sigils

Want More Efficient Magic? Use Compassion.

Efficient magic uses compassion as its basis. Sound too good to be true? Read on!

I take it that the goal of magical practice is efficiency. Sure, 100 years ago the goal was to dress up in funny robes, memorize pages of bad poetry, and have really awful sex on an altar in front of a room full of prudish hypocrites. Well, maybe that is still what some people want. I’m not judging.

But for many of us: we want something different. We want an immediate, sinuous, ever-changing communion with the serpent called transformation. She’s a kindly yet rigorous mistress, and she respects discipline, consistency, inspiration, and focus. What supports these? Compassion.

The minute I slide into a judgmental attitude, I am wasting psychic energy. I become a grossly inefficient engine. All that power wasted as incidental heat and noise. The groaning machinery of righteousness. Beneath that, the squeaky whine of self-doubt.

Yes: the more flagrant my judgment, the more I send a compensatory, undermining message to my unconscious. The more I puff up my outer ego posture, the more my interior musculature, my autonomic nervous system, atrophies. A dead tree with brittle bark and liquefied innards. That’s the unspoken ideal of righteous judgment.

Compassion is way more efficient. Instead of raging, resenting the other, I take two steps. First, I give myself empathy. NOT sympathy. I do not buy into my own narrative of victimhood (the basis of judgment), but I do acknowledge the pain and discomfort I feel. THEN, I extend my imagination and ask, “where is this person coming from?” If can imagine my way into their experience then I can discover a richer sense of meaning to their actions. I don’t have to excuse them or abandon accountability, but I also don’t have to waste my energy on confusion or resentment.

Now, this transaction also applies in relation to a) my self; b) the sinuous serpent called transformation. Instead of resenting the inevitable tide of change, I can find compassion for myself and for others. “I send myself kindness. I send you good will.” That simple. Thought stopping. When thought stops in brief moments, sigils spontaneously fire from the womb of mystery into the womb of mystery (for surely the universe is a lesbian and is her own lover).

So it appears that compassion is not only efficient, not only reverent, not only magically potent, but sexy as hell too. The more sexually enriched magic becomes, the more delightful (assuming we are talking about the ardent, exuberant, untarnished sexuality of the Feminine Mystery called Runa, the taproot of the world, free of the embarrassment called patriarchy).

Every time I cast magic, I conclude with a step toward non-attachment: “does not matter, need not be, that or something better.” Anxiety, fear, self-doubt, resentment, all of these are names for unseemly attachment. They muddy the waters of magical action. Compassion clarifies.

Most people feel very resistant to adopting compassion for either self or others, at least at first. Enspelled by the carceral state called Scarcity-Objectification-Judgment-Authority, they think that kindness to self or others is a dirty indulgence, or a giving of permission to incompetence, ill-doing, laziness, or chicanery. They think the hard strain and struggle of judgment and punishment is a sign that work is being done.

The hard strain and struggle of judgment and punishment is not a sign that work is being done. Work is being done when I do not even feel the slightest effort. When I am riding the tide of Wyrd with ease and grace.

How is this possible? Through kindness. How do I know this? By this.

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail

“…Or Something Better:” A Tool to Ensure Infallible Sigil Magic

An element of sigil magic that seems necessary for effective practice is non-attachment. This is may seem paradoxical at first, since if I am indifferent to an outcome why am I bothering to throw magic at it? The answer is that desire and non-attachment can and do pair up nicely in magical practice.

To explain how this could be I would like to take a short detour into considering some aspects of Buddhist philosophy. That done, I’m going to talk about a tool for achieving the kind of non-attachment that helps sigil magic to be effective.

Buddhist philosophy suggests that there are three causes of suffering: desire, aversion, and ignorance. Note that it does not say that any of these three are bad, just that their triad causes suffering.

Desire – wanting what I do not have – and aversion – not wanting what I do have (or fearing to have what I expect I will have) – are inevitable parts of life. They are inescapable. So if you want to break the triad of suffering, you have to address the third side, ignorance, since it is the only thing over which you can exert any kind of influence.

In Buddhist practice, at least as taught by S. N. Goenka, the way to break down ignorance is not to spend a lot of time reading books but to spend a lot of time observing the sensations of the body – Vipassana meditation. Consciousness is an embodied phenomenon, so the systematic and deep observation of the body from the inside enables the mapping and transformation of consciousness.

This reduces the level of ignorance. Desire and aversion lose their rigid grasp as ignorance gives way to self-knowledge, but they do not go away. Rather, their forms of unfolding are changed because as ignorance declines, so does attachment. With non-attachment, desire and aversion cease to be inevitable sources of misery. Enlightenment is a state of simultaneous emptiness and abundance.

This invites consideration of the Hindu distinction between attachment and care. I can be attached yet not truly care, for example when I want to force someone to behave in a fashion that meets the expectations of my egomania. I can be attached and care, as parents often, and very naturally, are for their children, though it can cause problems. I can be neither attached nor caring, which is one definition of depression. I can be caring yet lack attachment, which is a state of free, playful love.

Non-attachment therefore does not mean that I don’t care. It means I have clarified my attachments, my projections, so that I am not unconsciously ruled by my desire and my aversion. And thus, I can use magic to achieve a goal yet at the same time be non-attached to the outcome.

This is an orientation to process, not product, and this orientation is useful in almost any field of activity: if my efforts are not done to a standard then their product, no matter how good looking, are automatically suspect.

