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At its core Sigil Magic is an attempt to reduce practical sorcery down its simplest and most effective principles. If you have a desire, a pen and paper and a nervous system you're pretty much good to go - you can make stuff happen in your life.
Whilst sigils are often used for "getting laid and getting paid," bringing about opportunities or even to acquire magickal knowledge, my primary area of research and development has been in the domain of physical transformation. This, I would argue, is one of the areas that may prove to be the must potent. I'm certain the reason for this lies in the mechanism by which sigils work in the first place.
Sigil sorcery pivots on the idea that conscious desire or intent can be symbolically embedded into the deeper, more magickally effective layers of conscious. As Kenneth Grant opines:
"Consciously formulated desires take time to materialize; subconscious desires can be made to materialize very swiftly."
Depending on the author you'll find this basic idea restated in varying degrees of complexity and nuance. Certainly it's not the only way to do it but that's the general thinking. From a body transformation perspective this point requires emphasis as it is the subconscious aspects of the mind that are most closely tied to the body. It could even be argued that the body is a concretised form of the subconscious mind.
Without recourse to any specific magickal model this is obvious in various forms of psychosomatic illness and healing, and the novel effects of hypnosis and autosuggestion. The sorcerous approach takes this idea further again, as Grant suggests:
"... the subconscious may be considered as a series of strata containing faculties and powers that reach back indefinitely."
Accordingly there are powers and abilities that can be tapped by the magickian (you) to manifest some of the more spectacular abilities often attributed to the occult arts. In the hope of sounding superficial my interest lies less in the acquisition of bizarre abilities and more in applying sigils for cosmetic purposes. In this sense, sigils can be used to lose fat, gain muscle, improve your skin, for anti-aging or to promote health and healing. Theoretically there should be no limit to what can be accomplished, practically the limit rests with how deeply the sigil can be embedded within the subconscious. To what degree can it be made "organic"?
THINGS TO BE AWARE OF...
Magickally enhanced body transformation is the sharpest of double-edged swords. On the one hand you have a direct magickal link with your body, on the other hand, whether you like it or not, you are constantly influencing your body through your habitual attitudes, behaviours and beliefs. Both positively and negatively you are doing it all day, every day. In theory, a sigil embedded deeply enough will reshape your identity to such an extent that it will override this, however, in practice we have to accept we don't live in a hermetically sealed vacuum. Our environment, our lifestyle habits our relationships are always feeding back information to us that re-affirms our dominant sense of identity. If these aren't attended to, the old identity will just tend to re-emerge like a cork bobbing to the surface.
It's also worth considering that getting over "lust of result" can be an even greater task when making alterations to your body. When you walk around in the thing all day it becomes quite difficult to avoid the constant checking to see if the pot has boiled yet. Even more confounding is that the shock of success can often prove jarring, causing a sort of reversal of enchantment. We all like to think we want change but when it happens abruptly it can feel like a slap in the face, even if it's a result we really want.
I've actually seen this happen quite spectacularly on a number of occasions when sigils cast for sexual attractiveness have produced almost immediate results, causing the offending magickan (this has been me as well) to shrink back from the attention. There's a difference between really wanting something and liking the idea of something I suppose.
One last thing worth mentioning is the tendency towards obsession. In many respects, this should be expected and can be just a side effect of the magick actually working. If you decide you want abs like an underwear model don't be surprised when you get obsessive about diet and training, ditch friends who aren't onboard with your goals and such. How did you think it would work?
HOW TO PROCEED
First and foremost, if you plan on making permanent alterations to your health and appearance it's important to get your ducks in a row. Make sure you are acting in a way that is congruent with your desires. Failing to do this essentially communicates to your subconscious that either you don't believe it is really possible or that you're afraid of change. Fitness models don't diet on cake and make excuses for not doing their cardio, get your head on straight!
Understand that enchantments cast on the body have a very good chance of manifesting, if you're not prepared getting no result is probably the best outcome. The more likely result will be the magic will exert psychological pressure on you to change. If you don't engage this can often feel like the magick is working against you. This is rarely fun so, from a place of common human kindness, please make sure you really want the result and behave accordingly. It's not a "monkey paw" thing, it's a doing magick like an adult thing.
