116 Grimoire for the Apprentice Wizard
CUT
AWAYCUTAWAYnext to you; and you can even roll up in it as a sleep-
ing blanket. I never go anywhere without my familiar
grey cloak, which I’ve had for decades!
Go down to your local fabric store, and pick up
either the Simplicity pattern #7016 or the McCall’s
pattern #6774 for cloaks. These are both excellent,
and it will make your work easier to use one of them.
Simplicity #9887-B,C,D also offers great cape and
cloak designs, including a fine Wizard’s hat (A). For
cloak material, I recommend getting two U.S. military
wool blankets, which are relatively inexpensive and
come in several colors, depending on branch of ser-
vice (the white Navy blankets can be died any color
you like). The cloak design requires four right triangles,
which just happen to be exactly the size and shape of
diagonal cuts in two blankets. The curved section left
over from the shoulder area is just right for a hood.
You can buy such blankets at military surplus stores.
Of course, you can also use any other thick ma-
terial you like of the right size. Many magickal people
have cloaks of beautiful velvet, with fancy trim. And
if you would like to make a real Cloak of Invisibility,
get some of that thin “pearlescent sheer” material that
changes colors in different lights and angles. This
material comes in several shimmery colors, but the
best for invisibility outdoors are those that include
green. Keep the seams as narrow as possible, using
an overhand stitch. Make it long enough to hide your
feet, and make sure the hood is big enough to pull
down completely over your face. For a Cloak of In-
visibility, I recommend Simplicity pattern #9887-D.
To line your cloak, just use the same pattern for
some other lining material—from cotton to satin, as
you wish. Some people use camouflage material so
they can become invisible by turning their cloak in-
side out! (But don’t line a Cloak of Invisibility—you
need to be able to see out through it!) Be sure to leave
wide slits in the side seams for armholes, at the posi-
tion of your elbows. Finally, your cloak can be heldtogether by ties, frogs, buttons,
clasps, or fancy cloak pins—
whatever you like.Lesson 7: The
Wizard’s Hat
Hats were important.
They weren’t just cloth-
ing. Hats defined the
head. They defined
who you were. No one
had ever heard of a
wizard without a
pointy hat—at least,
no wizard worth
speaking of. And you certainly never heard
of a witch without one.... It wasn’t the wearing
of the hats that counted so much as having one
to wear. Every trade, every craft had its hat.
That’s why kings had hats. Take the crown off a
king and all you had was someone good at hav-
ing a weak chin and waving to people. Hats
had power. Hats were important.
—Terry Pratchett
(Witches Abroad, pp. 223–24)The tall pointy hats traditionally associated with
Wizards and Witches have a long and illustrious his-
tory. Several striking conical hats made of beaten sheet
gold have been excavated in Germany and France,
dating back to the Bronze Age, between 1400 and
900 BCE. Their elaborate embossed decorations con-
sist of symbols clearly representing the Sun, Moon,
planets, and stars—just as we see in pictures of Wiz-
ards from the Middle Ages to modern times. Sabine
Gerloff of Erlangen University says about these hats
that: “They showed that the wearer was in contact
with the gods, also symbolized by the cone pointing
to heaven, and knew the secrets of celestial move-
ments, possibly of the future.”
Similar pointy hats are shown on small bronze
statues, cylinder seals, and carvings from Turkey,
Syria, Cyprus, and Greece, dating from 2500 BCE on-
ward. Two of these have even been found in Sweden.
Out in the Gobi Desert, West of China, some ancient
Caucasian mummies have recently been discovered.
One woman, dated at about 200 BCE, was still wear-
ing a tall black conical hat looking exactly like those
traditionally worn by Witches!
Witch and Wizard hats have become so popular
for costumes that you can now pick up perfectly fine
ones at any costume store—especially around Hal-
loween. However, if you’d like to make your own
Wizard’s Hat, Simplicity pattern # 9887-A shows a
fine Wizard’s hat with a brim.- Practice.p65 116 1/14/2004, 4:20 PM