An athame is a witch's personal magical knife. The blade is often dull and double-edged and the handle is black or some other dark color to absorb power.  It is traditionally double-bladed with a black hilt, and fashioned of iron or steel. The blade may be magnetic, and magical symbols are enscribed on the hilt. It is commonly linked with the element of Fire. An athame was presented to a new witch on the evening of her initiation. The athame is used in ritual to direct energy, such as for casting and releasing circles and to control summoned spirits.

Cauldron

 The cauldron was a common tool of sorcerers and witches used as the receptacle in which philtres, ointments, and poisons were brewed. Cauldrons often are three-legged and made of iron. They come in all sizes ranging from a few inches in diameter to several feet across.  In medieval folktales, literature, and art, every witch's house had a cauldron set over a blazing fire. Within the cauldron, you might find concoctions made of baby fat, snakes, bat's blood, and decapitated and flayed toads. It can also be filled with water and used for scrying into the future.

Before going to a sabbat, witches prepared their flying ointments and other drugs in their cauldrons. Then, they often carried their cauldrons with them to the sabbat in order to boil small children for a feast. Witches could dump the contents of their cauldrons into the ocean to cause a storm at sea.  

In ancient Celtic times the cauldron was considered to be a source of knowledge and sustenance; it was something positive relating to the improvement of life. The cauldron was also an important tool for alchemists in their never-ending searches for formulae to transmute lead into gold, and small gems into large gems.

 In Neo-Pagan, the cauldron is a symbol of the Goddess and corresponds to the element of Water. Mostly used in ritual as a container in which magical transformations can occur, the Cauldron is  often a focal point of a ritual. During spring rites, it can be filled with water and fresh flower petals and in winter, fires can be lighted within the cauldron to symbolize the rebirth of the Sun.

Brooms

 In folklore, witches use brooms to fly through the air at high speed and go to the Sabbath. The image of a witch riding a broomstick has then become a popular cultural stereotype. Neverteless, the correlation between brooms and witches is not noticeable until the late 16th and early 17th centuries and has been  mostly popular in continental Europe. Before then, witches were depicted astride shovels, sticks, forks, hurdles, and demon-animals. Eventually, witches were shown more on either demons in the forms of animals or on brooms.

Several theories explain this association of brooms with witches.

1.      Brooms are a symbol of female domesticity and most witches were women. If the woman of the house wanted to indicate that she was not at home, she placed her besom outside her front door. By laying it across the door, it was supposed to protect the home. 

2.      The early household broom, or besom, was made from the broom plant, or from birch twigs or heather, and shared some of the traditional lore attached to these plants. 

3.      Many flying ointments contained hallucinogenic ingredients. If a broomstick was rubbed with such potions and used for riding or masturbatory purposes, a sensation of flight would result as the poison easily penetrates the body through the vaginal and anal veins.

4.      The association between witches and brooms goes back to ancient times, when pagans performed fertility rites to induce their crops to grow high. These people mounted pitchforks, poles, and brooms, and rode them like horses in the fields, leaping high into the air and dancing.

 At first, the brush end of a broom (or faggot), was pointed downwards so the witch could "sweep her tracks from the sky." Nevertheless, by the end of the 17th century, the reverse was true. Witches often rode with the faggot-end up, with a candle in the faggot to light the way to the Sabbath gathering place.

 If the witch was inside a house, she theoretically rose through the chimney, although in court, few witches ever acknowledged doing such a thing. Sorcerers flew on brooms as well as witches, but men were more often shown riding pitchforks. A pitchfork was both a very convenient steed and tool. She could either ride astride the fork, or, when seated backwards upon a goat, she could carry her cauldron between the prongs of the fork. A piece of cloth could also be fastened to the fork in a sail-like fashion. Last but not least, it might also serve as a parachute in case the charm happened to fail suddenly.

 Brooms are not only a means of transportation, they can also be used to raise up storms or imitate somebody's else form. In Hamburg, sailors, after long toiling against a contrary wind, on meeting another ship sailing in an opposite direction, throw an old broom before the vessel, believing thereby to reverse the wind. A famous Scottish witch of the 17th century, Isobel Gowdie, claimed to have used her broom in an original way. Instead of using it for travelling, she used it to deceive her husband. Before going to a sabbat, Isobel substituted her broom for herself in bed. She said he never knew the difference.

In modern witchcraft, the broom is used to purify space before a circle is cast. It is related to the element of Water and is used in many water spells involving cleansing.

Magic circle

In occultism and magic, the magic circle is a sacred and purified space where all rites, magical work, and ceremonials are conducted. It serves as a boundary for a reservoir of concentrated power and is the doorway from this world to the spirits and gods. The circle also serves to protect those within it from negative spirits and energies. Circles were frequently cast for protection in order to ward off psychic attacks or physical intrusion of a home.

