Retro-Sigils

A Powerful Form of Time Magic

Hermes icon by Berenike of berenikestudio.com, photographed by Orchis, used with artist’s permission.

I’m of an age now where more of my life is behind me than ahead of me, so I can’t afford to waste any time. This means, first of all, that I have to find ways to put even bad space weather to good magical use and, secondly, that I need to actively enchant not only my remaining future but also the time I’ve already lived. For these reasons, I’ve spent the last six years or so working Mercury retrogrades into my magic, rather than sitting them out. 

You can remediate Mercury retrogrades, taking this excellent advice from Kaitlin Coppock, first posted in 2019, but as Gordon White said back in 2010, you can also really lean into a retrograde. (Re-reading and re-sharing older blog posts and articles, as I’m doing here, is Time Magic in itself--a form of necromancy. Hail, Hermes Chthonios, Who brings the voice of the past back into the present!) Gordon’s post first got me thinking about how to hack Mercury retrogrades in general, but it wasn’t until 2017, when he offered his Sigils course and I learned about retroactive sigils, that I began doing active magic involving the retrogrades. Since then, I’ve never let a good Mercury retrograde go to waste!

Now, not every Mercury retrograde is a good one, of course, and I’m no astrologer, so I study Ivy’s Magical Monthly Planner very carefully, to get a foretaste of any upcoming retrogrades. For instance, I’m planning to get all my retro-sigils launched during the first half of this month’s retrograde. I should also mention that my natal Mercury is retrograde, and retro-sigils do seem to work a bit better for folks born during one of Hermes’ retreats.

What are Retro-Sigils? 

Retro-sigils are a powerful form of time magic, having the potential to change the present-day effects of past experiences. To do any kind of time magic, you have to stop thinking of time in strictly materialist terms, as one straight line moving perpetually forward at a constant rate. Time is fluid, plastic, elastic. We’ve all had moments that seemed to last forever and hours that passed in a split second. Time is also individual and thus plural, manifold. Initially, time is a perception and later, a memory, a story we tell ourselves about that perception. Perceptions can be altered; narratives, rewritten. Retro-sigils can heal your past perceptions and improve your life story. Notice that we’re not talking about inserting events into, or deleting events from, the past.  

One advantage of getting older is that I can see more clearly now my past mistakes and all those roads not taken, along with the gifts and strengths I’ve wrestled from the tight grasp of old Adversity. Retro-sigils let me squeeze the last bits of juice from my past, and they also help infuse my history with more health and happiness, which then has a subtle but powerful effect on my present and possibly even my future. 

All sigils communicate with the unconscious mind, which is mysteriously and wonderfully continuous with the universe itself, in which thoughts are real things and all time is now. With retroactive sigils, Chthonic Hermes, in his capacity as psychopomp, carries messages from my current self (filled with all my hard-won hindsight) into the vast underworld of eternity and delivers them to my younger self, who desperately needs that wisdom to grow into my soon-to-be improved future self. This is how the metaphysics of retro-sigils work, whether one directly invokes Chthonic Hermes or not, and this is where their therapeutic power comes from. When Mercury appears to be moving backwards through the sky, I am freed for a moment from the apparent constraints of time, and I can become my own magical mentor, my own fairy godmother. Hail, Hermes Chthonios, Who brings the wisdom of the present back into the past!

What are Retro-Sigils good for?

Retro-sigils can be used for anything the multi-talented Hermes is good at, applied to the past:  

• Seeing or understanding one’s past more clearly; helping the past self to see or understand her present or future more clearly

• Sending and receiving messages to and from the past, the future, or the dead 

• Healing past trauma, the past self, and one’s ancestors

• Traveling (in spirit or in dreams) to the past; sending pleasant dreams to the past self or healing past nightmares and sleeping disorders

• Happy reunions with old friends

• Retrieving lost or stolen items and memories; resolving old debts or receiving overdue payments; buying at past prices and selling at future rates

• Undoing past technological or bureaucratic snafus

• Improving past car repairs or travel issues

• Improving past language and technology skills

• Improving past magical skills or accuracy of past divination

This is, by no means, a complete list! Let’s explore a few areas more deeply.

