Beginnings and Hope

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Blessed Imbolc, everybody!

Imbolc (also known as Oimelc or Ouimelko) is based on an Irish Celtic holiday. Some see this day as the beginning of spring. Others see it as the height of winter. Some see it as a festival of lights, others as a festival of water. Imbolc either means "ewe's milk" or "of the belly," and either way it's clear that this holiday has something to do with the beginning of life. In Ireland, this would be the time in which sheep gave birth to lambs. In Wicca, the Horned God that was born on Yuletide is now a child who's nursing.

Considering that another name for this holiday is Brigid's Day (Saint Brigid's Day to you Catholics out there), it should be no surprise that the main deity for this holiday is definitely Brigid. Brigid (also called Bridget or Bride) is the Irish goddess of poetry, arts, crafts, medicine, livestock, serpents, sacred wells, and sacred flames. She has two sisters who are also named Brigid, which makes her a triple goddess. In some myths, Brigid seizes control of the seasons from Callieach, the goddess of winter, which is how she is associated with the early stirrings of spring. As for the gods, they're not really mentioned on this holiday. Males can't make milk, after all. Still, it wouldn't hurt to pay tribute to Brigid's father, the Daghdha.

Imbolc is probably the most subdued of the Wiccan holidays. It tends to be celebrated in a very small and private way. Because this day is so personal to many modern Pagans there's a lot of variance in the traditions:

• Imbolc isn't as big of a feasting holiday as other Wiccan festivals, but certain foods are considered more appropriate for a traditional celebratory meal. Milk, yogurt, cheese, eggs, potatoes, blackberries, seeds, bread, muffins, biscuits, and leafy greens are all suitable. Irish recipes are particularly popular.
• A popular arts and crafts project that modern Pagans enjoy is making Brigid's cross. It's a small cross woven with reeds or grasses. The image I used for this post depicts it. Straw dolls of Brigid are also common.
• Rituals preformed on this day traditionally have a lot to do with letting go of the old and embarking on the new. This is a particularly good time to start creative projects.
• A lot of modern Pagans spend the days leading up to this holiday cleaning up and purifying their houses or culling some of their possessions. That might not sound very fun, but modern Pagans believe that holding on to clutter and unnecessary stuff stagnates energy. Imbolc is all about letting go of the old and preparing for the new, literally as well as spiritually.
• Because of the strong Irish element, some Pagans celebrate Imbolc as a substitution for Saint Patrick's Day.
• Hey Christians! For once, we stole something from you! Candlemas is often thought of as a Christianization of Imbolc. But Candlemas was first celebrated in 4th century Greece while Imbolc was celebrated exclusively in Ireland, so that's not possible (I'm not saying that Candlemas isn't based in some Pagan traditions, I'm just saying that it's not based on Imbolc). Anyway, the particular tradition we took from Candlemas was the making and blessing of candles. Decorating with lots of lit candles is common for Imbolc. It fits in nicely with Brigid being a fire goddess and also with the growing energy of the sun.
• Brigid is also the goddess of sacred wells, so if possible it's good to visit a well, river, or stream. If the water's clean, that can be a good place to practice purifying rituals.
• Of course I can't mention this holiday without also talking about Groundhog Day. It's possible that the tradition has Pagan origins, but I have a sneaky suspicion that it's more of a general agricultural thing than a spiritual thing. "Are the animals out of hibernation yet? Yes? Great! We can start planting now."

Enough of that, on with the names:

Mythical beings associated with the season:

Brigid (Irish Celtic)

Daghdha (Irish Celtic)

Hestia (Greek)

Vestia (Roman)

Bastet (Egyptian)

Inanna (Sumerian)

Artemis (Greek)

Diana (Roman)

Athena (Greek)

Minerva (Roman)

Other associations:

Winter

Rowan

Candle

Snowdrop

Snow

Angelica

Basil

Poet

Willow

Blackberry

Galatea ("white as milk")

Madrigal ("simple song," but it came from a word meaning "womb")

Cross

Tansy

Violet

Virgil

Ailbhe ("white")

Una ("lamb")

Swan

Lavender

Birch

Phoenix

Heather

Robin

Trinity

Clover

Serpentine

Metrodora ("gift of the mother")

Emese ("mother")

Harper

Draco

Bramble

Willow

Gwen ("white, fair, blessed")

Columban ("white dove")

Finn ("white")

Fabrice ("craftsman")

Fabrizio

Howard ("ewe herder")

Rachel ("ewe")

Ovid ("sheep")

Sprout

Phoebe ("bright, pure")

Phoebus

Aidan ("fire")

Kiyoshi ("pure")

Glenda ("good and pure")

Vimala ("clean, pure, spotless")

Zacchaeus ("pure")

Amethyst

Garnet

Ruby

Onyx

Turquoise

Fun combo time:

Rowan Madrigal

Howard Fabrice

Vestia Swan

Aidan Cross

Ovid Bramble

Name Magpie: Name Love in Wintertime

I can hardly believe that it's almost February. I'm still trying to plan for things to come in this new year, which I'm sure I will tell you about later. In the meantime, these are the new names that caught my eye:

Lumina. How did I miss this one? It's Latin for "brilliant light." Luminosa is the Spanish form, which is also quite lovely.

