Though Tarot and other forms of cartomancy tend to be discussed more, scrying is a useful skill for any witch, diviner, or magical practitioner. If you’re not familiar with the concept, scrying is the art of inducing visions by fixing one’s gaze on a surface or object. When most people hear the term, they think of the old cliche where someone gazes into a crystal ball in order to foretell the future, and that’s indeed a form of scrying, though there are many. Many famous magicians and clairvoyants employed scrying, such as John Dee, Edward Kelly and even the infamous Nostradamus.
There are many guides floating around online and in print regarding scrying with a solid object like a mirror or crystal. To me, both of the latter are reliant upon the element of Earth, though, and while many witches favor that, the other elements can be used in scrying, as well. Today, I’d like to discuss a particular method of scrying involving the element of Air. I feel that air scrying is an oft-neglected and practice that presents excellent opportunities, with strengths and weaknesses that make it equally appealing to a diviner or witch when compared to other methods.
When most of us think of the element of air in a magical context, we likely have an image of incense somewhere in our mind. This is because incense usually represents air within many modern witchcraft circles. When talking about air scrying, many would likely have the idea of watching incense rise and gazing into it in order to induce a vision. Indeed, many diviners and witches do just that, but today, I’d like to discuss another method, equally effective but requiring nothing at all in the way of tools, and no burning of incense.
This is particularly a useful technique for those whose practice must remain hidden, or those who haven’t the ability to scry with air using the common incense method. As you might expect, this is a great method for scrying in order to communicate with the forces of air/wind themselves, as well as spirits in general. It may be confirmation bias on my part, but it always seemed to me that, when scrying with air, it’s exceptionally easy to get noticeable results rather than just vague impressions, though the meaningfulness of what you see/experience will vary dependent upon the scryer themselves. I will say that I’ve found it extremely effective for contacting place-related egregores or what you might call “nature spirits,” i.e., that which New Agers often erroneously call “devas.”
I call this method “Mirror in the Sky.” With it, you essentially use the sky itself as a scrying mirror. Please note that this differs from certain other sky-based forms of divination such as looking for patterns in the clouds, which, while effective and useful for some, aren’t technically scrying. This is because the images you see and interpret in those methods are formed from physical phenomena visible to all, rather than arising from the diviner’s subconscious or appearing only to them from another source. I’ve written a bit about my views in this direction here.
How To Do It
To begin scrying the sky, find a place and situation where a medium-sized (at least) patch of sky is visible to you. You might get different results, but for me, the larger the area, the better. It should be an uninterrupted patch of visible sky, not marred by power lines, tree branches, or anything else. Naturally, if you’re in the city, as I am, a relatively small bit of sky framed by buildings can work well. As a rule, I would say you want a view of the sky that gives you the sensation of spaciousness when you gaze at it, regardless of its objective size.
As I describe this, the idea of lying on your back in a park or field might seem ideal, but a (relatively high) window with the sky visible through it over rooftops worked well for me, so don’t feel compelled to wander around looking for the perfect place if you haven’t the time. Really, let me reiterate that all you need is a relatively unobstructed view of the sky.
That said, though, you won’t necessarily be able to start right away. Given that this method of scrying uses the sky as its medium, you need to be mindful of the weather. Unless your patch of sky is visible through a window (as mine is, these days), you won’t really be able to do this if it’s raining, because the rain will likely distract you.
Beyond that, it’s best (especially for your first time) to wait until the sky (or at least your designated patch of it) is a uniform color and unmarred by clouds. As mentioned earlier, some witches and magicians practice a sort of divination where the shapes of the clouds are interpreted, but that’s not really what we’re going for here, and any break in the uniformity of the sky will likely distract you. Remember – the goal is to use the sky like a scrying mirror or crystal ball, and if you’ve ever used either of those with a blemish in them, you know it’s slightly more difficult than if they’re smooth and even.
Beyond that, weather requirements are minimal – I’ve made this work in most seasonal weather patterns provided the above-mentioned conditions were present. This is possible in all light conditions, ranging from the first bursts of dawn to an afternoon haze. Even pitch black will work, provided there’s a least a little overcast of clouds so that stars don’t enter into the picture and compete for your attention. Again, just wait until a time when the sky looks relatively uniform and unbroken, then begin.
