Visually speaking, pagans are associated with tools even more than the distinctive garb that some of us wear while doing ritual work. If you mention the word "cauldron" or "broom" to a member of the general public, especially around Halloween, one of the first associations that many of those people will make is the word "witch." Even within the Craft, we are continually reminded of our connection to ritual and magickal tool use. We go into metaphysical stores and find display cases filled with magickal tools, usually wands and athames (a type of magickal knife), although cauldrons, candle holders, and statues of gods and goddesses are nearly as prominently displayed.
And yet very few of us are ever instructed in the use of these tools.
History and Observations
What's interesting is that what seems like such a straightforward concept holds one of the more controversial topics in the Craft. For instance, there has been an endless low-level disagreement over the origin of the athame, including debate in some circles about whether it should be incorporated into ritual at all. Some believe the athame to be a ritual tool with origins lost in the mists of ancient history. (This perspective holds that a tool [knives] commonly found in archaeological digs throughout Europe was not only part of our spiritual ancestor's daily lives, but would have been an obvious choice to have been included in ritual work.) Others believe that the concept of the athame was a creation of Gerald Gardner, considered by some to be the founder of modern Wicca. This position believes that the origins of the athame were inspired by Gardner's time in Malaya and his fascination with knives, especially the Malay kris. (Supporters of the second perspective point to the fact that Gardner lived in Malaya for several years and was the author of a book titled, "Kris and Other Malay Weapons." The kris or keris isn't just a knife that is similar in appearance to an athame - it's also believed to have supernatural powers.) Swords, used by many in ceremonial magick, were obviously not used by early peasantry, the spiritual ancestors of modern witches. Likewise ornate chalices, intricately decorated cauldrons, and the like were also outside the financial reach of the average historic pagan peoples.
So a debate has quietly raged on. Athame or no athame? Ornate tools or simplistic ones? Should ritual tools be historically valid or is it more important that the practitioner feels a connection with the tool? The irony is that the debate loses sight of the more pertinent questions - "Can these tools be used to move energy?" and "Do these tools have applications in ritual work?"
The answer to both questions is an unequivocal yes.
Even if we're looking at historical sources for our inspiration, it's more important for us to consider the types of tools employed by different historical archetypes rather than whether a specific object was ritually employed by a certain people. In the days of our distant spiritual ancestors, sustenance was considered a gift from the gods or, at the very least, a gift of Spirit from one living thing (an animal or plant) to another (we humans) so that our ancestors could survive. Everything from the planting and harvesting of crops to the hunting of game took on a ritualistic nature within nearly every early society. It's safe to assume that, even if its deeper meanings were lost through endless repetition, that the preparation of food once also had a ritualistic aspect to it, especially since that food was seen as a sacred gift.
Choosing to use tools that were once used by our spiritual ancestors shouldn't be a process of historical validation, but rather one of continuing a lineage. There is a certain type of power that builds when one generation continues the traditions of their parents and grandparents, even when the children guide the evolution of those traditions to stay current with the demands, wants, and needs of their own lives.
If we intend to use the same ritual tools that were most likely to have been wielded by our spiritual ancestors, then we need to look at how they lived their lives. It makes sense that our ritual tools include something to prepare food in (a bowl or cauldron) and something to prepare it with (a knife, a spoon, or even a stirring stick, strangely similar to a wand.) Continuing this approach, we'd incorporate something to remove the clutter and influence of everyday life (like a broom), something to aid us in our journey or assist us in tending the livestock (a staff meets both criteria), something to light our way (such as a candle or oil lamp), and something to protect ourselves (such as a knife, a sword, a staff, or even a protective boundary such as that symbolized by the perimeter of our Circle.)
The key to all of this approach is that, from an energetic perspective, each of these tasks is a form of magick. Turning ingredients into food is a transition point, a place where one thing turns into something else, much like sunrise marks the dawning of a new day or a baby's first cry ushers a new life into our circle of family and friends. Raising livestock or going on a journey guides a process, one where a sheep grows wool or where we go (or grow) from one location to another. Because each of these represents a shift in the reality that we interact with, each is a form of magick, just as our spellwork is magickal as it also creates a shift in the what we perceive as mundane life.
