Pagan Baby Naming Ceremony (and funny baby photo)

Today was an interesting day because I got to attend my very first Baby Naming Ceremony. A baby naming ceremony is basically a ceremony similar to a christening or a baptism in which the child is welcomed in or introduced as part of a community but with either a non-religious or alternative religion background.

This one was definitely a pagan-centric ceremony and was quite enjoyable. First, a simple circle was cast with a phrase that I have not heard before but quite liked since it was simple and didn't have too much overblown ritual to it. All the guests were standing in a circle and the parents and the baby were inside the circle. The mother was leading the ceremony. The circle was cast by each person taking the hand of the person beside them (starting in the North and moving clock-wise around the circle) and saying "From my hand to your hand". Eventually the whole circle was holding hands.

There was some explanation of how the names were chosen as well as two songs sung by the mother which were very moving, and brought tears to the eyes of some of the guests. Each guest was then asked to come forward and give a blessing to the baby (if they wished) and when that was done, we all placed a small bead that we had brought on a wire hoop and the mother would eventually make the beads into a necklace. It was quite a nice ceremony, and at the end the mother even announced the baby's magical name which she could use until she (the girl) decided to change it!

Afterwards were gifts for all of us (a photo and a birth/naming announcement) and there were a few children in the group and they all received flying foam butterflies to through around the room! Food, drink and Tim Horton's coffee were then consumed as photos were taken, and we all got to hold the baby.

There are a number of naming ceremonies found in other religions around the world:

• In Judaism there are separate ceremonies for boys and girls. In modern times there seems to be a revival of some medieval customs.
  
• In Hinduism the naming ceremony involves singing and gifts.
• Even Humanists have they're own baby ceremonies!

I wonder what a High Ceremonial Magick naming baby naming ceremony would be like?

Tell me if you've ever been to a baby naming ceremony or do you know of different ones from different religions by leaving a comment!

The beginning

I've been interested in things of an esoteric nature for a very long time now. Since I was a teenager and I received my first deck of Tarot cards.

One of the greatest books I've read in the recent past was Dan Brown's
Da Vinci Code. It was action packed, and I just couldn't put it down. I later picked up his other book, Angels And Demons and enjoyed it just as much, if not more!