Practical Witchery!, John Stormm [ap literature book list txt] 📗

might expect. This was my means of granting equal ground, and a level playing field.

Salt was stored in a pocket inside the handle of this knife, and in direct contact with the tang of the blade, for its purity against anything of “corruptible” influence. Silver was added to its making, also for its effect upon the darker fae elements that a witch might encounter. These aspects would give the wielder of this implement, a greater means negatively effecting anything nasty enough, to want to be a negative force to the witch herself. Her athame had to be a symbol of her authority as a witch, a “wise one”. And no hollow threats or bluffs were ever made in the making of this symbol. This athame had to have an “authority” of its own, to better serve the witch that it was crafted for. The wood that I chose, for crafting the hilt and scabbard, was chosen from stock, that was consecrated only for magical items. This was wood, usually lightning struck off its tree, or part of a consecrated item like a former altar, or some such, and put to good use. Remember, in the earlier chapter on Rituals: about the “magick circle”, and how its sigils added their own influence to the aura of the magician within its boundaries? The same is true of the sigils, and symbols of everything that went into the crafting of this athame.

She would not be using this for “blood sacrifices” of any sort. For such has never been the way with her and her kind. But in the course of shaping, sharpening and crafting such a blade as this, it was inevitable that I might get nicked or cut, somewhere in the process. This blood was smeared into the clay that coated the blade, in its heating and tempering. Since it was heated to cherry red, we can’t honestly claim that my DNA went into the making, but the elements of my own blood, were infused in with the elements of the steel blade. I literally put myself into my work. Every added influence, that could be put into the use of this athame was added, to create a named blade called “Huntress”, in honor of Diana, the Lunar goddess.

Tyr’s Daughter

Items are often known as masculine, feminine or even androgynous in their natures. There is a slightly different usage of symbolism in the crafting of this peculiar Artifact called, “Tyr’s Daughter”. Tyr is an ancient war god, known for his great spear. That spear is often used as a runic symbol for men or spirit warriors, depending upon the context. Tyr’s Daughter, invokes the feminine aspects of the same, in its own way. The sine wave shape of this spelled halberd, are more representative of a feminine aspect of power. Whereas men tend to think and act in a linear fashion, much like Tyr‘s spear. They perceive an obstacle, and their first thought is to overcome by smashing through it. While women then to think in a more circular fashion. They don’t carry the mass and strength, for the most part, and their typical first thoughts for any obstacle are crafty, in how they will get around it. They’re good at it too!

The sine wave shape of this spelled halberd, is ergonomically designed to make use of it as a whirling, slashing bladed weapon. The way that it is wielded lends naturally to its strong suit to cut and slash. It can be held, almost wrapped around one’s back or shoulders, and utilized to give it more bodyweight, in a piercing or stabbing motion. But the hooked end of its blade, are going to be absolute and unarguably bloody murder in how it comes back out again. Pressing one’s foot on the recipient, and utilizing the curve of the haft, will also lend to the sureness of grip for such an extraction. It sounds quite grizzly, I know, but it carries a certain authority, that promises that if it is brought to bear, that it will not end “pretty“. Contention with this authority is naturally discouraged, even by its design.

The blade is hammered out of 1040 spring steel, chosen for its natural hardness and ability to hold a fine edge. It’s surface was coated in white clay, from a sacred site, and used in tempering as a means to keep the core softer than the edge. After heating to a full glow it was quenched in carbonized oil. The sigils were flame and fire oriented, and engraved into it, before the hardening process, or I would never have had a tool capable of cutting into this metal stock. The reheating and tempering process, had spectacular results in the effect of creating a pyrotechnic display that we could not put out. Fortunately, we expected this, and did these processes in an outdoor forge, where we could allow it to finish in its own time, without destroying the workshop.

The handle was chosen from a lightning struck white oak that has been a sacred site of our clan for generations, known as Grandmother White Oak. It was also chosen for its lovely sine wave shape. The oak haft was carved with a Welsh Spell of Making. This script wrapped around its length in Celtic Rune work. The ends were bound in iron bands to prevent any splitting of the rock hard haft, and to add a little counter balance, to the heavy blade at the business end. It was stained in two colors, to bring out the magical script. This was to complement the blades rune work and fire sigils that adorn its cutting end. The guard of the bladed end, is four square shaped and made of solid brass, as a metal of “judgment”. It carries the druidic symbols of the elements of the four quarters. Starting from the bottom of the haft upwards, it reads as follows:

“A Spell of Making”

"A Elfyntodd Dwyr Sindyn Duw,

Cerrig Yr Fferllurig Nwyn;

Os Syriaeth Ech Saffaer Tu,

Fewr Echlyn Mor, Necrombor Llun."

