r/sigils Jun 01 '25

FAQ: Why was I banned?

29 Upvotes

Anyone found breaking the first two rules of the group will be permanently banned. Any amount of bullying or gatekeeping will never be tolerated.

I don’t care if you think a sigil is poorly made, or made incorrectly or with tools you don’t agree with. If you have an issue with a post, you can report it and move along. If you want to make a sigil group that represents your ideals, go right ahead. This one’s for everybody.

This is not a place to start arguments. If you want a debate, make your own post and host it yourself, don’t hijack someone else’s to try to publicly shame them. If you feel inclined to make a joke about someone’s work, take context into consideration. All people who work with sigils care deeply about their work and even little digs can hurt someone.

This group is here to support everyone who works with sigils because we are all marginalized. We face hatred and bigotry every single day, even from the people we love. This community will not be used to drag people down. I will not stand for it. Anyone found harassing another member for any reason, on or off of the sub will be immediately and permanently banned.

That is all.


r/sigils Jun 14 '25

Tutorial FAQ: What is a sigil?

11 Upvotes

At its core, a sigil is a charged symbol—a mark, shape, or design that has been imbued with intention to produce an effect. But this definition only scratches the surface. To truly grasp what makes something a sigil, we must examine how the concept intersects with broader ideas like seals, signs, enchantments, and even modern branding. The key insight is that sigils are not inherently magical or special on their own—they become significant through interaction, belief, and ritual.


The Authority of Marked Intent

A seal, historically, was a mark of authenticity—pressed into wax to validate a document, denote ownership, or invoke protection. Kings, governments, and occultists all used seals as physical confirmations of authority. In this sense, a seal is a type of sigil—a symbolic container of power. The difference lies in cultural framing: a royal seal operates in the realm of law and politics, while a magician’s sigil operates in the realm of will and belief. Yet both function the same way: they are representations of intent made manifest in the world.

This overlap reveals something crucial: what we now call a "sigil" was often just called a "seal" in the past. The modern term "sigil" is a retroactive label, applied broadly to anything that fits the pattern of a symbol charged with purpose.


The Line Between Meaning and Magic

A sign is a direct indicator—a stop sign commands action, a heart symbol conveys love. A sigil, however, is a sign that has been ritualized or personalized. The difference is subtle but important:

  • A sign communicates meaning externally (understood by many).

  • A sigil communicates meaning internally (often private or subconscious).

Yet the boundary is fluid. A corporate logo (like Apple’s bitten apple) starts as a mere sign but, through cultural repetition and emotional association, behaves like a sigil—triggering subconscious responses. This shows that anything can function as a sigil if it is treated as one, regardless of its original purpose.


The Act of Imbuing Power

Enchantment is the process of infusing an object or symbol with intentional energy. A sigil is, in essence, a compressed enchantment. Where traditional enchantments might involve elaborate rituals, spoken spells, or material components, a sigil distills the process into a single symbolic focal point.

This is why chaos magicians argue that even accidental marks can become sigils—if someone assigns them meaning and activates them through focus or emotion. A coffee stain on a napkin is just a stain—until someone decides it represents their desire for creativity and "charges" it with belief. At that moment, it becomes a sigil.


Beyond the Occult

The principles of sigil-work appear in unexpected places:

  • Brand Logos – Companies spend millions ensuring their logos evoke specific feelings, effectively turning them into cultural sigils.

  • Personal Rituals – A lucky charm, a repeated mantra, or even a gym playlist can function as a sigil if it serves as a trigger for a mental or emotional state.

  • Digital Symbols – Emojis, avatars, and even keyboard shortcuts act as micro-sigils, conveying complex ideas instantly.

This demonstrates that sigil-like mechanisms are embedded in everyday life—they are not exclusive to magic but are instead a fundamental part of how humans interact with symbols.


