Left Hand Path666

Practical
Sigil Magic

■&

Creating Personal Symbols
for Success

Prater U.\D.

Contents

Other Books by the Author

Kursus der praktischen Magie
(A course of practical magic)

Forthcoming

Handbook of Sex Magick

Dance of the Paradigms: A Chaos Magick Primer

Introduction ix

Chapter 1: Austin Osman Spare and His Theory of Sigils 1

Chapter 2: Further Exploration of the Word Method 15

Chapter 3: The Magical Trance / Activating the Sigils 29

Chapter 4: The Pictorial Method 43

Chapter 5: The Mantrical Spell Method 55

Activating/Intemaiization of Mantrical Sigils
• Words of Power • Activating/Internalizing
Words of Power

Chapter 6: The Alphabet of Desire 63

The Alphabet of Desire as a Structuring Prin-
ciple • The Alphabet of Desire as a Mirror of
the Psyche

Chapter 7: Working with Atavistic Nostaligia 85

Chapter 8: But How Does It Work? 95

Sherwin's Model • Model A • Model B

Chapter 9: Constructing Sigils with Planetary Cameas ... 105
The Magical Cameas of the Planets ("Tables")
and the Seals and Sigils of the Planetary
Powers, Intelligences and Demons

Conclusion 123

Glossary 125

Comments 129

Bibliography 133

INTRODUCTION

Sigil magic, particularly the system developed by
the English painter and sorcerer Austin Osman Spare,
is one of the most efficient and economical disciplines
of magic. For the most part, it can be performed with-
out complicated rituals, needs hardly any parapher-
nalia, is independent of philosophical and dogmatic
premises and, due to its simplicity, can be learned
easily and quickly. Most important of all, none of the
magical techniques we know of today is more effi-
cient and will give even beginners the immediate
chance to convince themselves of its power and their
own abilities. These reasons alone support a volume
like the following to show the possibilities of this dis-
cipline and to explain its techniques and its rationale.
The reader— the complete tyro and the advanced
practitioner alike — will receive an introduction which
will accompany him/her in his/her magical practice
for a long time to come.

You will find in this edition in the following chap-
ter a reprint of my article "Austin Osman Spare and
His Theory of Sigils" from the, alas, now-defunct Ger-
man magazine Unicorn, issue 1/82. This issue has
been out of print for quite some time, but many readers'
inquiries have shown that there is still much interest

x/ Practical Sigil Magic

in this article, and it is increasing every day. Since the
article also covers some of the historical and philo-
sophical background of Spare's sigil magic, it might be
useful to present it here within a new context to a
greater audience.

The word method explained in the article will be
shown in greater depth in chapter 2. Further exam-
ples will be given, as well as comments and tips for
practical use which you will rarely find in literature
on this subject.

Next we will deal with the pictorial method.,
which has several advantages and disadvantages when
compared to the word method. Again, in accordance
with the title of this volume, magical practice will be
of primary importance.

A description of the mantrical spell method will
complete the techniques of sigil construction proper.
It is my hope that examples and commentaries from
my personal practice will provide you with many new
suggestions.

Although Spare's mysterious Alphabet of Desire
belongs, technically speaking, to the pictorial method
and in some respects touches the word method, it may
nevertheless be considered the center of his magical
achievement. Unfortunately, his own comments
about it are rather poor. Therefore, most writers, being
familiar with the subject on a theoretical level only,
have caused much confusion rather than clarity when
discussing it. Yet, it seems to me that the basic princi-
ple of this magical symbol language is amazingly sim-
ple if viewed in relation to Spare's system as a whole.

The chapter "The Alphabet of Desire," therefore,
will not only offer a cursory comment on fragments

Introduction / xi

from Spare's rather chaotic legacy but introduce a
mature system of symbol-logic, accessible to every-
one. This certainly would have been Spare's intent
had he ever finished what has become known as the
legendary Grimoire ofZos, i.e., had he completed it
with explanatory comments for the magicians of his
time.

Albeit Spare's personal philosophy (which he
himself termed the Zos Kia Cultus) is not that impor-
tant for sigil magic itself, we should not fail to mention
his technique of Atavistic nostalgia, which is certainly
one of the most fascinating applications of sigil magic.
Furthermore, it marks its connection to Shamanism
and so-called "primitive magic," two disciplines from
which today's magicians can only profit.

The main topic of the last chapter will concern
planetary sigils from the Hermetic Tradition. Although
experts have been familiar with the method of their
construction for decades, little or no relevant litera-
ture has as yet been made available to a wider public.
It, therefore, seemed pertinent to treat this subject
matter here.

The reader will note that in this volume we con-
centrate on creatingpersonai, that is to say ^individual
sigils. This is a completely different approach com-
pared to the tendency of many other books, which
usually prefer to list traditional, largely mutilated or
inaccurately reproduced sigils taken from the "magi-
cal cookbooks" of generally obscure authors with lit-
tle or no practical experience of their own. Although
the planetary sigils discussed at the end of this study

xii / Practical Sigil Magic

are taken from the work of Agrippa of Nettesheim,
who is above all criticism in this respect, a single
glance at other standard works about magical sym-
bols will show that most magicians and alchemists in
the Middle Ages (the supposed "peak" of Occidental
magic) largely developed their own sigil language using
a rather small number of well-established symbols.
The myth that there is a small number of "correct"
sigils and a great variety of "wrong" ones for entities
(generally demons), whose names are often little else
but mutilations of misunderstood older terms, 1 has
confused the minds of even highly experienced old
hands. Such misinformation should no longer be
tolerated.

_ Of course, even "wrong" dogmas can develop
their own, definitely real, magical egregore in the
course of time. But we should no longer be interested
in struggling with the astral garbage which others
have been creating for centuries. Spare has certainly
opened— probably without an expressed intention to
do so— our eyes to an atavism different from the one
discussed in chapter 6, for he has shown us the origin
of all magical symbolism— the human soul itself! His
message is that those magical sigils which truly work
derive from our own unconscious and will return
again to their source to begin their work after being
impregnated by our will. Naturally, and this applies to
all magic, one might gain the false impression that it
would be much less of a strain to get everything
organized and prepared straight from the horse's
mouth of a "Great Illuminated True Master of Wis-
dom/' but this has nothing to do whatsoever with
practical magical success. One could compare this to

Introduction /xiii

studying at a university: anything you may have
missed in the beginning through idleness will have to
be made up for in the end with triple effort. But, you
usually don't have enough time to catch up ... .

Spare states that "sigils are monograms of
thought" and that they should be created in accor-
dance with the individuality of our thinking. So please,
view the examples given in this study for what they
are — examples only. Don't use them lazily and heed-
lessly. This could definitely be dangerous! At the
beginning you will need perhaps a quarter of an hour
or so for your first individual sigil, but by your fifth or
sixth sigil it will take you only a couple of minutes.
This effort will certainly prove to be worthwhile if
you consider the probable success.

As I said before, sigil magic is probably one of
those magical disciplines that may be the fastest and
easiest to leam. Usually, you will need nothing more
than a sheet of paper and a pen. With some experience,
you will have finished the whole operation, including
activation and subsequent banishing, within less than
five to ten minutes. There is no faster way — even in
magic!

Chapter 1

Austin Osman Spare and His
Theory ofSigils*

The end of the nineteenth and the beginning of
the twentieth century was a time characterized by
radical changes and great heretics. The secret lore and
the occult in general were triumphant, and there were
good reasons for this: the triumph of materialist
positivism with its Manchester industrialism was
beginning to show its first malice, resulting in social
and psychological uprooting; the destruction of nature
had already begun to bear its first poisonous fruits. In
brief, it was a time when it seemed appropriate to
question the belief in technology and the omnipotence
of the celebrated natural sciences. Particularly intel-
lectuals, artists, and the so-called "Bohemians" be-
came advocates of values critical of civilization in
general as can be seen in the literature of Naturalism,
in Expressionist Art and in the whole Decadent Move-
ment, which was quite notorious at the time.

*Reprint from Unicorn, Issue 1/82, pp. 34-38.

1

2 /Practical Sigil Magic

Austin Osman Spare (1886-1956) wasatypical
child of this era and, after Aleister Crowley, he was
definitely one of the most interesting occultists and
practicing magicians of the English-speaking world.
Nowadays he is basically known only in this cultural
context; 1 internationally, he has received only some
attention in literary circles at best— ironically, in a
footnote! This footnote is found in Mario Praz's pio-
neering but, unfortunately, rather superficial workLa
came, la morte eil diavolo nella letteratura romantica
{The Romantic Agony, Florence, 1930) where he
terms him, together with Aleister Crowley, a "satanic
occultist'^— and that is all. Nevertheless, this impor-
tant work has at least led many an occult researcher
familiar with literature to Spare.

Compared with Aleister Crowley's enigmatic and
infamous life, Austin Osman Spare's existence cer-
tainly seemed to befit only a footnote. Despite his
various publications after the tum of the century, he
remained practically unnoticed until the late sixties.

_ He was bom in 1 88 6, the son of a London police
officer, and we know very little about his childhood.
He claimed to have experienced while a child an ini-
tiation of sorts by an elderly witch, one Mrs. Paterson
who, as far as we know, must have been quite a
Wiccan-like character. Spare found his intellectual
and creative vocation as an artist and illustrator, and
he attended the Royal College of Art, where he soon
was celebrated as a forthcoming young artist. But he
rebelled against a bourgeois middle-class career in the
arts. Disgusted by commercialism, he retreated from
the artistic scene soon afterwards, though he still con-
tinued editing various magazines for quite a while.

Austin Osman Spare and His Theory ofSigiis / 3

From 1927 until his death, he virtually lived as a
weird hermit in a London slum, where he sometimes
held exhibitions in a local pub.

People have compared his life with that of H. P.
Lovecraft, and certainly he too was an explorer of the
dark levels of the soul. Around the beginning of the
First World War, he released some privately published
editions, and today one can acquire— at least in Great
Britain — numerous, usually highly expensive, re-
prints of his works. However, we are primarily in-
terested in two volumes, namely his well-known Book
of Pleasure (Self-Love): The Psychology of Ecstasy
(London, 1 9 1 3) 3 and Kenneth Grant's excellently re-
searched book 4 in which he, as leader of his own
brand of O.T.O. {Ordo Templi Orientis) and as an
expert on Crowley, deals with the practical aspects of
Spare's system as well. Spare's actual philosophy will
not be analyzed in depth here because this is not really
necessary for the practice of sigil theory and it would
lead away from the subject of this study.

Before we begin with Spare's theory of signs, it is
perhaps useful to write a few words about the part
sigils play in a magical working. Occidental magic is
known to rest on two main pillars, namely on will and
on imagination. Connected with these are analogous
thinking and symbolic images. For example, Agrippa
uses a special sigil for each of the planetary intelligenc-
es. These are not, as has been assumed for quite some
time, arbitrarily constructed, nor were they received
by "revelation," but rather they are based on cab-
balistic considerations. 5

4 /Practical Sigil Magic

The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn also
employed sigils as "images of the souls" of magical
entities which enabled the magician to establish con-
tact with them; nevertheless, the technique of their
construction was not explained. The same may be
said for O.T.O. under Crowley's leadership and for
the Fraternitas Satumi under Gregorius.

The name Agrippa already hints at the fact that
magical sigils have a long historical tradition, which
we will not discuss here because then we would have
to cover the whole complex of occult iconology as
well. In general, people think of "correct" and "in-
correct" sigils. The grimoires of the late Middle Ages
were often little else but "magical recipe books" (the
frequently criticized Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses
basically applies the same procedure of "select ingredi-
ents pour in and stir"), and these practitioners believed
in the following principle: to know the "true" name
and the "true" sigil of a demon means to have power
over it. r

Pragmatic Magic, which developed in the Anglo-
Saxon realms, completely tidied up this concept.*
Often Crowley's revolt in the Golden Dawn-at first
in favor of but soon against Mathers-is seen as the
actual beginning of modern magic. It would certainly
not be wrong to say that Crowley himself was an
important supporter of Pragmatic thought in modern
magic. But in the end, the Master Therion preferred to
remain within the hierarchical Dogmatic system due
to his Aiwass-revelation in Liber AI velLegis. His key
phrase "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the

u ; ^ ? the laW ' Iove under will >" as well as his
whole Thelemic concept, prove him a Dogmatic

Austin Osman Spare and His Theory of Sigils/ 5

magician.

Not so Austin Osman Spare. He seems to derive
from the individual-anarchistic direction so that we
may describe his philosophy, without undue exag-
geration, as a mixture of Lao-Tse, Wicca and Max
Stimer.

English magic of the turn of the century was also
influenced by an important young science which
would actually achieve its major triumphs only after
the Second World War — the psychology of Sigmund
Freud. Before that, Blavatsky's Isis Unveiled and The
Secret Doctrine, as well as Frazeris The Golden Bough,
had given important impulses to the occult in general.
William James's comparative psychology of religion
influenced deeply the intellectuality of this time, but
Freud, Adler, and especially Carl G. Jung eventually
effected major breakthroughs. From then on, people
started to consider the unconscious in earnest.

This apparent digression, which had to be kept
very short due to lack of space, is in reality a very
important basis for the discussion that follows. We
will not analyze in depth by whom Spare was influ-
enced. Lao-Tse and Stirner having already been men-
tioned, we might note numerous others from Swin-
burne to Crowley himself, in whose order, the
A. " .A. ' ., Spare had been a member at least for a short
while. Rather, we will discuss his greatest achieve-
ment — his psychological approach towards magic.

This leads us to magical practice proper. In Spare's
system there are no "correct" or "incorrect" sigils;
neither is there a list of ready-made symbols. It is of no

6 /Practical Sigil Magic

import whether a sigil is the "correct" one or not, but

it is crucial that it has been created by the magician
and is therefore meaningful to him/her. Because s/he
has constructed it for personal use, the sigil easily
becomes a catalyst of his/her magical desire, and
sometimes it will even waken this desire in the first
place. This Pragmatic approach which dominates
present-day Anglo-Saxon magic (Israel Regardie,
Francis King, Stephen Skinner, W. B. Gray, David
Conway, Lemuel Johnstone, to name but a few rele-
vant authors) goes to show that Austin Osman Spare
rather than Aleister Crowley, should be considered
the real Father of modern Pragmatic Magic. 7

In the German-speaking countries, the situation
is quite different. Writers like Quintscher, Gregorius,
Bardon, Klingsor and even Spiesberger allow but little
room to maneuver when creating magical coordinates
individually. Here the adept is expected to grow into a
ready-made system instead of fashioning one. This is
a completely different approach, the value or non-
value of which we will not discuss here. The nearest
thing to Pragmatic Magic, existing already in 1 9 1 7 i.e.
1921 (the date of the second revised edition of his
major work on magic as an experimental science), was
Staudenmaier. The works by Mahamudra, which have
of late been receiving some attention, are mainly of a
descriptive nature and deal with traditions and new
interpretations, thus remaining within the context of
German magical heritage; however, they do take heed of
recent results in scientific psychology and are, therefore,
at least partially related to the Pragmatic approach.
Pragmatic Magic will become more and more
important because today's magicians have to face a

Austin Osman Spare and His Theory of Sigils / 7

psychologized — and psychologizing — environment
whose philosophical relativism has been shaping all
of us, and still does. Regardless of the significance or
amount of truth one concedes to psychology/psycho-
analysis, we all are infiltrated by its way of thinking
and its vocabulary. So even we magicians will have to
attain to a critical, sensible look at it. It will be left to
another era to find different models of explanation,
description and practice.

How does Spare proceed in practice? Sigils are
developed by fusion and stylization of letters (see
Figure 1).

First of all, a sentence of desire has to be for-
mulated. Let us take the example Spare himself gives
in his Book of Pleasure, the declaration of intent:

THIS MY WISH TO OBTAIN THE STRENGTH OF A TIGER

This sentence must be written down in capitals.
Next, all the letters which appear more than once are
deleted so that only one of each letter remains.

THIS

my wfftfi jo cWa/n jife jrfvMoiA dv f fftff*-

Thus, the following letters remain: T, H, I, S, M, Y,
W, O, B, A, N, E, R, G, F. The sigil is created from these
letters ; it is permissible to consider one part (for exam-
ple, M) as a reversed W or, seen from the side, as an E.
Hence, these three letters do not have to appear in the
sigil three separate times. Of course, there are nu-
merous possibilities of representation and stylization.

