Free A Witch's World of Magick by Melanie Marquis Page B

performed by the guardian priestess of a well is given:
She wrote the name of the victim in a book, receiving a gift at the same time. A pin was dropped into the well in the name of the victim, and through it and through knowledge of his name, the spirit of the well acted upon him to his hurt. 80
    We find here that power lies in the written name as well as in the symbolically named pin-made-victim. In using a combination of magickal identification techniques, the priestess helped ensure that the spirit of the well got the message.
    One point common to many magickal identification techniques around the world is the use of the mother’s name. In Jewish, Greek, Arabic, and many other magickal traditions, identification of the target of the spell by their maternal lineage was standard and widespread. 81
    Using the mother’s name rather than the father’s name makes sense magickally because it provides a more positive identification of the intended target. While paternity is not always certain, maternity is difficult to pawn off on another; by identifying magickal targets with their mother’s name, there can be no case of mistaken identities.
    A sample of text from a binding tablet dating from fourth-century Rome provides an example of maternal identification in the magickal arts:
… this impious and ill-fated Cardelus, whom his mother Fulgentia bore, bound, tied up and restrained, Cardelus whom his mother Fulgentia bore … 82
    In this example, we see poor Cardelus’s mother identified by name in addition to her son. The magickian who crafted this tablet made certain in doing so that the spell would affect the right man, and would therefore have a better chance for success.
    The practice of maternal identification, while not as well-known or as common as it once was, is still found today among magick workers around the world. In modern-day Egypt, for example, the mother’s name is still used in many types of protective rituals and healing rites such as the Zar ceremony, an exorcistic healing ritual intended to relieve patients afflicted with mental disorders. In a 2010 essay by Fayza Haikal, Professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo, the importance of positive identification of the patient through the use of the mother’s name is emphasized:
… today when exorcism is performed during Zar ceremonies, or when protective incantations known as roqia are pronounced over children usually, but also over adults, to protect them against evil eyes … these performances cannot be effective unless the person intended is identified by his/her name and that of his/her mother. 83
    Parental identification was employed in ancient Egypt, as well. An ancient Egyptian magickal rite found in The Pyramid Texts also makes use of parental identification:
Utterance 293.
To say: Back, hidden serpent; hide thyself,
and let N. not see thee.
Back, hidden serpent; hide thyself,
and come not to the place where N. is,
lest he pronounce against thee that name of thine,
Nmi son of Nmi.t.
A servant (holy person) as the Ennead’s pelican (once)
fell into the Nile, (so) flee, flee.
Serpent (beast), lie down. 84
    Here, we have a positive assertion that one’s name holds power—the magician here threatens the “serpent,” promising to “pronounce against thee that name of thine, Nmi son of Nmi.t.,” 85 lest the “serpent” hide itself and not come ’round. The text implies that if such a name were pronounced, the “serpent” would be in some way harmed or otherwise controlled. We have here therefore an expression of the idea that knowing a person’s or god’s identity, knowing their parental lineage, gives a magician power and sway over that person or god.
    To the Finnish, knowing the origin and history of an enemy, in addition to knowing their parental lineage, provided an important means of magickal identification and establishing dominance. John Abercromby’s 1898 work Magic Songs of the West Finns, Vol. 2 , offers