Athame

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An athame or athamé (/əˈθɒm/, /əˈθɒmə/, /ˈæθəmeɪ/, or /ˈæθɪmɪ/) is a ceremonial blade, generally with a black handle. It is the main ritual implement or magical tool among several used in ceremonial magic traditions, and by other neopagans, witchcraft, as well as satanic traditions. A black-handled knife called an arthame appears in certain versions of the Key of Solomon, a grimoire dating to the Renaissance.^[1]

The contemporary use of it as a ceremonial tool was started by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, in the early 20th century, for the use of banishing rituals. The tool was later adopted by Wiccans, Thelemites, and Satanists.

The athame is also 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.^[2]

There has been speculation^[3] that Gardner's interest and expertise in antique swords and knives, and in particular the kris knives of Malaysia and Indonesia, may have contributed to the tool's central importance in modern Wicca.^[4]

The athame stands as one of the four elemental tools in modern occultism, traditionally standing for fire, for witches, and air, for ceremonial magicians. (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 (the element of earth), and the cup or chalice (the element of water). These four magical tools correspond to four significant "weapons" or talismans in Celtic myth: The sword, the spear, the shield, and the cauldron (and / or 'grail').

These same four ritual tools also appear in the magical practices of the western hermetic tradition, derived from The Golden Dawn, who pioneered the modern occult tradition and new age spirituality; and they appear in tarot decks as the four card suits: swords, cups, wands, and pentacles. The athame is an elemental tool, while the sword is often a tool representing power, used to keep spirits in check during goetic evocation. Wiccans sometimes use the sword as a substitute for the athame.