(seal of the demon Astaroth, showing his sigil, as drawn by S. L. MacGregor Mathers)
Sigils are graphic symbols that identify and represent spiritual beings. Often, but not always, they are generated from the names of spirits using mechanical methods, so that each letter in the name gives rise to a particular part of the symbol. They are usually simple, two-dimensional abstract designs, and may be either black and white or colored. The sigil is the design itself, not the surface or thing upon which it is drawn, painted or inscribed. In magic, a sigil is employed to summon and control the spirit it represents during rituals, or to infuse the presence or influence of the spirit into a specific power object.
The word "sigil" is from the Latin sigillum, meaning a little seal or signet. From ancient times until a few centuries ago, identity and authority were verified in largely illiterate cultures by means of personal, family or state seals that took the forms of small cylinders, blocks, stamps or rings. These were impressed into clay, and later into wax, to leave a distinct symbol by which the legitimacy of the bearer or the object impressed with the seal were confirmed. It seems to me probable that the use of sigils to identify spirits has its origins in this familiar and widespread practice.
In magic, the name of a spirit embodies the identity and power of the spirit. By knowing and controlling the name, the magician is able to control the spirit. This is the basis of the god-magic of ancient Egypt. The sigil is a graphic form of the name. The name is manipulated upon the living breath by means of chants, mantras, invocations, imprecations, execrations, prayers, hymns and similar vocal forms used in magic. The sigil is manipulated within the imagination by means of meditation, concentration, and creative visualization.
It is important to distinguish between a number of common related terms that may have overlapping meanings:
(signature of the demon Leviathan, from the black pact of Urbain Grandier, 1634)
The signature of a spirit is exactly what you might expect -- the actual name of the spirit written down by the spirit. Spirits often use obscure alphabets or letter forms, and mirror-invert their names or sign them upside down to further disguise them. Over time the signatures become corrupted by careless copying. Often it is not possible to actually read the signatures of spirits, although they are usually a series of separate or connected forms written out in a line in a way that resembles writing. By contrast, the sigils of spirits are usually more compact and resemble little drawings.
(Secret Seal of Solomon, from the Lemegeton or Lesser Key of Solomon)
A spirit seal is a more polished graphic representation of the spirit. It is often circular or oval in shape, and usually contains the sigil of the spirit inscribed in its center. It may also bear the name of the spirit in Latin, Greek or Hebrew letters around it edge, and other occult symbols such as glyphs of the planets, zodiac signs or elements. By connotative usage, a physical object bearing a spirit symbol, such as a medallion, is more likely to be referred to as the spirit's seal, whereas the drawing of a spirit symbol in a manuscript is more apt to be called the spirit's sigil.
(occult characters associated with Ophiel, spirit of Mercury, from the Nigromancia of Roger Bacon)
Confusion arises because the terms "sigil" and "seal" are often used indiscriminately. Compounding this perplexity, both are sometimes referred to as signatures or characters. This is understandable, when we consider that in past ages, when few common persons could read or write, names were often signed by means of personal marks such as a simple X. The graphic mark and the signature of an illiterate individual were the same.
(ouroboros, ancient emblem of eternity, from Speculum veritatis, 17th century)
An emblem is a graphic symbol employed in magic and alchemy to express an abstract idea or principle. An example of an emblem is John Dee's famous hieroglyphic monad. Other example are the representation of a serpent nailed to a cross, or a green lion devouring the sun. Personal symbols of gods, angels, spirits and demons are usually not called emblems.
(lamen of the Golden Dawn office of Kerux, from Israel Regardie's Golden Dawn)
In the Western tradition, the magician often has a personal symbol known as a lamen that expresses his or her higher or magical identity. When constructed correctly, it links the magic name of the magician with the supreme name of divine authority recognized by the magician, allowing the magician in his higher persona to channel the power of the divine name. Often it bears the sigil of the magician's magic name along with the sigil or signature of the divine name. Its shape depends upon the principles and practices of the magician who bears it -- in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, each officer had his or her own lamen that way symbolically related to the Tree of the Sephiroth -- but customarily it is worn as a medallion or pendent around the neck, over the heart-center. Through the lamen the magician invokes the authority of God during ritual work. The lamen is both an expression of the magician's higher identity and a power object through which spirits and blind forces may be controlled during rituals. The lamen differs from the spirit seal in that the magician is not controlled by it, but uses it to control external spirits or forces. It represents the supreme authority wielded by the magician.
(alchemical sign or mark for brimstone (sulfur), from The Book of Signs (1930) by Rudolf Koch)
The term sign is sometimes used for sigil, but is a more general term meaning any simple esoteric symbol, such as the symbol for elemental Fire, as in "the sign of elemental Fire."
(skull, a token of death, from Het geheele leven ons Heeren Jesu Christi, 1648)
A token is a sign that represents something else by association. A rose may be used as a token of love, a raven as a token of putrefaction. Tokens do not embody the things they represent.
(astrological glyph of the planet Neptune, from The Book of Signs (1930) by Rudolf Koch)
A glyph, short for hieroglyph, is usually the pictorial representation of a letter. Ancient Egyptian and modern Chinese, for example, use small pictograms in place of letters. In magic the term is sometimes employed specifically to denote the astrological signs of the zodiac and planets.
