder. I found a picture of a walking stick online and my stick looked like a smaller version of this before I carved it - the shape of the knots etc.

I'm annoyed I didn't take more notice if the trees at the time. The stick was originally going to be entered by my son into a stick competition (we were at a festival). I spotted it. It was the perfect stick. We asked the trees for permission to take it but then forgot to enter it in time. Something about it said "wand" so I took it home.

I dont know why I didn't think of this earlier. I asked my Ogham what my wand is. I pulled a stave at random out of the bag and got... Fearn (Alder). Wow.

Sounds like you got your answer!