More From The Mighty Oak

The other night I was flipping through the channels when I came across the last of the Harry Potter movies.  Now, while I’m not a rabid fan of the series, I have seen bits and pieces of each movie on HBO.  In this final installment, the evil Lord Voldemort raids the tomb of Hogwart’s Head Master, Dumbledore, in order to steal the powerful and sought after Elder Wand.  He plans to become its true master, which would make him not only invincible, but give him immortality in the Wizarding World.

Supposedly this “Wand of Destiny” was made of wood from the elder tree, a member of the Honeysuckle family which is sacred in Magic and Witchcraft lore.   I had never actually seen its design  before, that is until it was being taken from Dumbledore’s burial vault in the movie.  For just a short moment, the camera zoomed in for a close-up of the object.  And distinctly apart from the fictional element of its magic, I was immediately overcome by it’s simplistic beauty and artistic craftsmanship.

 Now as you might know, I love objects made of wood. (See post #38, July 2011).  And oak has long been my favorite from which to fashion things.  So seeing the Elder Wand up close prompted me to go out to the workshop and give the whole wand making thing a try.  What I ended up crafting was not the Elder Wand itself, but two others that just “emerged” as the wood and I interacted.  They’re solid oak, of course, and all you have to do is feel their rugged but delicate smoothness in your hand, to know there’s magic in them somewhere.