i say misplaced because i know that it is somewhere within my belongings...just not where it needs to be! i remember having it and where it was a year ago. but there was alot of moving going on and rearranging of space in my house, and i haven't come across it yet. now this saddens me because i really feel naked without it!! i am almost to the point of buying another one to use in the meantime. i just don't know if i should. can you have 2 without hurting the feelings of the other??

I don't see why not.  Some people actually have different athames for different types of rituals.  I, personally, do not use an athame.  One thing, though...tools will come and go in your life and practice.  When you have "outgrown" a tool, you will find it may disappear on its own.  When you need it again, it will reappear in one form or another.  If you feel that you cannot purchase another athame, use something else to signify that aspect of your ritual.  I use a wand instead of an athame for cutting circle and other athame related things.  If, as you say, the athame is hiding amongst your belongings, let it have its space until it is ready to reappear.  It is nothing that you have done to offend it.

I have had crystals do that.  Most of them I never found again.  I just no longer needed them I guess.  I found one Amethyst cluster but it no longer felt like it belonged to me.  I put it in my pocket anyway them went to work.  There I came across this woman and her baby and has I turned away I realized why the crystal had reappeared.  I turned around and gave it to the mother to pass on to the little girl when she got older.  Didn't say why, just that she might find it pretty when she grew up.  I figure the kid will figure it out when she is ready.

Stones just seem to come and go.  Some I found outside in the 'wild' others I have bought.  In Lexington Va there was a new age store called Sunday's Child.  I bought most of my stones there. They had bins full of crystal points and fragments for really cheap.  I would wave my hand slowly over the bin until I felt my palm tingle then pick up which ever crystal was causing it.  If I liked it it came home with me.  

I don't know if athames are the same way or not but it seems it might be time to find a new one, or have a new one find you.

I don't use tools, much, but I have 2 blades, and a growing collection of wands. Each is as individual as a person is.

If you'rs has moved on, do so yourself, if you fell the urge to.

Seems nothing in our life comes, or goes for that fact, without reason.

well i recently found a moonstone charm again that i thought i had lost with the necklace it was on. turns out it was in with some stuff i forgot about! but boy did i worry about losing it...then wham there it was! i kinda took a "vacation" from practice for a time, due to alot of chaos going on in my life. but now that i have been back a bit more serious, i think my tools are coming out of hiding! before i had to keep everything in separate places. now its all nice and snuggly together in one big chest! much happier and organized! ahh...

indigo, i know what you mean about finding stones. when i was about 14 or so (and had no idea what paganism was at all!) i was walking home and just happened to look down and find this cute little amethyst cluster in the grass. i still have it. looking back now, i understand some of the things this guy was talking with me about. at the time i thought he was nuts when he would tell me he bathed with crystals...if only i would have known back then i would have loved to pick his brain a bit, lol! i love working with stones!

but i definitely agree about the whole losing of things you don't need anymore...lost a few beautiful pieces along my path. its just hard to let go of some things you put so much of yourself into, ya know?

i have been looking for a new athame simply because i feel like i have shifted in my life to a new chapter.  my local metaphysical store has really no selection. do you think buying off of a site like ebay is ok? i really have to have that "feeling" to know if something seems right...that nifty little tingle. i guess you can still have that from an image though, right?