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Course #1 Lesson #10 We Witches do love our tools!! There are many things that have magickal properties, and that will aide in your magickal workings. Taking care of these items is important, not only because they have cost you time and/or money, but because they need to be treated with respect and care. These tools will become an extension of you, and as such they need to be treated with care. Storing your magickal items in one place is a wonderful idea. It saves time hunting for that pack of incense you bought three months ago, and it provides you with a wonderful area to keep everything in its place. That storage area will soon become a very important part of your Craft. Whatever system you choose to use, just make sure its organized, and you can find what you are looking for without having to completely destroy your bedroom! Filling Your Cabinet
There is one thing that must be remembered about your tools and accessories. They "serve to enhance your abilities, not create them". Put another way, the tools, without your energy and direction, are useless. They will not heal someone, they will not make the bad people go away, and they will not bring you peace and happiness, unless you use them and direct their energies in that area. Please do not get so caught up in the tools, that you can't work magick without them. Using the tools to aid your magick is wonderful, and I believe most of us continue to use some tools. But if you allow yourself to believe that you can't work magick without your wand, then you have missed the whole point of magick!
Silver gives us three good guidelines regarding tools. To summarize, all tools should be cleansed and consecrated (we will discuss this in the next lesson) before using them, they should never be used for anything other than magickal uses (don't use your athame as a letter opener), and never touch anyone else's tools without their permission, and don't let yours be handled unless you are comfortable that the person touching them will not pass negative energy, albeit unintentionally, into them.
One more point in this section, and that is that you should not go out and buy every tool known to human kind before you practice magick. First off, there are way too many tools that one could purchase and you just might go bankrupt trying to buy them all at once. And secondly, and this is my personal opinion mind you, I think if you get a few tools at a time, and get comfortable with them, learning their properties and tendencies, you will be far more effective using those tools rather than trying to learn every tool at once.
Standard Magickal Tools
Before we get started on the list of tools that Silver gives us, let me pause and point out that we are not attempting to cover all the magickal properties of these tools. Silvers focus seems to be more on the practicality of the tools, and I think it might be best if we keep our focus here as well. Learning the properties and correspondences of all these tools will take much more than one lesson, and we will cover that in later courses.
The Wand - Here we go again with that individuality thing lol. Your wand should be comfortable in your hand and should have specific meaning to you. Whether its made from wood, leather, metal, crystal, whatever, if its components have specific meaning to you, that is the important part. I personally just recently received a wand from a member of our Coven, and it is perfect! Before that, I used strictly my Athame, mainly because I hadn't found a wand I was comfortable with. If you are going to cut a wand from a tree, please follow Silvers suggestions. I know it may sound a little odd to ask a tree for permission, but if you think about it, tress are living things, and they have energy. While I don't expect the tree is going to verbally say "sure, go ahead" you will be able to understand its responses if you focus.
The Broom - Brooms are not only a wonderful decoration, they are powerful as well. They can physical, or symbolically, be used to clean up your sacred space. And there is any number of ways to incorporate them into your ritual.
The Chalice - Again, there is any number of designs for a chalice, so I'll let your imagination pick the one for you. The purposes of the Chalice are also several. Our Coven uses it, if for no other purpose, than to hold the drink for the feast. It can also be used during the symbolic Great Rite, where the Athame is lowered into it, symbolizing the union of the Lord and Lady.
The Pentacle - This is usually a flat disc, with the pentagram (and other symbols if you choose) inscribed on it in some manner. To me, this serves as a power center, as well as a visual reminder of the balance of the elements and the spirit. You can place anything on the Pentacle, including tools you want to consecrate, stones you want to charge, or even the bread (or whatever else you use) for the simple feast. I like to put the Pentacle right in the center of my alter, again as a reminder of the importance of the balance of all things.
The Athame/Sword - The athame and the wand are very similar in their properties and uses. Maybe its a guy thing, but I prefer to work with my Athame. I use it to cast the circle, call the corners, direct energy, and various other purposes. Mine is about 8 inches long, double sided blade which is dull, and has a natural wooden handle. As Silver mentions, many people do paint the handle black, since black is considered to be able to hold energy very well. Personally I haven't quite decided exactly what I want to do with the handle, and am going to wait until I 'm sure before I inscribe it or paint it.
