Laura Tempest Zakroff - Visual Alchemy: A Witchs Guide to Sigils, Art & Magic

Llewellyn Publications

Woodbury, Minnesota

Copyright Information

viii Visual Alchemy: A Witchs Guide to Sigils, Art & Magic 2022 by Laura Tempest Zakroff.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any matter whatsoever, including Internet usage, without written permission from Llewellyn Publications, except in the form of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

As the purchaser of this e-book, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. The text may not be otherwise reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, or recorded on any other storage device in any form or by any means.

Any unauthorized usage of the text without express written permission of the publisher is a violation of the authors copyright and is illegal and punishable by law.

First e-book edition 2022

E-book ISBN: 9780738771045

Book design by Christine Ha

Copyrights for the illustrations and photographs in the ten Arts & The Craft sections belong to the respective contributors.

Cover art by Laura Tempest Zakroff

Cover design by Shira Atakpu

Interior illustrations and photos by Laura Tempest Zakroff

The Passenger on by Eliza Gauger used with permission.

Llewellyn Publications is an imprint of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Zakroff, Laura Tempest, author.

Title: Visual alchemy : a witchs guide to sigils, art & magic / by Laura

Tempest Zakroff.

Description: First edition. | Woodbury, Minnesota : Llewellyn Worldwide,

2022. | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: A

follow-up to the bestselling Sigil Witchery, Visual Alchemy takes a

deeper look at the connection between art and magic. Laura Tempest

Zakroff shows you how sigil work is quick, easy, and accessible to all,

covering a vast number of topics from the elements of visual spellcraft

to creating your own sigils for solitary and group use. This book also

provides a collection of fifty shared magic sigils for you to explore,

consider, and use Provided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2022023538 (print) | LCCN 2022023539 (ebook) | ISBN

9780738770925 (paperback) | ISBN 9780738771045 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Sigils. | Art and magic.

Classification: LCC BF1623.S5 Z35 2022 (print) | LCC BF1623.S5 (ebook) |

DDC 133.4/3dc23/eng/20220729

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022023538

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022023539

Llewellyn Publications does not participate in, endorse, or have any authority or responsibility concerning private business arrangements between our authors and the public.

Any Internet references contained in this work are current at publication time, but the publisher cannot guarantee that a specific reference will continue or be maintained. Please refer to the publishers website for links to current author websites.

Llewellyn Publications

Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

2143 Wooddale Drive

Woodbury, MN 55125

www.llewellyn.com

Manufactured in the United States of America

xi

Acknowledgments

Every successive book I write gets better thanks to the insightful minds and efforts of my editors, Elysia Gallo and Andrea Neff. Not only do they help fine-tune each manuscript throughout the publishing process, but they have somehow managed to take up space in my brain as I am writing. Much appreciation to all the folks at Llewellyn who help make my books a reality.

As always, much thanks to my mom, Terry Zakroff, for being a lightning-fast proofreader and my dad, Pete Zakroff, for helping to get those edit suggestions back to me.

I would especially like to acknowledge all of my Patreon supporters, especially those who have attended any of my monthly Sigil School Zoom sessions and shared their questions about sigils and magical artmaking. Thank you to all my Sigil Witchery workshop students (whether virtual or in person) throughout the years for your enthusiasm for the process, and of course to everyone who has believed in my art over the years.

My love always to Nathan for supporting my work by bringing me tea, listening to me rant, and distracting the cats so I can write.

xii For all those who dare to make art and work magic

xiii

Contents

List of

by Nick Bantock

: Create

: Visual Alchemy xiv

: Symbol Stories

: Design Magic xv

: Ritual Application xvi

: Collaborate

: Out in the World

: Sharing Sigils xviii xix

xxi

Illustrations & Photographs

, an Embodiment of the Power of Stories and Art to Create Our Reality

(Asymmetrical Design)

: A More Successful, Permeable Design versus a Less Successful, Blockaded Design

xxii

xxiii

xxiv

xxv

Foreword

by Nick Bantock

Writing about the relationship between art and magic is bravewitches have been burnt for less.

Every day were flooded with images. From computer screens to billboards, were constantly being hit with fast pictures, transient representations not designed to linger or be carefully examined. And the more images we consume, the less time we have to ponder their content and meaning. Little by little were letting the magic of our sight diminish.

Andy Warhol knew what he was doing with his Marilyn silkscreens. He was making something that could be seen in a glimpse: art that didnt need in-depth observation; an icon for an icon, designed to minimize. That kind of self-conscious cynicism has led some to suggest that the second half of the twentieth century has seen commerce replace the magic in art.

Imagine if you were living five hundred years ago. Your exposure to images would have been occasional at best, so if you found yourself in a villa or church, standing in front of a painting by Raphael, you were hardly likely to give it the same cursory glance that youd give a Marilyn. Youd almost certainly take an eon or two to examine the picture, to assess what was within.

I think we are losing our ability to slow down long enough to fully comprehend anything but bling, and that frantic pace is robbing us of our capacity to see that art can liberate us and give us xxvi a means of self-expression. Sadly, knowing that we are encouraged to have the attention span of sparrows, artists are discouraged from producing art that requires time and is complex in symbol, narrative, and alchemy.