The first steps towards scrying the sky in earnest are really the same as you would use with any scrying medium. If you have a ritual you use prior to scrying with a mirror, bowl of water, or other medium, you may well be able to adapt that to this particular technique. I myself like to put myself through some mental or physical exertion prior to scrying, but other witches might just enjoy a cup of mugwort tea and try their best to relax.
One thing that many find helpful is to initiate a verbal dialogue with the medium itself, in this case, the sky. This can be spoken, whispered, or vibrated within your mind. Just simply ask the sky to show you what you need or want to see. If you’re like me, and find the notion of elemental spirits useful (perhaps just as a metaphor), you would want to address this request to the sylphs – the archetypal air spirits.
If you’ve got a specific entity you’d like to communicate with via scrying, such as an egregore or the spirit of the place where you’re located, then address it towards the “airy” part of the entity. This takes some finesse and a dollop of self-knowledge, as you’ve got to have worked out your own cosmological metaphor for how these things work, but can definitely be helpful.
Next, with an appropriate calmness of mind and heart, fix your gaze on your patch of sky. I find it helpful, at this point, to focus and unfocus my vision until the muscles responsible for that act become a bit tired, and focus is naturally lost. On that note, light sleepiness can help achieve this, too. The sky may appear to ripple. Some witches who’ve seen this say the ripples are a type of “energy,” but in reality, it’s a highly common optical illusion. In this case, though, experiencing it often presages the beginning of a vision/scrying session, so don’t shy away when and if you see this phenomenon.
Small shapes and colors usually appear first, and it can be difficult to sort out what’s being seen physically (or due to eye strain) as opposed to merely appearing in the mind’s eye, more so than with other types of scrying. This is not usually a problem, and I’d recommend just taking the images as they come and being as receptive as possible, regardless of their apparent origin.
Most suggestions you’ll see in books and websites regarding how to interpret what you’d see within a scrying mirror or crystal ball apply here, but I’d caution against the use of symbol dictionaries, no matter how comprehensive. It’s much more useful to just focus on what emotions an image stirs within you and what preexisting personal associations you have for it.
For example, if you see a dragon, and a symbol dictionary suggests it represents greed, but your personal experience with dragons has been positive from watching dragon cartoons as a child, your association for the image might be something like “innocence,” rather than anything standardized from a book. This is perfectly okay, normal, and useful, and really makes it obvious why diviners and witches need to know themselves first and foremost, and that you’ll have a much easier time interpreting what you experience if you keep context in mind.
Fine-Tuning This Technique
Just as you can change what you’ll see using a scrying mirror, bowl, or sphere, so you can achieve similar fine-tuning with sky-scrying, as well. For me, the easiest way of doing this is to change the time at which one does the scrying, choosing a time of day that is auspicious in terms of your needs or the subject you’d like to receive information from or about. If the weather is suited for it, this isn’t difficult at all.
Any scrying you do via this method will naturally have a primary elemental attribution of air, since air is the medium you’re using, but you can add a secondary correspondence by choosing a time of day associated with an elemental (or other) force you’d like to connect with.
Dawn tends to be associated with air, noon with fire, dusk with water, and midnight with earth, at least within certain parts of occidental magick. Beyond that, you might be interested in using planetary hours to time your sky-scrying, as well, choosing an hour based on which planet is most associated with what you’d like to experience while scrying.
Strengths and Weaknesses
As with any magical/divinatory technique, this one has both strengths and weaknesses. Your success in scrying the sky is pretty dependent upon the weather cooperating. This is a drawback compared to less mercurial methods like a crystal ball, which is always going to be there, and relatively the same, regardless of what’s happening. It’s also a little difficult getting used to scrying the sky over and over, as it’s bound to look different every time you gaze at it, even if it’s the same patch over and over.
As noted, though, it’s remarkably easy for even the inexperienced to get results of some sort via this method – I put that down to its association directly with the element of air and communication. And, as far as air-based scrying goes, this is a lot easier than scrying in smoke, as it gives you a larger canvas on which visions can be projected. It’s also a good method for scrying if you need to keep your divination/witchery a secret. Whereas having a crystal ball around or even a scrying bowl raises obvious questions, merely relaxing while gazing at the sky is common enough to not cause alarm.
