(PBP) The Letter C: Craft Name

**This post is part of the Pagan Blog Project. Weeks 5 and 6 are the letter C. For more about PBP, check out their website here.**

I haven’t really written about craft names much here on the blog.  Most likely because I don’t use one.  “Sita” isn’t a craft name, it’s a pseudonym I use specifically for writing on this blog.  I never chose a craft name because I never felt like I needed one.

Craft names can come from a wide array of places.  Names inspired by the natural world are pretty common.  Animals, birds, plants, trees, stones, etc. are probably the most common source to pull from.  The two most popular names I can think of are Raven and Willow.

Another popular source is mythology and drawing from a specific mythological tradition.  Using the name of a god or goddess is less popular but also often used.  Some of the more popular names I’ve seen are Athena, Rhiannon, Arianrhod, and Brigid.

The key to a craft name (a.k.a. magical name) is to find a name that feels right to you.  It should resonate within, maybe strike a chord in your being, that says “yes, this is who I am, this is who I am becoming.”  Sure you can choose a super cool name like Silver Athena Stormlord or something, but does that show who you are?  Does that name sound like the inner you?  Yes, it sounds cool to say, but is it the right name for you, or are you caught up in the flashiness?  I think some people do get caught up in the flash of craft names and don’t choose the right name for themselves, and then there are other times where someone has a flashy name and it really is right for them.  Sometimes it’s hard to say which is which.

If it feels like the right name, then go with it.  Chances are, it’s right for you.

Often I’m told that a craft name will find you.  You don’t find it.  The right name reveals itself to you.  I don’t know how true that is, seeing as I don’t have a craft name.  But for the past two or three years, I’ve been feeling a strong pull to a certain name, and it’s not one I would have chosen for myself had I sat down and tried to come up with a name for me.  But this word just pulls at me and envelops me in warmth, and makes me feel more complete–so I have a feeling that a craft name has found me after all.

Another concern with names is the energy behind the name.  A name, a word, has power.  When you speak the name, you are calling on the energy of that word.  “Willow” calls on the qualities of the willow tree and brings those qualities closer to the person who bears that name.  “Raven” can call in the qualities of the raven and the qualities of Raven, the deity.  Both are tricky and cunning.  When using a craft name, it’s my opinion that you should also look at the qualities of that name and what kind of energy you would be calling in when you use it.  For example, I see people name their pets Loki or Hecate because they think the name is cute for the animal, and then they wonder why little Loki or little Hecate are such a handful.  It’s because the name calls on the energy of the name, just as our daily/mundane names have energy.  The difference between our birth names and a craft name is that the craft name is chosen by you and may feel more like your real name than your birth name does.

Craft names can be useful, but they aren’t a requirement for a spiritual or magickal path, at least not until you get into the higher levels of a coven or other similar type of group that uses craft names.  Then a craft name may become necessary, for a variety of reasons.

Craft names, like pseudonyms, can also be used as a barrier between the mundane world and the magickal world, and can provide a measure of protection.

(PBP) The Letter B: Books

**This post is part of the Pagan Blog Project. Weeks 3 and 4 are the letter B. For more about PBP, check out their website here.**

This week’s post is more of a reflection on how books have played a role in my spirituality.

I adore books.  I always have.  So when I wanted to learn more about Paganism, I went straight to the books.  My first Pagan book was Scott Cunningham’s Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner.

Books have been instrumental in developing my spirituality.  Without the beginner’s guide Cunningham’s books offered, I don’t know if I would ever have moved forward.  The Internet back then wasn’t very helpful and was still growing as more people gained access, so while it had some resources, I think there were more questionable sites than there are now.  Books were the best resources I had, since I lacked a teacher.

I don’t have many books on Paganism or metaphysics.  I’m very choosy in what I buy.  Some of my favorites have been Cunningham’s various books because they make a great starting point.  I also like Penczak’s books.  I haven’t read any of Buckland’s books yet, but I’ve heard good things about them.

Although I’m a big fan of books, I also realized quite early that books can only take you so far.  Even though the books were very helpful, they couldn’t be everything I needed them to be.  I wish I could have found a teacher sooner, but that was not to be.  I still give book recommendations to people though, because they do make a great starting point for research or study.  It’s wonderful that we can publish and access so many different books on Paganism and witchcraft and all the different traditions now; I mean, just 100 years ago, this would have been unheard of, and 300-400 years ago, this kind of material would have earned you a trial.

Some favorite books/authors:

• Scott Cunningham
• The Witches’ Goddess, by Janet and Stewart Farrar
• Christopher Penczak
• Ellen Dugan
• Psychic Tarot, by Nancy Antenucci and Melanie Howard

Some not-so-favorite books/authors:

• Silver Ravenwolf
• A Witch’s 10 Commandments, by Marian Singer

Stone Series: Amethyst

Amethyst (Image from Google search)

Rarity: Common
Color: light violet to dark purple

Associations
Birthstone: February
Zodiac sign(s): Capricorn, Virgo, Pisces, Aquarius, Sagittarius
Chakra(s): Third Eye, Crown
Planet(s): Jupiter
Element(s): Air

About Amethyst
Amethyst is a fairly common and easily-accessible stone, and is popular for jewellery.  The most common color is a variety of purple, ranging from a light purple that may appear tinged with pink, to a deep purple.  Amethyst is actually a variety of quartz.  Scientists think that the purple color comes from iron in the stone.  The abundance of iron is what associates amethyst with blood and its uses in regulating blood flow and blood purity.

