Friday 30 July 2010

On choosing a title

Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
--William Butler Yeats

When I decided not to break from this blog completely, I knew it needed to be completely redesigned to fit me. A good friend had just created a new blogger site, so I knew there were more options. I didn't expect to find one that made me go 'YES', as there weren't a lot of options. Then I found the antique maps. Fabulous. And the fact that a deep burgundy was an option (though the other colours were gorgeous), made it even more fabulous.
The 'About me' was nearly four years old. That was easily sorted with some minor editing.

Easy enough. But now, the tough part - the title. 'Out of the frying pan...into the friary?' referred to my last job with the Dominicans.

Lose the title, clearly. But WHAT?

I'm training to be a psychotherapist, so I wanted that to get that angle in. Love Jung, so he needed a nod. Definitely want to discuss sex in this blog, so 'sensual', check. Want to discuss my path to God - so 'spiritual'. Loving the juxtaposition of those two. And I'm terribly sensible. So...

Sensible, spiritual, sensual psycho...therapist?

Mmmmmmmmm. Missing something. I'm a twilight girl, I love the night, the underworld, the world of intuition. I almost never pay attention to shiny surfaces or the shallows - I move into the dark and the deep quickly.

HOW to bring that into it? I was going to give it up, until Cloister and I ended up discussing it on facebook:

Hey! It looks great! I LOVE the colour! What you thinking in terms of title? ARe you going to keep it will religious musings? Could you have something that sums up the thought, 'If SHE didn't say YES, you lot would be *********'? Go for something cheeky anyhow! xx

I want to change the title, definitely. I would LOVE to have that idea, but I'll be talking about psychotherapy, dreams, etc. too. Ideas? What suits me?

Jungian thought? Musings of an INFJ? (what are you?) Or literary ref. Yeats: 'Had I the heavens embroidered cloths, enwrought with golden silver light, the blue and the dim and the dark cloths, of night and light and the half-light, I would spread the cloths under your dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet, tread softly because you tread on my dreams.' Yeats - My favourite, and it suits you. Would inspire the title 'Tread Softly', or 'the night and half light of dreams' or dreaming night and half light' or, to combine religion and dreams, perhaps, 'The half light of the cloths of heaven', 'Heaven's Night', etc - you play with words! xxxx

And there it was - that electric 'yes' - when I saw the second title suggestion in her last sentence. A title that was home. My twilight title, that allowed for a subtitle about sensuality, spirituality and psycho...therapy.

I look at my blog now and I love it - I've played with the name for comments, links, rating buttons...and it's completely and utterly mine.

Also, I learned a valuable lesson: I don't have to struggle through it all - even something as simple as finding a blog name - alone.

Sometimes, even I need to get by with a little help from my friends.

4 comments:

Cloister said...

Awwww! I'm melting! Thanks! I do LOVE the colour, and i LOVE the title too! That poem is very special to me, and now I am very happy that it will be special to you too. You are right this blog is totally yours! Have fun with it, and enjoy your twilight musings about the heavens and all they contain! Tread softly. Love E

CEAD said...

Cloister: major kudos for thinking of this poem. It's gorgeous, and it's so perfect for Irim.

She'enedra: I liked the old incarnation of this blog, but there's so much more pure Irimity in the new one, from the title to the colours to the blurb to the strands of starlight. I love it.

Ari.xx

Anonymous said...

The effect of the colours is interesting, but as someone with not-too-good eyesight I find it quite difficult reading blue against burgundy...or is that the intended effect, to have us concentrate further?

Pragmatic Mystic said...

No, it wasn't - I'm sorry, hon. It was just to differentiate. Will change that. xx