One of the most common messages I get on Tumblr goes something like this: “What is your process for creating sigils? It can’t be as simple as scrambling up letters, so what’s the real secret?”
The truth is, there isn’t a secret. Making sigils is actually quite simple. Anyone can do it. Even for a complete newcomer, the process should take less time than a coffee break. While there are many, many ways to create sigils — magic squares, automatic drawing, grid overlays — the methods don’t really matter all that much.
In this post, I’m going to show the step-by-step method I used for creating the most recent sigil I’ve published. It came at the request of a young woman who wanted to catch the romantic attentions of another female. It said simply: “She will see me in a romantic way.”
As you can see, I’ve gone with the most basic sigil-creation method here. I’ve written out the text, and I’ve isolated the consonants from the sentence. While there is an “occult” tradition behind this method, I wouldn’t get hung up on thinking that it’s the “right” way to make a sigil. It’s no better than any other method, it’s just easier to explain.
This first step is meant to abstract the coherent words into a less-coherent jumble of letters. The words stop being as meaningful, but the symbols behind the sigil’s intent remain. To keep things simple — and to speed up my next step — I arrange these letters into a grid.
The next step is to abstract the remaining letters even further. Here, I’ve simply started combining elements of the letters together. I generally start by picking two letters from the grid of consonants, and start combining lines, curves, curls, dots, and other pieces of those letters together.
I try to keep these new symbols as simple as possible — four or five pencil strokes at most — because I’ll be further combining them in the next step.
From here, I generally play around with a few ideas, combining elements of symbols as I go. Sometimes these ideas come easily, as seen in the picture, but sometimes it can take pages and pages of sketches to find one I like. In particularly thorny situations, I’ll even start the entire process over from scratch, just to give myself a clean slate.
Once I’ve found a design I like, it’s time to start on the final design. Much like every other stage in the process, there is no one “right” way to do this. This is also the step where most people could happily stop. When the sigil looks and feels “right” to you, it’s done. The sigil is complete, if you want it to be.
In my case, however, I’m also making art for my website and social media. That means creating a version of the sigil that will (hopefully) catch other people’s eyes. There are countless ways to do this — charcoals, crayons, digital painting, markers — and I’ve experimented quite a bit over the years.
I also like to have an excuse to play with ink and brushes, so that’s how this one came together. I like that it’s a little unpredictable — with streaks and globs and splatter — and I’m always thrilled when a happy accident improves the design.
As you can see, I create tons of variations, tinkering with brush sizes, stroke direction, the amount of ink in the brush, and other stuff. While I liked some of these versions, none of them looked quite right. So, I kept going until I found one that did.
A few ink-soaked pages later, and this version was the clear winner. From here, it was just a matter of scanning the image in and doing a few technical things in Photoshop to make it look better in black and white. I add the text, the watermark, and … that’s it.
Here’s the finished version.
As you can see, there’s no great secret to making a sigil. Nor should there be. Sigils are about focusing intent, and even a few pencil scratches on notebook paper can become a perfectly wonderful sigil with the right intent behind it. Yes, some people (like me) like to do a little showing off with things they picked up from art class, but that should never be a barrier to creating your own personal sigils.
Questions? Thoughts? Leave a comment or drop me a message.
To create a Sigil (symbol) in the tradition of Austin Osman Spare:
Write out your desire as a positive declarative statement, as though it was already the case.
Select all the consonants, with only one instance of each required.
Create a symbol which incorporates each of these letters.
Memorise the final symbol as best you can, by visualising it with your eyes closed.
When you can, perform an auto-erotic act. At the moment of orgasm visualise the symbol sinking down into the white light. Repeat this act periodically until your desire is fulfilled.
You should expect that you will have to perform certain acts to reach fulfilment. In the example given here that would include applying to jobs that you think will meet your requirements etc.
Depending on the desire expressed you may have to wait a while (in some cases several months) before the desire in the astral realm manifests in the physical.
If you follow all of these instructions then the final piece of the puzzle is to know deep down that the desire will manifest, as it has already happened outside of time.
