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The Magical System of Austin Osman Spare's Sigils Riikka Ala-Hakula

Image 1: Austin Osman Spare's sigils, 1913i

“Hidden in the labyrinth of the Alphabet is my sacred name, the Sigil of all things unknown,” wrote English artist and occultist, Austin Osman Spare (1886-1956). An influential figure in twentieth century occultism, Spare developed a magical technique which he named ‘sigilization’. The term relates to his theories of the relationship between the conscious and unconscious self. The word sigil derives from the Latin sigillum, meaning ‘seal’. The current use of the term is derived from Renaissance magic, but its roots extend to the magical traditions of Antiquity. Spare used a method by which the words of a statement of intent are transformed into an abstract design; the sigil is then charged with the will of the creator. In this paper, I propose that sigilization is a form of esoteric writing, of which one purpose is to reject formal writing systems. Instead, Spare created a private writing system to communicate with his unconscious self. I analyse Spare’s sigils using the philosophical basis of Roy Harris’ theory of semiology, which includes the use of private languages in the field of semiotics. It can be deduced that, in contrast to the exoteric nature of formal writing systems, the purpose of Spare’s sigils is to be esoteric. Key Words: occultism, Austin Osman Spare, sigils, sexual magic, esoteric writing, asemic writing

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The Magical System of Austin Osman Spare's Sigils

__________________________________________________________________ ***** 1. Introduction Recently, there has been renewed interest in the late nineteenth and early twentieth-century occultist movement in Britain. In the history of occultism this period is called the Magical Revival, when newly formed societies such as the Brotherhood of the Silver Star, the Golden Dawn and the Theosophical Society arose focusing on exploring the magic and occult ideas of the Western tradition, as well as renewing and developing them. During this period several artists and writers became inspired by occultism. One such person was Austin Osman Spare who, in addition to his artistic reputation, created a system of magic upon which his creative work is based. In order to accurately understand Spare's artistic reputation, we have to be acquainted with the form of magic which he practised and the occult sources of his artistic inspiration and creativity. This paper on the magical system of Spare's sigils highlights just one example of the esoteric writing systems which form the basis of my doctoral thesis. In order to establish the context for this paper more clearly, I will briefly explain the background of my research. The main aim of my thesis is to define the term ‘asemic’, referring to a private style of writing which cannot be expressed verbally,ii within the context of literary theory by providing effective examples within the tradition. Spare's sigils are a private form of writing which fits into this concept. The second part of this paper focuses on the background of Spare's occult beliefs, and touches on his relationship with Aleister Crowley. The third part of the paper deals with Spare's Zos Kia Cultus on whose key symbols the magical system of his sigils is based. The fourth part of the paper examines how Spare used sigils in occult rituals. Finally, I will briefly discuss Roy Harris' theory of semiology which argues the importance of examining writing as an individual form of expression. 2. The Background of Spare's occult beliefs Spare's magical system is based on techniques and rituals that are peculiar to initiates of the Left Hand Path, an approach following magical and religious traditions where it is common to use sexual energies to gain spiritual objectives. Originally, the term was used to categorise certain schools and rituals of Hinduism and Buddhism, such as the Hindu yogic techniques of the C'han school of Chinese Buddhism and the rituals of Tantric Buddhism. Later, the term was subsumed into the figures of the Western esoteric tradition in the late nineteenth and early twentieth-century Magical Revival; including occultists like Spare and Aleister Crowley (1875–1947), also a Brit, who became famous through the several pop stars influenced by him, namely The Beatles and David Bowie. In fact, Crowley, rather than Spare, is arguably the best known figure practising the rituals of the