8 /Practical Sigil Magic

Austin Osman Spare and His Theory ofSigils / 9

"This my wish to obtain the strength of a tiger. 1

Sigih'zed this would be:

This my wish

W

To obtain

4&

The strength of a tiger

&

A

Combined as one sigil

^7

W

Figure 1

However, it is important that in the end the sigil is as
simple as possible with the various letters recogniz-
able (even with slight difficulty). The artistic quality
of the sigil is irrelevant, but for simple psychological
reasons it should be obvious that you should not just
scribble or doodle it in haste. You should strive to
make it to the best of your abilities.

The finished sigil, which in the beginning will
probably take a few attempts to construe, will then be
fixated. You may draw it on parchment, on paper, in
the sand, or even on a wall. According to Spare's short
instructions, it should be destroyed after its inter-
nalization. Thus, you will either burn the parchment,
wipe it out in the sand, etc. Spare's basic idea is that
the sigil, together with its meaning, must be planted
into the unconscious. Afterwards, the consciousness
has to forget it so that the unconscious can obey its
encoded direction without hindrance.

Formulating the sentence of desire 8 and drawing
the sigil should be done with the utmost concentra-
tion. It makes the following activation ("charging")
much easier.

When the sigil is ready, it is activated by implant-
ing it into the psyche. This is the most difficult part in
this process, and Spare offers only very few hints on
practical procedures. However, it is crucial that the
sigil is internalized in a trance of sorts. This may take
place in a state of euphoria (for example, by means of
drugs), in ecstasy (for example, sex magically by mas-
turbation, sexual intercourse or a ritual), or in a state
of physical fatigue. For the latter example, eyes and
arms may be tired by the magician folding his/her
arms behind the head while standing in front of a

10 /Practical Sigil Magic

mirror and staring fixedly at his/her image. The
important thing is that it should click, meaning that
the sigil must be internalized spasmodically, which, of
course, requires some exercise and control. This pro-
cedure may be supported by repeating the sentence of
desire rhythmically and monotonously like a mantra,
becoming faster and faster; in doingso, one must stare
fixedly at the sigil. (In our example of looking into the
mirror [a magical mirror may be used, too], it is useful
to draw the sigil onto the mirror with water-soluble
paint.)

After spasmodical internalization, the symbol
must be destroyed and deleted from the conscious
mind. As mentioned before, from now on it will be the
unconscious which has to do the work.

In my own practical work I have discovered that
it may even be useful to keep the sigil on you, such as
wearing a ring engraved with it, etc. But this will
depend upon the magician's individual predilection,
and everybody should find his/her own way. Oc-
casionally, it may prove necessary to repeat the whole
procedure, especially if the goal is a very problemati-
cal one, requiring an outstanding amount of energy.
Nevertheless, experience shows that it is of prime
importance not to bring back the meaning and aim of
the sigil into consciousness at any time. We are, after
all, dealing with a technique akin to autosuggestion;
thus, the rules are the same as with autosuggestions
themselves. Therefore, you may not use negative for-
mulas such as "THIS MY WISH NOT TO ..." because
very often the unconscious tends neither to recognize
nor understand this "not," and you might end up get-
ting the opposite result than that which you originally

Austin Osman Spare and His Theory ofSigils / 11

desired. If you see a sigil every day, perhaps on a wall
or engraved on the outer side of a ring, this should only
take place unconsciously, just as one might not con-
sciously notice an object which is in use all the time.
Of course, you should keep your operation secret, for
discussing it with skeptics or even good friends may
dissolve the sigiPs power.

The advantages of this method, of which only a
short summary can be given here, are obvious. It is
temptingly easy, and with only a little practice it may
be performed at any time and at any place. It does not
call for any costly paraphernalia; protective Circles
and Pentagram rituals are not required (though some-
times they may prove useful, especially with opera-
tions of magical protection), etc.

People who tend to psychic instability should,
however, be cautious. Although the threshold to schiz-
ophrenia is not as easily crossed with this method as
with common evocations, it does involve cutting
deeply into the ecology of the psyche, an act which
should be considered carefully in any case. The psy-
cho-magical consequences are sometimes quite incal-
culable. As is well known, the real problem with
magic is not so much the question whether it works,
but rather the fact that it does.

Used with responsibility, this method offers the
magician a tool which provides him/her with a limit-
less variety of possible magical applications.

Ubique Daemon .'. Ubique Deus.*.

12 /Practical Sigil Magic

Footnotes

1. Horst E. Miers does not mention him at all in his
T?S5*5L der GeheImw issenschaften (Freiburg
1 970) [Enyclopedia of the Occult Arts], but this work
is generally faulty in many other respects as well.

c ' WAn °*5 En 8 li sh satanicoccultist is Austin Osman
XT' Jo Romantic A 8° n y (^ndon, 2, 1970), p.

3. The edition used here is a Canadian reprint by 93
Publishing (Montreal, 1975).

4. KennethGrant,imagEsandOrac7esoMu S t/n Osman
Spare (York Beach, ME: Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1975).

5. First, numbers were assigned to the Hebrew letters
and second, the cameas, or magical number squares'
were related to the different planets. For example, the
names of the planetary intelligences were converted
into numerical values and then the pertinent numbers
m the squares were connected with one another, the
whole resulting in a sigil. The late Israel Regardie gives
a detailed introduction into this method in How to
Make and Use Talismans (Wellingborough, Northamp-
tonshire, England: The Aquarian Press, 1972 ff).

6 This term, which was coined by the author of this

study, describes a certain type of magic which is
based on subjective empiricism, or individual experi-
ences without prior postulates. The opposite is Dog-
matic magic, which demands a fair amount of faith

Austin Osman Spare and His Theory ofSigils / 13

from its practitioners, such as belief in the hierarchy
of astral entities, correspondences, gnostic dualism,
etc. We are not saying here that these concepts cannot
be found at all in Pragmatic Magic but merely that
they are only considered as possible models of expla-
nation amongst others of equal value. The Pragmatic
magician is perfectly free to abandon them if s/he
achieves the desired success without their help. S/he
is, therefore, independent of so-called "revelations"
of many a charlatan. On the other hand, of course, s/he
cannot claim his/her experiences to be universal
"truth." This prevents— at least ideally— the megalo-
mania very common to practitioners of magic. A
detailed discussion of these concepts remains to be
covered by a larger, more specialized volume.

7. A facile way of looking at a subject like this quite
often demands the use of illustration rather than dif-
ferentiation. Thus, for example, the problem of recep-
tion cannot be dealt with here. It would certainly be
an exaggeration to say that Spare influenced Pragmatic
Magic directly. Rather, Pragmatists found him to be
one of their ilk. Neither do we want to state that there
are no Dogmatists left in the Anglo-Saxon countries.
But the aforementioned writers, as is commonly
known, are considered to be the leading thinkers of
the magical scene of Great Britain, Canada, Australia
and the USA.

8. The formula "THIS MY WILL TO..." has proved to
be very powerful in practice. Of course, it may be
changed according to taste or even completely ex-
changed by any other formula. Practice has shown,

1 4 /Practical Sigil Magic

however, that it is useful to begin every sigil working
with the same formula because in the course of time
the unconscious seems to respond to this with reflex-
ive receptivity.

Chapter 2

Further Exploration of the
Word Method

The article "Austin Osman Spare and His Theory
of Sigils," contained in the last chapter, has already
covered the basic principles and backgrounds of sigil
magic, but it could not go into more depth due to the
limited space characteristic of magazine articles. Also,
Spare's sigil magic has seen some further evolution
during recent years, especially by English Chaos ma-
gicians as manifested in the various publications of
the IOT order (IOT today - The Magical Pact of the
Illuminates ofThanateros). Thus, ever-growing diver-
gences from Spare's own methods and intentions have
become quite common.

To illustrate the word method (i.e., the construc-
tion of sigils employing the letters and words of a sen-
tence of desire), Figure 1 of the preceding chapter
gives some examples. The whole procedure occurs
as follows:

1. The sentence of desire must be formulated and
written down in capital letters.
15

1 6 /Practical Sigil Magic

2. Repeated letters are deleted so that every letter
will he used but once.

3a. Several parts of the sentence are sigUized into
several single sigils.

OR:

3b. All letters of the whole sentence are combined
into one general sigil

4a. Single sigils are combined into one general sigil.

OR:

4b. The general sigil constructed in 3b is simplified/
stylized,

5. The sigil teinternalized/activated. (Specific tech-
niques are discussed in the following chapter.)

6. The sigil is banished and forgotten. (Specific tech-
niques are discussed in the following chapter.)

Further Examples for Constructing Sigils Using
the Word Method

a) Using the same sentence as in chapter 1, "THIS MY
WISH TO OBTAIN THE STRENGTH OF A TIGER,"
the following letters remain after deleting all double
or multiple ones: T, H, I, S, M, Y, W, O, B, A, N, E,
R, G, F.

Further Exploration of the Word Method / 17

THIS MY WISH (T, H, I, S, M, Y, W)
TO OBTAIN (O, B, A, N) i-

w

THE STRENGTH OF A TIGER (E, R, G, F)

Combined into one general sigil:

x^

or:

b) You may also form all the letters of the whole sen-
tence (again without any repeats) into one general
sigiL, avoiding the construction of several single sigils.

The letter E (= ^ ), for instance, may be seen as

W (= \\) ) as well as an M (= f\\ ). See Figures 2

and 3.

18 /Practical Sigil Magic

Further Exploration of the Word Method / 19

T

V

}

Figure 2 or; Figure 3

With a little bit of experience, you will be able to
combine steps 3 and 4 into one single operation
especially if you have developed your own personal
artistic sigil style." A. O. Spare, who practiced this
technique throughout all of his life, had an advantage
over the average sigil drawer because he was a high! y
talented and acknowledged artist who could develop
very beautiful and attractive sigils. But artistic talent
[ S r^ nt€n0n for the suc cess of sigil magic! THE
MOST IMPORTANT POINT IS THAT YOU CREATE
THE SIGILS FOR YOURSELF. ^«ai*

. 0ur glyphs may even look a bit "ugly," "primi-
tive/' "roughhewn" or "handmade," and sometimes
this may even be an added bonus. Because of their

unrefined" image, they will appear to our uncon-
scious (which will have to struggle with them) much
more magical" or maybe just "less ordinary." In other
words, a so-called "ugly" sigil differs a lot from our
standardized and smoothed-up everyday environ-
ment of glossy machines and industrial pseudo-aes-
thetics Since we are working with Magis, or the
original magical power which belongs, according to

current theories, to a praeter-conscious, i.e., "primi-
tive" stage of being, everything which reminds us of
the times of amateurish handicraft will awaken pri-
mordial impulses in our reptilian brain. This will vir-
tually automatically liberate the magical power in this
section of the brain or awaken it in the first place.

Of course, all this depends largely on the magi-
cian's personal paradigm. So place your trust in your
feelings (i.e., your intuition) rather than in rules which
other magicians have set up according to their own
subjective biases, disaffections and tempers. If you
prefer putting a lot of effort into a sigil, wishing to
create a "real piece of artwork," you are, of course,
perfectly free to do so. It is recommended, however,
for reasons to be discussed at greater length later, that
you should not spend too much time consciously
creating a sigil. This is because, among other argu-
ments, it will be much more difficult to forget the
sigH's outline and contents or to push it out of the con-
sciousness, which is so essential for its proper
working.

Before we start our discussion of the techniques
for activating sigils, I would like to give you a few
more practical tips.

The first recommendation involves the method
of constructing a sentence of desire. Sigil magic is
primarily success magic. It aims at achieving very tan-
gible and verifiable results. Accordingly, sentences of
will should be concrete and specific. Ambiguity will
confuse the unconscious and may lead to only partial
success at best, but more frequently it will provoke

20 /Practical Sigil Magic

total failure.

My own experience has shown, as mentioned in
chapter 1 , that it is advisable to begin each sentence of

SSS w* the SSme formula ; in °™ example it was
THIS MY WISH. . . .» One might also simply say «
WISH .»or«ITISMY WILL. . .,» or something simL.
Specifically mentioningthe will is advantageous since
the injunction given to the unconscious is clearer and
easier to understand. Feeble phrasings such as "I
WOULD LKETO. . . ,» "I WOULD WISH TO "or"I
SHOULD WANT TO. . .» lack conviction and should
be avoided. In the end, you will always have to leam
from your own experiences and find your own
optimal formula.

We know from various other systems of manip-
ulation of consciousness that negative formulas are
usually not properly comprehended by the uncon-
scious. While the unconscious is capable of under-
standing the metaphorical language (and sigils con-
structed with the word method are really nothing
else) m expressions like "eradicate," "remove" or
^avoid," it does seem to ignore words like "not"
"none," "never," etc., for most people. Therefore, do
not say "THIS MY WISHNOTTO BECOME ILL » but
say "THIS MY WISH TO REMAIN HEALTHY."

Interestingly enough, this does not apply to all
areas of practical magic. For example, the difference
between talismans and amulets is commonly defined
m that talismans are for something while amulets are
against something. Thus, a talisman may be construct-
ed for health; however, an amulet would be con-
structed against illness. But even with amulets one
will usually restrain from using negative formulations

Further Exploration of the Word Method / 21

(e.g., "PROTECT ME FROM ALL ILLNESS," or some-
thing similar).

Later on, when we look at the theories which pur-
port to explain how sigil magic works, we will realize
that this mechanism has less to do with negative
wording than with the general problem of how to get
around the "psychic censor." The experiences of some
magicians who have achieved success with negative
formulas have confirmed this point of view. But this is
an exception to the rule, and you should try to avoid
any risk, especially when starting with your practi-
cal work.

The question as to whether one should formulate
precisely or a bit "hazily" is arguable. In my experi-
ence, it is not sensible to dictate overly detailed direc-
tives to the unconscious. Sentences like "THIS MY
WISH TO MEET FRANZ BARDON ON THE 17TH
OF OCTOBER AT 3:32 P.M. IN SHARKY'S BAR" not
only make great demands on your own Magis (or, as
Indian shamans would label it, on your "control of the
nagual") but also presuppose a rather generous, good-
willed unconscious. One should never put too great a
strain on the universe. But this is a general problem in
practical magic, and the sigil magician is not the only
one compelled to tackle it, as it also applies to the
ceremonial magician, the sorcerer and the theurgist.

Experience shows that it is quite feasible to in-
clude the time factor in the sentence of desire. For
example, "THIS MY WISH TO BECOME HEALTHY
AGAIN THIS MONTH," etc. But an overloaded psy-
chic time schedule in manager fashion would definitely
be too much for our magical faculty. In the chapter
"But How Does It Work?" we will take a closer look at

22 / Practical Sigil Magic

time factors and control of success.

Thus, you should try for a proper balance be-
tween wishy-washy and overly specific formulations
A sentence of desire of the "THIS MY WISH TO BE
RATHER WELL" format is somewhat too vague, for
even if the sigil did produce the desired success, you
probably would not become aware of it. Spells for
winning in a lottery in which you strive to fix the exact
amount of money to the third decimal place will, due
to information overload, force your whole system to
collapse. At best, nothing will happen at all; at worst,
however, the bailiff might suddenly turn up with a
writ and his/her calculator. But, here again, personal
experience is better than a thousand cookbooks.

Incidentally, it is advisable (at least sometimes),
when using all the methods of sigil construction dis-
cussed here, for you to place a border round the sigil,
either in the form of a triangle, circle, square or some-
thing similar. See Figures 4, 5, and 6.

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

Further Exploration of the Word Method / 23

This has two advantages. First, it makes it easier
to concentrate on the sigil when charging it. Second, it
gives the sigil a "definite" and "conclusive" touch, for
jfyou work a lot with sigils, occasionally you may find
the sigils becoming "entangled" in your unconscious
to form undesirable chains and combinations. How-
ever, this happens very rarely, and the risk is com-
paratively small. It also happens mainly to sigil fanatics
who don't do anything else all day long but inoculate
their unconscious, cramming it full with glyphs. The
sigil of Figure 3, however, is an example of a construc-
tion which does not need an additional border.

