Challenge Entry: Magickal Names
Have you ever been so excited about a challenge, a project, or an idea that you just can’t seem to actually finish it, because it was so much fun and you don’t want it to be over? I guess that’s how this challenge was for me if that makes any sense.
Maybe I got a bit carried away by this challenge. My first task was to pick my witch name. I really hadn’t done it before because I didn’t want to choose something arbitrarily or pick something that didn’t fit me. But I sat with the idea long enough that the choices and task began to seem overwhelming. Then it hit me out of the blue.
I have been an ardent fan of greek mythology since childhood and Artemis was always my favorite.
(source)
So much so that fast forward to my early 20s, when I started raising and breeding lovebirds and parrotlets to sell as pets, and my aviary name was…
.
Over the 20 years of breeding, I wrote articles, sold babies as companions, and my logo evolved.
Around the same time, I created my eBay account to sell books and handmade parrot toys and my username was…
When I commissioned my first BoS in 1998, I had a custom cover made with Artemis.
It is one of those things that when I look back I had already made the choice, I just didn’t know it or maybe didn’t acknowledge it. My witchname is and has always been Artemisia.
Add to that history, my current herbalism journey, and my choice become glaringly obvious. 
(source)
As a matter of fact, I just put in an order of herb and plant seeds and two that I had to have were Artemisia absinthium (wormwood) and Artemisia vulgaris (mugwort).
([source](By David Monniaux - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, File:Artemisia absinthium P1210748.jpg - Wikimedia Commons))
I felt like I was on a roll and rode the joy of finding (accepting?) my witchname, I decided to take the challenge of giving names to my athame (that I purchased over 25 years ago)
and my boline (which I acquired last year)
Somehow having my witchname figured out, made naming these two much easier. May I present Moonblade, my athame, and Hunter’s Moon, my boline.
This challenge has personally been very moving and fulfilling. It’s also focused me and my practice. Renewed my excitement and devotion. I spent literally hours writing spells and creating recipes for incense and spell jars. I am planning on rededicating myself to Artemis.
And since I was digging around through my old computer files looking for the Aviary info, I thought I’d share this photo of a baby lovebird that I raised in flight.
Blessed be,
Kat