Your Witch Name

Assuming you have embarked on your career as a practitioner of the Black Arts, you will have to take
a new, magical name to supplement your old, mundane one. Some unkind critics have called this the
nom du Diable. It is nothing of the sort; at least, not in the sense they mean it. It is, in fact, an
important part of your newly burgeoning witch personality, and henceforth you will be known chiefly
by it to your fellow practitioners.
Many witches or warlocks choose to take a name which is intimately connected with magic and the
supernatural, the favourites being the names of other, legendary practitioners of the Black Arts.
For instance, if you are male, you may choose the name of a legendary sorcerer such as Zyto, Balaam,
Elymas, or Cyprian; or, alternatively, maybe Merlin, Althotas, Vergilius, or Vandermast.
A witch might well choose Morgana, Armida, Vivienne, or Melusina; Brisen, Nimue, Hellawes, or
Fredegonda, Nocticula, Bensozia, Sidonia, or even Urganda!
Or you might choose a name of more classical inspiration like Apollonius, Medea, or Circe; or ancient
Egyptian like Nectanebo or Arnuphis, or maybe something really complicated like Diancecht,
Osmandine, or Ansuperomin!
The choice is yours. You must find one that appeals to you, that calls forth your feeling for the unseen
world, gives you a thrill, and frankly makes you feel considerably powerful and no less sinister!
Should you not wish to use a name from legend, you may try toying with those of the gods and
demigods of mythology. Greek, Roman, Norse, Celtic— whichever you wish. A very good lead in
these matters can be provided by finding out your astrological birth sign and planet and looking up the
legends that surround them. For instance, if you are an artist or craftsman born under the sign of
Taurus, you may well decide on the name of Daedalus, being that of the wizard-craftsman of King
Minos, leader of the Cretan Bull Cult, thus linking with Taurus the Bull. Or, alternatively, if you are a
female witch born under Taurus, ruled by Venus, you may decide that the name "Ariadne," daughter of
King Minos and Theseus' bride, would be suitable, especially as she is indeed a form of Aradia, one of
the chief spirit powers of the witch world.
A third method which can yield results is the numerological one. Add up all the digits which compose
the name you are best known by, using this scheme to allocate the letters to numbers:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
A B C D E F G H I
J K L M N O P Q R
S T U V W X Y Z
Keep adding the resultant numbers together till they form a single digit, thus:
J O H N
+
S M I T H
1 + 6 + 8 + 5 1 + 4 + 9 + 2 + 8
= 20 = 24 = 44
= 4 +
4
= 8
Now numerologically speaking the digits have the following traditional planetary attribution:
1. The Sun
2. The Moon
3. Mars
4. Mercury
5. Jupiter
6. Venus
7. Saturn
8. Uranus
9. Neptune
In John Smith's case, his name planet will be Uranus. His next step would be to consult a book of
classical myth and legend, on the subject matter surrounding Uranus. There will be ample material to
select a name from, especially if the book is one of comparative mythology, showing the interrelations
of legends among different cultures.
Should none of these methods yield results or appeal to you, then you should just go ahead and evolve
a name that "feels right," cooking it up for yourself out of the blue, using your intuition to guide you.
This in fact is ultimately the only criterion; the preceding methods are merely indicators and helps.
So mull over a selection of names in your mind. Ponder them in reverie if you can and let your deep
mind send up some hints if possible. This really is the best way, as in the final analysis the deep mind
is what we are really concerned with here. The witch name is basically designed to be an indication of
the true nature of you as you really are deep down! There exists a coven of witches in England today
whose female members only use witch names of a floral derivation, Rosemary, Japonica, Aubretia,
Flora, and so on!
Some witches like to take worthy mottoes in Latin like Sapiens dominabitur astris or Omnia vincam,
maybe a bit ecclesiastical in tone, but quite legitimate, though to my mind again less effective than the
considerably more evocative names of legend.
Just choose one that satisfies you. It may take a bit of time; but it is worth considering well since once
you inscribe it on your magical instruments, you are stuck with it.
Having settled on your witch name, you must keep it very, very secret, as it will eventually become
one of the keys to your deep mind. You will be using it whenever you wish to "switch on" to perform a
spell; this will be partly accomplished by pronouncing the name silently to yourself whenever you
begin your use of the pyramid powers.
You should only divulge it to others who are close witch friends, preferably when you are closely
bound together with them in the form of a group, or coven.
And as already mentioned, you will also write it on all your magical witch tools, using special witch
runes to do so. Which brings me to my next topic.