This stone is associated with the gods Bacchus and Dionysus and is associated with sobriety rather than drunkenness.  Diana and Artemis are linked to amethyst as well.  These four deities are linked with amethyst because of a myth.  According to Greek legend, Dionysus was angry one day and decided he would take out his anger on the next mortal to pass by. He created several tigers, gave them a mission to attack the next mortal, and left. A young girl named Amethyst was the next mortal to come by on her way to pay homage to Artemis. The tigers attacked and Amethyst, in her fear and panic, called to the goddess. Artemis changed the girl into a statue of clear quartz before the tigers could attack. When Dionysus returned, he saw the statue and was overcome with remorse.  In one version, he wept tears of purple wine, which then covered the statue and stained it permanently.  In another version, Dionysus, in his remorse, poured a libation of wine over the statue, which stained it purple.

This stone is also linked with Archangel Zadkiel because of its color and properties.  Amethyst’s color and properties also link it to spirituality, and often this stone is associated with spiritual wisdom and enlightenment.

The chakras related to amethyst are the third eye and crown chakras.  Not only does this association come from amethyst’s color, which matches the colors of the chakras, but this stone also relates to some of these chakras’ main functions.  The third eye chakra is the chakra most connected to psychic development and clarity, and amethyst is an excellent stone for promoting psychic gifts and clarity.  The crown chakra is the chakra of consciousness, connectivity, and clarity, as well as the pineal and pituitary glands, which deal with secretion of hormones.  Both the stone and the chakra are connected to the hormones.

Amethyst geode (Image from Google search)

Uses
This is a strong and powerful stone.  It can have a lot of beneficial effects on the mind and body.  This is the kind of stone that is very versatile and can be used for many different things.  It is also one that, if you have to choose only one stone to carry around, I would recommend carrying because of its protective properties and its versatility.

Something about the color purple is good for restful sleep.  Like the herb lavender, amethyst can be used to promote peaceful, restful sleep.  Because of its associations with sleep, it is also useful in remembering, interpreting, and guarding dreams.  It is a very good stone for aiding relaxation, and thus is great for aid in meditation.  Amethyst is a natural tranquilizer that can also bring peace and clarity, and is good for aiding development of intuition and psychic gifts.

Physically, amethyst can regulate hormones, calm nerves, cleanse the blood, regulate blood pressure, protect the heart, and reduce swelling or bruising.  Because of these associations and the stone’s ability to help relax the body and mind, it tends to be a good stone for healers and for working with healing blood issues, stress-induced maladies, and nervousness or anxiety.

Other Resources:
Charms of Light: http://www.charmsoflight.com/amethyst-healing-properties.html
Emily Gems: http://www.crystal-cure.com/crystal-amethyst-points.html
Sunny Ray: http://www.sunnyray.org/Amethyst.htm

Protection During Readings

I know some people don’t think it’s necessary to protect yourself while you’re giving (or sometimes when receiving) a reading, which could include tarot or oracle readings, intuitive readings, and hypnosis.  I, on the other hand, disagree.  I think it’s important for the reader, at the very least, to protect herself.  It may not be quite as important for the person being read to protect themselves, especially during something like an intuitive or hypnotic reading in which it’s better for them to be more open.  Still, there are some precautions that I think every person going into a reading should take, whether they are the reader or the person being read.

It’s very easy for us all to pick up energy and emotions from other people and carry them around unless we take precautions to avoid such things.  All of us do this, even if we aren’t psychically open or empathic.  It happens naturally.  But do you really want to carry around someone else’s depression over having a bad day, or sadness at breaking up with their partner, or even their happiness over something you had no part in?  No one should really want to carry around someone else’s energy, which is why so many different traditions stress cleansing yourself and being aware of your aura and what you give or take with other people.  As a reader, you are then opening yourself up, not only to the other person but to the higher planes.  It’s not the higher planes that you need to be worried about, but if you’re just opening things up willy-nilly and not paying much attention to protection, you can come away from a reading feeling pretty drained and bad, or you could have inadvertently opened up to something else (unlikely, but possible) such as the lower planes.

During my hypnosis training, it was emphasized that as we put a client into hypnosis (and this really only applies to the spiritual hypnosis, because that’s where you have the potential to interact with lower planes and such while doing past life regression or entity clearing) we should also raise protections and call on the archangels or higher forces for protection during the hypnosis.  This is because the person’s defenses are lowered while under hypnosis, and they are in no state to protect themselves.  The reader has to do it for them, not only to protect the client, but to protect the reader!  I don’t want some entity latching on to me because I didn’t protect myself.  Granted, if it does that, then I didn’t do my job correctly, but still.

