Reaching for Beyond

As I mentioned, much of my focus right now is on my writing, not only on writing about pagan subjects, but also writing of fiction.  I write under the name Sandi Brackeen when I write fiction, and the book I’m working on now is the second in the D.U.E. (Department of Unusual Events), Riley Perez series.  The first book was Digging Up the Past, and the second is tentatively called Reaching for Beyond.  

The series has as its main character an empath/witch who was born into a shape shifter family, but cannot shift shapes.  She gets her witchcraft from the mother’s side of the family, and was trained by her grandmother.  She and her partner Jason work for the Department of Unusual Events. They deal with the things that go bump in the night.  It’s easier for them than for some others, since they are some of the things that go bump in the night.  Her partner is half demon.

In this particular book, she and her partner and associates are looking for killers who have been forming a pentagram within a circle at the crime scenes.  Riley is helping release the energy of these circles back into the earth without letting it go astray and create chaos in the world.  She doesn’t want to use the same athame that she uses for her personal magic, so she’s looking for one to use specifically for work.  

Riley has used her own athame in the past, but as the cases they are dealing with become more complex, and her experience increases, she’s beginning to see that she needs to keep her personal tools separate from those she’s using to deal with the darkness.  Now, she’s trying to decide between a Dragon Head Necklace Athame that will allow her greater control over the dark forces, a Celtic Athame that will enable her to call on the ancients, or a pewter handled Goddess Athame that will help her focus on channeling the energy of the Goddess to release the negativity.  

She’s dealing with extremely powerful forces, but since she seldom knows going in how good or evil the forces are, Riley feels it’s especially important that she have a specific athame for work.  What kind of athame do you use, and which would you go with if you were Riley?  Leave your comments here or on our Facebook page.