Does it matter if Gardner introduced the use of a ritual knife into the lore of modern Wicca, where it trickled down to much of the rest of the Craft? Absolutely not. Each generation adds its own ideas to the Craft as a whole and influences the direction in which it grows. What's important is the symbolic nature of the tool and its usefulness within ritual. I know kitchen witches that use an old wooden spoon in place of an athame when working magick and have personally used a large kitchen bowl instead of a cauldron on many occasions when doing group ritual work.
Using Tools
Ritual or magickal tools have three standard applications. They are used to either enhance or direct the energy that we wield within our rites; they function as symbols, a concept will look at in much greater detail two lessons from now; they're called upon as magickal allies, a concept that we'll touch on in this lesson and consider again later in this course.
While witches, Wiccans, and other types of pagans may rely heavily on tool use in their ritual and magickal workings, it's the shaman's path where tool usage is fully embraced. In the hands of most pagans an athame, staff, or wand may be a powerful aid in projecting or directing energy, but to a shaman, the tool is actually alive. In shamanism, the lines of reality blur, the symbolism of dreams becomes a better map through life than the challenges of reality, and a deeply felt respect, not only for life, but for the flow of spiritual energy, becomes deeply rooted within the shaman's world view.
For a shaman, the rule of thumb is that anything created with intent is imbued with Spirit. In a world filled with living spiritual entities, it isn't only the deer that we spy in the forest that's alive, but the trees, the plants, the air, even the very earth beneath the shaman's feet that, from a spiritual perspective, is a living entity. While many pagans hold this perspective to be true, in a shaman's world view, this same "spiritual life" is extended to ritual and magickal tools. Just as we may open ourselves to experience the spirit of a tree, a shaman takes a very similar approach to connecting with the spirit of the tools they use in ritual. What's more is that the conscious acceptance of this concept continues to tear down the walls that we put in place that restrict our ability to work magick, a process we've begun in this course and which has been aided by the ideas put forth in articles such as Offering the First Seed and Spinning in Circles.
I was taught the use of ritual and magickal tool use from both perspectives, that of the witch who sees the tool as nothing more than an additional method of moving and directing energy and that of a shaman who approaches the tool with honor and respect, knowing that it is alive as all things imbued with Spirit are alive. Both approaches are valid and it's the techniques gleaned from a synthesis of the two viewpoints that I'll attempt to impart in this lesson.
Let me state up front that, while I feel qualified to teach tool usage, I don’t regularly employ tools in my ritual and magickal work - and the tools that I do use aren't necessarily those found in your typical pagan's ritual kit. Part of that is because of the same concept we considered in Spinning in Circles - that we strive to outgrow the techniques and tools we rely on by honing our own abilities. Please believe me when I say that you do not have to have an ornate, expensive, or mystical-looking tool for it to be an effective addition to your rite.
A Hollywood illustration of this concept can be found in the third Indiana Jones movie. There's a scene where Indie and company reach the end of their trials and have to choose the holy grail, "the cup of Christ," from a wide selection of gilded chalices. In the end we find that it's the simplest cup, not the most ornate one, that holds the power.
I don't regularly use an athame and, on the rare occasions that I incorporate one into my rite, it's typically either carved out of wood or in the form of a blunt piece of silver flatware that I found next to railroad track one morning while walking to work. My cauldron is a weathered brass edition that's been coated on the inside with beeswax to patch its numerous leaks. In place of an ornate chalice I use a stout earthenware cup, thrown by an amateur potter at a local college. My smudge pot has been super-glued on more than one occasion and is still completely functional, even though it's missing a prominent piece of the pot. Instead of a staff, I rely on a piece of drift wood of a similar size that I collected from a river in the mountains near one of my sacred sites.
Can you use ornate items? Absolutely. But it's important to stress that this is entirely a personal choice. Just as designer jeans do not define us as human beings, so the design and polish of our ritual tools does not influence the effectiveness of our rites or their usefulness as tools.
