White Ash (Fraxinus Americana) is sometimes referred to as baseball bat wood. The wood is white, strong, straight-grained, and the tree is in the olive family. White ash is the largest of the ashes native to North America and is known for being tough. It does not break under large amounts of strain yet is quite light weight. Being one of the toughest and most elastic woods has led to its use in Native American spears, bows, clubs, and snow shoes since time immemorial.
The Metaphysical Ash
The magic influence of the ash tree reaches far back into time, and the properties are numerous. Ash wands or staves are good for healing, general magic, solar magic, to attract lightning, and is used to remove spells or hexes. The ancient World Tree (Yggdrasil) of Norse mythology is commonly thought to have been an ash tree, and the first man formed from the same. Being an herb of the sun, Ash brings light into the hearth at the Winter Solstice. The wood has traditionally been burned during the Yule holiday for prosperity of the household as the Yule Log. Celtic druid wands were often made of ash and decorated with symbols and sigils. The handle for a witches broom is traditionally made from ash wood, purportedly allowing witches to ride through the air.
A bit of ash may be worn or kept in your home to protect from general evil or witchcraft, plus venomous animals too. Save the stripped off bark of ash and use for protection or prosperity spells, sea rituals, and health spells. An amulet to protect from drowning and vampires can be made by carving or binding two twigs together into a solar cross (Brigid's Cross). An ash staff or wand placed over the door wards off negative influences. It has also been said that tools with handles made of this wood will enable a person to do more work than could be done with tools whose handles were not of ash; hence the reason that ash wood is generally used as tool handles.
Specially Gathered Ash Wood: In addition to the powerful metaphysical uses for White Ash, many of the wands I craft hold the added power of hurricane winds and the energy of the peaking Full Moon. They were harvested and felled during the September 2008 Hurricane Ike Full Moon (USA). The mother tree still lives, and was quite healthy when these wands were harvested from a large branch that was twisted off by the high winds of a most unusual wind storm event. The wood harvested has never touched the ground. The tree fell just before the peak of the Moon; at 99%, and was harvested with the Moon at 100% full. My husband and myself worked swiftly to stay within the Full Moon time, but enjoyed our blessings with playful fun, hoping to pass that good energy along with the wands.
referenced
*tree: white ash. Photograph. Britannica Online for Kids. Web. 19 July 2012. <http://kids.britannica.com/comptons/art-126771>.
*Illustration of white ash (Fraxinus Americana) http://ian.umces.edu/imagelibrary/displayimage-6603.html
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraxinus_americana
*http://www.answers.com/topic/ash-5
*http://www.angelfire.com/de/poetry/Flowers/Ash.html
* experience and verbal lore
--Tree Pruitt
The wood was harvested at the peak of a Full Moon and the wand was finished during a later 2010 New Moon. No power tools were used; All of the work was done by hand using knives, files, and stones to cut and shape the wood. This wand measures 15 inches long and one half inch wide around. The carved bird wings at the pommel end provide a comfortable none slip grip. The projection end is topped with a tiny clear quartz crystal point from the American Southwest. Just past the hand turned lines is a tiny polished amethyst stone embedded in a natural knot of the wood. 
After carving and smoothing this raven head wand I mixed a black stain that soaked into the wood grain; The surface is much more smooth than it may look in the pictures because of that grain contrast. The hand rubbed oil stain finish is made from high quality art materials to give the entire wand a satin sheen.
