Do you 'cut' with your Athame

[Rubber_Piggy]

I realise that for many/most it is taboo to cut with you athame. I am curious to know how many do us it for cutting, and for what sort of cutting.

[Pan]

I have used my athame to cut herbs and ritual bread before. I do have a bolline that's crescent-shaped, but sometimes it's a little hard to use as it's kind of heavy. I can't weild it right when trying to cut into foods, so I use my athame.

Personally, I see nothing wrong with it. A lot of people don't differentiate between their athame and bolline. Some peoples' athames are just kitchen knives. I know a few people that use their athames like normal kitchen knives when they want to prepare a special meal.

[Pandoras]

If you mean actual cutting, like with a kitchen knife, then no, I do not. When I use it (which is not often), it's only for magical reasons, to direct energy, "cut" a doorway, etc.

[Rubber_Piggy]

If you mean actual cutting, like with a kitchen knife, then no, I do not. When I use it (which is not often), it's only for magical reasons, to direct energy, "cut" a doorway, etc.

I mean mundane cutting, ie. physically cutting an object with the blade, perhaps should have clarified this.

[unicornlightining]

I use mine for any work that has to do with my path, buting herbs, magic, anyhting related.
:heyalove: :smooch: :crown: :hearthear :crystalba :dancy: :ringaroun :jamsessio

[tygherrayn]

I'm a kitchen witch. What qualifies as my Athame is a knife-block full of knives. Every one of them, at least symbolically, stands as an athame. But I don't do rituals often and so .. yeah, I cut, chop, dice, slice, julienne, peel, poke ...

[-Ember]

Mine is reserved for certain symbolic uses. Unless I had a working where the sybolism of cutting with my atheme fit (none I've run into yet) it only "cuts" circle.

[misschief]

i don't use mine for anything, ever. i only have it b/c it's pretty *shrug*

[Ben Trismegistus]

No, I don't. It's a ritual knife. The theory is that it is used to cut and shape energy, and that mundane cutting reduces its ability to do that. Dulls its psychic edge, you might say.

[For the record: in the poll, I selected the first option, but I'm not nearly so adamant about it. If YOU want to cut with your athame, that's your business. Different strokes for different folks.]

[Semele]

If you have a mundane attitude you will get mundane results in whatever you do.

I can do great things with focus and guidance. That doesn't mean my mind is useless when not focusing on a specific goal, nor should I shelve it until I have something important to do. I see the same appliying to all the tools we use. The mind being the sharpest tool of them all of course.

[Joshua]

I use a tibetan Phurpa (looks something like this (http://www.fabryka.com/mb/inni/opowiesci/phurpa2.gif) except with a longer blade), which some of you might not even consider a real athame, But I digress. The edges on it are so dull that warm butter would laugh at it. It's not even an issue anyway since it never leaves my altar.

[Rubber_Piggy]

I think that an athame can be what ever you make it, and it's up to you how you choose to use it.

However the majority of the texts i have read suggest that although it's up to you how you use it, they seem to imply that it should not be used to cut, seom even go so far as to say it should not be a live blade. I was just curious how many people to this to heart.

[Lady Avalon]

Never Never Never

[~Elise~]

Yes, I use my athame to cut food, etc. I am not desecrating my blade, I am BLESSING my food, (to quote Cora Anderson co-founder of the Feri Tradition)

JMO and YMMV,

Elise

[Anubis]

Nope I use a boline for the cutting..
besides any excuse I can have for more blades works for me!

[~Elise~]

besides any excuse I can have for more blades works for me!

Oh, I sooooooooooo agree with this statement. Can never have too many--maybe enough, but not too many blades.

Elise

[Theres]

traditionally the only thing an athame is used to physically cut is the handfasting cake.
i don't cut anything with mine, as doing so takes my focus away from the purpose i've charged it for... the projecting of my energy into my working.

[RavensEye]

traditionally the only thing an athame is used to physically cut is the handfasting cake Hmmm did not know that. As for me I use my athame for circle casting and as a representation of fire, that is it.

[Aidron]

I use mine to physically cut, engrave, and inscribe things, though not that often for the latter two as I have a much smaller knife (what some may refer to as the white handled knife) that is more easily wielded for those purposes. I tend to use it for most physical activities for the sheer reason that it is far more convenient for me to do so.

However, I see no harm in using an athame to slice through physical material. It is a blade after all, and I see no point in ignoring that for any type of matter. Many physical objects are just as sacred in my eyes as energy is, and I find the more I use it in a variety of ways the sharper its spiritual edge becomes-unlike Ben stated previously in his own experiences.

[CaitrionaMorgaine]

I have, on occasion, used my athame for trimming candle wick or ribbon on charms, ect--but that's about it. My blade is sharp, and akward to use to inscribe candles. So I use (of all things) a knitting needle. It works perfectly. I am of the opinon that if you want to use your athame to cut herbs, prepare special meals, ect...by all means, do that.