Healing the Living 

Hermes doesn’t get enough credit as a healer of past trauma, both physical and emotional. His ability to travel freely and frequently to the realm of the dead is what makes him a special kind of healing agent--after all, in some versions of the myth of Persephone, it is Hermes who brings the lost and wounded daughter back from the realm of death to the grieving earth mother. If you can see Persephone as the past self of her own mother, then you can glimpse the tremendous healing power of retro-sigils 

I did a series of retro-sigils back in 2018 that I feel were successful. I was trying to heal the long-term effects of a chronic-pain condition (surgery kept me from experiencing any more physical pain, but I wanted the lingering trauma to go away). I used statements like those in the list below, and I do feel healed, fully and deeply, from that whole episode of my life--often to the point of forgetting it ever happened.

• Past pain already gone

• Ill effects of past pain completely resolved

• Past pain no longer stored in muscles

• Body and spirit have been healed completely

Considering the current state of physical and mental health care in most places, anything we can do for ourselves is at least worth a shot, and many of the statements below would do us all some good.

• Return of pre-pandemic health

• As happy now as I was at age X

• Good memories of X restored

• Happy memories always vivid

• Painful memories always diminished

• Have always been kind to past self

• Self-talk was always healthy

• Always recovered swiftly from betrayal

• Best lessons from the past always fully integrated

• Old resentment already released

• X’s anger toward me already forgotten

• Gossip about me completely diminished

• Was always the hero of my own life

Apologies to Charles Dickens for stealing the opening of David Copperfield, but that last statement above is one I’d like to experiment with. 

Healing the Dead

Chthonic Hermes, in his capacity as psychopomp, can be helpful at any time, of course, for healing one’s ancestors or one’s relationship to them, but during a Mercury retrograde, the time is truly ripe for such work. Even if you don’t yet have an ancestor practice, you can kickstart one with retro-sigils. Try statements like these:

• Always receive blessings from wise & well ancestors

• Wise & well ancestors always provide helpful guidance

• Wise & well ancestors always communicate clearly

• Wise & well ancestors always answer my call

• Have always been aligned with wise & well ancestors

• Ancestors of place always accept my offerings

• Ancestors of affinity always bless my endeavors

Then, try getting more specific:

• Mother’s bloodline fully healed

• Mystery of maternal grandfather’s parentage solved completely

• Blessings always flow freely from father’s lineage

• Clarity about paternal grandmother’s lineage

I have been doing retro-sigils like these for a long time now, and the results have been both subtle and astoundingly obvious: I have a long-dead grandfather who sends me grandfather-substitutes all the time; I have ancestors who speak regularly through a sibling (who is unaware of the significance of these utterances). A particular group of ancestors is currently helping me to write a Prayer Book. Once, during a retrograde, an old friend I hadn’t seen in decades unexpectedly arranged to meet with me so he could give me a treasured book from a long-dead mutual friend from whom I’d been requesting contact, via retro-sigils. 

How do you know if Retro-Sigils are effective?

As the anecdotes above show, with some kinds of retroactive sigils, you get very obvious results. But my favorite retro-sigils concern financial issues and lost, stolen, or delayed items. When you use statements like the ones below, it’s pretty obvious when they work, and they’re great for beginners! Hermes is, after all, the God of Thieves, and I think of him almost as my personal Robin Hood. He clearly enjoys these money- and commerce-related assignments. These days, one can even think of retro-sigils as a form of anti-inflation magic:  

• Always get eggs at pre-pandemic prices

• Rare books at 1990 prices

• Out-of-print tarot deck at half-price

I once had a rare tarot deck, ordered from England, get lost in a warehouse during one Mercury retrograde, only to suddenly be found during the next retrograde, thanks to my launching a set of sigils about it. For several years running, I played this shopping game with Hermes: at the start of each retrograde, I would ask Hermes for a specific rare, out-of-print tarot deck at half its current value. Then, I’d haunt the auction sites all during the retrograde until I found it. One year, I asked Hermes to find me a rare Norwegian Christmas plate at a good price, and he delivered. 

• Fees revert to last year’s rate

• Books lent long ago now returned

• Stolen goods returned immediately

• Funds owed to me always paid in full

• Lost package finds its way home

• Financial errors always in my favor

• Bureaucracy always works in my favor

• Rebates or refunds on past purchases

After using the “refunds on past purchases” statement, I got a new set of bedsheets--totally out of the blue--because the seller lied about the origin of the cotton (it was not, in fact, Egyptian) and had to send out replacements. 

With other kinds of retroactive sigils, it might be harder to tell if they’re working. Or you might have to be patient. As always, one needs to be sensitive to the telling synchronicities that arise from good magic. 

How can Retro-Sigils support other magical workings?

