What if you could cast a spell once and have thousands of people charge it for you without even knowing? This is a core principle of modern Chaos Magic and technomancy. By understanding how attention, belief, and collective consciousness function as magical currencies, you can create self-sustaining spells that draw power from viral content, public art, online crowds, and even corporate branding patterns.
The Fundamental Principle: Attention as Energy
Austin Osman Spare, the father of modern sigil magic, discovered that consciousness and attention are the primary fuels for magical operations. His revolutionary approach, detailed in works like The Book of Pleasure, established that belief and focused attention create channels through which intention manifests. This means:
- Every view, like, share, or moment of engagement feeds energy into a symbol
- The viewer doesn’t need to understand the magical purpose. Their attention alone suffices
- Unconscious exposure (scrolling past an image, seeing a logo) still contributes charge
- Collective attention creates exponentially more power than individual effort
Here are several methods that include the charging of spells using collective attention:
1. Sigil Shoaling & The Robofish Technique
Developed by: Gordon White (Rune Soup)
Core concept: Instead of charging a single sigil with intense personal gnosis, create multiple related sigils (a “shoal”) and let one “robofish” sigil automate the charging of all others. White details this technique extensively in his book The Chaos Protocols and on his YouTube channel.
How it works:
- Create 3-7 sigils for related intentions (wealth, opportunity, recognition, etc.)
- Design one master “robofish” sigil with the meta-intention: “This sigil network charges itself continuously through ambient attention”
- Link all sigils conceptually (draw them on same page, visualize them connected)
- Place the robofish where you’ll see it passively (phone wallpaper, workspace, daily journal)
- Every time you glimpse the robofish, it trickle-charges the entire shoal
Automation factor: Once set up, every passive glance maintains the charge. No additional ritual needed. For practical discussion, see Kitchen Toad’s guide to Sigil Shoals.
2. Hypersigils: Embedding Magic in Creative Works
Pioneered by: Grant Morrison (The Invisibles comic series)
Core concept: A hypersigil is an extended artistic work (novel, comic, blog series, video content) that encodes your magical intention across the entire narrative. Morrison describes this process in numerous interviews and writings.
How it works:
- Embed your intention into the plot, characters, or themes of a creative work
- Every reader/viewer becomes an unwitting participant in charging the spell
- The more viral or popular your content becomes, the more power accumulates
- Morrison’s autobiography-as-fiction in The Invisibles allegedly manifested real-life events from the comic
Modern applications:
- TikTok series with hidden sigils in thumbnails or backgrounds
- Blog posts about desired future states (writing reality into existence)
- YouTube videos with sigils embedded in channel art or video frames
- Novel writing where the protagonist’s journey mirrors your actual intention
Automation factor: Every share, comment, view, and re-read feeds the spell continuously. As Peter M. Ball notes, we are all creating unintentional hypersigils constantly.
3. Sigil Bombing & Public Placement
Tradition: Modern Chaos Magic street art adaptation
Core concept: Place sigils in high-traffic public spaces where thousands will see them daily, creating “trickle charge” through ambient exposure.
Placement strategies:
- Sticker campaigns: Sigils on laptop lids, water bottles, street signs
- Digital wallpapers: Free downloads with embedded sigils
- QR codes: Sigils disguised as functional QR codes in urban environments
- Social media profile pictures: Sigil as avatar or banner image
- Clothing & merchandise: Sigils as “designs” on shirts, bags, pins
Community example: One practitioner on r/chaosmagick created sigils, converted them to minimalist designs, and posted them to design subreddits. Thousands of views charged the sigils without anyone knowing their magical purpose.
Automation factor: Once placed, continuous passive charging occurs with zero additional effort.
4. The Ellis Sigil & Linking Techniques (DKMU)
Developed by: Domus Kaotica Magical Users (DKMU) collective
Core concept: A universally-shared linking sigil that connects all practitioners who use it, creating a distributed magical network. The DKMU Godforms document explains the underlying principles.
How it works:
- The Ellis sigil (or LS sigil) serves as a “magical router”
- Draw it alongside your personal sigils to link them to the collective network
- Every practitioner who uses Ellis feeds energy into the entire network
- Your sigil receives charge from hundreds of other practitioners’ work
Modern adaptation: Create a personal linking sigil and share it with your magical community. Every time someone uses it, all linked workings receive charge. See Ellis sigil best practices for practical guidance.
Automation factor: Distributed network charging—you benefit from others’ practices automatically.
5. Meme Magic & Viral Thoughtforms
Phenomenon: Internet meme culture as unintentional mass spell-casting
Core concept: Memes are modern sigils—compressed symbols that spread virally and accumulate massive amounts of attention energy. As memetics theory suggests, ideas replicate and evolve like living organisms.