Planetary pentacles are very useful but their purposes tend to be quite generalized. I personally find combining them with sigils, herbs, stones, and other magick items to be extremely potent and ensures a more targeted effect. The following process should ideally be done in it’s entirety on the correct planetary day.
Construction
Create a planetary pentacle (for instructions see this post) appropriate for your working. I highly recommend you use paper to make your pentacle as we will be writing on it and folding it up.
Sigilize the desired effect of your talisman. Be as specific as possible and remember to use positive phrasing (”I am” instead of “I am not”) and the current tense (”I am” instead of “I will be”). Once you have a sigil you are pleased with, write it on the back of your pentacle using an appropriately colored ink.
Reach gnosis and launch your sigil using your preferred method. If the talisman is for someone else, have them launch the sigil if at all possible. Sigil launching methods include but are not limited to:
Orgasm while looking a the sigil
The death posture
Drugs
Physical exhaustion
Hyperventilation
Meditation
Mantra
Fold your pentacle up and bind it with an appropriately colored string. Fold towards you if you are trying to draw something to you, away from you if you are banishing or removing something. It can also be useful to use the number of folds that correspond to your working or to add an appropriate number of knots (7 times for luck etc).
Place the packet in your container along with any herbs, stones, or other items you wish to include. I usually just use those little organza baggies but you’re welcome to use anything that suits you. If the talisman is for someone else make sure to include a taglock – particularly if you were unable to get them to launch the sigil.
Correspondence lists are outside the scope of this tutorial but many can be found online – I recommend Alchemy Works for planetary correspondences.
Decorate your container if desired.
Consecrate the talisman for use. How you go about this will depend heavily on your practice and paradigm so use whatever method your comfortable with. I tend to create mine during other planetary workings which includes reciting the Orphic Hymn of the planet being used over it, speaking it’s purpose aloud, and anointing it with consecrated oil or water.
Here is an example of a talisman I made recently. It’s nothing special to look at but it packs quite a punch. You can make much more elaborate and beautiful ones than this but boring ones are perfectly functional.
Talisman Care and Feeding
Talismans typically require some periodic maintenance – particularly if you intend their effects to last indefinitely. How you choose to do this is up to you however the feeding should be performed on the planetary day and hour that corresponded to your talisman and last the duration of the planetary hour. I find traditional spirit offerings of a tea light and incense do the trick quite nicely but feel free to get creative with it. In my experience talismans can go 3-4 weeks without any maintenance and much longer if you carry them on you regularly but your mileage may vary.
“Sigils and Mandalic Iconography consisting of hand drawn and digital elements. This concept is an exploration of a technique called Sigilization that was developed by the Magickian Austin Osman Spare which is of particular interest to me”
I don’t really know what people generally call this method of sigil making, so I’m just calling it “Letter Shaping” because you’re using the basic shapes from certain letters. This is the most common form of sigil making, and it allows the most creative influence. As you see above the sigils are for nearly the same thing, yet the sigils came out completely different. Not because the purpose was different, but because I approached them both a different creative way, and that’s what I like so much about this method. There’s a lot of freedom and personalization involved.
This was the first method of sigil making I ever learned, from a post by @the-darkest-of-lights. I decided to make my own tutorial on it with my spare time. Happy sigil making! I’ll be making more of these on other methods of sigil making I think, because there’s so many different methods, and this was quite enjoyable to make.
(I know that you can make sigils with the other various planetary numerology squares but honestly I still haven’t figured out how, I only know this one.)
THELEMIC GREETINGS! Jimmy, Charlotte & Scarlet Page
Imagine getting a Holiday card from Jimmy Page at the height of his success and instead of it saying “Merry Christmas” or the more politically correct “Happy Holidays”, it says instead… “Thelemic Greetings”.
Bob Freeman is an author, artist, and paranormal adventurer from rural Indiana, and also a member of the Aleister Crowley Society. In February of 2011 Bob posted on his blog Occult Detective an entry regarding a set of greeting cards from Jimmy Page being for sale in the Weiser Antiquarian Catalog. Weiser Antiquarian, has been one of the world’s leading suppliers of rare, secondhand, and out-of-print books on comparative religion, mysticism, and the occult for over 88 years.
