An athame or athamé is a ceremonial blade with a black handle. It is the main ritual implement or magical tool among several used in ceremonial magic traditions, by other neopagans, witchcraft, as well as satanic traditions. A black-handled knife called an arthame appears in certain versions of the Key of Solomon, a grimoire originating in the Middle Ages; the proper use of the tool was started by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, in the early 20th century, for the use of banishing rituals. The tool was adopted by Wiccans and Satanists; the athame is mentioned in the writings of Gerald Gardner in the 1950s, who claimed to have been initiated into a surviving tradition of Witchcraft, the New Forest Coven. The athame was their most important ritual tool, with many uses, but was not to be used for actual physical cutting. There has been speculation that Gardner's interest and expertise in antique swords and knives, in particular the kris knives of Malaysia and Indonesia, may have contributed to the tool's central importance in modern Wicca.

On the other hand, the athame stands as one of the four elemental tools in modern occultism, traditionally standing for fire, for witches, air, for ceremonial magicians. The other three elemental tools are the wand, the pentacle, the cup or chalice; these four magical tools correspond to four "weapons" of significance in Celtic myth—the sword, the spear, the shield, the cauldron. The same four ritual tools appear in the magical practices of the western hermetic tradition, derived from The Golden Dawn, who pioneered the modern occult tradition and new age spirituality; the athame is an elemental tool, while the sword is a tool representing power, used to keep Spirits in check during goetic Evocation. Wiccans sometimes use the sword as a substitute for the athame. An athame can take many forms. Contrary to popular belief, athames are not required to have double-edged blades. Contemporary magical practitioners choose a double-edged blade since this carries symbolic meaning; some witches will choose a single blade athame and use the straight edge to ring the bell for rituals.

The handle of the athame is black and is required in most covens which practice some variant of British Traditional Wicca, including Gardnerian and Alexandrian. The handle may be inscribed with particular symbols dictated by the tradition. Janet and Stewart Farrar in A Witches' Bible suggest that the point of an athame be dulled so as to prevent un-intended physical harm during ritual use. In eclectic forms of Witchcraft the handle decorations range from astrological glyphs to runes, the symbols being chosen by the owner. Many fantasy-themed athames are available from medieval and neopagan supply shops. Ceremonial magicians, on the other hand, use the symbolic colours purple and yellow, representing the alchemical element of Air, to colour the Athame, it is inscribed with specific sigils; this is to invoke the powers it corresponds to, make a proper impression upon the subconscious. The athame's primary use is to channel and direct psychic energy conceived as etheric fire; some modern day magical practitioners believe that if things such as herbs or cords need to be cut, another knife called a "boline" is used.

The boline is confused or mislabelled the "white-handled knife", a different magical blade. In fact, a boline was more similar to a sickle than a knife and thus would have made chopping herbs difficult. In the "kitchen witchcraft" witches are encouraged to use magical tools for mundane purposes to increase the witch's familiarity with them; the ritual drawing of the boundary of the magic circle – known as "casting the circle" – is done with either a ritual sword or an athame, in traditional coven practice. For open rituals in public places, this is sometimes done with a ritual wand or staff instead, since there may be legal complications involved with swords and daggers in public places when the edges have been dulled. In most traditional covens, the athame is associated with the magical element of fire, so the circle is considered to be cast in etheric fire; this fire is traditionally envisioned as indigo or violet. When the circle is ritually purified after being cast, traditionally done with the remaining three elements—air and earth – because the element of fire has been imbued into the circle during the casting, by the use of the athame.

After the casting, the athame is the tool traditionally used to invoke the elemental guardians of the four directions by drawing invoking pentagrams at each quarter. This important traditional practice is one of the reasons given for the false requirement that the athame must be double-edged. Practitioners get caught up on this logistic and may be unaware that the elementals are more concerned with the threat the magical blade represents than how one twists their wrist; as a masculine principle, the black-handled athame is used in combination with the chalice, as feminine principle, evoking the act of procreation, as a symbol of universal cre

James Patrick Lynch is an American criminologist and professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Maryland. Lynch graduated from Northwest Catholic High School in West Hartford, Connecticut in 1967, after which he received his bachelor's degree in sociology from Wesleyan University in 1971, he received a masters' and Ph. D. in sociology from the University of Chicago in 1983, respectively. Lynch joined the faculty of the Department of Justice and Society at American University in 1986, where he became Department Chair in 2003, he left American University's faculty for the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in 2005. In June 2010, while on leave from John Jay, he was confirmed by the United States Senate as director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics. In January 2013, he left the BJS to join the faculty of the University of Maryland as head of their Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, he served as president of the American Society of Criminology in 2017.

Lynch's research focuses on criminal victimization, crime statistics, social control, among other topics. This has included work on both the National Crime Survey, which he helped redesign from 1980 to 1985, the Uniform Crime Reports. Lynch was the co-editor-in-chief of the Journal of Quantitative Criminology from 2008 to 2010. Faculty page

The Calgary City Rugby Foot-ball Club was re-organized as the Tigers on August 27 and adopted yellow and black as the team colours. The Calgary Rugby Football Union was formed on September 29 in the offices of the Sovereign Life Insurance Company; the Caledonia and Hillhurst Football Clubs play for the championship of the Central Alberta Rugby Football League on September 4. The Edmonton Rugby Foot-ball Club was re-organized as the Esquimoux on October 16. Goals from the Field were reduced to three points by the CRU. Note: GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Pts = Points *Bold text means that they have clinched the playoffs Hamilton advances to the East Semi-Final. Toronto advances to the Dominion Championship. Hamilton advances to the Dominion Championship