But let's think about this for a moment. For those of us who trace our spiritual paths back to our European ancestors, we need to remember that those ancestors were almost certainly peasants. They did not have beautifully forged swords, gilded chalices, or brooms with intricately carved handles. They most likely did not maintain a Book of Shadows as, depending on the era, they were almost certainly illiterate. In honor of this, the vast majority of ritual work that I do that calls upon standard tools (cauldron, athame, etc.) is done with a simple wooden bowl filled with water, a sturdy kitchen knife, and pinch or two of salt. The Craft has traditionally been walked by simple people who lived close to the land. You don't need to spend a small fortune for your rituals to be effective. You simply have to follow your heart.
Energy Work
One of the fundamental uses of tools is to enhance or direct energy within a rite. There are even some Traditions that I've worked with who use tools as mystical batteries, storing energy within the object for later use or actually keeping components of a ritual (for instance, the very fabric of their cast Circle) locked within a tool until the next ritual they work. These two approaches roughly represent the two sides of using tools in this manner - projecting energy and receiving energy.
When you break a rite down to its most basic components you'll find that the elements employed in almost all magickal work are very similar in nature. In fact, almost every component can be broken down into one of two core concepts - energy and symbolism. It matters very little what spiritual path you call home; I've found these two concepts reflected again and again in every religion that I've encountered that integrates an active mystical component into their beliefs. When certain Wiccan Traditions use an athame to describe the boundaries of their Circle, they are using these two concepts - just as a Pentecostal Christian is relying on the same two concepts when they raise their arms in supplication, asking the Holy Spirit (their interpretation of spiritual energy) to fill them.
What we often fail to consider as we set up our altar and prepare our tools for a rite is that there is an additional tool that we're wielding in the ritual, one that we use every day of our lives - our body. It is much easier to project energy when we extend our arm and open our hand in the direction we're sending the energy than it is when we have our hands in our pockets. When we're feeling vulnerable, many of us will cross our arms or legs, symbolically protecting ourselves. I know pagans who thrust their hand into the air in greeting when they call the Quarters and others who cup their hands before them, humbly inviting the energy of the Elements to fill their rite. Some will stand boldly before the gods; others kneel in their presence. In ritual, each movement, even the posture that we assume or the direction that we cast the Circle, can hold meaning within the rite.
When we use tools in ritual, we're not only using the tool itself, but we're also incorporating the movement and position of our body. A shaman may use a rattle within a ritual dance, but the movements of the dance itself are equally important, if not more so, than the fact that a rattle has been incorporated into the rite.
Wielding magickal energy within a rite can take four different forms - projection, reception, application, and grounding. Much like our other approaches to ritual, there are numerous ways of utilizing tools to achieve each intended result. What follows is simply how I've been taught, but I have a great deal of respect for the teachers who passed these concepts on to me and I've found these techniques to be quite effective. You may find that they're overly ceremonial for your taste, but I personally find a certain appropriateness in the almost martial approach to using tools in this manner. There are certain parallels between the methods used by a samurai wielding a sword and a witch who wields a wand. Both are an art form. Both are steeped in tradition. Both hold a great deal of respect, not only for the object that is being wielded, but for the spirit, path, and tradition of the one who wields it.
When we project energy in this manner, we are channeling the energy we're wielding through the tool. One example of this is when we use a wand or athame with magickal intent. I was taught that in order to most effectively direct the energy, the movements should result in the straightest lines when doing so. For instance, if I were ritualistically wielding a wand, the movement would end with the wand, my hand, forearm and upper arm in almost perfect alignment, extending in a straight line. If I were projecting energy into a stone to store for later use, I would hover above it, one or both of my arms completely straight (depending on if I used both hands or merely my projecting hand for this application) and my elbows nearly locked, with my hand on or just above the stone.
When we are receiving energy, we're either allowing it to flow from a tool into our bodies or rite, or encouraging it to flow from the Elsewhere into our tool. Rather than using straight lines, we want to use circular movements. For instance, if I were accepting energy from a stone, I would hold it before me in both hands with my arms curved in a gentle arc, my body, the stone, and my arms combining to create a circle. If I were filling a cauldron with energy as part of a rite, I'd use exactly the same body language.
Drawing energy from a stone or other object, as strange as it may seem at first glance, is actually energetically similar to projecting energy; the energy is simply flowing from the opposite direction. When we push or pull energy, we use straight lines; when we allow the energy to flow, we use circular symbolism.
