Staffs

The first of the PectiWita tools is the staff. If you want to compare it to the tools of other traditions, it is the Sword and the Magick Wand both rolled into one. Obviously for the Highlander, travelling over the mountainous regions, it is a useful, if not essential, piece of everyday equipment. It can even be used as a weapon, or defence or offence. But for the PectiWitan it is more than that. It can be used to mark and to consecrate a ritual Circle. It can be used to direct energy/power into that circle, or for the working of magick. Like the Wiccan's Athame, the PectiWitan's Staff is his or her personal tool; the one which is most used, thereby absorbing most of the individual's energies. The Gaelic for "a magickal staff" is 'an luirgean' or 'an lorg ohn'.

The Staff is usually of chest height, though I have seen those that are the same height as the owner. It is made of hard wood. Oak and yew are popular, as are walnut and ash. Thickness of the shaft should be simply what is comfortable to hold. - probably about one-and-one-half inches in diameter, tapering down to roughly half that. The staff need not be absolutely straight, from end to end. I have seen some with bends in them, some with twists, but the bottom one-third of it should be straight as possible.

You should cut the staff in the waxing phase of the moon (after the new moon and before the full) and let it dry out thoroughly and slowly, at room temperature. Do not try to hurry things along by fast-drying it. You may strip off the bark or leave it on, whichever you prefer. You could take off all of it except for a strip to act as a handgrip near the top. Alternatively, you may want to bind leather, or fur, around the staff for a handgrip.

The Staff may be left natural or stained/varnished/oiled. You can even paint it, if you wish, though I have seen few that have been more than slightly "touched up" with paint. Yet most Staffs that I have seen have at least been slightly decorated, with a name carved or burned into the wood; with feathers or fur attached; with carvings or the embellishment of natural aberrations. Some PectiWitans actually name the Staff, and this name is carved or burned into it. When it comes to any form of writing, on this or any of the other tools, the PectiWitan Runes are used or, occasionally, the Pictish glyphs, though these latter are not easy to work on wood.

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