What To Do With Lightning Struck Elm

[Natanael]

First time poster; long time reader.

I have several large pieces of an Elm tree that was struck by lightning 22 August 2014. It has been a desire of mine to acquire lightning struck wood for quite some time, for no other reason than they hold great potential.

So really I'm looking for input from the community. And before someone comes down with the "It depends on what you want to use it for" reply, the truth is I don't know what I want to do with it, what its future purpose is, or even what potential it could have.

Think of this as a blank piece of paper. No ideas are bad, and any input would be fantastic.

[manofsands]

Some papers can be too blank.

Things like this approach you in raw form. You decide it's definition. Form and Function. I don't think magick works like cooking. You can't look at your ingredients and decide what's for dinner. And if you do I think you're missing the point.

[Sypheara]

I'd give this a small meditation or visualisation session to see what comes from it.

I will say that the Elm is a powerful protective tree that is great at repelling malefic action. It also has a history of being a tree of Death, like the Yew, and is great at channeling and directed both benevolent and malefic spirits of the Dead and Death. it is said that the spirits that presided over the underworld used to live in this wood, and it has a history in england at least of being used to make bows used for hunting and warfare.

A lightning struck elm will probably work as a very powerful axis mundi and projecting / receiving tool, so I would make it into a wand or make use of it within very powerful charms/talismans for divinatory / protective/ channeling purposes, especially where chthonic / underworld spirits are involved.

You've gotten quite lucky there!

[RoseRed]

Things like this approach you in raw form. You decide it's definition. Form and Function. I don't think magick works like cooking. You can't look at your ingredients and decide what's for dinner.

Sure you do. Perhaps, not magicians (as a rule of thumb) but it's quite common for witches. On a forum I belong to there a thread specifically for 'this is the type of spell you need and these are all the ingredients you have - how would you make it work?)

As far as cooking - if you don't have the ingredients - you can't make the meal and end up making something different.

You've wanted a lightening struck piece of wood and now you have one. You don't need to do something with it today. I would keep whatever pieces call to you and when they have a purpose - you'll know it then.

[Shinichi]

I would make a wand or staff. Probably a wand, since I don't want a lot of staffs. The wand or staff (being the same thing, of different lengths) is, symbolically, an extension of Will. In Elemental Magic, this attribute belongs to Fire. So, a wand made out of wood that has been struck by lightning can be especially potent, since it's usually charged with a lot of natural energy and the relating occult qualities.

As for what sort of wand, well that would depend. I can think of a couple of things I might do, especially with Elm, but it really just depends on what you want to do. You've wanted some lightning struck wood for a while, and that implies that you already had some intuitive idea of what to do with it once you got it. If you don't know yet, sit down and think about why you wanted it. Your mind may lead you to some interesting places.



~:Shin:~

[Natanael]

Thanks all for the replies. Most of them, anyway.

I've settled on turning one of the pieces into a wand. It'll be my first time creating a wand, first time owning one in fact, so I'll take my time to carve it properly.

But now it raises another question. I know that some people like to put quartz at the end of their wands. Anyone ever bother using Moldavite as a tip on their wands? It seems as though it could be...interesting...from what I've read of the stone.

Thanks again for the thoughts.