Rowan wand

A wand made from rowan wood and treated using one of several different methods. Normally intended as a defense against dark forces, or as an offensive weapon.

The method described by Liused to Nita in SYWTBAW seems to be one of the commonest. In it, a donated rowan twig or branch (and the wood must be live) is peeled of its leaves and bark and left to soak in the light of the full Moon. Such wands are extremely effective against dark forces, due to the rowan's ancient and purposeful affiliation with the Powers that Be and the forces of the light. It can also be used simply as a light source, by requesting the trapped light, in the Speech, to come on, go off, or burn brighter or darker as necessary.

The duration of the period for which the wand is left in moonlight will determine the wand's own independent ability in offense and defense, and its ability to handle the power load of any other spells in which it acts as a conjunct tool or secondary locus. (Nita, for example, uses a rowan wand in this way at the beginning of TWD, using it to drop her standard transit circle around her. Shaun O'Driscoll uses one similarly in AWAB while defining the loci of the spell circle which will enable the reforging and ensoulment of the Spear of Light.)

Such wands are not designed for permanent use. They can burn out and will crumble away to nothing if more power than they are "rated" for is pushed through them (as happens to Nita's first such wand in SYWTBAW). Additionally, they normally have a "use-by" date, and are only fully effective for three full moons and an intercalary day after their initial soak in moonlight. Shortly before the "use-by" date, the wand's effectiveness lapses to the point where it is only good for lighting purposes -- casting the remainder of the moonlight in which it was originally steeped -- and will no longer function as an effective offensive weapon or power focus. (SYWTBAW et al.)