Sigil (magic)

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An excerpt from Sefer Raziel HaMalakh, featuring various magical sigils (or סגולות, seguloth, in Hebrew).

A sigil (pronounced /'sɪdʒ.ɪl/ or /'sɪg.ɪl/; pl. sigila or sigils) is a symbol created for a specific magical purpose. The term sigil derives from the Latin sigilum meaning "seal," though it may also be related to the Hebrew סגולה (segulah meaning "word, action or item of spiritual effect"). The old norse binding rune is an example of the idea. However, sigila differ from runes as they are designed not to represent an alphabet but are created to form a glyph, composed of a variety of symbols or concepts which carry intent and inherent iconic meaning.

A sigil may have an abstract, pictorial or semi-abstract form. It may appear in any medium, physical or virtual, or only in the mind. Visual symbols are the most popular form, but the use of audial and tactile symbols in magick is not unknown.

Sigilia are commonly found in Jewish mysticism and Kabbalistic magic (being an especial focus of Sefer Raziel HaMalakh and other medieval Jewish mystical sources) upon which much of Western magic is based.

Austin Osman Spare, in his Zos Kia Cultus, refined the use of sigila by themselves, i.e. outside of ritual. His technique, now known as sigilization, became a core element of chaos magic and from there, has developed into a popular element of Western magic.

The theory that sigila are consciously used as magical tools by businesses (such as in the highly-recognized corporate logos of Coca-Cola and McDonald's) and invest them with a comparable degree of prestige and power is popular among occultists and a common element in conspiracy theories.

1 Using Sigilia
- 1.1 Charging the Sigil
2 Hypersigils
3 Other uses
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Using Sigilia

An example of a sigil.

The sigil takes a magical desire or intent and folds it down creating a highly charged symbol. This desire is then forgotten. Only the symbol remains and this can then be charged.

[edit] Charging the Sigil

To charge the sigil one must concentrate on its shape and hold that form in his or her mind while emptying the mind of all other thoughts.
Many magician's use various body mechanism for inducing brief 'no mind' like states. These include fasting, sex, spinning, exhaustion, fear, fight or flight responses etc. Some Magicians claim to utilize the process of masturbation for use of sigilia. Noteworthy proponents of this method are Peter Carroll in Liber Null, Phil Hine in Condensed Chaos, Grant Morrison in Pop Magic!, and Anton LaVey in The Satanic Bible.

The sigil can be written on a piece of paper, the hand, or anywhere the magician feels it will be more powerful.

[edit] Hypersigils

A 'hypersigil' is an extended piece of artwork, be it a novel, song, dance etc, that is created with a similar intent as a sigil. People attempting to create a hypersigil optimally want it to allude to and be referenced by multiple other artworks to reinforce its 'strength.' The term was possibly coined by Grant Morrison. He used the word to describe his purpose in writing the comic book series The Invisibles. Morrison considers it the key to a memetic complex created with magical intent.

[edit] Other uses

In order to meet Wikipedia's quality standards, this article's trivia section requires cleanup.
Content in the trivia section should be integrated into other appropriate areas of the article.

In the Megaman Battle Network (Rockman.EXE in Japan) video game series, all NetNavis have an individual, sigil-like symbol somewhere on their body (usually in the center of the chest or the beltline). When MegaMan.EXE executes Soul Unison/Double Soul, his sigil remains the same, rather than changing to that of the other Navi.

In the graphic novel series The Sandman, written by Neil Gaiman, each of The Endless can contact another by holding or touching the appropriate sigil and summoning them. They each keep a "gallery" for this purpose containing representations of the sigils of all their siblings, hung on the wall and framed. Death's sigil is the ankh; Destiny's is his book; Dream's is his large mask/helmet; Desire's is a heart, although in his/her own gallery it seems to be a pair of lips; Despair's is a ring with a hook, intended to snag your heart; Delirium's is swirling mist. Destruction's was a sword, but at the time of the story, he is incommunicado, and his sigil is absent from the galleries of the other Endless.

In the video game Oblivion, sigils are the power that keeps Oblivion gate's open. The player has to go into the Underworld to collect them to close the gates.

In the game Final Fantasy 10 sigils are the items that help power up the characters celestial weapons. These are considered by many gamers to be quite difficult to obtain.

In the video game Guild Wars, celestial sigils are used to buy Guild Halls, which allow players in that Guild to compete in Guild versus Guild matches. They are obtained either by winning the PvP area Heroes' Ascent or through purchase from a Sigil Trader.