Sigil
Sigil
A sign or seal for an occult entity. Sigils, especially those that are the marks of angels, deities, or demons, are often used on amulets and talismans. According to occultists, such signs are like the signatures of gods and other supernatural entities, and the inscribing of such sigils evokes the entities that they symbolize. (See also Yantra )
In this century, the art of creating sigils was recreated by artist-magician Austin Osman Spare. He saw in sigils a means of concentrating the magical will. He would write his magic intention or will down in a sentence or word, and then combine the major letters (without repeating any letter) into a patterned shape, the sigil. The symbolic shape thus created could be impressed upon the subconscious for working magic.
Sources:
Drury, Nevill, and Stephen Skinner. The Search for Abraxas. London: Neville Spearman, 1972.
Gettings, Fred. Dictionary of Occult, Hermetic and Alchemical Sigils. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1981.