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Athame
Also known as ritual
knifes, athames are black-hilted knifes carried by
witches
for ceremonial purposes.
Supposedly having magical properties of its
own, the athame always has a black handle and often bears magic
symbols on the blade.
In neo-pagan
witchcraft the athame is used only for casting the
circle
at the beginning of rituals — thus establishing the magical
space within which rituals are performed — and never for cutting.
No attempt is made to keep it sharp, though often great care is taken to
make it artistic.
Other older traditions
use the knife as much as possible in the belief that its power increases with use. The athame is associated with the element of fire (in some traditions, air). The athame is
also used in many invocations, evocations, calling the watchtowers, LBRP (lesser banishing
ritual of the pentagram), spellwork, ceremonies, initiations, and various rituals and
rites. At the climax of the ritual at which wine is
shared, the athame is often plunged into the chalice of wine (symbolic of
the sex act).
See
Witchcraft,
Casting Black Magic Spells,
Commanding Spirits,
The Tarot Store and
Divination & Scrying Tools and
Supplies.
Sources: (1) Spence, Lewis,
An Encyclopedia of
Occultism, Carol Publishing Group; (2)
Pickering,
David,
Cassell Dictionary of Witchcraft,
Cassell Academic; (3)
The Encyclopaedia
Britannica Eleventh Edition Handy Volume Edition, Oxford
University Press.
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