Sigils

This is the final episode of 2021. I really can’t believe the year this has been. As I have been looking back through my journals, I am really just astonished at how differently this year has gone compared to what, I guess, I expected. But I always say, I am not a psychic, and I never know what the hell is going to happen next. I really don’t. I guess that’s part of the fun of life. 

There are some things that went exactly as I’d hoped, several things that did not go at all the way I hoped, and some other things that are even better than I’d hoped. I never talk about spells that I’m working until long after they’re done, but I feel comfortable saying that, looking back over some of the spells I put into place this past year, I did pretty well. I got a promotion at work that I really wanted, and I got the exact raise that I had done a lot of spellwork for. I did a spell to encourage a person who had made my life, and the live of others, pretty miserable to leave and go away, and I’m happy to report that this person has had a major life event, that they actually had been hoping for, that has caused them to piss off and leave us alone.

 

There are a couple others that were even more significant that I’m still not ready to talk about, but overall, I am so pleased with the magick I’ve been able to perform this year. But it isn’t all spells, my family is doing well, my kids are healthy and happy and making decisions about their own futures and I’m excited for them to see where things lead. My husband and I are well, we have a happy home, and we are at peace. These are all things for which I am immensely grateful.

 

And of course, the project that I never even saw coming, this podcast, has become such a huge joy for me. I’ve met some great witches at every level of the craft because of it, I’ve made some priceless connections, and I’ve grown as a woman and as a witch. So what could I possibly try and put into motion for 2022? Well, more. More of everything. I’ve done 21 episodes of this podcast since I began in August, and I plan to do another 52 next year.

 

So among other things, when the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve, I am sending out intentions for this podcast. I’ve talked a little about how powerful the energy is on New Year’s Eve and how it can be really great for giving your manifestations a jump start, and baby, let me tell you, I am dead serious about that. Write your intentions, carve your candles, draw your sigils, and make this New Year’s energy work for you.

 

And speaking of sigils, of course, brings me to today’s topic. Now all a sigil is, truly, is any symbol that’s used in magic. Traditionally, sigils were the occult symbols of angels or demons, and would be used by practitioners to exert some measure of control over those entities, and thereby allow them to sort of make the angel or the demon perform some sort of work for and on behalf of the practitioner. I’m sure plenty of occult schools still use these kinds of sigils in these ways and I wish them the best of luck with that. But as I don’t generally summon angels OR demons if I can help it, this isn’t a method I can expand on without resorting to just straight up bullshitting you. And that is not how we roll here on the Middle-Aged Witch podcast. 

 

Now chaos magicians saw what the mystery schools were doing with sigils and said, “Oh that’s nice, but I’mma make it better. And the pioneering chaos magician Aspen Spare developed a method of condensing words and phrases into these stylized monograms that are then charged with the practitioner’s energy and intention, and sent out into the universe by the magician to call in the desired outcome. Which is typically how most witches are using sigils, too, even if they’re designing them in a different way.

 

The Spare method is probably the easiest way for a witch to get their feet wet in designing sigils, because it’s so straightforward, and these sigils do tend to work very well. A very common variation of the Spare method is this: you first spend some time creating a simple phrase that evokes exactly what your desired outcome is. For example you may have a job interview coming up, so your phrase might be ‘I get this job’ which is very simple but this is just an example. 

 

So you’ll write your phrase down and then go through the letters and cross out the vowels and any repeating consonants. So in my example there are two… T’s, in that phrase so you’ll cross one out. The letters that remain are going to be… hold on let me do this on paper, I don’t know what I was thinking trying to do this in my head… that was ambitious of me. I get this job, ok so the letters that remain are G T H S J  and B. You will then take those remaining letters and arrange them in some sort of monogram-style design, you can overlap them or interconnect them, just play around with the letters until you come up with a design that is visually pleasing for you, or that makes the impression you’re looking for. Take your time with this. 

 

If you’re going to bother doing a spell for something, you may as well spend some time and effort on it. And don’t wait until it’s something big to do your first sigil, start small and get comfortable with the process. There’s another way to do this that incorporates numerology and magic squares, it’s called the Lo Shu grid method, but I can’t really describe it well enough to make it make sense. So I will be posting a short video on FB and Instagram demonstrating how to do it. It’s actually very simple, it’s just very visual, so there’s that disclaimer.

Link to that video via Facebook

Now, just so we’re clear, you can make your sigil look any way you want. There does not actually need to be any part of the written word incorporated into your design for it to be effective. It is the individual witch who gives the sigil its meaning and decides how it’s going to be used and what it’s going to represent. So if you meditate with your phrase or intention for a while and an image just comes to you, use that. Or you can try a form of automatic writing where you sit with some paper and a pen and just think about your desired outcome and let your pen flow over the page until an image emerges.

 

Another way to create a sigil, that I am kind of fond of because visually and artistically, I am not super creative, is to borrow from existing symbolism. I have a book called the Complete Book of Amulets and Talismans, and I’ll post it in the show notes, that is chock full of ancient symbols and it gives pretty good explanations for their meanings and they were originally used, and sometimes, if I am looking to create a particularly powerful sigil, I might refer to this book for inspiration. 

