Hi Ginny, pleased to (re-)meet you!

I'm Patricia Kelly, a/k/a Roswila. Funny thing about online names, isn't it? Initially, I'd had the thought of keeping my blogs anonymous (long story), but as soon as I started posting realized that that did not work for me. I still love the name Roswila (another long story) and it is a part of my identity so I've continued to use it. But my (real? actual? birth?) name is listed beneath my Roswila signature to each post. Guess one could understand Roswila and Sophia as "net nicknames." Ones we are very fond of...

Well, the clincher for me was when I re-read my "Coming Out" post and heard myself wondering aloud if the other blogger I was quoting would have divulged her tarot habit if her blog was not anonymous. Well, who was I to talk? ;) There are people who will always think of me first as "Sophia" and that's fine with me.

On a side note -- I just turned off the feature where you have to input those scribbly letters to post a comment. It's annoying. And what do I find, first thing? Comment spam on this thread. It's gone now, I deleted it, but if it keeps happening I will have to put the annoying filter back on.

I still am not entirely out. Being a relatively new college instructor in a scientific area, I still toy around with some anonymity. I have a 2-3 colleagues who are great with it, two of them because they have had readings from a student, readings that have been very effective. ;)

If someone wanted to follow link to link they could figure out who I am, so maybe anonymity is just a moot point, anyway. My students wouldn't care, I'm sure. It's the gr'ups I work with and for who would. I'll figure this out eventually...

That moot point thing is one of the things that Leisa and I discussed on the podcast. I tend to think that anonyminity online is hard to maintain for long. Plus, privacy is pretty much not very possible these days unless you go to great lengths to protect it. But I understand, I really do. There's no need to jeapordize one's job or professional reputation over tarot, especially if it is a private hobby or interest.

I'm still thinking about this. While I've been thinking about using Tarot symbolism as one element in my linguistic anthro class - I've begun to think about working it into the art and/or religion chapters in my introduction to cultural anthro lectures. I may have the opportunity to teach that one this winter. If I bring some appropriate decks in - the cat will be out of the bag, don't you think? ;) I mean, it works. It's religious art on several levels. It's a world of symbolism...

It very well may be out of the bag at that point. I would use an older deck like the Visconti-Sforza and/or the Marseilles. On Trionfi's site there are some great examples of the art styles that were precursors or that influenced tarot, the symbolism, etc. But what can they say? It's genuine, it's historical, it's symbolic. You're not teaching how to do fortune telling.

I like it how you show us your coming out. I've worked under a pseudonym for a year or so in the beginning. I also recognize that you felt uncomfortable about it. The pseudonym was not me. So I came out and told everybody if they wanted to know. I noticed that it was more in my head then in the head of others that they might find me strange.

Congrats with your "real name". You earn it.

Jolanda

Thank you, Jolanda. You know, I had mixed reasons for using "Sophia" here, but I really wasn't thinking to hide that I am a tarot reader. I've told everyone I know about my blog and tarot reading practice, and they know I read tarot. To be honest, I'm not sure why I continued using a pseudonym here, I certainly didn't need to. I think having been online since 1994, it's just been common practice online not to use one's real name. Many things about the Internet have changed since then and I think I'm just catching up. :)

There is also numerological benefits that may be had in the name change. From the perspective of Gnothology, there are positive and negative aspects to all parts of the name, from original to changed to present names used. The negative aspect are merely things to watch out for, so as not not fall into their particular trap.


---6-----9-1_____= 16 / 7 CSP
S O P H I A
1----7-8________= 16 /7 CPV

1+6+7+8+9+1____= 32 / 5 CEK

7 CSP - pos. Desires to know and explore. neg. Isolated, feels alone.

7 CPV - pos. Subtle approach, unafraid. neg. Unresponsive, closed in.

5 CEK - pos. Seeks variety in life. neg. Runs away from presseures.


---9----------3________= 12 / 3 PSP
G I N Y---H U N T
7---5-7---8---5-2____= 34 / 7 PPV

7+9+5+7+8+3+5+2__ = 46 / 10 / 1 PEK

3 PSP - pos. Artistic and outgoing. neg. Follows a limited path.

7 PPV - pos. Insightful and understanding. neg. Dogmatic and unbending.

1 PEK - pos. Positive changes in attitude. neg. Needs the limelight.


N.B.

CSP = Changed Soul Print: the vowels in the changed name.
CPV - Changed Personality Vibration: the consonents in the changed name.
CEK - Changed Expressive Key: the vowels and consonents together in the changed name.

PSP - Present Soul Print: the vowels in the present name.
PPV - Present Personality Vibration: the consonents in the present name.
PEK - Present Expressive Key: the vowels and consonents together in the present name.

That's interesting...is Gnothology like Numerology? I've never heard of this. I like the "positive changes in attitude" of my real name. :)

Gnothology (the Science of Inner Knowing) is a branch of Numerology. It has more breadth and depth than most numerological systems, and includes the use of the rooting of the reduced numbers. It was devised by Eileen Connolly and can be found in her Connolly Book of Numbers Vol. 1&2.

Do you drop duplicate letters?

Giny vs Ginny?