Koyal. I had seen this word before as the title of a Bollywood-ish song, but I wasn't aware that it was a given name. According to this website it's Hindi for "cuckoo."

Narayan. Like Rime, this is a name that I previously only knew through the Myst franchise. Then I found that it's what this couple named their son. It's a Sanskrit name meaning "the essence of all" or "the path of man" or "resting place for all living entities." Whatever it means, it's very sacred.

Vasilique. I forget where I saw this, but it was a comment on a different blog written by someone with this name. I believe it's a respelling of the Greek name Vasiliki, meaning "royal." According to the commenter, it has heavy Christian overtones.

Cleodie. Yet another variant of Cleo from British Baby Names.

Cynewulf. Thank Appellation Mountain for this one. It's an Anglo Saxon name meaning "royal wolf."

Bellamor. If you like Bellamy, then you'll probably like Bellamor. I'm assuming that it means "beautiful love" (belle + amor) the same way that Bellamy means "beautiful friend" (belle + ami). And yes, I know that amor is Latin and ami is French, but I can't find any other explanation and it seems like a solid hypothesis.

Aquarius the Water-Bearer

"Aquarius IX" by Endre Bartos

 

"He that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils; for time is the greatest innovator."

--Francis Bacon, philosopher, statesman, scientist, and Aquarius

Many modern Pagans prefer to pick names based on astrological signs. Yes, I know I just finished doing a series of posts very similar to this on the old blog, but this time I'm not limiting myself to thirteen names. Llewellyn's Complete Book of Names by K. M. Sheard is an excellent resource for finding names to go with specific astrological signs, so if you want even more options than the ones I list here go find that book.

Aquarius lasts from approximately January 20 to February 18, depending on the year. It is no coincidence that the 1960's are associated with the "Age of Aquarius." This sign is all about advancement and progress. People born under this sign like to defy social convention and throw out old ways of thinking and living. They tend to be "quirky" and "different." This being an air sign, Aquarians are very intellectual, witty, and curious. They're very honest and will always be very open with everyone they meet. Idealism runs strong with these people, and they value equality. Although some tend to be aloof and standoffish, Aquarians are generally well liked by everyone they meet.

Water bearer names:

Coventina
Chalice
Wells
Ishtar
Grotto
Spring (as in a spring of water)
Bath
Lourdes
Nerthus
Fontus
Juturna
Saraswati ("possessing water")

Air names:

Anemone
Zephyr
Notus
Boreas
Sirocco
Breeze
Feather
Gossamer
Bird
Kestrel
Kite
Dove
Whisper
Aria
Vayu
Caraway
Vox ("voice")

Time names:

January
Janus
February
Februa
Winter

Yellow and purple names:

Saffron
Amber
Goldenrod
Lemon
Yellow
Xanthe
Blaine
Flavia
Lavender
Amethyst
Lilac
Iolanthe
Violet
Plum

Attribute names:

Amity ("friendly, pleasant")
Nova ("new")
Neo
Novella
Novello
Dreamer
Prosper
Sage ("wise")
Fortuna ("fortunate, lucky")
Bellamy ("beautiful friend")
Bonamy ("good friend")
Pax ("peace")
Paz
Salem ("peace")
Liberty
Placido ("placid")
Placida
Enoch ("dedicated")
Saoirse ("freedom")
Justice
Justin
Eurydice ("wide justice")
Thrift
Cosima ("order, decency")
Cosimo
Quiterie ("peaceful, calm")

Other ideas:

Waverly
Pandora
Hallow
Garnet
Charles
Charlotte
Olivia
Olive
Tycho
Lysander
Lysandra
Wolf
Cleopatra
Francis
Saturn
Wendy
Shiloh
Delphine
Clover
Maple
Raphael
Raphaella
Sappho
Noah
Fabrice
Parvati
Onyx
Lennox
Aloysius
Ulysses
Poe
Silver

A Reminder of Comment Etiquette

I know this isn't pleasant or fun, but I need to lay down the law my least favorite thing about blogging so I don't have to talk about it again: comment moderation. This turned out to be a big problem with the original blog near the end. To be fair, most of the comments I'm talking about weren't mean, just spammy. But it was draining and not fun to deal with all the same. Which is why on this blog I now screen all the comments before they're published.