 

But you do not need to buy anything to create a sigil and Google is free. You can use planetary and zodiac symbols, alchemical symbols, runes, hieroglyphs, Celtic symbolism, you can draw on your own ethnic heritage and look for meaningful symbols there. You can incorporate numerology, simplified drawings of animals, tarot card imagery, you can create a literal drawing of the thing you’re manifesting. If it’s a new apartment or something, draw a super simple house. 

 

The point is, it doesn’t matter what the symbol IS, it only matters that the symbol represents something specific TO YOU. So again, spend some time creating the design, draw it, erase it, change it, add to it, subtract from it. When you find the design that works, you’ll know it. 

 

And now that you’ve got it, it’s time to charge it. This process is important because now that we have the symbol we want, we need to give it power and meaning. So draw your final symbol on a physical piece of paper and choose your favorite charging method. You can charge your symbol however you like, there is no right or wrong way. And you can meditate with it, you can charge it with crystals, you can charge it in sunlight, moonlight, using your own orgasms is a really powerful way to charge your sigil. 

 

And I wanted to mention, when you draw your final sigil, the one you want to finalize, so to speak, consider drawing it with charged ink. You can make a version of your own witch ink by combining ashes from old spells, if you have burnt coals leftover from old ritual fire pits or your own fireplace, especially from your Yule log, you can grind those together as well, you can throw in specific herbs, powdered incense, any essential oils that are meaningful to your intentions, etc. And mix it with a little moonwater or Florida water until you have the consistency you want. Then use your finger or a paint brush to draw your sigil.

 

So anyway, your sigil is created, you’ve drawn it, and you’ve charged it. Now what. Well, the cool thing is you can do whatever you want to do with it. For a lot of witches, the sigil itself is the culmination of the spell. For these witches, all of the psychic energy  created, from the first moment of meditating about the intention itself, to the research into the symbols or shapes they use, to the design process, the trial and error of discovering the final sigil itself, to the charging of the sigil, that is for them the actual spell. 

 

The last step is just to burn it and allow all of the energy they’ve created to pour out into the universe and begin to call in their manifestation. And let me assure you, this is very effective. If this is what you decide to do with your sigil, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. 

 

But depending on the purpose of the sigil, you may want to use it differently. You can also carve your sigil into a candle, if you plan to use candle magic for your spell. You can write it in a small piece of paper and add it to a spell jar or mojo bag. If the intent of the sigil is directed at a specific target, like a business where you would like to work, or the home of a person who’s been pissing you off, you can write this sigil on the sidewalk or a tree using chalk. If your sigil is a personal power symbol, you can use it in any of the ways we already described, and you can draw it on your body.

 

I have a power sigil that I like to use when I’m going to be in a situation when I feel like I might want a little extra confidence, and I like to draw it in dragon’s blood oil on my wrists or over my solar plexus chakra (which is associated with self-confidence and self-esteem). If your sigil is for a health-related issue, you might draw it on your skin over the corresponding part of your body where your condition originates. 

 

If your sigil is, for example, to increase or intensify your psychic abilities, you might draw it on your third eye with vitamin E oil, or even your regular moisturizer. Sigils for increasing beauty are drawn on the face in either moisturizer or concealer before being blended in. Witches will draw sigils on the soles of their shoes as a symbolic way of helping them literally get to their manifestations. Sigils are kept in wallets to increase wealth.

 

I have a sigil on my laptop to help me in my work. Trace your sigil into your coffee with your spoon. Put a sigil under your pillow for better sleep, or maybe prophetic dreams, put one under your mattress to make your relationship stronger. I’m going to get a couple emails explaining to me that sigils are meant to be burnt and that’s it, and using them any other way just treats them like an talisman. And while I agree, sort of, I also don’t care about arguing the semantics.

 

A talisman is basically a good luck charm engraved with some sort of protective symbol. Talismans are very useful, very effective, and I personally have several that I use for different applications. But the sigil is so much more personalized and therefore customizable for just about any purpose, and it aids the witch who made it in manifesting something very specific to that witch. It isn’t a general use, multipurpose symbol. It is so much more. And that’s why I don’t mind using the term sigil to describe them, even when they’re used differently to how they were originally devised.

 

So for your New Year, this is just a humble suggestion, it might be cool to work a sigil into your spellwork. I think it’s also worth mentioning that we have a new moon this weekend, on Sunday. And I know as witches we love the full moon and it’s super useful to our work, but let us not forget the power of the dark moon. It represents new beginnings, and the start of a new journey

 

If we can combine the power of Friday night’s New Year’s eve celebrations, that absolute orgasmic release of collective energy when the clock strikes midnight, with the power of optimism and forward thinking associated with the first day of January on Saturday, a brand new year, a blank slate, and then carry it over to the new moon on Sunday, we can have a sigil that is so goddamn charged, it’s practically vibrating. You burn that baby on Sunday evening, and then just, let it go. 

 

That’s the very last thing to know about using sigils. Don’t ruminate on it, don’t become preoccupied by wondering when you’ll get those results. Don’t start worrying that it’s taking longer than you’d hoped, or that you’ve thought of a better looking sigil you could have used. Just don’t think about it anymore. Easier said than done, I know. But once you’ve done the work, the magic is released. Just relax, and watch what happens for you this year.

 

I will be back next week to talk about Retrogrades, but in the meantime, happy new year, and happy new moon. My name is Eli, and this has been the Middle-Aged Witch podcast.

 

Complete Book of Amulets and Talismans by Migene Gonalez-Wippler