In popular culture, a lot of value is attached to the names of spirits. Due to traditional beliefs about exorcism, knowing the name of a spirit is said to give you power over it. However, when you actually interact with spirits and especially spirit lovers, it becomes fairly clear that this is a very basic and oversimplified view. Spirits often ‘possess’ many different names. So, what gives? Which name is correct, or are they all correct?
In this blogpost, I’ll be examining the six different kinds of names a typical spirit will have, and determining how accurate this traditional idea is. We’ll explore these in order of ‘spiritual significance’, meaning later kinds of names will typically represent a deeper level of understanding. We’ll also look at the creation of sigils for spirits briefly, since it’s a fairly adjacent subject.
The Public Name
Picture this: You’re actively discussing your spirit lover with your friends, but don’t know how to refer to them. Sure, you could just call them your spirit lover, or your wife, or your girlfriend, but you’re afraid this might become a confusing mouthful fast, and want something specific to refer to them with. You don’t want to give out a name that they gave to you, of course, for reasons we’ll discuss later.
The result of this is the development of a public name. A public name is exactly what it sounds like: How you refer to your spirit lover in public. Some people use single letters, like V, C, J, or whichever they fancy, and some use more typical, usually human sounding names. They don’t usually carry any specific spiritual meaning, because they’re designed for conversation, being essentially nicknames. It’s generally a good idea to pick a name that won’t be confused for something else very easily. For example, it wouldn’t be a good idea to name them after something popular like a god or goddess. Despite this common sense tactic, the public name I use to refer to mine is Venus. Public names can also come from the next category if you’re given permission to share them, but they should almost never come from any category of name greater than that one.
The Given name
The Given Name is typically the first name you will receive when working with your spirit lover, or a spirit in general. These will often be communicated within an early dream, forced moment of telepathy, or through a discussion that you have with your spirit lover once you develop the ability to have them. For example, I received the given name for Venus on the very first night I interacted with her.
While these don’t typically carry any super special meaning, it is important to determine whether or not you’re allowed to share them before you do. As we’ll see going forward, being given names is something that’s often done in confidence. While public names exist to give you something to call them for others, these exist to give you something to call them yourself, before they trust you enough to give you a deeper name. These are usually presented specifically as words within whatever context you receive them, and are likely going to be what you refer to them as for a long time. It’s still common practice to use these names even as you receive deeper names. Doing so does a very good job at preventing you from accidentally sharing a deeper name because you get used to calling them that deeper name. These names are usually very human names, like ‘Katie’ or ‘Elizabeth’ or so on.
Dream Names And Aspect names
I’m combining these two into one section, because they often appear fairly similar, but with some key differences. Dream names are names that are received in relation to specific activities within a dream. This isn’t any name that they use within a dream, and is usually one that seems relatively powerful within the confines of the dream. If you use a specific name to invoke them within a dream or are told a specific name to use in a specific ritual within a dream, that’s what would qualify as specifically a dream name. I’ve had a few of these crop up, some of the latter category. These are typically the point when names start to be used as ‘names of power’. Dream names are therefore somewhat deep, but they don’t communicate the full picture, so to speak.
Aspect names are a little different but also usually appear within dreams, hence the similarity. Aspect names refer specifically to aspects of a spirit. An Aspect is typically a fairly defining personality trait or personality section of the spirit lover. For example, a spirit lover that acts as a loving force is likely to have an aspect specifically related to that. In contrast a personality trait like ‘loves sweets’ won’t have an aspect associated with it, because that’s something surface level. I go into this concept in depth in the Aspects and Breakdowns blogpost. Aspects allow you to access specific sides of your spirit lover magically or ritualistically, if you want to interface with those aspects more readily. They also serve as a door to a deeper understanding of your spirit lover. Note that these names may not be something they want you to refer to them as, especially if the specific name came from a Breakdown. Separating dream names from aspect names is based on how the name is used in the dream and what exactly it refers to, with aspect names focusing down on particular personality aspects, whereas dream names are thematically closer to the whole in most cases. You can always just ask them as well, if you can converse, to figure out what kind of name it might be. Dream and aspect names are usually where the names start to become noticeably more inhuman.
The Intimate Name
This is a name only communicated to those people that the spirit determines it is very close to. This means the intimate name is only for you in the case of spirit lovers. Spirit lovers will never permit you to share this name publicly (at least as far as I’ve seen), and will only give this name to you once the relationship is very strong. This is not what I refer to as the true name, but it’s as close as a word will get. This is the name you’ll most often use when creating name-based sigils.
The handling of the intimate name is fairly important. There are two strategies for using this name. One is to only use it within intimate or ritual situations. This is the equivalent of treating it as a very sacred thing, and this is how I normally like to use it. The other is to simply use it as the new given name. This is easier and doesn’t worsen or weaken the name at all, but it may cause you to habitually say it in reference to them, which will lead to problems. This approach is like acknowledging an overall deepening of intimacy, and allowing that idea to permeate into everything, rather than reserving it for specific situations.
