Sigil Construction

06/18/2025

\ Introduction

Lately, I've had an increasing interest in the arcane. This is from a purely visual standpoint; a fascination with far older approaches to symbol design. I don't (yet) subscribe to any metaphysical beliefs, although the allure makes an increasing amount of sense to me as someone who feels more and more powerless as time marches on. Spellcasting, manifestation, hexes; Who wouldn't want to be able to do that? To mold the fabric of reality with your own hands? But I digress.

Thinking back, what was probably my first exposure to hermetic symbology are of course the gender symbols for man and woman, the hand mirror of Venus, ♀, and the shield and spear of Mars, ♂. As a child, they seemed arbitrary and entirely abstract. It wasn't until much later that I learned of their association with the classical planets and what they actually represent. It was perhaps inevitable that when I gained a greater interest in signs and symbols later in life, I'd be returning to those groupings of circles and lines with a renewed fascination. Part of what captivated me with the planetary signs was the idea that entire worlds could be reduced to not just a word, but a single pictographic sigillum that represents it. My mother tongue being a non-pictographic one is also probably partly responsible for my interest in languages which are, such as Japanese, at least from an intellectual position and also because I'm a weeaboo.

But those symbols have become more or less fully secularized; the planets and their symbols are completely divorced from the pagan gods they're named after, save for the scant few worshippers around the world who still pay tribute to them. Ones that haven't dip into what the average (uninformed) person would immediately recognize as magical or even demonic in nature. The most primary example of this would have the be the pentacle (oft erroneously referred to as a pentagram, which is simply the five-pointed start itself without the enclosing circle), which has become deeply associated with satanic rituals, whether they really are or not.

I just think they're neat!

\\ Breakdown

My sigil contains a number of different symbols. Below is a map describing what's what.

\\> Legend

1. Outer Circle
2. Name
3. Inner Circle
4. Primary Sigil
5. Initial
6. Date
7. Inverted Torch of Hypnos
8. Eye
9. Vaporization Compound Sigil

\\\ Construction

\\\> The Primary Sigil

\\\>> Setup

The following is my method for constructing a sigil. I will be breaking down my own step by step. The Primary Sigil is a form that represents your name. Creating it is fairly simple, following in the use of magic squares called Kamea, wherein a name is converted into numbers then transcribed onto the square. There are seven squares corresponding to the seven classical planets:

For your personal sign, you may choose to use the square which corresponds to the sign ruler of your astrological sign:

In my case, I chose the magic Square of Jupiter because of it's orbital relationship with the asteroid 14827 Hypnos, named after the Greek god of sleep.

Begin by transcribing the letters of your name into number values:

• V - 22
• A - 1
• P - 16
• O - 15
• R - 18
• S - 19
• L - 12
• E - 5
• E - 5
• P - 16

In cases such as mine, the square of Jupiter does not have all of the numbers required to transcribe my name (e.g. several letters in my name are valued at over 16, which is the highest value in the square). In this case, reduce the numbers in excess of the square's capacity to their ones place (in parentheses):

• V - 22 (2)
• A - 1
• P - 16 (6)
• O - 15 (5)
• R - 18 (8)
• S - 19 (9)
• L - 12 (2)
• E - 5
• E - 5
• P - 16 (6)

Depending on the length of your name, you may want to consider condensing your name for a more efficient symbol, but I encourage you to experiment with all manner of permutations until you find one that you like. Should you wish to condense anyway, try removing vowels, repeating letters, or both.

Again, in the name of efficiency and beauty, you may wish to reorganize your letters by value so that they do not crisscross the square in unappealing ways:

• A - 1
• L - 12 (2)
• V - 22 (2)
• O - 15 (5)
• E - 5
• E - 5
• P - 16 (6)
• P - 16 (6)
• R - 18 (8)
• S - 19 (9)

Finally, now that you have your values, you may begin to transcribe your name onto the square.

\\\>> Transcription

Open your square in an image manipulation software. Most will work fine, but I prefer doing it in a vector-based workspace like illustrator for infinitely scalable assets. On top of this, transcribe your lines onto the square. Each number in the sequence indicates where each vertex lies. I indicate the beginning and end of the sigil with circles, but you may do whatever.

In the event of two or more numbers being repeated in sequence, subdivide that vertex with an additional loop or curve for each additional number. Functionally, this is the absolute minimum you'd need. You can go ahead and arrange this sigil within your circle and write out your name, should you so choose. In my opinion, however, it is best to further customize your sigil with as many sub-sigils as you'd like.

\\\> Additional Sigils

\\\>> Types

Incorporating sub-sigils allows you to include even more of yourself into your sigil. Subjects which you may wish to encode include but are not limited to:

• Gender
• Initials
• Significant Dates
• Important Subjects
• Patron Deities
• Personal Aspects

I will be taking you through how I chose my sub-sigils, and how I went about creating them.

\\\>> Design

\\\>>> Initial

Crossing the entire sigil is my Initial, a large capital 'V.' It is relatively subtle despite its size, and provides a horizontally symmetrical base across which to judge the visual weight of the seal at large.

\\\>>> Inverted Torch of Hypnos

As Lord Hypnos is the god of sleep, I have incorporated him heavily into my sigil. Were I a true believer, I would hope that including his symbol, that of an inverted torch, would help guide me to deeper, more restful sleep, and sweeter, more intoxicating dreams. Regardless, there was one symbol for Hypnos. Though some major asteroids, like Vesta, have astronomical symbols, the same cannot be said for lesser bodies like Hypnos. Thus, I elected to design my own based on one of his attributes, choosing it over the others in part due to my recent reading of The King in Yellow, whose 1895 first edition bears the image of the inverted torch on its spine.

Using a circle as a base, I added an elongated stave and horizontal collar, around which rise a spiral of flame. It should be noted that the inverted torch is also a symbol of Hypnos' twin brother Thanatos, god of death. As the fatherless sons of Night (Nyx), it is only appropriate that is it shared, as the extinguished flame of waking is separated only slightly from the extinguished flame of life. So it is said that sleep is a temporary death.

I incorporated the torch into the primary symbol, making the start-end circle the head of the torch itself.

\\\>>> Date

A significant date for me is 2021, that being the date I joined the Agora Road Forum. In Roman Numerals that year is MMXXI, which I have rendered here as a heavily stylized ligature. Below is an approximation of my process:

Compound Sigil

The last sub-sigil is the compound sigil. The base of this is an eye, an important symbol for me:

upon which is inscribed the alchemical symbol for water combined with the symbol for distillation (Virgo), a process which creates vapor:

\\\\ Conclusion

There you have it. You can use your sigil for any number of purposes. If instead of making one as a representation of yourself, you can create sigils representing places or goals you'd like to achieve. Get creative with it! Me? I just like the way it looks as a distillation of myself into an abstract form. Have fun!