Sigil Witchery Read online

  Vesica Piscis or Mandorla: The double-pointed oval, or almond shape, is the basis for several meaningful symbols. Most simply, it is an egg, seed, or nut (mandorla is Italian for almond). In many religious paintings, a mandorla frames the figure of a saint, spirit, or god like a halo, signifying their divine essence. In terms of the body, it is the yoni, invoking the vulva/female genitalia, and hence is the gateway to and from the vagina, uterus, ovaries, etc. The mandorla symbolizes entrance into this world, as well as feminine sexuality. Referencing the vesica piscis, we get a fish shape if we add a little triangle pointing into one of the oval’s points, making a tail. The fish is often associated with Christianity, but in other cultures it represents fertility, fluidity, and the element of water.

  Eye: Often found building upon the mandorla shape or sometimes a larger circle with concentric circles, the eye is a powerful symbol. Most obviously, the eye represents physical sight, but it can also represent psychic insight, spiritual wisdom, and intuition (the “third eye” or the Eye of Horus). In the countries that border the Mediterranean Sea, eyes are still painted on the prows of ships to bring added guidance and protection. Also throughout this region we find eye charms used to ward off the “evil eye”—a concept based on the belief that someone’s jealous gaze can harm your luck, prosperity, or fertility, even if it isn’t intentional. The eye charm then repels or reflects that gaze, protecting and blessing you. It literally is keeping an eye out for you, watching over you. (There are numerous charms used for this purpose, and a lot of fantastic lore, but the eye tends to be the most recognizable one.)

  Infinity and Hourglass: The figure eight, whether vertical or horizontal, is the symbol for infinity—an endless, fluid looping of energy. It’s an ideal symbol to use when you need to represent both stability and movement. If you flatten the rounded ends of the vertical eight, it becomes an hourglass. Therefore it is a symbol of time, limits, restrictions, rules, guidelines, and learning to balance.

  Wheels and Shields: When you overlap an X, perpendicular lines, or an asterisk with an open circle, you get wheels or shields. A separation of four parts can represent earth, air, fire, and water (the quadrants) bound by spirit (the circle). The X in the circle can feel like a target to draw or repel energy, depending on what else is around it (hence a shield). Creating six or eight “spokes” in the center of a circle makes a wheel for movement and change, or a cosmic pizza. (Think about it: sometimes a sigil is all about getting a slice of the pie.)

  Wings: The reason for adding wings to any shape is pretty self-explanatory: it adds a sense of flight, swiftness, elevation, lightness, and motion. Wings give the impression that whatever they surround will take off at any moment—and that an idea can soar or rise above. They can also symbolize “in memory of” in the sense of angel wings. Also, birds in many myths hold on to memories (especially ravens), keep or share wisdom (owls), or pass along gossip and news (songbirds).

  Key and Keyhole: Keys have a rich symbolic history. They can open doors or lock them to keep others out. They can grant access to another realm, and represent wisdom, maturity, success, and power. In terms of property, they allow access and bestow ownership. Inherently related to the key is the keyhole, the access point for the key. It is a place that is locked and protected, or represents the potential for something to be unlocked and revealed. Looking through it, we may get a peek into another world. The pair can take on sexual connotations, most commonly with the key as the tab and the keyhole as the slot.

  Scales: Scales are for weighing and finding balance, to determine the value, worth, or price of something. They also symbolize justice and a call to order. Think of the statue of blind Justice holding her scales, or the scene from the Egyptian Book of the Dead where the deceased’s heart is weighed against a feather to see if the individual was a good person in life.

  Anchor: The anchor of a boat functions to hold the vessel in place, to prevent it from drifting or getting caught up in the current and becoming lost. Therefore its inherent symbolism is of safety, security, stability, hope, and safe harbor. An anchor can also weigh or slow something down.

  Butterfly: The butterfly most commonly represents transformation, due to its metamorphosis from caterpillar to cocoon to its beautiful adult state. This winged insect can also signify happiness, lightheartedness, and whimsy. In chaos theory there is a concept known as the butterfly effect—the idea that one small, seemingly insignificant action can cause a large-scale chain reaction.

  Hand: Going all the way back to our cave-painting ancestors, the hand finds significance in every culture. We’ve long recognized its usefulness and ability to transfer power. When I incorporate a hand into a sigil, it’s most often the stylized symbol known as the hamsa, khamsa, or Hand of Fatima (or Mary). This is an open palm shape with the fingers together, and it protects, guides, blesses, and brings luck, happiness, and health. Other favorite hand shapes include the mano cornuto (sign of the horns) and the mano figa (fig hand), both of which ward off the evil eye but are more difficult to draw for a sigil. It’s best to keep sigils simple and linear.

  Spoon: While there are certainly classic associations for the spoon, I’m more interested in this one as an important modern symbol for our current society. The spoon theory is a metaphor that explains how someone living with a disability or chronic illness (often “invisible” since their illness may not be visibly apparent) has a limited amount of energy available for the regular activities of daily living and other tasks. Every activity requires a certain amount of “spoons.” Someone with one of these conditions who runs out of spoons must rest and recharge until their spoons are replenished. Therefore, the spoon can be a very important part of a sigil for someone fighting a chronic illness.

