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§ 3. Concerning the Rod and Staff of the Art The great mystery of practical magic is supposed to be centred in the Magic Rod, and Éliphas Lévi, who claims to have reconstructed the primitive ceremonial, but seems rather to have over-edited his materials, supplies a highly sensational account of its powers and an elaborate method of its preparation. For him it is the sign of the transmission of the magical priesthood, which has never ceased since the darksome origin of pseudo-transcendent science. The operator is overwhelmed with precautions concerning the secrecy which must be maintained in regard to it and might well be dejected by the difficulties of its consecration. In view of such imputed importance, it is curious that De Abano and pseudo-Agrippa omit all mention of this tremendous instrument, while the Key of Solomon dismisses it in a few lines of easy instruction. It would appear, however, that a staff and rod are both necessary, especially in Goëtic operations, though their distinctive provinces are in no case described. According to the Book of True Black Magic , the staff should be of cane and the wand or rod of hazel, both virgin-that is, having no branches or offshoots. They must be cut and trimmed on the day and in the hour of the Sun, while the following characters must be inscribed upon the staff, but on the day and in the hour of Mercury: -- Click to view If engraved with the "sacred instrument," it will be so much the better. In either case, let the following words be recited when the writing is finished:--O ADONAY, most Holy and most Powerful, vouchsafe to consecrate and bless this Staff and this Rod, so that they may possess the required virtue, O most Holy ADONAY , to whom be honour and glory for ever and over. Amen . Lastly, the two instruments should be asperged, fumigated and put away in the silken cloth. The Grimorium Verum directs the operator to make two wands of wood which has never borne fruit. The first should be cut at a single stroke from an elder-tree on the day and in the hour of Mercury. The second should be of hazel, free from bud, and cut in the hour of the Sun. The magical characters which must be engraved upon each have been omitted by the printer, but they are supplied--or their substitutes--in the modern Italian versions. They are, for the first, the seal or character of Frimost and that of Klippoth for the second (see Chap. III., Sec. 2). The prayer of consecration offers no variation of importance from that of True Black Magic , and does not need to be reproduced. Aspersion and fumigation are prescribed, as in the previous case. The Grand Grimoire devotes an entire chapter to the true composition of the Mysterious Wand, otherwise the Destroying or Blasting Rod. It mentions no other instrument, and ascribes to it all power in diabolical evocations. It would seem to have supplied Éliphas Lévi with the first hint of his still more potent Verendum , to which, however, an allegorial significance may perhaps be attributed. On the eve of the great enterprise, says this Ritual, you must go in search of a wand or rod of wild hazel which has never borne fruit; its length should be nineteen and a half inches. When you have met with a wand of the required form, touch it not otherwise than with your eyes; let it stay till the next morning, which is the day of operation; then must you cut it absolutely at the moment when the sun rises; strip it of its leaves and lesser branches, if any there be, using the knife of sacrifice stained with the blood of the victim.