The Keeper's Path

Title: The Witch’s Name: Crafting Identities of Magical Power
Author: Storm Faerywolf
Genre: Wicca; Witchcraft & Spirituality

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive any sort of payment for this review. This is my opinion of this author’s work and not a paid advertisement for this book.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I opened up this book. Honestly, I was thinking it would probably be a rehash of the same sort of thing I’d seen everywhere in the Pagan/Wiccan/Witchcraft community over the last few decades. There have been numerous articles, essays, and even books covering this topic.

But Storm Faerywolf actually brought something new and interesting to the conversation, and I love it.

Choosing a Craft name is one of the most popular questions I’ve come across in my years of writing, teaching, and public speaking. It feels great to now be able to offer a recommendation for deeper study into this aspect of being a Witch.

Storm generously offers the story of how his name came to him as well as including some deeply personal stories of others in the Pagan community and the journey to renaming themselves.

The book also includes interesting lists of where names might arise from, including animals, mythology, and the natural world. Being a serious lover of all things journal-and-self-discovery, there are beautiful exercises for uncovering a personal name (using divination and dream work for example) and aligning with that choice in order to completely attune yourself to it.

I’ve been Serpent for many years. I’ll include a bit of the brief insight offered in his book for choosing that name (or a variation of it) to illustrate how he provides some examples and suggestions:

From the order Squamata, the serpent, snake, or viper is an ancient symbol for the primordial goddess. It can represent wisdom, renewal, immortality, cycles, regeneration, as well as danger, poison, and death. The serpent is often associated with healing, as its venom can be transformed into medicine. Mythology abounds with figures of fantastic serpents, such as Leviathan, the Nagas, or even the serpent in the Garden of Eden, each with their own power and message.

His knowledge is evident and while the exercises, meditations, and workings provided are focused towards the book’s purpose, I can definitely see how some of these can be adapted into being self-insight work. He has provided a framework of not only embracing one of the more popular and misunderstood aspects of Craft practice, but ways to explore the self and your personal psychology on different levels. I’m not an initiate of the Faery Tradition, but there is some overlap I recognize in my own background that is very similar to that path’s understanding of the multi-soul, exploring it, and bringing the different layers of Self into alignment. So, even if you already have a Craft name, or aren’t interested in having one, there is still so much to be gained from reading this book! This is definitely a book every Pagan/Witch/Wiccan should read.