C IS FOR CHANTING

There are some spiritual practices that are universal.  Chanting is one of these.  It is a means of focusing energy, intent and outcome into existence.  Chanting can be a simple vocalization on one or two notes, repetition of a simple set of words. Some chanting can take a form of longer prayers that use the same words over and over. 

Chanting is used all over the world by all spiritual paths – Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Jews, and all pagan traditions.  The chants are often paired with prayer beads, as in the Roman Catholic “Rosary”, and by Buddhist monks.  “The Lord’s Prayer” is a chant that is used universally in the Christian rituals.   

One of the loveliest chants is simply opening your throat and vocalizing a series of notes.  When a group of people do this, the result is one of beautiful harmonization since such singing tends to blend all voices into one.  It also tends to turn the participants’ gazes inward, into their hearts and spirits, thus opening each person towards the presence of the Divine.  It is a prayer in its purest form, wordless yet utilizing the Divine language.  Chanting pours the heart out, straight from spirit to Spirit and back again.  It disengages the mental, more critical, faculties and communicates your deepest petitions and worship in the most direct fashion.

“Enchanted”.  “Enchantment”.  We use these words to describe something beautiful and mysterious, and also something that has become transformed by some sort of magic, either for good or for ill.  Take a closer look at the words, and you’ll see that the root here is “Chant” – transformation by chanting.  When I chant, I initially visualize the sound and words creating a vortex of power that is then disbursed to wherever that power is needed.  The visualization does not last long, because within a few seconds, I simply lose myself in the sound, which continues to do the work it is sent out to do.  Anyone remember the chant of the Three Witches from Macbeth –  “double, double, toil and trouble; fire burn and caldron bubble”?

Aside from the vocalization chant, words can and are often used.  In the pagan circles, there are many chants that have already been written and are used constantly, but you can easily make up your own chants.  How about, “Love, joy, peace, health”?  Or “Blessings and Light”?  Of course there are chants that are already in existence.  Here is one of them:

We All Come From the Goddess

We all come from the Goddess, and to her we shall return

Like a drop of rain flowing to the ocean.

REPEAT

Isis, Astrate, Diana, Hecate, Demeter, Kali, Innana!

REPEAT

We all come from the Horned God, and to him we shall return

Like a spark of flame rising to the heavens.

REPEAT

Hoof and horn, hoof and horn, all that dies shall be reborn

Corn and grain corn and grain, all that falls shall rise again!

REPAEAT

The Goddess is alive and magick is afoot!

The Goddess is alive and magick is afoot!

RETURN TO THE BEGINING

Or how about this one:

The Earth, The Air, The Fire, The Water

The Earth, The Air, The Fire, The Water

Return, Return, Return, Return (2X)

Ah Ay, Ah Ay, Ah Ay, Ah Ay

I Ohh, I Ohh, I Ohh, I Ohh (2X)

Many more such chants can be found at the following link:

http://www.sanfords.net/Pagan_Humor_and_Thoughts/chants.htm

Another way of working with chanting is to have the leader speak certain words, while all chant a repeating response.  Here is a chant that I wrote a while back for an animal protection ritual:

Thus far and no further

   (Thus far and no further)

We permit this no more

  (Thus far and no further – repeat this after every line)

Disregard to the Earth is now stopped!

All Life is declared Sacred

Our Circle you shall not pass

Forests, reseeded, Waters, made pure

Air, unpolluted, Lives, all respected

By the Great Mother’s Love

Do we now this decree

By the All-Father’s Power

Do we now this proclaim

The wanton destruction is stopped

And you go Thus far and no Further!!

Instruction:  “Thus far and no further” continues to be repeated and chanted until the Officiates declare the Power released.

May you ever stay Echanted!!

B IS FOR BOLINE

The boline is the companion blade to the athame.  Whereas in today’s pagan practices, the athame is used only to channel energy in casting the circle and during the Athame and Chalice Grand Rite, the boline is used for more practical purposes.  It is used to harvest and chop up herbs, cut rope, slice fruit or bread – anywhere where a cutting tool is needed in a ritual setting.

