The Ritual Tools

The Wand, the symbol of fire. The wand represents the will of the witch. Will power is projected through the wand and is focused by it. Wands come in all shapes and sizes, from ornate ones with crystal tips to ones like Harry Potter's in the famous films. I use a twig I found at an ancient Indian burial ground.


The Pentacle, the symbol of earth. This was originally made from a cow pat with symbols scratched into the flat under side, so if any Christians came in mid ritual, they could flip it over and it would just be a cow pat. In olden days, bread would be placed on it, but now the ritual cookies are placed on the pentacle.



The Athame (pronounced Att-harr-may). the symbol of air. The ritual knife's main purpose was to scare off Christians, but now it's mainly used to cut things and scare off bad demons who come into the circle.


The Chalice, the symbol of water. This holds the ritual wine or coke for drinking during a ritual and represents the cauldron.

Other tools:

Robes. These are worn when its cold or when you want to impress other wiccans who are visiting you. Everyday wear is fine for most rituals. I have a nice long multi colored skirt I got from a ren fayre and a "charmed" tshirt which does me. Some people used to work skyclad, which means naked, but now only Satanists and perverts do this.

The Sword. Like the athame, but bigger.




Censer. Originally used to cover up the smell of the cow pat. Now it's used so spirits and Faeries can be seen in the incense smoke.






The Altar. This can be any table or box on which the ritual tools are placed. You can have a permanent altar in your house, which can be disguised as a coffee table when not in use.






The book of shadows. This is where you copy information from all the books on wicca that you buy and read them at your ritual. I recommend copying all Raven Silverwolf's rituals into yours as a good place to start.







The Besom. This is the witches broom. Used to sit on and run round whilst casting the circle. Can also be used to sweep up all the cookie crumbs and stuff after the ritual.





Some people make their own tools, but i recommend buying them from a good pagan shop, as homemade ones usually look horrible, unless you're poor and cant afford to buy them, then it's ok to make them, or use stuff you have lying around the house : )