Applying energy is a tricky notion when working with tools. Using the simplest explanation, projecting energy pushes it toward an end, applying energy binds it to that end. The easiest way to do this is to merge the tool with your focus of the rite, projecting the energy through the tool and then releasing both the tool and the energy from your grasp, leaving it connected to your focus object.
For instance, I once laid protective magick over a grove up in the Oregon's Coast Range Mountains. In preparation for the rite, I carved a ritual knife out of drift wood and engraved the symbols, sigils, and Runes that I'd be using in the ritual into its handle and blade. At the height of the rite, the wooden blade was sunk deep into the earth in a single, straight-armed movement, and released, leaving it and the attached energy and intent embedded in the soil.
Another example can be found at the top of my site's contact page. In the photographic header, I'm standing in a sea cave at the conclusion of the day's rite. You'll notice that my hands are open and my fingers are stretched out as wide possible. The energy that I was offering as thanks to the spirits for their participation in the ritual was pushed down my arms into clenched fists, building until it reached the level that I was seeking to raise for the rite. Only then did I release it. In this particular case, the medium that I was binding the energy to was the Element of Air. Where we seek straight lines when directing energy, you'll notice that my arms are straight and my hands are in alignment with my arms and my fingers are rigidly open. Rather than my arms being in straight alignment with my shoulders, I'm standing in the face of the wind, catching it in my arms and against my chest, applying and binding the energy to it in this manner.
When using tools to apply magick, you need to leave them "bound" to the focus object until a natural celestial transition point is reached. Examples of these transition points are sunrises and sunsets, moonrises and moonsets, particular lunar phases, solstices, equinoxes, and the like. There's a guiding methodology behind this concept, something will look at in the next lesson.
Grounding energy can take two different forms. Most of us are familiar with grounding our own energy at the conclusion of a rite, but there are actually magickal applications for grounding energy. For instance, grounding energy is useful in magickal defense, in ridding yourself of unwanted energy of any kind, or simply in dispelling excess energy. In this approach, you'll want to bind the energy you're grounding to something that can transmute or dissipate it or something that will lock it away. When the kids were in that cranky stage that all toddlers go through, we had an "grumpy rock" inside our front door that they could go and push the energy behind their angry feelings into whenever they felt the need to do so. Being shown how to do it, they would independently approach the rock, readily utilizing an outlet and a release for their unwanted energy. Trees are adept and transmuting energy and water sources are excellent for disbursing energy until it blends into the background energy of reality and is completely dissipated. You can offer the energy to them in much the same way that you would apply it to a rite and we'll go through the appropriate ways to do so in a later lesson.
Symbols
Tools are also effective for their symbolism. This is probably the most commonly taught approach as most of the students that I've worked with who have a background in the Craft seem to have at least a cursory understanding of this concept.
There are two different levels of symbolism that we can consider - physical and metaphorical. Physically speaking, any tool that is composed predominantly of straight lines and angles is considered a masculine tool and is connected to the God. Round objects and those composed mostly of curves and circles are symbolically feminine and are associated with the Goddess. Following these guidelines, staves, wands and athames are masculine tools; cauldrons, round shells and stones, and chalices are feminine.
What's more is that, within magick, masculine energy is regularly identified as being assertive and feminine energy as being receptive. If you think back to the body positions we use when projecting and receiving energy in tool work, you'll immediately see the parallels between the symbolism behind the shapes of our tools and the positions we assume with our bodies. Assertive body positions mirror the straight lines of masculine tools; receptive body language mirrors the curves of feminine tools.
The other symbolic level is purely metaphorical. Objects associated with wind, air, or flight, are considered to be connected to the Element of Air. This includes not only obvious objects such as feathers and wind instruments, but also chimes and bells as their magick is found in the sound they make and those notes rely on air waves in order to be heard. In a similar manner, stones, plants, wooden objects, and the like are associated with Earth; candles, lamps, and items of passion are associated with Fire; basins of water, all liquids, ice, steam, and fog, can symbolize Water.
