Sigils: Destroying vs Keeping

[Muloc7253]

To those more experienced chaotes (or anyone else) that have been using sigils for a while, what do you find most effective?

I've not been practicing for very long but have had definite results from the method I read in Practical Sigil Magic (which I THINK was Spare's preferred method) of creating the sigil (I've been only working with the word method so far). I'll form a sentence of desire, take out double letters, arrange the letters into an interesting symbol, then (my own kind of improv here) I put it away for a few days. In the meantime I might make more sigils, and add to the small pile. Then when I next need to masturbate I'll draw one out at random and look at it only at the point of climax (well, from seconds before) without thinking about the meaning of the sigil. Afterwards I destroy the symbol (tear it up) and do the best I can to forget about it entirely. From there, I feel I've sorted of burned the impression onto the astral via my subconscious and left my subconscious to do the rest without my conscious interfering with it. I don't know how useful other people have found this, or how much my results are down to coincidence, but this method has been good to me so far.

However, from reading around I seem to be in the minority of people that don't keep their sigil around for a while, on their wall or whatever. No particular reason for this other than the destroying method kind of calls to me more, just feels more right.

I would be interested to know though, from those more experienced, which method has yielded best results (I know neither are necessarily wrong) aswell as any other little tips I might have missed out on. All input is much appreciated.

[adawehi]

I'll create my sigils a few days ahead of time but I'll keep them covered. To charge the sigil, I meditate with the sigil as my focal point. When I feel the charging is complete, I'll cover the sigil again, not destroy it. If my goal hasn't been attained in a reasonable amount of time, which will vary depending on the complexity of the goal, I'll think carefully about what has taken place in my life thus far and decide if a recharging is in order. I don't destroy my sigils until my goal has been reached because I feel there are times more energy may be needed to accomplish my goal/s. There are some items that are in essence a sigil but are actually a talisman I use thus are never destroyed. I wear a gold chain I call my Mr. T starter kit that is a talisman/sigil. I have a few rings I wear now and then that I use in the same way.

[wazzup]

Oh, I'm the destroying kind, whether that be with fire or flowing water. Once the workings are done, imho, there is no need to refer to the sigil again. The time, effort and energy going into the sigil's creation, seem sufficient for it to be powered up and ready to do. Indeed, as soon as the workings are finished, and the sigil destroyed, I forget it, and get on with my life.

I can only think of one occasion when I kept the sigil for an extended period of time, and that was to do with business, and it was hidden behind a picture frame for approximately seven days. The seven days happened because I'd actually forgotten all about it..oops. It still worked though, and it too was destroyed (flowing water I seem to recall). If memory serves me correctly, it was something to do with negative influences within the workforce. Within days of destroying this sigil, the negative influence found another job, so it was a positive result.

But that is not to say it's the right way. It is the way I work, and to date this has yielded positive results.

Good luck with your sigils.

[Wonder]

Don't limit your imagination about what one "should" do with a sigil. Many methods are fine.

Some sigils are for 1 time effect. Destroying it is just a way to forget about it.
Some sigils are for long term, or repeated effect.
Some sigils represent a servant, so archiving it might be a good idea.

[Clockwork Ghost]

It doesn't matter if you destroy the sigil - that's just sol you can forget about it easier, because you have nothing to reference the sigil with. What matters is that you fire the sigil using a gnosis-state, or through a system such as the Death Posture described originally by Spare. What you do afterwards is up to what you personally believe, so long as you don't look at the sigil prior to it working.

There is nothing stopping you from keeping sigils therefore, assuming that you're not going to look at them after firing them, before they have a chance to work.