Your Personal Demonic Sigil

by Thomas LeRoy

For a member of The Sect of the Horned God to enter the highest order, the Order of Shiva, one must have a personal demonic sigil, not taken from the Halls of Antiquities (not borrowed from the Goetia) but one entirely unique to the individual.
The adept’s personal sigil is fundamentally a visual construct, an artistic rendition of what lies in one’s own personal Hell — a glyph removed from the walls of Hades itself. Because of this, Its principle is found not in the external form, which is unique to each individual, but in the light of the individual’s Black Flame.

Symbolic systems are valid for human development to the degree that they point to a way of creative living. It is an unconscious synchronizing of the ego with the eternal collective unconscious. But a simple design, or arrangement of designs, does not a sigil make. Unless a personal, integrative principle is applied, an arrangement — even one of mathematical perfection — is void and without life. The source comes from the adept (Sect member) that opens up and reveals his/hers innermost details to the creator of the sigil. This is why it is important that the word, that one unique word, is the sum of the adept’s personal demon (daimon).

“Is there an entity from the depths of your subconscious that visits you in your dreams or visions? And what one word best describes this being?”

These are the questions asked of the adept when first entering the Sigil Project. Many are confused, finding these questions difficult to answer, but after the adept has let down his/her guard, the identity of the “demon” is revealed. Many have, during a sleepless night, or a feverish dream, encountered the demon. It may reveal itself as a nightmarish figure, or a disembodied voice. Some have heard this voice, or have seen this entity so plainly and so often they feel they have been inspired from the “outside”. But, in truth, it has arisen from inside, deep down. This is almost identical to what the ancient Greeks called the “daimon.” But in the case of the dark adept, one is not in touch with a wise being directing them with inspired counsel, but instead with the personified aspect of the Jungian shadow. And the relationship with this “anti-self” is capricious and unpredictable, but most find the experience cathartic.

Finding and the facing your anti-self, your shadow, is not a task for the weak of spirit, and most of the time it is so well camouflaged it can take a profound effort to discover it. We are naturally repelled by what appears to us as our personal negative aspects. But when we’ve acknowledged the demon’s existence within ourselves, and accept it’s qualities, we must listen well, for it has much to say as it unveils the diabolical secrets of Hell itself.