I've finally found my Wiccan name!!!!!!!

[Pirranth]

The topic of magical/wiccan/true names is an old one, and I love it. You could take the debate one way, and talk about the power of names or go even broader and go with the power of words in general. But since we're here, I'm going with names.

To be cheesy and terrible, "that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet;" -Romeo and Juliet, while terrible and filled with extra-sharp cheddar it does illustrate the beginning of the issue. Names may or may not have a direct effect on reality, jury is still out on some aspects of quantum physics and such, but names in social and mental realities are everything. By changing your name, you re-define yourself and it is common sense that the world will treat you slightly differently because of it.

Though, it is a matter of debate if it is the name that changes the person or the way the people treat the person because of the name that changes them.

Many religions, traditions, and groups have used secret names to separate themselves from their normal lives and the magical/ceremonial side of their lives. This can help get into ritual consciousness faster, and may provide other bonuses. I'd like to say "most" traditions of paganism have one form of a secret/magical name or another and is usually required for most initiation rituals and usually has to follow complicated numerology and elemental rules; most of those rules I frown at.

There is no one tried and true method for picking a name, but there are ramifications, like if you named your kid "Gaylord Focker" -Meet the Parents, except they happen directly to yourself, so I'd personally choose something that feels right and you feel comfortable with rather than something dramatic and flashy and happens to fit into your numerology equation, while this is a continued point of contention common sense still stands.

I'd like to say one major theory states that magical names have lost their potency over human history and may have meant much more a long time ago, but thats a whole different bag of wax. Another is that when you "discover" your magical name its your "true" name and if other people knew it, they could control you. The whole debates about true names is a long and extensive one with more points than I can cover here, but it is why some circles insist on keeping them secret.


Mrrrgh, I know I'm forgetting something, but it being forgotten isn't being remembered so, I hit post.

[watershield]

Well said.....

[Makbawehuh]

Yeah, you could end up like me... No one can pronounce my name, so I get called Mak...


Mak and Cheese (This was popular when I was seeing a guy named Chet... And people thought it was cute to call him "Chetter". Interestingly, he hated cheese.), Mak Truck, Mak Donalds, Mak the Knife....

Yeah. Then again, I hate my paper-name, so I use my "magical" name everywhere. It makes life interesting.

[Morbid_Rogue]

My name is Ithyka..