What’s in a Name?
What is my name?
o what is my name
that I may offer it back
to the beautiful world?
—Mary Oliver, in “The Book of Time”
Adam and Erin with Malik, our new godson. His Nahuatl name is 12 Miquiztli.
What’s in a name? What’s important about names, and what meaning do they convey?
What matters about a moment in time? Why do some moments bring unknown opportunities and challenges, whereas others feel easy and simple to navigate?
On November 5, 2021, a baby was christened in a ceremony led by don Davíd Wiley, the leader of our tradition, in our temple in Tepoztlán, Mexico. Malik’s traditional name and the flower of his young life were honored and held up to the community as sacred and blessed.
As his godparents, Adam and I brought offerings to the consecrated altar of our tradition, to request blessings for him. We also gave him handmade gifts. First, we gave him some small presents for a little boy to love and wear. We carefully chose other gifts for a young person: for a growing boy, a young man to grow into and deserve. We love him. Above all, we dedicate ourselves to giving him something to live up to.
In our understanding of sacred time in my tradition, his name speaks of an important “cargo” or burden to carry in this life. Embodied in this sacred name, his potential is inherent in him. It is the expression of the precious moment of his emergence into the sunlight of this world at birth. His name, the special moment in time that manifests as him, speaks volumes. It forecasts his potential as he comes to fruition through the phases of his life. It foreshadows the challenges on his path ahead. If he is guided by a specialist in sacred time in our tradition, he may receive mysterious but helpful tools and illumination to find his way back to the path when he becomes distracted or thrown off by life’s slings and arrows.
How well do we learn our lessons in life? For Malik, his parents, Amel and María, will be excellent guides. For our part, we hope that the support of our love, our example, our gentle advice will complement and bolster his parents’ leadership, helping him to stay the course and navigate the choppy ocean waters of this human existence.
And all four of us, María, Amel, Adam and I, look to his sacred moment in time, his sacred name, to offer clues —something like a navigational map— to his path, his challenges, his mistakes, his redemption, and to the flowering of his special and unique destiny.
We all hold the vision, seeing him blossoming into a strong and courageous man who will benefit his whole community with his centering presence through all the stages of his life.
“Here is our blessing for Malik, 12 Miquiztli:
May you offer your blessed name, your embodiment of sacred time, back to the beautiful world through your life’s flowering. In every moment, we honor you as you become more and more yourself.”
Enjoy these moments from Malik’s christening!
Special thanks to photographers Alejandro Ruiz and Leticia Gamboa!
Adam and Erin with Malik in Mexico
Initiated as tradition-holders in the Nahua/Mexican weather worker lineage in May 2003 by don Lucio Campos de Elizalde of Nepopualco, Morelos, Mexico, Adam Laufer and Erin Everett are weather workers, life counselors, ceremonial leaders, and tepahtiani traditional healers. Adam is known in Nahuatl as a quiapaquiz (male weather worker), and Erin is known as a quiatlzques (female weather worker). In Spanish, they are known as tiemperos or graniceros. Like her teachers before her, Erin was struck by lightning in her youth, which is a known calling to this path. Residing in western North Carolina, they and their colleagues work with weather in the Asheville, NC geographical region. More information about their work, tradition, and elders can be found at throughout this website, especially on the Our Story page.