Let's get one thing out of the way first: if I choose not to post a comment that doesn't mean that I'm "censoring" the commenter. I'm ignoring him. There's a difference. It might hurt your feelings (which is not my intent), but that is my right.

Now the reason why I delete a comment is not because I don't want to hear views that challenge mine. I have never deleted a comment because I disagreed with what they wrote. Everyone is allowed to state an opinion so long as they are nice about it. I usually wind up deleting comments if a) they're not relevant to the original post or b) the language comes across as antagonistic. So take note on those two points.

In short, my dear readers, you are not entitled to be heard and agreed with by everyone. That's life. So keep comments on topic and be kind. It's not that hard. If you don't pay attention to the way that you comment, then you're going to slowly kill a blog you love.

Name Profile: Janus

Janus is the god that gave us the name for the month of January. Although according to documents from the Roman time period, Juno was actually the main deity for this month. So it might actually be named after Juno. But for the purposes of this post we are assuming that January comes from Janus. Juno already has her own month, okay?

Janus is the Roman god of doors, gateways, passageways, and (if we're thinking more metaphorically here) beginnings and transitions. His name means "covered passage" in Latin. He is usually portrayed with a face on the back of his head, which represents his ability to see both the future and the past. There is no Greek equivalent to Janus, although he might be related to an earlier Italian oak god named Dianus. Regardless, he is distinctly Roman.

Janus was a very important god in his day. There were rituals preformed in his honor at the beginning of each year, each month, and each day. The Romans believed that the way in which a person began a new project was critical to it's success, which seems like good common sense to me. Naturally, they wanted all of the divine help they could get.

Janus might seem like a very unusual name, but if you look through history you can see many instances of usage. The variant Januarius was a given name during the late Roman period and is the name of several saints. There is also an identical surname Janus which according to Llewellyn's Complete Book of Names comes from John. This is why there are many instances of Janus used as an alternative name for John (King John II of Cyprus was also known as Janus).

But as far as recent history goes Janus is definitely an uncommon name. I could see it having a chance. It fits in nicely with the Atticus' and the Atlas' and all the other lovely -us boys names from mythology that are becoming fashionable at the moment. There's just one practical problem with this name: it sounds like Janice. One could see how that could cause some confusion. Overall, it seems like January is getting more attention as a prospective name.

Some modern Pagans have a reluctance to using names of deities. But Janus could be a meaningful name given during a time of transition. A new year definitely qualifies.

Some Combos:

Janus Palmer

Janus Yule

Janus Wilder

Related Names:

January

Januarius

Ianos

John

A Fond Farewell

I was greatly stunned and saddened to hear of the passing of Kay M. Sheard. She ran the blog Nook of Names and wrote the amazing Llewellyn's Complete Book of Names that I use for reference in my astrology posts. She used to post regularly in the old incarnation of this blog and her insights were always invaluable. I wish peace for her family and friends. May she be embraced in the arms of her chosen gods.

The Best Books I Read in 2014



Cover design is copyright Jim Tierney

 

What is the New Year about? Well, if you're anything like me, it's about promising to read X number of books before the year is out. Last year my goal was 75. I made it to 67. That's a very good number, but it is not the number. I try to give myself some credit. Many people don't even read half that much in this country.

Out of all those books, these are the ones I believe are the best:

Hogfather by Terry Pratchett
The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly by Sun-Mi Hwang
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
The Creative Habit: Learn it and Use it for Life by Twyla Tharp
Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
The First True Lie by Marina Mander
Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Hopeless Savages by Jen Van Meter
Kabuki: Metamorphosis by David Mack
True Grit by Charles Portis
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed
The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter

I have a sneaky suspicion that all name enthusiasts are also book nerds. Here are a few inspiring monikers from the selection up top:

Terry

Susan

Teatime

Albert

Violet

Sun

Sprout

Ruth

Nao

Twyla

Herman

Siddhartha

Marina

Luca

Katherine

Abdul

Zehrunisa

Kehkashan

Asha

Manju

Sunil

Sunita

Fatima

John

Green

Hazel

Augustus

Isaac

Rat Bastard Hopeless-Savage

Arsenal Fierce Hopeless-Savage

Twitch Strummer Hopeless-Savage

Skank Zero Hopeless-Savage

Ginger

David

Mack

Kabuki

Charles

Rooster

Mattie

Markus

Liesel

Rudy

Max

Witi

Kahu

Paikea

Koro

Flowers

Ransom

Alma

Peregrine

Jacob

Emma

Millard

Bronwyn

Claire

Abraham

Victor

Cheryl

Angela

Carter

Alice

I'm going to try for 75 books this year too. Wish me luck!