The tools that we use are sacred because we make them that way. It doesn't matter if you use a butter knife (my first athame), that makes it no less sacred than an expensive blade.

Avalon's Blessings, ~Rhiannon

[Sadb]

Well first I have to say this thread scared me at first glance , from the title I thought depressed teen "cutting" :goodgrief .
But no I don't use my athame for mundane things , mainly because there is always another knife to use .

[MoonlightShadow]

Well first I have to say this thread scared me at first glance , from the title I thought depressed teen "cutting" :goodgrief .
Lol, I thought the same thing. I was like, "Whaaa?"

...and I don't have an athame, so of course not

[fireswimmer]

I do not have an athame for workings, not really part of my path, but for me magical and mundane can nto be separated. For that reason alone anything that I would use for magical purposes would be used for mundane purposes as well. Clothing, tools, alter etc. My alter is a covered trunk. The trunk is mundane storage, the top is magical. I feel that for me the two should remain integrated.

Fireswimmer

[Kern]

I use mine to make items that I will use in rituals.I read that in Seax Wica it is believed that one infuses more of their energy into it when it is used.

[Wolf O Volos]

Nope I use a boline for the cutting..


Exactly! An Athame is a tool used for guiding energies. It is not traditionally even supposed to be *sharp*. A Boline, or black handled knife is the ritual tool a lot of you seem to be using your athames for. I know it may seem confusing to have 2 blades on your altar, or when doing magickal excercises, but if you look into different trads, most of them use the Athame for nothing other than energy direction and use the Boline for all things ritual, as in cutting your grounding cakes, trimming wicks, chopping herbs and insence... Just a helpful hint is all guys. If it all gets TOO confusing, Use a wand to guide energies, and call your ritual knife a boline.... :P

[Aidron]

Exactly! An Athame is a tool used for guiding energies. It is not traditionally even supposed to be *sharp*. A Boline, or black handled knife is the ritual tool a lot of you seem to be using your athames for. I know it may seem confusing to have 2 blades on your altar, or when doing magickal excercises, but if you look into different trads, most of them use the Athame for nothing other than energy direction and use the Boline for all things ritual, as in cutting your grounding cakes, trimming wicks, chopping herbs and insence... Just a helpful hint is all guys. If it all gets TOO confusing, Use a wand to guide energies, and call your ritual knife a boline.... :P


One, an athame is not traditionally a tool that should be dull. It is a tool that is traditionally dull within 'Wicca'. Athames do not belong to Wicca alone. While the label may not be used much by other paths (though I have seen it used), ritual daggers are prominent in many practices.

A boline is traditionally white-handled, and the athame black-handled. Again, most 'Wiccan' traditions do not use their athames for anything more than directing energy, but that word is most and as I have pointed out, athames do not belong solely to Wicca, hence this point is rather moot from a general perspective on the tool.

I think you are the one that is confused, not anyone else here. My athame, boline, and wand all have different purposes, where as you seem to be mixing and blending amongst all of them with no clear idea of what each one traditionally represents or what one does. For the record, athames traditionally invoke and banish energies, wands direct them, and the boline handles physical (not mundane-physical) activities.

I, however, use my athame for physical activities, as I have stated. Note, I did not state 'mundane' activities, which seems to be the reasoning most people carry. If it is physical, it is mundane. Sheer silliness.

[Rubber_Piggy]

For the record, athames traditionally invoke and banish energies, wands direct them, and the boline handles physical (not mundane-physical) activities.

:hmmmmm: Now that's intersting it was my understanding that traditionally the athame was also for directing energies and the wand was for the same purpose but used when a more 'inviting'/less forceful/submissive nuance was desired/required.

[Faelon_Moon_Hawk]

I don't cut w/ it...but mostly because it's a short sword and too difficult to bother cutting with and it's also a collectors piece. I do have an old little pocket knife which i do some of my cutting w/...but most cutting is done w/ whatever knife I have on hand at the moment.

[Aidron]

:hmmmmm: Now that's intersting it was my understanding that traditionally the athame was also for directing energies and the wand was for the same purpose but used when a more 'inviting'/less forceful/submissive nuance was desired/required.


Depends on which tradition (within and outside of Wicca) you are speaking about, however on average I've found more practices that agree with the definitions I gave than any other-which does not denote they are anymore valid, just more common and thus more traditional. Quantity, not quality-so to speak.

[Mouse]

A blunt knife is a knife lacking potential.

It took me ages to get an athame because my family thought I'd cut myself with it.. they never hid the kitchen knives or took away the knife i used to carve wood or my razor blades yet they wouldn't let me have an athame.. I don't get it.

