Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A ceremonial double-edged dagger, used in Wicca and related neopagan religions.

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word athame.

Examples

  • Your athame is your own - you may let other people touch your tarot cards and drink from your ritual chalice, but your athame should only be touched by * you*.

    Witchvox - RSS Feed - New Articles This Week 2009

  • Others say that the wand should represent South, the element of Fire, because wands are traditionally made of wood and wood burns - so therefore the athame should be the East/Air tool.

    Witchvox - RSS Feed - New Articles This Week 2009

  • The athame is a double-edged knife - double-edged like a dagger, rather than single-edged like your favorite kitchen paring knife.

    Witchvox - RSS Feed - New Articles This Week 2009

  • Your athame is your own - you may let other people touch your tarot cards and drink from your ritual chalice, but your athame should only be touched by * you*.

    Witchvox - RSS Feed - New Articles This Week 2009

  • The athame is a double-edged knife - double-edged like a dagger, rather than single-edged like your favorite kitchen paring knife.

    Witchvox - RSS Feed - New Articles This Week 2009

  • Others say that the wand should represent South, the element of Fire, because wands are traditionally made of wood and wood burns - so therefore the athame should be the East/Air tool.

    Witchvox - RSS Feed - New Articles This Week 2009

  • I go with the wand is East and athame is South camp, not because of the wooden wand, but because to me, my athame is a symbol of my Will, and Will is part of the South/Fire correspondences.

    Witchvox - RSS Feed - New Articles This Week 2009

  • I go with the wand is East and athame is South camp, not because of the wooden wand, but because to me, my athame is a symbol of my Will, and Will is part of the South/Fire correspondences.

    Witchvox - RSS Feed - New Articles This Week 2009

  • The illegible page in the front of Derithon’s book of spells had once held his notes on the making of an athame; they were rendered illegible when his master found them and impressed on his apprentice with a willow switch that the athame was a secret.

    With a Single Spell Watt-Evans, Lawrence, 1954- 1987

  • With her left hand and a scream of blinding pain, Eris snatched up the athame that had been discarded on the floor.

    Arcane Circle Linda Robertson 2011

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • An athame is a knife or dagger, generally double egded and with a black handle, used in Pagan and Wiccan ceremonies and rituals. It should be noted that they are not used to draw blood, but to cut herbs, among other things.

    June 14, 2009

  • A black-handled knife called an athame appears in certain versions of the Key of Solomon, a grimoire originating in the Middle Ages

    January 13, 2018