Sigil thread

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

All right. I'm going to throw out  there one of the many things I love about Discordianism.

I was raised in a bastardized Native American tradition. I converted and was/have been a Wiccan of sorts for about 20 years. I still wear a pentagram, have an altar, etc etc. Nowadays I shy from the label "Wiccan" and prefer "Witch". Yes. Really. It's, if possible, even stupider than "Wiccan".

I read Tarot, do rituals, burn shit, dabble in vodou. I still have a deeply superstitious shamanistic side, sort of how people raised Catholic have a hard time shaking that whole sin concept. I see a fucking owl in daylight and my first thought isn't "Oh cute, an owl!" it's "Oh shit, is someone gonna die?"

I think Wicca, and Wiccans, are fucking stupid. All this shit is fucking stupid, and hilarious. I do it because it produces an altered mental state, much like drugs can, but it doesn't last as long as drugs and I'm a commitment-phobe.

That I think it's bullshit doesn't detract from my practice of magic at all. I don't mind that my belief that it's bullshit clashes with my belief that it's effective. What's a little metal discord?

Funny, that's what.

So Nigel, wanna energize some sigils together?

[BabylonHoruv]

Even though I burn candles and read Tarot and do other annoying occulty things, I still find the sigil thing especially irritating. Also, I don't have a thread for my tarot-reading, candle-burning, rootwork wankery.

I'll totally wank with you over tarot cards sometime.

I think the Empress is hawt.

(Actually I read cards semi-professionally, have worked both over the phone and at fairs,  I just know better than to expect talking about it to go over very well on this board.)

Yeah.

Actually it kind of reminds me of how irritated I was earlier today to find that someone had started a fibromyalgia support thread over on the glass board. I fucking hate middle-aged ladies. Between that shit and the dieting threads there won't be any glass talk left at all pretty soon.

Wait til they start bitching about gout.

Oh, it's already gotten ugly. Some of the non-twit glass bitches used the forbidden word, "hypochondriac", and now the hypochondriacs are screaming about how society invalidates their disease.

Middle-aged ladies, dude. I swear to fucking god. They're EXACTLY like people who take sigils and tarot seriously.

Yep, all my best customers are middle aged ladies.

[Faust]

I charged my death sigil with polonium 210, work real good now.

[AFK]

Hey, so did the Natives use Smoke Sigils back in the day?

There.  Got it out of my system.  I've been holding that one back for hours now.  It was starting to hurt. 

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

Hey, so did the Natives use Smoke Sigils back in the day?

There.  Got it out of my system.  I've been holding that one back for hours now.  It was starting to hurt. 

*groan*

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Hey, so did the Natives use Smoke Sigils back in the day?

There.  Got it out of my system.  I've been holding that one back for hours now.  It was starting to hurt. 

It still hurts.   

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

Hrmmm, I guess I've been inspired.

According to Peter Carroll, sigils can be described with his formula of magic.

M= (G*L/A*R)*P

Or the level of success (M) depends on the level of Gnosis (G) the 'estatic or trancelike state of mind" and the Magical Link (L) as  modified by Conscious Awareness (C) and Subconscious Resistance (R) and the probability (p) that whatever you're trying to do is likely/possible

Now, the Magical Link in sigil magic is the sigil itself. It's designed to be a psychological link between the goal and the subconscious mind of the practitioner. Its designed to get past ther 'subconscious resistance' or the "psychic censor" that part of your brain that says "Ummm, you do realize that magic is a steaming pile of shit, right?".

Now, more interestingly, the 'Gnosis' is the process by which you distract your conscious awareness... high ritual (distraction), intoning chants, laughing wlidly for extended periods of time, sex (with someone or on your own).... AND (this is the inspired bit) HATE.

I think TGRR has found a useful tool here... can we use pure unadultrated HATESHIT to power a sigil... I think the answer may be yes... I shall have to experiment and report back.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Hey, so did the Natives use Smoke Sigils back in the day?

There.  Got it out of my system.  I've been holding that one back for hours now.  It was starting to hurt. 

[Richter]

According to Peter Carroll, sigils can be described with his formula of magic.

M= (G*L/A*R)*P

Or the level of success (M) depends on the level of Gnosis (G) the 'estatic or trancelike state of mind" and the Magical Link (L) as  modified by Conscious Awareness (C) and Subconscious Resistance (R) and the probability (p) that whatever you're trying to do is likely/possible

Now, the Magical Link in sigil magic is the sigil itself. It's designed to be a psychological link between the goal and the subconscious mind of the practitioner. Its designed to get past ther 'subconscious resistance' or the "psychic censor" that part of your brain that says "Ummm, you do realize that magic is a steaming pile of shit, right?".

Interesting model for it, though part of me balks at mathematically describing thigns you can NEVER render into numbers. (Unless we want to assign nummerical values OVER 9000!!!)

Reducing the trappings out of it, if we replace Gnosis and Sigil with aptitude and focus, you can really describe performing any action with it.

Doing some things angry makes you sloppy, though.  I think that would throw off G, or require a more elaborate consideration of P.
 

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

According to Peter Carroll, sigils can be described with his formula of magic.

M= (G*L/A*R)*P

Or the level of success (M) depends on the level of Gnosis (G) the 'estatic or trancelike state of mind" and the Magical Link (L) as  modified by Conscious Awareness (C) and Subconscious Resistance (R) and the probability (p) that whatever you're trying to do is likely/possible

Now, the Magical Link in sigil magic is the sigil itself. It's designed to be a psychological link between the goal and the subconscious mind of the practitioner. Its designed to get past ther 'subconscious resistance' or the "psychic censor" that part of your brain that says "Ummm, you do realize that magic is a steaming pile of shit, right?".

Interesting model for it, though part of me balks at mathematically describing thigns you can NEVER render into numbers. (Unless we want to assign nummerical values OVER 9000!!!)

He says its 'qualitative' rather than 'quantitative'. And he counts the value somewhere between 0 (total failure) and 1 (completely unachievable success). Of course, though... its just a model/thought experiment to explain his view of how it works.

Reducing the trappings out of it, if we replace Gnosis and Sigil with aptitude and focus, you can really describe performing any action with it.

Which is exactly what Crowley meant when he said "Any act of Will is a magical act."

Doing some things angry makes you sloppy, though.  I think that would throw off G, or require a more elaborate consideration of P.
 

Maybe, generally G is a tool for distracting your conscious mind... getting a good seaming pile of rant might work really well as a distraction. The idea is that Gnosis or what Carroll calls "No Mind" is the state in which you are so wrapped up in the act that the sigil and the magic and all of that fades into the background.

But, anger might not work the way I think it might... I'll have to try and see.

(And magic always works best when p is somewhere between .99999 and 1 )

[The Wizard]

Wonderful! The thread has gotten back on track. Yay.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Wonderful! The thread has gotten back on track. Yay.

It's still stupid and mockworthy. What the fuck is this shit, anyway?

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

Wonderful! The thread has gotten back on track. Yay.

It's still stupid and mockworthy. What the fuck is this shit, anyway?

I dunno, why did you step in it without know what it was? 

[LMNO]

Wonderful! The thread has gotten back on track. Yay.

It's still stupid and mockworthy. What the fuck is this shit, anyway?

It translates to "different techniques you can use to Change Your Mind."

[The Wizard]

It's still stupid and mockworthy.

Regardless, at least we're actually talking about how it works rather than debating its existence/functionality.