“A” is for Athame

As seems to happen to me so often, I never think to write about a subject until someone asks me a question.  I answer and I think, “Huh, I should have written that as a post!”  Today’s question was about the athame and the fae, and why one would be feeling “pulled” toward owning one,  Here is how I responded:

I have many athames (I’m a “tool” collector), but I only use two athames in sabbat rituals and spellwork.

In ritual, the athame is used to bring the divine feminine (chalice) and male (athame) together by inserting the athame into the chalice (the Great Rite) (the symbolism is very obvious). Some people use their athame to create their circle.

In spellworking, the athame can be used to gather, store and direct energy, such as when consecrating, charging or empowering amulets and talismans (although a wand can be used just as easily).

Most witches will agree on these three points, but there is disagreement about whether the athame corresponds with fire or air. Pick whichever one feels right to you. I treat my wand as corresponding with air, so I treat my athame as fire.

One of my athames is made of copper (which is really difficult to find; someone made mine for me by special request years ago; use of copper is more common and more readily available in England where faerie magic (IMO) is more hands-on and better developed because of its many historical faerie sites) and the other is made of oak wood.

On my daily personal altar, I do not keep an athame at all; in its place I keep a small copper and silver boline. I use this boline to cut fresh flowers and greenery for my personal altar as offerings to the God and Goddess, but not the fae (they don’t like dead flowers). For the fae, I leave shiny and found natural objects.

I’m very careful to have no iron in any of the items on either my ritual or personal altar, as I believe this is offensive to the fae. This includes steel blades (which is what most double-edged blades are made of today) because steel is mostly composed of iron. Pewter is also an acceptable substitute because it is mostly composed of tin, but pewter doesn’t hold a sharp edge. Since you only use the athame to direct energy, this should’t be a problem.

So why is a sharp, double-edged blade with a black handle the “definition” of an athame? Is it to intensify the “maleness” of the phallic object? The “dangerous” aspect of “maleness?” The raw, unbridled passion of the male penis? Some may choose to see it that way, but I see the flip-side too, where “maleness” is flacid, relaxed, peaceful. I see no reason for an athame to be black (absent of light, able to absorb but never reflect) or sharp (since it is not to be used to cut) because it is the witch who imbues the athame with its power. My copper athame won’t hold a sharp edge, and if my wooden athame ever had a sharp edge, a butterfly breathed on it and melted it away! Yet both accept and hold energy very well and release it upon command. I have sharp-edged black athames with the obligatory runes upon the handle and they “feel” no different to me. I simply prefer not to bring steel into a sacred circle.

As to why you are feeling a desire to own an athame, I would say that any desire is a sign of readiness for growth, a sign to reach beyond yourself and expand your knowledge and experience. You are simply ready. The athame will bring you closer to the masculinity within, as well as the divine masculine.

As far as using an athame in faerie magic, the fae are not meek and passive. They have the capability to be very strong and aggressive. They hold within themselves both the feminine and the masculine, just as do each of us. It is natural and, being of nature, the fae are accepting of this tool as they are of any other tool — so, remember, it is just a tool.

Look what I googled today for only $20.00 (me want! click image to visit):

7" Pewter Fairy Athame from Abaxion