Can of Worms-style Hypersigil

Open a Magical Can of Worms

Magic (as I see it) is committing energy, will and intent to influence the world. It's working with the universe to achieve a goal that I could not achieve alone.

A hypersigil is a complex magical venture. A hypersigil is an extended sigil, or symbol of magical intent, incorporating narrative and changing over time.

Hypersigils can include many art forms but they do not need to. For me, words are the thing. They are a natural artistic medium for me to work in and the easiest way I know to tell a story.

How to Make Things Interesting

Or Why My Hero Blew Up

Recently, I incorporated a strange element into my story. This inclusion has begun to translate through out the novel. The thing is, it wasn't supposed to. I threw the object in a single sentence then it began showing up in other places in the story and changing the choices of my characters. One sentence and everything started shifting.

I put the element in to achieve a specific aim and now as a composed building is blowing up, my goal is starting to come to fruition (an it's not an explosive goal). To be honest, it's working fast. Time will only tell if it's for the better of my story and my life. My story is meant to transform me. I so hope it's for the better.

Open Your Can of Worms Carefully

This catalytic can of worms made me think about what it takes to create a hypersigil. A hypersigil is a delicate sledgehammer. Big things happen and if you go crazy with it, you can hit a waterpipe and flood the whole darn place. Create carefully.

Never forget Grant Morrison's description that his work on The Invisibles "consumed and recreated my life during the period of its composition and execution."

Hypersigils can get intense and that doesn't necessarily mean you're doing it right or wrong. Just prepare to accept the results of your work and put up a fight when something is happening that you don't want to happen. You need to be able to write your way out of it.

What do you want?

You know this old saying, 'Be careful what you wish for.'

Be sure of what you want. You are opening a magical fun, happy can of gelatin and corn syrup worms and the worms people eat in YouTube videos where they make freaky foods to hook viewers. Things will happen outside of your expectations.

Want Good Things

If you want something for angry and vengeful reasons, you are poisoning yourself with your own thoughts. You can do that but be ready to live with that negative energy because it will be coming from you and you'll be tangled in the vicious hypersigil. It's better to want good because the world can be better.

Now that the warning portion is over. Let's have some fun.

What do you want?

Keep asking yourself. Demand the answer from yourself. Figure out the exact truth. Know your why. Know your goal. But be okay with that goal changing midsigilization.

In sigilization, our thoughts and intents reshape our reality. The sigil can take on a power of its own. Our desires influence the world and our lives. Know what you want because you will get it.

Do you want peace? Write a story of characters stopping chaos in their lives or in a greater conflict. It doesn't have to literally reflect your situation. An intergalatic war or a microscopic battle. Draw in elements from your life and put in elements you want in your life.

How do you do it?

If you're a writer then you know how to do it. Write. Tell the story.

Embrace your creativity. Embrace your instincts. The sigil is an extension of yourself. It is an embodiment who you are and what you feel. Choose a personal symbol for your goal. This symbol needs to hold meaning for you and if no one else sees the connection then it doesn't matter. You know what you mean.

Incorporate the symbol literally or metaphorically into the novel. Don't shy away from the symbol. Don't wait for the perfect moment to incorporate the new element into your story. Put it in now. Right where you are. Stop reading and write that sentence. Write about the unlocked door with the mysterious sounds on the other side. Let your character open the door. Write now (pun intended).

How does the sigil work?

You can't bend the universe to your will but you can change the world around you and you can change yourself.

The hypersigil works from you and beyond you. Put your effort and your thoughts into it. Let yourself change, let the hypersigil change. Change the world of the story. The elements of the story will work together to create a catalyst to change everything.

The only question left is, how far can you push it?