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About the Guest, Laura Tempest Zakroff

Tempest is an award-winning author, an artist, and a witch, among other things. She teaches workshops and classes on the art of sigil craft and more.

You can access her live workshops, social media, and store through her website. Keep up with her books and workshops on her social: IG: @owlkeyme.arts, Twitter: @LTempestZ, FB: facebook.com/lauratempestzakroff or YouTube. Becky avidly devours the exclusive content Tempest posts on Patreon.

Show Notes: The Art of Crafting Sigils

What is a sigil, vs crest, logo, or pictograph?

Tempest’s definition of a sigil is a mark created by humans believed to have magical powers. This conveniently also implies that the purpose of a sigil is to manifest some sort of magick. Similar to a logo, a sigil is an abstract design that represents a complex concept. A sigil is different from a crest or logo in that it mystically contains inherent magical power, rather than just serving as a representation of an entity or concept.

Are sigils universal?

The physical form of a sigil is just a complex symbol made up of other less complex symbols. There’s no universal language or alphabet of symbols in general. As Becky teaches, every symbol we believe to be universal is actually subject to alternate interpretation between different cultures.

There may however be some mystical universal form that human-derived sigils are attempting to replicate. In other words, the human who creates the symbol is both the agent of its creation, and downloading the form of the symbol from a different level of consciousness.

And yet, beyond meaning and abstract representation of concepts, there does exist some interesting universality to the basic physical shapes and signs used in sigil crafting. Tempest’s books correlate the basic symbols of ancient cave art—universal sign shapes that humans have imbued with meaning—with the concept of entoptic phenomena.

What are Entoptic Phenomena?

The calls are coming from inside the house

The original concept comes from medicine. In medical context, an entoptic phenomenon is seeing images that are coming from inside one’s own eyeball. The easiest way to understand this objective occurrence is to experience it. The most easily replicated entoptic phenomenon is “blue-sky sprites.” According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, in a completely normal eye, the white blood cells moving through the blood vessels overlaying the retina are visible. These tiny cells would be invisible to the naked eye in the context of a drop of blood outside the body. We can see our own white blood cells inside the eye vasculature only because they’re so close to our retina that they appear magnified, but they are way too close to focus on.

The vast majority of the time, we don’t notice these cells. They are only noticeable against a consistent uniform background. Throughout history, the most accessible uniform background has been the sky. Happenstantially, the blueness of the daytime sky enhances this. Since blood is mostly red blood cells, which absorb blue light, the occasional white blood cell will appear lighter against the blue backdrop. This creates the effect of witnessing continually moving light spots, which synch with the viewer’s heartbeat and occur even when the eye is at rest (unlike floaters which tend to settle down without eye movement, but also qualify as entoptic phenomena).

What are Entoptic Phenomena in the Context of Cognitive Archaeology?

In the social sciences however, the theory of entoptic phenomena expands to include visual experiences derived from within the brain, as opposed to seen externally in the physical world. These phenomena are subjective. They may occur during altered states, such as while using hallucinogens or while dreaming. It is possible that they are the foundation of symbols that have become so iconic that we assume them to be universal.

For example, when you encounter an elevator in a foreign country, there’s a good chance you instantly know which button to press to go up a floor upon seeing the symbols on the buttons. Yet all you’ve actually seen are 3 straight lines which meet at acute angles at the top, looking like this: ⬆. It’s an abstract shape which physically looks nothing like a building’s second floor. Still, if you pressed that button and the elevator ended up going down, you’d be shocked. You might even believe that you’d misread the sign, rather than accept that what you believe to be the universal “up arrow” could actually mean down in this instance. Why does that shape universally mean “up,” so thoroughly that we can’t conceptualize the difference between the shape and the concept?

What are the 32 universal first signs?

Most cave art research focuses around images of identifiable objects, like animal and human forms. But what about the abstract shapes? Abstract geometric signs are much more common than images of humans or animals in cave petroglyphs. Paleoanthropologist Genevieve von Petzinger was the first to document and catalogue these geometric shapes. What she found was that, barring a handful of outliers, there were really only 32 basic geometric signs, repeated throughout Europe over a 30,000 year period! This is a shocking similarity in the basic signs and symbols used by ancient humans, even outside of Ice Age Europe. These same 32 signs and similar patterns are found repeating in ancient cave art across the world, from Europe, to Africa, to Asia, to Australia.