Another aspect of putting a border around the
sigil is that Mandala structures (as depth pychology
has shown) will awaken and activate archetypal ma-
terial in the unconscious. Thus, a border will facilitate
the arousal of the inner psychic elemental forces
(Magis). If we look at the subject in greater depth,
Mandalas (cf. Tibetan Thangkas and Yantras) are
basically somewhat more complicated sigils that
transport philosophical, mythical, spiritual and simi-
lar contents, which, of course, can be said of most
spiritual symbols anyway.

Before beginning our discussion of sigil activa-
tion, we shall take a closer look at how to simplify
them. Overly complicated sigils are as ineffective as
baroque tapeworm sentences of desire. Always keep
in mind that you will have to internalize ("charge")
the sigil in a state of magical or "gnostic" trance. This
may mean that you will have to imagine it actively.
Such a procedure might not be a problem as long as

24 /Practical Sigil Magic

Further Exploration of the Word Method / 25

you actually have the sigil in front of you, such as

hanging it on a wall or painting it onto a mirror, but
even then it could be difficult to internalize a glyph
with too many details to it. There are no limits to your
fantasy or artistic talent when simplifying or stylizing
sigils. You may even "cheat" a bit, as long as you are
emotionally. satisfied with the result of your drawing.
Let us look at a new example. The sentence of
desire "THIS IS MY WISH TO EARN FIVE HUN-
DRED POUNDS TOMORROW" leaves us with the
following letters:

T,H,I,S,M,Y,W,0,E,A,R,N,F,V,U,D,P

This long list of letters can form this general
Sigil: \ /-X

W
O

A

Figure 7

Since this is far too complicated, we will want to
simplify it:

You will note that we have left out quite a lot, but
we have also added some embroideries or sup-
plements, e.g., the vertical line drawn through the
middle of the whole sigil and the horizontal line cut-
ting the whole circle in half. What is important— at
least in the beginning— is that we are theoretically
able to rediscover all ourbasic letters in the sigil (even
in its stylized version). Now we certainly won't find it
difficult to recognize the letters T, H, I, Y, W, O, E, V,
U, D, and P, especially if we keep in mind that the
same lines may be interpreted in several different
fashions. The arc, for example, may stand at the same
time for a U as well as for a D.

Figure 9

Figure 10

Figure 8

26 /Practical Sigil Magic

But what has happened to the letters S, R and W
And where is the A? If we want to keep the basic form
of this sigil as it is, we will have to "cheat" a bit:

M=

\

'H

Figure 11

Further Exploration of the Word Method/ 27

Admittedly, M and S might look a bit better, but,
after all, we merely want to illustrate how to proceed
yrith abstractions.

Now, it may be argued that nearly any letter
could be rediscovered in nearly any glyph with this
method, if you only had enough cheek and a vivid
imagination. To some extent, this is certainly true, but
the main point is thatyou are constructing the sigils so
that ail other possibilities become irrelevant.

THE PROCESS OF SIGIL CONSTRUCTION ITSELF IS
MORE IMPORTANT THAN ITS GRAPHIC RESULT!

Of course, we do need the finished sigil, i.e., the
graphic end result, for otherwise we could not charge
or activate it. But it would be of no use to you at all if
you had not constructed it alone, without any outside
help. (We will discuss some exceptions to this rule in
our chapter on the pictorial method.) The above-
mentioned mnemonic is little more than a rephrasing
of an exhortation which you will hear frequently from
Zen masters— "The way is the goal "

Perhaps we should now deal with how to decorate
a sigil. We have already seen that it is important that
the sigil strikes us as being "magical," "out of the
ordinary." This will mean different things to different
people. My own style of sigil construction, which I
have developed in the course of more than 1 2 years of
practice, prefers horizontal glyphs with squiggles and
triangles for decoration. So I would decorate the sigil
from the last example in this fashion (Figure 12):

28 /Practical Sigil Magic

Chapter 3

Figure 1 2

*. Th f Se e , mbroideries do ^t have a meaning in

themselves (just as a sigil no longer has any con-
sciously "recogn zable" meaning); they serve the sole
purpose of creating the right "atmosphere" or giving

*esig,la«magic»touch(orJorthe m oreromanticaIly

minded, a touch of "mystery"). This can enhance its
effect substantially, and I strongly advise you to
experiment y

The Magical Trance/
Activating the Sigils

The following can be applied equally to the word
and the pictorial method. Within limits, the various
techniques are pertinent to the mantrical spell method
as well, but this mode shall be explained separately in
more detail in a later chapter.

Recommendation for a lightning-charging

(for people who are always in a hurry)

Having finished the sigil with much effort, go to
bed with it. Masturbate and, during sexual climax,
concentrate on the graphic sigil. If you have a well-
trained imagination, you might as well visualize the
sigil, but beginners are advised to stare at the glyph
with widely opened eyes. It is crucial that you place
the sigil in front of your eyes during orgasm.

DO NOT THINK OF YOUR SENTENCE OF DESIRE
OR THE CONTENTS OF YOUR SIGIL AT THIS
MOMENT!

29

30 /Practical Sigil Magic

Ideally, you should have forgotten the original
purpose for which the sigil was created. (To achTe *
this you can put the sigil aside for a couple of days o
weeks after construction and then take it out in 1

S Tf 6 t0 f tivate lt But this > of cou ^e, could
hardly be termed a "lightning ritual")

Afterwards, you will have to banish fhes/a/AThe
best method of banishing is roaring laughter. It doe
not matter if this may seem a bit artificial; if you can

TfleXtll J°Y n ? W ' 6Ven betten Mediately
n2f / ^ hmg by ! aUghter ' think of something com-

hv 2i t Gnt l h& eaSi6St Way of a ^eving this is
by switching on the TV, dialing the talking dock, lis-
tening to the latest lottery results, jumping up and
downononelegforhalfanhour,etc.

a ^/° ne ma y^ e endlessly about sexual ethics

and/or sexual fears, but it is an undeniable fact that

sigilsarebest internalized in theeasiest, speediest and
least problematical way during sexual climax. We will
get to know various other methods, too, but experience
has shown that orgasm provides the most effective of
magical trances. Debauchees with glittering eyes may
however, be warned that this branch of sexual magic
has little or nothing to do with sexual "fun." In the
past, when it was still trendy to work with "sac-
rifices of all sorts, it was common to speak of "sac-
rificing the orgasmic lust on the altar of Transcen-
dence etc. Obviously, this has a lot to do with Tan-
trie and Taoist ideas, which state that the male should

S™ r* S aV ° id ? 6Xpl0Sive ° r § asm (■*• filia-
tion) during sacred sexual intercourse because, ac-

The Magical Trance / Activating the Sigils / 31

i, ne t0 these doctrines, loss of semen means loss of
^wer (and, by extrapolation, longevity). This ap-
rnach which has for various reasons never become
articuWly popular in the West, led even one of the
maior masters of sexual magic, Aleister Crowley, to
concentrate on drinking his sperm after sexual inter-
course (in heterosexual intercourse, the mixed male
and female secretions— Crowley's infamous "elixir").
This digression aside, we may note that lecherous sex
maniacs won't have too much pleasure when dealing
with this branch of sexual magic, as these operations
can be rather strenuous and not too pleasurable.

In the first chapter it was mentioned that sigils
should be internalized spasmodically. This can be
done in several ways. Our goal is always the same; to
form an altered state of consciousness in which the
censor has become "soft" and in which s/he will no
longer or cannot prevent direct communication be-
tween the conscious and the unconscious. Like the
magical or gnostic trance in general, consciousness is
not entirely switched off, which means that you aren't
aiming for a hypnotic full trance. Such "threshold
states" 2 may be achieved either by withholding sleep,
by overexertion, by exhaustion, or by activating in-
tense emotions like anger, fear, pleasure, ecstasy, etc. 3
Here again we can see why the sex-magical charging
of a sigil (which, of course, can also be performed dur-
ing intercourse with a partner) is so much easier than
all other methods. First, most people are quite familiar
with willed orgasms, which can hardly be said, for
example, of willed, controlled trances of exhaustion

32 /Practical Sigil Magic
course, a h gh nde on a roller coaster might do th.

mmm§

magical techniques considerably P ° f

=|£SSHS£33S

ssssssss

w,th an orgasm, only for seconds) and leweTfree 1
Sl^T", t0 th f UnCOnSd °^ b «Te Mtottag

The Magical Trance / Activating the Sigils / 33

nBATH POSTURE (Version 1)

This version may be performed both in a stand-
ee or a sitting position. For your first attempts, I
recommend sitting before a table on which you have

placed the sigil.

After a deep breath, block your eyes, ears, mouth
and nose, usingthe fingers of both hands. Concentrate
on the internal tension in your body (do not think of
the sigil or its aim!), and hold your breath until you
cannot bear it any longer. Continue holding your breath
until you truly cannot bear it anymore. Then you
should still hold your breath until you cannot bear it
at all any longer. Then, shortly before reaching the
point of fainting, open wide your eyes and stare-
while breathing in and out fresh air— at the sigil. If
you do this correctly, you will find yourself in a state
of almost panic-stricken no-mind— a form of magical
trance where your unconscious is more responsive to
and more receptive for sigils. Afterwards, as already
mentioned, you banish by laughter and by concen-
trating on something completely different, the more
secular the better.

One version of this technique has already been
described in chapter 1 . It is performed by standing in
front of a mirror on which you have drawn your sigil
with water-soluble colors. Here again, physical over-
exertion is employed. Stare into the eyes of your mirror
image without fluttering your eyelids, then cross your
arms behind your head or your neck, push your arms
backwards as far and uncomfortably as you can, and
tense all your muscles while holding your breath (you
may also stand on tiptoes). Keep this posture until you
cannot bear the tension and/or pain anymore. Then

34 /Practical Sigil Magic

release the tension spasmodically while intemalizino
the sigil. Banish by laughter, think of something
else, etc. 8

A note of caution:

Version 1 of the death posture is NOT suitable for
persons who suffer from heart condition, ailments of
the lung or high blood pressure. Since you can hardly
ask your doctor whether s/he would advise you
agamst this technique or not (unless the doctor is also
a magician-you might already have found one by
using a sigil!), you should, if in doubt, choose one of
the other aforementioned techniques.

DEATH POSTURE (Version 2}

As far as I know, this technique has never before
been described in writing. It is "milder" than the first
version but easily as effective, although it de-
mands a little bit of training. It is performed in a sitting
position. e

The sigil lies in front of you on the table. You sit in
a chair as straight as you can, your palms resting on
the table. You may extend your thumbs and let them
touch each other, the sigil now lying in the open square
of your hands. Stare at the sigil without blinking your
eyelids. It does not matter if your eyes start watering-
your attention is concentrated elsewhere. Now try to
twitch the muscles of your calves very briefly. It is
best to start with one leg, then to change to the other,
and finally to twitch the muscles of both calves to-
gether. The twitching itself should be tense but at the
same time loose. A split second is quite enough as long

The Magical Trance / Activating the Sigiis / 35

it is very intense. This may sound a bit difficult at
ffrst, but with a little practice you will know precisely
what is right for you.

Now you may continue by twitching the muscles
of your upper arms, following with your chest, hands
and arms up to your scalp (which may be a purely
subjective feeling, but having experienced it once you
will know how to do it properly). With a little practice,
the whole procedure should not last longer than about
half a second. So, your entire body is racked by a short
spasm, and at the climax you open your eyes even
more widely (while still staring at the sigil), "inhale
the sigil" with your eyes, laugh loudly while closing
your eyes, and that's it! (Then, once again think of
something completely different, etc.)

Don't despair if you should encounter some minor
problems in the beginning. Your organism is only as
human as you are, but with a little bit of effort you will
master this technique in the true meaning of the word:
lightning-fast. Also, you will have a method of sigil
activation in hand which works even faster than the
sex-magical one! I have seen workshop participants
who managed to get the effect of the sigil minutes
after their first attempt, and this is quite common.

Note: After charging a sigil, you should avoid
meditation and all other trance-inducing techniques
{e.g., trance dance, drugs, brain machines, etc.) for at
least three hours. As you have firmly "shut the lid" of
your unconscious by banishing and distraction, it is
advisable to let it rest for a while to forgo the possibility
of the sigil's floating into your consciousness again.

36 /Practical Sigil Magic

THE FASTER YOU FORGET THE STPTI
THE MORE EFFECTIVE mSJft.

As with talismans, amulets and magical rituals in
general, the intent to forget a desire or marical W
tion is one of the greatest tasks for a mSan if sZ
wants to experience success quickly, £K£ wit'h

now. You may have heard the story of the man wh*

enl ghtened. "Nothing," the guru answered Si
on hvmg as you did before. Oh, yes there koJth g

must not think of the monkey % y ' J

^yforgettingasigilisofsuchprimeimportance

akeatT^
take a look at possible explanation models for thk

magical method. After having activated^ ent^ed
SC l° c f -J «** <* the glyph i™ o

«scontentSincemostpeoplehavearatherbadmem-
ory for complicated symbols and glyphs (painteS

gifted orworkmginthisfieldexceptedJ^orgSethe

tr%Z S? i? ^ 1S t0 ° Simple " (To for S et a ^uare or
triangle could prove rather difficult )

desire^f^

desire. If sigjls or sentences of desire unexpectedlv

pop up into consciousness, recharge and baThlhem

again. Most of the time if s enough to simply distract

The Magical Trance / Activating the Sigils / 37

your attention from the "monkey" by laughter, for
example (which, as pointed out several times in Liber
Null, is one of the best techniques of exorcism
anyway).

You should definitely keep a diary for your sigil
work, if only to check on your successes at a later date,
but you should also conceal the sigils, sentences of
desire and other details (e.g., by placing a sheet of
paper over the relevant sections) so that they won't
come back into your memory accidentally when you
open your diary or leaf through it. As with the for-
mulation of the sentence of desire, you will have to
find a compromise between permanent memory and
complete loss of any documentation.

As to awaiting the success of the operation, don 't
do it! This is also the best way of making sure that you
will forget about it. If this is too extreme for you and if
you have problems with forgetting, try to counter this
with that state of consciousness which Spare termed
the "Neither/Neither." Ray Sherwin tags it "Non-
attachment/Non-disinterest," or, more precisely,
"positive Non-desire," 6 This again is more a question
of practice and self-discipline than of technique.

There is yet one other technique for forgetting a
sigil, namely getting used to it until you no longer per-
ceive it consciously. You may be familiar with this
principle from personal experience. You decide to do
something special every day and, therefore, you hang
a note in a prominent place as a reminder. For a few
days this will work all right until you get so accus-
tomed to the note that it does not serve as a reminder,
so you finally end up where you began. You just don't
see the note and its message anymore. This may even

38 /Practical Sigil Magic

become an unconscious act of sigil magic achieving
the desired success. More likely, however, the whol?
procedure was nothing but well-intentioned amateur
work. Now we may use the same technique with sigii s
by employing this very pattern of behavior or percep
tion. After charging the sigil, you place it in a promi-
nent position until you are no longer consciously aware
of it. As mentioned previously, you may also engrave
the glyph on the outer side of a ring or into a metal
plate as a talisman, etc.

Sigils and Talismans/Amulets

Basically, it is of no importance at all which ma-
terial you use to draw your final sigil on before it is
charged. If you are a traditionalist-purist and want to
use virgin parchment, you may do so, of course but
normal paper is quite good enough.? After activation,
sigils are usually burned or otherwise destroyed, but
you can also make talismans and amulets out of them.
In this case, you will want to use more durable
materials.

One way of doing this is by drawing the sigil on a
piece of parchment or sturdy paper. If you charge it
sex magically, you may put some sexual secretions (or
blood or saliva) on it for support after activation.
After banishing, you can roll up the paper or parch-
ment and wrap some yam or silk thread around it.
Depending upon which school of "isolation tech-
niques" you belong to, you may either seal this roll
with pure beeswax or sew it into a piece of silk, linen
or leather, etc. If you want to wear the amulet or talis-
man, it is advisable to make it into a necklace or tie it

The Magical Trance / Activating the Sigils / 39

thong. Having served its purpose, the magical tool
1 c to be burned, buried or thrown in water. Before
doing so, you can discharge it under running water
with a suitable suggestion.

