An 1883 interview with renown Kabbalist Dr. Seth
Pancoast,
in which he advises the best wood to make magic wands
"... the divining rod must not be confounded with the magic wand of the Kabbalah. The two are entirely different. The magic wand is used for controlling intelligences as a hand of authority. It controls this intelligence. Thus, I will intelligently a desire (sic). That desire never dies until it is fulfilled, or until it meets a counter desire. In willing this desire the wand is used, and is of vast power. The distinction between the diving rod and the wand is that the former controls energies or physical substances, while the latter rules over intelligence or spirits."
"What makes the best rod?" "The slender branches of the hazel tree, or as it is sometimes called witch hazelwood. There is something singular about the hazelwood in its power of transmitting what we call subjective energy. It has this power more than any other wood. The oak is the next best, though in other countries, notably in Europe, the wood of the rowan tree is greatly used. The hazel tree surpasses all, however, just as certain metals are better than others as conductors of electricity, copper, for instance, being one of the best. So is the wood of the hazel tree the best to convey subjective energy."
