I'm considering adding a honing rod to my wand collection. Considering I collect weird/unusual knives/knife-adjacent items, I feel like working with the pair would generate some very interesting energy. I'd want to look for a good used one, like maybe an estate sale one, I'll have to start keeping an eye out.

Any chance somebody's tried this and has thoughts?

My father collects old skeleton keys. I recently asked him if i could have one; a key can serve as a handy magical tool for certain kinds of spellwork. I like to work with tools where the symbolism is simply what the object's mundane purpose is — in this case, unlocking new paths, or safeguarding a space. But this post isn't about the purpose of keys in magic.

Dad went into his garage and came back with a box full of fancy, old keys. He laid them out on the kitchen table, sorting them by shape, and told me I could pick from anything he had identical copies of. He collects them, you see, in case he ever acquires a lock without a key.

He had plenty of century-old keys to choose from, each a solid weight in my palm. None of them called to me. All of them called to me. Each one has some lock, physical or metaphorical, that they fit.

Once, years ago, Dad acquired a set of old glass-paned french doors for my mother's office. The doors had an old-style lock, but no key to go with it. Dad tried key after key after key until, to everyone's delight, he found a skeleton key that matched.

If you want to do magic, don't start with a spell. Start with the tools of the craft — not just herbs or crystals, but knowledge. You don't need an ingredients list; you need to curate a repertoire of research. Having the right tools and knowledge to work a spell or solve a problem is about timing, and patience, and pursuit.

Read a lot. Read whatever interests you. Take time to dig deep into research into history, ethics, purpose, meanings, traditions, and material resources. Instead of making a shopping list, take your time with collecting magical supplies as you find them. Find stones, herbs, bones, and other natural materials out in nature. Search through thrift stores, estate sales, garage sales, and flea markets for dishes, candleholders, crystals, shells, and statuary — and keys.

I've always liked the idea of collecting rain water for spells, as well as having waters attuned to specific moonphases. I know you can charge water for the lunar cycle by letting it catch moonlight for the specific phase you need, but I love the idea of collecting water directly from the rain. Of course, in practice, that means you're at the whims of what times the rain comes.

January is always very dry where I live, but we've had several rainstorms this month. I put out a container to collect some rainwater from the storm at the end of the waning moon stage, leading into the new moon. On the morning of the new moon, we had a single flash of lightning and a peal of thunder so loud it woke me from solid sleep. Then it started pouring.

Between the lightning (which lends power and protective energy), the rainstorm itself (good for purification, release, and cleansing) and the moon phase (waning, for release and banishing, and new moon, for new beginnings) I'd say this will be a pretty powerful water for spell purposes. I'll use this for the banishing and release of old things that no longer serve, while calling for new opportunities. I can also use it as an offering.

This the sort of spell ingredient that takes time and a little luck to accumulate. When rain comes, put out a bowl or vessel (wider mouthed is better; you can decant it into jars later). Label it with the date, the moon phase, anything else you think is of note. With time and patience, you'll have water for different moonphases, seasons, different kinds of storm, each with their own uses for spellwork.

A ceremonial Fan I was commissioned to craft as a tool of ritual purification.

This fan was constructed using a scavenged Quail's Wing from the client's homestead, set atop a Maple wood handle that I wrapped in upcycled Bison leather, and appended with a small hagstone.