Magical Motto

Magical Motto

Magical mottoes are the magical nicknames, noms de plume, or pseudonyms taken by various individuals in a number of magical organizations. These members were known and sometimes referred to in many publications by these mottoes. Members of these organizations typically adopted such a motto at their initiation into the neophyte grade of the organizations.

Magical mottoes are taken in order to separate the magician's magical identity from their mundane identity within the context of magical work. Within the highly influential tradition of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the mottoes chosen were usually in a foreign language, often but not always Latin. The mottoes were sometimes called the initiate's "aspiration name," and most contain high-minded sentiments and often literary allusions. Members were free to change them upon receiving initiations into higher degrees of the organizations; William Butler Yeats began as Festina Lente (Latin: "Make haste slowly") and changed it later in his career with the Golden Dawn.

Within the Golden Dawn tradition, documents and instructions were typically issued under the initials of the magical mottoes of their authors. For example, the document Of Skrying and Travelling in the Spirit-Vision was written by Moina Bergson Mathers, and as such appears credited to "Soror V.N.R.", standing for her motto Vestigia Nulla Retrorsum. And, The Tree of Life as Projected as a Solid Sphere is credited to "S.R.M.D.", indicating that its author was Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers. Within this tradition, users of magical mottoes typically referred to each other in their capacity as initiates as Frater (men) or Soror (women), Latin for "brother" and "sister" respectively, followed by the initials of their magical mottoes.