The Athame

By Peter Nash

The black hilted knife, or rather the athame to give it its correct Wiccan name, is the essential working tool of the practicing Wiccan. A witch without an athame is like a car without an engine, such is the importance of the tool.

The ritual knife should be acquired by the candidate before the first degree initiation and its consecration should be one of the candidates first tasks after initiation, indeed this should be done on the actual night of the ritual if possible. There seem to be a wide variety of consecration procedures varying from tradition to tradition, some very simple involving passing the athame through the incense smoke and through the flame of one of the altar candles, perhaps sprinkling the new athame with consecrated water. Others are more highly ritualised and complex in nature. Some new Wiccans like to leave their athames buried to the hilt in the earth for 24 hours, others leave them outdoors where the light of the full moon will shine on them.

Some traditional and hereditary covens insist that the athame must be made by the would-be initiate. There is certainly much merit in this, although unfortunately in the 20th century few people possess the craft skills to actually construct a knife (although of course in olden times most people could craft a knife or sword). My own athame was admittedly bought. On the night of my initiation, back in 1982, whilst I was still skyclad, the officiating High Priestess and I stood together with our feet, knees and lips touching, the athame being held in place by our bodies. The High Priest, Alex Sanders, then recited the appropriate invocations. This is a most powerful method of consecration and the comparison with the Great Rite is obvious.

Wiccans believe that when an act of creation takes place, an element or essence of the creator goes into the created. Hence we revere the planets and of course our own bodies. As created beings, the power raised at Esbat meetings is the manifestation of that divine spark radiating from the bodies of the assembled coven. If the athame is bought, the new Wiccan must personalise his/her working tool and once again, there are many ways of achieving this.

There is some debate over the elemental assignation of the athame and the sword which is interchangeable with the athame. The magic sword has all the attributes and functions of the athame in ritual. Many Wiccans assign the athame to air and the wand to fire. In common with many of my Alexandrian brothers however, I much prefer to assign the athame/sword to fire and the wand to air, which to me seems far more logical, after all, fire forges the sword but it consumes and destroys the wand. The idea of placing the sword/athame with air was in fact a 'red herring' perpetuated by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. This Magical order had a habit of printing deliberate errors in its lectures and study papers lest they fall into the hands of non-initiates. The sword/athame to air was one such deliberate mistake which unfortunately caught on and never died a natural death.

The athame may or may not be engraved with magical or astrological characters after consecration. The symbols described in my own book of shadows are quite varied, for example the symbols below.

	Male/Female
	Power of the Athame or Horned God
	The Eightfold Path or the World
	The Horned God
	Initials of the God
	The Scourge
	The Breasts of the Goddess or the Waxing/Waning Moon
	Initial of the Goddess

Inscribing these symbols is not compulsory (mine admittedly does not have them) but they do seem to enhance the visual appearance and atmosphere. A certain modification is made to the male/female symbol after third degree initiation.

The athame can therefore be seen as a most essential working tool of the craft. It should be well cared for, treated with respect and held in honour as ones personal symbol of witch-hood, (some brethren even carry theirs with them at all times!). Indeed, right across the occult scene as a whole, the magical dagger can be seen as the cornerstone of the magical operation; from the craft to the ceremonial magicians of the classic grimoires.

The craft is in a continuing state of evolution and changes are occurring all the time as Wicca heads towards the 21st century and the Aquarian age, but even with ongoing change, the use of the athame seems to still be strong in all our basic rituals, e.g. casting the circle, The Great Rite and the consecration of the wine. Let us hope this wonderful instrument keeps its importance for a long time to come.