click on the button to see a larger image
Athame and Boline
The Athame is a witches ceremonial knife. In many traditions it is black handled, with a double sided blade around 9 inches long.
Some covens and high priest(esses) have a white handled decorative ceremonial Athame and a black handled secondary one for cutting fruit and herbs, carving symbols etc, and each member has their own black handled athame.
In some traditions this is reversed and the black handled athame is ceremonial and the white handled work knife is known as a Boline. While some traditions hold that the athame is a work knife for cutting and preparing items used including herbs fruit etc, other traditions say that it should only be used to cut air and the wedding cake at a handfasting (witches wedding). It also represents the male element in some ceremonies. It functions similar to a wand as a means of channeling energy and is often used for invoking and banishing elements, entities and other energies.
Historically a witch would have had a work knife for cutting up herbs, and some may have had a best knife that was used for cutting cake and other presentation material. The names we now call them are probably a fairly recent development taken from other published accounts of traditions other than ours.
The witch would not have had a special knife for ceremonial and magic but generally would have used a normal tool they had. Historically ritual and life would not be separated to the same degree.
From a water witches perspective today you can call them anything you like, but we generally settle for the athame being the ceremonial or best knife and may also have a work knife that has no specific name when one is needed. We are also not concerned about the color of handles.
Your individual and coven athame can be as simple or decorative as you like and you can change to a new one at any time, although each should be consecrated and is not normally used for other tasks.
|
The button to the left has a photo of Aqua's own athame, it
is based on a design of a Viking dagger and has a 9 inch blade plus
handle, it has rubie colored stones on each side, a lot of decoration and
carved heads on the handle and hand guard. The floppy disk is included in
the photo to
give you an idea of scale.
click on the button to see a larger image |
The athame above Aqua got in about 1997, before that he used a sheath knife, (hunting knife in leather pouch), but you could have any knife you like, and some covens have toured antique shops looking for the ideal antique knife or found one elsewhere.
Their is a slight risk of being stopped on your way to a coven meeting and found to be carrying a knife that the police could say was an offensive weapon, and for that reason an antique or special knife that is in a presentation box or case may be a safer option. It may also be wise for members not to bring individual athame's to meetings but to have a coven one instead that they share.
For personal as opposed to coven work, any knife that you feel comfortable with will be fine and this could include an ordinary table knife.
For working with herbs a sharp black handled kitchen knife that can be obtained from a supermarket or hard wear store may be ideal. This is not consecrated so can be interchanged with household knives as necessary.
Some of our coven have purchased sets of wooden handled steak knives so that on practical sessions everyone has the same knife to use. Some coves have also used similar knives and had something engraved on to the handles and present a knife to each new witch on consecration, to use both as an athame and work knife.
Handling the athame of another witch does it no harm, although some have been known to get a bit fussy about fingerprints on the posh surfaces.
When in most cases you get a new knife you do not know who may have owned it or handled it before, so the first action should be to purify it. This is done by placing it in running water for a period, if it has a fancy handle then the blade only should be put into water. If you want to put it into a running stream this is fine, but if its a man made one such as a garden feature do not stick it in the ground as you will puncture the lining and the water will escape, giving you some explaining to do. Running tap water for 20 minutes is fine.
It is then consecrated or given to the spirit within your circle. The consecration should ideally be done by the new owner or the high priestess on behalf of a coven, if it is to be a coven tool. The words you use are your own, and should have meaning, you are giving this tool to the spirit, and asking that it be empowered, and that you will be given the wisdom to use it wisely. Many like to do this at a full moon, where the moon becomes the focus of the spirit or goddess you are talking to. The athame is yours but you are using it as an agent or priest(ess) of the spirit. We often say that the contract is between the owner and the spirit. It can of course be witnessed by a full coven if you wish and we never turn down an excuse for a party. It is often one of the first things a new member of a coven does by choice in front of the full coven after initiation.
It can be cleaned up and decorated before or after the above.
You can cleanse and re-consecrate your athame if you feel there is a need.
All knives are potentially dangerous, so be careful what you do with them and how you hold them, falling over or sitting on one in the dark can be painful. It is wise not to leave it hanging around as often being decorated it is a temptation for others who are not witches to steal. Shops are now not supposed to sell knives to young people, so perhaps there is now more of a tendency for them to obtain them in other ways.
In the event of an argument between two witches, yes it does happen occasionally, others nearby should take and hold their athames until they have calmed down.
They should never be used as a weapon or to threaten anyone.