Wand-free magic ?

[Audra1976 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 46635

In a message dated 11/14/02 2:39:43 AM, finwitch at yahoo.com writes:
<< Well, for one thing, wizards *have* been using magic without a wand - 
before the wand was invented at least. Most of them didn't have 
enough power/focus to be able to do so without one at the late 
BeforeWand-period (but Mr Ollivander who made the first wands must 
have...). Animagi is also the kind of magic one just must do without 
a wand. >>

First, I'd like to cite another example of wand-free magic--when Quirrel is 
hexing Harry Potter's broom during the first Quidditch game and Snape when he 
is countering the curse.  Hermione says he only needs eye contact for 
that--just like Harry used eye contact to make the glass disappear from the 
snake exhibit, and to blow up Aunt Marge.  I've always been under the 
impression that the wand has no magic in it, and that the bits of magical 
creatures surrounded by wood only channel the magic inside the wizard, and 
aim at what the wizard wanted to cast a spell on.

Second, I don't remember ever reading anything about Ollivander making the 
first-ever wands, or that there was a "Before Wand-period."  Maybe is was 
discussed before I joined the list? Ollivander's sign says "since 382 BC," 
and I suppose that the store must have been founded by an ancestor of the Mr. 
Ollivander that sells Harry his wand (I think it can only be deduced that 
this Mr. Ollivander is at least old enough to have sold Tom Riddle his wand), 
and Ollivander's is in Britain.  So are we to assume that wands originated in 
Britain and spread to wizards all over the world?  Or furthermore, did 
wizards themselves originate in Britain and spread to different parts Europe 
and the world?  I would think that magic folk would have also existed in 
Africa, for example, but did they use wands or any sort of tools to channel 
magic?  And if not, were they not as powerful as British wizards who used 
wands?

I'm not a history buff, so I don't know exactly what was going on in the 
world in 382 BC when an Ollivander supposedly started making wands.  I wonder 
if there was any significance to that specific year?  I was able to find a 
few sources that say that say (in the real world at least) that the Druids in 
Britain were the first to use wands, and they go back as early as 500 BC.   
This means that the original Ollivander was probably a Druid.

Audra