A set of hand signed greetings cards from Jimmy Page being sold from a private collection is not that all interesting. However the images he had reproduced on the cover of these cards and what he had printed inside, is what intrigues me. Specifically, what was the spiritual significance of the artwork chosen for these holiday cards?
The first of the two privately printed greeting cards, was commissioned and sent out by Jimmy Page circa 1972 with the second one dated 1973. Further the Weiser Catalog stated… The cards are:
a) A large (6″ x 8″ – when folded) undated greeting card privately produced for Jimmy Page and sent out by him circa Christmas 1972. The card has a reproduction of a black and white work by Austin Osman Spare on the front. Inside is the printed text “Jimmy Page / Plumpton Place / Plumpton Sussex.” Above this it is boldly signed “[name of recipient] 93 93/93 Jimmy Page.”
b) A large (6″ x 8″ – when folded) undated greeting card privately produced for Jimmy Page and sent out by him at Christmas 1973. It has a reproduction of a drawing by Aleister Crowley printed in dark red on the front, and inside has the printed text “Thelemic Greetings” / Jimmy, Charlotte & Scarlet Page / Plumpton Place / Plumpton Sussex.” This card is NOT signed.
Despite Jimmy Page’s well-known interest in Thelema, items directly connecting him with the spiritual philosophy or religion that Aleister Crowley founded in 1904 with the writing of the Book of Law are extremely scarce. Never mind associating Thelema indirectly to Jimmy’s partner Charlotte Martin and his daughter Scarlet.
The artwork visible in the above image [Bottom Row-Left] is from the actual Weiser Catalog listing for the cards. It shows the Aleister Crowley drawing b) and Austin Osman Spare’s Portrait of the Artist (1907) a) tucked behind the card with Crowley drawing. Phil Baker, author of several books on Austin Osman Spare, chose this very image for the cover of “Austin Osman Spare – The Occult Life of London’s Legendary Artist”, and states on page 46 of this book that this image is in the private collection of Jimmy Page. It is further stated in the one sheet for this book… “that the world’s largest Spare collection is held by Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin.”
This Austin Osman Spare self portrait was painted in 1907. In October of 1907, Spare held his first major exhibition, titled simply “Black and White Drawings by Austin O Spare”, at the Bruton Gallery in London’s West End. Attracting widespread interest and sensational views in the press, he was widely compared to Aubrey Beardsley, with reviewers commenting on what they saw as the eccentric and grotesque nature of his work. The World commented that “his inventive faculty is stupendous and terrifying in its creative flow of impossible horrors”, while The Observer noted that “Mr. Spare’s art is abnormal, unhealthy, wildly fantastic and unintelligible”.
Baker writes in his book [that ‘Portrait of the Artist’]…“It is a remarkable work of Edwardian black-and-white art, and if only this one work survived people would say ‘Who was that artist…?’ Baker also provides a great interpretation of this self portrait on pages 46 through 48.
Spare depicts himself staring straight at the viewer with a remarkably unique hand gesture. In front of him, on an idealized desk, are over twenty objects. Some objects are typically found on a desk and others appear to be from his creative minds eye.
The description inside the card, “[name of recipient] 93 93/93 Jimmy Page” followed by / Plumpton Place / Plumpton Sussex, is very similar to what has been discovered to have been sent by Page to Grady Louis McMurtry. Grady, the student of Aleister Crowley, is best known for reviving the fraternal organization, Ordo Templi Orientis, which Grady headed from 1971 until his death in 1985.
I found what appears to be actual images of the second greeting card on Lashtal.com, The Home of Aleister Crowley Society. This card was sent out circa Christmas 1973 and features an Untitled drawing by Aleister Crowley dated Aquarius I7 [1934] whose media was pen and ink on paper. This drawing was on exhibit in April of 1998 at the October Gallery in London. Aleister Crowley: Paintings and Drawings – A Retrospective Exhibition was the first time Crowley’s expressionist drawings were shown in public since 1931. The exhibition was made possible by Kenneth Anger and the OTO archives along with private collections. The above drawing was listed as “Private Collection”. If the first card had a reproduction of artwork now owned by Page, could the original work of this drawing also be owned by Page?
