Wiccan Mysteries: Athame and Boline (or Bolline)

nechesh · 4th February 2005, 05:16 PM

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 · 4th February 2005, 09:02 PM

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 · 5th February 2005, 02:41 AM

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

4th February 2005, 05:16 PM	#1
nechesh Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 940	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.

4th February 2005, 09:02 PM	#2
fearn Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 1,247	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

5th February 2005, 02:41 AM	#3
nechesh Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 940	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