Chronic Pain Management Sigil
I am slowly working my way up to creating sigils and other magic to help manage my chronic illness. The Chronic Pain Management Sigil is a step in the right direction, and I hope it can help others as well. It seeks to support higher quality of life through reduction of symptoms, warding against detrimental things, soothing the body and mind, and increasing beneficial aspects.
The cause of the chronic pain is left deliberately unstated, as chronic pain can come from a myriad of sources or be a component of myriad conditions. I created the intentions to broadly cover chronic pain, but please do confirm that the specific intentions of this sigil will be helpful for your particular illness or condition.
NOTE: Chronic conditions are CHRONIC. No sigil will cure a chronic condition, so keep that in mind when using this sigil. Instead of curing, the goal is to help foster higher quality of life through managing symptoms, increasing accessibility of medical care and other therapies, and increasing the efficacy of proper medical treatment.
The Chronic Pain Management Sigil can be used alone, or in combination with other sigils that address other issues or aspects of your particular condition.
If you are looking for a sigil to help with a physical injury (bone, muscle, tendon), the Sigil for Healthy Bones and Joints may also be helpful to you.
If you have fibromyalgia, the Fibromyalgia Management Sigil was created to specifically help with that condition, with input from people who have fibromyalgia.
The Chronic Pain Management Sigil is Charged with These Intentions
The Chronic Pain Management Sigil is structured with the heart, the subject of the sigil, at the very center. The appearance is reminiscent of a face, with a smile that reflects we can still feel joy and have good days, even though chronic pain is difficult and unending. It is shielded with wards on the sides. Most of the symbology is oriented vertically, with reductions sent down, and manifestations sent upward.
Reduced pain severity – All three symbols listed on the worksheet are worked into the sigil, since the main purpose is to reduce the severity of chronic pain. The rest of the intentions exist to support this main purpose. The spirals are found primarily in the center of the heart, from which the structure of that heart comes forth. They meet and continue into the downward arrow, which terminates in an arrow with two more spirals. The spirals on the arrows serve a secondary purpose of making the arrow stick, like barbs on an arrowhead. The circles with a dot in the center represent our target of lower pain, and also equilibrium, because managing chronic pain is an ongoing balancing act. These are paired, and below the heart, to emphasize reduction.
Reduced inflammation – This is an additional layer of meaning on the arrow below the heart. Reduced inflammation is also represented by a teardrop shape, water energy to soothe the heat of inflammation, and encourage drinking enough water for the body to effectively filter and dispose of inflammatory toxins. I added a pentagram into the teardrop to increase its power, and to provide a foundation of pure healing. This intention was especially important to me, as chronic systemic inflammation is a significant contributor to my own chronic pain and other chronic symptoms.
Reduced frequency of pain spikes – This is represented by increasing distance between dots around the heart. The first dots are at the center of the spirals, and end at the very bottom of the heart. The increasing distance represents increasing time between significant pain spikes.
Ward against disturbing sensations – This intention is represented by an asterisk (the disturbing sensations jolting into and out of existence) guarded by two crescent moons. Those moons recognize that ebb and flow is natural, but shields from the worst of it. I included this intention because bizarre and disturbing sensations are not uncommon with many types of chronic pain. My own chronic pain has included sensations I have described as ants climbing on my bones, the skin of my bones feeling like lava, and feeling like the skin of my bones has been punctured with thousands of holes before being lit on fire. If you do not experience strange or disturbing sensations associated with your chronic pain, this particular element will just help ensure they do not start. If this does not apply to you, that specific symbol can be left out of the sigil in your own renderings, but including it will not harm anything.
Soothe depression, stress, & other resulting emotions – Chronic conditions like chronic pain create an emotional roller coaster. There is a lot of grief involved in it being more difficult or impossible to do things that other people take for granted. That would be difficult enough on its own, but it can additionally be incredibly frustrating, stressful, and depressing to deal with the medical industry. This sigil acknowledges those difficulties, and helps bring back the subject back to center, so they can continue to do what they need to do to achieve the highest possible quality of life. This is primarily symbolized by the heart, with the crooked smile in the center, to show that we can still have joy and quality of life, even with those difficulties. The crooked smile is also reminiscent of a lightning bolt shape, to indicate increased movement and energy.
