The Stang

A stang is a fork-ended staff used in witchcraft. Its common use was probably introduced into modern traditional craft by Robert Cochrane, but there are plenty of woodcuts depicting witches riding pitchforks and stangs as opposed to brooms, so their use in the craft has some historical basis.

A stang is, in Cochrane's description of stang construction, made from an ash branch with a natural fork, an iron nail driven into the base and a pair of crossed arrows are tied near the top. Ash is sacred of course as Yggdrasil, the World Tree of Northern European folklore. The forked top resembles the horns of the Horned God, the Witchfather, Auld Hornie, or whatever your personal or traditional names are for your witch god. They also represents the prongs of the distaff, a tool used in spinning thread and with strong connections to witchcraft through figures like the Norns, the Moirai, and the goddess of witches and the household, Frau Holda

The crossed arrows have several meanings. Robin Artisson says:

"The crossed arrows remind us that he (the witch god) is Lord of all things that stand facing each other, what is here and what is there, as well as the one thing that resolves this. To this, we see Life and Death in the arrows. We see the Master that gathers up life and death and shows their meanings to us when we pass beyond."

The arrows may also resemble points of the compass, with the horned top of the stang being the Upperworld and the iron shod foot as the Underworld.

Stangs have a variety of functions. They are commonly used to hallow the compass and act as an altar all of their own, driven into the ground at the north or on other points of the compass and dressed depending on the working or season. Stangs may represent the presence of the Witchfather in the circle, especially when hung with a horned skull and lit candle between the horns. They may also stand for the World Tree, the comsic axis from which all other worlds may be accessed. When communcating with spirits, the stang may be set in the centre of the compass and used as a conduit for drawing spirits up from the Underworld or down from the Upperworld. A small hand-sized stang can be used for binding magic, winding a red thread around as a method of binding or tying up a wish.

Another common use for a stang is as a riding pole, in the classic sense of riding the witches' broom through the night. This isn't a literal flying of course, but the hedgecrossing practices more commonly known as astral travel or astral projection. Witches use their stangs in the same way that shamans use drums to travel to the Otherworld and make contact with the spirits there. In a ritual space, setting the stang into the ground, placing a lit candle between the horns and focusing on the flame while practicing breathing exercises, swaying, or other trance inducing techniques can aid your hedgecrossing experiences