Book of Shadows

Sigil Magic

"Consciously willing to have something rarely works. The mind loves to play sick games on and with itself. Having the conscious desire often triggers a host of ego complexes revolving around anxiety over failure, self-worth issues, or fear of success. [...] Sigil magic instead tries to work the will through the greatest magician-- the subconscious-- thus bypassing the ego complexes and the mind altogether." -Andrieh Vitimus, Hands-On Chaos Magic

Sigil magic isn't exactly easy, but it is the simplest type of magic out there. It's turning a desire into a little symbol, and then that symbol into a spell. It's super easy to make a sigil. You can intuitively sketch a symbol to represent your desire, or you can use the classic letter method. For example, lets take the letters in my name:

N Y X S H A D O W H A W K

The first thing I would do is take out all the vowels, leaving me with: N Y X S H D W H W K

Then, I would take out any repeated letters: N Y X S D K

That leaves me with six letters to make a symbol out of. I could combine them all into one design, or choose a magical alphabet and combine all of those symbols into one design. I might also choose magical or astronomical symbols to add to my design. Eventually, I'll end up with a single, simplified glyph.

Instead of using a name, you would probably make your sigil out of the letters in your statement of intent. You phrase your desire as a statement of intent, such as, "It is my will to pass the Astronomy test tomorrow." Not "I would like to..." but "It is my will to." State it with conviction and confidence! You can then turn the letters in your statement into a glyph. Once you have a glyph, you can charge it and put it somewhere safe, or just somewhere. You can put sigils anywhere! Write them on post-it notes. Draw them in the soil. Draw them on your skin and then wash it off, or make it into a henna tattoo that eventually fades away. Slap the glyph anywhere you like. Then forget about it until the spell works. You have to forget about it, or else you'll keep messing it up with your intentions instead of leaving it to do its thing.

Sigils are usually glyphs, but technically a sigil can be anything you attach an intention to. You can make a sigil out of a song you wrote, or a perfume (Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab!), or a mantra, or a poem. You can use any method you like to make a sigil, you don't have to use the letter method. Since sigils work with the subconscious, it might be a good idea to improvise a glyph or to use symbols you find in meditation.

Sigils are very easy to make. The hard part comes with actually making sure of your desire. You have to make sure you're as specific as possible about what you want. What do you really want? Do you want money, or do you want the stuff that you can get with the money? Do you want to get into a "good" school, or a school you'll be happy with? Do you want another person to like you, or do you want a friend you'll be compatible with? Sigils work, once you get the hang of them, so you have to make sure you actually want what you asked for. (Also, make sure your statement actually has a means of manifesting. "It is my will to marry Taylor Swift" is unlikely to manifest. It's possible-- anything is possible-- but it's extremely unlikely. You'd be better off casting a spell to meet Taylor Swift.) Be careful with your intentions, becuase it's always possible for you to get what you want but not in the way you expected.

It's generally best to make your own sigils, since they're unique to your intention and your subconscious, but if you really want to, you can use internet sigils. I've got a whole Pinterest board of them: https://www.pinterest.com/nyxshadowhawk/sigils/