Are these universal symbols inherent to human neurology?

The archaeological theory of entoptic phenomena suggests that the origins of a sign like this could be shapes that are universal to human neurology, visualized and assigned meaning during an altered state. The signs referred to in this speculative theory are usually non-pictorial ancient cave paintings. During the altered state, hallucinations might cause visions of a specific set of geometric shapes, similar to the shapes one would see during a migraine aura. The altered state would allow the hallucinator to assign cultural or personal meaning to these hallucinated shapes, who would then go on to teach this meaning to others.

Over time, the abstract allegorical meaning of the symbol becomes indistinguishable from the shape of the symbol itself. Whether the hallucinations in question were due to intentional psychotropic substance consumption or some other situation, like dreaming, psychosis, or seizures, is still debatable. This whole theory might be debatable, to be honest, but it’s certainly interesting to ponder!

How to craft a sigil

The unique insight that Tempest brings to this conversation is that a sigil’s primary magick does not exist in the physical mark itself, or even the use thereof, but in its creation process. What is involved in crafting a sigil? Tempest walked us through the overarching steps of sigil witchery.

1. Define the why, or the problem. When making a key, it really helps to know what the lock looks like.
2. Brainstorm the precise desired outcome. Tempest says that magick takes the path of least resistance. If a crafter is unclear about the specifics, the outcome may be technically correct, but incredibly different from the intended result.
3. Design the sigil. Start with some recognizable symbols that correlate with the intention. Tempest suggests an arrow for transition, etc.
4. (Optional step.) Acknowledge or apply the sigil. Carve it into a bar of soap to clean with; print it on paper to burn; tattoo it on your lower back for whatever reason people get lower back tattoos.

Would you craft your own sigil?

While Tempest helped us understand the art, craft, and metaphysics of sigil witchery, she also cautioned that there are many different forms of sigils, sigil creation, and sigil usage. The wisdom and insight contained within this episode doesn’t invalidate or disprove any other divergent type of sigil-related practice. As you absorb and apply the concepts Tempest teaches, you may find that the magick was always primarily within you. The sigil is just an outward amplifier of that power. Or is it? What are your beliefs around sigils, universal symbols, and entoptic phenomena? Have any experiences you’d like to share with us? Submit your story, and you could be the next guest on our show! Guaranteed way to have a spooky day.

Cover photo by John Fowler on Unsplash

The post Be Careful Outsourcing Your Sigils: Interview with an Expert Sigil Witch appeared first on Homespun Haints.

Becky and Diana, the strange and unusual co-hosts of the Homespun Haints podcast, have always been into mummies. In fact they might be into mummies, still. And they’re not even kids any more!

It’s oddly something they’ve never bonded over, but little Becky and little Diana both had dreams of becoming Egyptologists someday. The hot, hot archaeology internship in Illinois that we talked about in Episode 60, The 1000 Year Old Ghost, dashed Becky’s dreams. Diana’s were dashed at a much younger age.

It was 1989, and the Ramses the Great exhibit was in Dallas. Her family (including only Diana, 2 parents, and Heather, an old china doll reminiscent of Laura Ingalls but void of expression) drove 6 hours south and, at the age of 6, Diana saw her first real, live mummy. Well, not exactly live. Mummies are, by definition, deceased.

…Aren’t they?

When mummies get scary

A few years later, 9 year old Diana was reading a horror book about a posessed mummy, when she realized it was an hour past when her parents said they’d be home. She rose from the bed, and pulled back the curtains to look down the driveway. Then, it was an hour and 1 minute. Then, an hour and 2 minutes. You know how time moves when you’re under 10 years old.

Trying not to freak out, Diana went into the hallway, to a piece of furniture coincidentally right in front of the secret passageway to her basementhttps://homespunhaints.com/basement. She picked up a souvenir from that mummy exhibit: a pedestrian piece of chocolate sealed in a golden sarcophagus that nobody would ever eat; that only years later would be disposed of, wormy and moulding, unlike the desiccated cadaver it so chocolately represented. And her mind started to implode.