As pointed out in the beginning, the advantage of
Spare's sigil magic is that it has no need for com-
plicated rituals. Neither do you need to engage in
calculating specific astrological constellations, cab-
balistic arithmetic or lunar phases, etc. You will be
better off, especially when practicing Pragmatic Magic,
if you have at hand at least one of these systems that
can be performed without such complicated and time-
consuming considerations, as useful as they may be at
other times. This will keep you on the ball, ready for
action and versatile.

You don't really need amulets and talismans in
sigil magic either. If the sigil is charged correctly, you
already have created an "astral talisman" (or "astral
amulet") of sorts, a new circuit in the psycho-com-
puter which will remain effective until it has served
its purpose. Such a magical weapon has the advantage
of being independent of physical objects (which also
means that it can never get into the wrong hands). It is
usually those "magicians" with the least practical
experience who shout the loudest that a "correctly
protected" magical weapon never would get into the
wrong hands in the first place. Unfortunately, this is
not necessarily the case.

Every beginner in ceremonial magic learns that
his/her rituals will attract astral entities just as light
will attract moths. With magical weapons, talismans,
amulets and other appropriate tools, the case is quite
similar: some people are fascinated by them beyond

40 /Practical Sigil Magic

sensible control. It is of little use to warn people never

Zt^f^ ma ® cally charged tools ° f * «*££

without his/her permission, for proscriptions wH
usuafly make the whole thing seem a lot more attrT
tive. It is of far lesser importance that a magician mav
have to do without his/her talisman, fofexamp J
after having been robbed of it. The whole situation
can be compared with the position of an Army Quar-
termaster: he is responsible for the safekeeping of his
arms and ammunition, not so much because any loss
of gear would weaken his arsenal (which, of course is

thTt? TT T t0 ^ ored >> but *amry to ensure
the safety of others who may not be aware of the

danger of such tools-and who might have to pay
dearly with their lives or physical or psychic health
tor their ignorance or innocence. It is no secret either
that some magical instruments do tend to develop a
definite, independent life of their own, and the his-
tory of magic is full of examples to prove the point.

Whenusm g non-physicaIsigils,youdon'thaveto
make tiresome last provisions concerning what should
be done about them after your death so that they will
be properly deactivated or handed over to the proper
magical heir, etc. While sigils might show up again in
your consciousness sometimes, this is quite harmless.
I nave never observed sigils developing a totally inde-
pendent existence, going off on their own, etc., like
amulets magical daggers, and the like are sometimes
wont to do.

tw N ° w ' ™ hat about controlling your own success?
Basically, the same rules are applicable here as in

The Magical Trance / Activating the Sigils / 41

ote conventional magic. Sigil magic is certainly not
"1 infallible technique, but numerous practitioners
have confirmed repeatedly that it is by far the most
effective of all the Western magical systems. If your
sigil working has a time limit (for example, one month,
a quarter of a year, etc.), control of success is simple
enough. You may make a special note in your diary's
agenda and later contemplate the result. Things are a
bit more complicated if there are no time limits or the
objective is an extremely long-term one. Nevertheless,
with some practice you will develop the right feeling
for it. Although you will have long forgotten your sigil
working, the moment you realize your success, you
will remember, which may create quite a weird feel-
ing at times. You might have a similar experience as
the Chasidim rabbi when he thanked God for never
sending him anything before he needed itl It is a pre-
rogative that we accustom ourselves to a different
manner of success assessment.

The time it takes for a sigil to work is somewhat
unpredictable. Sometimes success will be instant;
sometimes it may take months. We are told that Aus-
tin Osman Spare could bring forth a cloudburst within
minutes with the aid of sigils. He also succeeded, using
this method, in evoking demons at a flinch. Neverthe-
less, it would be presumptuous to ascribe this to sigil
magic and its techniques alone. Certainly, the magi-
cian's personal talent, the power of his/her own
Magis, the inner consistency of his/her magical uni-
verse, the qualities of magical time (which shamans
label "moments of power"), and some degree of prob-
ability may play an important part in instant magical
phenomena, which should not be underestimated.

42 /Practical Slgil Magic

But this is, aslhavepointed out before notanrnK,
of s,g,] magic alone. As did Dion Sn ?ten>
operate on a time limit of about six Z!l , d *■
general. If short-term ormedinm SI mon ^ k

practical use ofli^VZXt ^^

cedure. ' " danfy dls toctions in pro-

Ihe Pictorial Method

As opposed to the word method and the mantn-
cal spell method, the pictorial method of sigil con-
struction demands neither language nor specifically
formulated sentences of desire. Its advantage lies m
the fact that you are able to use the image language ol
the unconscious directly, provided that you are able
to transcribe precisely your sentence of desire into
such images without utilizing words.

Imagine that you want to heal a friend. Let us
assume his name is Hank Miller and that he is suffer-
ing from stomach pains. Similarly to Voodoo doll
magic, you might draw a figure with his initials (see

Figure 13).

Then you may stick an "astral acupuncture nee-
dle" into his stomach area through which healing
energy is fed into the affected part of the body (Fig-
ure 14):

43

44 /Practical Sigil Magic

The Pictorial Method / 45

Figure 1 3

This sigil must now be simplified and stylized as
tfjth the word method. See Figures 15 and 16.

Q

X

Figure 14

Figure 15

46 /Practical Sigil Magic

Figure 16

The Pictorial Method / 47

Charging or activating/internalizing is executed

already described in chapters 1 and 3. The same

T* are applicable for forgetting the operation, etc.

Let us look at a second example. Two people
Miners) are to be brought together by a so-called
Sng spell." We'll call them «A» and «B.» See
Figure 17.

If you work a lot with the pictorial method, you
will find that soon you will want to develop your own
"symbolic language" in order to tackle more com-
plicated subjects. This leads us into the realm of the
Alphabet of Desire, covered in chapter 6. If you are
familiar with magical symbols in general, you may use
them as "raw material" for individual sigils as well.
This, of course, requires that these glyphs and signs
have truly become second nature to you. Let us again
look at an example to illustrate this procedure. We
want to create a familiar spirit or "psychogone" and
will, therefore, need such basic symbols. Thus, we
must choose from the rich treasury of our history of
occult symbols. Let us assume that the spirit: a)
should be hard working; b) should have structural
awareness and the ability to materialize itself; and c)
it must furnish you with financial advantages. We
want to utilize the symbols of Earth and Saturn. See

Figure 18. . . , .,

We may also want to create a spirit from the
sphere of Venus for erotic purposes. To this end, we
might use the symbols in Figure 19.

The Pictorial Method / 49

earth = .X-A + SATURN

-*>

Figure 18

?

=VENUS/LOVE \

/ =WATER/EMOTIONS

=MOON/AETHERIC ,

f \ =FIRE/INSTINCTS

REALMS /

A

Figure 1 9

50 /Practical Sigil Magic

Combined, these symbols may form one of tU
sigils in Figure 20. e

Figure 20

The following symbols may be used to form a sigil
for achieving mystical insight into infinity:

V

= WATER/INTUITION

The Pictorial Method / 51
gee Figure 21 for completed sigils.

oo

-LEMN1SCATE/INFINITY

o

=UMON/MYSTICISM

Figure 21

52 /Practical Sigil Magic

Of course, you may also use Hebrew letter,
tattwa t symbols, or any geometrical symbols you p re
fer. (There are very few glyphs which have not bee,"
attributed with some meaning.) But as pointed out
before, you should not just copy some symbols out a
books which have no life for you or are not vivid to
you. Naturally, you may live in the paradigm that
these ancient" symbols have already developed a life
of the lr own, having been vitalized by legions of
magicians before us, but even in that case you will
tirst have to create an inner contact to the glyphs
yourself, e.g., by employing them frequently in a per-
tinent magical context.

One could object that this technique contradicts
the basis of Spare's system because it does not work

with individuaIsigiIs.However s thisisonlypartly cor-
rect. The individual elements making up such a sigil

mayconsistofestablishedsymbol S) buttheendresult
is definitely individual because of the selection of the
basic symbols and the simplification/stylization and
decoration, which is executed here again. The sigils
from our last examples could be enlarged in the man-
ner of Figure 22.

Let us not forget that alienation is a significant
element of sigil construction.

Now that we have covered the important aspects
of the pictorial method, let us take a look at the man-
tncal spell method.

I

Chapter 5

The Mantrical Spell Method

The mantrical spell method basically employs
acoustic sigils. The principle of cons ^mg mantri-
cal sigils is quite simple; the sentence of desire is
tTansformed q into a mantra devoid of any obvK>us

sense or meaning. This may be done ^\ e ^l
vmtingdownthesentenceofdesn-emaquasi-phonetic

manJr, i.e., words as spoken. This may demand some
ingenuity, but any magician needs this, and here
again, practice alone makes for refinement. Let us
take an example from Liber Null (p. 21):

a) Sentence of desire:

I WANT TO MEET A SUCCUBUS IN DREAM

This sentence, in a quasi-phonetic (acoustic) spelling,
becomes:

b) I WAH NAR MEDAR SUKU BUSIN DREEM

55

56 /Practical Sigil Magic

alSthi^ 6 ° r rJ tipIe letters are e,imi «ate d

as with the word method- J

I WAH N/R MBDft SUKjf B^ j^yf

d) This leaves us with:*

IWAH N'MER D'SUK

e) The sentence from d) is now rearranged, or alienated

ftat fte end product does not become a tongue t4 °
er but can be easily vocalized:

HAWI EMNER KUSAD (completed mantra)
For the use of mantrical sigils, you will need some

tras should sound euphonic (meaning "nice") as well

as so me howmagi C al/'Atth e sametL,theyS
be alienated enough so that you won' be able to
recognize the original sentence of desire.

Activating/rnternalization of Mantrical Sigils

usuaHv "nnt^ ?jf J ™ 1 si * S W mantras are

^w a + actlv f ^Eternalized spasmodically

£? nd ln 5 ense ")^ kstead, they are repeated rh£

nZT I™? m f otonously An exception to ttts

tion. This does not, however, invalidate the example as a whole

The Mantrical Spell Method / 57

In Eastern cultures mantras are also employed to
•nduce magical trances and mystical states of con-
piousness, etc., because they tend to tranquilize the
Conscious mind when monotonously repeated over a
long period of time. Thus, the psychic censor is soft-
ened up and direct access to the unconscious is set
free Naturally, mantras play a very important part in
Mantra-YOga, Tantra (of Hindu and Buddhist origin),
Buddhism (including Zen!), and many other Eastern
ohilosophies. These mantras may be more or less free
of recognizable sense (for example, "HRAM HRIM
HRUM")> or they may carry a meaning (for example,
«OM MANI PEME HUM," which, as you may know,
approximates «HAILTOTHEE,JEWELINTHE .IOTUS
BLOSSOM"). They may express a certain form of
worship and heightening of awareness. Islam (especial-
ly Sufism) knows its mantras, as does Catholicism,
which uses them, for example, in its rosary litanies,
and shamans all over the world are known to work
with different forms of mantras. - ■-.

While a sound knowledge of mantra theory can
be of help when using mantrical sigils, it is not strictly
necessary. Sometimes it may even prove to be a%0Ut-
right obstacle if you are for some reason (e.g., con-
ditioning, dogma, etc.) incapable of working with any
but one special, established system.

Our sentence of desire has been turned into a
mantra by manipulating its sound elements, and we
cannot recognize its meaning anymore (as is also the
case with word and pictorial sigils). You can now
activate this acoustic sigil by repeating it over and
over again, for hours on end, if possible. The mo-
notony of this procedure will guide you into a kind of

58 /Practical Sigil Magic

"mantra-stupor" (this will follow naturally and mav

sometimes occur even after only a few minutes' chant
mg); thus, your directive for the unconscious, whichh
now concealed in the acoustic sigil, can pass the cen
sorto thrive in the depths of the psyche and go about"
its work. You may support this procedure by a trance
of exhaustion achieved, for example, by fasting, pro-
longed lack of sleep or extreme physical exertion. You
might even use autohypnosis by playing the mantra
on a tape recorder during your sleep (best use endless
cassettes), but experience has shown that this is not
really requisite except as an auxiliary measure.

After charging the mantra, banish by laughter
and immediately distract the conscious mind as de-
scribed m chapter 3.

Words of Power

■• i^SS ad J L feshioning length y si & mantras, a
single WordofPower"maybeformedusingthesame
construction technique as described above. Let us
take the example of the aforementioned succubus
evocation. The finished mantra in the end was:

HAWIEMNERKUSAD

We might take the first syllable from each word

and construct a new word:

HA EM KU = HAEMKU

The Mantrical Spell Method / 59

We could also take the last syllable of each word:

WI NER SAD = WINERSAD

Other possible combinations in this example are:

VflNERKU, HANERSAD, KUNERWL SADEMHA, etc.

You will realize that the possibilities offered by
this technique are practically unlimited.

Activating/Internalizing Words of Power

When charging, you may proceed as you would
with longer sigil mantras: by chanting it mo-
notonously for a long time. ,..,..

Or you may proceed spasmodically as with the
word or pictorial method, using the techniques de-
scribed in chapter 3. Instead of an optical internaliza-
tion, vou perform an acoustic one: at the peak ot the
tension (regardless of whether you use sex-magical
techniques or the various versions of the death pos-
ture) you shout aloud the word of power-Jeloute
the better, because this drives away all disturbing
thoughts and even interrupts the entire ability to
think for the duration of the exclamation Here again
don't forget to banish the operation by laughter and
then distract your attention. The technique of the
infamous "death cry" of the Australian aborigines is
based on a very similar principle.

The only disadvantage of the mantrical spell
method is that it is not particularly silent. Therefore,

60 /Practical Sigi! Magic

usuallyyou will haveto be alone when usingit, unless
you are lucky enough to live with people who are in
sympathy with your magical "quirks," or are com-
pletely deaf. Anyone familiar with mantra systems
will be aware of the fact that there are generally three
stages of mantra intonation (the so-called "Japa-
Mantra ): loud, low, and silent (or mental) intonation
lne mental intonation is considered to be the "high-
est formofmantraworkingandisquitecomplicated.
inese hints, however, should enable you to experi-
ment with quite a number of different mantra
techniques.

Incidentally, it seems more than likely that some

of the medieval spells were constructed in the same
or at least in a very similar, manner. Albeit most of the
handed-down formulas are little else than mutilated
church Latin or Hebrew, and even though most of the
other spells have almost certainly been constructed
via cabbalistic gematria or have been received as a
revelation" of sorts, there are a number of formulas
and barbarous names of evocation" which cannot be
explained as such etymologically. However, this has
to remain pure speculation for the time being.

It will largely depend on your own temperament
and on your predilections whether you use the word
pictorial or mantrical spell method. Whereas I myself
favor the word method and, occasionally, the pic-
tonal method, I must admit that the mantrical spell
method has bome the most amazing and speediest
results. Perhaps this is precisely so because I per-
sonally do not like it very much! Thus, it is certainly

The Mantrical Spell Method / 61

advisable to experiment with all three methods. The
•oil's energy quality or the way the sigil "feels" is
completely different from method to method. After a
short time, you will know exactly which method is
most promising for any given operation. Being a true
magician, you will not tolerate one-sidedness because
you know that in the course of your magical career
you will be challenged too often and will be confront-
ed with the most varied of problems. It is always
beneficial to keep one's arsenal of possibilities and
weapons in good shape as well as to stay in practice
with "remote" techniques.

The ultimate sigil is surely silence itself, but of
this nothing can be said. For "the Tao that can be de-
scribed is not the Divine Tao."

Chapter 6

The Alphabet of Desire

We will now discuss one of the most fascinating

Kis also one of the more complicated and less explored
aris not the least reason for this being the desolate
Sion of literary sources Spare's writings ; per se
are very ambiguous and difficult to follow, and his
exposition of the Alphabet of Desire is no exceptor.
Even concerning his original comments we can only
rely on Kenneth Grant,* who seems intent on conceal-
ing more than he wants to divulge.

