What's your name and avatar's background?

[Ci Celli Ddu]

I just thought it would be nice to have a thread where members could explain their choice of name and avatar.

Name: I chose Ci Celli Ddu (Hound of the black grove) because it covers a lot of things. It's connected to Bryn Celli Ddu (Hill of the dark grove) which is a neolithic burial mound on my native Anglesey, so it links to a location, to ancestry, to language/identity, to the otherworld, and to the 'dark side' all in one. Okay I'm probably the only one here who can pronounce it (try "Key Keshley Thee"), but there you go (my real name's even harder to pronounce).

Avatar: I changed my avatar a few hours ago. It was a piece of Celtic knotwork of the Cwn Annwn (Hounds of Annwn -the Welsh Otherworld) which kind of tied in with the name, but I got bored with it. The present one is a Neanderthal pendant, resonating with my links to Stone Age Europe. My ancestors were the first to reach Western Europe (according to recent DNA studies of the Welsh, Irish and Basques) and would have coexisted with Neanderthals. Im also rhesus negative, a blood group considered to have arisen around the Pyrenees some 30,000 years ago, and there's an unproven theory that this bloodgroup is the result of cross-breeding between Cro Magnon Man and Neanderthals. Timing and geography coincide with this, but other than dating and locating the origins of the bloodline, no one has gone to the trouble of finding out why or how the blood group came into being. Other -shall we say "less credible"-theories are that we are Reptiloid Hybrids from the Draco caverns in Romania (heh?) or children of the nephilim (oi oi oi!).

[m1thr0s]

you obviously put a lot of thought into your nick Ci Celli Ddu and your new avatar looks great by the way...

I feel like my own nick is about due for an overhaul since I've been using it online for maybe 5 years or thereabouts. At the time I took it I was steeped in the mythology of Mithrais, more interested in its Persian origins than its later Roman. Mithrais has a range of significant connections for me as a Solar deity similar to Chaos or Aeon or Abrasax, even Amun, On and others, so that's on the one side. On the other is the whole story of how Mithrais rose from the ranks of lowly humans to finally outdistance the gods themselves, being the first person to have managed to climb right out of the universe itself. It is said that when he did this a great crack was formed in the "shell" that holds the universe intact. I was simply very struck by what an amazing story this really is, so it became a kind of inspiration for me and the use of binary 1 & 0 in the name is partly to distinguish it as separate from Mithrais but also to emphasize a particular kind of alchemy I am involved with which is similarly focused on breaking out of the cosmic "egg"...

Right now my avatar is also my "magickal lamp" as it were...signifying a powerful magickal formula in its own right and representative of a whole system of magick & alchemy that is lined up in back of it...

m1thr0s

[Kain]

The name I have has been originally assumed a bit more than 5 years ago, making that choice at the time mainly due to it's subtle phonetic resonance with me and it's connections to "Self-sufficiency" and adherance to the "Deity Within" in the western community mindframe due to it's various mythological ramiffications. I removed the "e" in the end and changed the initial letter to a "K" as that was the most appropriate and resonant spelling for me.

As for my avatar, it is actually a glyph displaying the principles of Dissolution and Manifestation, one of the major ascending-descending phenomena governing the properties of the Triangle. It shows how Duality arises from Unity (bringing about Manifestation) and how that same Duality, through the appliance of heat, resumes it's desire for ascent and Unity and re-ascends all the way to the original primordial point through the Twin Serpent form, it being the active form of Duality. It is both a map of a Universal phenomenon and of the Body itself in subtle anatomical terms. Much more can be said of course, as this is a most important alchemical phenomenon pertaining to Creation itself, although I think this "nutshell" description would give all here a better idea of the nature of the avatar.

Nice thread Ci Celli Ddu,

Kain

[feranaja]

It really is interesting to hear what people chose and why...love the magical connections in your name Ci Celli...

About nine years ago I was about to bring home my first Rhodesian Ridgeback puppy, a breed of dog I have since become deeply committed to, and I was looking around at various African names. I also have had a shrine to the Yoruba diety Osun for over 20 years now - sooo, I was looking actually for a breeder's name - something that would embody my love of dogs but in an African language. I was hoping for a Yoruba version of spiritdog but it also had to "work" phonetically, possess some beauty and grace in the word itself. The Yoruba word for dogs is "aja" and the word for love is feran, so I put them together (and dont think I havent been teased incessantly either, since my name means lovedog, lol). BUt I liked the delicate sound of the name and so when i started posting on various Internet groups I kept it.