She recalled looking at the real mummy. And she recalled how it had looked back at her; sunken impressions in wrappings for eyes, asking her why on earth she’d want to see a dead body. 6 year-old Diana had clutched Heather to her more tightly, wondering the same thing. There were areas of the mummy when the wrapping was peeling back. What those gaps revealed didn’t look anything like human skin at all.

That mummies for kids coloring book wasn’t enough

In the gift shop of that exhibit, she’d bought a coloring book featuring Ramses in all his hieroglyphic glory. At the beginning of the long drive home, she was terribly disappointed to find that the book only portrayed his living visage, with nary a mummy to behold. Only the sarcophagus. Why? Why was this person she only understood as a lifeless mummy suddenly cavorting around like a living person, picking lotuses and petting cats? Did mummyhood really garner immortality?

Despite the confusion, everything about the exhibit piqued 6 year old Diana’s interest. By the age of 9, Egyptologist was one of her top 3 career considerations for when she grew up. (For anyone wondering, number 2 on the list was hairstylist, and number one was nun…not because she was religious, just so she could commiserate in song form over how DO you solve a problem like Maria?)

Back to the possessed mummy…

Which is why it was so embarrassing that now, with her parents 90 minutes late and the sun starting to set, she was starting to wonder if the mummy got her parents, like what happened to the kids in her book. She knew it wasn’t probable, but what else could keep them so long?

It’s about this time we should remind y’all, she knew at this point that there was a…presence in her basement. It wasn’t until later that she’d come to define it as a ghost. From where she sat on the bed, she could see the closed basement door. And she could swear she heard feet shuffling up the stairs from below.

Spoiler alert: It wasn’t a mummy

Or so she thinks. But, there is…something…in Diana’s basement. For over two decades Diana has had to come to terms with knowing that her childhood home is most decidedly haunted. Even if it’s not by a mummy.

And the question remains unanswered to this day: how DO you solve a problem like Diana’s basement “presence”? We’re going to get to the bottom of this soon. Don’t miss episode 70!

The post Why’s it gotta be mummies? appeared first on Homespun Haints.

Listen right here:

Becky’s True Paranormal Ghost Stories

How long do ghosts stick around? We hear about ghosts that are a few years old to centuries old, but what about a millennia? 

In this episode, Becky tells her own story for this decaversary about the time when, as a nubile teenager—hoping to be the next Indiana Jones (but with a darker wardrobe)—she was exposed to high temperatures and high drama in the rural Illinois Mounds. 

By the way, we mentioned an outtake of Becky burping the alphabet at the end of this episode. If you’re really keen to watch that (we’re not sure why but whatevs) here is Becky showing off her sphincter skills:

Episode Promos

Today’s episode podcast promo by October Pod

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Episode References

Cahokia Mounds

Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, in Southern Illinois, close to St. Louis, Missouri, was a burial site of the Mississippian culture. Between about 1000 and 1350 B.C.E, this culture’s local population outnumbered that of London’s at the time, with a population of10-20,000 people in the city center, and 40-50,000 in the greater cultural area. 51 platform, ridgetop, and conical mound.

In this episode, Becky mentions the grueling task of climbing the 30 meters of Monk’s Mound, which is the largest indigenous earthen structure north of the US/Mexico border. The nearby Woodhenge, rebuilt in modern times based on discolorations in the soil, served the people as a solar calendar.

The haunted burial mound

Cahokia is full of burial mounds and Native American burials. So, it was no surprise when Becky found what she did outside of the National Park’s border. But, what was unusual was how this item called to her and urged her to dig where no one else had. Was it a case of a haunted burial mound? Or was it sheer luck?

Becky’s wardrobe malfunction, take two

When you live high in the mountains of East Tennessee, it’s easy to forget that sometimes, there’s a calorific reason not to wear all-black clothing.

Diana’s basement ghost dreams

Unlike Summer in southern Illinois, the ghost(s) in Diana’s basement aren’t terrifying, just mildly alarming sometimes. Dreams from the POV of something moving around her basement have actually been plaguing Diana for over 25 years.

It’s the same basement every time, as Diana lives in her childhood home currently. But every time the dreams happen, it’s a little more clear what’s going on. In this episode, you’ll hear about her latest basement ghost dream. We now think it’s not one but two spirits residing down there. Hungry for the full story? Be sure to tune in for episode 70!

Until next time, have a spooky day!

The post The 1000 Year Old Ghost appeared first on Homespun Haints.