Sigil (magic)
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Image:Sefer raziel segulot.png A sigil (pronounced /Template:IPA/ or /Template:IPA/; pl. sigila or sigils) is a symbol created for a specific magical purpose. The term sigil derives from the Latin sigilum meaning "seal," though it may also be related to the Hebrew סגולה (segulah meaning "talisman"). The old norse binding rune is an example of the idea. However, sigila differ from runes as they are designed not to represent an alphabet but are created to form a glyph, composed of a variety of symbols or concepts which carry intent and inherent iconic meaning.
A sigil may have an abstract, pictorial or semi-abstract form. It may appear in any medium, physical or virtual, or only in the mind. Visual symbols are the most popular form, but the use of audial and tactile symbols in magick is not unknown.
Sigilia are commonly found in Jewish mysticism and Kabbalistic magic (being an especial focus of Sefer Raziel HaMalakh and other medieval Jewish mystical sources) upon which much of Western magic is based.
Austin Osman Spare, in his Zos Kia Cultus, refined the use of sigila by themselves, i.e. outside of ritual. His technique, now known as sigilization, became a core element of chaos magic and from there, has developed into a popular element of Western magic.
The theory that sigila are consciously used as magical tools by businesses (such as Coca-Cola and McDonald's, with their highly-recognized corporate logos) and invest them with a comparable degree of prestige and power, is popular among occultists and a common element in conspiracy theories.
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Using Sigilia
In his essay "Pop Magic!", Grant Morrison explains the process for creating and activating sigilia as such:The sigil takes a magical desire or intent - let's say 'It is my desire to visit Rwanda' (you can, of course, put any desire you want in there) and folds it down, creating a highly-charged symbol. The desire is then forgotten. Only the symbol remains and can then be charged to full potency when the magician chooses.
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Charging and launching your sigil is the fun part (it's often advisable to make up a bunch of sigils and charge them up later when you've forgotten what they originally represented).
Now, most of us find it difficult at first to maintain the precise Zen-like concentration necessary to work large-scale magic. This concentration can be learned with time and effort but in the meantime, sigils make it easy to sidestep years of training. To charge your sigil you must concentrate on its shape, and hold that form in your mind as you evacuate all other thoughts.
Almost impossible, you might say, but the human body has various mechanisms for inducing brief 'no-mind' states. Fasting, spinning, intense exhaustion, fear, sex, the fight-or-flight response will all do the trick. I have charged sigils while bungee-jumping, lying dying in a hospital bed, experiencing a total solar eclipse and dancing to Techno. All of these methods proved to be highly effective but for the eager beginner nothing beats the wank technique.
Magical masturbation is more fun than the secular hand shandy, and all it requires is this: at the moment of orgasm, you must see the image of your chosen sigil blazing before the eyes in your mind and project it outwards into the ethereal mediaspheres and logoverses where desires swarm and condense into flesh.
The sigil can be written on paper, on your hand or your chest, on the forehead of a lover or wherever you think it will be most effective.
At the moment of orgasm, the mind blinks. Into this blink, this abyssal crack in perception, a sigil can be launched.
Hypersigils
A 'hypersigil' is an extended piece of artwork, be it a novel, song, dance etc, that is created with a similar intent as a sigil. People attempting to create a hypersigil optimally want it to allude to and be referenced by multiple other artworks to reinforce its 'strength.' The term was possibly coined by Grant Morrison. He used the word to describe his purpose in writing the comic book series The Invisibles. Morrison considers it the key to a memetic complex created with magical intent.
Other uses
- In the Megaman Battle Network (Rockman.EXE in Japan) video game series, all NetNavis have an individual, sigil-like symbol somewhere on their body (usually in the center of the chest or the beltline). When MegaMan.EXE executes Soul Unison/Double Soul, his sigil remains the same, rather than changing to that of the other Navi.
- In the graphic novel series The Sandman, written by Neil Gaiman, each of the Endless can contact another by holding or touching the appropriate sigil and summoning them. They each keep a "gallery" for this purpose containing representations of the sigils of all their siblings, hung on the wall and framed. Death's sigil is the ankh; Destiny's is his book; Dream's is his large mask/helmet; Desire's is a heart, although in his/her own gallery it seems to be a pair of lips; Despair's is a ring with a hook, intended to snag your heart; Delirium's is swirling mist. Destruction's was a sword, but at the time of the story, he is incommunicado, and his sigil is absent from the galleries of the other Endless.
References
- Liber Null and Psychonaut. Peter Carroll ISBN 0877286396
- Grant Morrison. 'Pop Magic!' from The Book of Lies Edited by Richard Metzger ISBN 097139427X