Apparently, Spare conceived the Alphabet of
Desired a system of 22 glyphs, all of them express-
tag, to use his own words, "aspects of sexuality. In

mese betters" fullylisted, let abneexplamed^ever
theless, wedohaveanumberof clues astowhatSp^e

EyS£E ZZX We a lot in common with

63

64 /Practical Sigil Magic

Spare's original system (a fact which was pointed out
to me— somewhat indignantly— by Frater.'.Thanatos
of the O.T.O.), but, as I see it, Carroll is on the right
course. To date, the German author Markus Jung-
kurth 9 has been the only writer who deals with Spare's
alphabet in more detail. But while he does quote the
odd word or two from Spare's own writings by way of
explanation, he gives us very few clues for actual
practice, unfortunately.

Spare's statement that the Alphabet of Desire is
part of a special proto-language of man's (or possibly
actually Spare's) own unconscious does, however,
give us an important practical clue, particularly if we
are familiar with the techniques involved in constru-
ing artificial ritual languages. 10 It would be wrong to
assume that Spare, who as a magician was an absolute
pragmatist, understood it as being a universal and
categorical proto-alphabet for use by all people. This
would contradict his entire system, and we do not
have a single convincing indication why we should
take this for granted. The following explanations
should, therefore, be understood as my own, personal
interpretations. The approach described hereafter has
proved to be effective enough in my practical work,
and we can find similar methods in other systems as
well, 11 but we must admit that we are more or less
breaking virgin soil here. The advantage of this ap-
proach is that it leaves enough room for personal
exploration, which might especially appeal to the
more experienced sigil magician.

Basically, I shall describe two main forms of ap-
proach and ways of dealing with the alphabet in this
chapter: 1) the Alphabet of Desire as a principle of

The Alphabet of Desire / 65

♦mcture embedded in a framework; and 2) the At

*SSof Desire as a mirror of the psyche created by
SStastf associations. Although some overlappings
C occur occasionally, one should not be mis ed to
Se? that these are truly two entirely different
approaches.

The Alphabet of Desire as a Structuring Principle

Pete Carroll has presented us, in his well-known
laconic and precise manner, with this model in Liber
Stop. 76 87). Unfolding his system, he does not
baT£-as did Spare-on purely semltoto
Strictly speaking, his system is more of an Alphabet

raY/TEpIoR, GREED/AVERSION, etc. Not all of
these complementary dualisms will seem c^oong
at first dance. For example, it may not be absolutely
1^ to everybody why ATROPHY/FRUSTRAT ON
and RELEASE/DISSOLUTION should be seen as sup-
plementary opposite*, and f^^^ 1 *^?^
do not help us a lot. Incidentally, he does not stick
strictly to Spare's division of 22 either, so we are jus-
tified in viewing his system as being an original crea-
tion of his own, following the Spare traditiom

Carroll's matrix will not be explained m detail
here, but rather we will use it as an illustration to
demonstrate by this one example how anyone am
create his/her own Alphabet of Desire. Carroll divides
5T«Mtos in doublets: LUST/DESTRUCTION;
DKSolraON/REI^ASE; ATTACHMENT/LOATH-

66 /Practical Sigil Magic

ING; RAPTURE/ANGER; GREED/AVERSION- AT
TRACTION/FRIGHT; JOY/TERROR; ATROPHYv
FRUSTRATION. Additionally, there are four cate-
gories which are, so to speak, "outside of competi-
tion : LAUGHTER, DECONCEPTUALIZATION
CONCEPTUALIZATIONand UNION. Andfinally, he
adds a Supplementary Alphabet in Malkuth," which
in his system covers the so-called "somatic emotions,"
namely PAIN/PLEASURE and DEPRESSION/
ELATION.

But this is not the end to his system. The five

meta-levels also play a significant role. The first three
are based on alchemical symbolism, describing "the
three states of matter" of each emotion: the Mercurial

( ¥ ), the Sulphurous ( ^ ), and the Earthy ( Q )

levels. The Mercurial form indicates states of over-
stimulation and dissolution of consciousness followed
by catharsis or ecstasy (p. 76). The Sulphurous form
indicates 'the normal functional mode of the emo-
tion," thus lying in between the Mercurial and Earthy
mode, both of which derive from the first principle,
comparable to the state of the "prima materia" in
alchemy. The Earthy form is one of repression and
unrealistic/unrealizable emotions.

The other two meta-structures are based on the
principles of SOLVE ET COAGULA. The SOLVE prin-
ciple {separation, repulsion, avoidance) includes the
terms DEATH, HATE, FEAR, PAIN and DEPRESSION
The COAGULA principle (attraction, coming to-
gether) comprises the terms SEX, LOVE, DESIRE
PLEASURE and ELATION. The opposite pairs with

The Alphabet of Desire / 67

which we have already dealt may be assigned to the
above-mentioned generic terms. Thus, for example,
LOVE (COAGULA level) includes emotions like AT-
TACHMENT, PASSION and RAPTURE, whereas their
opposites (LOATHING, AGGRESSION and ANGER)
belong to the category of HATE (SOLVE level), etc.
This may appear rather complicated, and it probably

is.

Finally, I should mention that all these emotions

and principles have their own sigils or glyphs. For
example:

DEATH (generic term) = 'Q
DESTRUCTION (noncategory/emotion) =

SEX (generic term) =

LUST (noncategory/emotion) = y^r*

For further details, please refer to Liber Null itself.

The above notes should illustrate the structure of
human emotions. Any number of other systems of
order may be used and developed. For example, the
four elements Earth, Water, Fire and Air may be em-
ployed as major categories, as well as the ten sephiroth,
the 22 paths of the cabbalistic Tree of Life (an ap-
proach may be found in Liber Null, pp. 77 and 86),
the 1 2 energy qualities of the zodiac, Timothy Leary's
and Robert Anton Wilson's circuits, etc. Since human-

68 /Practical Sigil Magic

kind has been attempting for thousands of years to
understand itself, its environment and life in general
in structural terms ("God created the world according
to measure and number"), it probably won't be all
that easy to find one's own, truly original scheme of
order which is entirely different from all former sys-
tems. At the same time, this gives us an insight into the
basic structures of the human psyche, i.e., archetypal
patterns which we should always implement in magic
anyway. In other words, it does not really matter
whether or not the pattern depends upon the struc-
tures of perception as influenced by the construction
of the brain or hormones. What is important is the fact
that we can find some of these patterns of order in all
human beings and thus in every psyche. (Experts on
ecclesiastical history will be pleased to remember in
this context the good old nominalism squabblings of
scholasticism; but then, it is a truism that our un-
resolved karma will always haunt us— even as a col-
lective entity— to the umpteenth generation. . . . )

Let us take dualism, for example. Most people are
familiar with polarized thinkingand perception, inde-
pendent of their cultural or civilizational background,
of political, historical, economical or social factors,
etc. Even the ontological monism of many religions
and philosophical systems is a convention of revolt
against this polar/dual view, thus defining itself by
denying it. It is of no consequence at all that most sys-
tems (including the purely magical ones, not to men-
tion those of mysticism) look for a synthesis and dis-
solution of the polarities. This quest for the Grail is
essentially a proof for the existence of dualism, at
least when viewed as an ontological problem.

The Alphabet of Desire / 69

Now we understand that the Alphabet of Desire
has developed into a significant instrument of the
dawning of consciousness merely by having been
created. If you want to construct your own alphabet
following the structuring method described above,
you will have to figure out those elements which you
want to include and which can personify the energies
of your own psyche. Just listing them is not good
enough, however. You will have to find a proper
framework for them.

Let us start with a modest example. For reasons of
simplicity, we will experiment with the four elements
EARTH, WATER, FIRE and AIR. This is a system with
which most magicians will be at least somewhat
familiar. As a further framework we will choose
DUALISM for the reasons mentioned. Looking for
emotional and character qualities which form dualities,
we assign them to the elements as follows (this, of
course, is but one of many possible examples):

WATER

FIRE

Love

Peaceableness
Need for Adaptation

Hate

Aggression
Will to Conquest

70 /Practical Sigil Magic

The Alphabet of Desire / 71

EARTH

AIR

Pain

Striving for Stability

Perseverance

Joy

Impulse for Change
Flexibility

Now I will discuss a sigil language, a canon of
symbols, the particular use of which we will come to
later. One possibility is to develop the chosen sigil,
perhaps by applying the word method (whereby the
chosen word itself serves as raw material) and com-
bining it with the glyph of the major category. The
four examples of Figure 23 clarify this process. You
will observe that we are taking the basic symbol and
combining it with the letters of the term.

Of course, these relationships are open to argu-
ment. For example, one could assign pain to the ele-
ment of FIRE, which would imply a strong, nearly
spastic feeling; pain within the element of EARTH
would tend to be dull and lethargic, etc. One may also
work with sub-elements such as EARTH OF WATER,
AIR OF WATER, FIRE OF WATER, etc. Use your
own intuition.

You may also utilize the pictorial method. LOVE,

for example, might be (j or Cp (symbols of "un-

+ LOVE =

3* =

+ HATE =

^N

/

\

+ PAIN =

+ JOY =

Figure 23

72 /Practical Sigil Magic

The Alphabet of Desire / 73

ion"), but these symbols might equally stand for SEX
for the same reasons. This leads us a bit further into
the area of philosophical and psychological cognition
and evaluation. If, for example, you consider LOVE as
an all-embracing principle (which need not necessarily
be endorsed by everybody!), you could perhaps choose

this sigil: @ . HATE could then— for you— be its

negation (for example: (oqS ) or its dissolution: <0> .
For you, JOY might be the bundling of energies into

ecstasy:

, or else it could be the blowing up or

overcoming of fetters:-

or

You will note that the construction of your own
Alphabet of Desire demands not only a lot of thinking
and intuition but great effort and hard work as well.

Let us now discuss the advantages and the possi-
ble applications of this sigil language before we tackle
the second construction method of such an alphabet.
^ First of all, dealing with the Alphabet of Desire
trains symbolic thinking and perception. This is of
special importance for ceremonial magic, but it also
enhances any work with omens and symbolism in
general. As is well known, the ceremonial magician
operates with a great variety of symbols, glyphs and
images (pentagram, hexagram, elemental weapons,
figures of archangels, etc.), even if s/he may generally

prefer sigils like the ones here described. Moreover,
symbol-logical thinking is of importance in any ma-
gician's work, regardless which system s/he uses. 12
By working with images instead of intellectual con-
cepts (even if our glyphs might stand for these con-
cepts), we activate our unconscious and the source of
our personal Magis.

But the real value of the Alphabet of Desire lies in
two different qualities of energy that exist while we
are using it. Both can be explained only to a point in
everyday language, which is why I must beg you to
accept the following remarks as nothing more than a
tentative approach towards something essentially
ineffable.

To start with, we should keep in mind that repeti-
tion of certain techniques rarely fails to impress the
unconscious, vide the effects of positive thinking,
autosuggestion, autohypnosis and Mantra usage. Our
mantric sigils work on the same principle. By the
Alphabet of Desire, we create an arsenal of reusable
sigils which are implanted anew and additionally
with each operation. Spare, for example, developed
the sigil for the introduction of will ("I desire" =

tz=t ), which he then combined with other parts of

his sentences of desire. This may suffice as an example
of reusable sigils. Since we cannot deal with the whole
of Spare's magical philosophy here, I don't want to go
further into his numerous abstract sigils, which can
only be understood in connection with his rather
complex system (e.g., sigils for the "empirical Ego" or
the "possessive Being"). However, it must be men-

74 /Practical Sigil Magic

tioned that there is far more to a symbolic lan-
guage than a purely mechanical collation of nouns
mounted in images. You will also need verbs like
.doing/ "heakng," "destroying," etc., and con-
junctions like "and," "therefore," "but," etc will
prove themselves very useful in practical work. As to
these latter glyphs, Spare employed sigils (or, rather
more accurately, parts of sigils) such as

(for plural forms), etc.
Let us assume that you want to perform a sigil
operation with the following sentence of desire:

stiSn Jra SH F ° R B * T ° 0BTAIN HEALTH AND

Let us further assume that for the particles of the

?f£° e n ThiS f y Wish '" " Heal *>" "Strength" and
toobtain youhavealreadydevelopedfinishedsigils

such as the following:

THIS MY WISH =

ffi

STRENGTH =

HEALTH =

AND =

The Alphabet of Desire / 75

All that remains now is an individual sigil for
your patient B., which you might develop by employ-
ing the word method. Let us assume you have obtained

the following glyph: QQ •

Now we have the whole image or glyphical text:

most Mee

You may put a frame around it:

FOR =

76 /Practical Sigil Magic

This would be the finished sigil or, more ac-
curately, the sigil sentence. Activation/internalizing
follows the usual method. Theoretically, the several
parts of the sigil may be merged and simplified even
more, but this effort would hardly be justified. A sim-
ple sigil developed with the word or pictorial method
would work quite as easily without all this bother.
The demand for the preferably most simple end sigil
finds its limitations here.

Last, but not least, the Alphabet of Desire may be
applied like all the other types of sigils discussed here,
a point which pleases many a magician (dependent on
temperament). Its possibilities are not exhausted in
the slightest by this. In general, it can be said that the
Alphabet of Desire should not so much serve concrete
success magic but enhance experience (and creation)
of oneself, of the internal universe and of its structure
in images. Since the Alphabet of Desire will most
likely consist of philosophical terms like "truth," "cog-
nition," "karma," etc., with which the unconscious is
less familiar because of their abstract quality, a re-
peated or multiple usage of the sigils of the alphabet
will, as experience has shown, assure success more
surely than when used with the more uncomplicated
sigils discussed before.

Spare himself has made a point in his Book of
Pleasure (p. 50, comment 3) that different methods of
constructing sigils will activate different levels of the
psyche. Unfortunately, he failed to enlarge on this any
further. In practice, you will see that this is certainly
the case in that different methods of constructing and
charging sigils have a dissimilar feel to them, which
means that they have different energy qualities. In my

The Alphabet of Desire / 77

opinion, it is as yet too early to develop hierarchical
structure and graded models for the theory of sigils at
this stage of exploration as long as there is not enough
empirical material available covering, as it should, the
experiences of a large variety of sigil magicians. Most
likely, as with the structuring principles explained in
this chapter, a far more personal, individual schema
will be called for in this area. But only time will tell.

Let us now take a look at the association tech-
nique for constructing the Alphabet of Desire and its
function as a mirror of the psyche.

The Alphabet of Desire as a Mirror of the Psyche

The technique of association is basically a mix-
ture of automatic writing, pictorial method and medi-
tation/intuition. From the very beginning we can do
without a scheme of order like the one we have seen in
the last section. Instead, we will proceed according to
situation, meaning that we will develop our sigil alpha-
bet as we go along, combining the process with a bare
minimum of conscious construction. Of course, we
will employ some rationale in places, but generally we
will proceed "chaotically" (one could even say "or-
ganically") rather than utilizing ratiocination, let alone
deliberation. Let us look at two examples.

1st Example

You want to succeed on an academic examina-
tion by magical means. Your sentence of desire could
be formulated like this: "THIS MY WISH TO PASS

78 /Practical Sigil Magic

MY EXAMINATION WELL." Because you are fond of
experimenting, you decide to use the Alphabet of
Desire and develop it with the association technique.
You get into a state of active meditation where you
"implant" your questions. Which questions? There
will be several because you will need a series of dif-
ferent sigils: one for the segment "THIS MY WISH,"
another one for "EXAMINATION," one for "TO
PASS," and one for "WELL." (In a symbolic language
like this, usually you may abandon "MY" with im-
punity. Keep in mind that the language should always
be kept as simple as possible anyway so as to enhance
its symbolism and be nearer to its symbol-logic
rationale.)

Now concentrate on the question of which sigil
you should use in the future for the words "THIS MY
WISH." Keep your pen on the paper and close your
eyes. (If you prefer, you may write the words in capi-
tal letters at the top of the paper.) Empty your mind,
thus creating a state of non-thinking. (If you want to
proceed precisely and carefully, you might as well
construct a mantrical sigil for your question and take
it into your state of heightened awareness, achieving
the latter by prolonged chanting.) After a while, the
pen in your hand will start moving, seemingly by
itself. When the movement stops, return from your
meditation trance and open your eyes. You may find
nothing but a scribble since your unconscious has yet
to get acquainted with this method of communica-
tion. Here again, the completion of the Alphabet of
Desire requires a great deal of patience and effort.
Repeat this procedure until you are satisfied with the
result. You don't have to scribble on the paper for

The Alphabet ofDeske / 79

hours; a few minutes will do. You may also cut around
parts of the "scribbling" and form a sigil as in Figure
24:

30

Figure 24

Admittedly, this sigil might not seem very simple,
but you are free to experiment until you come across a
more satisfying form. But do not, I repeat, do not try to
control the process consciously!

