Athame

A black-handled, double-edged ritual knife used in Wiccan and traditional-witchcraft practice. The athame is the tool of the practitioner’s will rather than a weapon — it is used to cast the circle, direct energy, and consecrate space, never to cut physical matter. Its symbolism is associated with the element of Fire (in some lineages, Air). The name has uncertain etymology; the form and use derive most directly from the Mediterranean ceremonial-magic tradition transmitted through the Key of Solomon into the Golden Dawn curriculum, from which Gardnerian Wicca inherited it.