Magickal name can have a great deal of power in them. A little-known technique which developed in 17th and 18th Century England and France was acrostics, the setting in to rings, brooches and bracelets of combinations of crystals, the first letters of whose names would express a sentiment. This technique can easily be adapted to create a crystal form of a magickal name set into an appropriate piece of jewellery.

Below are some examples of acrostics, with expensive and cheaper varieties of stones:

There are a couple of "fudges" with this technique which become clear on looking at some of the names. One is that other names of stones are used e.g. hyacinth for zircon and yu for jade are common substitutions. Another is that cheaper minerals whose properties are not clearly known are used in place of precious or semi-precious gemstones. The former substitution is fine, but I would not recommend the latter, it is far better to stick with stones you know, and strive for a balance between size and cost of what you desire.

If we now take a couple of names which might be used as magickal names for examples, we can demonstrate the point further. For a lot of the letters there may be more than one stone e.g. HELIOS

Hematite could equally be Heliotrope
Emerald
Lapis Lazuli could equally be Labradorite, Lepidolite, etc
Ivory
Opal could equally be Obsidian or Onyx
Sapphire could equally be Smoky Quartz, Sodalite, Sunstone, etc

If there is a choice of stones you can obviously go with preference or availability depending on your temperament, the choice of stones does allow for a good degree of flexibility on a lot of the letters, enabling you to choose stones which you work better with and feel more resonance for. Thus we can have two very different sets of energies making up a name, e.g.

It should be observed that this technique could not be used with private magickal names in company if the jewellery is clearly visible, as it would be divulging a part of oneself that should be kept hidden.

This working with of crystals to emphasise the magickal name can be seen as part of the work of developing the magickal personality. The following excerpt from Dion Fortune's Moon Magic is a good example of someone using jewellery to help develop their magickal personality:

"It would require Huysmans to do justice to the ear-rings I have possessed - jade, amber, coral, lapis, malachite for day; and for the night I have great jewels...I wear my own fashions, and they come from the "soft furnishings" as often as not, for there is a richness in the great breadths of the draperies that one does not find in the dress materials...I like rings, too, so big that I can hardly get my gloves on over them; and bracelets like fetters on my wrists."

If you have magickal jewellery, use it as such. Magickal jewellery should generally be worn when doing magick, not all the time in an effort to impress or look glamourous. There is an important distinction here between using tools to create a glamour that develops into the magickal personality you want (a process of development), and just striving to look glamourous (a process of ego flattery/self-gratification). If you do wear an item all the times, e.g. a magickal ring, subtle changes can still be used to emphasise the difference between the magickal personality and the mundane personality in action, such as switching the ring over so it is on the same finger on the other hand when assuming the magickal personality.

Extract taken from the book CRYSTALS - Healing & Folklore (Capall Bann, 2002) by David Rankine. Available from Capall Bann Publishing