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A portrait of Tanya on her naming day ceremony in Reynifell, Iceland. The ceremony was led by an Icelandic priestess, or Goði, a friend and soul sister of Tanya’s. The ceremony is call nafngift (naming gift or name giving), and served as a rite of passage for Tanya and Marlon after several days’ vision-questing in the beautiful, river-swept, volcano and mountain rich near-wilderness. I am not qualified to speak about the spiritual beliefs that underpin this ceremony, but I hope Tanya and Marlon will share their reflections here. I will say that as ritual—conducted in both Icelandic and English—I had no problem understanding what was happening and I was deeply moved by this rite of passage. The ceremony included an invocation of the Divine in many aspects, drinking and libation from a ritual horn, blessing with water sprinkled from a plant, the giving of sweetened milk, the explanation by Tanya and Marlon of the significance behind their new names, and a powerful blessing and reading by Ron, as well as the giving of gifts. The entire area was circled/warded (?) by lit candles, and a brazier held living fire. All of what happened was intimately familiar to my sense of ritual and I felt deeply at home with the ceremony despite the cultural and language divides. Tanya (Naming Ceremony Day)
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