The Science of Names

The Science of Names is one of the foundamentals of the Traditional Roman Spirituality. This is a very complex discipline which today is essentially quite unknown, because the mindset behind the language and the alphabet is completely changed compared to the past. Today the letters, the signs, the language itself do not have any  sacred or symbolic value. In the past on the other hand they had a very strong bond with the religious dimension.

This Science, about which I have only modest basics (I'm just a cultor and Pater Familias), should be thoroughly mastered by anyone who calls himself/herself augur and pontifex. Instead, very often I realize that these people (certainly very interesting from a folkloric point of view) do not know what you're talking about and completely ignore the existence of this Holy Discipline.

In the Traditional Roman Spirituality, the names, their values, their knowledge and their exact pronunciation are essential tools to recognize the divine forces and the forces of Nature. Nature itself conceals within itself an alphabet, letters, signs which must be discovered, studied, interpreted.

Everything in the universe is a vibration and speaking is a form of materialization of these vibrations. Sounds result from signs, words result from sounds. These vibrations, sounds, words that make up the universe and all beings, can not be heard because they are hidden.

All this implies a form of special knowledge of something that normally - for the profane men and women - remains forever hidden. Due to the fact that these letters, these names, these sounds are "naturally hidden," it is important that, once known, not to be profaned or pronounced unnecessarily because they can lose their power (as in the case of the secret name of Rome): the sacred names must therefore remain "secret". Knowing a sacred name implies the knowledge of his force and this may render the practice of Evocatio viable. For this reason, all things have three names: the public name (impure), the magic name (partially pure), the secret-sacred name (pure).

The pronunciation of the sacred name - the real name - is a "subtle sound that creates a being" not only in the physical world, but also in the metaphysical sphere.

The knowledge of the holy, real, hidden names, their exact intonation and pronunciation, are not only linked to the sound vibration: the word (Vox) is based on the concept of logos which is also the ability of rational thought (Mens). It is thus not enough to pronounce a sacred name with a certain tone of voice, primarily because one must have the ability to correctly pronounce the holy names in his/her own heart. These names must first vibrate within us, otherwise they are just noise.

The ability of the holy names in generating these inner vibrations depends on to the fact that they "contain the same meaning of the things that are named", they are the result of the same force they inherently contain, they reveal hidden meanings. They are not accidentally created, their sound articulation have the power to influence the reality.

The combination of certain letters to form precise terms, their phonetic articulation, reveal the meaning of the occult forces that materialize in these divine names: the syntactic structure (Carmen) of an invocation is therefore a form of revelation of reality, it announces the occurrence of an event, it is a form of revelation.

The sacred language contains universal symbols, the Divine and Nature's nature: it interprets the reality, it shows the true meanings. The Science of Names, therefore, aims to reveal the true reality (not the profane appareance) of the named entity, indicate the exact relations between the macrocosm and the microcosm. The ritual use of the Science of the Names highlights the particular forms that the Divine can take; by this perfect knowledge comes the very effectiveness of the relationship with the Divine.

Writing becomes the crystallization of a system of signs with a high symbolic and oracular value at the base (literature) of Nature, Divine and Human things. This therefore refers to a language that could be called "natural" because it interprets the meanings (signa) of nature and reveals the rhythms, revealing at the same time, the presence and the will of the Gods and Goddesses.

The proper use of sacred-real names, their pronunciation, their transcription are a reflection of the cosmic and natural harmony. For this reason, the augur or the pontifex who master this science, through divination, can reveal and interpret the meaning of the signs (even in the form of events, numbers, geometric shapes, sounds, astral symbols, colors, etc ...): from this derives the concept of nomen-omen. The perfect capacity in narrative exposition (as well as in reading aloud) is a symptom of (inner) order resulting from the proper use of thought and speech.

The term nomen therefore can not be translated in terms sacred, just as "name": in sacred terms, it cannot be used just to identify something. It materializes the same thing because it's the name that makes it what it is. It is his nomen. Naming things (nominatio) means, in sacred terms, create them, make them exist. This means that, with regards to the Gods and Goddesses, the nomen is the substance, the essence of the numen. The name indicates not only a force, but it is that force locked up in that name. This is also the basis of Indigitamenta or fixing the names of Gods and the occasions in which they can be invoked:  these names contain the power of the Deity.

 

With his name Divinity reveals itself as real becoming visible, perceptible to the human spirit. The knowledge of the Divine Names, articulated in invocations and carmina, is a power. Esoterically, spiritually and in non profane terms, those who know the real name of the Gods and Goddesses, having the ability to identify them correctly, have the power to relate to them because they can invoke them through their exact and true names. This explains why in the Traditional Roman Spirituality Cultores and Cultrices do not pray in a profane sense simply because Gods and Goddesses do not pay attentio to the noise (supplications or prayers), but they come into contact, they come to us. The establishment of this relationship creates a divine foundation (fas).

From this also follows that each of us has a sacred name that has no relationship with our profane/public name. It 's very difficult that our secret name can be revealed: it often remains in a dormant and incomprehensible state to us.

The Science of Names is therefore the knowledge of the Words of Power because they are words that create, that express the deepest dimension of the Real.

From these brief and superficial considerations some additional considerations can be made. First, it emphasizes the sacred character of the Latin language (the same can be said of ancient-greek language as well as all other ancient languages​​). This character has been completely lost in modern languages ​​which, for this reason, are referred as "vulgar." This explains why Latin is so difficult to translate for the absence, in modern languages​​, of words with similar symbolic power.
Then, one can realize the close relationship that existed in the past between Law (jus) and religion as well as the importance that the ancients attributed to the oratory ars.

The Science of Names, as basis and foundation of the Traditional Roman Spirituality, highlights how different can be the perspective of the relationship that Cultores and Cultrices may have with the Divine compared to the modern forms of profane religion. We are dealing with, it should still be stressed again, a real everyday practice, never showing anything devotional and sentimental, which can lead to an awakening, a different form of knowledge and perception of the world and the universe, the palingenesis.