Traditionally it is a white handled knife, with a curved blade, resembling a scythe.  However, sometimes that curved blade presents some difficulties and is not very practical, so straight blades with white handles are also used by many Pagans today. 

Personally, I love the boline with the curved blade.  It reminds me of the crescent moon and I have come to think of it as being the Feminine Energy tool.  There have been times when I used it to cast a circle, during those rituals when only the Sacred Feminine was called for.  The handle on my boline is made of wood and has a number of sacred symbols etched into it.  I also used to have a white-handled steak knife which I used as a boline, for those times where it was easier to use a straight blade rather than the curved one.  Recently, that handle cracked and broke, and I am looking for a replacement now.

My research into the name, Boline, has not yielded too much information.  The most I found was in Wikipedia, which says the following:

Many of the bolines advertised in on-line 'magick shops' have a characteristic crescent shape, and are described as being for harvesting herbs. This crescent shape is reminiscent of the sickle described in the Key of Solomon, a medieval grimoire which is one of the sources for modern Wicca^[4].. Confusingly, an Italian version of the Key of Solomon has a hook-shaped knife called an artauo (a possible root for athame) and a straight, needle-shaped blade called a bolino. When the name 'boline' was first used to describe the crescent-shaped blade is not clear. In The Book of Ceremonial Magicpublished by Arthur Edward Waite in 1911, Waite references a number of early works on magic which mention the bolline or sickle, saying "Among the necessary properties mentioned by the Book of True Black Magic are the sword, the staff, the rod, the lancet, the arctrave or hook, the bolline or sickle, the needle, the ponaird, a white-handled knife and another knife, with a black handle, used to describe the circle. The most important to make is that called the bolline....".^[5]

(This “Key of Solomon” looks interesting.  I will make sure to research it in more detail and will write on it when I reach the letter K.)

A IS FOR ATHAME

I have decided to do a series of blog articles.  The series will go through the alphabet to write something about Wicca, Paganism and Witchcraft.  Here is the first one:

Look up any definition of this strange word, athame, and you will find the same definition – a magickal tool which is used to channel energy when casting a circle.  It is also listed as one of the most important tools in the witch’s collection.

It is customary for me to look beyond the common definition.  As such, I delve into the history, the entomology, cultural and traditional uses, and any other background that I can find about the subject at hand.  Today, I am going to look at this most common and valuable tool of the Craft – the Athame.

The Athame is a ritual blade used by pagans.  Like in all things pagan, some traditions hold very rigid ideas as to what this blade should be like – double-edged, black handle, blunted edge, point broken off, often adorned with magickal sigils, while others more eclectic groups regard any sort of blade suitable, regardless of the handle colour.  Only one distinct pagan subsection rejects the athame – the Dianic, because this tool is very male in nature.  At least, some Dianics do.  These ladies are happy to use other means of casting circles – with a different blade called a Boline, with their finger, with flower petels, herbs, or feathers.

The Athame has a number of correspondencies – as mentioned above, it carries the male energy with it.  It corresponds with the Swords suit in Tarot and depending on who you talk to, will align with either Air (the Mind), or with Fire (the Will). 

As I started researching all of this, I was struck by one very important fact – it’s difficult to pin down where exactly the word “Athame” comes from!  One source cites that the original term was Latin “artavus” meaning “quill knife”, a small knife used to sharpen quills that were used as pens.  This was first found in the oldest manuscripts of the Key of Solomon.  Another term is Arabic  al thame or adh- dhame.  Yet another source suggests that it may have come from the French, Attame, meaning “to cut”.  In my search, I even found one suggestion that perhaps it’s a made-up word, meant to keep the witchcraft practices a secret during the times of persecution.  Somehow, this doesn’t ring right with me, because if that is the case, why not disguise the other terms?  Why not “make-up” words for Cup, Water, Candle, Bell, etc.?  Why not just say “knife”, since this is a commonplace tool found in every kitchen?  No, to me this just speaks of a different origin, but one that we can no longer identify any longer.

