The Why Not Sigil is a magical ward to help overcome decision paralysis / analysis paralysis. While decision paralysis can happen to anyone, for many people with ADHD it is a constant struggle. This sigil is intended to be another tool to help overcome such paralysis, to help you find an option that will work and allow you to move forward.

Decision paralysis happens when a person is overthinking a problem or has so many options that they become frozen and overwhelmed, unable to make a decision. It can also happen when a person is so overwhelmed for other reasons that it becomes difficult or impossible to think critically and understand what the options are, let alone make an actual decision.

There are also situations where there are so many good options that it can be hard to pick the “right” one, or no good options, so you are left trying to figure out the best of a bad lot.

It is called the “Why Not Sigil” or “Y Not Sigil”, because the inspiration for it hit me very suddenly, with that phrase and a Y overlayed with a “NO” symbol clear in my head. Because if the decision paralysis is bad enough, or the options unappealing enough, sometimes you just have to go with the “why not” option to be able to move on.

Incantation for the Why Not Sigil

The incantation was a direct output of my inspiration for this sigil, but it is not set in stone. Feel free to use it as written, modify it to suit you, or ignore it. If you do use it, recite the incantation whenever you wish to invoke the same magical energies of the sigil, or recite it when you use the sigil.

I will make a choice,
whether all options are good,
all options are bad,
or a mixture of the two.
I will find a course that works
and do the best I can,
for doing none is worst by far,
and onward I will go.
So mote it be!

Intentions and Symbology of the Why Not Sigil

The main structure of the Why Not Sigil is a stick figure person with a big, red “NO” symbol for a head, from which branches both viable and unviable options, with the viable options extending out into the future. This represents the ability of the person who is mired in decision paralysis to be able to discern workable options and make a choice.

The stick person is also a set of two arrows heading towards the decision, indicating that things are moving to where a decision must be made.

The “NO” symbol represents the paralysis itself, and the paralysis is contained within the symbol. The decisions that can be made break out of the paralysis and turn into paths that move you onward. The circle also represents protection, allowing the decision-making process to protect you from truly bad options, and to shelter you from ongoing paralysis.

The asterisk at the center represents action and multitude options. Much of it remains within the “NO” symbol in broken lines because there are usually bad options to be had. These should be recognized and discarded from the viable options. Those options that are viable extend out as possible paths forward.

The paths that extend out do so in a forked manner, representing that there are often multiple viable options that can lead you in a good direction. They have equal weight because of that viability, even though you must choose just one. Waiting for the perfect moment or perfect choice is a recipe for waiting eternally, so it is important to make that decision, even if you solve it with a “why not” moment of impulse among the best options.

How to Use the Why Not Sigil

You can use the Why Not 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
• 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 Why Not 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. The broken shorter paths in particular do not need to be drawn exactly as they are here. Just make them short and/or broken and you are doing it right.

It is drawn here using red for the “NO” symbol while the rest is in black and white, to visually emphasize the paralysis and differentiate it from the solutions. When drawing it yourself, it can be drawn using just a single color.

The Why Not Sigil can be used on its own, but it will be most effective when it is used in conjunction with other tactics for overcoming decision paralysis and analysis paralysis.

Please read On the Care and Use of Sigils for more information about how to use sigils.

Tattoos and Body Art of the Why Not 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 Why Not Sigil

I have set up the Why Not 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 Why Not Sigil

The Why Not 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 intended to do, in detail.  Sigils are most effective when the user understands the symbology and 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.