Grimoire for the Apprentice Wizard

10 Grimoire for the Apprentice Wizard

knowing that your choice to be a Wizard is a private

and personal one. It’s one with which not everyone is

going to be comfortable, and sometimes no matter

how excited you may be, it’s best to keep mentions

about that part of your life for appropriate times and

places.

If the worst thing happens and your parents say

“no” to this book and to your magickal interests, know

that being a Wizard begins in your mind, heart, and

spirit. No one can change what you are. They might

delay your studies a bit, but that’s all. In your home,

your parents are still #1, and accepting their decision

with maturity will usually impress them. Try revisit-

ing the idea in six months or a year. Even Rome wasn’t

built in a day, and allaying parental misgivings can

take time, but persistence can pay off.

But if you can keep your grades up at school (I

know you’re smart!), and you can manage to stay out

of too much trouble (well, that may be a bit harder, of

course), hopefully your folks will let you hang out

with your magickal friends. You’ll have this book,

and they’ll probably have some others, and these

books will give you all kinds of ideas for things to do

together.

Lesson 4: Your Magickal Names

As a Wizard, you will acquire several names at dif-

ferent phases of your life. Your first name is the one

your parents gave you when you were born. If you

were born into a magickal family, it may even have

been given to you in a special naming ceremony, or

seining (baby blessing). This is your birth-name, and

the one by which your parents and close family will

always know you. In all tribal societies, and in the

magickal community, a second name is given at the

first Rite of Passage, from childhood into adolescence

(traditionally on or between your 11th and 13th birth-

days). There are many variations of such rites, but

they commonly include an ordeal, or challenge.

On the day the boy was thirteen years old, the

Wizard Ogion returned to the village, and the

ceremony of Passage was held. The Witch took

from the boy the name his mother had given him

as a baby. Nameless and naked he walked into

the cold springs of the river Ar where it rises

among rocks under the high cliffs. He crossed to

the far bank, shuddering with cold but walking

slow and erect as he should through that icy, liv-

ing water. As he came to the bank Ogion, wait-

ing, reached out his hand and clasping the boy’s

arm whispered to him his true name.

Thus was he given his name by one very wise

in the uses of power.

— Ursula LeGuin (A Wizard of Earthsea, p. 14)

The name you receive upon this Rite of Passage

is your first magickal name, or, as it is sometimes

called, your circle name. It is the name by which you

will be known among other magickal folk, but not

among Mundanes. If it is given to you ritually by a

mage, it may also be your soul-name or true name.

Usually around the same time you will also acquire a

use-name, or nickname, by which you will be known

to your friends. Later, as you go forward through life

on a magickal path, you will acquire other names

among other circles of people. If you receive Initia-

tion into various magickal Orders, Circles, or Tradi-

tions, you may be given a new circle name each time,

to be used only among those people. Since most people

in the magickal community also move in the mun-

dane world (going to school, having jobs, etc.), many

have a common magickal use-name that serves them

in both communities—such as Star, Dragon, or Wolf.

The magickal name chosen by members of the

original Order of the Golden Dawn was often just their

family motto. Today, however, most magickal people

pick a name that is deeply meaningful to them per-

sonally, and to their spiritual direction. The search to

find such a name can be time-consuming, involving,

and powerful to those who do it.

Until you actually undergo a Rite of Passage or

magickal Initiation, you cannot receive a true magickal

name from me or anyone else. Later on, I will offer

you a Quest to find a True Name for yourself. This

will be a deep journey of discovery into your own

essential identity and destiny, and may take awhile to

fulfill. But right now, at this beginning of your ap-

prenticeship, I recommend that you consider taking a

magickal use-name, with which you will personally

identify and be known by among your closest friends.

Quest: Choose Your

Magickal Use-Name

Many people in the magickal community choose use-

names based upon things of Nature. Especially popu-

lar are totems—that is, those animals with which they

feel the closest kinship. For many years (1979–94)

my use-name was Otter. In the Bestiaries in 6.I and

7.III of this Grimoire, you can find lists of both natu-

ral and magickal creatures, and their attributes. If you

feel a greater kinship with plants than with animals,

you might wish to take a green name, such as a tree,

herb, or flower. There are also minerals, places, sto-

ries, and so on that you can draw from. This chart

gives a few examples out of countless possibilities.

Colors: You can also add a color to any name—

like “Greywolf,” “Silverflame,” or “Whiteoak.” See

1.III.7: “The Colors of Magick” for color attributions.

Combining: Any of these names (or others you

may come up with) can be combined into one name,

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