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Asigil (/ˈsɪdʒɪl/)[1] is a type of symbol used inmagic. The term usually refers to a pictorialsignature of aspirit (such as anangel,demon, ordeity). In modern usage, especially in the context ofchaos magic, a sigil refers to a symbolic representation of the practitioner's desired outcome.
The termsigil derives from theLatinsigillum (pl.sigilla), meaning "seal".[2] Inmedieval magic, the termsigil was commonly used to refer to occult signs which represented variousangels anddemons which the practitioner might summon.[2]
Magical training books calledgrimoires often listed pages of such sigils. A particularly well-known list is inThe Lesser Key of Solomon, in which the sigils of the 72 princes of thehierarchy of hell are given for the magician's use. Such sigils are considered by some to be the equivalent of thetrue name of the spirit and thus granted the magician a measure of control over the beings.[3]
A common method of creating the sigils of certain spirits was to usekameas, a special use case ofmagic squares—the names of the spirits were converted to numbers, which were then located on the magic square. The locations were then connected by lines, forming an abstract figure.[4]
The word sigil [...] has a long history inWestern magic. The members of theGolden Dawn were perfectly familiar with it ("combining the letters, the colours, the attributions and their Synthesis, thou mayest build up a telesmatic Image of a Force. The Sigil shall then serve thee for the tracing of a Current which shall call into action a certain Elemental Force") and it was used in the making oftalismans. The sigil was like a signature or sign of an occult entity.[5]
English artist and occultistAustin Osman Spare (1886–1956) developed his own unique method of creating and using sigils, which has had a lasting effect on modern occultism. Spare did not agree with medieval practice of using these, arguing that such supernatural beings were simplycomplexes in the unconscious, and could be actively created through the process of sigilization.[6][5]
Spare's technique became a cornerstone ofchaos magic.[7] It also influenced artistBrion Gysin, who experimented with combining Spare's sigil method with the traditional form of magic squares:
Calligraphic magick squares were one of the techniques most commonly applied by Gysin. He would reduce a name or an idea to a "glyph" and then write across the paper from right to left, turn the paper and do the same again, and so on, turning the paper around and around to create a multidimensional grid... The same techniques and consciously driven functional intention also permeated his paintings. In a very real sense, everything he created was an act of sorcery.[8]
Inchaos magic, following Spare, sigils are commonly created in a well-ordered fashion by writing an intention, then condensing the letters of the statement down to form amonogram. The chaos magician then uses thegnostic state to "launch" or "charge" the sigil—essentially bypassing the conscious mind to implant the desire in the unconscious.[9][7] To quote Ray Sherwin:
The magician acknowledges a desire, he lists the appropriate symbols and arranges them into an easily visualised glyph. Using any of the gnostic techniques he reifies the sigil and then, by force of will, hurls it into his subconscious from where the sigil can begin to work unencumbered by desire.[9]
After charging the sigil, it is considered necessary to repress all memory of it. In the words of Spare, there should be "a deliberate striving to forget it".[6]
In modern chaos magic, when a complex of thoughts, desires, and intentions gains such a level of sophistication that it appears to operate autonomously from the magician's consciousness, as if it were an independent being, then such a complex is referred to as a servitor.[10] When such a being becomes large enough that it exists independently of any one individual, as a form of "group mind", then it is referred to as anegregore.[11][12]
Later chaos magicians have expanded on the basic sigilization technique.Grant Morrison coined the termhypersigil to refer to an extended work of art with magical meaning and willpower, created using adapted processes of sigilization. Theircomic book seriesThe Invisibles was intended as such a hypersigil.[7] Morrison has also argued that moderncorporate logos like "theMcDonald's Golden Arches, theNike swoosh and theVirgin autograph" are a form of viral sigil:
Corporate sigils are super-breeders. They attack unbranded imaginative space. They invadeRed Square, they infest the cranky streets of Tibet, they etch themselves into hairstyles. They breed across clothing, turning people into advertising hoardings... The logo or brand, like any sigil, is a condensation, a compressed, symbolic summoning up of the world of desire which the corporation intends to represent...Walt Disney died long ago but his sigil, thatfamiliar, cartoonish signature, persists, carrying its own vast weight of meanings, associations, nostalgia and significance.[7]