Repeat this procedure with the other segments of
the sentence. Let us assume that eventually you obtain
the results of Figure 25.

c/i

>

X

10
S

I

LU

The Alphabet of Desire / 81

You probably have noticed that these examples
hear a certain resemblance to signatures and glyphs
Swn from medieval books of spells. Perhaps then
£ today, people were fond of employing the tech-
nique of automatic writing for their cons^uction
q Youshouldkeepthesigilsobtainedbythismethod

in a special "dictionary" for later use.

2nd Example

Suppose that some time later you wish to get a
proper job (perhaps for the time after Y^exarmna-
to which you have, of course, passed). However,
you don't want to specify the precise type and loca-
tion (company, department, etc.) of your job in order
to retraceSain element of choice. Thus, you may
formulate:

THIS MY WISH TO GET A PROPER JOB.

The words "A" and "TO GET" are not really
needed. Your experience with the Alphabet of Desire

additional sigils, one for "JOB" and another for PROF

Pre tyXtme 8 method as before, you may obtain
thefollowin gS igilfor"JOB": ^ . (Since "well" and
"proper" canmean the same thing, basically, you may
again use the sigil from the last example: 4" •)

82 /Practical Sigil Magic

The material available for the construction of
your sigil is shown in Figure 26.

THIS MY WISH =

f

PROPER =

H

JOB =

Figure 26

The Alphabet ofDeste / 83

In time, you will spend less and less effort on con-
structing (or "receiving") single sigils because your
arsenal or sigil dictionary will grow larger and larger.
This is one of the main advantages of this method,
which also provides for regular and direct com-
munication between consciousness and the uncon-
scious. Unlike the structuring method explained earli-
er, you can do without schemes of order and can
obtain sigils on an ad hoc basis, providing yourself
with the possibility of using the list of your sigils as a
mirror of the psyche even more effectively than the
most carefully kept Magical Diary. Once you have
marked several dozens or hundreds of sigils along
with their respective meanings in your "dictionary,"
you have also acquired a complete overview of your
magical work to date. This might sound a bit trivial,
but if you take a look at your list after three or four
years of practice, working it through systematically,
you will be surprised how much inside information it
actually contains. This will beat many a meditation
session!

You should also meditate frequently upon the
following: do most of your sigils really correspond to
what you want from life and magic? (Have a look at
the frequency with which you use them by keeping a
tally.) Do you notice any imbalance? Which terms/
aims appear least frequently? What should, according
to your personal philosophy, be emphasized, at least
theoretically? What is missing? Which emotions have
you avoided and why? Thus, you can kill two birds
with one stone by combining pragmatic-empirical
practice with individual ethics.

84 /Practical Sigil Magic

The Alphabet of Desire is at its best when it

comes to usefulness and variety of applications, and
not only, as already mentioned, in the areas of self-
recognition, growing knowledge and self-analysis but
also in working with what Spare tagged "Atavistic
nostalgia." The next chapter will be dedicated to this
most fascinating aspect of sigil magic.

Chapter 7

Working with Atavistic
Nostalgia

The term Atavistic nostalgia is another name for
a principle which plays an important part in Spare's
system and which is sometimes also defined as Ata-
vistic resurgence. We can take but a quick glance at it
here, for otherwise we would be obliged to give a com-
plete introduction into Spare's entire system, which is
not the purpose of this volume. Thus, we shall con-
centrate on the basic structures of Atavistic nostalgia
and its possible applications in practical sigil magic.

The fundamental rationale of this practice is Dar-
win's Theory of Evolution. I'm sure you are familiar
with Darwin's theory that man is but the momentary
end-product of a long process of evolution that has
been going on for millions of years and which has led
from unicellular organisms and reptiles to mammals,
including ourselves. Unlike popular "Vulgar Dar-
winism" (which was mainly monitored by the Church),
Darwin did not so much claim that "man derives from
monkey" but rather that we carry in us the entire
heritage of all life forms and that we literally incor-

85

86 /Practical Sigil Magic

porate it. This "carrying in us" has been proved, f 0r
the most part, by modem genetics as well as by anthro-
pology, physiology and other disciplines of human
biology, although Darwin's theories underwent tre-
mendous transformations and challenges within the
last 150 years.

For example, the human brain did not develop
steadily and smoothly. Instead, it shows several added
variations in the form of "accretions" in the course of
evolution so that in fact we unite "various" brains in
our skull. These derive in part from very early stages
of evolution, e.g., the so-called "interbrain" (dien-
cephalon), or "reptilian brain" or brainstem. Once
again, it would lead us away from the matter at hand
to discuss the pros and cons of Darwin's theory or
repeat all the objections which have been raised against
Darwinism (e.g., by the partisans of the rival theory of
Lamarck). In our context it is merely important to
note that in Spare's paradigm our entire evolutionary
history is still organically present in us. In other words,
it is not as if we were completely finished with our for-
mer evolutionary stages, as if we had totally overcome
them and laid them aside. Quite the contrary, in fact.
The information of these earlier stages of our develop-
ment is stored in our genes up to the present day and,
according to Spare and many other magicians, it may
be revitalized and tapped. (The parallels to Carl G.
Jung's concept of the collective unconscious — at least
in one of its possible interpretations — should be ob-
vious.) This is exactly what happens with atavism,
which in biology denotes a retrogression of sorts into
earlier stages of evolution.

The term nostalgia calls for some clarification.

Working with Atavistic Nostalgia / 87

ftnare uses the English word nostalgia (New Latin nos-
tofefa), deriving from the Greek notos = "homecom-
W' and algos = "pain"; thus, "homesickness' is one
3 its meanings. It is also related to Old English genesan
- "survive" and to old German ginesan of the same
meaning; Gothic ganisan = "being saved (healed)
lo reveals Spare's frame of reference when using
this term. He does not use the word so much in the
sense of "longing for something (the source)," although
this may be included as well, but rather employs it to
signify an act of conscious revitalization of old, archaic
structures of the consciousness.

Consequently, Spare tried to go back into early,
pre-human stages of consciousness by activating ge-
netic or hereditary memory. This, for him, was not an
end in itself, for his basic premise was that our greatest
magical power, probably even the source of magic
itself, lies hidden in these early stages of evolution.
This assumption is confirmed A we take a look at the
practices of Siberian or Soutt American shamans or
various African fetish priests, e.g., work with power
animals, animal clan totems, etc. Practice also con-
firms this over and over again. Only when the magical

will (which Spare is fond of calling belief ) has
become "organic," meaning unconscious and carnal,
is it, according to Spare, most effective. The deeper we
go into our magical trance, returning to earlier stages
of consciousness, the easier it will be for us to partake
of its magical power and, most important, to direct

and use it. ,

Nevertheless, it must be mentioned here that
such a procedure demands a great deal of magical
experience and a strong psychic stability. And let us

88 /Practical Sigil Magic

not forget that with Atavistic nostalgia we enter pre-
human stages of life, which, when brought to con-
sciousness, may have catastrophic results. Thus, you
might realize that not only your whole world view but
all your usual ideas about morals and ethics might be
drastically changed by Atavistic nostalgia. You might
be completely overwhelmed by your animal-con-
sciousness (for example, your "reptilian karma," etc.)
or even become obsessed, which could result in par-
ticularly unpleasant consequences in our bourgeois,
conventional society. On the other hand, this entirely
meets Sigmund Freud's demand "Where Id was, Self
shall become" and belongs, in Carl G. Jung's terminol-
ogy, to the challenge of the "shadow" and thus to
individuation itself. But you should always realize
that you are dealing with extremely hazardous powers,
and if you have the slightest doubt whether you are
ready for this, by all means keep away from it, unless
you are keen to experience one hellish trip after the
other.

Spare did not leave us any accurate directives on
how to deal with Atavistic nostalgia, but his magical
pictures and steles (to which he usually added hand-
written explanations and reflections) give us some
idea about his possible mode of approach. As is to be
expected, he achieved these changes in consciousness
by employing sigils.

There are several methods of Atavistic nostalgia.
For example, we may shift our consciousness into that
of different animals by constructing and activating
proper sigils. Spare is fond of the term karma in this
respect, but his karma differs somewhat from the
usual meaning of the word. Karma in his terminology

Working with Atavistic Nostalgia / 89

means the "sum of all experiences." Thus, we may, for
Sample, create sigils from the following sentences
f desire:

—I WANT TO EXPERIENCE THE KARMA OF
A CAT.

-THIS MY WISH TO EXPERIENCE THE KARMA
OF A REPTILE FN MY DREAMS.

-THIS MY WILL TO OBTAIN THE CON-
SCIOUSNESS OF A BIRD OF PREY.

—THIS MY DESIRE TO BECOME A UNICEL-
LULAR ORGANISM IN MY DREAMS.

In regard to the first sentence of desire, Pete Car-
roll in Liber Null & Psychonaut mentions incredible
results (p. 203.) It is advisable, especially in the begin-
ning, to experience atavisms in states of dream only,
until you have become more familiar with them. Only
then should you experience atavisms in everyday life
and, of course, in rituals. You could append the word
"immediately" to the above sentences and then charge
pentacles or steles with the help of the Alphabet of
Desire for use in ritual for special workings (e.g., as
"gateways" to an altered state of awareness). Again,
this method calls for a lot of training and experience.

Another method consists of phrasing the sen-
tence of desire less specifically but more comprehen-
sively. This method should be understood as an aug-
mentation to the aforementioned procedure and not
as an alternative. Here again are some examples for

90 / Practical Sigil Magic

sentences of desire:

—THIS MY WISH TO EXPERIENCE MY ATA
VISMS.

-THIS MY WISH TO EXPERIENCE THE STAGES
BEFORE MY BIRTH,

—THIS MY WISH TO EXPERIENCE THE
SOURCE OF MY LIFE.

-THIS MY WISH TO EXPERIENCE MY REP-
TILE INCARNATIONS IN RITUAL.

The key words "reptile incarnations" show that
we are moving close to another technique of regres-
sion—reincarnation therapy. But the intention of the
sigil magician is different insofar as s/he employs
atavisms to charge sigils further or to start magical
operations. For example, a talisman charged while one
is in a "reptile consciousness" will work more power-
fully than a talisman charged while in a state of nor-
mal magical trance. Of course, we must bear in mind
that all of these atavistic states of consciousness have
their own shortcomings and strong points. It would be
downright foolish to demand highly intellectual work
from a reptile with its small, barely developed brain.
The incarnation of a bird won't be suitable to give us a
lot of knowledge about life underwater, and the karma
of a fish is not responsible for problems of hunting in
the steppes or buying a car (though it may be excellent
for buying a submarine!). We have to learn to choose
and to employ these specialists in the optimal manner.

Working with Atavistic Nostalgia / 91

Working with animals has a long magical tradi-
tion and most "primitive" peoples still do this. Even a
"city magician" like Franz Bardon recommends it on
the fourth level of the "magical mental training" in his
book Initiation into Henneries. Sujja Su'a'No-ta also
covers it in the first part of her book Element-Magic
Remember the witches' familiars to which such inor-
dinate attention was given in the time of the Inquisi-
tion. Modem technology has largely succeeded in
subduing the animal aspects in our lives. Thus, this
magical art has nearly disappeared in our culture. On
the other hand, we can, with its help, create a good
counterbalance to the modern tendency of over-
emphasizing artificiality and technology.

It will usually take years and decades of practice
until you are ready to work with Atavistic nostalgia in
a predictable and reliable way. As a species, we had to
struggle much too hard for evolution, so our con-
sciousness and our censor will not stand by unflinch-
ingly and watch as we scratch off our civilizing var-
nish, risking the possibility of destroying everything
again. One reason why true mastership in this prac-
tice can only be achieved after many years lies in the
fact that during this period a stabilization of the whole
psyche has to be achieved. If not, our brain could
never handle experiences which are dead, similar to
Lovecraftian tales. Furthermore, if we endorse the
evolutionary model, a new step in evolution must
always be guaranteed or our own genetic alarm mech-
anisms would destroy the whole system of our organ-
ism. Finally, in evolutionary terms we are little

92 /Practical SigU Magic

more but parts of a general organism which cannot
afford to allow uncontrolled regressions to a larger
extent. Therefore, we will have to "offer" something
to this general organism (when seen as a personifica-
tion) for its collective development. Only then will We
be able to use its huge power resources.

Despite all the dangers which are entangled with
the use of specif ic or less specific animated atavisms, a
small number of magicians will always consider this
to be the crown of their art and one of their highest
aspirations. Today is the product of Yesterday, and if
we are inclined to take the gnostic questions "Who am
I?," "Where do I come from?" and "Where do I go to?"
seriously, we cannot afford to do without the sheer
unlimited knowledge to be gained from this practice.
Atavism leads us back to the source of all life, regard-
less of whether we call it the Big Bang, God, Ain,
Bythos, Chaos, or whatever we like. In this respect,
the magic of the "re-animated atavisms" also rep-
resents a mystical and philosophical method, a method
which chooses the path "directly through the flesh"
instead of, as is regular Western practice, employing
the spirit only, without appreciating the vessel which
enables its existence in the first place. To complete the
picture, it must be mentioned that sigil magic is not
the only magical way. Thus, the "path of carnal
memory" may easily be combined with purely mental
and mystical paths, if this is preferred.

^ Atavistic nostalgia offers us a variety of aspects
which have yet to be explored. Here we find virgin
land which has been waiting for millions of years to be
discovered and charted!

Finally, I would like to mention that present ex-

Working with Atavistic Nostalgia / 93

^rience has shown that sigils created with the pic-
WlmethodaswellastheAlphabetofDesiredobet-

SS Atavistic nostalgia than other glyphs. The reason
for this might be that these methods are somewhat
more "pristine" (at least they appear to be so to us),
but, of course, this may only correspond to subjective
structures. Nevertheless, I urgently advise ex-
Snenting with the Alphabet of Desire m this field
because here its abilities can be developed to the
fullest and because its energy seems to be best adapt-
ed to this line of magic. Working with a structured
alphabet provides us with the additional advantage
that our experience may gain more stability and, in
some cases, more substantiality. On the other hand,
an associatively constructed alphabet often provides
us with very powerful, instantly successful, signs
because its glyphs pop up even more "directly from
the unconscious and the hereditary memory than
those of other techniques with the possible exception
of the pictorial method.

It's also true that these two different methods ot
constructing the alphabet may be combined with one

another. Thus, we might, for example, (as did bparej
construct 22 basic glyphs (being the generic or basic
terms)andthenaddanynumberofmerely functional
glyphs using the method of automatic association.
There are no limits whatsoever to one's own desire for
experimentation. Remember, who dares, wins.

Chapter 8

But How Does It Work?

You may have noticed that in previous explana-
tions I frequently referred to the "unconscious into
Which sigils are "implanted," after which they start
working like good fairies. The unconscious makes
sure that sigils "will flesh" (to use Spare's own term).
Regarding this "incarnation," we must never forget
that the sigils themselves play nothing but a secon-
dary part in the overall process of magic. Spare even
goes so far as to state that each evolutionary step has
been an unconscious, literally "corporeal" act of will.
Thus, for example, animals only started to develop
wings when their desire to fly had become organic.
This may seem a weird proposition, but basically it is
nothing but a rephrasing of the old theory that all
creation is based on an act of will of the godhead or of
Chaos,orincarnatedWill.Thesigilisthe"flesh ofthe
magician's will, so its successes are "incarnations ot

the glyph itself. . .,

If we really want to explain why sigils start to
work, we would have to explain magic as a whole,

95

96 /Practical Sigil Magic

but, unfortunately, a lot of it is at sixes and sevens. It's
not as if there were no explanatory models; indeed
they seem to come cheaper by the dozen. But they are
nothing but just that— models which do not really
prove anything; in the best cases, they only illustrate
the process. Back in the earliest days of psychology
(which is still struggling for acknowledgment as a
"science") there existed a model of explanation for the
human soul which has its shortcomings but still serves
us rather well. I am referring to the model of the con-
sciousness, the censor and the unconscious. Fur-
thermore, there is the Id, the Self and the Superego.
Some writers differentiate even more accurately be-
tween the unconscious and the subconscious, etc.,
but the model consciousness/unconsciousness/censor
has become established nearly everywhere. But this,
as said before, is only a model and not a scientifically
objectified fact in the sense of physics or any other
"exact" science. Neither Freud nor Jung went so far—
as many modern occultists tend to do— to confuse an
explanatory model with a law of nature.