Magical applications:
- Create intentional memes: Design shareable content with magical intention encoded
- Piggyback existing memes: Add your sigil to trending meme formats
- Hashtag campaigns: Create hashtags as verbal sigils (#ManifestWealth, #SuccessVibes)
- Challenge participation: Embed intention in viral challenges
Historical example: The Pepe/Kek phenomenon during 2016 showed how a meme can become an egregore—a collective thoughtform with seeming autonomous power, charged by millions of unconscious participants. The “Manual to Become Chaos Wizards with Memes” explores this in depth.
Automation factor: Viral spread = exponential charging without your direct involvement.
6. Egregore Creation Through Collective Focus
Tradition: Western esoteric and hermetic traditions
Core concept: An egregore is a collective thoughtform created and sustained by group attention. Once established, it operates semi-autonomously. Modern practitioners have adapted these principles for the digital age.
Creation process:
- Define clear purpose and characteristics for the egregore
- Create visual representation (sigil, mascot, logo)
- Establish feeding mechanisms (daily attention, group rituals, content creation)
- Release it to operate independently toward its purpose
Modern examples:
- Brand mascots: Corporate entities unknowingly create egregores (Ronald McDonald, Tony the Tiger) charged by billions—a phenomenon explored in Logomancy: Brands, Logos, and Sigils
- Online communities: Subreddit cultures, Discord servers, fandom communities create collective thoughtforms
- Political movements: Icons and slogans become egregores charged by mass belief
Personal application: Create a “success egregore” for your creative project. Design a mascot, share it with your audience, and let their engagement feed it. The egregore then works to manifest your project’s success.
Automation factor: Once fed initial attention, egregores become self-sustaining through continued group focus.
7. Technomancy: Code as Spell, Algorithm as Ritual
Emerging tradition: Digital magic for the internet age
Core concept: Computer code, algorithms, and automated digital processes function as magical operations. As The Dark Primordial explores (currently offline, but there is an alternative work here) technomancy represents a digital renaissance of magick.
Practical applications:
- Automated social media posting: Schedule sigil images to post at optimal times for maximum reach
- Algorithmic sigil generation: Create scripts that generate and distribute sigils automatically
- Bot networks: Automated accounts that engage with your content, feeding attention energy
- Smart contracts: Blockchain spells that execute automatically when conditions are met
- Website enchantment: Embed sigils in website code, charged by every visitor’s load time
Example technique: Create a website with your sigil as a 1×1 pixel transparent image. Every page load sends a minuscule charge. Multiply by thousands of visitors = significant accumulated power. Magicdestin’s technomancy guide offers more practical approaches.
Automation factor: Digital automation means 24/7 charging with zero human intervention required.
8. Enchanting Everyday Actions & Linking to Habits
Technique: Passive charging through routine behaviors
Core concept: Link spell charging to actions people already perform daily, creating automatic energy flow.
Implementation methods:
- Doorway enchantment: Place sigil on doorframe. Every passage charges it
- Email signature: Embed minimalist sigil in email signature. Every sent message spreads charge it.
The “Set and Forget” Philosophy
Traditional Chaos Magic emphasizes the importance of forgetting the sigil after charging—releasing it to the unconscious where it can work without interference from doubt or “lust for result.” This principle, first articulated by Austin Osman Spare, remains central to effective practice.
These collective charging methods take this principle further: set up the mechanism, then forget about it entirely. The spell becomes self-sustaining through:
- Viral spread (hypersigils, memes)
- Passive exposure (public placement, digital embedding)
- Network effects (linking sigils, egregores)
- Automation (technomancy, habit linking)
- Collective unconscious participation (millions charging your symbol unknowingly)
Ethical Considerations
Using collective attention without explicit consent raises ethical questions:
- Transparency vs. efficacy: Does revealing magical intent reduce effectiveness?
- Harm prevention: Ensure intentions don’t manipulate or harm unwitting participants
- Reciprocity: Consider what you give back to those who charge your work
- Consent models: Some practitioners argue ambient attention is freely given; others disagree
Most practitioners land on: If the intention benefits yourself without harming others, and the symbol is publicly shared rather than forced upon people, collective charging falls within ethical boundaries.
Conclusion: Magic in the Attention Economy
We live in an era where attention is the most valuable currency. Social media platforms, advertisers, and content creators compete ferociously for every second of human focus. Chaos magicians and technomancers have recognized something profound: this attention economy operates on the same principles as magical energy transfer.
Every view, scroll, like, and share moves energy. Every viral moment creates a temporary egregore. Every brand logo functions as a corporate sigil charged by billions of unconscious participants. The infrastructure for crowd-charged magic already exists—it’s called the internet.
By understanding these principles and applying proven techniques—sigil shoaling, hypersigils, public placement, linking networks, meme magic, egregore creation, technomancy, and habit enchantment—you can create self-sustaining magical operations that draw power from collective attention without requiring personal energy expenditure.