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__________________________________________________________________ Left Hand Path. Moreover, it is Crowley who had the greater impact on the modern revival of magic and witchcraft in the Western World. However, Crowley was influenced by Spare's writings and admired his work so much that he adopted Spare's sigils in his system of ceremonial magic. This is often overlooked when Crowley's importance in the domain of sexual magic is underlined. In the literature on sexuality in the occult arts, Crowley is seen as the first person who linked Tantrism with the Western esoteric tradition and conjoined Western and Eastern magical techniques in his rituals. iii But in fact, Spare was doing this at the same time as Crowley. Kenneth Grant, who knew both occultists, compared the sorcery and the magic that Spare and Crowley practised. Even though Crowley called Spare his ‘black brother’, their methods differed from each other in many ways. Kenneth claims that Spare was more inspired by the history of sorcery, whereas Crowley was inspired by the history of magic. The key problem with this claim is that Spare also used the methods of magical rituals, and sigils are a good example of that. The next comparison is, in any case, key if we want to better understand the differences between the two occultists. For Spare, as for Aleister Crowley, sex is the fulcrum of sorcery and magic, and the key to both their systems. But whereas for Spare sorcery is a means of realizing pleasure, of transforming age into youth, ugliness into beauty, nature into art; for Crowley, magic is a means of acquiring and radiating power, transforming weakness into strength, ignorance into knowledge.iv The most essential influence for Spare's work comes from a colonial woman named Paterson, whom Spare met for the first time when still a child. Paterson was a fortune-teller who claimed she was a descendant from a line of Salem witches. Grant states that Paterson can be seen as a role model for Spare. She was a person who “could change at will into a creature of extraordinary seductiveness.” v This claim is significant when we explore the sigils, whose main aim was to be charged with the will of the creator and to make the creator's deepest desires true. 3. The Essential Symbols of Zos Kia Cultus Two of the main symbols of Spare’s cult were the Zos and the Kia, whose meanings were analysed superbly by Grant. It is important to note that while their meaning has a theoretical level, they are still part of a cult whose rituals are, typically for sexual magic, concrete. As Grant explains, The cult of the Zos and the Kia involves the polarized interplay of sexual energy– positive and negative currents–symbolized anthropomorphically

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__________________________________________________________________ by the hand and the eye. These organs are the means whereby the sorcerer invokes primal energies latent in the subconsciousness.vi It can be suggested that Spare rejected formal writing systems because he wanted to create a private, and personal, form of writing to invoke primal energies latent in the subconsciousness. The analysis of the main symbols of this cult indicates that this objective is not just part of the system of his sigils but a fundamental of his entire cult. Spare gave to these two main symbols several names which added to their meaning. The symbol of Zos is the hand which he also named All Sensing Touch. By contrast, the symbol of Kia is the eye also named All Seeing Vision. He explains that these elements are the magical instruments needed to connect to one’s primal desire or innate obsession. In his system, Zos is fused together with its opposing energy, Kia, which renders them deities of the flesh.vii The sigils are one way to actualize this aim. In order to completely understand these key symbols of the cult, the next definition is important. 'Zos' he defined as “The body considered as a whole”, by which he included body, mind, and soul; it was the alembic of his sorcery. His other key symbol, the Kia, represents the Atmospheric 'I', THE Cosmic Self, which uses Zos as its field of activity. viii Such are the concrete, abstract and universal meanings of the main symbols of Spare's Zos Kia Cultus. In summary, these symbols can be seen as the feminine and masculine part of sexual energy where the Zos represents a masculine force and the Kia a feminine force. 4. The Magical System of Sigils Having established the essentials of the Zos Kia Cultus it is now possible to move on to the details of the magical system of Spare's sigils. The main aim of the sigils was learning through enjoyment. Spare wrote: “Sigils are the art of believing; my invention for making belief organic, ergo, true belief.”ix The true desire of a person is the starting point of creating a sigil. This desire should be written on paper by formulating it in a short sentence. Then, the letters of the sentence have to be reformulated by creating a glyph.x The next example illustrates the process of converting a true desire into a sigil. In this example, Spare wished to obtain the strength of a tiger. In order to sigillize this desire, he put down on a piece of paper all the letters of which the sentence is composed, avoiding repetitions. Then, the sequence of letters is combined to form a single glyph.xi

