Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Alferian Gwydion MacLir, author of Wandlore and the new Witch's Wand. In my first wand book, Wandlore, I wrote at length about the process of making magic wands. My forthcoming book, The Witch's Wand, focuses on that question people often ask me: How do I use my wand? Well, here are five ideas. Meditate Holding Your Wand. The dryad spirit of the tree from which your wand branch came and the spirit of your wand is a living thing. Like a familiar spirit, your wand is a helper, guide, and counselor. Sit with your legs crossed on a pillow or mat, or however is comfortable. Hold your wand in your dominant hand and rest the point in the

[caption id="attachment_7924" align="alignright" width="180" caption="The Yulish Tree by DairDair"][/caption] It’s that time of year again…time for gift shopping! Whether you celebrate Yule, the Winter Solstice, Christmas or Hanukkah with your family and friends, the season has come to be synonymous with the giving of thoughtful gifts, trinkets or tokens of goodwill. This puts some degree of stress on all of us; though giving is joyous, often the expense and energy spent on tracking down “the perfect gift” is not. I am a book lover, so I happen to think books always make good gifts. There’s no need to worry about whether it fits or is the right color; no need to buy

Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Alferian Gwydion MacLir, author of Wandlore: The Art of Crafting the Ultimate Magical Tool. Lately, we have had so many tornadoes, violent storms, tsunamis, floods, and other disasters. As these events unfolded, we all mourned the dead and looked on with shocked sadness at the houses and buildings that were smashed to smithereens. The news media reports disasters in terms of millions of dollars in damage, or in terms of loss of human life. Now, I am as sorry for the human losses as the next human, but as a druid, there is another sort of loss that breaks my heart: the trees. Reporting on the recent storm in Michigan, the news broadcast said