Naming an entity can be one of the most difficult things to
do for some magi. Some, unnecessarily, agonize over what
type of name would give justice to their creation. Others are
afraid that they are not creative enough to come up with an
original name. Still, others fear that the name that they pick
will conflict with preexisting entities.
For most, however, naming an entity is just as easy
as breathing. There really is no reason why you should feel
any differently about the subject. There are many different
formulas and methods that you can employ to help you
come up with a name that suits your entity.
One of the easiest ways of naming an entity is to derive
its name from the statement of intent. This is done by first
taking the statement of intent, “To influence and attract fine
art purchasers that are able to and that will purchase my
sculpture for the price that I set,” for example, and removing
all of the unneeded words like “a,” “the,” “and,” “that,” “of,”
etc. Ideally you should have around three to nine words left,
for example “influence attract fine art purchasers able will
purchase the sculpture price I set.” As you can see from the
example, the “three to nine words left” rule of thumb will
not be valid in every case.
Next, you will take the first letter of the remaining
words, and combine those letters together to form the entity’s
name. So in our example, we would have “iafarawpmspis.”
As you can see, this name is very unintelligible and not
easily pronounceable. In this case, we will further reduce the
name down by removing all of the repeated letters. When
we do this, we come up with “iafrwpms.”
The result is somewhat more manageable, but lacking
some vowels, it is still difficult to work with. In such cases,
we will want to add vowels that will allow for us to create a
name that is pronounceable. Choosing the extra letters can
be done in many different fashions. One of the easiest is to
pick and choose the letters that you think will compliment
the name the best. Another way is to choose the letters that
have numerical symbolism that will bring the full name to
a number, via numerology, that resonates with the entity’s
task. For our example, we will take the numerology route,
which gives us “firiwaspim” with a numerology equivalent
of the number 6 (magnetic, sociable, artistic, etc.) using the
Pythagorean system of numerology. Now, this is a little
bit easier to read and say, but we are going to take it a bit
further and split the name into two. Doing that gives us
“Firi Waspim.”
Sometimes you may want to name the entity after
it’s function, like “buy a new car.” You may want to spell it
backward like “rac wen yub,” and combine them to form
the name of “Racwenyub.” The names ma y be long, or un –
pronounceable in the long-form. If this is the case, it is OK to
break the name up like “Racwen Yub,” or “Rac Yubwen.”
The reason for spelling the words backward is to free
your mind of the name’s meaning and also to give the feeling
of “antiquated” names of spirits of old often found in
spell books and such—this is not necessary, it is merely a
point of personal taste. Some magi feel that working with
entities with “odd” names seem to help them in focusing
on the magickal working at hand, while others feel that it
hinders them. Use what feels and works best for you.
What ever type of naming convention you use, it is
a good idea to try, if possible, to somehow incorporate the
entity’s task into the name. This will serve to further the
entity’s connection to the desired task and will build power
in the use of the entity.
One thing that should be mentioned here, is that you
should be wary of any negative feelings that you get from
a name, whether you constructed the name from scratch or
simply chose describing words. If the name feels negative to
you, or has negative descriptive words, it may hinder your
magickal workings. This is not to say if you are constructing
an entity to curse someone or thing that it should not
sound negative in general, rather the name should not feel
negative to you—the one working with it. If it does feel
negative to you, in other words, you don’t like the name
or it leaves a bad feeling when saying or working with it,
then you should not use it. For if you do, you may begin
to resent your entity, and your magickal -working may not
manifest in the manner in which you had hoped. Always
t r y to name your entity with a name that you like and that
feels good to you when you work with it.
Of course, you do not have to name your entity at
all. Some very successful entities have never been named.
Naming them, however, affords them personality. Since we,
as humans, tend to have an easier time relating to things
that have names.
Names also allow us to have control over that which
is named. In some magickal traditions, names are symbolic
of the thing that is named. Because of this, by naming a
thing—or entity in this case—you can guide it to do your
wishes. That is an important thing to keep in mind when
creating your entity—after all, you are creating it to serve
you and your wishes.
