Sigillae and galdrastaves

Graphic sikli – realizational symbols, concentrating, directing and calling forth power, have been in use for as long as there has been an active mind that transforms reality. From the first drawings on cave walls to symbols carved on bones and wooden objects, through the centuries and up to today’s corporate logos and product trademarks, humanity has widely employed the magical possibilities of graphic form.

By now several key directions of Graphic Magic have emerged, among which play an important role the traditions of Galdr – galdrastaves, galdramunds, aegishjalms and band-runes, and also Kabbalistic approaches to the creation and use of sigillae and Seals. However, despite many shared principles in composing and applying these two groups of sikli, each has its own particularities, an understanding of which is not always sufficiently clear today.

Any sikl, as indeed any magical object, can be regarded as an element active at both macrocosmic and psychocosmic levels. On the one hand, the interaction of the perceiving or creating mind with the symbol itself produces predictable, controllable changes in the mind, steering its flow in a definite and predictable direction. Namely, any sikl is an instrument of mental transformation. On the other hand, a sikl is an energetically active structure of the macrocosm, causing changes in it independently (in the sense — separate from conscious processes of that mind, since, according to the Magical cosmology, it is fundamentally impossible to separate being and mind) of the mind that perceives or creates it. That is, a sikl operates even when unseen, or when the one who sees it does not suspect its nature or purpose.

From these perspectives people long ago understood that reality can be altered in two ways – by influencing its processes and by influencing its agents. Historically the culture of the North was more oriented toward manipulating flows, while the Near Eastern tradition concentrated on working with beings. Thus two similar but not identical methodologies arose — the art of creating galdrastaves and the art of creating sigillae.

It is well known that a galdrastaf is a stylized bound rune in which its vector components are combined and the whole symbol functions as a single unity, as the resultant of all the forces entering into it. The stylization — the smoothing and sharpening of angles applied when creating a galdrastaf — on the one hand gives it a unifying quality, and on the other harmonizes incoming vectors and gives them a common direction. As a result, a galdrastaf is less pointed but more fundamental than a runescript or band-rune. Thus, in effect, a galdrastaf is a graphic depiction of the resultant vector of some process, intended to ensure that this process unfolds in a given direction and with the required effectiveness. Accordingly, in creating a galdrastaf the eril invests his power and will in transforming a worldly process in one way or another, relying on the graphic realization of the symbols.

Traditionally a sigilla is the graphic expression of the nature of a particular agent — a vortex operating within the Medium and shaping it. Throughout history three approaches have been worked out for composing and reading sigillae. All of them regard a sigilla as a stylized text, a “signature,” and differ only in the way it is composed and read.

Historically the first method consisted in stylizing the “linear” inscription — the Name (or epithet) of the agent (spirit, god) was written in one of the “sacred alphabets,” then stylized, and known operative symbols — energy transformers: crosses, circles, pentagrams, etc. — were added to it, intended to establish the Magus’s authority over the given power (if these symbols were also enclosed — the sigilla drawn within a circle or cartouche, thereby further restraining the named power, then the sigilla became a Seal). To this same approach can be ascribed the stylization of an image depicting the agent’s nature and traits — such stylized depictions of birds, animals, and various implements are common on spirits’ seals.

The other two methods arose significantly later and amount to composing a sigilla by connecting letters or numbers on special operative matrices — magical squares or the Rose of Sefer Yetzirah. Sometimes additional signs are appended to sigillae composed in this way.

In any case, historically sigillae were intended to activate/attract the power of a particular agent, who then effected the required changes.

In other words, when using a galdrastaf the Magus, first and foremost, engages his Power, whereas for the Magic of sigillae his Authority matters more. Thus, for example, a young and fervent Magus who relies above all on the fire of his desires and his inspiration will be more akin to the processual Magic of galdrastaves, while for a wizard seasoned by experience but wearied by life the summoning Magic of sigillae will be easier. Nevertheless, an effective Magus should, of course, know both approaches and apply them according to the situation in which he finds himself.

It is precisely these two distinctions — by source of power and by the demands placed on the operator — that produce the methodological divergence in the named branches of Graphic Magic. Unfortunately, today there is a certain confusion in these methods, and the widely known modern “sigilla Magic” is, in essence, the Magic of galdrastaves, because it creates a graphic image of a process rather than the summoning of an agent, and therefore it requires significant vector efforts of the operator, which are often neglected.

An effective Magus strives for a clear understanding of the nature of the processes he deals with, since from this depend the requirements placed on him personally, on the ritual schema, and on the sources of energy. A lack of understanding not only reduces the effectiveness of implementation, it undermines the impeccability of the Magus himself, and can lead to significant losses of power and falls that can and should be avoided.