Interestingly a plate of this very drawing was created for inclusion in Kenneth Grant’s 1994 book titled “Beyond The Mauve Zone”. This same Crowley drawing can be found on page 190 as plate 12. captioned “If I droop down mine head, and shoot forth venom…”. (AL. II. 26) A quote from Aleister Crowley’s Liber AL, (also known as The Book of the Law) Chapter II passage 26.
Page’s Thelemic Holiday Card, sent out 39 years after it was drawn, says nothing about what the artist was depicting, as neither did the wall card at the exhibition in 1998, 64 years after it’s release. Does Kenneth Grant’s caption give us some insight to the meaning behind this drawing?
Grant, a close personal friend to Austin Osman Spare and secretary to Aleister Crowley was granted by Karl Germer to run a UK OTO lodge from 1951 to 1955. Germer expelled Grant from the OTO for taking his Nu-Isis lodge in a direction Germer felt was inconsistent with the teaching’s of Crowley. Grant ignored this and ran his Nu-Isis lodge from 1955-1962. From 1962 to 1969 little is known about Grant other than in 1969 he appointed himself OHO or the Outer Head of the OTO. Essentially, according to Kenneth Grant, he was running the OTO worldwide, from London. Also in 1969 Grady McMurtry, “invoked emergency authorization” from Crowley and became the Frater Superior of O.T.O. Grady did not acknowledge the OHO office, and remained in this O.T.O. leadership position till his death in 1985.
Minimal correspondence from Page to McMurty is known to exist, other than a card similar to the one depicted here. However, there exists on the internet several copies of letters from McMurtry to Page wanting to discuss Page’s plans with the Boleskine property, that Page purchased in 1970, a property formerly owned by Crowley and considered a Kiblah of Thelema.
The schism between the Grady O.T.O. and Grant O.T.O. is well documented on the internet. Question is, did Thelemites have to pick sides, like Rap musicians did during the East Coast & West Coast Rap Schism?
Did Page lend this drawing to both Kenneth Grant for inclusion in his 1994 book and the Crowley 1998 exhibition?
None of this is as interesting as what is being referenced in Grant’s caption on page 190 of his book “Beyond The Mauve Zone”. This line is a from section of Crowley’s Liber AL or The Book of The Law, Chapter II passage 26 and references Hadit.
The second chapter of Liber AL is spoken by Hadit, who refers to himself as the “complement of Nu,” his bride. As such, he is the infinitely condensed point, the center of her infinite circumference. Crowley says of him, “He is eternal energy, the Infinite Motion of Things, the central core of all being.
Hadit is also the Secret Seed. In The Book of the Law he says; “I am alone: there is no god where I am.”. He is “the flame that burns in every heart of man, and in the core of every star.”. He is identified with kundalini; in The Book of the Law he says, “I am the Secret Serpent coiled about to spring: in my coiling there is joy. If I lift up my head, I and my Nuit are one. If I droop down mine head, and shoot forth venom, then is rapture of the earth, and I and the earth are one. There is great danger in me…”
Crowley’s drawing depicts a snake, a symbol for Kundalini.
Hadit is the Fire of Desire at the Heart of Matter (Nuit). The combination of the upward-pointing triangle of Hadit and the downward-pointing triangle of Nuit forms the Star of Spirit (the Hexagram). The union of the infinitely small Hadit and the infinitely great Nuit causes an explosive rapture which leads to samādhi. Grant showing a plate on the very opposite page with a hexagram seems perfectly well placed.
Hadit’s symbols are our Sun, the serpent, the Fire Snake, the star Sothis, the planet Pluto, sperm, the Will, the winged globe, the Hermit, and the hidden flame.
Is it a coincidence that Jimmy Page’s ZoSo sigil itself has two circles with a dot in the center? A symbol described as above referencing Hadit.
Jimmy Page’s passion for art and its influence on his career is very interesting to me. The choice for this image on a “Thelemic Greeting” card is very spiritual indeed. I suspect it represents the Kundalini as divine creative energy, but I will never really know its personal significance to Page as his choice for the card.
