And the prize for ugliest magical tool goes to...

Probably the world's ugliest Fire Wand.

I presume that I own the world's ugliest Fire Wand. If not, I am curious to see the Fire Wand that beats mine as the world's sorriest attempt to create a Fire Wand.

This Fire Wand was created when I was living in an apartment, and only had access to handsaw and a ruler...and a box of crayons. I needed a Fire Wand for a working, and didn't have one--therefore, I very rapidly created one out of a wooden dowel.

Now, by Golden Dawn tradition with its emphasis on exactness...and beauty, this Fire Wand should not work...at all, or very, very badly. But it did work, and still works.

If after viewing this Fire Wand, you suspect that all of my Elemental Weapons might be a little non-regulation--well, you would be right. I imagine that Westcott, Mathers, and Moina would be appalled by my lack of caring about my ugly magical tools. Or maybe not--after all, they were using pasteboard for the construction of their Rose Crosses.

Given the teachings of the particular Golden Dawn group (provided that you still believe that we are GD), one might ask: How can such in-exact tools work? If the power lies in the symbolism, how can faulty symbolism still get results? My short answer (inspired by Plato) is that in the World of Ideas, there exists a Perfect Fire Wand; it is from this Perfect Fire Wand that all Fire Wands draw their power from. My Fire Wand does not have to perfect...because the Perfect Fire Wand already exists in the mind of the Divine.