Powdered Black Cat Bone with ceremonial 'Black Handled Knife"

"The Key specifies that the blade be quenched in a mixture of the blood of a black cat and the juice of hemlock. Each of these ingredients is important. Substituting a plant for the blood doesn't make a lot of sense to me, as there is already a plant in the mixture. I think that the attempt to veganize grimoiric magic is dangerous, and requires one to discard the animism which is the underlying basis of this magic.

The blood of the black cat is not only important for its Saturnine attributes, it is also important because it infuses the blade at the moment of quenching with (at least some part of) the power of the cat, a living spirit. Have you ever seen a cat react to the presence of spirits? The spirit attached to the blade will literally fight for you against hostile spirits, should that become necessary.

As for using your own blood, the best I can do is tell you my experience.

I have such a knife, quenched in water infused with hemlock and my own blood. It is one of the most potent magical objects I have ever seen, which is saying something -- I once had in my possession a talisman that had been smuggled out of an archaeological dig in Ur, a genuine bronze-age artifact, that could and would, on its own whim, summon dust devils strong enough to push cars off the road. My knife might not be that powerful, but it has the potential.

I paid a high price for it, and nearly died several times. I quenched it on an appropriate election, at the culmination of an arduous 14 day purification. For unimportant reasons, I was unable to attach the handle at that time, and so I wrapped the works up in appropriate silk, stowed it in my pack, and continued on my way.

Soon after, I became very ill, with what I thought was a bad cold. This developed into pneumonia, and should have been the death of me, as at the time, I was homeless, and traveling south as quickly as possible to escape the onset of winter and to try to find work. Along the way, several people tried to kill me, for reasons ranging from the color of my skin to outright psychopathy, requiring me to defend myself with extreme prejudice. At one point, I had to fight off a pack of feral dogs that thought I was dinner. Etc.

Many years passed before I was able to complete the knife. I waited for another appropriate election, and attached the handle. Brandishing the knife, I recited certain bits of the Key which I felt were appropriate to the occasion. As I did so, the smoke of my incense struck a line due east, and then circled around me and the altar, forming a perfect circle that hung about 18 inches off the ground and did not disperse until I ended the rite. This happened outdoors, in a deep wash at sunrise, where there are *always* air currents as the rising sun warms the air on the nearby mountains, causing it to expand and push colder air down the washes.

So, in sum, I think you can use your own blood, if you are prepared to deal with the consequences of doing so. Your experience won't be the same as mine, probably, assuming you have a safe home, have not recently been trespassing in the territory of a powerful deceased medicine man, have forms of protection at your disposal, and so on. In short, be prepared."