To Purchase or Craft?

It has been asked of me numerous times, “Is better to purchase my magickal tools (wand, athame, chalice, pentacle) or to craft them myself?” My answer is always the same, “What are you guided to do?” I believe it is vital to follow Spirit’s guidance. If you feel moved to craft the item, then do so; if you are guided to purchase the item, then do that. Some of my magickal tools were purchased, some were gifted to me and others I crafted myself. There are benefits of all these options and in my opinion none of them should be overlooked.

The items that I purchased were chosen because they were mine the moment I saw them in their physical manifestation. My green chalice was sitting on the shelf at a local thrift shop when I noticed it and in that moment, I knew I had to buy it even though I wasn’t in search of one: I already had a beautiful red cup on my altar at home that I was using. My current athame wasn’t the first one I owned either but I came across it when a fellow witch was selling her own items before moving across country. The athame she had posted was the exact one I had envisioned during a recent meditation. The statue of Thoth I found while looking at an online shop for incense and it complimented a statue of Isis that was gifted to me months prior.

Items that were gifted to me, such as my statue of Isis or the incense holder that I adore, hold great significance as they vibrate at the energetic frequency of the individuals who gave them to me. (This concept is the essence of the Magickal Law of Contagion.) Each time I look at the item or use it during ritual, I can feel the connection between the giver and myself. It is a wonderful sensation of connectedness that adds depth to the ritual experience for me. It is important to keep in mind this energy connection between giver and recipient especially when accepting an item that holds a strange or chaotic vibrational frequency that you cannot seem to align yourself with. Whether the energy came directly from the giver or the place the gifter acquired the item, you may want to consider if this energy is something you want to have within your sacred space when practicing magick. Sometimes the foreign energy can hinder or disrupt your energetic flow while within a casted Circle.

When I personally craft an item, such as the offering bowl I made during a pottery class, I am unconcerned about foreign energies being attached to or held by the item: simply because I am the only one who touched it. No one else manufactured it, sold it or gave it to me as a gift. I am the only one who worked with the clay, molding it in my hands, taking time to visualize the shape of the bowl in my mind before working the clay into what I was visualizing. In fact while I worked with the clay, I purposefully imbued it with a specific energy, in this case gratitude, which I continued to focus on while painting it after it was fired in the kiln. I was certain that by the time I held the finished bowl in my hands after the final firing that bowl held the energy of gratitude with no other residual energies of anyone else. I believe that this option of obtaining magickal tools is one of the most intimate choices available since from conception of the idea of the tool to the crafting of it, it is done solitarily by the Witch or magickal practitioner themself. This can add so much more personal power to the spell or ritual.

Regardless of the means in which you obtain your magickal items take time to build a relationship with each tool. And please remember that tools are not a necessity but are a great aid if you are guided to use them.