The theory of forgetting a sigil is it right or wrong?

General Discussion
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So I always hear and read that you should forget the original intent of a sigil for it to work and bypass the conscious filters. Now to me I find this concept wrong for a few reasons. One we do not forget the usage or intent behind what talismans are be it your own, Solomons, someone elses or physical amulets or stones etc. We know what the basic task is and we charge it with a new intent along the lines of that task each time we use it in a ritual form or by opening the talisman up etc or simply knowing its with us and looking at it every so often. This works fine and nowhere in this process did you forget its job. Infact knowing about its task makes it stronger. We can look at a talisman as a more complex sigil or at least formed intent sigil that has more of a structure, but not always.

Then we have spirit seals or sigils, We know what they are for and what we do with them and they work. Or language constructs like say Enochian or the Enochian keys. Circles for use in magick, symbology and Alchemical symbols.

So why should one forget the intent of a sigil but not anything else? surely to me if you should forget the intent then how does a ritual or any spell work which is simply a fancy way of carrying that intent into the mind. So it doesn’t hold weight to me and would love to hear views on this. My opinion is as long as we know its powerful, believe it can do something and its magickal by nature then it will simply work. The gazing helps stick it into our subconscious by making a light trance and allowing the conscious to lose focus, same with placing sigils around the house. This then tells your brain this thing is a powerful artifact that can change your life or at least do something fun.

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A Spare-style sigil is not the same thing as a spirit seal, or talisman, so different rules apply. Both talismans and seals rely on what are perceived as outside forces which act separate from yourself, therefore your attention on them doesn’t really matter. Once they are charged, you simply go about your day until they need to be recharged.

In chaos magick, the meta belief is that the subconscious is responsible for all magical effects. Spirits don’t exist externally, so in order to prevent the conscious, rational mind, from interfering in your magick, you effectively bypass it through the act of letting go, or forgetting. While Spare-style sigils can be utilized in the same manner as talismans, the original method required letting go of the intent, and focusing solely on the symbol itself.

It’s really not all that different form the concept of “lust for results,” aka emotional attachment to an outcome, in ritual magick, which can hamstring your spells by keeping you in a feedback loop of wanting.

There are basically two ways of overcoming this: One, you can assume with absolute conviction that your spell will be successful, and keep that attitude while awaiting your results (basically a version of Neville Goddard’s Law of Assumption), or, two, you can completely forget that you ever did the magick in the first place (like a sigil) and think of the ritual as nothing but a dream. Both methods will prevent your mind from grasping at the energy of the spell, and pulling it back to you.

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I think this is all solved by one simple thing - do you know that magick works?

If you know, really deep down know, that magick works, then that diffuses much of the lust for results, regardless of how long the magick may be taking to manifest.

If you cultivate this belief through experiencing successful magick, among other methods, and then also ensure that your material actions are aligned with your magickal intentions, that should solve most any problem that could arise along these lines.

With these types of sigils in particular (I assume you are talking about sex magick sigils or Spare-style sigils, the traditional chaos magick method), I also usually include a bit of a “fail-safe” in my intention. I phrase the intention as a question and put the word “wonderful” in there, so something like “How did I come to have such a wonderful dinner?”

This reduces the failure rate very considerably. The only sigils or rituals I can recall as having failed were very very specific, and in reflection tainted with fear. If you step back like one level and generalize it a bit more, that usually always works. How long it takes depends, but in my experience, the sigils manifest as quickly as is possible while still harmonizing with and not negatively impacting my other rituals and intentions.

I actually actively think about my intention while firing a sigil. Afterwards, it tends to be quite easy to move on to something else. I keep a record of my sigils in my journals cause I usually have a number of workings with various sigils to do active at a time that I come to as I feel like doing so. I know that magick works, so I’m not concerned about lusting for results when I see old intentions which I have done sigils for that are still in the process of manifesting.

I’d say the biggest challenge for me now is letting go of irrational fear concerning my goals. If you know that magick works, and you create your intentions skillfully, then it doesn’t make any logical sense to be afraid of not getting what you want.

That and acting upon my magickal intentions. Do learning magick, and then never study and practice, and you won’t learn shit.

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Hi Darkest Knight. I have many chaos Magick Sigils on different sheets of paper taped to my walls. Around each sigil I drew a circle in order to protect it. When I get around to it I stare at the sigil and chant positive affirmations for the goal I want. Are you saying to just forget about its purpose and just stare at it and this is sufficient? And afterwards do i burn it or can i just leave it on the wall. The effects are always temporary but i thought That it was because i didnt chant enough. I did read your reply to M. a bunch of times but still trying to understand although i get it about external beings.

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Yes, in a meditative state. The original method was to focus on the shape, not the intention.

It depends on the method you are using. Originally, sigils were a “fire and forget” type of thing, where you would visualize it flying off into the depth of the universe while in an altered state, and then immediately turn your attention to something else, but if you are consistently staring at it daily, then I would leave it on the wall until the intent comes to pass.

I have a book called the Four Powers by Nicholas Graham, that includes a similar exercise. The key, though, is to stare at the sigil without recalling what it means. Just focus on the shape and let your mind float around.

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I feel like forgetting them isn’t alwayd the most important thing so much as believing that they’ve set something in motion for us.

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Thank you Darkest Knight and Bane 097

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Nice post Shinri I do believe the fire and forget stuff is more to do with a fail-safe of not believing them. I did an experiment of just drawing a sigil, knew its intent and every time I looked at it I knew what it was for and it worked fine, without even firing it off. But I hold a strong belief in that it holds a power etc. I love talismans myself and see them as a glorified sigil really. Like DarkKnight said I charge it using external power visualizing it going into the talisman and do an incantation etc which works fine. But this is where I think forgetting for people who do this often is not needed possibly much like a talisman as it will still do its thing. Now maybe new people yes it will help the lust for result situation.

How I see these objects is its not the object, paper or card, holding the power but our subconscious allocates this intent with the sigil or talisman acting as the key and when you charge it your charging focus and energy into that process within the deep mind giving it more life. Then when you see this image your deep mind knows what its for and amplifies the power that bit more.

My main issue with fear in these things is usually to do with my intrusive thought ocd. I will get random negative thoughts intrude randomly when opening sigils or doing workings and it throws me off as I put so much belief that it is a powerful object that will do what I intend and then to have a thought that someone will die pop up just messes things up. When it does though I find the magick usually doesn’t materialize as quick.

Another sigil that always holds a known intent is the linking sigil which I always have fun with as it loves twisting things at times, not always, but in a fun way it can give results that are a little different. For instance for fun I drew it with the intent of powering a small sigil that would manifest a blue deflated balloon in my yard. Two days later I go outside and a ball comes flying out of nowhere and hits me on head. I realize it was a blue deflated ball! not a balloon but yea close enough, was quite funny after I ranted and chucked it back over haha.

Isnt Spares alphabet of desire a sigil system where the sigils hold a known intent throughout?