  Elements

  Sometimes you will want to represent an element or elements in your sigil. Two good options are pictographs and alchemical symbols. The pictograph version is the most intuitive, connecting each element with a shape or symbol that you probably already associate it with. Here are some pictograph examples:

  Earth: leaf or flower

  Air: feather or clouds

  Fire: flame

  Water: droplets or waves

  The alchemical versions take a little more getting used to—all of the elements are represented by upright or inverted triangles, with or without horizontal lines in them. I have included here the traditional set of symbols (earth, water, air, fire) as well as a modified version I came across in recent years. The modified version is almost identical to the traditional one, with the exception of earth and water being switched. I prefer it because it makes a little more sense to me. Why? Well, it feels to me that air and water, with their horizontal lines, show their capacity to fill spaces in fluid ways. Fire is all-consuming, and earth is typically solid, so their lack of lines reflects their absolute nature.

  Directions

  You may find it useful to reference the cardinal directions in your sigils. One option is to use a compass rose as a symbol for finding purpose or placement. Or you could choose to focus on a specific direction in regard to physical movement. Another way of considering direction is not in terms of using a letter to mark a direction (N, S, E, W) but rather how you place other marks in your sigil to represent direction-based correspondences. Do you need something to move to the east or stop in the west? Then use a symbol (like an arrow or an X) in that corresponding location on your sigil to aid your work. Here is a handy list of meanings we use in the Modern Tradition:

  North: earth, but also sky, upward motion, taking root for future potential growth

  East: air, right, moving toward the future, new direction

  South: fire, passion, returning to the ground/basics, renewal, sensual, sexual

  West: water, fluidity, to the past or coming from it, memory, dream, cleansing, immersion

  Numbers

  There are several ways you can incorporate numbers into your sigils. I�
��ve listed meanings for the most commonly used numbers (0–12) as well as 13, 21, and 42. If there is a certain number I haven’t listed that is meaningful for you—a birthday, an age, etc.—then by all means use it. One way is to incorporate the number itself as a symbol, using either the standard form of the number or the Roman numeral (or any way you prefer to draw numbers). Or you can use shapes repeated in a motif to represent a number, such as five dots, a single star, or ten lines. Also, don’t feel like you have to draw forty-two marks on a line. You can have seven six-pointed stars instead.

  Zero (0): pure, potential, clean, possibility, void, empty

  One (1, I): beginning, solidarity, single, prime, goal, self

  Two (2, II): duality, pairings, balance, compassion, equality, exchange

  Three (3, III): trinity, divine, trident, giving, blessing, past/present/future, fate

  Four (4, IV): balance, quarters, grounding, foundation, seeking roots, home

  Five (5, V): cycles, blessing, protection, family, guidance

  Six (6, VI): journey, movement, memory, passion, love, luck, 3 + 3

  Seven (7, VII): activation, action, sacredness, force, mystery, dreams

  Eight (8, VIII): achievement, infinity, strength, wisdom, success, wealth

  Nine (9, IX): doorway to completion, reflection, introspection, 3 × 3 and 3 + 3 + 3

  Ten (10, X): completion of a cycle, wheel, wholeness

  Eleven (11, XI): balance, twins, justice, combined strength

  Twelve (12, XII): preparation, waiting, introspection, a year, sets, tribes/tribal

  Thirteen (13, XIII): sacred, death, rebirth, lunar energy

  Twenty-One (21, XXI): universal, 7 × 3, luck, success

  Forty-Two (42, XXXXII): Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything,

  or 6 × 7

  Zodiac and Astrological Signs

  Sometimes you may want to reference a particular person’s energy, and an easy way to do that is to use the symbol for their astrological sign. I’m not huge into astrology, but when I give tarot readings I often ask the client what their zodiac sign is. It typically gives me an inside look into their personality so I can then deliver the best advice for what comes up in the cards. Why? Because I have found that various signs tend to have different physical, mental, and emotional approaches to problems and issues. Some people also identify very strongly with their sign as a way to explain themselves, and using the symbol in a sigil can help focus on the best attributes of the sign.

  In addition to the astrological sign associated with each zodiac symbol, there’s also the star constellation for each sign. That can be a more subtle way of incorporating the sign into a sigil, or one that you may find more meaningful. And while we’re considering the sky, there are also the symbols for the planets that are used in astrology. We already covered simple symbols that can represent other heavenly bodies, so it’s not much more of a stretch to consider the planets. So again, if that’s something you resonate with, then why not incorporate one of those symbols if it works for your goal?

  It’s also helpful to note that the twelve signs are also aligned with the elements. Aquarius, Gemini, and Libra are air signs. Pisces, Cancer, and Scorpio are water signs. Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius are of fire. And last but not least, the earth signs are Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn.