(Gnostic amulet of Chnoubis, one of the decans of Cancer, for protection against stomach disease: from Amulets and Superstitions (1930) by E. A. Wallis Budge)
Amulet and talisman are frequently confused. An amulet is a small power object such as a pendant or ring that is usually worn on the body for protection. A talisman is a power object with a specific function, and may be used for offensive or defensive magic as the need arises. Some amulets and talismans are inscribed with sigils or other occult symbols, but others derive their power from natural substances and objects, or from specific shapes, without the use of esoteric symbols.
(Tibetan thunderbolt dagger talisman, for use against evil spirits)
For example, the golden arrow of the Scythian magician Abaris was a talisman that conferred magical flight. Both amulets and talismans are physical things, as opposed to sigils, which are symbols -- an amulet or a talisman that does not have a material body does not exist, but a sigil exists even when it is not written down or inscribed on anything, provided it is held in the mind.
("circle or pentacle of Solomon" from the Grimoire of Honorius the Great)
A pentacle is a magic symbol with specific ritual functions. Usually the term is applied to the complex diagrams that were inscribed upon the ground or floor by medieval magicians as protective circles. These were various shapes, composed of several parts, and empowered by means of names, characters, signs and sigils. The magician stood within the pentacle during rituals of evocation, when demonic spirits were called forth into the triangle that was inscribed beyond the boundary of the pentacle. Sometimes the pentacle had five points (penta is Greek for "five"), but the term is employed more generally to include any complex magic circle inscribed on the floor or ground. It is also used, less accurately in my opinion, to refer to inscribed charms or talismans, especially if these charms have a radial symmetry. For example, a disk that can be held in the hand, and bears the symbol of a pentagram painted upon its surface, might be loosely referred to as a pentacle by some practitioners. Properly speaking, a pentacle is not a physical object, it is a symbolic form.
You will have a difficult time discovering the subtleties of distinction between these terms in dictionaries, which is why I have taken the trouble to be so precise in defining them. Authors of dictionaries often lump sigil, seal, emblem, token, and sign together as possessing some vague and more or less equivalent occult significance. This is not the case. Each has its own specific connotation.
All spirits may possess their own sigils. Using traditional Kabbalistic methods, sigils have been constructed from the various Hebrew names of God and the names of angels found in the Old Testament. For example, the letters of a name denoting some active power or authority of God may be located upon the Aiq Beker grid, also known as the Kabbalah of Nine Chambers. By drawing a connecting line from letter to letter, a sigil of the name is created. It is one of the mysteries of magic, often commented upon by the Ptolemaic Greeks, that mankind can summon and control the forces of the gods and angels through their names and sigils.
More commonly, sigils are associated in the average person's mind with the lower spirits and demons. No medieval grimoire, such as the Goetia, would be complete without its set of demonic sigils. Perhaps this is because the lower spirits, who were often summoned for mundane purposes such as causing injury to others or finding treasure, are more rebellious and require instruments of control and punishment. By inflicting injury upon the demon's inscribed sigil, the magician was able to cause discomfort or pain to the spirit it represented. This was done in such ways as piercing the sigil with a knife or pin, compressing it beneath a weight, placing it inside a Bible, standing upon it, burying it, hanging it over rising incense smoke, binding it with cord, striking it with the flat of a sword blade, or subjecting it to the heat from open flame. Often the mere threat to destroy the sigil caused the demon to comply.
At the top of this page is the seal of the demon Astaroth, as drawn by S. L. MacGregor Mathers for his manuscript copy of The Goetia. Mathers' manuscript was edited by Aleister Crowley, who made only minor changes, and published by Crowley in 1903. The sigil of Astaroth appears in the center of the seal. To evoke Astaroth into the triangle, it is necessary to draw this seal on new paper or some other appropriate material at an astrologically auspicious time, and to ritually bind Astaroth to the seal by means of his sigil, so that the seal becomes Astaroth in a magic sense, and what is done to the seal is done to Astaroth. It is a form of sympathetic magic similar to the use of a small doll or poppet to represent a living individual in traditional European witchcraft.
In the Golden Dawn ritual of evocation, Mathers advised that the seal of the spirit to be evoked be kept covered with black cloth in the initial stages of the ritual. As the ritual progressed, the seal was unbound and gradually uncovered in stages, to symbolize the gradual materialization of the spirit within the triangle. Care must always be exercised when working with the sigils of demons. Mathers only uncovered the seal after intimidating the evoked spirit into obedience by repeatedly striking the seal with his sword.
Many of those who practice this ancient and honorable art believe that merely by gazing overlong at demonic sigils, the demons themselves will be attracted, and will cause trouble or bad luck in the life of the person who disturbs them. There may be some truth in this folklore. I found that during the period when I was devoting intense study to the sigils of the Goetia, I began to see them in my dreams and was subject to nightmares in which the sigils themselves writhed and twisted as though alive. This was disturbing enough to cause me to suspend my research, at that time.