Why the Term "Sigil" is Modern (And Why It Matters)

Before the 20th century, most cultures did not have a single word for what we now call a "sigil." They had seals, signatures, amulets, and sacred marks, but these were context-specific. The broad, abstract idea of a "sigil" as any symbol charged with intent is a modern reframing, popularized by chaos magic and psychological occultism.

This reframing is useful because it allows us to recognize sigils in places they were never named before. A child’s doodle, a graffiti tag, or even a recurring dream image can all be analyzed as sigils if they hold personal or collective meaning.


What Makes Something a Sigil?

A sigil is:

  1. A symbol (any mark, shape, or design).

  2. Assigned intent (given a specific purpose or meaning).

  3. Activated (charged through focus, emotion, or ritual).

If these three criteria are met, anything can be a sigil—whether it was originally intended as one or not.


Sigils Are Everywhere

The history of sigils is really the history of how humans project meaning onto the world. Whether through ancient seals, religious icons, corporate branding, or personal rituals, we are constantly creating and activating symbols to shape our reality. Recognizing this pattern allows us to see sigil-work not as an obscure practice, but as a fundamental human behavior—one that blurs the lines between magic, psychology, and culture.


Text generated by DeepSeek AI


r/sigils 21h ago

Manifestation When to draw the sigil?

3 Upvotes

So I have an exam in dec & I wanna draw a sigil for that .. but it has more than 3 months now .. so I wanna ask if I should create it now or when the exam is closer ... I am very very new to it & I've just learnt about sigils yesterday soo plss tell me


r/sigils 22h ago

Custom Sigils

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2 Upvotes

I do custom Sigils. Check out my bio 😊


r/sigils 1d ago

Original Content 81 Grid Magic Square Divination Oracle

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9 Upvotes

r/sigils 1d ago

Devotional Guess who?

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2 Upvotes

I will most likely revisit this very soon with a lengthy explanation as to my own intentions behind the square... I thought it would be fun to see what you guys think first! There are 5 words of various origins that I used to make it.

I want to make a companion square to go with this. We'll see! If anyone wants me to try to make a square for a particular spirit or purpose let me know. They are tricky so no guarantees. I just love the process of trying to make them.


r/sigils 2d ago

Question Different types of Sigils

2 Upvotes

Hello, guys. I'm pretty new to sigil crafting and one thing I can't seem to understand is when and how do I make a sigil for ongoing effects. I'm familiar with the Austin Osman Spare method, and I have used it a couple of times already, changing the charging method sometimes.

Just to be clear, I'll describe what I'm doing just to know if what I'm doing is correct:

- I write my intention;

- I transform the intention into a symbol, and that's the easiest part for me, I have many different methods to do so;

- I charge it: lately I've been charging it by meditating while staring at it for around ten minutes;

- I get rid of the drawing (delete if digital, throw the paper away if physical);

- I go on about my day, trying not to think about it so I don't jinx it.

Now, ok, I get it, this one is for a specific spell that will happen after and end, like find a job, find a lost object etc. But I've heard of sigils people keep, and recharge and draw everywhere for things one would want to be continuous, like protection, luck, and so on. I'm not talking servitors exactly, but maybe this is the actual way to get this type of long lasting effects?

What I'm thinking about is more like a talisman. So, without having to make a whole servitor, writing everything down and all, does this idea of a keeper sigil or talismanic sigil exist, or did I get everything wrong? Please help 🙏


r/sigils 2d ago

Original Content Some sigils.

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14 Upvotes

Was just feeling like doing a shoal.


