Update on my Athame…

I left it with Craig, who owns a really neat shop where customers can learn woodworking and rent the shop to use the tools instead of spending thousands of dollars on equipment for their woodworking hobby. When I left it with him, he called it an Athame (not “knife”… he even pronounced it correctly). I was impressed, having the impression that even if he isn’t Pagan, he has an understanding of my path and the importance of the Athame. He promised to have it done in time for Samhain. He made a couple of handles and I picked the one I liked best last weekend. He varnished and assembled it but didn’t complete it in case I wanted to change anything. We looked at it yesterday, and I have to admit I’m disappointed. It isn’t what I expected. I really should have brought my camera to document it. The handle isn’t perfect. Not even close. It is higher on one side than the other, higher, in fact, than the guard, by a good 1/8”. That will have to be fixed. So will the deep scratches on the tang. The scratches weren’t there when I brought it in to him. And the pins are cut too short – they should be flush with the handle.

So yeah, I’m pretty disappointed. Not only will it not be ready for Samhain, I expected higher quality workmanship for what I’m paying him ($45/hour!). My husband could have done better if he’d had the right tools. I sent Craig an email last night in addition to the notes his employee made yesterday since he wasn’t at the shop when we were there. Not only am I paying a premium for his work (another woodworker who specializes in knives told me he charged $25/hour but he’s 45 minutes away), it isn’t anywhere near right. It isn’t a problem with communication. It’s just shabby workmanship. I considered just taking it home with me and telling him that it wasn’t acceptable, but that’s not my way. I want to give him the chance to make it right. I know we’ll have to go in this week to talk to him about it, and I’m not looking forward to it. I’m not good at putting my foot down with people. I don’t like being brutally honest, but I know I have to communicate my disappointment. On Saturday he sent me an email telling me it would be essentially finished on Sunday, and that I’d be “pleased”. I was anything BUT pleased.

*sigh* I’m just so tired of being screwed by people. I’ll bring up the fact that I could have had it done much cheaper too… I’m not pleased about his hourly rate if this is what he calls “taking pride” in his work.

Gearing up for Samhain.

I love Samhain. It is such a powerful day, even with all the commercialism. This weekend, my husband and I took our two kids to the pumpkin patch. We rode the overpriced train, bought two beautiful pumpkins, and played in the hay pit (neat idea, really... like a ball pit, only it was built of hay bales and full of hay). DH even got a picture of me jumping into the hay.

This year, the Halloween aspect of Samhain is more fun for me since our daughter is 4. She's really excited about going out trick or treating (as a fairy). It is my turn to take her out, so I think I will dress in my ritual garb. Why not have fun with it too? I decked out our front porch in lights and spider webs yesterday, and we're carving our pumpkins tonight. My husband will probably carve something scary, but I wanted to honour the Goddess with my pumpkin. I found a wall plaque online, of a goddess with the moon, so I printed it out and traced the edges. I'll be sure to post a picture after I'm done the carving.

I also picked up some beautiful, fat, pomegranates for my ritual, and some Indian corn. My typical Samhain ritual is more elaborate than most of my rituals, but I do like to keep it simple. I plan on inviting the spirits that hang about our house into my circle, and trying to communicate with them. Maybe I can find out why they're here, and get them to understand that waking the baby (and me!) isn't appropriate. Neither is turning on my daughter's bedroom light the other night.

Anyway, that's my plan for the holiday. Blessed be!

Astrology is cool. My horoscope this week, from Astral Reflections (see link at left)...

"Domestic friction disappears. Romance heats up for four weeks. An old flame returns. Or you'll hear from a long-gone child, revisit a favorite vacation spot, rediscover an old creative project, or spend hours poring over old photo albums. Beauty floods into your life, and much of it mixes with nostalgia. This isn't the best time (to November 17) to start a new relationship, love affair, or creative or speculative project - although it would provide a lot of enjoyment, just not long-term stability. Married Cancers feel joy flowing all month!"

I can't help but relate the return of my Athame in usable condition to the reference to a long-gone child and old creative project. I'm picking it up on Sunday.

My Athame. It has a long history.

I bought my Athame 8-9 years ago. It was a used knife from an army surplus shop. It was ugly and looked like a hunting knife, but it had a good energy and I could see the potential for it to become something beautiful, so I handed over my $40 and brought it home.

I used it for a couple of years before I was ready to start looking for someone to bring out its beauty. My plan was to just add a pommel and put a new, nice handle on it, but a friend of mine put me in touch with John, who had been making knives for years. We met, I brought my knife, and we spent 2 hours brainstorming. He took my knife with him along with the promise that it would be done within 6 weeks.

A year and many excuses later, I went and picked up my Athame from him. It was still unfinished. He told me I didn't have to pay him, but I did pay him some, but not everything, since the work that he DID complete was beautiful.

Here's my Athame as it is now...


Assembled.


Parts.


Closeup of filework on tang.

And so it has been, for more than 5 years. He started work on it shortly after I married, and my husband and I celebrated our 6th anniversary last August. I've toyed with the idea of buying a $50 Athame from a store, but it wouldn't be MINE. My knife will be one of a kind. My husband offered to try to do it for me, but he doesn't have the tools or the skill since he's really never done any woodwork, and I'd really like to have my Athame back. I feel like I'm missing a limb without it.

This past spring, I thought about asking a wood artist I buy things from to do the work for me, but he's VERY Christian and while I am not one to hide my spirituality, I wasn't sure that our working relationship would suffer from the knowledge that one of his good customers is a Witch, so I decided not to approach him with the project.

I've decided that I want to have it finished by the end of this year. It has been in a box far too long, and I hear it calling me. I've contacted about a dozen wood artists in my area, and some of them don't do the kind of work I am after, but I think I've decided on one. He charges $45 an hour, and estimated that it would take 1-2 hours to complete, so I think that's pretty reasonable. He also impressed me by saying he could have it finished before Samhain. Not Halloween. Not "the end of the month". He actually said Samhain. He also told me that if I'm not 100% happy with it, he'll redo it over and over again until I am. The only problem is getting it to him. He works in my city, but our transit system leaves a LOT to be desired, so I'll have to convince my husband that he needs to take me out there to see him. That will be the fun part, since he hates playing chauffeur.

Oh well, such is life. I have a really good feeling about this guy, and if he does a good job, I'll get him to make me a new box for my Tarot cards next year.