Waite deliberately switched the traditional associated elements with the four elements so that wands were associated with air and swords with fire in order to preserve occult knowledge from being exposed to the uninitiated. Arthur Edward Waite, who published the first commercially-available Tarot deck (which I’m sure you’ve seen before) was a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and it was customary to hide occult secrets at the time by publishing deliberate errors in one’s books and so forth. So, why is that? It actually comes from a deliberate mistake.
The wand represented fire, and the athame represented air, although some traditions (Gardnerians, for example, as Jason Mankey writes in his book) reverse the two. I’ve already discussed the pentacle and explained that it represented the element of earth the chalice represented water and I’ll be writing about that in the future. Ceremonial Magicians use four Weapons, or Tools, to represent the four elements. Those who have researched the origins of Wicca and Witchcraft recognize it as a holdover from the Western Mystery tradition. Is the wand a mere altar decoration? Why do we really wield wands? Where did they come from, and what are they for? Fire and Air Whenever they give instruction about casting circles or enchanting anything, they generally tell you to use the athame. It seems almost like a backup athame to most of us, and certainly most books on Wicca and Witchcraft do not make it clear. In the age of the athame, a Witch might wonder why we bother putting a wand on the altar at all. I’m making custom wands at my Etsy shop! Click on this pic for the link.
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