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Next, Spare stresses that after the wish has been sigillized, it has to be forgotten. Its creator must resist thinking about it consciously. xiii Instead, the creator must think of the sigil during ‘the magical time’, meaning any moment in which a person is convulsed by emotional or elemental reactions, for example, during an orgasm, pleasure, pain or rage.xiv Spare saw ‘the magical time’ as an open concept, which depended on the temperament of the creator of the sigil, and gave a wide range of examples of what it could mean including mantras, posturesxv, women and wine, tennis, the playing of patience or walking while focusing on a sigil. xvi One reason for this vagueness is likely his thought that the sigils work at the subconscious level and it is not possible to instruct their actualization consciously. Grant sums up the two main aims of Spare's sigils by highlighting the importance of the subconscious activity in his magical system. Sigils and the Alphabet of Desirexvii are used specifically to enable two things to occur. 1. Effective communion with elementals existing at subconscious levels. 2. The lodging of the desire or wish at such levels without the conscious mind being aware of the transaction, for 'conscious desire is unattractive'.xviii Exploring the sigils in the context of Spare's Zos Kia Cultus clarifies not only the terms he used but also his magical system as a whole. In addition, it highlights the fact that Zos Kia Cultus’ magic refers not only to concrete sex rituals, but also to the creative process of the artist. Moreover, the symbols of the cult explain the magical system of sigils in following way, The hand signifies the phallic will, the creative urge to do or to make. The composite glyph of the hand and the eye therefore contains a simple formula: the Will and its means of expression through the agency of desire, or imagination.xix

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__________________________________________________________________ It is important to add that the actual sigil which we can see does not contain magical power. It is rather a vehicle of the desire whose power actualizes at the subconscious level of the creator. xx These facts offer a justified basis for analysing the sigils from their material and aesthetic level, as we know one of the intended purposes of Spare’s cult was to create art. In the literature on Spare's magical art his dual role as magician and artist has been highlighted without exception. 5. An esoteric form of writing Having established the basics of the magical system of sigils, it is now important to amplify the etymology of the term. The term sigil derives from the Latin sigillum and sigilla “statuettes, little images and seal,” and it is a diminutive of the Latin signum ‘sign’.xxi The last meaning is especially pertinent from the perspective of asemic writing. It can thus be suggested that each sigil has a specific meaning, but in Spare's system of magic, the interpreter cannot read the meanings of the sigils just by looking at them. Spare's method of writing through sigils is, therefore, esoteric, “not openly admitted; private,”xxii as is demonstrated in Image 1 on the first page of paper. Monograms are another interesting concept concerning sigils. The term is part of Benoît Grévin's and Julien Véronèse's classification where they have divided medieval signs into six families. Their definition of the term is ”signs composed of identifiable elements such as letters.”xxiii Sigils have also been called “monograms of thought, for the government of energy” which was suggesting that they were a form of meditation.xxiv Therefore, it seems that sigils are multidisciplinary characters, which is possible to interpreter in diverse ways. Conversely, in examining Spare's sigils through Roy Harris' theory of semiology, a completely different context for Spare's cult is revealed. The main claim of Harris’ book is that, in the Western World, writing has long been seen as merely a transcription of oral language, not as its own medium of expression. Harris holds the opposite to be true. Spare is a notable example of an artist who created a form of writing which can be seen as its own form of expression. Harris gives several examples of this kind of poet and artist: Once it becomes obvious - by practical demonstration - that written communication does not depend either on the existence of an oral language which it transcribes, or on the existence of orthographic conventions which govern it, only the persistence of earlier and more rigid ways of thinking can prevent recognition of the conclusion that writing can create its own forms of expression. It took the genius of Mallarme, Apollinaire and Joyce, as it had taken the genius of Picasso and Braque, to turn theoretical possibilities into semiological realities.xxv

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__________________________________________________________________ Harris explains that, if it seems unusual at all to create a private form of writing which is capable of possessing an important function, it is due to our Western cultural context. He argues that we think language is medium-transferable, “words, it is supposed, can be spoken ‘transferred' into a different form where they are visible but no longer audible, and then 'transferred' back again into speech,”xxvi but in fact, it is mostly just the Latin script and its different forms, which work in such a way. We cannot read aloud Spare's sigils, but we know that they contain a special meaning which their creator knew when he used them. We also now know the magical system of sigils, and it is possible for us to create them ourselves if we want. Spare's sigils had a special function; their creator used them to communicate with his unconscious self, and that was something he could not do with formal writing systems. As Spare wrote, “There is nothing simpler than speaking to your inmost self, and nothing more difficult.”xxvii 5. Conclusion Spare's sigils are their own medium of expression. They are an esoteric form of writing containing a special communicative function. After exploring the sigils from the point of view of Spare's cult, it would be logical to continue analysing them on their aesthetic and material level. Spare's one urge was to create a private form of art, but is it also possible to find the meanings behind such private forms of writing, and in doing so, develop methods of analysing these intimately constructed characters on their aesthetic level? Since Spare's death, his system of sigils has been developed by others. One such development is the hypersigil, popularised by the comic book writer, Grant Morrison. Morrison claimed in the Book of Lies (2014) that his series The Invisibles was a hypersigilxxviii, indicating that the tradition of sigils continues its vibrant life as a part of popular culture and, therefore, one worthy of further investigation.