In the same vain, I found it difficult to find out exactly when the athame has gained such wide-spread pagan usage.  Historically, there is no doubt that blades of all sorts were used in ceremonies and rituals from antiquity.  One of my favourite ceremonial blades is the Malaysian “Kriss”, which has a beautiful, elegant wavy blade.  In fact long before I became acquainted with the pagan version of this tool, I adopted the Kriss in my SCA Coat of Arms, just because I loved that design so much.  In most cases, the blade was used in sacrifice, both human and animal.  We also know that a knife is very important in the Jewish ceremony of circumcision.  The bible speaks of angels with fiery swords.  Swords were used to represent the Christian cross, and in this way became ritual blades, as knights contemplated and prayed during their vigils.  The Arthurian tales all revolve around that enchanted blade, Excalibur. 

It is important to also remember that our ancestors were not so much concerned, or even acquainted  with the “Harm None” rede.  They were fierce folk, who killed animals for food and people in battle.  Knives and swords were always at the ready.  The idea of carrying a knife of blunted edge and broken point would have been very impractical and ludicrous.  In today’s culture, we shy away from the thought of drawing blood, and I for one am very happy to oblige.  What we now cite as “The Charge of the Goddess” tells us that the Goddess requires no sacrifice any longer, so obviously the Athame is no longer to be used to draw blood any longer.  However, it is a good idea to never forget the beginnings of this tool/weapon!

Today’s usage of the ritual blade gained popularity and established itself in our hearts and minds from the beginnings of modern-day Wicca, as established by Gerald Gardener.  Although his dogmatic laws have been played around with, changed, and adapted since then, whether the athame has a black handle or not, whether it’s made of steel, stone, copper or tin, a blade of one type or another is used universally wherever covens gather and wherever solitaries kneel before their altars.  Further, In Wiccan rituals today, the Athame is teamed up with the Chalice – and the meaning cannot be more clear.  This is representative of the sexual act – the penis and the vagina – the Lord and Lady coming together in ultimate Love.  A far cry from the life-taking sacrifice, it has become a symbol of abundance, fertility and Life.

Think also of how that blade came to be.  Stones high in metal had to be heated, the metal, now a liquid, is bled out of them and will then be shaped, and tempered.  That blade would be beaten and folded, heated and while red hot, beaten again until it’s no longer brittle, but strong, able to bend with pressure without breaking.  This analogy iis carried into a person’s life, as that is what the our spirits undergo, as we are put through the pressures of life, are bounced between trials and tribulations.  We feel that we are folded and beaten, suffer and finally, emerge tempered and strong.  The Atheme is also of our symbol of such spiritual alchemy.

Regardless of the inability to find the definitive origin, the Athame has established itself as one of the important tools of most pagans.  My research into this has brought forth an unexpected and a totally delightful realization – I have just witnessed in my mind’s eye the evolution of a myth!  I have watched the fluid and organic growth of a tool that is now so commonplace!

In my own journey, I have acquired a number of blades that I’ve used for the purpose of channeling energy.  My first blade was a small silver letter-opener.  That was followed by a tri-bladed golden coloured ritual Tibetan knife.  Finally, I acquired a nice double-edged leaf blade in an ornate metal sheath of gold inset with dark blue glass, and this is the one I use most consistently in rituals.  I also have a lovely slender stiletto with a dragon design, and a curved golden blade whose hilt is inset with turquoise stones.  It is my hope that I will eventually acquire a dirk (a Scottish blade) as well as my favourite Kriss.  In a pinch, with no blade in sight, I know I can simply point my hand outward, extend my index finger, and channel the universal energy in this way.

One last point – with me declaring myself as Dianic lately, how is it that I love this male symbol so much?  Well, it’s my own thoughts only, but I have made my choice of not working with a Priest any more.  I do not deny the male half exists, nor do I deny that part of the Divine Godhead which carries with it the male energies – the Gods.  I will continue to invoke Them, and to serve Them as needed.  I love my male friends, my sons, my father, my brother, nephews and grand-nephews and grandsons.  I simply choose not to work with a Priest any longer, and that is based on some rather unpleasant experiences.  Also, I have become more and more aware of the injustices women still face in this world and to concentrate my efforts to bringing the Sacred Feminine into greater focus.