Certainly, Spare may be accused of having stuck
too closely to what was in those days (1909-1913,
when the Book of Pleasure was written) Freud's
brand-new psychoanalytic model. If we read Spare's
attempts at an explanation, we get the impression of a
near fanatic hostility against the consciousness. In his
opinion, only the unconscious possesses magical abil-
ities and powers. This is the reason why he stresses so
strongly the necessity of forgetting sigils. The con-
sciousness is considered a continuously lurking enemy
which has to be parried all the time.

This may have been justified in Spare's days, and

But How Does It Work? / 97

^avbe it still is. Many a sigil magician has come to the
inclusion that it is best to construct a multitude of
Xils let them lie around for weeks or months, and
activate/internalize them only when the contents
Lid the purpose for which they have been construct-
ed) have been completely forgotten. This technique
seems to be reasonable, but then, of course, it is suited
only for long-term operations. Nevertheless, it cannot
be denied that sigils are more effective in relation to
how completely they have been obliterated from con-
sciousness. , ,
Ray Sherwin has presented an explanatory model

which is quite enticing. 13

To explain the illustration it should be mentioned
that Sherwin considers the Holy Guardian Angel (of.
the Abramelin system) as being the psychic censor (a
somewhat unconventional interpretation which has
its source in Chaos Magic). The term Kia is taken from
Spare's system and is explained by Sherwin's descrip-
tion of point k.

Now, a and b join to construct the sigil, which
then has to be implanted in d. If d refuses to accept the

sigil, it is probably because it does not understand it.
The reason may be that it is either too complicated or
that a and b use symbols, pictographs and ideograms
which are not compatible with those of d. Sherwin
points out that, according to Aleister Crowley, only a
magician who is capable of direct communication
with the HGA will achieve a direct connection to the
unconscious. The altered state of awareness, c, marks
the point of intersection between a, b and d. It may
switch off the censor completely and thereby provide
direct contact between these areas of the psyche.

98 /Practical SigU Magic

Sherwin's Model

M

¥

2>

a = Ego, Will, Belief

b = Awareness, Perception

Consciousness: Individuality, Awakeness

HGA = The Holy Guardian Angel = Censorship Mechanism

Reactive Mechanisms

c = Altered Consciousness, "liminal state of consciousness"

d = Sub/Unconsciousness, Sleep, True Will

e - Macrocosm, Chaos

k = Kia, Soul, Individuality without Ego

But How Does It Work?/ 99

To begin with, this model suffers, like most mod-
els do, from being overly one-sided. It pretends that
the barrier of the censor is absolute, a "semi-per-
nieable" membrane or filter which permits move-
ment in one direction only {from d to a/b) while
blocking everything in the opposite direction. This is
certainly an exaggeration because within this model
we could not explain why conscious perceptions may
be stored in the unconscious (a fact which our dreams
prove all the time with their digestion of the day's
unresolved events; the same can be said for our
memory and our programmed emotions, etc.). Fur-
thermore, it does not take into account that the un-
conscious is engaged all the time and in all human
acts, even when consciously constructing a sigil. After
all, it is the only part of our psyche which is active 24
hours a day (as opposed to consciousness which needs
its daily breaks), encompassing the stage of the
consciousness.

Next, I would like to introduce two more models
of my own, which also have shortcomings, but might
help to illustrate the whole procedure.

Even though the threshold of the censor in Model
A is seen as (if only slightly) more permeable than in
Sherwin's model, there is usually no (or just a minor)
direct contact between consciousness and uncon-
sciousness. (Imagine it to be like a sieve, where only
the smallest particles can slip through the holes.) The
channel of ecstasy goes around the filter of the censor,
and the pressure of ecstasy (meaning magical trance)
gets rid of the membranes at the mouths of conscious-
ness as well as of unconsciousness for a limited period
of time. Thus, it creates the possibility for an exchange

1 00 /Practical Sigil Magic

Model A

"on a large scale" whereby the shield of reality, i.e.,
the limited area of perception and evaluation which
are required for normal everyday reality, is bypassed
and sometimes even undermined. This model is purely
inner-psychic and does not explain why altered states
of consciousness or whatever type of communication
between consciousness and unconsciousness (read
MAGIC) may have an effect on the material plane.

But How Does It Work? / 101

Such models are also termed psychologistic. I
have followed them in this study for convenience and
accessibility, not because of any particular belief that
magic can only be explained in psychological terms.

Finally, I present another model, which has been
adapted from Theosophy (and is still widely appreciated
in magic) and is oriented to the sphere structure while
also integrating the psychological pattern.

Levels, which have formerly been seen as hier-
archically stratified, are now understood as "states of
oscillation" overlying one another which, of course,
cannot be illustrated in a two-dimensional drawing.
The probes a are inlet ventiles which work in both
directions. Point a' is a double probe through which
not only the direct, censor-independent contact be-
tween consciousness and unconsciousness is con-
trolled but through which the consciousness also gets
in direct contact with the mental sphere (while avoid-
ing the censor-filter and the astral plane). Channel c is
only permissible in a state of "altered awareness."
The two "dream levels" of the consciousness and the
unconsciousness have direct access to the astral level.
(Lucid dreaming would imply an intersection point
with the mental level, which is very rare.) To be effec-
tive, sigilization should take place in c (the altered
state of consciousness). Be aware that the conscious-
ness does not have direct access to the causal plane
and the unconsciousness has only got indirect access
to the physical level via the causal plane. According to
the Theosophical model, the causal plane presides
over all the other levels and controls them. On the
causal level, the causes are planted by magical means,
which often manifest themselves on the physical level

1 02 /Practical Sigil Magic

Model B

PHYSICAL LEVEL

a - "ventile" or "probe"

a' = "double ventile" or "probe"

c = channel of communication/altered state of awareness

But How Does It Work? / 1 03

as "unexplained miracles," "strange coincidences,"
etc. — everything we understand as magic.

Eventually, such models do not have any real
value of cognition; all we are doing is trying to explain
the unknown (in this case, the way in which magic
works) by the suspected (here, the structure of the
psyche), achieving, however, little more but illus-
trations. Nevertheless, such illustrations are quite
useful to satisfy our reason and to soften the censor,
which in one way or the other truly seems to exist.
(One could also term it the "unknown barrier" that
makes it difficult for us to seize and manipulate the
magical universe.) Of course, we may quite con-
sciously rape our own reason to achieve a gnostic
trance. This, for example, is practiced by the order of
the Jesuits with its magical technique of the "credo
quia absurdum est" ("I believe in it because it is
absurd"), as does Rinzai Zen with its koans, but in
doing so we are already returning to the field of pro-
cedural techniques, leaving the area of rational cog-
nition.

If you find it fun to do so, you might develop your
own models of explaining magic. This would have the
advantage of establishing a stronger commitment to
magic in your consciousness and unconscious (to re-
main persistently within psychologism), thus making
it easier for magic to be integrated in everyday life. But
don't forget that this is nothing but an— admittedly
quite amusing— way of fiddling around.

You may perhaps be a bit disappointed now if
you had expected to find the final explanation for
magic, life, the universe and everything in this chap-
ter. In that case, try to get over it with one of Crowley's

1 04 /Practical Sigil Magic

favorite aphorisms: "He who knows the HOW does
not care about the WHY." You can achieve certainty-
over the HOW mainly through practice— and practice
is much more productive anyway than vague specu-
lations of dubious value.

Chapter 9

Constructing Sigils With
Planetary Cameas

Magical squares, or cameas, are often used as a
basis for the construction of individual sigils. In fact,
the traditional sigils for planetary spirits and demons
have been cabbalistieally construed with the help of
these cameas. Since this technique belongs to yet
another important branch of sigil magic and is rela-
tively unknown, it shall be covered here.

The following explanations are based on Israel
Regardie's excellent book How to Make and Use Talis-
mans, which contains a very clear summary, though
the author refers to the older material of the Golden
Dawn and other writers have explained the system
elsewhere. 1 4 To be able to use these systems, however,
you need a sound basic knowledge of cabbalism and
planetary magic. Unfortunately, these cannot be taught
here and would lead away from our main topic. Read-
ers who are quite unfamiliar with these disciplines
should refer to the relevant literature listed in the
bibliography.

The basis of this method of constructing sigils is
105

1 06 /Practical Sigii Magic

the Aiq Bekr, also labeled the "Kabbalah of the Nine
Chambers." Each letter of the Hebrew alphabet is
equivalent to a numerical value. The alphabet with its
assigned numerical values is as follows:

M

A

1

Aleph

*

B,V

2

Beth

i

G,Gh

3

Gimel

i

D,Dh

4

Dalcth

n

H

3

He

i

o.u.v

6

Vau

r

z

7

Zayin

n

Ch

8

Cheth

ts

T

9

Teth

*

I,Y

10

Yod

^

K.Kh

20,500

1

Kaph

9

L

30

Lamed

&

M

40,600

a

Mem

:

N

50,700

I

Nun

D

S

60

Samekh

?

Aa,Ngh70

Ayin

£

P,Ph

80,800

■n

Pe

X

Tz

90,900

r

Tzaddi

P

Q

100

Qoph

1

R

200

Resh

c

S,Sh

300

Shin

n

T.Th

400

Tau

Constructing Sigils with Planetary Cameas / 107

These letters are arranged in nine "chambers"
according to their decimal values:

Shin Lamed Gimel
300 30 3

Resh

1

200

Kaph
3
20

Beth
2
2

Qoph

P

100

Yod Aleph
10 1

Final

Mem Samekh

D D

600 60

Vau
1
6

Final
Kaph

1
500

Nun

:

50

Heh

n

5

Tau

n

400

Mem Daleth

D 1
40 4

Final

Tzaddi Tzaddi

Y *

900 90

Teth
B
9

Final
Peh

800

Peh

B
80

Cheth

n

8

Final
Nun

1

700

Ayin Zain
9 t
70 7

Depending on the appropriate magical camea,
sometimes it is necessary to reduce a numerical value
so that the pertinent number in the camea can be
touched when drawing the sigil. For example, look at
the demon Bartzabel of the Mars sphere, following
Regardie (p. 1 5). In Hebrew this name is written {from
right to left):

Lamed Aleph
30 1

Beth Tzaddi Resh Beth
2 90 200 2

108 /Practical Sigil Magic

The magical camea of Mars follows, one version
in numbers, the other in Hebrew letters:

11

24

7

20

3

W

13

)

3

3

4

12

25

8

16

1

2*

TO

n

V

17

5

13

21

9

r

n

a*

»

IS

10

18

1

14

22

i

n*

«

t

23

23

6

19

2

15

JD

i

&«■

3

m

You will note that the numbers 200, 90 and 30
do not appear in the magical square; deleting the zeros
in our demon's name gives us 2, 9 and 3. Thus, we get
the following order of numbers (again from right to
left): 3/1/2/9/2/2.

Usually the sigil begins with a curlicue and ends
with a stroke. If any one number is covered twice, two
arcs are drawn. Let's have a look at this sigil in its
camea in Figure 27.

In this example, the traditional sigils really have
been constructed consciously.

To complete the picture, the following pages con-
sist of the magical cameas of the planets together with
the sigils of their intelligences and demons, as well as
the planetary seals, which have been developed with
a very similar but slightly different method.

Constructing Sigils with Planetary Cameas / 109

Figure 27

110/ Practical Sigil Magic

Beside each numbered camea you will find a
square containing the Hebrew letters according to
their numerical values, which may save you a lot of
trouble constructing your sigils in the Hermetic tradi-
tion. The illustrations are taken from Agrippa's classic
work De Occulta Philosophia (2nd vol., 1533).

The rule of marking the beginning and the end of
a planetary sigil, namely to start with a curlicue and to
end with a stroke, has not been followed throughout.
This may be due to Agrippa's intention of preventing
any possible abuse. By marking the beginning and the
end of such a sigil we have all the directional informa-
tion necessary to draw it in evocation (with the excep-
tion of the composed sigils). I have deliberately not
"corrected" the sigils because I wanted to present the
traditional form without any changes of my own.
Furthermore, these corrections might confuse those
readers unfamiliar with the subject if they suddenly
come across different versions of one and the same
sigil in other traditional books. For practice, however,
I advise you to redraw the sigils and correct them
where necessary.

Constructing Sigils with Planetary Cameas /111

THE MAGICAL CAMEAS OF THE PLANETS ("TABLES")

AND THE SEALS AND SIGILS OF THE
PLANETARY POWERS, INTELLIGENCES AND DEMONS.

(following Agrippa of Nettesheim, De Occulta Philosophia, Vol.
2, 1533)

Table of Saturn

Numbers Hebrew Letters

4

9

2

3

5

7

8

1

6

n

ts

a

J

n

t

n

K

l

Seals or Characters

of Saturn his Intelligence his Demon

% ^

Divine Names in accord with the numbers of Saturn
Numbers Divine Names in Hebrew

3. Ab 3N

9. Hod in

15. Yah rf

15. Hod Tin

45. Ext. Tetragrammaton NmNlNrn'P

45. Agiel, Intelligence of 'WON

Saturn

45. Zazel, Demon of 'ttKJ

Saturn

112/ Practical Sigil Magic

Table of Jupiter

Numbers

Hebrew Letters

4

14

15

1

1

T

if

N

9

7

6

12

B

)

1

a* 1

5

11

10

8

n

«■■

i

n

16

2

3

13

r»

a

Jt

x>

Seals or Characters
of Jupiter his Intelligence his Demon

Divine Names in accord with the numbers of Jupiter

Numbers Divine Names in Hebrew

4. Abba N3N

16. mn

16. Tin

34. EIAb SN^N

136. Iophiel, Intelligence of itVQrV

Jupiter

136. Hismael, Demon of ^NDDn
Jupiter

Constructing Sigils with Planetary Cameas / 113

Table of Mars

Numbers

Hebrew Letters

11

24

7

20

3

W

13

)

3

i

4

12

25

8

16

"I

a* 1

ro

n

r

17

5

13

21

9

P

n

jp

frO

a

10

18

1

14

22

\

w

«

T 1

33

23

6

19

2

15

JO

1

B*

a

rv

Seals or Characters
of Mars his Intelligence his Demon

Divine Names in accord with the numbers of Mars

bers

Divine Names

in Hebrew

5.

He, Letter of the
holy name

n

25.

vr

65.

Adonai

VTM

325.

Graphiel, Intelligence of
Mars

■j^DMia

325.

Bartzabel, Demon of
Mars

^NSttna

114 /Practical Sigil Magic

Table of the Sun

Numbers

Hebrew Letters

6

32

3

34

35

1

1

3 1 ?

j

t>

rrt

N

7

11

27

28

8

30

1

N'

P

m

n

b

19

14

16

15

23

24

B'

T

V

TV

a

13

18

20

22

21

17

13

rv

3

33

SO

p

J 11

25

29

10

9

26

12

H3

03

s

B

o

a 11

36

5

33

4

2

31

lb

n

&

1

a

N 1 ?

of the Sun

Seals or Characters
his Intelligence his Demons

o

Divine Names in accord with the numbers of the Sun

Numbers Divine Names in Hebrew

6. Vau, Lettei of the holy

name
6. Prolonged He, Letter of Nfl

the holy name
36. Eloh fftlS

111. Nakhiel, Intelligence of bbVO}

the Sun
666. Sorath, Demon of !TT)D

the Sun

Constructing Sigils with Planetary Cameas / 115

Table of Venus

Numbers

Hebrew Letters

22

47

16

41

10

35

4

33

P

V

ND

^

rft

1

5

23

48

17

42

11

29

n

J3

no

P

3D

H'

B3

30

6

24

49

18

36

12

■?

