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Tools, Pagan, Making Some of Your Own
Clean and wash an empty can with one side completely opened. Use a large can, like from peaches. Find some screen (stainless steel, if you can) with larger holes, about one quarter-inch square. Cut it into an octagon (eight sides) so that at least one inch sticks out over all sides of the round can. Bend four sides down, so it sets on top of the can. Burn a charcoal block on top of the screen, with incense, herbs, or resin incense, on it; there, you have made your own censer. You can paint the outside silver, or some color, if you like. Use a brush and regular paint, in the old-standard way, if you paint anything (as aerosols are horrible for people and the environment, and they smell extremely badly, and all chemicals should be out-lawed everywhere, forever).
Save a taper candle (the long candles, though, about eight inches) that you blessed, or placed energy into, at/from each of the eight Sabbats (solar/seasonal festivals), that you only lit for a couple minutes, so most of it is intact. So, this will take a year to make, but it's easy. Use a different at each Sabbat, if you want a nice, striped candle. Clean out a tall, opened can, like from spaghetti sauce. Melt your first candle for the bottom layer (like from the Samhain Sabbat), and remove the wick from the kettle, once the candle's melted. Make it a long wick. Tape it, dangling down straight, into the center of your candle. Pour in the first layer. Wait for it to harden, at room temperature (the waiting is the hardest part, ::grin::, right? but good for those long-term, magickal patience, skills). (You could probably turn the heat off, on the stove, during those times of waiting, between layers.) Then, melt the next taper candle/layer, like from the next Sabbat (which would be the winter solstice/Yule, after Samhain/Halloween). Pour it on top of the previous layer. Continue doing this process. Then, allow it to cool entirely. Wait overnight, really. Then, run some hot water over the sides of the can (you may have to cut off the can's bottom side) to slip out the thick candle (of course, removing the tape, like probably, duct tape, from the top). Engrave the years which the Sabbats spanned (i.e., '97-'98, or whatever) on the bottom, and/or your initials, or magickal or astrological symbols, and so on. Then, you have a good-looking candle that contains some of the energies from the eight Sabbats, which are important holidays for Wiccans, Witches, and most Pagans. Thus, it's called a "Wheel of the Year Candle." You could melt all the candles together, and pour them together -- but you won't have a striped candle, you'll have a brown one. ::smile::
The pentacle is a five-pointed star within a circle. It represents the five elements -- earth, air, fire, and water, with the top point being Spirit. It's a also a symbol of magick, and sometimes, of Witchcraft, in general. The pentacle is used to hold items to be consecrated, represents the element of earth, and to summon or "dismiss" spirits. This item is usually placed in the circle or middle of an altar. To make your own: melt two or three green (an earth color) taper candles. Pour the wax into a mold, like from the top of a metal Christmas-cookie tin. It should be about six inches in diameter (across). Let it cool and harden. Remove carefully from mold. Part five points, using a compass (the half-circle thing, from mathematics), 72 degrees apart (a circle is 360 degrees, so, you divide that by five, which equals 72). Use a straight-edge, or ruler, and an engraving tool, to mark and engrave the star into the wax disc. When finished, you'll have a really great pentacle disc. You might simply want to make more of these, too, for the enjoyment of doing so.
Traditionally, a besom (pronounced "bez-zoom"), or Witches' broom, is made using an ash staff, willow binding, and birch twigs for the bristles. Wind and tie the twigs to the staff, using the binding. Carve a crescent moon at the top of the handle, if you wish. These can be functional for a magick circle, or sacred space, or used a decoration, or a protective charm over a doorway, etc. The broom can be given a name, as in a naming ceremony or ritual, as one might name a familiar, or a Witch's pet. They can be set across the northeast part of a magick circle, to guard it. Or stood up somewhere in your home -- it's said, then, for one to give it instructions to make friends with the fairy folk. Though, most commonly, it's used to represent the element of air, and to the sweep the circle clean of astral debris in an indoors sacred space (not physical debris -- use a household broom, or a vaccuum, to clean, physically, unless you have another besom that's really strong/sturdy), before ritual, and so, the bristles need not touch the floor. You can carve other symbols, or your personal, magickal symbols, or magickal monogram, or astrological symbols, into the handle. Besoms might also, occasionally, be decorated and hung as wall altars, with different decorations (like ribbons and flowers) for each Sabbat. The broom is more of a female tool, whereas the staff has been considered more toward males; however, I'm sure a woman could use a staff, etc. Traditionally, the staff represents the male part of the Horned/Nature God, uniting with the female part of the Goddess, represented by the bristles -- and the staff entering the bristles. I'm sure you understand. In that way, it's somewhat like a May-pole, except long, wide ribbons are attached at the top of a May-pole, and then, they're intertwined by dancers (usually at Beltane, April 30 and May 1), to represent union, and the uniting of two things, to make a third. (You can also make a May-pole.)
Your own staff could be made by finding a staff, meaning, a long branch, probably as tall as you, or somewhat shorter, in the woods, and removing bark (not necessary, if you wish), and decorating or carving it, as you desire.
You could also make your own magickal wand by finding a stick (willow or maple work well), about the length from your elbow to the tips of our fingers, and if it's a green stick, using a draw-shave to remove the bark (if desired); and then, you can wind ribbons (like silver ribbon, from Christmas or Yule wrapping) around it, and/or glue or otherwise-secure (like with wire) a pointed clear-quartz-crystal to the top, and/or engrave part of it, and so on.
An/your own engraving tool, called a burin, could be made by smoothing a block of wood, as a handle, and pounding a long, sharp nail into or through it; and then, using the nail to engrave.
Most of your personal tools can be engraved with your personal symbols, if you wish.
You can also use native woods, rather than the ones listed here, for your tools (note, each wood has it's own magickal properties), if you wish, or if you can't find the ones mentioned here, or if different ones feel more right, to you.
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