A Proper Renaming Ceremony

Oliver left, Ginger right

I’ve lately been reading about the grave consequences of renaming a boat without seeking the proper blessings of the deities involved. The ancient mariners believed that sailing vessels actually contained souls, and were thusly treated with similar rituals and respect. And we all know that the “Christening” is a ritual that goes way back. Your name is important. It just is.

Which made me think.... (uh-oh) It occurred to me that Var and I may have committed a similar sin with Ginger, our little rescue terrier. You see, we renamed her. And in blind ignorance of the fates, we may have committed a serious error in the eyes of the Gods who look after little terriers. We never “denamed” her. So now Ginger has two names, one reflecting her prior, unhappy state of affairs, and her new one. She does seem to have a split personality, and Ginger sent Varen to the hospital a few years ago with a vicious bite on the hand. Was this perhaps the result of an Akashic bookkeeping error? Perhaps the Gods need to be kept in the loop.

So I’d like to set the record straight, and conduct a proper renaming ritual for the terrier now known as Ginger. According to John Vigor, such a ceremony should consist of five parts: an invocation, an expression of gratitude, a supplication, a rededication and a libation.

1. Invocation - for sailing vessels, the Gods involved are obviously Neptune and Aeolus, but for dogs... I’m not sure. Canis Minor is commonly represented as one of the dogs following the constellation of Orion, the hunter. Ging is definitely a hunter, and also small. So perhaps Orion? She is also a terrier, which means “going to ground”, or “earth”, so perhaps Gaia needs to be CC’d on this? I’d love to hear opinions on this.

2. Expression of Gratitude - Mostly thanks for keeping Ging safe, and also for Varen, since the hand wound was able to be cured.

3. Supplication - according to Vigor, we should have asked for the previous name to be struck and removed from the records before we renamed her. Oops! Well, maybe better late than never. We unfortunately don’t know her previous name, so that will require the Akashic record librarians to conduct a card catalogue search. How long should we allow for that?

4. Rededication - present the vessel for blessing with another name.

5. Seal the pact with a libation. With boats, this is champagne (the finest you can afford) poured over the bow. All of it, don’t take a sip. And this is where I hit on a bit of a conundrum. Because if this is an offering to Orion, then he’s going to want red meat... and we’re vegetarian.

At first, this was a bit of a problem, but I realized that I already purchase meat dog food for the dogs. And I recall the story of Cain offering a displeasing sacrifice... So I think that maybe this time, Orion will be getting red meat. After all, I don’t need to eat it. And in a funny way, I’m sacrificing something too... my vegetarian principles.

So here’s a question of etiquette: Should Ging eat the red meat, or should it be offered only to the Gods? I see that in religious tradition, the first offering is to the Divine, and then the people can chow down. So maybe the first meat goes to Orion, but then Ginger gets hers? I think she’d bite me if I didn’t give her a taste.

What? Me a practicing Witch Doctor? I got my license online.