First, you can do retro-sigils to get better at retro-sigils, and also to improve other magical skills:

• Have always been good at retro-sigils

• Retro-sigils have always manifested swiftly

• Have always understood the speech of snakes & birds

• Hermes has always been helpful

• Magical ancestors have always guided me

I referred to my shopping game above, but retro-sigils can be used in any other magical workings whenever you would include a written petition of some kind. They can be placed under or carved into candles, inserted into charm bags, etc. They can be included in letter-prayers to ancestors or underworld deities. 

During a Mercury retrograde, ask Hermes to carry a magical tool to your ancestors or to an underworld God for a blessing--then, have him bring it back. Use a retro-sigil to request that blessing: 

• Pendulum has already been blessed by my wise & well ancestors

• X tarot deck has always conveyed the wisdom of my ancestors

If there’s a significant lunation during the retrograde, or some other important astrological event, there might be a way to incorporate it into some kind of retro-working. While writing this article, I received unsolicited information from a trusted source that a funeral home employee intentionally over-charged my family and many others. Thus, I’m already plotting an operation for this upcoming retrograde in which Chthonic Hermes will carry some retro-sigils about this situation to the Underworld when the Moon is at 26 degrees of Taurus (IYKYK). Hail, Hermes Chthonios, Who brings intelligence from the forecourts of the Dead!

As the consummate traveler, Hermes gets around, in both time and space, so he’s very comfortable with a whole host of other Gods and spirits. I have found him to be friendly with Angels generally, Raphael and Gabriel in particular, and willing to cooperate with various Saints, especially Christ's extended family. One might do some elaborate or extended healing rituals for the past self by combining the Holy Family with some retro-sigils--extra points if a novena-and-feast day occurs during the retrograde. Lazarus of Bethany, for instance, also went to Hell and back, so he might lend another dimension to a ritual for healing. St Anthony and Hermes work very well together for finding lost items: let them share a glass of red wine when they finish the job. 

I imagine that retro-sigils might work with other planetary retrogrades, but I have not yet attempted Martial or Venusian retro-sigils. Someone should!

Technical Issues

When I plan out my magical year (with the help of Ivy’s Membership, of course!), one of the first things I do is mark the beginnings and endings of the year’s Mercury retrogrades on all my calendars. I try to have a set of themes or issues assigned to each one. I use as many days of the retrograde as I can for tasks related to retro-sigils: I jot out statements one day, create the sigil-images the next, saving those really good days for launching. 

My default launch-time is with my morning coffee, and I slip the sigil-work right into my morning prayer routine--like Ivy, I have my own version of a Modular Magical Framework, which makes this seamless. You can get fancy with planetary hours, if you like, but I usually don’t have that luxury. For fairly obvious reasons, sunset is a great time to do retro-sigils. I’ve never yet launched any at the exact times when Daylight Savings Time begins or ends, but that would be an interesting experiment, and there should be some opportunities in the coming years! 

In most respects, retro-sigils are just like other sigils, including Ivy’s Witchy Sigils: you form them the same way, group them into shoals, if you like, and launch them the same way you would any other sigils, along with a robofish (à la Gordon White), if you wish. I have used various kinds of robofish statements, ones set in the distant or near past:

• I fed the cat in 2012

• The sun rose six months ago

• I drank tea yesterday 

and ones related to the present or near future:

• I will feed the cat today

•  I will make tea tomorrow

I truly don't know which work best. You’ll have to FAFO. 

Along with “always” and “already,” good words to include in retro-sigil statements are ones with the prefix “re-”: reclaim, recollect, reconnect, recover, redeem, refund, regain, repair, restore, retrieve, return, revise, etc.

You can ritualize the launching of retro-sigils to your heart’s content or just fire them off without fanfare. I’ve done both. As I said earlier, neither Hermes Chthonios nor Hermanubis must be invoked, but you certainly can reach out to either one directly. To that end, I include a couple of invocations that I have composed and used frequently.

Brief Hermes Invocation
Hermes, whom the Romans called Mercury 
& the Egyptians, Thoth, God of Thieves & 
Travelers, Finder of the lost, Keeper of the keys, 
Voice & Messenger of the Gods, Lord of Air, 
Bless my sigils:  May they manifest 
Immediately, swiftly, truly.

Although there’s nothing particularly chthonic about the above address, I find that it works reliably, and it’s short enough to be memorized rather easily. Below is another invocation, which combines passages from the Greek Magical Papyri (Betz edition). 

