Archive:
http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:162980
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>> My craft name is "try" which, as odd as it might sound
>> came to me by
>> way of the song... "and they've taken almost all that
>> I've got, but if
>> you want I'll _try_ to love again." When I was
>> considering a craft
>> name I considered something more mainstream (for a craft
>> name) but
>> none of the more "traditional" sounding names felt to me
>> like they fit
>> my skin...
> I'm Try.
> Try what?
> That's my name. Try.
> Oh, right then. I'm the Doctor.
> Doctor Who?
> Exactly.
I was the Doctor once upon a time... :) Actually when I was on the old
dialup BBS in Dallas I used to have the handle Merlin... was actually
reasonably well known by that name amongst the BBS crowd in Dallas.
And I went to the sci-fi conventions there and I dressed horribly
outlandishly for such (as one would expect from the character,
although not patterned after any of the incarnations), and I was the
co-sysop of a BBS called the Space-Time VorTeX of which the sysop's
handle was "the Doctor" (and of course, with an ANSI-art animation of
the TARDIS on the log-on screen for the BBS). Later they aired an
episode of the show with the 7th actor (don't remember his name) in
which it was revealed that the Arthurian legends did have a source and
that Merlin had in fact been one of the incarnations of the Doctor.
But that didn't happen until long after I'd been using the handle
Merlin and had been the co-sysop on the Space-Time VorTeX.
> --Ben
> PS: Craft name? Define, please.
A craft name is a common affectation in neo-pagan (particularly
wiccan) circles. It's similar to the descriptive names given to indian
children, although it's self-selected. I think some indian tribes
did/do traditionally have their members choose a name as part of their
rites of adulthood (I wish our culture had some widespread and
reasonable rites of adulthood -- as opposed to the 3 we have: getting
your drivers license, getting drunk (smoking for some) and having
uneducated sex with another teenager in the back of a car -- body-art
would be okay but is still not mainstream enough to be a widespread
cultural substitute). I could be wrong (about indian tribes having
self-chosen names), I haven't done a lot of research on the subject,
it's just what I've heard.
In neo-pagan circles they're typically referred to either as a "craft
name" or a "magikal name" (note the tragically popular spelling of
"magikal")... I prefer "craft" (as in "witchcraft") for stylistic
reasons. The term "magical name" (even when spelled with the k) just
sounds too much like a Disneyism to me... "Oh goodness no, deary, that
won't do at all... You can't possibly go to the ball without a magical
name."
At least for myself (and I suspect for others) it's an aid in
establishing identity in a world in which personal identity seems to
be eroding (or perhaps eroded). The same is often true of body-art,
which in some cases also has the advantage of including "tribal
energy" of which I'd love to get/have more. (the energy, not the body
art -- I'd like both actually, but I was talking about the energy in
this context. :)
Unfortunately I'm currently tied to a geographic area where what
little tribal energy I had (before we left to go back to Dallas for a
year) has eroded since we left. There was a really great Unitarian
fellowship in town here, just not far from where we live, and there
was a poly community meeting at their building... Then we left and
some materialistic, self-centered pagan wanna-be's took over the
fellowship (which likely would have happened if we'd never left) and
the poly group has dwindled to nothingness -- several regulars left
and the ones who remained are too busy to attend regularly, so they're
not meeting "until further notice".
All of which really blows... Both the fellowship and the poly group
were my _only_ social outlets in town... :-( I even tried to find a
HeroClix group here because that was a social outlet for me when we
were in Dallas but apparently nobody over the age of 13 really plays
here. We didn't get tied to a really great UU church/fellowship in
Dallas (there was a mostly pagan UU church not too far away but it
wasn't as good a fit for us and one of the regulars kind of sleezed
Tiff up), but I had a number of individual friends I visited with
frequently -- I don't have that here either.
Anyway... sorry for the venting...