Circles since ancient times have been reputed for magical properties. They were drawn around beds of the sick and mothers who recently bore children to protect them from demons. Their remnants which are seen in the stone circles of Britain give credence to the importance of the circle.

Body Parts

People were afraid of witches, and were horrified of the thought of witches using bodies illicitly. Perhaps the most gruesome of a witch's tools were the body parts she harvested for use in potions, talismans and spell-casting. Female witches were especially feared. As the ones who gave birth and prepare death rituals, women had access to potentially many magical bodily substances: cauls, dead infants, navel-cords, afterbirth. The fat of unbaptized infants was a key ingredient in flying potions. Pieces of hanging bodies or other executees were in high demand such as penis, toes, nails, fingers, teeth, hair, hearth, eyes, colon, skulls bones, ... . The pieces were believed to be invested with supernatural power akin to the healing potential which relics of dead saints contained.

The Hand of Glory is probably the most powerful tool made out of a man's corpse. With such a candle, witches and sorcerers could cast a spell over the inhabitants or any home, rendering them insensible and motionless. The potential for burglary is obvious. The following ritual must be observe to acquire a fully-effective one :

Go to a gallows near a highway or crossroads and cut off a hand (preferably the right hand) of a hanged felon.

1. "Using a strip of the burial shroud to wring it dry of any remaining blood, you then put the hand into an earthenware pot, filled with a concoction of herbs and spices, and left it to marinate for two weeks."
2. Take it out and expose it to bright sunlight until it is dry. If it is not a sunny day, it is permissable to heat the hand in an oven along with vervain and fern.
3. Make a candle out of the fat of a hanged man, ponie (probably horse dung), sesame, and virgin wax. The dead man's hair should be used to make the wick.
4. Place the candle between the fingers on the hand.

 There was also a way to ensure your home couldn't be broken into with the help of a Hand of Glory. During the dog days of summer (July 3-August 11), one should prepare an unguent from three ingredients: 

• The gall of a black cat
• The blood of a screech owl
• The fat of a white hen  

This ointment should be smeared over the thresholds, chimney stack, window frames, and any other place a person might use to break into one's home. Once the unguent was in place, no one can break in using the Hand of Glory

Dolls

 Dolls have been used in magical rites since the origins of Man. Little wonder then that witches were said to have used them as well. Typically, these dolls were created by putting some of the victim's nail clippings or hair into the material from which the doll was fashioned, usually clay, wax or wood. Also effective were bits of stolen or discarded clothing soaked in "vital juices" like blood or sweat.

 Although these dolls could be used for love spells, witches tended to use them for illnessand murder .

Elf arrows

 Elf arrows are stoneage arrowhead-shaped flints found throughout Europe, the British Isles, and northern Africa. Medieval witches were thought to have used these as weapons against people and animals. If a person was shot with an elf arrow, she or he would come down with fatal and mysterious supernatural sicknesses.  As a common target of witches, cattle are also killed by elf arrows. The term elf-shot is still applied to sick animals in some Celtic areas. However, stricken cattle can be saved if:

 ·        They are touched with the arrow

·        The arrow is dipped in  water

·        The water is given to the cattle to drink.

Pins

 Many superstitions existed regarding pins. For example, stray pins should always be picked up, otherwise, a witch will take them and use them in magic. Witches were rumoured to throw bent pins into their brews to break and cast evil spells. In cases of demonic possession, victims often vomit up pins and other bizarre objects (allotriophagy).

Quirins

 A quirin or quiru is a folkloric stone found in the nests of lapwings and hoopoes. Quirins were said to have the powers of a truth serum. Highly valued by both magicians and witches, the stone was placed beneath the sleeping people's pillows. This caused the victims confess their rogueries.

Witch ball

 A witch ball or speculum is a device used for scrying or divining things. Globes measure up to seven inches in diameter, and are occasionally decorated in enameled stripes and swirls or varying colours.  Sometimes the speculum was a magic mirror, a polished stone, or a crystal ball. Some are mirrored for use as convex mirrors. Some witches fashioned specula from black bowls filled with water.

 According to Albertus Magnus, a famous medieval magician, a speculum could be created in the following manner:

1.Buy a mirror and incribe upon it "S. Solam S. Tattler S. Echogordner Gematur."

2.Bury it at a crossroads on an uneven hour.

3.On the third day, go to the crossroads at the same hour and dig it up.

4.Do not be the first person to look into the mirror. It's best to let a dog or cat look in it first

 Before they were put to use, specula had to be consecrated by exposure to the light of a full moon. When not in use, they were usually kept under a black velvet cloth or in a closed box. They were never to be touched by sunlight.