I hope you found this tutorial interesting and informative, and I do have more planned with regards to elemental scrying techniques, as well as other topics. If there’s something you’d like me to write about, don’t hesitate to send me a message or ask, but please read my FAQ and master page beforehand to see if your question has already been answered. And finally, if you enjoy the content I produce, please consider donating to fund further endeavors. Thanks for reading!
I’ve written a lot about the seven classical planets and celestial/cosmic witchcraft. I think it’s time to bring things a bit more down to earth, though!
This is a new two-part series! It will focus on the natural elements as understood by the Western Magical Tradition.
In today’s article, I’ll be explaining a bit about the history of these concepts and how I see them. I hope you find this interesting and informative!
Thinking About the Elements
Elements are one of the first concepts I learned when beginning a journey into witchcraft.
But! How do we view the elements as concepts? Lets consider how they relate to us and the whole universe. Here’s my views!
Some believe the elements are simply words for natural phenomena. In other words, Fire is fire – the burning of a campfire or candle, or another flame. Water would always be something like a stream, the ocean or other liquid. I don’t see it this way. They’re far more complex than that!
The four elements stem the observations of ancient philosophers. These thinkers guessed that these substances were the building blocks of physical reality. Of course, they were wrong! In reality, atoms comprise matter. Matter and energy, then, make up the physical universe.
We could associate four classical elements with the four states of matter. These are solid, liquid, gas, and plasma. They’d correspond to earth, water, air, and fire in turn. This is a very simplified view, though!
These concepts were fundamental to the ancients. A wealth of lore has developed around them. They have grown into complex metaphors for aspects of the human condition. The physical manifestations of the elements have become potent symbols.
They represent various mental and emotional phenomena. Symbols are important in witchcraft. The way I see it, all tools of the Craft are symbols used to connect with larger forces that work within the universe.
The elements themselves, and their attributions, are in fact, somewhat arbitrary. This means that each of us will have a different idea of what each element represents!
There’s nothing wrong with this, though. The point is to use them as symbols. What they symbolize to you is your own business!
Qualifying the Elements
In the Western Magical Tradition, there are four core (classical) elements: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water.
Some traditions do posit a fifth element called the quintessence, also known as Spirit or Aether. This fifth element stands apart from the other four, as it doesn’t behave in the same way.
I’ll be focusing on these four, not on the quintessence. Spirit as an element is a very large topic best suited for its own series of articles.
Alchemical thinkers have placed these four into categories. . They’re quite useful for understanding the system.
Each element is either “hot” or “cold,” as well as either “dry,” or “wet.”
This doesn’t describe the physical qualities of the phenomena in question. Rather, these terms are metaphors. They refer to the roles taken by the concepts each element embodies.
Hot and Cold Elements
Hot elements are active in human existence.
They stand for concepts that penetrate and alter the world around them. An outdated way of putting this would be to describe them as “masculine.” This comes from historical stereotypes about gender. I tend to use the term “active” to describe hot elements. That’s Fire and Air.
Cold elements are passive and receptive.
They represent concepts from which we draw nourishment. They are the structure or substance that forms our mental landscape. The hot elements tend to be the essence or organizing principle.
Cold elements are often stereotyped as “feminine.“ They are Water and Earth, both of which play a nourishing role in human existence.
Wet and Dry Elements
Dryness as a concept within the Western Magical Tradition refers to a fixed state. In other words, the dry elements are things that don’t often change. These elements are full of stability.
The key feature of a dry element is lack of intense motion. We can depend on the stable parts of our existence, represented by these elements.
The dry elements are Fire and Earth. It may seem strange to call fire stable, but it is a reliable source of warmth to us. It represents a constant feature of human life.
When we speak of wet elements, we mean the two elements that aren’t fixed. In other words, elements that flow ,change and transform. It is the concepts associated with these elements that drive the changes. They are reliable, but only insofar as change, itself, is something to rely on!
The wet elements are Air and Water. Both are natural features that shift and flow through our lives. The inclusion of Air as a wet element shows that these are metaphorical, not literal terms.
Much more could be said about how people have described the elements throughout time. The above image shows the alchemical view of how the elements can combine to create secondary principles.
As you might guess, “fixed” and “volatile” here stand for what we’ve been calling “passive” and “active.” If you want to know more about these further topics, I recommend Robert Bartlett’s book, True Alchemy.