Within both sets of guidelines can be found a great deal of flexibility based on personal symbolism and how you connect with an object. After all, this is your rite and you need to work with the symbolism that allows you to manifest, focus, and apply the energy in the easiest manner possible. The symbolism that you choose to use can be as unique as you are. For instance, you could use stones to symbolize all four Elements - lava rock to represent Fire, a quartz crystal for Air, a smooth river stone for Water, and a rock you dug yourself for Earth. You can use different colored candles (an object typically associated with Fire) to represent each of the four Elements, various feathers (typically associated with Air) to do the same, or even different types of liquid (a carbonated drink for Air, hot chai for Fire, spring water for Water, and a rich flavorful tea for Earth) to acheive the same result.
Magickal Allies
Remember when we explored the idea that, to a shaman, all things are alive? And that this concept applied not only to the world around us, but to our ritual tools as well?
Then imagine the possibilities that await us in our ritual work if we can not only use our tools to channel energy, but we can call upon the spirit of each tool to aid us in our rites.
Let's say that we're on a shamanic journey, exploring various realms and find ourselves in need of a certain energy at our side. Instead of raising the energy or visualizing a tool that we can use to wield the needed energy in the place we've reached in our journeying, imagine if we summoned the spirit of the tool itself to stand beside us and join us in our journey, to participate in our rite in that other realm.
The easiest way to approach this concept is to imagine that a dear pagan friend of ours knew that we honored the goddess Epona and gave us a gift on the previous Winter Solstice of a chalice engraved with horses . When connecting with the spirit of the chalice, it appeared to us as a spirited white mare, a representation that made it even easier to connect with Epona than did the images engraved on the chalice itself. One night, we cast a Circle and enter a deep, meditative state, projecting our consciousness into the Elsewhere. A path appears before us and we follow it as it winds through a dense forest before opening onto a wide grassy plain. We see the path before us stretching for miles and miles toward a line of distant mountains and we realize that we need to cross this open expanse of landscape in order to continue on our journey.
So we visualize our chalice and its spirit, connect with its energy, and pull it into our journeying. As the energy begins to manifest before us, we will it to leave the confines of the chalice behind and it solidifies into a strong white mare, materializing beside us. Just as our spirit is journeying in this place, so we call upon the spirit of the chalice to join us and it's the spirit of the tool, not a mirror of it's physical form, that appears. As we climb onto the horse's back, we feel our physical energy (back in our Circle) reaching into the chalice and, as we merge together, the chalice becomes our swift steed and the two of us race across the plain.
If we take the time to truly connect with the energy of our ritual tools, we begin to feel and understand their individual spirits. Their outward appearance does not always indicate the form their spirit will take, although it can sometimes be a clue to the spirit's manifestation. Just as we utilize the energy of the tool in our ritual work, so can we call upon its spirit in our journeying and other level work.
This is one of the reasons why shamans treat all life, even their tools, with respect. Just like we partner with other humans in creating reality, so we partner with all of reality when we work magick - even the spirits of our ritual tools.
Exercises
Exercise One: Choosing Tools
At the beginning of this lesson, we chose our tools based on the lifestyles of our spiritual ancestors. If we looked to our own lives for inspiration, what tools would we select from the important moments of our daily lives to aid in ritual? Would it be a coffee cup? A computer keyboard? What items would you choose and how would you apply them to your ritual work?
Exercise Two: Symbolism
In this lesson, we looked at various ways to symbolize Elemental energy within a rite, including the use of objects typically associated with one Element (such as candles, which are traditionally associated with the Element of Fire) to represent each of the four Elements within a ritual. Come up with tools that represent "non-traditional" symbolism for the Elements as well as masculine and feminine energy.
Exercise Three: Energy Work
The lesson offered four methods of using ritual tools in energetic work - projection, reception, application, and grounding energy. Come up with your own method of using a ritual tool in each of these approaches. Practice at least two of the approaches you've come up with, making sure to try the corresponding body positions. How do you find the energy flows in practice? Is it harder or easier for you to move energy when you mirror your intent with the position of your body?
Exercise Four: Meeting Your Ally
Hold one of your tools in your hands, close your eyes and clear you mind. See if you can feel the object, not just with your hands, but with your spirit. What sorts of impressions do you get from the object? Relying on the impressions you received of the tool, how could you call upon your tool's spirit as a magickal ally.
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