Keys to the Kingdom. And Queendom.

There are many different "keys" by which we access the different realms and planes and temples. If you don't have the keys, there are places you cannot go. If you find your way there you may knock, but you may be turned away.

There are lots of keys in Italian Witchcraft: Passwords and phrases, hand gestures, imagery/signs, markings on the body, rites through which you have passed, as well as literal keys. "They" say that a key that has no door leads to wisdom. That, I believe, comes from the practice of imbuing an actual key with the energetic one- the energy signal by which you might open the astral temple if you know how.

I wondered about posting this, but nothing is holding me back (and in the past, the phone has gone dead or the words havent come out or the computer has randomly restarted itself when I was about to reveal something that wasn't ready to be brought to light) so let's do this:

Names are also a way by which you are identified on the other planes. Sometimes you are endowed with a name by your teacher, sometimes by The Gods themselves, sometimes by your Ancestors. In turn, you will learn their true name. I know many practitioners who have more than one name, lest your true one be discovered and used against you. Two people on this plane know my magical name. I also consider my mundane given name to be magical so I am happy using that rather than turning on the fluff-bunny-name-generation-2000. My given name is Majestic. I only use my given name in rituals with others, especially when I'm communing with the Wiccans. They don't need to know that magical identity, especially since it's a different stream of magic. 

Markings: I was born with a birthmark (not telling you where :P), I have a tattoo that I dreamed in the weeks before I turned 19 and had it done on Hallows Eve. Within the tat, there are symbols which serve as keys. I've heard whisperings of another tattoo to come. I've seen the place on my body, I've seen what it's supposed to be, but it's not time yet. The timing is a whole other matter.

There are phrases and bits of songs, that were so mundane to me while growing up, that I didn't realize I had been given a key until I was in the middle of using it years later. However... I've never used the keys to test others. Well, maybe one or twice back in the day when I was about to start rebelling lol I wasn't giving them away, I was being holier than thou, feeling all puffed up because I had something that someone else didn't. What can I say, I was a kid. Today? I don't really think about it unless I'm using them to journey others who haven't been certain places before, which is rare. I haven't really thought much about it before, but I don't know how universal my keys are. Do I have the Strega skeleton key? A hex key? haha gotta love the magic puns... But seriously, I don't know from other Italian family trads, so I've never really cared to whip em out and compare. I don't have people around me who flash the same magical signs that I'm down with. I wonder if that will change soon... I hope so!