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.
I brewed it and added 2-3 cups of sugar not really sure how much I measured the first two cups then eye balled the rest.
yes I could not get the spigot on straight so i have a crooked spigot for all time but it doesnt leak so i then poured out the water and realised that the tea bags had busted and I now had tea drags all in itso i got out the colander nd put a kitchen towel in it and a large mixing bowel under it and poured it in the colander and this is the mess i ended up with
