Magickal Names

Week 26 - the letter "M" again

Discovering my magickal name was something that was incredibly important to me early on in my practice.  I desperately wanted to embrace my new path and felt that selecting a special name would serve as my dedication to Paganism.  It would be a rebirth connecting me to this new beginning.

Using Numerology and the Pythagorean System (as suggested in one of my books...maybe one by Scott Cunningham), I played around with spellings and words that I felt reflected my personality and my goals.  With a dedication ceremony, I named myself Jaelan.  Jaelan was a combination of my maternal grandmother's name Jane Eleanor and my paternal grandmother's name Floriann and pronounced Jay-len.

And that name was a good fit for me and certainly served me well over the years.  When the group I was working with and leading went our separate ways, I kept the name for a while.  And then I was betrayed by one of the group members.  There's no need to go into the specifics, but I knew I needed to change my name. 

Names and words have power.  And my magickal name was something used in private and among those with whom I practiced.  It was time for me to sever my ties from the group and start on a new journey of my own.

As a lover of the movie "The Dark Crystal", Kira was a name I loved and a character I adored.  Because the spelling was incompatible with my birth number, I played around and got creative and Keirah was born. 

When I became a part of the pagan community in which I currently belong, I still used the name Keirah.  As I continued to grow and take on other roles within the community, I found myself using my magickal name less and less.  Instead, I was using my given name.  It felt right and it still feels right. 

The division between my life and my practice has lessened as time progresses.  I don't have a "Non-Pagan Shanda Life" and a "Pagan Shanda Life".  Being Pagan is just who I am and I no longer feel that I need to have a different identity for my magickal life. 

Since I've never used a "secret" name that was only shared between me and the divine, it is unlikely that I will adopt a different name somewhere down the road.  I'm not saying it's a definite, but unlikely.  I do, however, have a name ready should I go that route.  But for now, that is a secret.