Friday, January 13, 2012

Athame


Athame

An Athame or Athamé is a ceremonial dagger, with a double-edged blade and usually a black handle. It is the main ritual implement or magical tool among several used in the religion of Wicca, and is also used in various other neopagan witchcraft traditions. A black-handled knife called an arthame appears in certain versions of the Key of Solomon, a grimoire originating in the Middle Ages.

The athame is mentioned in the writings of Gerald Gardner in the 1950s, who claimed to have been initiated into a surviving tradition of Witchcraft, the New Forest Coven. The athame was their most important ritual tool, with many uses, but was not to be used for actual physical cutting.

There has been speculation that Gardner's interest and expertise in antique swords and knives, and in particular the magical Kris knives of Malaysia and Indonesia, may have contributed to the tool's central importance in modern Wicca

On the other hand, the athame stands as one of the four elemental tools in Wicca; traditionally standing for fire, as does the ritual sword. (From the known origins of Wicca, with Gardner's own Book of Shadows, the athame represents fire; where the wand corresponds to air. Other varieties of Wiccan practice may switch those two around.) The other three elemental tools are the wand, the pentacle, and the cup or chalice. These four magical tools correspond to four 'weapons' of significance in Celtic myth - the sword, the spear, the shield, and the cauldron (and/or grail). The same four ritual tools also appear in the magical practices of the western hermetic tradition, derived from The Golden Dawn; and they appear in tarot decks as the four card suits: swords, cups, wands, and pentacles. The athame is an individual ritual tool, while the sword is more appropriate as a coven tool, or the personal tool of the high priest or high priestess. There are obvious risks associated with an entire group of people all wielding swords, while confined within a small ritual circle space nine feet in diameter; this safety factor, as well as ease of use, may explain why the emphasis within Wicca is more on each witch's personal athame, rather than the ritual sword.



And here is how I made mine:


Supplies

Sculpty modeling clay

Dowels for inner structure

Pallet knifes to help with sculpting the shape

Bead glass pieces or other bobbles to decorate it

Paint

Paint brush

Sealant


Cut your dowel about the length you would like your athame to be when done. Start to build uo the clay on the dowel making a rough knife shape use the pallet knives to smooth out your clay and decorate as u see fit. Once you have a shape u like u will need to bake it to set it. You may them glue one any beads or decorations u like and  sand it to make all the edges smooth paint and seal your brand new athame.  Bless it and ur all set to use it in ur next ritual.

3 comments:

  1. Very cool! It makes it so much more personal when you fashion your own tools, putting your time and energy into something, making it truly yours!

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  2. Hi I’m Heather! Please email me, I have a question about your blog! LifesABanquet1(at)gmail.com

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    Replies
    1. heather please feel free to ask any questions u might have

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I have 2 kids and a loving husband. I adore baking and cooking for my family. I love to sew and create all kinds of things.