Notes

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Steve McCaffery and Jed Rasula, Imagining Language: An Anthology, (Massachusetts, London: The MIT Press Cambridge, 2001), 368. ii Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1989) defines asemia {noun} Psychiatry. “inability to comprehend or use communicative symbols, as words or gestures” Related forms asemic {adjective}. In the field of the aesthetic interpretation, the etymology of term ásēm-os ‘signless’ from Greek appears to be more interesting. iii Hugh B. Urban, Magia Sexualis: Sex, Magic, and Liberation in Modern Western Esotericism (Berkeley, Calif: University of California Press, 2006), 95. iv Kenneth Grant, Images & Oracles of Austin Osman Spare (London: PCM Fulgur, 2003), 7. v Ibid. vi Ibid., 8. vii Austin O. Spare, The Writings of Austin Osman Spare: Automatic Drawings, Anathema of Zos, The Book of Pleasure, and The Focus of Life. (Sioux Falls: NuVision Publications, 2007), 23–60. viii Grant, Images & Oracles of Austin Osman Spare, 7. ix Austin O. Spare, The Writings of Austin Osman Spare, 88. x Ibid., 92. xi Grant, Images & Oracles of Austin Osman Spare, 55. xii McCaffery, Steve and Jed Rasula, Imagining Language, 369. xiii Spare, The Writings of Austin Osman Spare, 92. xiv Grant, Images & Oracles of Austin Osman Spare, 56. xv He was probably referring to mudra postures. xvi Spare, The Writings of Austin Osman Spare, 92–93. xvii The Alphabet of Desire is another magical system of Spare, but it is not possible to analyse it given limits of this paper. xviii Grant, Images & Oracles of Austin Osman Spare, 55. xix Ibid., 37. xx Ibid., 57. xxi Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2016. xxii MOT Collins English Dictionary – 30th Anniversary Edition” 10th Edition 2009. xxiii Lauri Ockenström, ‘Refined Resemblances: Three Categories of Astromagical Images in Marsilio Ficino's De vita 3.18 and Their Indebtedness to "Abominable" Books’ (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014), 21. xxiv McCaffery, Steve and Jed Rasula, Imagining Language, 368. xxv Roy Harris, Rethinking Writing (London, GB: Continuum, 2005), 242. xxvi Ibid., 253.

xxvii

Austin O. Spare, Zos Speaks!: Encounters with Austin Osman Spare (London: PMC Fulgur 1999), 223. xxviii Grant Morrison, "POP MAGIC!" in Book of Lies: The Disinformation Guide to Magick and the Occult, edited by Richard Metzger (New York, NY: The Disinformation Company, 2014), 21. Riikka Ala-Hakula is a PhD student currently writing her doctoral thesis at the University of Jyväskylä. The focus of her research is on asemic writing, esoteric writing and private forms of writing.

Bibliography Grant, Kenneth. Images & Oracles of Austin Osman Spare. London: PCM Fulgur, 2003. Harris, Roy. Rethinking writing. London: Athlone Press, 2005. McCaffery, Steve and Jed Rasula. Imagining Language : An Anthology. Massachusetts, London: The MIT Press Cambridge, 2001. Morrison, Grant. ‘POP MAGIC!.’ in Book of Lies: The Disinformation Guide to Magick and the Occult, edited by Richard Metzger, 16–25. New York, NY: The Disinformation Company, 2014. Ockenström, Lauri. ‘Refined Resemblances: Three Categories of Astromagical Images in Marsilio Ficino's De vita 3.18 and Their Indebtedness to "Abominable" Books.’ In Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft, edited by Claire Fanger and Richard Kieckhefer, 1–32. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014. Spare, Austin O. Zos Speaks!: Encounters with Austin Osman Spare. London: PMC Fulgur, 1999. Spare, Austin O. The Writings of Austin Osman Spare: Automatic Drawings, Anathema of Zos, The Book of Pleasure, and The Focus of Life. Sioux Falls: NuVision Publications, 2007. Urban, Hugh B. Magia Sexualis: Sex, Magic, and Liberation in Modern Western Esotericism. Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 2006.