from the pen of icarus blake

Bloganuary writing prompt

Write about your first name: its meaning, significance, etymology, etc.

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The act of naming is strange.  As a nonbinary person, I’ve been named a number of times — by my parents, by my friends.  This blog itself is written under a penname, but the name I use when I publish is no less real than the names I use with my friends or family.  In many ways, a name signifies a mindset.

I chose my penname (obviously).  The idea being to take a name that follows in the footsteps of occult writers, inventing a name that reflects my goals as a writer.

Icarus comes from the greek myth of Icarus and Daedalus, who find themselves trapped on an island.  Daedalus uses wax and the feathers of seabirds to make them both wings upon which to fly.  Icarus, being young and ambitious, flies too high and collides with Apollo in the clouds.  The story is used as a touchstone nowadays warning against hubris, of reaching beyond your station.  At the same time, folks use the imagery of wax wings as an indicator of striving.  Of working towards a lofty goal despite the warnings of others who may be too afraid to reach for those same goals themselves.  The story of Icarus, in this way, becomes less a story of hubris and more a story of escaping a bucket of crabs.

Blake is a fun name, with an interesting etymology.  Blake originates from the Old English Blaac and Blac — two very similar words indicating either very light coloration or very dark coloration.  Blake is a name that is a metaphorical shade of gray.  In meaning both “black” and “white” it encompasses all that remains in between.  A skill largely lost in our modern society.  You are either with us, or against us.  Vaccines either work, or they don’t.  The name Blake reminds me to leave room for the “sort of, not really”s of life and see the infinite variations and truths within them.  Truth is far more complicated than fiction, after all, no matter how hard I try to make my fiction reflect reality.

So you stick them together and get Icarus Blake.  I doubt that my name will become a pseudonym as others have — no one will write under Icarus Blake as they write under Hermes Trismegistus or Albertus Magnus or Plato — but I can still sign off with it and remind myself what I want to write for.  

So in the meantime, strive for impossible goals and enjoy all the beautiful shades of gray our world has to offer.

With love, Icarus Blake