The entire concept of the elements is a metaphor, though. It’s a metaphor that can work for you. It can help with your Craft, and help you connect with the universe. I’ll be posting the next article tomorrow! In that, I’ll be discussing each element in detail.
Sigil Magick is defined as a magickal system that makes use of occult characters, diagrams, condensed verbal intentions, geometric symbols, mystical alphabets, angular signatures of spirits and other kinds of symbolic or hieroglyphic representations. The word sigil comes from the Latin word sigilum, which means “seal.” Of additional significance is the Hebrew word SGULH or sagulah, which means “some kind of word or action” that has a specific spiritual or magickal impact. The use of sigils in magick has its roots in antiquity, possibly from Hebrew sources, since sigils often accompanied magickal squares, which were used extensively in the Jewish tradition of ceremonial magick.
Most often, sigils, or specialized characters, were incorporated into grimoires and had a traditional use, requiring the wielder to copy them exactly as depicted, even though they had to have been invented by someone at some point in history. These kinds of sigils were carefully crafted using very specific techniques (and not derived from either imagination or revelation), but the methodology used for their creation is typically missing from those same works. (A good example that shows how these sigils were developed can be found in Donald Tyson’s version of “Three Books of Occult Philosophy” originally written by Agrippa – particularly Appendix V on Magick Squares (Llewellyn 1997).)
Some believe that magickal sigils or characters have a power and potency all to themselves, others believe that a sigil has to be activated, at the very least, by the imagination and will of a trained and competent magician. Some grimoires are notorious for the sigils and characters that they contain, lending weight to the superstition that sigils have an independent volition quite separate from whoever invented or wields them. Most often, sigils are reputed to be the specialized symbolic names of angels, demons or various spirits, and the sigil is used to summon and evoke them. This makes a sigil similar in some ways to the “Veve” as found in Haitian Vodoun. Still, sigils used as the symbolic name of a spirit assumes that the sigil is a more pure and direct representation of that spirit’s true nature, and of course, whoever knows the “true” name or nature of a spirit has direct power over it.
When I perform an invocation or an evocation, I will employ a sigil crafted from the name of the target spirit. That sigil can be derived from a number of sources, but I generally use the Rose diagram from the Golden Dawn Rose Cross, which has the Hebrew letters drawn on the three concentric circles of petals, representing the triple division of those same letters (3 mother letters, 7 double letters and 12 single letters). One could also derive a spirit sigil from one of the appropriate magickal planetary squares, depending on the spirit’s hierarchical association, since there are different squares for each of the seven planets. There is also the Aiq Bkr magickal square that can be used to craft a sigil from a spirit’s name.
Essentially, a sigil is a visual magickal sign of some sort, whether it’s taken from some traditional body of magickal lore (grimoire or tradition), or created by the magician to represent the name of a spirit or to encapsulate a specific intention or desire. Manufacturing sigils became the hallmark of the famous British witch and sorcerer, Austin Osman Spare, who proposed a system of creating sigils by condensing and extracting the forms of the letters from a phrase that stated the magician’s intent. Spare called this methodology “sigilization,” and it was later adopted by Chaos magicians and others who use it as an independent system of magick. Sigilization is employed for casting spells, organizing and deploying an “alphabet of desire” for the same, or building up thought forms. However, it is probably one of the most direct and useful methods for creating a magickal link that I ever seen or experienced.
First, let me define what a magickal link is, and why it’s important in certain kinds of ritual magick. A link is employed whenever a magician seeks to make something happen in the material world. It is usually tangible in some manner and it should model or symbolize the magician’s intention. A link is a symbolic quality that establishes a connection between the magician, his desire, the magickal power raised and the intended target, whatever that happens to be.
In archaic forms of magick, the link was usually something that was directly “linked” or attached at some point to the target, such as hair, finger nail parings, blood, jewelry or clothing, if the target was to be a person. If the target was more general, then the link consisted of herbs, power objects (stones, crystals, odd shaped pieces of wood), bird or animal parts (or even human parts), bits of metal (magnets, nails) or other curious odds and ends collected while on the hunt for internal occult connections. A table of correspondences would also help the magician sort out and select analogous items consisting of colors, incense, herbs, gem stones, precious and semi-precious metals – the list is nearly endless.
