From: Tyagi@HouseOfKaos.Abyss.com
Subject: a.m Tyagi Magical Names
Lines: 126
Date: Fri, 25 Feb 94 21:51:08 PST
X-Origin: The Portal System (TM)

From: Tyagi Nagasiva
To: Alt.magick
Date: 93!02.04
Re: Magical Names, Mine

Names are one of my favorite subjects.  I think that a name is our
social 'manifestation' and that our ability to not only choose our
name but to change it at will is indicative of our power in the
social group in which we find ourselves.

In totalitarian dictatorships (cases of extreme individual powerlessness)
people are essentially numbers, some requiring it be tattoed into permanent
association (note the 'Social Security Number'). ;>

In most cultures changing one's name is an important and powerful
working of identity-shaping, sometimes encouraged and/or required
by societal mores (e.g. until recently the name-change required of
women who were wedded).

When a person decides to change their name they take a hand in
shaping how their friends and family see them, psychologically,
and begin a new sound/word/number with which they associate.

In many religious traditions, initiation involves accepting 
a new name.  This expresses the renewal of one's inspiration (baptism)
and the change of one's lifestyle/direction (repentance).  Often one's 
new way of life involves a change in social groups, and this allows
us to forge a completely new image of ourselves.


In my tantric monastic path I changed my name to 'Tyagi Nagasiva'
when I was initiated.  This name was given to me by Kali-Ma, to whom I
dedicated myself.  'Tyagi' means, roughly, 'monk' or 'one who dedicates
all to the divine' or even 'one who sacrifices/renounces (all)'.
Nagasiva is a tribute to Nagarjuna, who founded the Madhyamika (Middle
Way school) of Buddhism.  

Nagarjuna may be translated 'Arjuna of the nagas', and it is said that
he was given his famous teachings by water dragons.  In this way,
Nagasiva means 'S(h)iva of the nagas'.  While I understand that Shiva
is the consort to Kali and the god of monks, His exact relation to water
dragons (aside from a potential comparison to fire dragons/kundalini)
remains a mystery to me.


My middle name is more a moniker for Usenet than any else, and changes from
time to time (so far from Mordred to Morgoth).  Mordred was the famous
foil of Arthurian tales, and my study of this character led me to think
that he was a sort of underlying hero for individual rights (often seen
as 'evil' by the organized establishment).  Morgoth is the wonderful
antagonist in Tolkien's _The Silmarillion_, who was made wrong for
following a path which was discordant to that of the prevailing
orthodoxy.


In the hermetic tradition to which I belong (OTO) my name is
'Frater Nigris', which means 'Black Brother'.  As OTO associates itself
so heavily with Aleister Crowley, I found it important to voice my own
objection to some of his extremities by taking a name with which he 
apparently associated many 'wrong practices'.  As such, it is a heretical 
name within an unorthodox organization and serves my rather anarchic ways.

I'm beginning to find that all the 'wrong paths' of which Crowley spoke
comprise in themself a rather unique and effective formula.  Perhaps he
intended this.  I cannot be sure.
 

Many Westerners have wonderful names.  It seems sad that
we are seldom encouraged to explore the languages from which they
derive nor come to understand their meaning.  This lack of emphasis
filters down to parents whose choice of names for their children
becomes more a matter of chance than intent.  Serious thought
applied to selecting a name for one's child, no matter what the
name chosen, may result in an orientation, a sort of contexting
which engages our deep, mythic mind in our everyday lives.

I encourage everyone to take up a serious study of the root and meanings
of their name.  It is a meditation upon oneself which may have incredibly 
transformative effects.


I think that powerful magical names come from an undeniable welling-up
of deep thoughts/feelings.  This is one of the more important meanings 
for the term 'Logos' or 'Word'.  That which arises from deep inside and 
comes to full expression in all realms is the Great Work.


What about 'true names'?

Names shape our images of the things to which they are applied.
When we apply them to ourselves, this can change our self-image.

'True' seems to require a referent.  What is true to me may not be
true to you.  If there is such a thing as a 'true name', and this is
the case particularly for the individual who finds it, then is it
possible for a true name to change, for one true name to be applicable
in one moment and later for a different one to apply?  Can they vary,
alternate, cycle, coincide?  I like the idea of true names, but feel
that the concept is seldom explored in any depth.

It is a 'spell'.  Invoking certain states of consciousness
(like that clarity of mind used to communicate effectively via Usenet)
is one way to describe 'spell-casting'.  It is particularly humorous and
meaningful that in order to write well often one must also spell well. ;>


Choosing names:

Who does the choosing?  When is this
choice really made?  Are names simply byproducts, like packaging in
grocery stores?  Are they reflections of some vast countenance, peering
through momentarily as we see ourselves in a flash of insight?

We can create and destroy things, shape and hold them, using their names.
When we come to discover our OWN name(s), then this gives us very important
abilities to influence our own experience.

While a name has the significance and influence we give it, in and of itself it
only has sonic power, and even these associations arise within a culture 
which values identities.  The meaning of the name and how it is used are 
also defined by its context.  This is why I think that names have SOCIAL
power and to the extent that we are social (as is anyone raised by people
with a language), so we give names power.

Tyagi NagaSiva
Tyagi@HouseofkAOS.Abyss.com