You may be wondering, “It’s a wand, I mean is there really a wrong way to hold one?” My answer to you is a resounding YES!
Back in my day, when I was a young wizard in training, my mentor would slap my hand whenever I held my wand incorrectly. Day after day, my concentration would be shattered by the hard smack of a staff. He was a brutal teacher, but his lessons stick with me to this day.
Let’s start off with how NOT to hold a wand. Now, it may be obvious, but the thick part of the wand is where your hand goes. I’ve had new wizards get too excited to start training that they cast a spell backwards accidentally. When this happens, the spell hits you, of course, and can have deadly consequences.
Keep your grip tight, but your wrist loose. This can be a harder concept to grasp for younglings, but you want to have the flexibility to cast without accidents throwing your wand across the room. Yes, I’ve seen it happen before. A young castor I knew, maybe it was 500 years ago, was attempting to cast a turn undead spell at a powerful Liche that we had been fighting. Our entire party was exhausted, and close to death, but we had managed to damage him enough to scare him, so he was trying to escape. My comrade, in a moment of frantic casting, accidentally threw his wand across the room toward the liche. He had cast the spell as the wand left his fingertips, causing a bolt of energy to leap from his magic focus toward the ceiling. It made part of the ceiling crumble to the ground, cutting us off from our foe and allowing him to escape. The bastard came after us years later and nearly took us out… that was my friends last adventure… not because he died, but because he met a lovely lady he wanted to settle down with.
Respect your wand. Every time you wield it, you must acknowledge it as a partner in your magic casting. Each wand has its own power, personality, and a little bit of sentience. If you clearly do not respect it, the wand may refuse to preform for you entirely. That mean, not flinging it around willy nilly. Each stroke of the wand must be made with intention, anything else can give your wand the impression you are weak willed, causing it to backfire on you as to attempt to find a new owner.
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