Torean posted:

Churchy posted:

Another theory: What if Sigil 1 is something else that was already made but that we haven't seen yet but was intended to be released first so they numbered them in order of creation?

That's similar to what I was thinking. It could be something we just haven't seen yet, and if that's the case, maybe they just wanted the first full-length album to be sigil 1 instead of the first EP.

cliffd posted:

Torean posted:

Churchy posted:

Another theory: What if Sigil 1 is something else that was already made but that we haven't seen yet but was intended to be released first so they numbered them in order of creation?

That's similar to what I was thinking. It could be something we just haven't seen yet, and if that's the case, maybe they just wanted the first full-length album to be sigil 1 instead of the first EP.

I doubt it. PHM wasn't Halo 1.

And for what it's worth, the download of A Drowning is Sigil 1, despite not carrying the phrase in the file information:

[www.ninwiki.com]

ChaseNine posted:

I'm going to agree with what Rhett said, but seriously, sounds like it's just like the NIN 'halo'.

Also, [and I don't want everybody to argue] but why is everybody idolizing Trent with HTDA so much? I believe he said at some point he didn't want to be looked at as the sole influence/creator of it. And here we are, talking about this like it's his project only..

wejhead posted:

TheMightyRach posted:

Isn't a sigil a demonic hieroglyph thing?

There's one on the cover of the new School of Seven Bells album. That's the only reason I know.

The sigil of baphomet is the main symbol of laveyan satanism with Trent has been associated with. Lavey even thanked Trent for his music.

lurotiman posted:

You guys need to do some research on Grant Morrison...sigils are magic based for sure...no need for the satanic references...There was a photo a while back with him and Trent...Grant is one of my favorite writers of all time...check out "The Invisibles"
...excerpt from pop magic



The sigil technique was reconceptualized and modernized by Austin Osman Spare in the early 20th century and popularized by Chaos Magicians and Thee Temple ov Psychic Youth in the 19 hundred and 80s.
A sigil is a magically charged symbol like this one:

The sigil takes a magical desire or intent - let's say "IT IS MY DESIRE TO BE A GREAT ACTOR" (you can, of course, put any desire you want in there) and folds it down, creating a higIiiihly-charged symbol. The desire is then forgotten. Only the symbol remains and can then be charged to full potency when the magician chooses.

Forgetting the desire in its verbal form can be difficult if you've started too ambitiously. There is no point charging a sigil to win the lottery if you don't buy a ticket. Start with stuff that's not too emotionally involving.

I usually sigilize to meet people I'm interested in, or for particular qualities I'll need in a given
situation. I've also used sigils for healing, for locating lost objects and for mass global change.
I've been using them for 20 years and they ALWAYS work.
Fore me the period between launching the sigil and its manifestation as a real world event is

usually 3 days, 3 weeks, or 3 months depending on the variables involved.
I repeat: sigils ALWAYS work.
So. Begin your desire's transformation into pure throbbing symbol in the following fashion:
First remove the vowels and the repeating letters to leave a string of consonants - TSMYDRBGC.
Now start squashing the string down, throwing out or combining lines and playing with the letters
until only an appropriately witchy-looking glyph is left. When you're satisfied it's done, you may
wind up with something like thugs:

Most homemade sigils look a little spooky or alien - like UFO writing or witchy wall-scratchings.
There are no rules as to how your sigil should look as long as it WORKS for you. RESULTS
ONLY are important at this stage. If something doesn't work, try something else. The point is not
to BELIEVE in magic, the point is to DO it and see how it works. This is not religion and blind
faith plays no part.
Charging and launching your sigil is the fun part (it's often advisable to make up a bunch of sigils
and charge them up later when you've forgotten what they originally represented).

Now, most of us find it difficult at first to maintain the precise Zen-like concentration necessary to
work large-scale magic. This concentration can be learned with time and effort but in the
meantime, sigils make it easy to sidestep years of training and achieve instant success. To
charge our sigil you must concentrate on its shape, and hold that form in your mind as you
evacuate all other thoughts.

Almost impossible, you might say, but the human body has various mechanisms for inducing brief
"no-mind" states. Fasting, spinning, intense exhaustion, fear, sex, the flight or fight response; all
will do the trick. I have charged sigils while bungee jumping, lying dying in a hospital bed,
experiencing a total solar eclipse and dancing to Techno. All of these methods proved to be
highly effective but for the eager beginner nothing beats the WANK TECHNIQUE.



Some non-magicians, I've noticed convulse with nervous laughter whenever I mention the world
"masturbation" (and no wonder; next to wetting the bed or shitting in your own cat's box for a
laugh, it's the one thing no-one likes to admit to).

Be that as it may, magical masturbation is actually more fun and equally, more serious, than the
secular hand shandy, and all it requires is this: at the moment of orgasm, you must see the
image of your chosen sigil blazing before the eyes in your mind and project it outwards into the
ethereal mediaspheres and logoverses where desires swarm and condense into flesh. The sigil
can be written on paper, on your hand or your chest, on the forehead of a lover or wherever you
think it will be most effective.
At the white-hot instant of orgasm, consciousness blinks. Into this blink, this abyssal crack in
perception, a sigil can be launched.

Masturbation is only ONE of countless methods you can use to bring your mental chatter to a
standstill for the split-second it takes to charge and launch a sigil. I suggest masturbation
because I'm kind-hearted, because it's convenient and because it's fun for most of us.

However...one does not change the universe simply by masturbating (tell THAT to the millions of
sperm fighting for their life and the future of the species in a balled up Kleenex). If that were true,
every vague fantasy we had in our heads at the moment of orgasm would come true within
months. Intent is what makes the difference here.

Forget the wanking for just one moment if you can and remember that the sigil is the important
part of the magic being performed here. The moment of orgasm will clear your mind, that's all.
There are numerous other ways to clear your mind and you can use any of them. Dancing or
spinning to exhaustion is very effective. Meditation is effective but it takes years to learn properly.
Fear and shock are very good for charging sigils, so you could probably watch a scary movie and
launch your sigil at the bit where the hero's head comes bouncing down the aluminum stepladder
into his girlfriend's lap. A run around the block clutching a sigil might be enough to charge it, so
why not experiment?