#mirillil

Wood: Ash

This is the first ash wand on this blog, because you know, why not. I knew early on I wanted a wood for you that’s somehow demanding, since you mentioned you’d like to work on your laziness, therefore I was looking for a wood that needs a little bit of constant work. Ash wood is, quite frankly, a little asshole. It is one hundred percent not pickable. Like, sure, the wand will always pick the magician, but some wands will settle for an owner quicker than others. An ash wand will not be picked. It will pick you, but only if you meet its standards, and if you touch it without being chosen first, it will absolutely not do anything for you. So you see, the ash wand already asks quite a bit of its owner before it’s even matched. It will most likely pick creative, determined, innovative people who don’t easily sway. An ash owner can be stubborn, can be bold, can be picky themselves, and maybe a bit quirky - but they can never be arrogant or consciously rude. A well-matched ash wand loves to perform innovative and highly advanced magic, but it will also want you to prove constantly that you’re up to the challenge of wielding it (I will elaborate on this in the core section).

In my notes on the woods, I wrote a sentence that I like a lot and that might also fit for you: An ash owner is not necessarily a person who knows exactly what they want, but always a person who knows exactly what they don’t want. This is, I believe, also true for the wood itself: it will absolutely show you if it doesn’t like what you’re doing, and if you want a perfectly functioning wand you better work it well, or else it might start refusing things.

Core: Phoenix feather

An ash wand with any core is incredibly picky, but an ash wand with a phoenix core even more so. Phoenix can be kind of a complicated core in that it creates very strong bonds to its owner, but only very slowly and only after the person has proven they’re worthy. I like the idea of the ash-phoenix combination for you because it requires an intelligent, conscious use of magic, which you would be absolutely capable of, but it would also take any laziness somehow personal. Being productive and working with your wand would be rewarded with some exceptional magic, but being lazy and letting things slide would result in the wand being huffy, losing momentum, performing subpar. On a side note: an ash-phoenix combination, although it can be stubborn to work with, will bond very strongly with its owner and not react very kindly to passing it along. Think of an ash-phoenix wand who was used by someone else than its owner like a cat after a trip to the vet: it will most definitely sulk for about a week after.

Length: 13 1/4 inches

I chose a longer wand mostly based on you choosing attack over defense and mentioning being somewhat confrontational. A phoenix is a solitary animal who might often choose to flee rather than attack, so I didn’t want too much of that in the final wand. A longer ash wand puts a tad more emphasis on determination and the courage to stand your ground when challenged.

Flexibility: particularly bendy

Since ash wood is already quite firm in its characteristics, it doesn’t need extra firmness from its fabrication. I would rather make this wand as flexible as possible. For a quick thinker like you this will provide a wider range for your spellwork and some additional speed in your casting. (Which might even be an extra motivator for getting off your butt. :DD)

--