Nightside Alias

[lady_sequanna]

Nightside Alias


I find names to be of crucial importance. If it is arguable that one’s given name at birth is not one’s responsibility and should not be considered relevant, that argument fades when applied to a scene name, a screen name or any name that one chooses or accepts. Different names have different meanings, different connotations and are carried differently. I believe that happens not only because others tend to act in accordance with the name but also because we incorporate it and it becomes us. Often people with multiple names have different personality traits to go along with each of them. As if that particular name fulfilled the need to act out a certain role and allowed for the comfortable and contextualized expression of that specific side of one’s self. The alter ego part of things.

My alter ego is Lady Sequanna. Actually it is arguable which one is my alter ego and which one is my “real” self. If alter ego is defined as “Another side of oneself; a second self”* it is implied that one’s alter ego is secondary to one’s main self, so-to-speak. But is my nightside persona really secondary to my dayside persona? Or is my dayside self actually the alter ego? My nightside has needs that my dayside cannot always make room for. Which ego, which self has prevalence over the other? Is the alter ego the less important one? Or maybe the one less people know about? Or the one that came at a later point in time? Where do they touch? Do they ever switch positions? Several questions come to mind when considering alter-egos because the term itself gives room to different interpretations. Although this is a relevant discussion and one that can lead to very deep personal acknowledgments, I am not willing to answer my own questions at this point. Let’s leave that discussion for another time as it has a life of its own and that is not the life that feeds today’s discussion.

So I am known as Lady Sequanna. How did I come to choose this name or how did this name choose me? Let’s start from the beginning. My initial need was for a screen name. Before I even knew there was a vampire community out there, I was introduced to the internet and to mIRC and reveled in the possibility to get in touch with people from all over the world, in real time, through a chat room. That required a name. My first name was Phaedra. I have been interested in mythology since I can remember and Greek mythology seemed like a proper place to find a strong name. Phaedra was disturbed enough and the tragedy had enough versions to allow for different readings. Better yet, most people recognized the name and couldn’t place it, didn’t actually know the story. After a while though I abandoned that alias, mostly because I shared it too easily and it became as known to those in my life as my legal name was and I felt the need of relative anonymity. So a new and very simple name was born at that point: Lady Cath. I enjoyed the feel of being a Lady, the elegance of an 18th century aristocrat, the appeal of the elite. As to Cath, it is a short version of my name and some of my international friends were already using it. I liked being Lady Cath for a while but as a whole it was too close to my legal name for me to feel comfortable with it in the long run.

And that’s when Lady Sequanna was created. I chose to keep the portion Lady, still not aware at the time that within some modern circles Lady was a real title, a status that one should not award to oneself. Sequanna, was a totally different name to uphold as I immediately felt a connection with it and thought that it made sense although I couldn’t really understand why for quite some time. What I did learn immediately was that Sequanna, also spelled Sequana, Secuana or Siquanna, was in Celtic Mythology the goddess of the French river Seine, depicted as a woman in a long gown, wearing a diadem on her head, standing on a duck-prowed vessel. It was also the name of a Gaulish tribe that lived in the Burgundy region in the pre-Christian centuries. I don’t have a special attachment to France in general or the river Seine in particular. Yet this name still made sense to me on some level, it sounded right, I felt it was mine. Even the way the word flows, the sound of it, the actual letters that comprise the name. Everything appealed to me. And then slowly I started realizing that water is my primordial element, symbolically speaking. And Sequanna started making more sense, not as a very important goddess or anything, but (to me) as a representative of water deities and for quite some time that was enough to appease my curiosity about “my” name. Only recently did I discover that Sequanna was believed to have healing abilities. Water in general was venerated by the Celts as a source of the life-force, as well as for cleansing and curative properties. Sequanna, as a particular deity, was sought to cure several diseases and maladies, being that respiratory and eye illnesses seem to have been quite common complaints. After the Roman occupation, the local cult of Sequanna instead of extinguished remained very active for centuries. There were temples and other structures built around the springs at the source of the river Seine. A healing shrine was established in the 1st or 2nd century BC and many dedications resisted to these days. It appears that pilgrims would leave bronze, silver, stone or wood images of human body parts to be cured by Sequanna and would bring offerings to the goddess, such as coins, jewellery, fruit or a favourite pet.

Having accepted that I walk the path of the Kitra, I found this new information about Sequanna to be quite fitting. I am not sought to cure the body but I am often found helpful in ailments of the mind. I have always naturally embodied the counselor, the nurturing shoulder, the facilitator of “the next step”, whatever that step may be. I have often been called a healer and I like that sight of myself. It’s less of what I do and more of who I am. So yes, these days I am fully aware of my connection to Sequanna. And I can hardly wait to find, in months or years to come, what other bonds are brought to my attention and justify the initial feeling that my name is Sequanna.





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References:
http://www.abaxion.com/stseq.htm
http://www.ancuairt.org/tumulus/sequanna.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequana
http://www.goddessmystic.com/CoreCurric ... ndex.shtml
http://www.celtnet.org.uk/gods_s/sequana.html

* alter ego. (n.d.). The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Retrieved May 30, 2007, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/alter ego

[The Madame X]

Good Research!
I imagine many folks scene-name emerged from their on-line screen-name, probably more that we realize.

I can't help to imagine your would be naming ceremony held in a duck- prowed vessel laden with mutilated mannequins... or better yet jello-mold brains, hearts and guts (as you are Kitra and tend to our thoughts, desires and feelings) lol It might just have to be the most interesting naming ceremony yet!