Even during a tarot reading or oracle card reading, I think it’s important to protect yourself.  Raise shields, if you’re good at that, or use stones or oils or whatever else that works for you.  Just protect yourself from absorbing some of the other person’s energy, or from being too open for other beings to get in.  It also works to keep yourself from being too drained.  A few times when I’ve done readings (not including the events with PSU, at which I read tarot for hours without a break—not highly recommended), I’ve felt so drained afterward, or I’ve felt like I was angry or sad when I didn’t need to be.  It was odd to me until I figured out that I wasn’t really doing very much to protect myself while giving these readings, and that made me feel that I was doing a disservice not only to myself, but to my client as well.

As for when you are the one being read, I think it doesn’t hurt any to create a shield or protect yourself in some way.  If it’s someone you trust, I wouldn’t erect a shield that would keep the reader out, but create something that would protect from any negative energy or negative beings that might be attracted.  The best form of protection I’ve found yet is to create a shield and then ask higher beings, such as your spirit guide or angels or whatever you like to come protect you, and specify that the only things that can influence you during the reading are the higher forces (and, in the case of hypnosis, the reader/hypnotist).

Review: ‘Practical Protection Magick’ by Ellen Dugan

Practical Protection Magick, by Ellen Dugan
published 2011 by Llewellyn publishing
ISBN: 9780738721682
203 pages
Author information here.
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Copy is a review copy
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

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About the Book: Using humor, personal experience, and a good dose of candor, Ellen Dugan explores the essential topic of psychic self protection.  She helps the reader discover their individual strengths and weaknesses and takes the reader through a detailed discussion of psychic abilities and how to use those abilities for psychic protection.

Dugan covers personal psychic strengths and weaknesses, psychic vampirism, hauntings, the interaction between healthy body and good psychic protection, hexes and curses, and then other various ways for protection that she hasn’t covered in the previous chapters.  The other information includes some of the basics of using cleansings, herbs, colors, stones, and ritual to raise and strengthen protection.

My Thoughts: I very much liked this book.  I only have a few qualms with it.  First, I really hate the prolific incorrect usage of the word “disease” in the metaphysical books I’ve read, and it’s continued here.  People, “disease” is not meant to be spelled “dis-ease.”  I get what the authors are going for here, but really, does no one remember the word “unease/uneasy/uneasiness”?  It’s still a word, and should be used instead of this stylistic version of a word that indicates illness.  I don’t know who started using “disease” in this fashion, but future Pagan/metaphysical writers, PLEASE STOP.  It’s annoying and makes me think you don’t know English.

Now that my linguistic rant is done (and a much shorter one this time than the last), let’s move on.  I found the introductory section interesting, but kind of unnecessary.  I’m going to read the book, so why is it necessary to tell me what I’m going to read before I read it?  If you’re at all unsure of what you’re getting in this book, the intro will tell you pretty much everything you need to know about what’s between the covers.  However, I’m going to classify this as a minor issue, since it doesn’t detract from the book–but it doesn’t add anything either.

Also, I’m curious to know where Dugan gets her information on vampires.  Not that I think it’s incorrect, but simply because I’d like to know if it’s mostly experience or mostly research.  Either one is fine with me, as this section feels well-supported, interesting, and covers a lot about vampirism and what exactly that is.

What I like about the psychic vampire section (chapters 3 and 4) is that the information is presented in a matter-of-fact, sometimes humorous, not frightening way.  The fact that it’s not frightening is important.  This allowed me to assimilate the information and think about it without feeling that horrible stab of fear and anxiety that other books try to instill in an effort to get their point across.

I like that Dugan emphasizes knowledge of the self, because knowing yourself is critical to being a better practitioner as a whole, not just in the area of protection.  This is something that is emphasized throughout the book that I don’t think is covered enough in other works about psychic protection.  How can you protect yourself when you don’t really know what it is you’re protecting?

What I really like is how Dugan explains the link between a healthy body/spirit and protection.  Having a body that is taken care of and respected helps enhance protection magick because it takes away some of the burden of the magick.  Sort of like how having a strong, sturdy base supports and eases the burden on the rest of the house’s structure.

I disagree with Dugan’s assertion that you can do magick while sick.  I’ve always thought it’s not the best idea.  When you’re sick, all of your body’s energy and resources are going toward fighting off the illness.  If your body is fighting it properly, you shouldn’t have anything left over to perform magick, in my opinion.  I know I never do, but I haven’t been sick in a few years, so I can’t exactly test or prove this portion.  I do think it’s unusual that she puts healing under the chapter with fire.  Usually healing gets put in with either water or earth, not fire, though the way Dugan has things organized it does make sense.

Overall, I really liked the book.  I think it’s a very good book for beginning to build and understand psychic protections, and the spells and exercises within are things that I think any level of practitioner could reasonably do and understand.  While I disagree with a few things in Dugan’s book and portions of her style, there is nothing dangerous or greatly objectionable contained within, and I don’t think the objections I do have are great enough to not give it a good rating.  So huzzah, 4.5 out of 5!