01/31/2026
Wise words.
I know many folks visiting this page now are new to magical resistance and resilience work. You're feeling a lot of things: anger, grief, frustration, rage, sadness, fear, despair, and onward.
This kind of response is natural and very human. Our ability to connect and to empathize is one of the best aspects of humanity. Especially in the face of what evil other humans are capable of. We feel the urge to do something about it, even if it seems like there's not much we can do. It's one of the big reasons we and many of our ancestors have turned to magic in dangerous times.
I've been doing work for over a decade now. I've been community-crafting for nearly 30 years. This work has many forms, faces, and functions. Not everything is something you'll see on the surface, nor should it be. Nor is everything you want to change within your sphere of influence.
I have crafted dozens of shared magic sigils over the years - many of which can be found for free on my Patheos blog and in various books. Many of these sigils were co-crafted with communities with the intention of a larger or specific reach.
It's important to understand several important things about sigils - at least from my POV as a Witch, artist, and activist.
- Sigils are condensed ideas, they encapsulate a goal or vision into symbolic form.
- Magic symbols correspond to the cycles of our brains, the pulses of our body, and the rhythm of the universe. They help us to unlock the parts of our subconscious and unconscious minds, drawing us closer to solutions.
- However, sigils are still just symbols on their own. They require engaged work. They're generally not going to do the heavy-lifting on their own and work everywhere all at once. The shared magic sigils take community, connection, application, and focus. They help guide changes, but they can't do it on their own.
- Think of sigils as a means of spreading ideas - of communicating those goals. Ideas can help a whole lot, but action and focus must follow - and yet are still beholden to one's sphere of influence, to physics, to our larger reality.
Last week I wrote about the difference of "power over" versus "power with." The emotions I mentioned in the beginning? Those tempt us to engage with magic as the former, which can be dangerous and haphazard - especially if one doesn't know what they are doing. They often blind us to the larger picture, to cause and effect, to being aware of the safety of others (and ourselves), the future we know we want in our hearts.
We have to hold those emotions, experience them, share them within our community - and then be able to shift and transmute that energy so that we can focus together.
The shared magic sigils are community guides for change. They are not cure-alls that make everything magically perfect in the blink of an eye. That is not this reality or universe or why we're here.
We are here to connect, to build a better tomorrow collectively, to create a vision - that's the promise of the Star. But that isn't going to make the Tower disappear in an instant. You're still going to have to move the debris while drawing the blueprints. And that work happens more quickly with more hands, hearts, and minds.
Magic begins with thought, but it's brought through in our words, deeds, and actions. Magic begins with you - and us.
Image: The Quintisigil
