Sigils and Talismans

A sigil is a sign that stands for an intention or a power. A talisman is an object made to hold one. Between them they account for most of the practical magick ever done in the West, from the planetary images of the medieval astrologers to the pocket charms of the present day. The methods are simple, and they reward care.

What a sigil is

In the older books of magic a sigil is the signature of a spirit or an intelligence: a linear figure that represents it and is used to call on it, much as a monogram represents a person. In modern practice the word has widened to mean any sign constructed to embody a specific intention.

The reasoning behind the technique is this. A wish expressed in ordinary sentences keeps the reasoning mind busy with doubts, plans and second thoughts. The same wish reduced to a single abstract figure can be contemplated with full attention and no commentary. The sign carries the meaning past the part of the mind that argues.

The method of the planetary square

This is the method given by Agrippa, and it ties the sigil to one of the seven planets.

1. Choose the planet that governs the purpose, and take its magic square.
2. Choose a word or name that expresses the purpose.
3. Turn the letters into numbers. The traditional system uses the number values of the Hebrew letters. A simple alternative for English numbers the alphabet from one to nine, three times over, so that A, J and S are 1, B, K and T are 2, and so on.
4. Trace the word on the square, drawing a line from the cell of the first number to the cell of the second, and so on to the end. A small circle marks the start and a short bar the finish.
5. Lift the figure off the square. The line alone is the sigil.

Our sigil maker performs these steps on the square of Saturn so that you can see how a figure is produced. A sigil drawn by your own hand, slowly, is always to be preferred to one printed from a screen.

The letter method

A second method became popular in the twentieth century and needs no tables at all.

1. Write the intention as one clear sentence in the present tense, stating what is wanted and not what is feared.
2. Strike out every letter that repeats, so that each letter appears once. Many practitioners also strike out the vowels.
3. Combine the remaining letters into a single figure, overlapping, rotating and simplifying them until the letters can no longer be read and the figure pleases the eye.
4. Redraw the figure cleanly.

The result is personal and unrepeatable, which is the method's attraction. Its weakness is that it has no connection to the wider symbolic language of the tradition. Some practitioners combine the two approaches by setting a letter sigil inside the appropriate planetary figure.

Using a sigil

A sigil is not finished when it is drawn. It has to be impressed on the mind with as much concentration as the operator can bring to it, an act traditionally called charging. The usual way is to perform a short ritual and, at its central point, to gaze steadily at the sigil for some minutes with the mind emptied of everything else.

What follows is as important. The practitioner puts the sigil away and deliberately turns the mind to other things. Continued fretting over the outcome is held to interfere with it, on the same principle by which a seed is not dug up to see whether it is growing. The date and purpose are entered in the diary and the matter is left alone until the time set for review.

Talisman and amulet

The two words are often used as if they meant the same. The tradition distinguishes them.

Talisman

An object deliberately made and consecrated to draw a particular influence toward its owner: a planetary virtue, a quality of character, success in a specific undertaking. It is active, made for one purpose and usually for one person.

Amulet

An object carried or worn for protection, to turn something away. It is passive and general. Amulets are among the oldest human artifacts, and many need no consecration, their power being held to lie in their material or form.

How a talisman is made

The classical instructions, found in the Picatrix and in Agrippa, apply the doctrine of sympathy with great thoroughness. Everything about the talisman is chosen to agree with the power it is to hold.

1. Purpose. A single aim, written in one sentence, and the planet that governs it.
2. Material. Ideally the planet's metal. In practice, a disk of card or wood in the planet's color serves well.
3. Design. On one side the planet's symbol and number. On the other the sigil of the purpose. Simplicity is better than crowding.
4. Time. The talisman is made and consecrated on the day and in the hour of its planet.
5. Consecration. In a ritual, the operator invokes the planet's quality, states the purpose, and dedicates the object to it, often passing it through incense smoke and over a flame. It is then wrapped in a clean cloth of the proper color.
6. Keeping. The talisman is carried or kept in its place, not shown or handed about. When its purpose is fulfilled or abandoned it is respectfully destroyed.

Ficino, writing in the fifteenth century, offered an explanation that still satisfies many: the talisman works on its owner, who made it with long attention and now carries a constant reminder of an intention. Others hold that it holds a real influence of its own. The procedure is the same on either view.

Good practice

• One purpose at a time. A talisman for everything is a talisman for nothing.
• Work only on your own affairs. Do not make sigils or talismans to influence the will of another person. See ethics and safety.
• Make it possible. Choose aims that have an ordinary path by which they could come about, and walk that path.
• Set a date for review. Decide in advance when you will judge the result, and write down what would count as success.
• Do it by hand. The making is the larger part of the work.