  Letters

  Letters are another option for symbols that you can use in your sigils. To avoid confusion, I would like to point something out about the method of sigil making that I described in the introduction. It’s a popular method developed by chaos magic folks, and it involves focusing your intent into a sentence and writing it down. Next you strike out all of the vowels to prevent your brain from creating word associations, and remove duplicate consonants. Then from there you build a design out of the remaining consonants to make your sigil. This is definitely one way to do it. But that’s not how we’ll be doing sigil witchery, and more specifically, this is not what I’m referring to in this section.

  For starters, I don’t have anything against vowels, nor do I have a preference for consonants. In fact, the chanting of vowel sounds is a handy way to attune and commune with deities and spirits in many paths. Nor do I think it’s especially helpful to disassociate from the words in order to trigger your right brain. As you’ll see in the next chapter, we’ll be using those words to develop connections to images that will help remind us of our goals.

  The main idea here is that you could include letters in your sigil in the form of initials to represent a person or the name of an idea. Consider the use of monograms and name jewelry, for example. They signify ownership and identity. When signing important forms, there are often sections where we must initial on the line to indicate “I have read and understand this part” versus using our full signature. Using somewhat recognizable initials in your sigil is especially helpful if you’re creating one that is meant to be a kind of logo or identifying mark. Lastly, if you’re going to use initials, pull the letters from the language you know best, rather than picking something out because it looks cool. Why add another layer of translation when you can be direct?

  Colors

  What color you draw your sigil in isn’t a huge deal. Just use whatever pen and paper you can find that will work for what you need, such as a piece of chalk for something that will be washed away, or a black Sharpie to put a hidden mark on your desk chair. But if you like adding additional associations and you have the time and resources to get fancy, here is a list of colors and their possible meanings to whet your appetite. You can make certain elements of your sigil different colors, or make it all one color. Remember, you may respond to a color in a different way from what I have listed here, so always go with your gut. These are only suggestions.

  Red: blood, fire, anger, passion, love, good luck, fertility, stop

  Orange: devotion, happiness, warmth, friendship

  Yellow: light, air, warning, alert, pause, slow down

  Green: life, hope, joy, fertility, growth, ecology, money

  Blue: water, sky, calm, wisdom, purification

  Purple: loyalty, justice, wealth, bravery, royalty

  Pink: love, romance, fertility, tenderness, children

  Brown: earth, humility, potential, returning

  White: purity, divinity, spirit, death, full moon

  Black: underworld, mystery, wholeness, new moon

  Silver: lunar, divinity, spirit, psychic power

  Gold: solar, divinity, spirit, physical power

  Other Symbol Systems

  This would be the part of the book where some of you might say, That’s cool, but where are the runes? What about Icelandic magic or Chinese characters? How about those Aboriginal or Berber markings you showed us in the first section? If you practice any of those paths or originate from them, then you should already have reference guides for knowing and using those symbols. If you don’t, then be prepared to do some serious research before incorporating those symbols into your work.

  My goal in this chapter has been to focus on common symbols found across many cultures that a wide variety of practitioners can identify with. I’m not a fan of using something just because it looks cool. You should understand what a symbol means, where it comes from, and how and why it’s used. This also goes for other magical alphabets such as Enochian, Theban, and Ogham. There’s the argument for secrecy, but you’re not writing a thesis here for others to read, you’re making a sigil.

  If you have a solid familiarity with a magical alphabet or symbol system, that typically means two things: (1) you respect and have a good relationship with it, and (2) when you see one of those symbols, it immediately generates that meaning in your head. It’s very important in sigil witchery to have the most direct line of communication between the left and right sides of your brain. If you see another alphabet and have to translate it in your head to anothe
r language and then send the meaning back again to the other side of your brain to form a picture, that’s a lot of extra work for the sake of looking cool.

  It doesn’t make you a better Witch or up your resumé to use alphabets and systems that don’t feel intrinsic to you. For example, I think the Runic alphabets look and are incredible, but I’ve never felt the pull to go deeper. Despite coming from a long line of people who liked to sleep with people from other cultures, I don’t have a family connection to that area. Long ago, when I was but a young Witchlet, the runes and I had a conversation that went like this: “It’s nice to meet you, but nope, this isn’t going to work out. Have a nice day.”

  Now on the other hand, tarot has always come naturally to me. I’m deeply fascinated with the multitude of systems and continue to study them. I often refer back to the tarot for numerical associations as well as other symbolic meanings. So if you do feel a pull toward a system or alphabet, then go ahead and take the time to study it. Become familiar with it, and then it will make far more sense to use it, as it becomes a part of you.

  Another question you might ask at this point is this: I’m a (whatever your trade/hobby is). Is it okay if I incorporate (related system) into my sigils? The answer is yes! If you’re a musician, then I think using musical notation makes perfect sense. If you’re a dancer and you have specific shapes that you use in notating choreography, then that has symbolic meaning for you. If you’re an engineer, then it could be symbols from equations. If you find additional meaning in these marks, then it makes sense to use them, as long as they help the process.