The only thing i cut with my athame other than air is my finger for rituals, mainly to add strength to my athame and bind it to myself..

My herbs come in a jar labled "masterfoods" so i don't really need to chop them up.

[Djinn]

I have a knife I use only to cut ritual items--inscribing candles, herbs, foods, whatever--but I don't use it to cut circle. I use my hands for the traditional energy work of the athame and a knife for the purposes where a knife works best. Not even a martial artist can chop vetivert with her hands.

[Pandoras]

My athame has a dark wooden handle which has been woodburned and painted to my specifications with certain symbols. It is dull and double-edged. I don't use it for cutting purposes, only to direct energy raised during rites and spells as well as cutting doorways in and out of the circle.

I have a white-handled knife (although not a bolline because I find the crescent shape akward to work with). This knife is sharp and is a practical, working knife used to cut herbs, cut cords, inscribe symbols onto candles, etc. But I don't use it for things unrelated to the Craft. I don't use it in the kitchen and so on.

I have never really been a fan of the wand, although I do have one that was handmade out of bamboo and has a crystal quartz attached at the tip. I never use it. Many people use a wand to invoke the God and Goddess. Others use their athames, but others don't like to because they see the athame as an instrument of commanding and power manipulation.

[paygun]

My athame is whatever knife I have in my hand or my pocket. I have no problem with using a Swiss Army athame or something hand forged under a full moon, for either ritual or for opening DVDs. :)

[barlitone]

Ritual use only. I have lots of other knives for mundane cutting. Heck, I like buying knives so much, I would never make one of my little beauties do the work of ten!

Besides, it's a ritual knife. My wife might use a book to level a wobbly table, but never a Bible.

[Carickah]

I am pretty much in line with what Raven has said. My Athame is rather untraditional, anyway, but seeing as it was a Goddess-gift given to me on the shores of a lake while I was fishing, I took it and cleaned it up and used it with perfect love and perfect trust ever since. My Athame is a large Bowie Knife with a wooden handle and I have carried it whenever I went fishing or hiking, and has been used whenever I needed to cut something to norish or protect myself or when needing to make some sort of tool to do so. I have always felt that this strengthened my bond with my Athame and with my Goddess. I always care for my blade, making sure that I hand sharpen it and consecrate it appropriately. In times past, this was the way of things. Our ancestors did not always have the luxury of having different knives for different tasks. My path takes me down that road, not because I have only one blade(ask anyone who has been to my home), but because this was a Goddess-gift and this is what it spoke to me.






k

[fay]

i think im probably going to have to go with the first option although i dont feel strongly about it, certainly not as strongly as it is phrased. i dont use my athame for any cutting. the blade is not sharp and i dont want it sharp. i cant think of anything that id want to cut with it so there would be no point. i dont agree that a dull blade is against the point of having a knife (or whatever someone said, im paraphrasing :nyah: ), i think that it is up to the individual what they do with their athame.
mine is beautiful and ornate and i only use if for energy purposes. i go against the traditional wiccan idea of a black handled athame, i may be wiccan but if you saw my athame you'd understand why i got it, gold handle and all :nyah: . but i think everyone thinks that their athame is the best, otherwise why would they have bought it, lol :p
blessed be

[Silverfire Darkmoon]

First, a question: Where is all this 'traditional' stuff written down? Seeing as Wicca started with Gerald Gardner, one would think that for the uses of the Wiccan athame, we need look no further than the 2 1/2 books he wrote on the subject. 'Witchcraft Today' barely mentions tools at all and High Magic's Aid tells us that the athame is needed to make all manner of interesting things from the Greater Key of Solomon. In no 'old' book I have ever seen does it say that the athame is never to be used to cut something, or the silly notion that is is to be dulled and have the point broken off. The athame is a symbol of the cutting edge of the intellect, and to dull it is therefore a possibly stupid action, especially if you have a close and personal bond with it. The point of a knife is to be sharp, therefore, if the athame is a knife, let it be sharp. The Greater Key tells, of the black-hilted knife, that it is for 'making the Circle, wherewith to strike terror and fear into the Spirits' and therefore any 'energy directing' statements do not have any basis in known historical reality.
Dulling the athame has everything to do with the asinine fear that people will condemn you as Scary And Evil Satanic Witches if you have a knife that appears to be sacrificial in function. To which I say, Get Over Yourself.
My athame is used to cast Circle, consecrate water, salt, flame, and incense, invocations and evocations, banishings - everything, so far, except cutting because it's rather unwieldy. My bolline is a linoleum knife I got at a dollar store and it works nicely. I would rather cut my skin with my athame, because my bolline has been in contact with the sap of more than a few extremely toxic plants such as monkshood, and therefore cutting myself with it would be Very Stupid. I did slice myself with it once by accident when tending to the rosebushes, but the cut was shallow and more of a scrape. When I get Handfasted, my athame migh be used to cut the cake, sever handfasting cords, and for the blood mixing, but for the blood mixing I believe sterile lancets would be a better choice.