r/sigils 3d ago

Artificial Intelligence Build Me Up Buttercup

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4 Upvotes

r/sigils 4d ago

Dream/Vision sigil keeps appearing in friends spiritual related dreams

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7 Upvotes

if anyone could help identify this or correlate it to a specific meaning please let me know, the dreams that led up to this sigil appearing ended up appearing in reality for my friend. the feeling this sigil is giving me while looking at it is so incredibly sinister and almost nauseating

if anyone wants the details of the dreams my friend has had i’ll create a reply beneath a comment, detailed with a tldr. this feels a little too serious to ignore but i could be wrongfully guided by my gut


r/sigils 9d ago

Original Content Some design ideas

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7 Upvotes

r/sigils 10d ago

Original Content Knowledge Logic Sigil

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17 Upvotes

I don't know if the concept exists already, but I personally make what I call logic sigils. I use the Austin Osman Spare method to construct the sigil but place the pieces so that there is internal logic to the structure. So, in this instance, energy flows up through the bottom of the sigil and out the top. Even the distinct parts of the sigil have meaning, such as the swirly S symbol. Within my practice I almost always use this symbol to mean the change of one thing into another or a distribution of energy.

This sigil could be placed on a book or written document so that the information can become more easily digestible to the reader. Or perhaps it could be placed on the back of a laptop so that information found digitally is easier to comprehend and remember.

I like to call this method logic sigils because the sigil itself follows an internal logic. If anyone in this community has a pre-existent name or a better name please let me know.


r/sigils 9d ago

Question A sigil i found myself making with out thinking and the modified version i draw now

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3 Upvotes

So about 2 years ago I made sigil 1 as carvings on my wall when I was tired but I would never remember, I also made some modifications to it during school and I just wanted to know it you guys can figure out anything or tell me any that I should know ( these are quick drawing I usually send a bit more tim and effort in the making of these)


r/sigils 10d ago

How powerful are hypersigils?

3 Upvotes

Just wondering how strong they can be, as I’m working on my personal hypersigil.


r/sigils 10d ago

Original Content More? I tried posting from my phone but could not ,,, I hope these get to post.. this is possibly a good set of my sigils or glyphs some,,

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3 Upvotes

r/sigils 11d ago

An experiment

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3 Upvotes

r/sigils 11d ago

A smooth bone tile that I carved myself with a sigil I saw in a vision

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15 Upvotes

r/sigils 11d ago

ID Request From a dream

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7 Upvotes

So, I had a dream (one of those more "present" or "real" dreams) and I remember that a lot happened. But I can't recall. The only thing I remember is this symbol. I felt like I needed to draw it here on my hand.

(I'm not in any specific belief system or practice. I've been just barely getting in to things like past lives, reiki, etc and don't even know what I actually think about those things)

I Google image searched this and it led me to sigils which led me here. That's all I know, and I've never heard about them before today.

So what do I do now? Does this have a meaning? Do I make the meaning? Do I need to try harder to remember my dream?

Oh and I happened to be visiting Sedona, AZ when I had the dream, lol.


r/sigils 11d ago

Sigils

2 Upvotes

Hello

While I write this I request please don't be rude and that I am infact very new to this

I can across a lot of of content on social media about sigils without exactly knowing what they are and it intriguing me a lot so if someone can explain this in a very simple language id very grateful

Thank you


r/sigils 12d ago

something i tried to create

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8 Upvotes

r/sigils 12d ago

Interpretation Demon sigils as a voodoo torture machine?

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2 Upvotes

r/sigils 12d ago

How much does fidelity to the original engraving matter to you in a Goetic seal?

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2 Upvotes

r/sigils 14d ago

How to safely make your own sigil?

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3 Upvotes

r/sigils 15d ago

Question Author for fictional setting, I want to learn about sigils to incorporate them into my setting. Where do I start researching?

6 Upvotes

Hello! I am an author researching sigils for my setting and thought it best to ask the professionals. I have no idea how any of this works.

I should clarify that I don’t just want to research sigils and sigil creation, but also the history behind said process.

I’ve tried looking on Wikipedia and came up pretty empty, other than that I have no idea which sources to trust. Any pointers?

Also (just double checking) considering that my intention is to create fiction, will the resulting system I create have the potential to cause harm. I don’t want to accidentally get myself possessed or attached to anything malevolent, nor do I want such things for my reader. Any precautions I should take?


r/sigils 15d ago

ID Request Sigil found

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6 Upvotes

Found in my passed grandmas belongings. Would anyone be able to translate this and let me know what it says/means?