I was just saying to another Af member recently, that fera sometimes feels more like my real name than my real name (Catherine) does.

Apparently there are no capital letters in Yoruba so feranaja is always lower case. It's pronounced more like "faihrran - ahjha", very soft, not like "fear - ah", as in frightened.

Now my avatars I change quite a bit, although now I've started putting small pics under my signature I may just leave my avatar. It's fun to be creative with these - I looked over my collection of past avatars and see a number of themes - Glastonbury, Artemis, dogs, Gnostic visions of Sophia and so on. the one I have now is from an Art print by Robert Place, the Tarot designer (Alchemical Tarot, Angel Tarot and others). Place also designs jewelery with greyhounds and I collect pieces of Celtic art and jewelery that feature dogs, this print is a woman holding an Italian greyhound, but just symbolizes for me the love and tenderness between human and canine.

you all have such fascinating and intricate avatar stories - mine is quite simple, just an expression of that which I hold most sacred...
fera

[Anibis]

When I started chatting online with other magicians, I took the handle Ibis71, where 71 was the NAEQ equivalent for Ibis. At a certain point, due to an operation, I needed to shed the handle of Ibis, and Isis56 became my new handle. THe fact that only one letter was changed was what made this attractive. Finally, at a certain point (the first OC Hack), I dropped the numbers altogether (Haven't really worked with NAEQ since) and conjoined Ibis and Isis. Sort of an alchemical marraige. The avatar is just a Logo I drew that I liked...
-Ibisis

[Amur]

Amur was a name that was given to me when I was thinking what I should name myself, a name which would also have some spiritual value. I did like tigers alot and to my astonishment there was also a leopard species called amur. What really blew the lid off was when I noticed that the Amur river in russia is also called the Black Dragon river. Due to life experiences, I familiarize more and more with a Black Dragon, probably because the piss-o-meter is going to it's limits in red :laugh:

Another finesse in the name is that backwards it's Ruma, which in finnish means ugly.

My avatar was found by googling and reminds me to keep a pinch of humour in things, even when hell freezes over.

[silentjohn]

silentjohn is my nickname

my avatar is Thor

[Naomi]

Naomi Chan is me

my avatar is me

hide in the open

Oh the pic is at The Dungeon on Ritual night, in the Summer of 2006. Also my maiden name is Kellerblock.

[Okazaki Castle]

well my name is a castle in japan:

http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/2886/castleexteriorxi7.jpg

it's where ieyasu went after hanzo hattori took him thru the ninja territory of iga and koga. 'twas his 'safe haven'. i wanted to get at ieyasu... but this lifetime the cheeeky fucker incarnated as my uncle. and i've got a principle about not attacking family. so on this forum i fiigured m1thr0s's shiled system was pretty ravenous because he said so himself and i confirmed such. thus i figured i'd let it do my refining and attacking for me on that stronghold in the past thereby also rearranging my this-life wider family circumstances and set-up. also gave me a handy way to attack the ieyasu set-up in pre-sekigahara japan thru m1thr0s's own form in that lifetime, who was daimyo.

the avatar is a bridge within okazaki castle. i used it to build a bridge across the void from my creation to this one fuelled by abrahadabra and m1thr0s's material. co-operation and mutual benefit in many ways like we did in the original thundergod game creation which is where i personally initially remember m1thr0s from (not sure if he does also tho...) then i plan to walk over that bridge in godform as per my long-time avatar on another forum:

http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/448/bridgebigfn5.jpg

i'm always doing multi-layered stuff like that... there's more to this one too incidentally...

all the best
oazaki.

[fr.novumorganum]

my name is my magickal and order motto as well
I selected it both to honor Bacon's text (and the work therein) and because of the various latin translations: a new world; a new life; "a machine for aiding the reason in establishing truth"; "a new machine for seeing the world".

The avatar is Dr. Franklin at his best and rather magickal looking---my second sig. is the caption for that painting.


"We must therefore completely resolve and seperate Nature, not by fire, certainly, but by the mind, which is a kind of divine fire" Sir Francis Bacon

[Ratatosk]

(as posted in my intro thread):
Ratatosk is the name of the squirrel that runs up and down Yggdrasil (the World tree), "carrying messages" (read: stirring shit up) between Niddhogg (the serpent gnawing at the roots), and Vidofnir (the eagle - some say rooster, some say hawk, I think Ratatosk would say that Niddhogg said "pigeon") sitting in the top branches.

The avatar was a photo of a red squirrel that I had been using for a while in various places and was starting to get bored with the plainness of it, so I dressed him in the "Secret Squirrel" hat.

[Radiant Star]

Ricci is a derivative of my real name; it is also my son's name.

It has links with the Jesuits, I learned a lot about St Ignatius and discernment from these people and still do the Examen in my own way regularly.

There are also links with other mathematicians and anyone that knows me well will know that this is one of the subjects I would have liked to have taken at university had I the skill and the time.

The current avatar is Anubis, shouldn't think that needs explaining really.

EDIT: Formerly Radiant Star and now again 'Rays' ; ) It just didn't work out for me lol

[hitman777]

Well, a hitman is someone who kills people for money.

My avatar, as of this writing, is Jason. He's a good servitor of mine, and I like his movies because he kills bad and/or annoying people.

[m1thr0s]

yeah...and he's got this annoying habit of reassembling himself on a subatomic level...lol

m1thr0s

[Kuroyagi]

Like m1thr0s I feel that a name change would be due- or lets say: ok, if anything came to mind. Kuroyagi means: Black Goat in Japanese, it has other connotations than in the western paradigm, too- eg a "cute" image. Also its a character form my personal pantheon- and as the Black Goat its also representing guys like Set, nordic Surtr or Darth Vader etc...basically its powerful/demonic- but right now I dont care about this desigantion anymore- its simply a name for me now, not much more.

[Little Billy]

I chose my name "Little Billy" because I go by Bill, and I am a friggin' monster of a hominid.

Think Little John, only named Bill.

My avatar is drawn from one of my One True Religions, The Church of the Subgenius, which is what I am, except when I'm not, and then I'm either a Discordian or something even worse. Like maybe a Jesuit. Or something. Or kill me.

[Ci Celli Ddu]

My avatar is drawn from one of my One True Religions, The Church of the Subgenius, which is what I am, except when I'm not,

I came across The Church of the Subgenius in 2003 or 4. It was a good laugh. :D

[Lucian]

I became Lucian in my dreams one night, and after that everyone in my dream world just started calling me by that name when I wasn't dreaming about mundane situations.

I like using this avatar because it's the closest I've come to my actual appearance without putting up my own pic. I like the expression. It's very... me.

[imagenerator]

I changed my avatar to a star I ploted in and around the Winter Solstice. Though it be simple, making that star carried me through some gut-wrenching thoughts in isolation. My old avatar was a Metatron's Cube figure but it looked all grainy, so I dedided to shine this way. And the name: I'm a figuring mage.

[Lucian]

My old avatar is now my profile pic. The new one is Sephiroth, chosen when I was feeling particularly misanthropic and diabolical. Now I just like looking at it. I enjoy the energy and its influences on my posts.

[fr.novumorganum]

i always liked the old one, but the new one has an ice like coldness too it. so so cool.

[Demetrius]

Greetings to all of you! My name - which happens also to be the name given to me by birth - is a ancient hellenic name which was used to describe the followers of the Goddess Demeter in connection with the Eleusinian Mysteries.
My avatar is one of the works of M.C. Escher, a graphic artist and illustrator from the Netherlands which I find strangely appealing.
I come from Thessaloniki, in the north of Greece.

[Anibis]

Cool. glad to see you here... quite a greek contingent building up...
-Anibis

[Kain]

Welcome to Abrahadabra Forums Demetrius, good to have you with us!

Kain

[Demetrius]

Thanks! Good to be here!

[Fio Praeter Humanus]

My name is actually my order motto.

Technically I am Honored Frater Numen Expecto Reputo Occultam.
Or H. Frater N.E.R.O.

It means, I look for Divinity, I reflect upon the hidden. My avatar is actually my order sash.

[wren]

I took this name about a zillion years ago to represent both humbleness and magick, small acts creating change.
My avatar (if I did it correctly) is my granddaughter--that part of me that will remain and move in kether when I'm long since traveled elsewhere.

[m1thr0s]

great to see you here wren!

welcome Demetrius...

The diversity this site is beginning to gather is greatly encouraging to me.

I hope you both find things of value to you here.

m1thr0s

[MythMath]

Hello and welcome Demetrius and wren...

[Naomi]

I love Greece, so cool....happy to see you here....

[m.namasivayam]

my name is namasivayam
My av is my portrait.
It was done by my friend DASS,an artist

[Demetrius]

I love Greece, so cool....happy to see you here....

Oh my avatar is for all of the people over the years who accused me of cursing them. too many to count....

Perhaps I think cute anubis can put this to rest....

Thanks! :D

[Apopheros]

My avatar comes from my favorite character of the DragonBall Z cartoon, Vegeta.
At first, he was a vilain but later on he became friend with the rest of the Z-Fighters, like Goku and Piccolo.
I like the anti hero thing going on with him. I wish I had his discipline sometimes like when he trains like crazy.

[sock]

I haven't decided on an AV yet, nothing to hang my hat on that really 'sticks' yet.

My 'nick' or name is a shortened version of 'evilsock' which is a name I took a long time ago. It relates to computers and the idea of 'sockets' which are a way for clients and servers to communicate in a networked environment.

In this information rich environment we transmit and receive in, it seemed appropriate.

[fr.novumorganum]

my name is namasivayam
My av is my portrait.
It was done by my friend DASS,an artist


I was wondering if that was you. I like it very much.

[Neshamah]

Even though I have been a part of several Orders in my life and I have chosen "names" for each of them, Neshamah is the one that feels right to me (even my mother calls me Neshamah on occasion!). I took the name about 12 years ago during one of my 'stints' in the Golden Dawn, and it has just become a part of me.

I have other Order names now (Seer I.A.O., etc.), but everyone still calls me Neshamah for the most part.

My avatar is the Magician card from the Ansata Tarot deck, an English version of a German deck published in 1985. That deck is one of my favorite possessions.

Love, Light, and Peace,

Neshamah

[Elesrea]

My user name is an acronym for my current motto.
Estote laeti. Estote sapientes. Ridete et amate.
(Be happy. Be wise. Laugh and love.)

Might seem a little cheesy having it in Latin when I don’t know an awful lot of the language – but something about hearing Latin spoken resonates within me.

Besides, Bhbwll would make a crap user name! :laugh:

[deviadah]

Well deviadah is the name that I do everything under (music, films, books etc). It could just as well be deviadah inc. but I won't go that far. :) It is important not to write it with a D but a d (at least to me... it looks better :rofl: ).

So what does it mean?

I am not going to say that here. It will remain my personal secret, but I can say this: the explanation will be as complicated and simple as if trying to explain the meaning of LOGOS.

My avatar represents the Triad, triangle. The color has an occult significance that is obvious (purple). It has a THIRD EYE in the forehead (pineal gland). The mouth is angry = my political views/anger at the folly of the world and the human race. The two lines that square the eyes represents a ski-mask. As if the face is hidden, like a zapatista. I call the symbol terrarist because I am a terrorist of the earth. I protect that, not the vermin that walks upon it (us).

:cool:

[MythMath]

I support terrarism... :yes:

[deviadah]

Even to the death?

:rofl:

[MythMath]

Can't we leave the mere mortals out of this...?

[deviadah]

:laugh: (http://www.biologicalgerontology.com/)

[Frater CaO]

Fantastic thread! Ill activate it again partly because it is a good thread and partly because many here might have changed their nicks/avatars etc.

So, my Nick is my current magickal name which reflects my current magickal work.
I chosed the name sometime before I joined this site, chosed it as my nick here because this is actually kind of a big part of the magickal work. Especially the work that im currently involved with.
Anyways, my Avatar is a Sigil of my current magickal work, created specifically for it. Wont go into its meaning any deeper. Secrecy is part of the work to, atleast to some extent.

/HL!

[Nalyd Khezr Bey]

Let me try this blue colour.

Sorry deviadah, I didn't know that you had explained your name here already.;) I had never noticed this thread before. But I don't come to the introductions forum very often either. When we discussed our names in PM recently you should have just linked me here.

Anyway, since I'm here now and I'm not really hiding any great secrets or anything and since you all must know these things...

Nalyd is a word that means "he who has searched the depths". This definition evokes for me the V.I.T.R.I.O.L. formula, Visita Interiora Terrae Rectificando Invenies Occultum Lapidem, which, as most of you probably know, means "visit the interior parts of the Earth; by rectification thou shalt find the Hidden Stone". Backwards Dylan is the Welsh equivalent of the Christ figure; the ever-returning savior deity or the Silver Fish from the ocean of stars. There is a personal connection here between the two mirror images which relates to the Latin phrase lapis lapsus ex illis stellis, "the stone which came down from the stars". That stone in it's present condition is the lapis exillis, the "stone in exile", i.e. exiled to or hidden in the bowels of the earth. When it is found and perfected it becomes the Astrum Argenteum, the A.'.A.'. or Silver Star.

