{"id":3265,"date":"2018-12-01T14:49:01","date_gmt":"2018-12-01T19:49:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/?page_id=3265"},"modified":"2022-04-06T19:40:14","modified_gmt":"2022-04-07T00:40:14","slug":"my-athame","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/doing\/tools-and-some-ideas\/my-athame\/","title":{"rendered":"My athame"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Doing<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I commissioned an amazing athame from Omega Artworks<\/a> in 2016 – here are details and photos. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few notes:<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Alt-text for the images is brief, since I describe the details in the surrounding text of this page. You can click on the images to get a larger version of the image.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll be explaining some symbol details, but not all of them. (This being a personal ritual tool). I\u2019m open to questions about things not mentioned here via my contact form or email, but please respect the fact there are things I might not go into (especially with strangers.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The design choices here are very deliberate, but not always traditional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photographs:<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll start with a big photo of each side, and then close up photos of details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Front<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Front of the athame, showing the pommel with a deep blue stone held in place by a crown of waves, a hilt of gold-veined onyx, spiral on the right curving from the amber sun with five small stones, around to a pond, then a leaf-shaped blade below. (We’ll come back to details on the crosspiece.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Front<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This is the athame from the front (I am defining \u2018front\u2019 as \u2018where the text on the blade starts\u2019.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pommel has a large round lapis stone, held in place by waves, with a whale swimming beneath them. The handle itself is made of gold-veined onyx.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The crosspiece starts on the right, spiraling out of an amber sun (the amber is set so it goes all the way through, so it will glow when the light is behind it), spiralling out with stones for the five visible planets, into a pond with althaea officinalis plants (marshmallow), a fish, and a frog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is text on the blade: I\u2019ll come back to that in a minute, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s a better detail of the pond scene on this side. (The other side is different.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Front<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I particularly like the balance of the flowers on the left, and the reeds on the right. Althaea, if you\u2019re wondering why that\u2019s there, is the name I took for my 3rd degree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s the athame from the back: you can see how the spiral of the sun is now on the left, with the same stones, but leading down into a different pond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Back<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This pond has very similar reeds at the bottom right, but a badger at the left, a bird flying in the air, and a turtle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And here\u2019s a shot of the detail of the pond on the back. I love the expression on the badger\u2019s face, and how she\u2019s peering out of the reeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Closeup<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Pommel<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The pommel is worth looking at in more detail: here, you can see the precision of the waves, and the orca underneath them. I love the double layers! I wasn\u2019t able to get a good shot of the depth of the lapis, but it\u2019s a really beautiful piece in its own right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Pommel<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Sun and planets<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Sun<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

One of the pieces I\u2019m most pleased about with this is the sequence of sun and planets. I wanted something celestial in here, for various reasons, but constellations themselves are a little tricky. What we decided on was the central sun, and then the five planets visible with a naked eye from Earth. (Five being a reasonable number to fit into the space and also magically relevant.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here, you can see the amber at the center, then the stones spiraling out and down towards the pond on the other half of the crosspiece. The central amber piece goes all the way through, and the planet stones are smaller, and set into the spirals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I chose the stones based on astrological associations after looking at a variety of sources, and then modifying them for stones I liked, colour and stone preferences of my own, and what they had stones for or that were relatively easy to arrange.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They are, in order:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n