The mortar and pestle is one of those magickal tools that you may well have in your kitchen anyway. However, it's unwise to use your kitchen one for magick. The reason for this is quite simply safety. Many of the ingredients you may grind up for your magick are in fact poisonous.

They can be made from a variety of materials such as wood, stone, glass, ceramic, and metal. Price will vary quite dramatically depending on the material it's made from. Wooden ones are usually the most reasonably priced.

As well as grinding up herbs for magick a mortar and pestle is often used for making incene (should you choose to do so). Making incense in particular means that the combination of herbs and oils can be quite hazardous if ingested.

If you wish to make potions that will be ingested then it's a smart idea to have another mortar and pestle exclusively for this purpose.