Soul reclamation.
From the time I can remember, the name that I had been given at birth, Ashley, never quite fit.
I remember being around 8 years old when my mother was pregnant, thumbing through the baby name book and writing several names down in my journal. Oh, what I would give to come across that journal three decades later.
Through adolescence, the call to change my name was never forgotten, but it became less of a priority.
When I gave birth to my first daughter in 2007, I was cracked wide open after a devastating and traumatic hospital birth, and it took me close to a decade to put myself back together again.
Becoming a mother was the path to my calling in women’s health, and through this re-membering of Self I tried on several names, all chosen from a heady logical space. The names that I had felt drawn to were all beautiful, but they lacked the depth and meaning that I craved.
Without the support of an intact culture of elders, my need to fully integrate and be seen in the many initiations that I had gone through, left me with a sense of desperation to understand and fully claim myself.
In 2020 I got tired of the way I was going about this and decided to surrender, to give the quest over to spirit.
One day around Imbolc when I was praying with the waters, I received a download.
I was told to create a bundle holding items that symbolized the name that I was calling in. The instructions were to create the bundle in ceremony, burry the bundle in the womb of the holy mother and dig it up not only when I knew the name, but when I was ready to unapologetically claim the name and tell the world what to call me.
On my 38th birthday, in a circle of sisters, we created the bundle in prayer. It was potent and magical to be held and witnessed in this way.
For months I was patient, meandering to the site where I buried the bundle, leaving offerings and singing songs every so often.
It was a few months later, when I had the opportunity to share my life story in my community, that I remembered a name that had jumped up at me when researching my family lineage. It was my grandmothers grandmothers name on my mothers side, and an item for matrilineal healing was definitely in the bundle.
Delphina.
No, I had immediately said upon seeing this name. It was too big, too French and I could never fit into it.
Upon researching the name further though, I realized it held within its delicate nature all of the symbols from the bundle. I’m moved to tears as I write this because the synchronicities and power of prayer are so miraculous.
Delphi from the Greek word "Delphus," means hollow, or womb, and that solidified it for me.
A year and a day after burying the bundle, in reverence for the gift I had received, I dug the bundle up. Shortly after that I had a community prayer with the Native American Church to reveal and step into my name. I’m certain I could not have done this deep work on my own and am so grateful to all of the ones in my life who held space for this transformation.
My journey to and through womanhood, through the teachings of my womb, has been rich and sharing what I have harvested is what I came here to do.
And so it is.
I’m curious if any of this story resonates with you? Do you feel aligned with your given name, or have you also felt curious to explore what You would like to be called?
With deep appreciation for all that goes unseen,
