As a teenager, I was fascinated by the occult; I was also a very secretive and private person. The word mysticism encompasses both (and many more), which is why it was chosen as my alias when I first started using the Internet. Moreover, due to its Greek origin, it was a discreet ode to my heritage, being Greek myself. There’s a few different approaches to the etymology of the word (links at the end), with most being rather similar. Mysticism as a practice can be very versatile, personal and perplexed. It can be perceived as pure, sinister, theistic, non theistic, philosophical, personal, rational, irrational… Whether you see mysticism under a religious or spiritual light, or as related to the mysterious and obscure, or as something entirely different, it is a fascinating word which commands your attention.
As the years went by, I kept using Mysticismlover as my social media alias. My online presence is forever linked to it. As a creative, who engages in many different projects and a plethora of creative media, I also wanted to use an actual name, rather than ‘just’ a word. That’s when I started going by Lara Black. Black is the absence of colour; it is the night, chaos, the unknown, the abyss; it represents despair, sadness, suffering… It suits me as a person, as an artist, and it goes well with most of my writing. However, I wasn’t – and still, I am not – ready to give up on Mysticismlover entirely: it represents a part of me, my art and my history. I have been both Mysticismlover and Lara Black for over a decade now. I acknowledge that that can be confusing, and even frustrating to those following my creative endeavours.
I decided that I will keep using both, each for different expressions of my creativity. Mysticismlover is still the alias I predominantly use online, and the alias connected to my visual arts/media creations. Lara Black is who I sign as under my written pieces. In the past, there had been a crossover between Mysticismlover and Lara Black in all the art forms I’d been involved with. From now on, music and auditory media, in general, are going to be the only ones for which I intend on using Mysticismlover and Lara Black interchangeably, depending on the project/piece.
I may make my mind up one day, and choose one over the other for all my creative endeavours, but until I’m ready to put either of them to rest, they will both continue to accompany me on my creative adventures.
Ps. On Mysticism:
– https://www.etymonline.com/word/mysticism
– https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mysticism#Etymology
– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mysticism#:~:text=Etymology,-See%20also%3A%20Christian&text=%22Mysticism%22%20is%20derived%20from%20the,induct%22%20and%20%22initiate%22.
– https://www.britannica.com/topic/mysticism
– https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/mysticism/
– https://muse.jhu.edu/article/610366#:~:text=Since%20we%20generally%20associate%20mysticism,knowledge%20of%20a%20god%2Dfigure
Mysticismlover 