DIRECT AND INDIRECT STATEMENT OF INTENTS
Assuming you have a basic understanding of sigil magic, from a practical standpoint there are several ways to apply them towards body transformation. I like to think of these as direct and indirect methods. In either case, subtlety and skill is required in crafting the initial intent. Direct sigils refer to explicit physical changes or improvements you intend to achieve i.e skin improvements, particular body fat percentages - specific stuff. Indirect are broader in the sense that they describe conditions that would assist you or events that would occur if a desired results had occurred.
Direct sigils for explicit physical outcomes are best employed when you know you are congruent with your goals and for charging methods that can be repeated such as daily sacramental approaches, mantra/yantra meditation etc. This isn't always exclusively true but its worth keeping in mind.
Sigils that aim to acquire a goal indirectly may actually be more effective if they can be employed cleverly. Partly this is because they side step the subconscious resistance you may have to a target by re-directing the focus elsewhere. For example, if you're aware of someone who finds a particular body type you are trying to embody attractive your statement might read "I AM NOW PHYSICALLY ATTRACTIVE TO (NAME OF PERSON).." Your statement then becomes aimed obliquely at a desired outcome without stating it explicitly. This is just one of many examples but works surprisingly well. The main study notes are that you need to have a good grasp on your personal situation and personal desires for this to work well.
TECHNIQUES TO TRY
This is far from an exhaustive list but some of the more useful and accessible approaches as distinct from the typical "fire and forget" method are as follows:
Sigil sacraments - This is discussed briefly in a previous POST. The essence of the approach is to design a sigil describing a particular attribute and then visualise it over food/drink before consuming. This can also be applied to the consumption of sexual sacraments.
Start with something subtle and do it anywhere from a week to month and record results. To get more creative you could sigilise for the physical attributes of a particular godform or even for the physical effects of certain substances. I've coached at least one person who has had good results with sigil sacraments of the anabolic steroid trenbolone and the ED drug cialis.
Auric Magic - In Chaos Magic the term auric magic is often used as an umbrella term to describe the interaction between the subtle, aetheric energies and your body. This type of approach tends to work best if you've established a routine of working with a particular system that describes some form aetheric anatomy. If you haven't already got one, the empowerment stage of the Gnostic Pentagram Ritual (GPR) works well here.
There's a number of practical approaches that range from visualising sigils in specific energy centres for localised effects and/or having them distributed throughout the energy body. In all instances the working theory is that aetheric energies have a shaping influence on matter. What is made real in the at the aetheric level eventually filters down to the body.
Mantra/Yantra - Reduce a statement of intent to a symbol and/or mantra and use as a focus for daily meditation. Similar to sacraments, you want to give this between a week and a month before you assess your results. Effectively, you are targeting the subconscious through its two preferred mediums; altered states of consciousness and repetition.
Hypersigils - Despite all the convoluted fuckery that gets stated about hypersigils the process is quite straightforward. Construct a first person narrative in which you are the central character then make whatever desired alterations throughout the story itself. You should plan to do this over a reasonable period of time, making it appropriate when you just want to overhaul your life. This works equally well - possibly better - as a type of fictional journal that you construct each day. The main trick is to incorporate aspects of your life that are actually occurring and attempt to gradually blur the boundaries between your current reality and the preferred circumstances.
The Earthernware Virgin- In The Zoetic Grimoire of Zos, Spare describes a method of charging sigils which he says is, "the most formidable formula known; it never fails and is dangerous." Quite why is anyone's guess. Don Webb describes a modified version - The Spell of Lilith's Womb - where he suggests that because it tends to work so well it can cause you neglect other forms of magick. Maybe that's it.
Whatever the case, the ritual tends to reliably produce material results. You can review the above link for the full version if you're interested or consult Don Webb's How to Become a Modern Magus for an effective modified form. I wouldn't necessarily make this your first option, or either your second or third, but if you've yet to get sigils to work this can be something that shifts things for you. Symbolically it binds your desire to the Earth with the allied notion that it takes time to gestate. Good for longterm projects.
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