Sigil Making for Fun or Profit

Sigil- a inscribed or painted symbol considered to have magical power, a sign or symbol.

So, why use sigils? The easy answer is they are powerful and easy to use. They can be as subtle or as in your face as need be and they can be used in conjunction with other magics with ease. Unless you belong to a magical tradition that has premade sigils, sigil making is a personal act. Many practitioners believe that the act of creating a sigil for yourself imbibes it with greater power.

Historically, sigils are believed to go back to the Neolithic Era and in one form or another appear in almost all known cultures in human history. The word “Sigil” comes from the Latin word sigillum which means “seal.” In the high magick of the Medieval Period, sigils as Angelic or Demonic Seals (or name symbols) was very popular. Folk witches of the time are believed to prefer runes or personal symbols to represent magical intentions. As Ceremonial Magick evolved the use of “kameas” or magick squares to create sigils became popular. A kamea is a gridded square with letters or numbers in each square where the name of the spirit being invoked was connected with lines to make a scribbled symbol. This style of sigil making is used to this day. In the 20th Century, occultist Austin Osman Spare applied modern psychology to the occult and deduced that instead of calling upon the entity with a sigil, the magick user should call upon the idea or concept being invoked. He called his new symbols “glyphs.” Spare and Chaos Magicians began rearranging the letters of the intention into a stylized monogram and then used a meditative state to implant that sigil into the unconscious. For the magician, sigils became the personal “company logo” of one’s intentions.

Modern witches have not only adopted the intention aspect of sigils or glyphs, but they expanded the use of them. Today, you see witches using sigils as daily affirmations, extended-release spells, personal logos, and to add extra power to spells and rituals. Creating sigils can be as simple or complex of a process as the witch feels is needed.