Nevertheless, candlelight exposure was not harmful, and was sometimes recommended. Some witches used a candle to provide a solitary pinpoint of light in the speculum. Others preferred dimly diffused light. Incense burning in the background added a nice touch.

 By gazing into the reflective depths, a witch could find answers to urgent questions, predict future events, or see faraway places. In maritime villages, witches sent out the glass globes fishermen use to hold their nets afloat. Once the question ritually asked, the witch ball would eventually cloud over and the scryer would see emerging misty pictures. If she looked even more carefully, the pictures would gain clarity and show the witch what she wanted to know. Sometimes the image was a figurative, or a symbol or sign that had to be interpreted.

 Crystal gazers sometimes claimed they used balls to communicate with the spirits of dead souls.

 Mirrors could also be used for particular purposes. The following mirror is used in love spells.

1.     Obtain a hand mirror with a copper backing (a metal associated with Aphrodite)

2.     Write the subject of the spell and corresponding mystical characters on the back of the mirror

3.     Take the mirror to a spot where a dog and a bitch are copulating

4.     Reflect the copulation in the mirror

5.     When the victim looked into this mirror, they were stricken with lust for the owner of the mirror

The Witch's Hat

 The sterotypical images of a witch includes the typical tall, black, pointed hat with a broad rim. There are different theories as to the origin of this stereotype. The witch's hat may go back to antiquity. Ancient Etruscan coins from the city of Luna have a head on one side which may be the goddess Diana. The head wears a brimless, conical hat.  

In medieval woodcuts and drawings, witches are depicted wearing various costumes of the times, including headscarves and hats of different fashions. Many are shown bareheaded, with locks flying in the wind.  

It is also possible that the witch's hat is an exaggeration of the tall, conical "dunce's hat" that was popular in the royal courts of the 15th century or the tall but blunt-topped hats worn by Puritans and the Welsh. In addition, medieval Jews were made to wear conical hats. Jewish people were rumoured to hold blasphemous Sabbaths paralleling the Sabbats of witches. Perhaps the hat and its connotations of sin and depravity were transferred over to the stereotypical depiction of the witch.

Nevertheless, the witch's hat came into being in Victorian times or around the turn of the century, a stereotype in illustrations of children's fairy tales

Cone of power

 Cone of power is the name to design the union of witches' forces gathered around the circle towards the reach of a common goal. In parts of ancient Syria, the cone was a symbol of Astarte.  

In Neo-pagan witchcraft it is a field of psychic energy or power produced in unison by a coven or group of witches. Sometimes the phenomenon is referred to as raising the power.

Witches usually join hands, frequently within the magic circle, while dancing around and singing to raise the power. The process also employs visualization. The circle is the bottom of the cone. the witches or persons within the circle produce the power which rises to the apex of the cone which extends into infinity. When this psychic power peaks in intensity it is released through the apex to accomplish a goal such as to heal or cast a spell.

 Witches have claimed victories against hostile forces with the use of cones of power. In 1588 they helped to defeat the Spanish Armada , and in the 1700 they raised power against Napoleon. In 1940 there was much fear that Hitler would invade England which resulted in producing "Operation Cone of Power" on Lammas Day, August 1. Hundreds of witches from covens throughout southern England gathered skyclad in New Forest to send Hitler and his generals telepathic thoughts to stay out of England. In 1971, on Lammas Day, California witches gathered together to perform a similar ceremony to end the war in Vietnam.

Neo-pagan tools

A primary tool, which is owned by most witches, is an athame or ritual knife. The athame is charged with the energy of the owner and is used as a pointer to define space (such as casting a sacred circle) and as a conductor of the owner's will and energy.

Other important tools are the symbols on the altar which denote the "Aristotelian" Elements: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water (some "maps" include Spirit).

A pentagram or pentacle (a five-pointed star sometimes surrounded by a circle) is often used to symbolize Earth and its properties -- stability, material wealth, the body, and practical affairs. Alternatively, a small dish of salt or soil can be used to symbolize the Earth Element.

A thurible (or censer) or a bell can be used to symbolize Air and its properties -- communications, vitality, intellect and understanding. (A sword or wand may be used to symbolize Air or Fire, and many "maps" disagree on with which element the sword or wand should be associated.)

A candle or small pot of fire may symbolize the element of Fire and its properties -- will, transmutation, life-force, and power.

A chalice of water is used to symbolize the element of Water and its properties -- cleansing, regeneration, and emotion. In the traditions which include the element of Spirit, an ankh or quartz crystal is used to symbolize Spirit and its properties -- perfection, summation, balance, illumination and eternity.