My New Stang

I was going to write a post today about how one doesn't need a lot of elaborate tools to be a Witch, but I'm going to be a hypocrite and write instead about my Stang which I have in the works.  On the off chance you don't know, a "stang" is a tool used in Traditional Witchcraft.  It's a staff, usually made of Ash, which has a forked top and which is used as both a wand, and as an altar for outdoor rituals  It represents the Horned God, and can be decorated with garlands of flowers, or can have a candle burning between the fork, for various seasonal rites.

Traditionally, one makes all ones' own tools.  This might have worked back in the day, when everyone had access to huge forests and had hatchets and saws laying about, but for somebody like me, who lives in a big city in an apartment, it's just not practical.  I don't have any woodworking skills, and don't have the talent or resources to make wands or staffs (to be fair to me, though, I DO have gardening skills, and can do an awesome candle spell, so we all have our own gifts.)  So, I do the next best thing and find skilled craftspeople who can make my tools for me, according to my specifications.  That way, I have access to the best woods, the best tools, and can have beautiful pieces made AND can still put something of myself in them.

Anyway, the guy working on my staff sent me the following pics to show me the stick he found.  It needs work still; the fork needs to be evened out, he's going to woodburn some symbols in there for me, and an iron nail is going to be driven up into the base of the staff (this last is to keep the power concentrated into the Stang, instead of letting it escape back into the Earth.)  Ash was unavailable, so mine will be Oak (which is just as well since Oak represents the Horned God.)  I can't wait until it's done and I have it here.  As it so happens, the staff is a tool which is heavily used in one of the Pagan paths I am soon to be following, so it seems like Fate that I found someone to make it, and he found the perfect stick, at this particular time.  Enjoy the pics, and I'll post the "final" ones when I get the end result.

The fork up close

The fork will be trimmed, and symbols added