Thus, non-attachment facilitates the whole process of sigil magic. The more I lust for a result, the more cramp (Jan Fries) I am likely to burden myself with. If I lack self-knowledge, that is, am ignorant of my own psychological processes, then I am likely to think I just need to try harder to make my magic work. The result of this mistake is the absurd, over-complicated magical prescriptions one finds in ceremonial magic or the writings of Edred Thorsson.

When I work sigil magic from a space of non-attachment I give the seed of my will over to the care of the world in a free and energetic way. And a way to cultivate that non-attachment is through the mantra “does not matter, need not be, that or something better.”

So I identify my magical intention (perhaps using a SMART goals framework). Then I sigilize the intent. Then I fire the sigil. The last step is to establish non-attachment to outcome, and “does not matter, need not be, that or something better” thus offers itself as a concluding statement or mantra for my magic spell.

The statement is handy because any time the outcome for which I enchanted comes to mind, I can just go back to “does not matter, need not be, that or something better,” rather than lose myself in the impossible tangle of fear, doubt, and desire that my human constitution too-easily invokes.

The statement is also handy because it expresses a supreme confidence: “does not matter, need not be, that or something better.” In other words, I am embracing trust in myself and the universe to the point that even this outcome that I desire is not so important that I cannot find some alternative option.

Indeed, it implies that even if the sigil magic fails to produce the intended outcome, it will only do so in order to give me something even better than what I asked for! As such, reciting this mantra at the conclusion of casting a spell has become my favorite part of the process, and almost always brings a smile to my face.

In other words, with this mantra I can achieve infallible sigil magic practice. Either I get my stated outcome, or I get something even better than what I thought I wanted and needed. Naturally, such an attitude of abundance is very helpful for releasing into non-attachment. And also, the universe adores an abundant mentality and tends to reward it richly, though rarely through the avenues the ego expects.

Of course “does not matter, need not be, that or something better” can be used in any situation, not just sigil magic. It invites a mindset of determination, confidence, and open-minded yes-saying. These are qualities that have decisive significance for the practice of both magic and life.

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail

SMART Sigils

There are a lot of ways to approach the construction of sigils. I am skeptical of the idea that any one approach can be considered the best for all purposes and circumstances.

That said, one important but often overlooked aspect of sigil magic is the process of devising a statement of intention from which to derive a sigil. Here is a framework to help with this process.

Setting SMART Goals

Setting goals is a skill. If a goal is framed poorly it will be more difficult to make desired progress. The concept of SMART Goals can help with framing effective goals. It can also help with framing a statement of intention on which to base a sigil.

SMART = Specific + Meaningful + Achievable + Relevant + Timely

Let’s say I am creating a statement of intention that I wish to sigilize. Here’s how to use the SMART principle to frame that statement.

Specific:

Target the intention. “I receive a windfall of at least $500 in the next 7 days” is a pretty specific goal. “I get more money” is not. Why does this matter? If I used the latter statement as the basis for my sigil then the spell’s terms would be met by bestowing one cent upon me in 30 years’ time; hardly an outcome to be celebrated. Also, with the first example I can unequivocally know if my spell worked or not.

Meaningful:

Frivolous magic is a waste of time. Before creating a spell, take some time to dwell on whether it truly serves your best and most inspired values. Magic cast out of spite, greed, self-doubt, or other ego-flaws will be harmful even if it “works.”

Similarly, how does a given sigil’s purpose fit into your larger life vision and purpose? If you don’t know what your vision and purpose are, you need to spend less time throwing sigils and more time meditating, reflecting on your dreams, journaling, and practicing divination. Impulsive magic has its place, but we are called on to be more than just psychic pinballs.

Achievable:

The easier you make it for the magic to happen, the more likely it will happen. There are a few ways to enhance achievability.

Firstly, the more time you allow for the magic to take effect, the more likely it will succeed. As we move closer to a deadline, wyrd gets more and more cemented and there is less room for the steering of possibilities. Enchant early!

Secondly, you might not want to rely only on magic for an outcome. Take action in as many ways as you can. The universe seems to like a go-getter.

Thirdly, know your limits. A quickly and haphazardly fired sigil may well lack the power needed to achieve a massive change. Practice with smaller magical goals and progressively build your confidence.

Fourthly, consider the probabilities of different outcomes. Sometimes it is better to enchant for your second best(but more likely) outcome and succeed than to enchant for your first, but verging on impossible, preference.

Relevant:

Is the goal of my magic actually the top priority right now? What is most pressing or urgent for me? Are there steps toward a goal, and should I break the goal into smaller steps, each with its own statement of intent and sigil? Is the magic consistent with my needs (i.e. do I know how to listen to myself)? And frankly, am I the right person to be asking for a given outcome or am I meddling in other people’s business?

Timely:

In my above example of specificity I set a deadline for my sigil. This can be helpful for framing the magic and determining success. If I need a spell to take effect within the next month, but I don’t ask for it to do so within that time frame, it may well wait for a decade via the law of the path of least resistance…an outcome that would be less than optimal.

Also, you can use knowledge of correspondences to fire your sigil at an auspicious time. Seasons, lunar cycles, and personally or spiritually meaningful dates and times are all relevant here.

Get SMART

Apply these 5 criteria when framing up your intention for working sigil magic and you might just find yourself getting better results. I would love to hear how you go at applying these ideas…

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail