Why SnakyPoet?

No, it's not because I'm cranky all the time! Though I CAN get snaky – try me on the prospect of a pulp mill in the Tamar Valley.

My friend satyapriya once dubbed me "The Oracle of the Serpentine Northern Rivers". (a) she consults my oracular powers from time to time. (b) I lived for many years in the Northern Rivers region of NSW. (I'm still close, but now technically on the Far North Coast of NSW.)

I started playing with this appellation, transferred the epithet and so forth, and somehow SnakyPoet was the one that stuck. I became identified that way to all satyapriya's LiveJournal friends.

I liked it. I like snakes – albeit treating them with healthy respect – and in fact Snake is one of my totems. It's also a symbol of wisdom, transformation and healing: great aspirations for a poet / Reiki Master / energy worker / witch. SnakyPoet it is!

What's Behind 'The Passionate Crone'?

Photo by Melanie Votaw, Votaw Photography 

It started on MySpace. One of my friends re-posted a hilarious piece about people being sought for a porno movie. Well, it surely wasn't intended to be funny by the original advertiser, but we all fell about laughing, and posted outrageous comments in reply. I signed mine 'Hot Crone' which caused further hilarity. And of course I am in fact in my Crone years, and while 'hot' may be a matter of subjective opinion, passionate I am – about many things, very much including poetry. Also, a lot of my poetry is about passion, whether a passion for nature or (yes!) sex. I do write erotic poetry from time to time, as well as all sorts of other kinds. 

 

I happened across Melanie Votaw's amazing orchid, a copyright image which I paid for permission to use because it seemed to me the embodiment of purple passion! It goes very well with some of my more erotic writings, in particular this one. ;)

And Who the Heck is DragonStar Rose?

That's me too. How many alter egoes can one woman have?

Witches and other Pagans often take a magickal name on initiation. I began as a solitary and had no inspiration for a name. Some of my guides called me Larissa, from a previous incarnation when I was a renowned seer ... so I'm told. So I used that a while.

Then, when I  was doing some studies with the Correllian tradition, I woke up one morning with the inner knowing that my magickal name was DragonStar. This pleased me, as I'd long had a strong connection with a certain group of other-dimensional dragons.

Later I discovered that there are many other Pagans who rejoice in the name DragonStar! So I added the Rose, which is part of my given name, Rosemary. A clairvoyant once told me never to use the name Rose on its own, for energetic reasons, so I don't allow anyone to shorten my name but am always addressed as Rosemary. To add it to DragonStar, however, is fine.

When I was part of a coven, DragonStar Rose was my coven name, and I am now known by it in various magickal circles online and off.

Many people have a secret magickal/spiritual name which is never revealed. I too have one of those, known only to me and the Goddess. DragonStar Rose is my public magickal name, and I answer to it. :)