Misc – Pagan Roots

Treatise on Astral Projection

by Robert Bruce

(reproduced here with permission)

Part I

This version has been completely rewritten and updated, with thought to all the questions and comments received since its first posting. I have tried, by applying my experience as a projector and mystic, to solve some of the basic problems people are having with projection. This has become an interactive work thanks to all the constructive feedback and experimentation it has inspired on the Internet.

Sigil Magic

A sigil is a symbol created for a specific magical purpose. The idea behind creating a sigil is that while your conscious mind can get bogged down in internal chatter, an abstract symbol can be recognised and reacted to by your subconscious mind. The sigil is a way of programming your unconscious mind to work on a particular problem. You could create a sigil to help you lose weight or to gain confidence – it’s entirely personal and can be as simple or as complicated as you like.

Sigil magic is the act of creating and charging a sigil to accomplish a specific goal. You can use the techniques I’ve outlined below on their own, or you can encorporate sigils into another kind of magic like carving sigils into candles for candle magic.

Signs and Symbols

I have used quite a few Pagan and Wiccan symbols on this website already; the pentacle, the elements, the zodiac signs and the Elder Futhark rune stones. This page is for any other signs and symbols you may find useful.

Triquetra

The triquetra is formed from the intersection of three circles, and sometimes shown with a fourth complete circle woven through it. It has been found on both ancient Celtic and Christian art, as well as on Germanic rune stones.

Affirmations

An affirmation is a statement or declaration of belief, and it can be positive or negative. You probably make several affirmations a day without realising it, and you may be influencing your own state of mind entirely unintentionally.

Have you ever thought to yourself, “I can’t do this” or “I’m no good at that”? Those are negative affirmations! The more you repeat these statements to yourself, the more you internalise them. You create a barrier in your own mind because you come to genuinely believe what you have been telling yourself.

Zodiac Signs

A person’s zodiac sign (or star sign, or sun sign) is determined by the position of the sun when they were born. During the year the sun will move through each of the twelve zodiac signs, and the approximate dates for it entering and leaving each sign are given below. Also each of the four elements is related to three of the signs, and a person may exhibit traits associated with the element their zodiac sign relates to. Finally each of the signs is either cardinal – characterised by new enterprises and fresh beginnings, mutable – characterised by adaptability and change, or fixed – characterised by stability and dependability.

Numbers

People have always been interested in the patterns that appear in numbers, attaching certain meanings and relevance to particular values. Various numerological methods exist which assign numbers to letters so that words can be converted into values to be analysed. This can be applied to anything, from your name or birthplace to everyday words. The Hebrew system of Gematria does this very thing and says that words or phrases that equate to the same numerical value must bear some relation to each other.

Moon

Lunar Month

A lunar month lasts on average 29.53 days, measured from New Moon to New Moon. This figure may change slightly through the year as the moon moves faster at some times than at others, and so some lunar months will last 29 days, and some will last 30. The changing of the phases of the moon is caused by its position in the sky relative to the sun. A New Moon is seen when the moon and sun appear in line when viewed from the Earth – a Full Moon occurs when they are on opposite sides of the Earth. This also accounts for the fact that a New Moon is not seen as often as a full moon; a New Moon rises at sunrise and sets at sunset, whereas a Full Moon rises at sunset and sets at sunrise.

Intentions

This is a quick check list cross referencing aims or intentions with planets and elements.

Banishing: Saturn. Fire.

Beauty: Venus. Water.

Courage: Mars. Fire.

Divination: Mercury. Air.

Extinguishing A Candle

How is it best to extinguish a candle? Is there even a best way of doing it at all?

Many people think that one should neither blow, nor pinch out a candle. Blowing will blow away your good luck, and pinching will pinch out your desire.

I disagree; a large part of spell work exists to put you in the right state of mind to be able to perform magic. It depends how you interpret your actions. I’ve never thought of blowing out a candle as being in any way linked to blowing away luck. To me it represents sending my spell on its way; giving it an added energy boost and seeing it off.

Drawing Pentagrams

It is customary to draw invoking and banishing pentacles for the elements, as part of a spell or ritual. The traditional ways of doing so have seemed strange to me, and so I would like to explain my own methods, and the reasoning behind them.

The five points on a pentagram can be seen to relate to the five elements; earth (bottom left), air (top left), fire (bottom right), water (top right) and spirit (uppermost point).