These various objects would be put together in an artistic manner to symbolize the intent, such as piercing an apple with rusty nails, piercing dried organs or herbs with thorns, or creating a poppet or miniature human shape out of wax or some tuber, adorning it with bits of hair, finger nails or cloth, and then baptizing and naming it for the intended target. The objects would be blessed, charged, assembled, and the final product would be used in a spell to make something happen. The completed link object could be put in a metal container or a bottle, a leather or cloth pouch, and either kept, buried or burned. In some cases words could be printed on the object, or perhaps even a scrap of cloth or paper could be used to contain drawings and words or names. In antiquity, curses were drawn and written out on lead sheets, folded and dropped into a well or stuck between the stones of the victim’s home.
Organic or inorganic links are called “gross links” because they are made from organic or inorganic materials, where the actual physical form and structure determines its use and intended purpose. Writing something down on a parchment, paper, cloth or a thin sheet of metal is a very different kind of link. A drawing or writing represents a transitional kind of magickal object, becoming more of what I call a symbolic link, since it uses symbolic forms to depict and establish the link.
A symbolic link is more versatile than a gross link, which is normally used just once. A symbolic link often caries no trace of any previous spell on it, so it can be reused for other purposes. A link that could be fashioned to be used multiple times would require that the original intent was the same. For instance, you could fashion a symbolic link for acquiring money, use it for yourself, and then at another time, use it for a friend. So long as there were no identifying factors or names, a general symbolic link can serve multiple purposes.
In the energy model or theory of magick, a link is used to imprint the raised energy before it’s exteriorized to fulfill the magician’s intention. The raised energy can be highly qualified, or not, but it still has to be imprinted with the magician’s desire. In the system of magick that I use, a sigil is employed to facilitate the instrumentation of a link. The act of imprinting the energy is where the magician wills the link, in the form of a sigil, and the raised energy into a unified field. (This technique will be discussed in more detail later in another section.)
Crafting a sigil to be used as a link doesn’t usually trigger it’s inherent effect or cause the desire to become manifest by itself. This is because one needs to charge or consecrate the sigil after fashioning it, and then apply it as a link within a magickal working where the energy is raised. Others may perform sigil magick as an independent magickal mechanism, so in that situation it’s possible that the act of crafting it might actually trigger the spell.
Since it is my habit to always craft a sigil just prior to performing a working (and I have never, to my knowledge, crafted one without it being used in a working), it would be difficult for me to judge whether the act of crafting the sigil prematurely triggered a working. I just know that in order for a ritual working to be successful, a link must be fashioned and used to imprint the energy. The two magickal operations performed sequentially are being blended together, but it’s possible to fulfill a working with just the internalized application of the link. Now that I have explained how I use sigilization in my magickal workings, I should probably describe how to actually craft a sigil.
The general rule for crafting a sigil is to start out by writing a phrase that encapsulates the intention of the rite. It should be written in upper case, then the phrase is reduced to a simple pictographic diagram through a process of reduction and simplification, where the curves, lines, and intersected forms of those actual letters are reduced to a unique set and reassembled into a kind of logo.
Let’s go through the steps that one would typically follow to produce a sigil, keeping in mind that there are a lot of variations and methods used in this technique. How I do it may not be exactly the same as how others do it, but each practitioner will ultimately find a technique that works for them.
1. Write out a phrase of your intent; make it as simple and specific as possible. You can also eliminate words like “I” or “desire” or “will” from the phrase since that would be redundant. Just state what you intend or seek to make happen.
To make things easier, you will want to print this phrase out in all capital letters, but actually, I prefer to add the nuance of having larger and smaller letters in the mix. Using all caps actually helps to reduce the number of linear forms in the sample of extracted letters.
The act of succinctly stating one’s intention also helps to simplify and refine the intention of a work. It’s better to reduce the intention down to one thing. If you are seeking to make more than one thing happen, then you should employ more than one phrase and then build multiple sigils from them. (It might also be necessary to perform separate workings for each sigil link as well.)
2. Looking over the phrase, from left to right, eliminate all redundant letters – or letters that occur more than once. Now the phrase should just have all of the unique letters in the order that they first occur.