The Bolline - This is the knife that Witches use for cutting things, as opposed to the Athame. You can use this to harvest herbs, inscribe candles, etc. Personally, I don't use a Bolline, maybe simply because I haven't bought one lol. But then again I don't grow my own herbs, my wand was given to me as a gift, and I believe that the Athame, because of the power it holds, works very well for inscribing candles. Again, this is a personal choice.
Incense Burner - The burner itself will depend on the type of incense you use. Personally, I use stick incense. This is mainly because it is convenient, and I like to have the incense burning throughout the ritual. There are two reasons for this. First, the incense helps me to remind myself that I am here for a purpose and to focus on that purpose. Secondly, I use the incense as the element corresponding with Air, and therefore figure it ought to be burning throughout the rite. Again, this is all personal preference, so I'd suggest working with various types of incense, and uses for them, and find what works best for you.
The Cauldron - This is one of the most recognized symbols of Witches known to the general public, along with the wand I suppose. No, we don't cook little children in them, and I have personally never had an actual Wing of Bat in my hand, so there are many misconceptions surrounding the cauldron.. The cauldron is a tool that can be used for a variety of reasons. You can use it to heat water, make herbal mixture, divination, and various other principles. Personally, I have not found a cast iron pot that would work for our needs. I do, however, have a "mini-cauldron" that is made of copper and can withstand enough heat to be used in some rituals. There have been times we have wanted to use a ritual that required writing or drawing something on paper and then burning it. The mini-cauldron worked very well for this, and we didn't set the house on fire!
As you can see from pages 92 and 93 this above list is no where near comprehensive when it comes to the types of tools that a Witch may choose to utilize in their magickal workings. As we continue on in our studies we will discuss many more tools and their uses. For now, I think if we can remember the uses of the "main" tools, that will be sufficient.
Finding your Magickal Tools
This is probably half the fun of obtaining your tools. Obviously, since you are going through these courses, you have access to the internet and can order tools from various companies. I would caution you not to become dependent on that source though. (Good thing I don't have any sponsors on this site lol). The tools can be found at some very interesting places, if you will look for them. Just the other day I bought a wonderful candle holder at a dollar store. Its black and has places for 3 tea candles (maiden, mother, crone; birth, death, rebirth, there are a number of things that run in 3's in the Craft). You don't have to spend a fortune finding your tools, and in fact if you get out and just go looking I think you might find some tools that are much more powerful and personal than anything you buy in a catalog or online. It just takes some time, energy, and imagination.
Stroring Tools
We already discussed earlier in this lesson the storage cabinet or other system. But there are some specific things we need to know about storing individual tools. Anything that is powder or liquid will need a special container. Like Silver, I don't care for using plastic because it is synthetic and just doesn't seem "natural" to me. Wrapping stones and the such is a good idea. It will protect them from getting scratched and beat up on the physical plane, and also (my opinion here) helps reflect any negative energy that may accidentally be surrounding it.
Silver finishes this lesson with 2 points, both of which are pretty self explanatory. As you continue in the Craft, you will probably want to find a way to carry some of your tools and accessories with you. There are many ways to do this, and you will probably use a good handful of them before you find the one that works the best for you. As your collection grows, keeping a list of what you have "in stock" is a good idea. That way you aren't hunting for something you gave away or used up, and when you are somewhere that you can make some purchases you don't buy a bunch of something you already have!
Writing Assignments.
1. Describe the type of storage system you think will serve your needs best. This will help you start getting ready to use it.
2. On paper, or disk if you are using your PC to keep your notes, write down each of the "main" tools and some of the uses for them.
Lesson Ten Quiz
1. T/F I can't possible practice magick until I have all my tools.
2. T/F Tools, by themselves, are powerless to work magick.
3. The ________ can be used to physically or spiritually cleanse your sacred space.
4. T/F I should never handle someone else's tools without their permission.
5. T/F I have completed the writing assignments for Lesson 10.
Lesson Ten Quiz Answers
1. False - while they are helpful, tools are not absolutely necessary, and you will probably never own every possible tool.
2. True - It is the energy you provide, and the focus, that is the key to magick
3. Broom
4. True
5. True?
Continue on to Lesson Eleven
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