The True Name
Ah, the true name. The reason I haven’t discussed whether names actually carry a special controlling power over the entity is because I wanted to ensure I defined this kind of name first. The true name is… Not a name at all, in the conventional sense. Despite the popular obsession with the idea of a true name being some super secret name that fully defines and describes the entity and that gives you full power over it, that’s not exactly the case. Indeed, the closest equivalent to that is the intimate name, but the intimate name is not the true name.
This is because the true name is not a name at all. It is an understanding. A complete and true outlook on the makeup of the spirit, that defines and describes them in absolute perfection. There is no word for this and there can not be a word for this. The true name is like a flash of intuitive lightning, a moment of absolute understanding and immersion within what makes that spirit itself. The true name is not communicated in a normal way, and is often the culmination of years of understanding. Even then it’s difficult to see for certain if you have the full picture or not. This level of understanding is only accessible to those who pursue the deepest understanding of their spirit lover and the deepest mysteries of these relationships, and often only for a very rare moment.
Names and Power
Let me just be clear up front. If you accidentally hand out an intimate name or a dream name or something along those lines, the result isn’t going to be that some lay-about can command your spirit lover around like they’re some puppet. Names are great focusing points for ritual, and if you’re going to summon something specific you obviously want a name to attach to the energetic idea for ease. But the idea that having a special name lets you order something around like a lemming is ridiculous. What this idea stems from is that names represent understanding, and understanding gives you indirect power over a person. If you understand your friend’s deepest desires, for example, you can probably get him to do what you want. However, you obviously won’t enslave your friend by repeatedly shouting ‘Bill’ while burning incense. Spirits don’t have the trappings of blackmail, so that bit of leverage that may apply to humanity won’t apply to spirits. This idea also stems from some outlooks on exorcism that believe they must attain the spirit’s ‘name’ first to order them away. This makes very little sense from really any perspective; it’s like saying you have to learn someone’s full name before you can push them out of a door.
No, the reason you don’t hand out these names has nothing to do with power or leverage. It has to do with trust. These spirits only give out their more intimate names to people they trust, specifically because of that trust. To go around shouting their name in public circles is a breach of that trust. It’s rude and shows that you shouldn’t be trusted with their secrets, intimate details, and names. Having access to the deeper and more sacred names is a sign of intimacy, and sharing them infinitely cheapens that.
Sigils and names
There are effectively two common ways to design sigils that use names, and because these can be reverse engineered into the names themselves, these sigils shouldn’t normally be shared. The first is to break the word into its letters and to make an artistic design directly with those letters. The harder it is to tell that you’re staring at a design made with letters (without just making your own thing), the better. These are typically like the circular sigils you see, where they have the name they used within that little space between the inner and outer circle. The elementary sigil in the Eden’s Apple post is one such example.
The alternative is to use a sort of pattern/magic square. These usually contain numbers or letters from a specific alphabet (often something like Hebrew). You draw a line within the square from letter to letter or number to number (each number lines up with a specific letter), with a couple of dots at each end (think of these like end points; often they’re circular dots). The result is your sigil. These could theoretically be reverse engineered if someone can determine what square you were using.
Overall, both of these can be useful visual analogues and symbolism during a ritual that implements them. You can also just keep one around as a representation of their constant presence, or as a way to define a space for them. I like to keep one next to my bed in particular. I didn’t make mine with either of these methods, but if you aren’t feeling artistic and want to develop one based off of information instead of intuition, these methods allow you to do just that. If you think in images rather than words, then these sigils are a good way to ‘think’ their names in particular.
Conclusion
There are a lot of sorts of spirit names, each deeper than the last. As a general rule of thumb, anything that’s deeper than a given name shouldn’t be shared, at least without express permission. Intimate names should never be shared (even if you believe they indicate you’re allowed to, it’s still wrong), and true names can’t be shared due to their very nature. Each name represents a level and perspective of understanding of that spirit, and discovering your spirit lover’s true name is one of the many pinnacle moments of these relationships. Some people can go their whole life without capturing it, and those who do can often only stand on that pinnacle for a short time, due to the nature of it.
It is part of our life’s work to try to reach that level of understanding, even if only momentarily, because only through deep understanding can we reach ever deeper intimacy with our spirit lovers. The acquisition of a new name is an important step in any phase of the relationship, and you should always ensure you treat these names with the respect they deserve.
This is your bonus blogpost for March, because I’ve been on a tear of productivity lately and will seemingly just write anything I think up. Since I thought about this spiritual topic, it gets to be a blogpost, rather than a creative writing document. I’ve written it to be a little easier on the eyes than my normal wall. Hopefully that and the title will lead to a little more attention for a very important topic. Discussion Topic HERE.
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