Visita Interiora Terrae Rectificando Invenies Occultum Lapidem (Nalyd), Ad Astra Per Aspera (Dylan). As within, so without. As below, so above.

Khezr, as Peter Wilson describes, is "the immortal and unknown prophet, the 'Green Man,' who sometimes appears to wandering Sufis in distress, to rescue them from the desert, or to initiate them. Khezr, in a sense, can be called the patron saint of the traveling dervishes and the prototype." Khezr is also very much a trickster.

Bey is just a title that designates membership in the Moorish Orthodox Church or Moorish Science Temple and means a prince or ruler. It's the same as a Noble of the Mystic Shrine. From the History and Catechism of the MOC:All Moors are encouraged to create new names and titles for themselves. The Moorish Hierarchy is self appointed; anyone is free to print Passports, although the old Manhattan Lodge possesses certain seals and procedures which converts may appreciate. Popular titles include: Moorish Governor, Metropolitan, Deacon, Vicar, Exilarch, Imam, Castellan, Papessa, Contessa, Marshall or just plain Reverend. Moorish Science Temple adherents often add "Bey" or "El" to their names, others favor other traditions, and some use their own names. All Moors are entitled to titles, however, since all Moors have "authority".My avatar, currently, is a typical looking "Satan". I stuck a SubG pipe in his mouth and ordered him to cheer up a little.

[Darkwater]

Gives you the cool Grandpa'satani look,imho.Hope you are well!

The shiva shakti meander got me to the station with my oversoul when combined with my Mandala of Anubis pattern of love.

Dark Water is Dhub Glass in the Gaelic,in honour of the Scots hero & sidekick or Robert the Bruce,Guid Schir Jamess of Douglass(aka the Black Douglas,Dhub-Dhub Glass)

I really like the Indian Pantheon,it is lovely & universal,right up there with the greats.

Namaste

Andy

[deviadah]

Sorry deviadah, I didn't know that you had explained your name here already.
Don't worry... I forgot that I had!

:p

[Ci Celli Ddu]

Dark Water is Dhub Glass in the Gaelic,in honour of the Scots hero & sidekick or Robert the Bruce,Guid Schir Jamess of Douglass(aka the Black Douglas,Dhub-Dhub Glass)

Er, shouldn't that be uisge dubh?
Dubh glas means "black grey"

[Darkwater]

Glass is water/pool,still like mirror

Dubh Lin=Black Pool

Douglas=Black Pool

Blackpool = Blackpool

It would be cool if "Glas" were from the Pan Indo European language as opposed to the Gaelic.It was the *Arabs* who discovered it,after all?

Glasgow is taken from Gles-chu,Green Place or Green hollow.

Although a lot of place names in Strathclyde are in Gaelic or the even older Cwymbran,I speak Mither Tongue Scots,Inglis aka the royal language of the Scots as spoken in the Kingdom of Scotland hundreds of years before the Kingdom of England had pulled itself together from the 7 warring Regions.

Even before Geoffrey Chaucer was writing "Saxon for those without any French or latin"bwahahahaha

[Chylde]

Chylde is an archaism... one of the frequent spelling variations in Middle English of childe. In Middle English, a childe could be progeny. It could also be a reference to an untested knight.

The untested knight gains a reference to a poem by Browning (http://www.math.uh.edu/%7Etomforde/browning.html), as well as symbolic references to the "Holy Fool", the tarot Fool -- the zero card in the major arcana, the card of infinite possibilities, the freedom card. The Fool as a Chylde, emerges from the other side of shamanic death as a new person, having been dismembered to remember. So the new person starts over.

The avatar... sometimes a cloud over a mountain, sometimes a wolf watching a fool, the avatar changes, depending on the role I fulfill each day, to cover, to hide, to watch, to learn, to counsel. It will tend to keep changing, moving from incarnation to incarnation.

[Frater SI]

Well my order name was Frater SI (Sanctus Ignis (Holy Fire) with the O.S.D.L before we dissolved and disbanded .. My avatar is a simplified version of the Sigillum Dei Aemeth I have always felt drawn to Enochian for some reason. So I felt it would be appropriate. I have also been known to use the word "Vovin" the enochian word for dragon when posting on some other forums, but you can always pick me up with this avatar.