Believe it or not, that’s a Welsh rhyme. This is iron bound at beginning and end, sealing its intent. Separating the haft from the blade, the elements themselves caution judgment in the use, and encountering of this Artifact. And the curved, tempered and barbed blade carries all the runic sigils, and aura of the devastating authority of its own design.

This Artifact is of a sort, that is designed for traversing Rifts, as I’ve already mentioned in an earlier chapter. The staff is useful for its strength, and its hardened curved, sharpness of its blade is capable of felling trees, if so needed. The barbed blade is also quite handy for swinging, climbing or hanging from trees with surety and ease. And whether you find yourself attacked by a wild boar, a bear or a particularly nasty nephalim, they will not be walking away from that ordeal. It’s essentially an implement used by witches, that tend to take on bigger game than most. We tend to go into places, that most people wisely fear to tread, but we do not go in those places unprepared. I’ve found it tremendously useful on such treks, but never had to use it as a weapon, as of this writing. We practice our katas, kuen or weapon forms as a regular matter of training. The best defensive strategies, are the ones that are the rarest to be challenged.

Here’s yet another facet of Artificing, and utilizing other aspects, adding other influences, to accentuate our effectiveness. This is just one small example. These wands can be crafted of nearly any wood. Some witches prefer them carved from the Trees represented by their Celtic Tree signs. You can see what your own Celtic Tree Sign is on the chart below. But this is not the ONLY way to establish a link with an implement of your craft, that serves as an extension of your own arm

I’ve brought up in an earlier chapter, about the harvesting and making of real “root beer”, or Sassafras brew. It is a delightful and delicious brew in its many forms. The tree also has its own magical symbology in its use of threes, as in the three types of leaf shapes, that you can find on every branch. It is a rizome, meaning that a single root, will sprout many plants. So when we are harvesting small trees of this sort, to make our root beer: The strength of a tree, is found within its roots. We harvest them from areas in the thick woods, where we know there are too many of saplings clustered too close together, for all of them to grow and to flourish properly. This assures us that we won’t devastate our population of healthy trees, as we uproot the smaller saplings for our root stock.

We identify our trees, clear the area of earth about its base, and pull it out of the loam with a slow, strong tug. Then we chop off the root stock, into cut into small chunks that we can toss into a pot to boil. We bring these to a rolling boil, and let it simmer, until the brew turns a deep reddish brown, and the house smells richly of root beer. Pour it into a mug, sweeten to taste and enjoy! But what to do with the young tree stem?

You might be familiar with the saying: “You ARE what you eat.” In essence: You absorb the DNA of the things that you consume into your own. Sassafras is a soft wood, and not so strong as the hardwoods like maples, ashes and oaks. But it’s easy to carve, and makes nice wands. It has a nice reddish brown luster as it dries. They’re soft enough to carve while they are still fresh and green. I will wash off its root bundle, label it and put it in a baggie in the freezer. I like to make certain that the person getting the wand, gets the roots that went to it. You can carve these wands with whatever designs or symbols that you feel may be appropriate. When they get their wands, along with the root bundles that it grew out of, they can brew a strong sassafras brew, to imbibe the very essence of their own wand, into their own bodies. Hence, we have a wand that is truly more of an extension of themselves, and vice versa. We create a very real relationship between the user and their wand. They should only use their own wands, and drink their own wand’s brew, to consecrate its use to themselves and no one else.

The purpose of proper Artificing, is to apply whatever knowledge you can get, to strengthen, and improve the implement in its physical aspects, and in those, the utmost consideration needs be made, to WHO will be using the item, and HOW it will better serve their purpose? As with most things you read about and hear about in craft circles, you need to remember also that there are many levels within levels, dimensions or facets of any given thing. Sigils, runes and symbols will effect the aural aspects of a power object. They will effect the user, and the target items as well, and you need to determine how much effect, that you want it to have. If you’re dealing with something like a weapon, that is only used in a life or death situation, then you need to be certain, that it will be effective every time, and never fail. In items of other use: The items and symbolism involved should be reflective of that usage, and conducive to doing such in an efficient fashion.

Artifacts are not “static”, or just something hung on a wall, unless we are talking about wards or such. Even so, there is a sort of “movement” involved, in what is the direction of the intent, and purpose behind these