Taking Names

There is an old teaching that when we name something, we have power over it. Words have power. Speaking has power.

The entire time the ghost had no name, it had power over the inhabitants of the building. Once it's name was spoken, something else started to take shape, a personality, a picture of this lost person who was afraid and did not want to move. When its name was spoken, it paid attention. Eventually through the power of words, the spoken word, it's power dissipated, its spell was broken, and a little while later it was gone. It followed the only path out of this place, this reality.

When we name our fears, they no longer have a power over us.

The other side of this axiom is that we should never speak an invocation without knowing what we are invoking. When we know the name of who we summon, we know what we have to deal with. Words have a resonance and that which is summoned and invoked know the sound and feel of that resonance.

We have all experienced that first hand, haven't we? How many people have changed their names as a part of some training, spiritual, religious or otherwise?

Even in the most mundane aspects, how many of us use a softer, warmer, shortened version of our names because it is friendlier and more intimate than the full length sound of our legal name? How many people have changed their name simply because they did not like the sound and feel of the name they were given, so they took another one they like better?

How many actors, artists, writers, musicians and entertainers have taken another name that fits their onstage persona? Why? Because the name summons the spirit of that entity, the star, the celebrity. Fame creates its own aura.

When we take a name we grow into it, for better or for worse. Taking names is a powerful act, an act of transformation. Are you more aware of that now?

Taking names is the act of a creator. Taking names is our call to action. Taking names is a magical invocation of who we are becoming. Taking names is a magic not to be taken lightly.

When an animal accepts a name from us it becomes domesticated. When we accept a name from someone else we become subordinated. When we take our own names, we take our power back.