3. Next, eliminate letters that are variations of each other, for instance, “M” and “W” are analogous to each other. Break out of the letters the various analogous structures, like the cross bar in the “E”, “R”, “F”, “A”, “H” or “G”, the curve in the “B”, ‘C”, “D”, “G”, “J”, “P”, “R”, “S” or “U”, and the vertical, horizontal and diagonal lines that are found in the remaining letters. All of the these forms are reduced down to a single form, or dual forms facing left or right. The “O” can become a small circle or it can be fused with the rest of the curves, being a left and right curve joined together. What you have now are just single incidences of multiple structures (essential forms) arrayed in a line, like letters.
4. Assemble the line of essential structural forms together again to create a condensed linear form, which should look something like a pictographic representation or logo of the original phrase. This last step may require several attempts to find a final structure that “looks” elegant and interesting to the eye. You can fashion a single sigil form, or multiple sigils. Using multiple iterations to build a sigil makes for a less cluttered final sigil structure. If you are going to use a name in your sigil, then I would recommend making that a separate sigil form from the actual intention.
The point of this exercise is to produce a final structure that is simplistic, looks something like a pictograph of the intention, and the letters used in the original phrase can still be perceived in the final shape, although this last condition is not as important as creating a memorable pictograph.
I usually have to make four or five passes using this process before I am able to condense the form down to something that is esthetically pleasing and interesting to look at. Austin Spare was something of a graphic genius when it came to this kind representation (he could probably do it automatically and in one pass), but you don’t have to measure your results by that very high standard.
While working out the sigil, I will use a pencil on a scrap of paper, but the final form will be rendered on parchment with a special water-proof ink. It could also be painted on a piece of board, cloth, etched on metal, or even drawn on the floor or wall of your temple. However it is finally done, it will become an important magickal instrument, so the act itself should be executed as if it were a magickal rite, with the intention of the sigil and its associated desire strongly fixated in the mind of the magician.
Once the sigil is crafted, it will need to be consecrated if it’s to be used in a magickal working. This step is not followed by many who use sigilization magick, but this is how I do it, and it keeps the sigil from being too active until its intended use. I will consecrate the sigil with just a spot of lustral water (carefully applied with a wand) and then fumigated over an incense burner just before performing the working. For the sigil of a spirit, I would use consecrated wine, leaving a small stain on the corner as a sign that the sigil parchment has been activated.
Although I don’t actually work sigil magick without also performing a working of some kind, the basic idea behind it is to fill the mind with an emotional charge associated with the desire or intention so that no other thoughts or feelings are possible. This is a type of powerful obsession, often accompanied with a deep focused trance. This mind state is gradually built up through the process of crafting the sigil and then it’s elevated once the sigil is committed to its final form, executed in ink on parchment, or in whatever media is elected. The magician holds the sigil before his sight, focusing on the image of the design (not the words that were used to build it), while the emotional sentiments associated with the spell are worked to a climax. Then the sigil is either destroyed or set aside and promptly forgotten, allowing the image of the sigil to work in one’s unconscious mind. The magician can generate an intensely focused climax in a number of different ways, such as an orgasmic release through sex magick, masturbation, or even assuming Spare’s Death Posture. Yet often just intensely focusing the mind for a period of time and then quickly releasing it, is sufficient to obtain a good result.
I should probably mention two other methods that are used to create a sigil device. These are the methods of fashioning a mantra or using condensed pictures. The mantra technique is similar to the word based sigil, except the reduced set of letters and vowels are arranged to spell out a magickal word or formula. It will most likely (though not always) be a nonsense word, but it will symbolize a specific intent. It will function as a barbarous magickal word of power, which can be used in a chant or as a mantra. A sigil derived from a picture or symbolic images (such as the symbols for the elements, planets, astrological signs, alchemical symbols, or even international traffic signs) uses the same methodology as stated in steps 3 and 4 for building a word sigil, where the forms are broken apart, condensed and reassembled.
That’s briefly how to formulate and use sigils as links in the discipline of ritual magick. This is based completely on how I do it, so of course, there will be a lot of possible variations. I doubt that two magicians who use this technique do it exactly in the same manner, but I believe that I have revealed the basic steps that most would follow. A more thorough resource on the art of sigil magick is to be found in the book “Practical Sigil Magic” by Frater U.D. (Llewellyn, 1990), which I heartily recommend.
The Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram is a ritual devised by the original Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Divine Names of God are intoned (or “vibrated”) in specific order with particular gestures. For more information, consult Crowley’s Liber O.
The Sigillum Dei Aemeth, or Seal of the Truth of God, is most widely known through the writings and artifacts of John Dee. Dee’s system of angelic magic, known as Enochian, is heavily rooted in the number seven, a number which is also strongly connected with the seven traditional planets of astrology. As such, the Sigillum Dei Aemeth is primarily constructed of heptagrams (seven-pointed stars) and heptagons (seven-sided polygons).
The Outer Ring The Outer ring contains the names of seven angels, each associated with a planet. To find a name, start with a capitalized letter on the ring. If there is a number over it, count that many letters clockwise. If there is a number under it, count that many letters counterclockwise. Continuing the procedure will spell out the names: Thaaoth – Mars Galaas – Saturn Gethog – Jupiter Horlwn – Sun Innon – Venus Aaoth – Mercury Galethog – Luna These are the Angels of Brightness, who comprehend the seven “inward powers of God, known to none but himself.”
“Galethog” Inside the outer ring are seven symbols based on the letters forming “Galethog,” with “th” being represented by a single sigil. The name can be read counter-clockwise. These seven sigils are the “Seats of the One and everlasting GOD. His 7 secret Angels proceeding from every letter and cross so formed: referring in substance to the FATHER: in form, to the SON: and inwardly to the HOLY GHOST.”
The Outer Heptagon The names of the “Seven Angels who stand before the presence of God,” each also associated with a planet, were written vertically into a 7-by-7 grid. By reading the grid horizontally, you get the seven names listed in the outer heptagon. The seven original names were: Zaphkiel – Saturn Zadkiel – Jupiter Cumael – Mars Raphael – Sun Haniel – Venus Michael – Mercury Gabriel – Moon
The Central Structures (D. E. F. G. and H.) The next five levels are all based off of another 7-by-7 grid of letters. Each is read in a different direction. The letters are names of more planetary spirits, originally written in a zigzag pattern, starting in the upper left corner (the “el” of each name was removed in the creation of the grid): Sabathiel – Saturn Zedekieiel – Jupiter Madimiel – Mars Semeliel – Sun Nogahel – Venus Corabiel – Mercury Levanael – Moon The names between the outer heptagon and heptagram are constructed by reading the grid horizontally. They are the “Names of God, not known to the Angels; neither can be spoken nor read of man.” The names within the points of the heptagram are the Daughters of Light. The names within lines of the heptagram are the Sons of Light. The names within the two central heptagons are the Daughters of the Daughters and the Sons of the Sons.
The Pentagram The planetary spirits are repeated around the pentagram. The letters spelling out Sabathiel (with the final “el” again removed) are scattered around the outside. The next five spirits are spelled out closer to the center, with the first letter of each name within a point of the pentagram. Levanael is at the very center, surrounding a cross, a common symbol of earth.
According to Michael Howard, Trad Craft refers to “any non-Gardnerian, non-Alexandrian, non-Wiccan or pre-modern form of the Craft, especially if it has been inspired by historical forms of witchcraft and folk magic”.
Traditional Witchcraft, therefore, is not a single monolith. We can, in fact, distinguish between:
Operative Witchcraft or Folk Magic
Ritual(istic) Witchcraft
This first difference is taken from Margaret Murray; she used the first term for indicating the practice of magic, as carried out by cunning folk and folk magicians, and included the non-religious practice of spells, charms, divinations, etc. “whether used by a professed witch or by a professed Christian, whether intended for good or for evil, for killing or for curing. Such charms and spells are common to every nation and country, and are practised by the priests and people of every religion. They are part of the common heritage of the human race and are therefore of no practical value in the study of any one particular cult.” (The Witch-Cult, p. 11.)
The second term (also called “Dianic cult” by Murray) indicates, instead, “the religious beliefs and ritual of the people, known in late mediaeval times as ‘Witches’. The evidence proves that underlying the Christian religion was a cult practised by many classes of the community, chiefly, however, by the more ignorant or those in the less thickly inhabited parts of the country. It can be traced back to pre-Christian times”. Therefore we can say that Ritual Witchcraft is the cult of pre-Christian Deities or Spirits connected to the witches.
