Your first Tools...

[mol]

Ok. Inspired by one of the other threads...lets here some of everyones first tools.

Butterknives for Athames...shot glasses for Chalices...

Lets hear them! :)

[Mairwen]

My first athamé was my great-grandmother's favorite paring knife; but just as soon as I could get a "real" athamé, I put the knife in the curio cabinet where it belongs. ;) My first chalice was a very small brandy snifter I got from Goodwill, as were my water and salt dishes. My first wand was a gift from an Oak tree in my neighborhood. I was walking along and it dropped onto the sidewalk in front of me. Thing's as long as my arm, but it's beautiful. At it's thickest point, it's probably 1/4 of an inch around. I have one end wrapped in copper wire, and have a clear crystal point mounted (via copperwire and superglue) to the other end. I don't use it much ~ it's pretty unweildy ~ but I keep it hanging on the wall behind my altar, so it's always there. ;)

[Edited by Mairwen on 02-16-2001 at 11:23 AM]

[enwyn]

i'm finding i seem to have a developed a problem with repeating myself! hehehe! if it starts to get annoying just let me know, supposed to be a >) sarcastic grin i don't know my way around the emoticons very well yet either....yes i'm computer illiterate, but please have patience with me.
anyway, like i mentioned before, my first chalice was home-made and made of unfired clay. so basically the first time i used it i had to line the inside with saran wrap and hold it down with an elastic! hey, it worked! and besides it is said that neccesity is the mother of invention.....:)
and my firt athame was just a black handled kitchen knife...nothing out of the ordinary there.
and this has nothing to do with tools but it's kind of a silly story about my first experience with cakes and wine.
a few of my girlfriends (who also practice) and myself got together one night and shared our collective experiences and compared notes and so on. this was the first night we decided to try our first simple ritual. we were still at an experimental level and we didn't have any books to reference off of yet, so i admit we didn't entirely know all the aspects of ritual. (we were also only 16). but we had gut instinct to go off of. when we were nearing the end of our home-made ritual we all got hungry. and this happened right around when we would normally hold cakes and wine. the problem was that my friend where we were staying had an extremely mean "guard-dog" who slept inside over night (although i don't know why if it was supposed to be a guard dog). anyway this dog was upstairs and we were in the basement and the dog was sleeping somewhere near the top of the stairs....and the only girl who the dog would listen to was already asleep because she didn't take part. so we decided to storm the dog by force. just imagine three scared 16 year old girls dressed up in whatever they could find that was suitable for armour and armed with brooms and baseball bats. trying to sneak up creaky stairs all together......none of us were good with animals at the time either. we got to the top of the stairs and bolted for the kitchen and of course screaming and yelling the whole way. the came dog chasing after barking at the top of his lungs and myself and another girl held the dog at bay while the third grabbed the nearest source of food, which turned out to be bread; and then in the same fashion we bolted back downstairs with the dog in hot pursuit the whole way. So that was the first time we had cakes and wine without knowing it, which really interpreted to toasted garlic bread and orange juice. if you're wondering how we managed to toast the bread we toasted it over candles. there was no way we were going to try to go upstairs again just for the toaster. and the garlic powder we already had with us. yeah, i know,i know...typical teenagers >) well, sorry that got so long and now i have to go. i have to go hand in an essay and then i'm off for MID-TERM BREAK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!
talk to you all later!:D

*BRIGHTEST OF ALL BLESSINGS!*
*****************************
enwyn :)

[lynx]

My first tools consisted of candles and spirts.

My candles were the colors of passion and purity.

I would use them for knowledge and peace of mind.

When I lite the candles, I close my eyes and breath in all that surrounds me. I listen and feel those who have come to help guide me.

As I stand before the candle (the only light in the room), I watch the flame dance and strive through my mind's eye. By letting everything go and visualizing all that surrounds me, I am finally able to receive.

What happens next is hard to explain. I can tell you that it never leaves me empty handed. I sometimes have answers to my questions, but mostly, I have inner peace with myself.

The candles, however, are the trick.

What colors are what, to you?

When I answered that question for myself, I understood.


Light filled dreams.

[Kaylara]

My tools found me. My athame was given to me by a friend. I found my wand on a lawn chair outside my mothers house. My chalices were given to me by my father, as was my sword. My tarot cards were given to me as a birthday present. The only tools I've bought myself was my cauldron and the various candles I've used.

Blessed Be!
Kaylara

[eaglewolf]

Well, I really shouldn't say but...

During the period between dedication and initiation in our tradition, one of your tasks is to carve your ritual knife from fallen wood.

I found my knife in the form of driftwood on Canon Beach in Oregon (USA) one morning. Glad it was a large piece, because it took me three tries to get it right... what I was happy with anyway.

~ew

[mol]

My wife and I used a Letter opener for our first Athame. hehe. Complete with electrical tape around the handle (black handle :P)

Be resourceful ppl!

[Shatav]

My first athame was a letter opener.

First challice was one of my mom's wine glasses. (which suddenly came up missing for a while...and then reappeared, I wonder how that happened?)

Ritual salt was table salt stored in a travel toothbrush case.

Candle also seemed to come up missing from one of my mom's Christmas spinning things, you know the things with four candles and angles that fly when you light the candles?

