Boline

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In Wicca the boline is a white-handled ritual knife. Unlike the athame, which in most traditions is never used for actual physical cutting, the boline is used for cutting cords and herbs, carving candles, etc. It has a small, straight or crescent-shaped blade and a handle which is traditionally white in colour.

The boline has been adopted by several other modern forms of witchcraft including Eclectic Wicca. Amongst these later traditions opinions vary as to whether the boline is truly a magical tool or is merely of utilitarian purpose. Sometimes a knife called a kerfan is used, for roughly the same purposes as the boline; this is the name traditionally given to the sacred dagger of the Sikh religion.^{[citation needed]}

According to the Kitchen Witchcraft philosophy, the use of magical tools for mundane purposes like cooking is actively encouraged, and as such there is little or no need for a boline as a separate tool from the athame.