Medication is more effective & has lower side effects – Most people take some kind of medication to help with chronic pain, whether that medication is over-the-counter or by prescription. Herbs, tinctures, and other homeopathic remedies also count if they are being used in a medicinal manner to help manage the pain. This is represented by a capsule pill shape with a plus sign in the center. It is placed above the heart, to help increase the efficacy of the medication while warding against bad side effects. As with the ward against disturbing sensations, this specific symbol can be left off in your renditions if it does not apply to you, but there is also no harm in including it.
Higher quality of life – This intention is symbolized by the upward arrow with barbs to make it stick, the heart representing the whole of the person being aided by the sigil, and by the many solid dots throughout. It is also represented by the flower at the very top, which was added after I had finished the worksheet and most of the sigil was assembled. The flower represents the fragile beauty of good days, that must be cared for properly to ensure the blossoms return as frequently and perfectly as possible. It has five petals to mirror the pentagram at the bottom, and to represent the wholeness of balancing all the elements. No matter how many times we retreat into pain, we can always return to joy and wholeness in a cycle that fosters an overall higher quality of life.
How to Use the Chronic Pain Management Sigil
You can use the Chronic Pain Management Sigil in any way that is in line with its intent and makes sense for your practice. Some ideas are to:
- inscribe it on a candle
- draw it on the container for any pain medicine, therapeutic devices, mobility aids, etc.
- print it or draw it on a piece of paper and place it on your altar or somewhere you see regularly
- put a copy in your wallet
- use it as the wallpaper, login background, or screen saver on your phone, tablet, or computer
- make something crafty and include the sigil in your creation
- use it as a focus for meditation
- draw it on the body using salted water, anointing oil, an herb blend, makeup, body paint, henna, markers, temporary tattoo pens, etc.
- print it onto temporary tattoo paper and apply it to your body
- and so on
Your rendering of the sigil does not need to be perfect. Intent is what matters, so do not worry if you cannot draw it “perfectly”. As long as all the elements are there, you are good.
Like any sigil, it will be most effective when it is used in conjunction with real-world actions. Be sure to do what you can physically to treat your condition, and be sure to follow your doctor’s instructions. The sigil alone is not going to fix everything, but it can give a powerful boost to the actions you take, and hopefully help you obtain a more consistent higher quality of life.
Please read On the Care and Use of Sigils for more information about how to use sigils.
Tattoos and Body Art of the Chronic Pain Management Sigil
If you want to get a tattoo of any of my sigils, you do not need to ask me for personal permission. Permission is granted. However, I do recommend that you carefully consider whether or not the sigil in question is actually something you need working on you constantly for the rest of your life. If the answer is no, temporary body art is probably the better way to go, even if you recreate it on a frequent or semi-regular basis.
I also strongly recommend using a temporary body art method to test-drive any sigil before getting it permanently inked. This can let you test the impact of the sigil, including how placement changes the effects. This isn’t just some cool design that you like. It is a piece of magic and will have impact beyond aesthetics.
If you do decide getting a tattoo of one of my sigils is the way to go, I would love it if you showed me how it turned out! You can send me a message through my website or social media. If you post the photo to the internet, please tag me on social media so I can see.
Print-on-Demand Purchase of the Chronic Pain Management Sigil
I have set up the Chronic Pain Management Sigil print-on-demand in my RedBubble shop, so it can be more convenient to use for those who do not have the time/skills/energy to redraw or recreate the sigil. I have set the items in the shop to 0% commission, so the prices you see are the base prices. Due to my own health problems, I am incapable of doing order fulfillment or running a business, and as a spoonie witch I want the convenience of purchasing for myself as well.
Print-on-demand is provided purely as a convenience, not as a business endeavor. That means I am unlikely to rush to meet any requests for available items or sigils, and I have no control over RedBubble’s order fulfilment processes. I have not purchased or tested the vast majority of products available from RedBubble, but I have set them up in ways that I hope will be issue-free.
Sharing the Chronic Pain Management Sigil
The sigil graphic does contain enough text to help clarify it when it is shared out in the wilds of the internet, but best practice is to include a link back to this article. That way others who see it can find out exactly what it is charged to do, in detail. Sigils are most effective when the user knows exactly what they were created to do, and that is also the only way they can be certain this sigil is right for them and their situation.
This sigil is Creative Commons licensed:
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA)
This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as they credit Sidney Eileen and license their new creations under the identical terms.
Want to Make Your Own Sigils?
I use the method described in the excellent book Sigil Witchery, by Laura Tempest Zakroff. You do not need to consider yourself an artist to make your own sigils.
Want More Sigils?
Go to my Sigil Magic page to find all of the sigils I have created and shared publicly.