[-Ember]

First, what makes you assume traditional equals wicca?

Second, "The athame is a symbol of the cutting edge of the intellect, and to dull it is therefore a possibly stupid action, especially if you have a close and personal bond with it. " It isn't the intellect in the trad I follow. It is will. And there is something to having a will that is not so sharp as to cut unintentionally. A gesture of self control.

I don't have any problems with people wantining to use it, but with the symbolism and intent in mine, it would be a very potent symbol to cut something with it. It isn't a light action. Particularly, to draw blood with it would create a symbolism that I do not see myself wanting, to be a weapon. It shouldn't be. It should be something that is seperate from that. Harm shouldn't be a consideration exactly... it shouldn't be part of the symbolism for the will. A potential for it, perhaps, but not an essential basic part of it.

[Silverfire Darkmoon]

I assumed 'traditional' = 'wicca' because half the time I see the words 'traditional' and something witchy or occultish next to each other, it's a Wiccan saying something, or someone saying something about Wiccans. I imagine the closest tradition associated with the athame is that it's a knife! Anything else is entirely dependent upon choice, training, and what seems appropriate.
Can anyone tell me where the idea that the athame is used to cut the Handfasting cake comes from? The only source I've seen for this is the Farrars. It almost seems like something Doreen Valiente would have said, for some reason, but I've only one of her books and I don't have it handy at the moment to check. It certainly isn't in the Book of Shadows that I've noticed, but then, the BoS barely says anything about it.

[Rubber_Piggy]

My athame is whatever knife I have in my hand or my pocket. I have no problem with using a Swiss Army athame or something hand forged under a full moon, for either ritual or for opening DVDs. :)

I know a few people for which opeing DVDs ISa ritual...

[Faery-Wings]

I'm a kitchen witch. What qualifies as my Athame is a knife-block full of knives. Every one of them, at least symbolically, stands as an athame. But I don't do rituals often and so .. yeah, I cut, chop, dice, slice, julienne, peel, poke ...

Me too. Although I have one knife that is what I consider to be my athame or probably better called Power Knife, Knife of Power- you get what I mean. I use that one all of the time for magical and non-magical, but it has me energy well imbued in it. I only use a speciual pair of kitchen shears to cut herbs though.

[Willow_starr]

In my own opinion and word usage an athame is a purely ceremonial knife used only for cutting energy. If you use your knife to cut physical things it is a ritual knife not an athame. I don't have an athame of my own (my partner does and I use his sometimes) but I have lots of knives (inlcuding the ol'swiss army) that I use for both ritual and "mundane" purposes because I believe the two shouldn't be separate (my BoS is also my cookbook and before ritual I sweep the area my nylon kitchen broom or the vac).

[Calen]

I don't have a particular knife right now. I use a kitchen knife for what needs to be done, candles and such, but I use my hands for energy manipulation, so it's not a big deal for now. When I get more into the herbal side of things (and when I find one I like) I do plan on getting a ritual knife, but I'll use that for anything that has to do with my path.

[whitewater]

i consider the metal tainted if i cut anthing physical with it.

[Ladylepgirl]

I think Harry Potter opened alot of doors for pagans not being weird and satanic. I love the books and my son and daughter both enjoy them and the movies.
As far as the athame goes, I never physically cut anything with it, I use a special knife or scissors to cut herbs in my kitchen.

[Morrighan61]

This past year I bought a very pretty set of mermaid daggers to act as athames. Up til then, yeah, sure I used my ritual knife to trim candles, or cut ritual herbs, whatever. I suppose when I get over how pretty they are I probably will use these that way too...LOL Mostly the white handled knife is for that, not the athame, but it's only a knife. It's a blade. It's not the holy grail. I use it if I need to. And that would include defense if I ever had the need. Someone invades my space with an intent to do me physical harm? They'd better RUN if my athame is near. I'd hate to use it for that, but I would. Better to shed someone else's blood than to end up raped or dead, IMHO...

In a weird way?

I believe a ritual knife that has tasted blood, mine, is that much more MINE, than one that hasn't. When I consecrated mine, I gave it some. I don't do that with most things, I usually reserve the blood magick for major things, but for some reason it feels "right" with my knives. Just as sticking it in air, water, fire, and finally earth seems "right" to do....

Morrighan

[Sekushi Cho]

I never cut with my athame. I usually only used it to bless things in ritual, consecration of items or offerings or putting out candles.... BUT MY MOTHER TOOK IT! THE NERVE OF THAT WOMAN!!! Just because I was careless enough to leave it on the bed... I'll get it back. And if not......... I will be sad. I'll just have to get my own... I don't need her...