MIPC: The Sigils of Zozie de l'Alba

Note: MIPC stands for Magic in Popular Culture and this is a series of posts in which I take a spell, ritual, belief, formula, or tradition from a work of fiction such as a book, move, tv show, or comic book and analyze it against real world magical beliefs and practices. 

Zozie de l'Alba 

What you need, is a system. 

Zozie de l'Alba, the Lollipop Shoes 

Zozie is the antagonist in the Lollipop Shoes by Joann Harris, which is the first sequel to Chocolat. Overseas this book carried the alternate title of The Girl with No Shadow. There are two additional sequels titled Peaches for Father Francis and The Strawberry Thief. 

Zozie was born in an occult bookstore in London owned by her mother in the 1960's and she's been a lifelong student of metaphysics ever since. Not only is she an evil witch with the power to change her appearance at will and cast powerful spells, but she is also an accomplished con-artist and identity thief. 

Zozie collects identities the way other people collect coins or stamps. For every identity she steals, Zozie adds a new charm to her charm bracelet representing the identity - and life- she has taken. Her criminal career began as a teen when she poisoned some classmates who relentlessly bullied her. Afterward, she burned her mother's book store and fled the country using her mothers' passport and taking their life savings with her. She then traveled the world surviving by her wits and magic leaving a trail of death behind her. All the while she sought to perfect her "system" - a combination of the most effective and reliable magics. 

In France, she learned to analyze a person's character based on their choice of shoes. In India, she learned the skill of seeing and interpreting colors (auras). however, it was in Mexico City that she fell in love with Mayan Culture. It was here that she developed her system of Sigil Magic based on Mayan Gods. These sigils may be drawn in the air, scratched on objects, or written on paper. They may be used alone or combined with other to produce a variety of effects. Even Zozie admits that you don't have to believe in the Mayan Gods to use her sigils, you only need to know what they each mean and be magical yourself in order to successfully use them. 

Commentary 

Sigils, or magic symbols, have a long history in magic. In fact, I filmed a video on Five Ways to Receive a Sigil in which you may be interested. While reading The Lollipop Shoes, I became intrigued by Zozie's sigils. In some cases they are described as symbols and in other cases they are described as hand signs (similar to the fig sign)  or gestures. Some sigils are clearly described such as Lady Blood Moon (a red circle) and Fast Breaker (a Fish) while others are not. Taking this into account,  I sat down to try to think of what they might look like. These are my results: 

Artist's conception, the Sigils of Zozie de l'Alba. ©2017 Carolina Dean

Not only did I strive to create Zozie's sigils, but I also attempted to use them. To my surprise, I found that they actually worked! 

- Carolina Dean