Sigil

It's magical. It's intentional. And it only takes words.

I love when magic and writing overlap. Sigils are like magic’s gateway spells; they find their way into many circles, whether or not their makers call themselves “magicians.” Chances are, you’ve unconsciously gone halfway towards making a sigil at some point in your life.

Sigils begin with a written wish or desire.

To write a sigil, approach a wish as if it has already come true. Use positive rather than negative syntax to phrase it, i.e. “I love my job,” rather than “my boss stops treating me like crap.” When you have the right phrase, cross out vowels and repeat consonants and turn the remaining letters into a symbol, like a work of abstract art. Here’s a good step-by-steps, and a slightly longer how-to. There are also some great online classes about sigils, like those offered through Morbid Anatomy. For now, what’s important to know is that the process goes like so: 1) intention setting; 2) abstracting; 3) charging; 4) releasing. This is the way of the sigil.

And the way of the sigil has something to teach everyone.

1. Intention Setting

It’s one thing to vaguely wish for something, to say out loud or text someone “Gosh, I wish that ___.” But how often have you actually sat down to write down what you desire? Not a New Year’s resolution, or something you “should” do to be a better person, but a desire, something that you want.

Step one of making a sigil might be the hardest part. When you write out your intention, it can get tricky. Say, for instance, that you’re unhappy at your job, and you want to fix that. What do you write? If you say “I want a better job,” what’s “better?” More money? Better hours? More joy? The statement “I love my job” could lead to a demotion, with worse pay, better hours, but overall enjoyment that you didn’t foresee.

Answering the question, “What do you want?” brings up more questions.

What are you willing to give up? What are the non-negotiables? Writing down, and therefore making conscious, exactly what it is that you want is crucial for writing a sigil, and for life, really. Because if you’re not clear with yourself, the Universe (to use a New Age term), or the Field (to use a witchy one), or God (if that’s you’re thing), or the cosmic soup (is that a thing?) won’t know how best to return on your desire. Specificity and clarity are key.

Try it. Sit down and write a manifesto for your relationships, your work life, your personal life. What do you expect from each of these? You might surprise yourself.

2. Abstracting

The next part of making a sigil is turning your written words into a visual symbol. Some people get real fancy. You can bust out those paints you’ve been wanting to use, or you can simply pull out a ballpoint and a post-it. The point is: now that you’ve gotten specific and clear about your intention, it’s time to embed it back in your subconscious. Ironically, the goal is to forget the wording of the original intention. It’s kind of like that adage about watching a pot boil: nothing seems to happen if you’re too razor-focused on the end goal. A degree of ease and detachment is required, which leaves room for flexibility.

Why be flexible when the intention needs to be specific? Because magic is fluid, ever-changing. To court it, you need to have a bit of a fluid state of mind, to let it eddy and flow in ways you don’t expect. The best we can do is put safeguards around the non-negotiables and surrender to unpredictability.

3. Charging

Your sigil, like your phone, needs to be charged. (As do you.) “Charging” is an energetic process, and again, personal to each practitioner. It might be through trance, meditation, or visualization. If this sounds intimidating, just answer this: what’s the quickest way to affect cell-level change in your body? Breathing. It’s that simple. Charging can be as easy as focused, intentional breathing while looking at or visualizing the shape and feelings behind your sigil. Meditation doesn’t have to be fancy or part of a specific school of thought. Breathing is a form of meditation, one you can do for free, at any time, at any point of the day. So don’t forget to charge yourself. Whether or not it’s tied to an intention, breathing literally changes your body and your mind.

4. Releasing

Once your sigil is charged to your satisfaction, it’s time to release it into the world. Some say “destroy,” I say “release.” Burning is a popular way to complete a sigil, but I’ve been advised to have the release match the intention, and you might not want to burn your “I love my job” sigil unless you hope to throw everyone the middle finger and GTFO of that job. Another idea is putting your sigil in the compost or recycling. Or maybe it makes sense to shred it and distribute it across multiple trash cans. You could even hide it somewhere you’re likely to never see it again. You could bury it. The idea is to let it go. Let it do it’s thing, and go back to doing yours. That’s not to say that you stop working towards your goals, but it goes back to the boiling pot adage, striking a balance between focus / dedication, and ease / detachment. The detachment piece is especially important for those of us in workaholic cultures, because we need to remember that we’re not the products of our work. *Picture someone you trust clapping with each word*: You. are. not. the. product. of. your. work.

We can focus intensely on a goal, but then we need to let it go and return to ourselves, and our simple ability to breathe.

Takeaways:

We often want things without realizing that we want them. Our longings may be deep in our subconscious, but that doesn’t stop them from taking the wheel of our actions, decisions, and feelings without our noticing. It’s healthier (and more effective) if we bring them out and let them breathe a little bit. Then we can tuck them back into our subconscious as intentional seeds, rather than little puppeteers calling all the shots. Let’s call the shots of our own life, as much as we can. And it starts with writing.