Sigils

From SourceryForge

Sigils are a convenient way to tie a complex energy concept to a simple action.

For some, it's a bit like adding a web-page to your shortcuts. You simply scribe/draw the sigil, and the effect you've attached to it happens. This allows the user to condense a previously complex operation (such as opening a series of Planar Gates ) to a single action.

For others, sigils must not only be drawn, but charged. This may be done in a number of ways; many involve burning the sigil at the end.

Creating a sigil is generally done in one of two ways. Either the user will receive insight into the sigil design and purpose as a random/predestined event, or they will know what they want and work out the sigil by a process of intuition and imagination. A sigil generally has meaning only for its designer/user, any further meaning attributed to it by others can be considered a side effect of their belief in the designer's authority.

Austin Osman Spare (born 1886, died 1956) first described the creation of sigils in his 1913 work, The Book of Pleasure (Self Love): The Psychology of Ecstasy.

Grant Morrison's Pop Magic has an introduction to the way he does sigils.