Hi guys,
Damon Brand’s “Archangels of Magick” has the archangel sigils under the “Sigil Rituals” chapter, but so does Ben Woodcroft’s angel book.
From your experience, whose sigils are more effective in terms of accessing the archangels’ whole powers?
I’m also curious as to why the archangel sigils in Damon’s book consist of Hebrew characters (unlike the ones in Ben’s book, which look like the mainstream archangel sigils (interesting shapes/curves) which can be found in various websites online.)?
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The differences most likely depend on their source material.
Brand’s stuff is based on ancient Hebrew texts, according to the author himself. I have never read Woodcroft’s stuff so I don’t know where he sourced his seals.
Ancient Hebrew (in contrast with modern Hebrew, which is similar but not completely the same) was/is also seen as a “magical” language on its own. That is most likely why Brand’s seals include Hebrew characters (derived from their source texts). Writing an angel’s name in the Hebrew alphabet has traditionally been seen as enough to summon it.
You also have to remember that the seals used by the Gallery of Magick, were created personally by them based on their sources and upon consultation with the angels themselves. They are unique to the group, and not found anywhere else.
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Good points @DarkestKnight!
Also, I know that each archangels has more powers than what’s listed in those books. Do you know if the sigils in those books can be used to access those other powers beyond what’s listed in those books?
Possibly. The Gallery seals, from my understanding, are for specific effects, and the powers listed are the ones that the members of the group have found most successful.
In my opinion, to really unlock the full powers of the archangels, you would need to fully evoke them, not simply rely on the seals.
Again, I cannot speak on Woodcroft’s stuff because I have never read his books but if he is using the common seals you find all over the internet, then it might be a bit hit and miss, and you wouldn’t know until you tried.
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They’re not exactly “sigils” they’re talismans. GoM talismans created from Hebrew texts. They basically formed those talismans from different sources.
Woodcrot uses sigils in his talismans, but he collects different sigils for each Angel and formed a talisman. In each one you’ll find the sigil of the Angel, some symbols related to the Angel for example zodic signs - if I remember correctly, and the name of the Angel written in magickal language if he could’t find the sigil of the Angel anywhere. For example, in Archangel Michael’s talisman you’ll find his sigil. But in Archangel Metatron’s talisman you’ll only find his name, not a sigil.
They all work fine. The key here is not which one is more effective but each one works best for the each specific ritual. In my opinion, GoM talismans are more powerful with GoM rituals, and Woodcroft’s talismans are more powerful with his rituals.
If you’re planning to use someone else’s ritual, for example one of E.A koetting’s evocation rituals, then a basic Angelic sigil would be more effective.
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Thanks @PrinceX!
The archangel Raphael, for instance, has many powers listed here Archangel Raphael and the Planet Mercury - Angelic and Magical Correspondences that are not listed in GoM’s or Woodcroft’s book.
Which sigil do you think is best for accessing his other powers then?
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I would use his traditional seal, rather than either the GoM one, or Woodcroft’s.
@PrinceX and what’s the best source(s) for the traditional archangel seals?
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You can probably find it online, but Damon Brand provides the traditional seals for 5 Archangels, including Raphael, at the end of his book Archangels of Magick, in Part Ten: The Source of Angelic Power.
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Hi @tamatoa Yes you’ll find different powers in different sources. There are many well-known powers for Angels and Archangels not mentioned in GoM or Woodcroft’s books. Personally I think it’s for commercial reasons. You can use the powers mentioned in their books or in the traditional sources or both. Personally I prefer to use the powers from traditional sources.
Unfortunately there is no best source for all sigils, you need to do some research and find the most common one mentioned in most, if not all, of them. If you want to keep it simple, then a search for “Archangel Michael Sigil” for example will bring this one in most results :
another version of it in another source :
Notice how they’re “almost” the same. So you can use any of them. Sigils are relatively modern tool. Traditionally and way before their existence, people worked with spirits without any sigils at all. All they needed is a name. That’s why “the name” of a spirit was always sacred and secret. Not the sigil. Most people don’t realize this because today we all know the names of spirits. But that wasn’t the case hundreds of years ago when what we now consider our magickal resources and grimoires were written.
Personally I had amazing success with spirits without using sigils. So there’s no need to give them that much power in my opinion. They’re just symbols. You can use them or not, the same way that you can use a statue or not.
If you have doubts about any sigil, you can create one and it will be as effective. Example with Archangel Michael’s sigil :
This is Rosy Cross method, you can use the one in Hebrew or English
If you want to give the sigil some extra power, write the name of the spirit or angel with it in Hebrew. This will charge the sigil because Hebrew in itself, is a mgickal and sacred language for Angels and Demons.
If you wish to create your own Talismans, like the ones used in GoM or Woodcroft’s books you can do that as well by using a combination of symbols and sigils in one Talisman. Here’s an example of using the Pentagram as main sign plus Angelic and planetary symbols :
Hope that helps,
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I think I read somewhere that Hebrew is a “magick” language. It is the language God used to speak the world into existence.
So just seeing the letters has an added effect on the magick. A sympathetic effect, I guess
I have been reading a ton of stuff on Angels magick, I don’t know which author said that. Much of what i read comes from Kadmon and Brand but there has been a lot of other stuff thrown in to. Anybody, including people who don’t know what they are talking about, could have said that. So take it with a grain of salt