Designing Talismans, Sigils, and Seals

This is not a tutorial. It’s actually more of a warning of what not to do. There are many graphics design tutorials involving Photoshop software. The basics are online. If you cannot afford Photoshop, there are free opensource software like Gimp and paint.net.

Now, that’s clear, the main issue is the paradigm of magick that you’re using. In other words, LHP or RHP? Black or White magick? Is it your own servitor? Is it your own egregore for a company logo?

Are you attempting to create a talisman in the Judeo-Christian-Islamic (JCI) tradition? The GoM/Damon Brand stuff falls into this category. (Note: I will use the terms paradigm, system, method, and philosophy to mean the same thing.)

These are important questions to consider. The infamous Seals/Pentacles of Solomon are designed to attract certain spirits and channel certain energies in the JCI realm. The same (more or less) with the seals of the Goetia. The Alphabets/fonts used in these seals are created to channel these energies and entities. Malachim, Passing the River, Angelic, Hebrew and Enochian are common examples of these fonts. This also applies to the languages of Latin, demonic enns, Enochian, Hebrew, and Arabic etc. So, one should do the research into these entities and the system that they are in.

My point is, do not mix different systems! Don’t try to use Hindu gods in a JCI system. No mixing LHP with RHP. I know that Chaos magick is the thing now. Even then, stay within that paradigm. For more details, read Jason Miller’s “The Sorcerers Secrets”.

Hoodoo mixes different entities under a JCI system. Voodoo uses the Loas/Luas under a mostly Catholic paradigm. French, Latin and African languages are used.

I know that there are books where both Angels and Demons are used in the same seal. The GoM Henry Archer and Damon Brand books. Consider that these entities are both in the JCI system. That’s why it works.

Most sigils are generated using several different methods. All of these are covered in several posts on this forum. For the JCI paradigm I recommend using the (Kameas) Number Squares method and the Rose Cross Method which is based on the 22 letter Hebrew alphabet.
rose cross

If you don’t like Hebrew, Enochian, Angelic and Malachim etc. can be used.

Most sigils are surrounded with a Triangle, Pentagon, square or usually a circle. The seals in Simon’s Necronomicon are a good example of this. I’ve even seen an octagon used in one book! It depends on your preference and what the design is intended for. When using the sigil in a six-pointed star (Star of David) or a pentagram, know exactly why you are using it. These are powerful symbols for a reason.

These symbols are connected to systems, entities and energies that have existed for thousands of years across countless cultures.

When creating your own servitors and egregores, I recommend using other sigil creation methods.
sigil circles


Use whatever fonts you feel comfortable with. I prefer either the Theban, Egyptian, Runes and Enochian fonts myself.

Again, do the necessary research and know what you actually want the talisman to do.

Once your design is finally done, of course, you have to charge it. This is also called activating it. Again, there are several sources about this on this forum. Just putting in the thought, study and research while creating your design will start to give it the energy it needs. You stare it with intent until you go into the Theta-Gamma Sync (TGS) state, also called gnosis in other places. More info is easily found on the BALG forum.

The talisman if kept on paper, can be easily destroyed. Make them into tattoos, rings and medals. They can be custom made by artists like Talimancer. T-Shirts and blankets can be printed with them now.

This is all for now. Thanks for reading.

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Thank you for posting! Its an interesting insight upon the topic of sigil making. Ive thought of including thebian text upon my artwork in sigils (working with a writer atm doing a he-man mini comic idea), more or less one that would essentially be to excite fun and imagination in a person who purchases the figures I make.
This is a good starting point for a bit more research before I go placing a sigil in a product willy nilly :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

Fricken GOLD! thank you for the breakdown.im a baby fledgling sigil maker. So awesome info :+1:

Hear! Hear!

Al.

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Here is a question. Can I use runes from the norse system and make sigils of the norse deities? I haven’t really seen that done yet, but I’m thinking about doing so for my patrons…
Or is that like trying to mix oil and water so to speak?

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About the symbols used in talismans:

Most are familiar with the hexagram and pentagram mentioned above. Other symbols such as zodiacal signs, scientific/math notation, runes, and Egyptian Hieroglyphs etc. Are used to enhance and modify the energies in the design.
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As you see, the upward triangle usually refers to the fire element. The pentagram and the hexagram (star of David) represent the Earth element. The circle represents the idea of infinity, no beginning or end. When diagonals are used, /,, or an “X”, this implies a sense of balance.

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Runes are from the Norse Pantheon, so yes. Remember that each rune is itself a sigil with it’s own energy and meaning. I would also recommend using pictures and symbols from the Norse culture itself. Like, I’m sure that Thor has his own symbol or sigil already.

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A Note about Technology in general. Especially the use of icons in user interfaces (UI):

In the early 1980’s, the researchers at the Xerox PARC labs made some discoveries that would change how we used computers to this day. The main three were: the graphical user interface, the “mouse” tool and Ethernet. Xerox at the time thought these were “useless toys” serving no practical use. An engineer from Xerox allowed Steve Jobs and later, Bill Gates to visit the PARC labs. The rest is history.

It is much easier to use the icons than the command line. And, we’ve been doing it for over forty years! Soon, the devices and programs will adapt to us, whatever tasks we’re trying to do.

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In mentioning the above, the concept of the “Alphabet of Desire” came to mind. The founder of Chaos Magick, Austin Spare, came with this concept by which a desire can be converted into a series of sigils creating an “alphabet” of sorts. This can be used to write powerful spells or be used in talismans like kind mentioned in this posting. Asian languages, like Chinese, Japanese and others already have this multidimensional quality. This BALG forum has much information on this topic.

This in a way could also mean that Spare foresaw the computer information age. The very characters we use are themselves an encoding of ones and zeros used to represent a certain value. These values are used in complex calculations and algorithms to generate what we see on our screens. This then extends to the idea of icons representing programs and in turn into hyperlinks connecting websites on the Internet.

Could we be living in a magickal Internet?

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This article by Nick Farrell is based on his book, “Creating Talismans”:

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Bump

Bump.

I feel that this is needed right now for some reason.

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Bump.

Bump.