1

"P

BB

rr>

ft

3'

13

31

7

25

43

19

37

y

tf>

J

ro

3D

B"

ft

38

14

32

1

26

44

20

rP

*T

3b

N

13

ID

3

21

39

8

33

2

27

45

to

to 1 ?

n

P

3

P

riD

46

15

40

9

34

3

28

IB

fV

B

B

■ft

J

ro

Seals or Characters
of Venus her Intelligence her Demons

Divine Names in accord with the numbers of Venus

Numbers Divine Names in Hebrew

7. Aha HMH

49. Hagiel, Intelligence of "WJPI

Venus

175. Kedemel, Demon of "JNOIp
Venus

1232. Beni Seraphim, tfEWOa
Intelligence of Venus

116 / Practical Sigil Magic

Table of Mercury

Numbers

8

58

59

5

4

62

63

1

49

15

14

52

53

11

10

56

41

23

22

44

45

19

18

48

32

34

35

29

28

38

39

25

40

26

27

37

36

30

31

33

17

47

46

20

21

43

42

24

9

55

54

12

13

51

50

16

64

2

3

61

60

6

7

57

Hebrew Letters

n

na

toj

n

1

3D

JD

N

BB

jT

T

33

U

W

i

U

KG

jd

25

IB

no

Bt

m

no

&

i 1 ?

n"?

tos

ro

hi

to 5 ?

ro

to

o

P

fr

b

i

*6

^

r

P

10

3

to

JIB

30

13

to

ru

13

3^

a*

K3

3

P

ID

3

i

«B

D

1

)

P

Constructing SigHs with Planetary Cameas / 117

Seals or Characters
of Mercury his Intelligence his Demons

A

Divine Names in accord with the numbers of Mercury

Numbers

Divine Names

in Hebrew

8.

Asboga, prolonged
number eight

rUD)N

64.

Din

n

64.

Dani

TI

260.

Tiriel, Intelligence of
Mercury

tymna

2080.

Taphthartharath,
Demon of Mercury

nimnen

118/ Practical Sigil Magic

Table of the Moon

Numbers

37

78

29

70

21

62

13

64

5

6

38

79

30

71

22

63

14

46

47

7

39

80

31

72

23

55

15

16

48

8

40

81

32

64

24

56

57

17

49

9

41

73

33

65

25

26

58

18

50

1

42

74

34

66

67

27

59

10

51

2

43

75

35

36

68

19

60

11

52

3

44

76

77

28

69

20

61

12

53

4

45

Hebrew Letters

1*

nv

633

»

N3

3D

3-

13

n

l

nb

BJ?

■?

Nff

33

ID

T

ID

P

)

Qi

B

N 1 ?

3J>

33

f13

fi-

P

no

n

D

NB

3^

ID

13

ll

P

r

CD

B

ND

jy

3 1 ?

MD

.13

13

na

tv

3

N

3D

"Iff

T7

ID

)D

P

B3

>

Ml

a

ID

nr

rb

V?

no

b"

B

W

33

3

ID

Iff

JO

nn

DD

3

ND

3*

33

1

no

Constructing Sigils with Planetary Cameas / 119

Seals or Characters
of the Moon her Demons

her Supreme Demon

her Supreme Intelligence

£*

Divine Names in accord with the numbers of the Moon

nbers

Divine Names in Hebrew

9.

Hod in

81.

Elim B*?N

369.

Chasmodai, Demon of WllDtPrl

the Moon

3321.

Shed Barshemath Shar- pimWWDrMnrw

thathan, Supreme

Demon of the Moon

3321.

Malka be-Tarshishim ad CDnnrDfrO^D

be-Ruah Shehaqim, CpntmilinV

Supreme Intelligence

of the Moon

120/ Practical Sigil Magic

Individual sigils (for example, your first name)
may be formed by using the same system. To do so, the
name has to be transferred into Hebrew, which, of
course, demands some previous experience. Once you
have defined the numerical value of the name, the sigil
is made by going over the chosen planetary camea.
Obviously, the same name will have a completely dif-
ferent design in the seven different cameas.

Now if we, for example, assign the purpose of a
special sigil operation to a specific planetary sphere,
we can, with this method of construction, assume the
identity of the chosen sphere. Let us take a magician
whose magical name is MERLIN. In Hebrew, this
would be written in the following manner (from right
to left):

(Final-)

NUN

YOD

LAMED

RESH

MEM

700

10

30

200

40

He now wants to perform some aggressive opera-
tion, e.g., a magical attack. Thus, he will choose the
camea of the Mars sphere as his basic matrix. This
results (after the proper reduction of the numbers)

in:

= MARS IDENTITY

Constructing Sigils with Planetary Cameas / 121

He might also use this sigil in combination with
the Alphabet of Desire for his operation, or he might
integrate it into a word or pictorial sigil, etc.

If, however, he wanted to be successful in a law-
suit, he would choose the Jupiter sphere and get the
following sigil on the camea of Jupiter:

= JUPITER IDENTITY

It is always the same name, but with and in a dif-
ferent planetary vibration. By the same method we
may transfer reduced sentences of desire, words of
power, etc., to the planetary system and sigilize them
with the help of the cameas. If you already have some
experience with planetary magic, you will immediate-
ly recognize the vast possibilities of this procedure.

Conclusion

I hope that I have provided you with ample prac-
tical hints in this brief introduction so that you can
explore on your own the vast, fascinating area of sigil
magic. Don't start off in a dogmatic spirit, though.
Dare to experiment, make changes where you feel
they may be necessary, and always aspire to develop
your own techniques and methods. Sigil magic lives
by the individuality of the magician; generally, people
who stick to every letter of laws or rules make very lit-
tle progress. Even though one of its major strong points
lies in the field of success magic, sigil magic serves the
individual's spiritual development as well. It can open
completely new universes to us — an unlimited num-
ber of universes of experience— and eventually it will
lead us back to the sources of magical power itself.

SALVE ATQUE VALE!

UBJQUE DAEMON . " . UBIQUE DEUS.'.

123

Glossary

A.\A.' .—Astrum Argentum or Silver Star. A
magical group founded by Aleister Crowley based on
the teachings of the Hermetic Order of the Golden
Dawn.

Abramelin system— A potent cabbalistic system
of magic. It involves six months in prayer, following
which you achieve "the Knowledge and Conversation
of Your Holy Guardian Angel." This angel provides
information on how to control demons so that they
will bring you whatever you desire.

Agrippa— Henry Cornelius Theophrastus Bom-
bastus Agrippa von Nettesheim (1486-1535) was a
famous alchemist, astrologer and magician. His Tfiree
Books of Occult Philosophy or Magic is considered to
be a classic work.

Aiwass-revelat ion— In 1904, Aleister Crowley
"received" The Book of the Law, a revelation from an
entity referring to itself as Aiwass. The three short
chapters in the book describe the end of the current
aeon and the beginning and methods of the New
Aeon.

Aleister Crowley— -Bom Edward Alexander Crow-
ley (1875-1947), he is one of the most important and
1 25

126 / Practical Sigil Magic

controversial magical writers and practitioners. He
became a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden
Dawn but later left the order to found his own group,
the A.\A.*.. Later he joined the O.T.O. and became its
head. A prolific writer, his magical system combined
Western Cabbalistic magic with Eastern Tantrism, Tao-
ism, Buddhism and Yoga.

Chaos magic — Of recent origin, this system of
magic focuses on personal symbolism rather than a
traditional system. Experimental and free form, chaos
is the field of potential from which we can tap
magical forces.

Dogmatic magic — This type of magic forces a
practitioner to use symbols and systems that may or
may not be part of the magician's reality.

Fraternitas Batumi— The Brotherhood of Saturn
is a German magical Order. Highly secretive, some of
their teachings are just coming to light.

Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn—This group
began operation in 1888 and fell victim to schism and
strife in 1 900. Its importance is in its unique combin-
ing of numerous magical systems into a coherent whole.
Its membership included William Butler Yeats, Arthur
Machen, Sax Rohmer, MacGregor Mathers, Dion For-
tune, Aleister Crowley, Israel Regardie, A.E. Waite
and numerous others.

IOT (The Magical Pact of the Illuminates ofTha-
nateros) — The Pact is a loose conglomeration of groups

Glossary/ 127
and individuals practicing Chaos magic.

Koans— A Buddhist method for meditation, it in-
volves giving the meditator an idea with no simple
answer on which to contemplate. The most famous is
"What is the sound of one hand clapping?"

Lao-Tse— Founder of Taoism.

Master Therion— A name used by Aleister Crow-
ley under which he wrote several of his most impor-
tant books, including Magic in Theory and Practice.

Mathers— Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers
(1854-1918) was one of the founders of the Her-
metic Order of the Golden Dawn and eventually
became its sole leader. Through him came many of the
unique and impressive rituals and magical tech-
niques. The books he translated and edited on magic,
including The Sacred Magic of Ahramelin the Mage,
The Greater Key of Solomon and The Kabbalah Un-
veiled, have helped many to become magicians. His
autocratic nature lead to schisms in The Golden
Dawn, and he eventually had magical wars with
Aleister Crowley. He died in the influenza epidemic
that rocked the world after World War I.

Nominalism— The philosophical belief that ab-
stractions, generalities or universals have no objective
reality, existing only as names.

O.T.O. (Ordo Tempii Orientis; Order of Eastern
Templars)— Founded in the late 1800s, it claimed to

128/ Practical Sigil Magic

be associated with the Knights Templar and combined
some fringe masonic traditions along with sex magic.
Aleister Crowley became a member and later head of
the order. He revamped it to match his magical ideas
known as the Thelemic current. Numerous groups
calling themselves O.T.O. have sprung up in recent
years.

Ten Sephiroth~ln Cabbalism (and Neo-Plato-
nism), the universe is seen as being created through a
series of emanations from the Godhead. In the Cab-
balah these are known as the Ten Sephiroth and form
a pattern called the Tree of Life. It is used by magicians
for personal development, a key to astral travel, and a
way to make correspondences for magic.

Thelemic concept—The system of magic pro-
pounded and advanced by Aleister Crowley.

Timothy Leary's and Robert Anton Wilson's cir-
cuits—Just as we have evolved, so has the "circuitry
of our brains." We have eight circuits, and each can be
opened by various means. Reaching a higher level
allows a person greater personal and magical power,
as well as greater awareness of the universe.

Wicca— An Old English word meaning "wise."
Originally pronounced "Wee-Cha," it is the source for
the more common word witch. Many Witches prefer
the term Wicca as it does not have all of the negative
connotations that many hundreds of years of defama-
tion have placed on the word "witch."

Comments

1 One has only to think of the unfortunate develop-
ment which occurred to a name like Asrarte (Ishtar) m
the course of centuries- an erstwhile Chaldean Moon
Goddess developed in the Middle Ages via the addi-
tion of the plural ending "oth" into a male(l) demon
with the name Astaroth. Today's evocatory magicians
might be in for quite a surprise or two, if, for example,
a supposedly male demon like Kedemel from the Ve-
nusian sphere suddenly appears before them as a
female entity! (Quite obvious, actually, but who would
have thought of it beforehand?)

2 Ray Sherwin, writing as a former member of the
IOT on a similar connection in his excellent Theatre of
Magic (Leeds: The Sorcerer's Apprentice Press), intro-
duces the term "Liminal Gnosis."

3. Compare the section "The Physiological Gnosis"
and the subsequent explanations in Liber Null (York
Beach, ME: Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1987), p. 33ff.

4. Kenneth Grant,Images and Oracles of Austin Osman
Spare (York Beach, ME: Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1975).

5. Incidentally, this difficulty can even be used con-
structively should you encounter problems with vi-
sualizing or imagining objects or persons. For example,

129

1 30 /Practical Sigil Magic

if you don't succeed in seeing a giraffe with closed
eyes, try very intensely not to see one. Sometimes the
spell is immediately broken by this simple trick.

6. Ray Sherwin, The Book of Results (Leeds: The Sor-
cerer's Apprentice Press), p. 34.

7. 1 should perhaps briefly point out that virgin parch-
ment is not, as many people still seem wont to believe,
tanned from the hymens of desperately destitute
virgins! Instead, the skin of unborn calves is used for
its manufacture. Since it is financially unprofitable to
slaughter the mother cow or to induce an artificial
abortion for obtaining it, only animals which have
died in an accident, had to be put to sleep, or died a
natural death can be exploited, This is why the most
time-honored commodity of all Western magic is so
rare. It is, therefore, very difficult to procure, especially
since veterinary regulations in most countries pose an
additional obstacle for its production. Its chief com-
mercial source of supply is the London parchment
exchange. In extremely paper-thin form it is also util-
ized as "goldbeater's skin."

8. Kenneth Grant, Images and Oracles of Austin Osman
Spare, p. 59ff.

9. Marcus M. Jungkurth, Zos Kia (Berlin: Stein der
Weisen, 1983), pp. 256-264.

10. Cf. Sujja Su'aTSTo-ta "Die Sprache des Unbewufiten,
Anleitung zur Erarbeitung einer individuellen Ritual-

Comments / 131

sprache" in Unicorn, EI/82, pp. 137-141.

1 1. For example, refer to Sujja Su'a'No-ta's Element-
Magie (Bad Hormef: Edition Magus, 1983), pp. 51-
56.

12. Gf. my article "Mythen in TUten. Vom magischen
Umgangmit Analogien" in Unicorn, XI/84, pp. 221-
229.

1 3. Ray Sherwin, The Book of Results (Leeds: TheSor-
cerer's Apprentice Press), p. 32ff.

1 4. See Timothy D'Arch Smith's introduction to Fran-
cis Barrett's The Magus (Secaucus, NJ: Citadel Press,
1977), pp. vi-vii. His explanation is a bit tricky. The
magician places the figures of a magical camea in their
numerical order (always from left to right, starting in
the bottom row) in a camea. After this, he traces the
numbers following their numerical order on the orig-
inal camea. The result of the example given in his
introduction, the Saturn glyph, is quite convincing.
But in the case of Jupiter and Mars, you need a good
deal of imagination to recognize the proper glyph as
given in the relevant classics in the resulting scribble.
D'Arch Smith does point out, however, that some
aesthetic corrections may have been made to obtain
more or less symmetrical figures. Thus, his thesis is
enlightening and witty and cannot be discarded com-
pletely, although a convincing presentation of the
construction of all glyphs following this model might
have provided more clarity to his procedures.

Bibliography

Aerosol. "Smuggling Sigils Across. Sigil Magic for the
Professional Magician." Chaos International, 4
(1988) p. lOf.

Agrippa of Nettesheim. De Occulta Philosophia. Vol.
2, K6ln, 1533.

<* Barrett, Francis. The Magus or Celestial Intelligencer:
A Complete System of Occult Philosophy. Reprint
with a new introduction by Timothy D'Arch Smith.
Secaucus, NJ: Citadel Press, 1977.

• Carroll, Peter. Liber Null &Psychonaut. York Beach,

ME: Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1987.

• Dukes, Ramsey. Uncle Ramsey's Bumper Book of

Magical Spells. Unpub.

Frater U.'.D.'.."Mythen in Tuten. Vom magischen
Umgang mit Analogien." Unicom, XL/84, pp. 221-
229.

• Grant, Kenneth. Images and Oracles of Austin Osman

Spare. York Beach, ME: Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1975.

Jungkurth, Marcus M. Zos Kia: Der Magier Austin
Osman Spare und die Magie des Voodoo. Berlin:
Stein der Weisen, 1983.
133

134/ Practical Sigil Magic

Regardie, Israel. How to Make and Use Talismans.
Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, England: The
Aquarian Press, 1972,

Sherwin, Ray. The Book of Results. Leeds: The Sor-
cerer's Apprentice Press, n.d.

. The Theatre of Magic. Leeds: The Sor-

cerer's Apprentice Press, n.d.

Spare, Austin Osman. The Collected Works of Austin
Osman Spare: His Art, Philosophy and Magic. Ed.
Christopher Bray and Peter Carroll. Leeds: The Sor-
cerer's Apprentice Press, 1982.

Su'a'No-ta, Sujja. Element-Magie: Ein praktischer
Leitfaden. Introduction by Frater U. ' .D. ' ..Bad Hon-
nef: Edition Magus, 1983.

. "Die Sprache des Unbewuisten. Anleitung
zur Erarbeitung einer individuellen Ritualsprache."
Unicorn, HI/82, pp. 137-141.

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