Dolly Talk: Sacred and Profane

I just finished doing a little aesthetic work on Drusilla to make her more "herself." I added the seal of the archangel Michael on her chest (over her heart) and scars on her back for her lost wings. Both appear like crosses between scars and burns, though the seal is decidedly more burn-like.


Story-wise she received the seal from Michael (at left) when he found out what happened and her death was ordered. He placed the mark as his "claim" and protection for her. The back scars are the physical representation of her angelic wings that are no more. She never actually had wings on her physical body, but these appeared after she inhabited it. Kind of like sympathy pains I guess.

This brings up the debate of using symbols (at times sacred ones) on something as trivial as a doll. I know there's at least one thread on DoA to discuss this issue as well as other similar ones like giving your doll the name of a god and so on. You can probably already tell where I sit in the debate from the beginning of this post.

As a general disclaimer for this post and some that will follow, I am a practicing pagan. A Hellenistic Reconstructionist if you want to get specific, but basically I practice in similar ways to what my Greek ancestors did. A good amount of my dolls are of the pagan persuasion, and that's partially an influence of my own beliefs and comfort zone.

I think it's important to approach anything of this nature be it symbol, name, or otherwise with a good deal of respect. Even if it's not something you personally subscribe to, that doesn't mean you shouldn't treat it respectfully. I have personal knowledge of the pagan symbols/details I've put into my characters, and as such I am comfortable with using them fairly freely. However when it came to Dru's symbol for example, I was slower to "jump" into things.

As a non-Christian, I wanted to make sure I knew just what the symbols meant before I did anything with them. The angel Michael was a favorite from when I was raised Catholic, so I was already familiar with some things attributed to him. I researched the seals and sigils of the angels and found several versions of Michael's, some of those with slight differences. The one I eventually went with can be found at this website, and was my favorite design-wise.

Overall I think it's important to do your research and know what you're putting on your doll. Realize that a simple design for you might be something very important for someone else. :)

Pictures of Dru are forthcoming.