Athame - Definition and Overview

Athame or athamé is what some practitioners of ritual magick call their ceremonial knives. In some traditions, the athame is a knife with a double edged blade and short (often black) handle; other traditions require that the blade be dull, curved, or a variety of other specifications.

The athame is used for ritual and magickal purposes only, to direct energy; if something such as herbs or cord needs to be cut, another knife called a boline or white-handled knife is used. An exception is "kitchen witchcraft", which actively encourages the use of magickal tools for mundane purposes, to increase the witch's familiarity with it.

Many traditions associate the athame with the masculine principle and with the element of air, though traditions associating it with fire are not uncommon.

Other traditions forbid the use of blades, in general, or of iron blades, in particular, in their rituals. This is most common amongst traditions that have a particular fondness of the Sidhe, to whom iron is supposedly harmful.

See also

• neopaganism
• Wicca