My birth name is Kristy. I was named after the actress Kristy McNichol. I also learned
recently that my name was 'Tinkerbell' for about a week and a half after
I was born. Since I was early, my mom wasn't quite prepared to decide on
a a birth name and she had to have something to call me by, so Tinkerbell
stuck! About a month ago I cut off my long curly locks into a very short
cut and I've readopted the name Tinkerbell, unfortunatly it's catching!
It is common for many Wiccans to choose a magickal name. Mine, as you likely know, is Guinevere Aislyn Aurora and I'll tell you a little about it here...
"Many Pagans, especially Wiccans, choose a special name called a magickal name which, in essence, is a name for the magickal part of themselves.
As Pagans, many of us have come to learn the power of the magickal name. It is more than a "cool" name, it is a very powerful magickal tool. As
with any power, knowledge is the beginning of mastery of that power. When you understand where our names came from, what they mean, how they
evolved, and how different cultures look at them, you will have a deeper appreciation of names as tools of magickal tranformation. When the
church captured our naming practices they stole something akin to our very souls, which was their intent. Now it's time to take the practice
back!"
~Phoenix McFarland: The Complete Book of Magickal Names~
I haven't finalized my magickal name. Since one's magickal name can be a very powerful tool, I must be sure that my name is right for me. Until
then, Guinevere Aislyn Aurora is the magickal name that I use and am referred to within the Pagan and Internet realm.
~*Guinevere*~
'Guinevere' has been my part of my magickal name for a very long time. In the latter part of my teen years, I began to understand the world in a
very different way than many other people. It was not until two years ago that I was able to give my beliefs a name and that I would learn to call
myself a Witch. I have always had a passion for medieval and reniassance history. I love Shakespere and the poetry of authors such as Tennyson,
who wrote the Lady of Shallott, and I love artists such as John William Waterhouse, who painted the characters from numerous poems and
Shakesperian plays. I enjoy Waterhouse's work, though, not just because he paints the characters from the plays and the poems that I love, but
because his paintings are so vivid with colour, drama, and life. When the Camelot legends became a part of my love, I connected with the
character Lady Guinevere Leodegranz. Her father is known as King Leodegranz, in some legends, and he owned the kingdom often known as Leoness
(or Lyoness as it may be known and I have called it). As you may have figured out, this is where the name of my webrealm comes from. The name 'Guinevere' is Gaelic or Celtic and, as I have mentioned, is familiar to most through
liturature and history as the legendary Lady Guinevere (Gwenhywfar) from the Camelot and Avalon Legends. 'Guinevere' means 'white or fair lady'
and knowing her character as one might through the legends, it is understandable where the meaning came from.
There were many reasons why 'Guinevere' remains to be my magickal name. In the times when I used to BBS as a teenager, it was a symbol of the
things that I had passion for and the things that I had begun to believe in. Today, my name has become a much more powerful symbol than before. Though I still love
medieval and renissance history and all the lore and legend that follows along with it, the name 'Guinevere' has adopted a different meaning to
me. It has become that part of myself that helped bring me closer towards my new and powerful spirituality. Since I am individual and I
contain my own and unique power, I do not define myself by the bad, nor the good, things one might associate with the character from the legends
of King Arthur. I think that Lady Guinevere would have become a wonderful and beautiful Witch had her fate rested there. Whether her story is true or not, the legends have ispired me and they sparked my passion to learn much more. They brought me closer to the things that I believe in today,
and that is what makes my name and my spirit so powerful....
~*Aislyn*~
Aisling~(ASH-ling): from the irish meaning "vision, dream"
Aislinn~(AYZ-lyn): gaelic meaning "inspiration"
Since I never felt complete with the name 'Guinevere' and I wanted to make my name a little more unique, I added 'Aislyn' to my magickal name.
'Aislyn' is also an Irish/Celtic name. I chose my name to be Irish because 'Guinevere' is Irish and also because my ancient ancestors are Irish Celts.
In gaelic "Aislyn" means 'inspiration' and in irish it means 'vision or dream' (Though for me it's difficult to separate the cultures and languages of the Irish and the Celts. Gaelic, Irish, Celtic, etc, it's all the same thing to me!). Since I have been named throughout my life as a dreamer, an imaginary, a mystic, a romantic, and a poet, I felt
that the name 'Aislyn' appropriatly defined the essence of my spirit and my soul.
I have found that 'Aislyn' can be spelled and pronounced in many different ways. Everywhere I look it seems to be rooted in a different spelling or a different meaning. In some instances I have learned that 'Aislyn' means 'inspiration' and in other instances it means 'vison or dream', depending on what it's root name is listed as. Anyway, as Phoenix McFarland says in his Complete Book of Magickal Names, "when [we] understand where our names come from, what they mean, how they
evolved, and how different cultures look at them, [we] will have a deeper appreciation of names as tools of magickal tranformation." In the end, I chose to pronounce Aislyn as 'AYZ-lyn', and have finally decided that it's meaning, however the name might be spelled or pronounced, is important to me in all ways.
~*Aurora*~
Aurora~(a-ROAR-a): italian meaning "daybreak or dawn"
Recently I added the name 'Aurora' to my magickal name. I hope it is the last one that I add! My name is getting so long!! I id so out of inspiration, and I will tell you the story in a moment. About a month ago I took a small vacation with my sister and some friends. I had just had some really difficult stuff happen to me in my life, and I needed some time away from the people in my world and some time to spend by myself. I sought to take some time experiencing nature, so one weekend in February we went up to a friends cottage about 3 hours north of us. During that vacation and personal exploration I also sought to reconnect myself with the God and the Goddess, and to find them, somehow, in the world around me. One evening I was sitting and watching the sun set over the large expanse of frozen and snow covered lake infront of me. It was a beautiful site, and I was truely amazed to find such beauty in a place and in a season which I mistakenly presumed was so lifeless. I realized I was mistaken, because only moments later something special happened to me to make me rethink my thoughts. Just as I saw the sun set beyond the trees on the other side of the lake I thought about what that meant to me. About it's symbolism in my religion, and in others, and my mind began to wander. As I walked towards the lake, and stepped beyond the front of the cottage and past the veranda I listened to the sound of my boots crunching the snow beneath my feet and the sound of the wind as it whistled through the trees on each side of me. I looked towards the edge of the forest, just for a moment, and about 10 feet away from me I spotted a dear. She was beautiful, and when she heard me and caught glimpse of me, I watched her turn and run off into the distance. In that next minute the sun crept behind the trees, it's light became dimmer, and the breeze seemed cooler. But inside me, the warmth of that experience still remained, and so I took it with me and slept well that night. A few weeks later, I discovered the name Aurora, someone had mentioned it, or I had heard it on television, and I thought it was beautiful..something I would love to have as my own. When I looked up the name to see what it meant, it's meaning spoke to me almost immediately, and it took my heart away....
So, that is the short version of how I found the name 'Aurora'....so now I call myself, Guinevere Aislyn Aurora....
When possible, I have given credit
to the copyright owners of any art, web graphics, poetry, or other information
seen on my pages. If you recognize something of yours that I haven't given
you credit for, please tell me, you deserve the credit for it.
I have created my pages so that they can be viewed at
their greatest potential in both Netscape and Internet Explorer.
