Sigils are magical drawings or symbols imbued with spellwork. They are generally either self-contained spells or part of a string of symbols.
Forms of Sigils:
A few examples to help you along!
Preexisting Sigils and Runes: This one is fairly self explanatory. This is using existing sigils and or runes to channel intent. Nordic runes, Egyptian hieroglyphs, and even Chinese characters are open game for usage when charging them with intent. Alchemical symbols and religious symbols also tend to fall into this category. From the fish of Christianity to Brigid’s cross, all the way to the sigils of demons, there are upwards of thousands of symbols that have been used throughout history both tied to deities and not.
Word sigils: Using word sigils is the practice of imbuing a word with magical intent. In practice this might look like someone putting the word “Protected” on their bag or on a piece of paper to act as a ward. Some people like word sigils because their lative language is often something they understand on a very deep level that has meaning to them, but the opposite might also be true where you might avoid it because the word you want has a meaning to you that doesn’t line up with your intent. If this seems like an appealing option, but doesn’t quite feel right I’d suggest coming back to the idea in the Letter Method of crafting your own sigil.
Sentence Sigils: Similar to word sigils, sentence sigils are also the practice of using written words imbued with intent to do spellcraft. This one tends to be the least recognizable as a sigil. Your “Live Laugh Love” poster in your living room could technically, in this wider umbrella, be considered a sigil.
Self Crafted Sigils: Self crafted sigils are the sigils we make ourselves. This is usually what comes to mind when people think of sigils. There are many ways to make them that are discussed below, but the essence of them is a design we craft and give intent to. It’s not much different from a symbol that already exists, but when we craft them ourselves they can take on more specific and sometimes more complex intentions.
Techniques for crafting sigils
Assuming you want to make your own sigil instead of using a symbol that already exists, there are a few methods. The most important part is charging them with your intent, but sigil crafting is an art form and giving it some personal touch or inherent meaning can take it up a notch.
The Letter Method: This method is done by taking a word that means what you want it to and deconstructing it into its base letters and reshaping it into a symbol. How people go about this varies, some people remove vowels, some people cancel out repeat letters, some people do it differently every time depending on what they think feels right.
This sigil making technique arguably has roots in the ideas of sacred geometry, but in practice generally revolves around combining basic shapes. I am personally attached to the hexagon for things like warding for instance. It is the strongest shape in nature and makes both snowflakes and beehives, but there are lots of reasons to use all the other shapes. Circles are also often used for the belief that they protect and contain.
This method is done using, well, circles and going from point to point within circles within circles. Some people use natal charts for this or map it out using the zodiac signs they want to incorporate and drawing from one to another. Could do it by having the ones you want to be predominant on the outside or the starting point and going around. The options could go on from there.
“Mandala actually means ‘circle’ in Sanskrit. You can create mandalas for different things, to symbolize different intentions. As you draw and create, a mandala can reveal the inner workings of yourself and your soul. It can be used as a meditation and mindfulness tool, to create feelings of inner peace and calm, reduce stress and anxiety, and much more. It is a fun, creative and personal way to explore your inner self, express feelings, merge inner and outer worlds, and also use it as a manifestation tool. It can be inspirational and therapeutic.” Mandalas are most easily made, in my experience, by making a small circular design and expanding outward by drawing designs around the small circle. Continue this process of drawing around the smaller circles as it gets bigger until it’s the size you want.
Bind runes are done by combining nordic runes together. This is done by stacking or putting smaller versions of the runes on a larger one. This is done by running the runes together on a single middle line. One way to do this is to draw a straight line and try to incorporate all the runes you want into that shape whether it being making the straight part of one into the whole line or tying the rune to it. This might be easier explained visually and if you’re having trouble feel free to either look up an example, or ask!
This one is fairly open ended. Whether a combination of multiple techniques listed above or done through a freehand drawing this one is definitely the most versatile of the bunch. This also means it is the least structured and most intuition based technique.
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