Wiccan Mysteries: Athame and Boline (or Bolline)

[fearn]

Hi All,

I'm not Wiccan, but I have a number of friends who are, and there are a couple of enduring mysteries in Wicca that (perhaps) someone in this forum could solve.

As some of you undoubtedly know, there are two ritual knives in Gardnerian Wicca: the athame (a black handled, generally double-edged knife) and the boline (or bolline) (a white handled, single-edged knife).

Here are the puzzles:
1. No one knows where the terms athame or bolline came from, or even what the "correct" pronounciation is.

For the athame, the theories are:
1. It's from the Arabic for "blood-letter" (adh-dhame?) (from the poet Robert Graves). This has been used, along with other evidence, to suggest that Wicca is some sort of debased Sufi cult.
2. It's the name of some sort of Malaysian blade. The story behind this is that Gerald Gardner (the founder of Gardnerian Wicca) was based in India for some time, and supposedly wrote a book on Malaysian weaponry (does this book exist?). I'd say that someone's pretty obviously thinking of a Keris here.

The athame design suppposedly comes from The Key of Solomon which helpfully calls it a "black-handled knife" (not an athame).

For the Bolline, there are no origin theories that I'm aware of, but there are a lot of questions about what it's supposed to look like. Various groups use the white-handled knife, a small sickle, or even an old-fashioned hoof-pick.

I figure, if there's anyone out there who can figure out where these two blades came from, he's probably subscribed to this list.

Anyone?

Fearn

[nechesh]

Hi Fearn,
Gardner did indeed write a well known book called "Keris and other Malay Weapons" (1937?), not to be confused with the book of the same name that features many different writers (including an article by Gardner). A copy of this book would be quite pricy as it is very rare.
Gardner is known as the father of modern Wicca, but most of his work is a rehashing (with certain changes of his own, including a strong penchant for nude ritual ) of Victorian era Ceremonial Magick from such lodge groups as the Golden Dawn, of which, i believe he was a member. He was also a student of Aleister Crowley.
Many of the powerful grimores and manuscripts on which the magickal lodges were based were "discovered" in secret places or delivered by "mysterious" adepts from legendary and shadowy groups such as the Bravarian Illuminati. What i'm getting at here is that "modern" magick and Wicca, though obviously connected to arcane knowledge, is basically a new philosophy. This is not to argue that it's all made up and wrong. I am more likely to argue that it is all made up and RIGHT! But if you are looking for some ancient root to these words you may end up being disappointed.

[nechesh]

You can find pretty accurate descriptions of there uses and pronouncations here. (it's not that no one knows how to pronouce them, it's just a tomato/tomoto thingy ) Unfortunately, no etomology here.
http://www.denelder.com/glossary/a.html

[fearn]

Hi Nechesh,

Thanks for the info on the book. That solves one thing. Still, the Athame/Bolline question remains. Did those names spring from Gardner's fertile imagination, or did he get them from somewhere else?

I don't disagree that Wicca is a new religion. The fun part is trying to figure out where the pieces came from.

Fearn.

[Alam Shah]

Title: Keris and other Malay weapons
Author: G.B. Gardner, Ed.B.Lumsden Milne,
Publishers: Progressive Publishers, Singapore 1936,
Herdruk: E.P Publishing Ltd, East Ardsley, Wakefield-Yorkshire, England 1973,
ISBN: 0-85409-944-1

[fearn]

Thanks Alam Shah,

I was searching for it on a couple of university library websites, and I see what Nechesh means about it being rare.

Personally, I'm hoping that one of our Arabic speakers will give us a translation of "blood-letter" or at least tell us whether adh-dhame is Arabic.

F

[Alam Shah]

Keris and other Malay weapons (re-print).
is availabe at:
http://www.selectbooks.com.sg/titles/28038.htm

If you're thinking of getting this in a library...then it will take a long time, if you can get it.

[Alam Shah]

The Athame
The athame is a magick knife. It is not used for cutting, but to direct energy raised during rites and spells. It is usually a dull, double-edged knife with a black or dark colored handle. Black absorbs power. Athames are sometimes engraved with magickal symbols. The knife absorbs power from you and the area around you. The symbolism of the knife is change. It is linked with the Element of Fire. Its straight phallic shape links it with the God.

The Athame is used in salutes to gods, goddesses and the Ancient Ones, and for a variety of other purposes. None of these purposes, interestingly enough, include the traditional function of a knife as a tool. As a penetrating tool, the Athame represents the masculine aspect of divinity, just as the Chalice represents the feminine aspect. The term, of unknown origin, was first seen in Medieval grimoires.

The Boline
A boline is used to actually cut herbs, cloth and many other magickal items. You need a knife that will hold a sharp edge. This is the Witches working knife.

[nechesh]

Alam Shah's descriptions are fairly accurate, althought the athame is also attributed to the element of air in many traditions, specifically in what is known as Ceremonial Magick. This is one of the aspects that Gardner changed when "creating" modern Wicca.
The reprinted book that Alam has posted a link to is NOT Gardner's book, though there is an article by Gardner in it. It is a compliation articles from many different authors, definity worth having (in is a fairly cheap book) even if it is filled with some contradiction and many inaccuracies. i understand the confusion because it does bear the same title.

[fearn]

Again, thanks for the info Alam and Nechesh. That's the EASY part.

The HARD part, and the reason I asked the question, is that if you ask a Wiccan where the terms "Athame" and "Boline" came from, you turn up a blank.

Similarly, "Athame" could be pronounced "Ath-ame" "A-tham-ee" or "A-tharm-ey" that I've heard (boline is either "bollin" or "bow-line").

A number of people know about Grave's derivation of athame (Arabic Adh-dhame), I wanted to check that, but since I don't speak Arabic, my attempts to transliterate this into Arabic script and to compare it to an online English-to-Arabic dictionary failed miserably.

Also, I don't know why a Muslim would call a knife a "blood-letter" as opposed to, say, a jambiya or some other term. Since the Athame's symbolic, "Blood-letter" doesn't make a lot of functional sense (unless Gardner was being romantic, which is possible).

So, any Arabic speakers out there who can at least answer whether Graves was right?

F

[nechesh]

Hi Fearn, one thing i am fairly sure of is that modern Wicca is NOT a debasement of Sufi tradition. Gardner took the ritual format he learned studying with the Golden Dawn and Crowley and combined it with the old Celtic pantheon and seasonal based cyclic holidays (Sabbats) with a strong emphasis of worship of the Goddess.
Graves may or may not be correct about the etymology of the word, but it is meaningless to the reality of the religion and certainly to the purpose of the athame in the context of ritual use. I think it is more likely that it was Graves who was being romantic in this case, not Gardner. As it has been said, the athame is used for more spiritual acts such as casting circles and tracing sigils in the air. Blood letting would NEVER be one of it's uses, even if such acts were performed in Wiccan ceremony, which i can assure you it is not. Wiccans DO NOT make animal sacrifices.
If anyone is interested, a very good book for understanding Gardnerian/Alexandrian Wicca and how these knives are used in their ritual sense, i would highly recommend "A Witches Bible Compleat" by Janet and Stewart Farrar, ISBN # 0-939708-09-4