While the ideas of Murray about this cult have now been discredited, other scholars have reopened this field as a viable area of study, discovering many ecstatic witch-cults. The most known academics in this field are: Carlo Ginzburg, Éva Pócs, Emma Wilby, Claude Lecouteux, Wolfgang Behringer, Sabina Magliocco, Gábor Klaniczay, Gustav Henningsen and Bengt Ankarloo.
Relying on the work of these scholars, we can say therefore that Ritual Witchcraft was/is the religious system surrounding the Sabbath, the Procession of the Dominae Nocturnae from house to house, the spiritual flight, Elphame, the Wild Hunt, the Night Battles, etc.
As we can understand, even if the majority of the Ritual Witches were/are also Operative Witches (practitioners of Folk Magic), not all the Operative Witches were/are also Ritual Witches. The majority of Folk Magicians/Operative Witches, in fact, didn’t go to the Sabbath, didn’t astrally fly, didn’t astrally go with the Wild Hunt, from house to house with the Domina Nocturna, to Elphame/the Otherworld or to the Night Battles. Ritual Witches did.
We can say, therefore, that Operative Witchcraft is a practice, while Ritual Witchcraft is a religion.
Traditional Witches who are secular are, therefore, usually Operative and not Ritual Witches.
While the distinction between Ritual and Operative Witchcraft is an established one in the Witchcraft community, I introduce a new, according to me useful, second distinction, inside Ritual Witchcraft (i.e. Witchcraft as a religion), by borrowing the terms “Revivalism” and “Reconstructionism” from Polytheism, in which it’s an already established terminology:
Hereditary Witchcraft
Revivalist Witchcraft
Reconstructionist Witchcraft
Hereditary Traditional Witchcraft brings together all the traditions that claim a lineage from the Witchcraft of the past.
Revivalist Traditional Witchcraft is inspired by folklore, trials and the figure of the witch without any presumption of hereditarity. Unlike the Reconstructionist one, it leaves ample space for personal initiative and the influence of other traditions, without slavishly following the history in every single detail.
Reconstructionist Traditional Witchcraft, finally, tries to resume, starting from the in-depth study of folklore, historical trials and documents, the exact practices and beliefs of Historical Witchcraft. For example, the pantheon of Spirits, the festivities, the structure of the Sabbath, the structure of the offerings, and so on.
An important aspect for those who practice Reconstructionism is the resumption of the names of the Gods (or it would be more correct to say, of the “Deific Familiar Spirits” or “Major Spirits”) forgotten and remained only in the trials papers and in folklore. The idea is to reopen roads, ways to these Spirits. Reconstructing therefore means paying homage to these Spirits and allowing those interested to re-establish a connection with Them.
We said before that Traditional Witchcraft is not Wicca. What’s the difference?
According to the Traditional Witchcraft author Lee Morgan:
“It could easily be said that one of the major differences between the modern revival referred to as “Traditional Witchcraft” and the other modern revival known as “Wicca”, is that Traditional Witchcraft draws on “folkloric material” and is largely “shamanic” whereas Wicca is more of a fusion of Western Occult ceremonial and natural magic traditions.”
(From: Lee Morgan’s “A Deed Without a Name: Unearthing the Legacy of Traditional Witchcraft”)
Liber O vel Manus et Sagittae: the Signs of the Grades
1. Earth: the god Set fighting. 2. Air: the god Shu supporting the Sky. 3. Water: the goddess Auramoth. 4. Fire: the goddess Thoum-aesh-neith. 5. Spirit: the rending of the veil. 6. Spirit: the closing of the veil.
The LVX signs
7. Osiris slain — the cross. 8. Isis mourning — the Svastika. 9. Typhon — the Trident. 10. Osiris risen — the Pentagram.
Liber Samekh – Theurgia Goetia Summa (Congressus Cum Daemone) Sub Figura DCCC being the Ritual employed by the Beast 666 for the Attainment of the Knowledge and Conversation of his Holy Guardian Angel during the Semester of His performance of the Operation of the Sacred Magick of ABRAMELIN THE MAGE.Prepared An XVII Sun in Virgo at the Abbey of Thelema in Cephalaedium by the Beast 666 in service to FRATER PROGRADIOR
Occult Aspects 