The simple fact remains that the artwork of both Austin Osman Spare and Aleister Crowley were prominently displayed on these holiday cards and on the walls of Jimmy Page’s Equinox Bookshop. Both Spare and Crowley were artists and practicioners of systems of Magick who knew each other, and both knew Kenneth Grant.
Did Page know Grant? It’s hard to believe that they didn’t know each other. They both lived in London and Miami at roughly the same time and the community of Thelemites interested in original works by both Crowley and Spare is very small and secretive. Page admits at a minimum reading books co-edited by Symonds and Grant, and has amassed a large collection of works that may have been sourced by Grant.
Interesting facts regarding Spare is that he submitted several drawings for publication in Crowley’s Thelemite journal, The Equinox, receiving payment in the form of an expensive ritual robe. Spare was also invited to join Crowley’s Thelemite magical order, the A∴A∴ or Argenteum Astrum. However Spare shortly fell out with Crowley.
Spare’s system of Sigil Magick has influenced an entire movement called Chaos Magick and Key to Spare’s magico-religious views were the dual concepts of Zos and Kia. Spare described “Zos” as the human body and mind, and would later adopt the term as a pseudonym for himself. Spare gave himself the magickal name “Zos”, and like Page he was a Capricorn who’s ruling planet was Saturn. Is it a strong coincidence that Jimmy Page gave himself the name Zoso? Maybe, maybe not.
When I see a Zoso tattoo on tumblr, I stop and marvel at the Transcendence of this Sigil. I use the term transcendentin its meaning… "that, which goes beyond" (transcends) any possible knowledge of a human being.
If you stop and mediate on this Sigil’s chosen placement, you can see it placed in that… “In Between” space where her hand joins her body. It is also inverted in such a way, that the Capricorn Symbol [Z] seems to send energy pointed out through the thumb.
I would take a minute and explore the possibility of how Zoso may have came to Jimmy Page and how its power and meaning extends into in a-flock-of-elefants new tattoo.
The Magical writing and art of Austin Osman Spare was not lost on Jimmy Page. Phil Baker even points out in his biography Austin Osman Spare: The Life and Legend of London’s Lost Artist (Strange Attractor, 2011): that Jimmy Page has one of the largest known collection of Austin Osman Spare artwork.
And “ZOS” was not only Spare’s magical name, as Spare was also a Capricorn, it gives rise to the idea that ZOS may have been a Sigilized version of Zoso. Would Spare also wanted a Sigil from his Ruling planet of Saturn? Also considering that Spare loved to create sigils from shorten words, it is not a stretch that the ZOS may have been a shorted Zoso. The same symbol for Saturn as published in “ARS MAGICA ARTEFII ET MIHINII” (The
Magic Art of Artefius and Mihinius) Chapter XCI (91)
of Jerome
Cardan’s
( Giralomo
Cardano)
De Rerum Varitate (1557) & Le Dragon Rouge (1820).
But also… for Spare ZOS was much more than just a name and a sigil, it was part of how he referred to himself in the greater context of his magical philosophy. ZOS was symbolized by the hand, and along with concepts of Kia (the eye) that joined sight and touch, and also the “will”, it was through ZOS and KIA that Spare explored a central mystical vision of the “atmospheric I" or [his] “the real self” in the state of “inbetweeness”, or what has been described as “niether-niether’.
Again look at the above tattoo… Zos(o), The Hand, The state of “inbetweeness” to the Body (see essay below)….
This tattoo has all of these powerful ideas and I would imagine that it’s powers are alive & deep in its owners subconscious.
Thus, Zoso is a powerful Sigil. And it has been at work long before Jimmy Page, has been in powerful service to Led Zeppelin’s music and now has transcended deep into modern culture via an army of tattooed Sigils.
From 1959 to 1963, Kenneth & Steffi Grant privately published the Carfax Monographs, a series of short articles on magic published in ten installments, each at a limited print run of 100 that would eventually be assembled together and re-released as Hidden Lore in 1989. Many Illustrations from the Monographs even appeared in the Laboratory scene of The 1967 Beatles Film Magical Mystery Tour.
I invite you to read about all of these ideas in an essay from Volume IV of the Carfax Monographs first published in 1960 entitled:
Occult Aspects 