Hermes Invocation
Come to me, Hermes, from within, as a child to the womb, as inspiration 
to the mind, immediately, quickly, truly. Remember me: I am Your friend. 
Hear me, & come to me, Hermes, You who know all things in heaven & earth. 
Be easy to talk to & hear me. Open the way within, that I might see with Your 
eyes, hear with Your ears, speak with Your tongue, write with Your hand, & 
know with Your mind. I know You, Hermes, & You know me. I have Your 
name as a unique phylactery in my heart. I have said so, & my words are 
things: may these things already be. (derived mainly from PGM VIII.1-63)

And, of course, you can use the Orphic Hymn, in the translation of your choice, to Chthonic Hermes. It also never hurts to give Hermes a glass of red wine or some strawberries, or honey infused with parsley, fennel, or dill. Displaying Mercury dimes on an altar is another way to honor him. I have worked with Hermes a long time, and having a good relationship with him definitely helps with retro-sigils (though it’s not strictly necessary). 

I often dab a Sphere & Sundry oil on the paper right before launch: items from the Hermanubis II and Ancestral series (now nearly sold out) work especially well for retro-sigils related to the dead. I haven’t yet tried the Mercury in Gemini series for this purpose, but I plan to try the Door Key and Froggy subsets soon for a shoal. Use Asclepius IV for healing. I haven’t tried using a Saturn series for retro-sigils, but one or both of them might work very well. Note: I burned a Quicksilver Tongue candle for a couple hours while drafting this article.

Conclusion

Most of the time, when we do magic, we are focused on the future, on what we can make happen in the coming days. But I hope I’ve demonstrated there’s much to be gained from turning back and working on the ever-growing past, which will, then, influence the always-diminishing future. Retro-sigils can help us cultivate the still-fallow fields of yesterday so that our future selves may reap a more bountiful harvest. As we change the effects of past events, what was bad becomes less so; what was good becomes even better. Sending wisdom and strength back and forth through time certainly seems like the proper work of the Mage--in doing so, we imitate Hermes himself. The days pass quickly, and the years fly by:  retrieve and transform them with retroactive sigils, so that when you turn to face tomorrow, you will detect in his eye the glint of a better yesterday. 

Appendix: Prayers that work well with Retro-Sigils

I mentioned above that I’m working on a Prayer Book. Ivy graciously agreed to let me share a couple of relevant prayers.

St Theresa of Avila wrote a Prayer to Redeem Lost Time, and I’ve taken a crack at it, too. With mine, you need to know what day of the week you were born on. There’s a couple of retro-sigil statements written right into the prayer. You can use this prayer weekly on the day of your birth, during a Mercury retrograde. You can insert the names of other Saints and Angels than Roch and Gabriel if you wish, but I very much commend to you Our Lady Undoer of Knots as a being with great power to uncross the past. 

Prayer for the Past Self
On this [Xday], which is all [Xdays],
The day of my birth, I pray for the 
[Self/Name] who was, on behalf of 
The [Self/Name] who is, & might be. 
St Roch, heal all the ills of my past.
St Gabriel, set me again on the path
Of early wisdom, for I have gone astray.
Mother Mary, Our Lady Undoer of Knots, 
Untangle the tortured web of my past, 
& Grant me better decisions, already made. 
St Roch, St Gabriel, & Mother Mary, pray for me,
Now, & at the hours of my birth & death, Amen. 
 

This next prayer invokes both Hermes and Christ, suggesting Hermes as a stand-in for the Biblical Good Thief (often known as St Dismas, who journeyed to Hell with Jesus for the Harrowing before they both headed off to Paradise) or as a shadowy Third Thief. I say this prayer each day during a Mercury retrograde. 

Mercury Retrograde Prayer 
Midway through the journey of our life, I found myself in a dark forest, having lost the true path--Dante 

Swift Hermes, God of Thieves & Travelers, turns on a Mercury dime, 
Deftly retracing His steps in the dark through space & time. 
Likewise, descend, now, my Lord Christ, 
With the Good Thief at Thy side, 
& Harrow Hell--my Hell. 
Redeem it. 
Retrieve my fugitive soul.
Recollect my lost years in the desert. 
Reconsider my past participation in the sacraments,
Undertaken long ago under duress, as freely entertained,
That I may offer to Thee now as reparation what is neither in my gift, 
Nor within my grasp, being Thine & thus surpassing all understanding, Amen.

May Hermes, and all the Saints and Angels, bless and protect this work, its writer, and all its readers. 

Image Credit:  Hermes icon created by Berenike of berenikestudio.com, photographed by Orchis.

Many thanks to Ivy Bromius for asking me to write this piece and for publishing it on her blog over at circlethrice.com and on her substack.