[Amethyst Rose]

My first athame was a 'buck knife' that my dad bought me when I was a teenager...so it had sentimental value at least. Eventually I stopped using it, and just used my finger, though. I only just bought my athame a few days ago and I'm waiting for it to come in the mail.

My chalice is silver and was a christmas gift from my hubby, as was my crystal ball and my sword.

My ritual salt is table salt kept in an old small jam jar :) and I use cereal bowls for my salt and water.

I bought my own cauldron...a tiny thing, about 4 inches in diameter.

I don't have a wand yet...I'm waiting for a tree to give me the perfect one.

I'm really not too big on using tools, just on collecting them. :)

[BrightStar]

Hi all!
I too started with a letter opener as my 1st athame.I soon found an old throwing knife my father used to keep behind the bar in his clubs,I cleansed it and redid the handle.Oddly,and I feel a bit silly saying it,many of my first tools are the ones I still use now,almost 2 years later!I don't like to pay too much for my tools,so I use what works.My chalice is still a wine glass,a very beautiful one.My pentacle is a flat round rock I dug out of my backyard and it's Oklahoma red clay rock,I drew a pentagram on it with some quartz crystal I also discovered "growing" in my yard.My cauldron is about 16 inches wide and a foot deep.I found it in an elderly neighbors yard and she gave it to me.It's old and rusted,doesn't hold water.So I cleaned it up,painted it black and burn candles in it.My bolline(I love herbs)is a hawkbill knife.My wand is a branch off my apricot tree that I attached a quartz crystal to(from my yard).My candle holders I buy for a dollar at the dollar store.My altar cover is an old horse blanket my Granny made,it was old and dirty but cleaned up beautifully.
Peace and Love
Rain BrightStar

[Niamh]

I don't have too many tools collected. I decided I shouldn't rush things, and just let them come to me... go with the flow. I tend to do that a lot! ;)
Anyhow, my cauldron is a small copper one that I found in an antiques shop. I have a friend who frowns upon the copper, stating that it's not as "traditional" as iron, but she's not a New Englander!
My salt dish is currently a very shallow tea cup, and my athame an old paring knife that came with my last apartment. It was just sitting there, and it seemed right at the time, sooo...
My chalice is a glass gobelt that I bought and then etched myself with a pentacle. I'm still considering what to etch on the other side.
I make all of my own candles, and this seems to work wonderfully for me!
I'm still waiting for some of the others to fall into my hands!

[Amethyst Rose]

Originally posted by Niamh
I don't have too many tools collected. I decided I shouldn't rush things, and just let them come to me... go with the flow. I tend to do that a lot!

Yeah, I'm exactly the same way and there certianly is nothing wrong with that. I've been practicing for 5 years now and have only just discovered my athame... maybe... :) I have to wait and see how it feels when it gets delivered. And I still haven't found a wand yet... I probably wouldn't have any tools at all if the majority weren't given to me.

[Shatav]

Originally posted by BrightStar
I don't like to pay too much for my tools,so I use what works.

I think you have a wonderful attitude! It doesn't take money to have all the tools you need, you just have to be resourceful and let yourself be led to the right thing. I think too often we get these pictures in our heads of what these tools HAVE to be, but in truth, a branch is just as effective, if not more so, than a carved wand out of this particular wood, with these symbols carved on them.

I have a friend of mine who goes out behind a place where they cut headstones for graves and pulls out the really cool looking stones and makes gorgeous altars out of them. Whatever works, right?

[Shatav]

Originally posted by Niamh
I don't have too many tools collected. I decided I shouldn't rush things, and just let them come to me... go with the flow. I tend to do that a lot! ;)

I think I rushed into my tool collecting a bit too quickly and wasted a lot of money I didn't need to. I wish I would have had an attitude more like this. Ah well, I was young and thought it was all about the show. To Be as witch you had to look like one and have witchy things, right? ;)

[Armitage]

Wow...Memories...
My first tool ever was a copper-wire pentacle I made from wire I found in my highschool's chemistry room. My first wand was a branch I found while sneaking around the park with my friends on Samhain looking for a place to have a ritual. The chalice was a globe-shaped glass I found in the china cabinet. And, goofiest of all, my athame was a foot-and-a-half long kitchen knife. I think I chose that one because I wished I had a sword in the worst way.
Ahh...To be 15 again... :smash:

That thing reminds me of Mario Bros.!

[Rick]

Bump

[licorice whip]

my first athame was an antique butter knife. i dont use it now, but i still have it in the drawer i keep all my stuff in, just in case.

my salt bowl is this small glass bowl i got from a thrift store, my candles were taken from my moms stash of candles for the dining table, and my votive holders are old shot glasses from various thrift stores.

[Ryhla]

I'm just starting out in gathering my tools. I don't have much at the moment...I'm waiting for them to make themselves known to me as I gather them. The items I do have it an alter cloth I found at a thrift store (St. Vincent DePual's in Clarkston Wa.). It's white linen with rose motifs woven into the fabric and a bit on the old side. I was with my room mate, just wandering about waiting for her and this white square caught my eye. I picked it up and the energies in it felt "right"...like it called to me. So I bought it. A couple hours and 2 thrift stores later...I found a martini glass at the Lewiston Id. St. Vincent DePual's. I walked into the store and this martini glass caught my eye. It pretty much yelled "HEY JO!" to get my attention. The handle of the glass it unual...can't really describe it...but I plan on using it for my salt bowl. I can't wait for what else calls out to me in my travels.