illustration of athames from The Key of Solomon
Introduction:
First
let me start off by saying a few things about myself: I am a not a ceremonial magician
and am not in a British Traditionalist line, nor have I had training in these
traditions. I have the utmost
respect for these and other traditions, but I am ultimately a Reclaiming and
Feri witch and priest. It is from
this experience and perspective that I write.
In my
traditions, there are no rules or prohibitions per se about the tools of magick
and their use, though there are opinions and advice. As a result of this and my life growing up on a farm, I am
very much a cottage witch (sometimes called a “kitchen witch”), growing and making as much as I can to
weave into my practice. As part of
these two streams of influence, my training by my teachers, allies, and
ancestors has been that tools should be used often and should be able to be used
for multiple purposes. It was
instilled in me that a tool that has a single purpose is decadent and having
many tools with single purposes is frankly something that many of us may not be
able to afford. And while there is
a place for occasional decadence and indulgences, in a time of rampant
consumerism, materialism, and disposable society, I return to my cottage
influence when thinking about how I work with my tools.
For
some, my writings may go against your training and/or your practice. If this is the case, I invite you to
consider how our practices are different and similar and how they serve
you. My intention is not to
persuade you to a different way of working but rather in hopes that in thinking
about how our practices are different that some new piece of wisdom is revealed
to you about your own practice. I
find myself in complete awe when morsels like these reveal themselves to me, such
wonderful gifts. To quote
one of my early teachers, “take what is useful and leave the rest behind.”
Lore and Use:
A
witch’s athame is both a practical and magical tool. It is traditionally used to cast the circle. The athame can be used to focus and direct energy. This is
done by pulling the energy up from the fire in the earth and down from the fire
in the stars into you and then send it out in a very focused, steady stream of
energy. This can be used in circle
casting, protection and banishing work, as well as in overcoming energetic
obstacles (such as in the classic Feri Barrier Trance typically used in the
Reclaiming Elements of Magic class on Water day/night). Athames may also be used in magical
workings that require the ability to cut, to sever, such as cutting energetic threads
that connect us to other beings or bind us to patterns that no longer serve
us. They may also be used to carve
sigils, runes, or symbols into magical objects such as wands, talismans,
candles, or pieces of spellwork.
I
believe that the athame should be a knife that is able to cut and it should
have a point on it! There are
times when stand-ins are required, where a knife is not practical (like getting
through TSA screenings in the airport).
In these cases, a crystal, a pen, a letter opener can be a suitable
stand-in. But in these cases, I
also recommend having an actual knife as an athame for personal work at
home. And in these cases, you can
magically tie together both your knife and your stand-in athame so that you can
access the power and energy from your knife through your stand-in athame.
In
some lore, the athame is described as a black-handled, double-edged blade with
the metal of the blade running all the way through the handle. It may be
magnetized if it is made of carbon steel.
And there might be sigils, runes, and other symbols carved on the handle
and/or the blade. Ideally, it
would be housed in a leather scabbard.
And in this lore, the witch may also have had a boline, or white handled
knife for more practical workings (such as harvesting herbs or cutting apples).
This handle might be made of bone
or ivory even and the blade might be shorter, or even sickle shaped. Additionally, swords are sometimes used
as an athame.
But
while double-edged swords and daggers can be quite powerful, they may not be
practical as magical tools for the modern witch, especially for those of us who
gather and practice outdoors and in public places. In many localities, possession of such an instrument in
public is actually illegal. I also
have concerns that the fancier the tool, the further away it is from the owner
of the athame from being able to make or take care of their tool. I’m not saying that there is not a time
and place for such an instrument, but this tends to relegate such athames to
sitting on an altar gathering dust. Highly stylized athames, bolines, and swords are beautiful
and romantically nostalgic for me, but historically most witches during the
burning times and up until the last century used a knife that would not stand
out, such as a kitchen knife or an everyday work knife for magical workings. As a result, the cottage witch in me
prefers to work this way as well.
As
stated in the previous post, The Tools of Magic: Introduction, I recommend that
a witch use their athame for any
sacred act. I see every use of the athame as an opportunity for binding the
athame to the hand that wields it and deepening that connection, to work as
one. This might include harvesting
herbs in the garden or wild-crafting them in the park or forest. It might also take the form of working
a tree branch into a wand, whittling away the rough spots, and/or stripping off
the bark. In our tradition, it
might also take the form of cutting cakes, bread, cheese, and/or apples during
the post-ritual feast (aka “cakes and wine”). For many years, I used my athame to carve basic symbols for
specific purposes or general blessings into every candle I burned. (Preparing this article has helped me
to resurrect this practice.)
And
in each use, I honor the tool before use by connecting with it energetically (through
my mind’s eye and a kiss) and breathing into it. I follow this at the end of a working with grounding the
athame by touching it’s tip to the earth to release any excess energy. This latter part makes sure that there
is not stored up energy that might discharge unintentionally, much the way an
electrician makes sure that a circuit is disconnected and grounded prior to
working on it.
Maintenance:
Blade
maintenance, such as sharpening and oiling, is another way to infuse your
athame with your intensions and your energy and deepen the connection.
Sharpening
your metal blade will ensure that you are able to focus energy through it into
a very fine point. If a blade’s
edge is dull or dinged up, then the flow of energy through it will not be
straight and some of the energy will be dissipated. There are many videos on YouTube for how to sharpen a blade
and many of them seem to disagree.
For our purposes, this video is simple and I found it helpful: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9Vn8RA_7zE All you need is your athame and a
sharpening stone, which you can find at a hardware store (they range from US$ 5
to US$ 25).
knife sharpening
stone, double-sided
While
some videos say to use water for a wet-stone, others suggest oil, and still
others insist that it be used dry.
My grandfather always used a little bit of spit. In my experience, this provides a good
amount of lubrication, is more viscous than water, and adds your essence to
your blade. I think magically, it
also familiarizes and aligns the spirit of your blade to you, that your athame
will better work your intent and be less likely to injure you.
If
you don’t ever use your metal blade to physically cut anything, you may not
need to sharpen it. However, it
may still get dinged along the edge. In this case, you can use a knife steel to
smooth out the blade. This is also good to do periodically with your blade even
if you periodically sharpen it on a stone. Here is an informative video on how to use a knife steel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEO7DlZAjtA
knife
sharpening steel
In
addition to knife sharpening, it is also helpful to lightly oil your
athame. The nice thing about
oiling or anointing your athame is that you can do it no matter of what material
your athame is made. However, if
you are using a carbon-steel blade, it is essential to oil it periodically as
it will keep your blade from rusting. I highly recommend using a high quality
butcher block oil that is food safe and not petrochemical based. I actually take some of this oil, put
it into a bottle, add some magical oils to it, and use it for anointing and
feeding my athame.
To
oil or anoint the blade, I pour a small amount of the oil on a cloth and then
gently rub both the handle and the blade with the cloth. After the entire athame has a nice
sheen on it, I take a second piece of cloth and lightly wipe off any excess
oil. For safety purposes, it is
best to always position the point of the athame and the edge of the blade away
from you and start your motions at the blunt end of the handle and work away
from yourself to the very tip of the blade.
Through
all of this work, it is important to stay mindful of the connection between you
and your blade. This is both
important from a safety as well as magical context. I recommend singing,
chanting, or humming to your blade as you work. My grandfather always seemed to hum or whistle when doing
this work. This helps to stay
focused as well as feeding and charging your athame.
And
as we sharpen, smooth, and anoint our athame, so too may our minds, intellects,
and knowledge be sharpened!
Blessed
be!
The Athame, Part
2 will provide a couple of exercises on using
your athame.
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