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Monday 25 June 2007

Making An Athame

Making An Athame Cover
An athame is traditionally a double-bladed knife with a black handle. Very few people make their own, although it is possible to do so. Most people obtain one and personalize it in some way. This is most commonly done by inscribing symbols or runes on it. In some traditions specific symbols are required and have been handed down through their lineage. In others and among eclectic Wicca groups, these can be personal.

How do you do this? You cover the blade with Paraffin. (WAX) Then you let it cool. Next you take a LONG sharp NAIL and inscribe the symbols in the wax. Then you use dilute Hydrochloric acid - careful, this stuff is dangerous, and drop by drop place on the blade where it shows through due to your inscriptions. When the acid has worked - usually fairly quickly - you rinse the blade under running water THOROUGHLY and then you use VERY hot water and a lot of elbow grease to remove the wax.

If ANY ACID FALLS ON THE SKIN RINSE THOROUGHLY UNDER COLD WATER IMMEDIATELY and if there is a burn of any type, seek immediate medical help. IF it gets in the eyes, again rinse immediately and completely and CALL THE EMT/PARAMEDIC UNITS. It is best when doing this if you wear either some type of glasses or goggles and rubber gloves.

DO NOT INGEST THE ACID OR LEAVE IT WHERE IT COULD BE INGESTED BY A CHILD OR ANIMAL. Also be careful of how you dispose of the rest of it - do so in an environmentally SAFE way.

This sounded like a little too much for me, so I tried another method. Koren made a beautiful athame for me and I personalized it by putting herbs of my choice in the handle and sealing this with a favorite crystal of mine - again with his help.

Oh, if you absolutely can't get a double-bladed knife - in Massachusetts, for example, possession of such a weapon is a CRIME - get a single-bladed knife and grind down the other edge as much as you can.

As I said, the Athame is USUALLY black-handled, but there are exceptions - I saw one Lady use a knife with a deer's hoof for the handle. She was oriented toward her Native American heritage as much as her Craft, so it had deep significance for her. I also saw - in fact a friend of mine was selling it - a BEAUTIFUL homemade athame with copper tubing forming a cross hilt and crystals in each of the three tips for the handle. (this was almost a small sword) AS ALWAYS USE WHAT SPEAKS TO YOUR OWN SOUL!!!!!

The athame is usually NOT used in circle for anything other than ritual and ceremonial purposed. If you need to inscribe a candle for Magick or slice the bread for the cakes and wine part of the rite, you usually use a BOLINE or white - handled knife, often a small dagger or even a pen-knife, set aside for these purposes.

Suggested ebooks:

Tuesday Lobsang Rampa - Feeding The Flame
Josh Norton - Charging An Enochian Tablet

Labels: outdoor environments ritual  explanation witchcraft  ending circle  witch alone  idiots guide witchcraft  tool wrappings  witches atlantic sourcebook  christs studies comparative  writings meditation magic  liber gnosticae catholicae  zohar rabba  black book forbidden  

Friday 22 June 2007

Feminist Redemption Of The Witch Grimm And Michelet As 19 Century Models

Feminist Redemption Of The Witch Grimm And Michelet As 19 Century Models Cover

Book: Feminist Redemption Of The Witch Grimm And Michelet As 19 Century Models by Qinna Shen

This article will focus on the reconfigurations of the image of the witch in Jacob Grimm's Deutsche Mythologie (1835) as well as Jules Michelet's La Sorciere (1862). It begins with the discussion of the prevalent negative Perception of the witch during Jacob Grimm's lifetime in two iconic texts: Goethe's Faust and Jacob Grimm's own collection of Fairy Tales that he and his brother Wilhelm assembled. In light of his archival work in search of the German national past, Jacob Grimm arrived at a more sympathetic account of the witch. In Deutsche Mythologie, he asserts that the definition and perception of the witch has a history; it is the Christian church that created a witch-phobic culture and labeled non-Christian and un-Christian practices as devilserving witchcraft. The political agenda of Deutsche Mythologie is in keeping with the Romantic nationalist sentiment. To enhance the cohesiveness of the German people, to generate the feeling of Germans as one nation and thus to facilitate political unification of the German principalities, Grimm foregrounds a shared German culture, language and identity through Reclaiming pre-Christian tradition and primitive German religion. Second, the article analyzes Jacob Grimm's influence on Jules Michelet's La Sorciere, and outlines Michelet's atypical 19th-century anti-clerical and anti-medieval attitude that reflects the author's nationalist fervor. Lastly, the article ends with Michelet's influence on feminists who embrace the emblematic subversiveness that the witch brings with her.

Download Qinna Shen's eBook: Feminist Redemption Of The Witch Grimm And Michelet As 19 Century Models

Free eBooks (Can Be Downloaded):

Stephanie Du Barry - Witches An Extraordinary Expression Of Misogyny In The 16th And 17th Centuries
Marc Aronson - Witch Hunt Mysteries Of The Salem Witch Trials Study Guide
Kathryn Rountree - Embracing The Witch And The Goddess
Qinna Shen - Feminist Redemption Of The Witch Grimm And Michelet As 19 Century Models

Monday 4 June 2007

Asatru Traditions Of Witchcraft

Asatru Traditions Of Witchcraft Cover Asatru is frequently regarded as one of the Neopagan family of religions. That family includes Wicca, Druidism, and re-creations of Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and other ancient Pagan religions. However, many Asatruers prefer the term "Heathen" or "Pagan" rather than "Neopagan;" they look upon their tradition as "not just a branch on the Neopagan tree" but as a separate tree. Unlike Wicca, which has gradually evolved into many different traditions, the reconstruction of Asatru has been based on the surviving historical record. Its followers have maintained it as closely as possible to the original religion of the Norse people. During the early part of the 20th Century, the National Socialist Party in Germany attempted to pervert Asatru by grafting parts of the religion onto Nazis racist beliefs. Today, some neo-Nazis groups are attempting to continue the practice.

Free eBooks (Can Be Downloaded):

Howard Williams - The Superstitions Of Witchcraft
Allen Greenfield - A True History Of Witchcraft
Alexander Roberts - A Treatise Of Witchcraft