Photo by Magenta
Magickal seals are a kind of diagram or picture that can be used in a magickal context.
Many magickal seals were documented in ancient grimoires. They can be scribed onto an object such as a talisman (or other magickal object) in order to imbue that object with the power associated with the seal. Sometimes seals are drawn as part of a magickal ritual, perhaps to call upon a deity or other spirit.
So planetary seals, like magickal seals, are a kind of diagram as well…but in order to understand what planetary seals are, and their origin, we have to explain a little bit about planetary (magic) squares.
What are planetary squares?
Planetary squares come from maths, but in maths they are called “magic squares”. Ancient scholars from China to Europe used these magic squares for maths and what struck these scholars was that when all the numbers in the rows, columns and the diagonals were added together, they all added up to the same amount. Hence their magicness.
It was Arabic scholars who first attributed the first 7 magic mathematical squares to the 7 known planets (known at the time) and started using them as part of this talismanic, seal magick.
These magic – or planetary – squares of numbers can be used to create seals and sigils in and of themselves as this article explains. But planetary seals, as diagrams designed to imbue the power of the planet, do exist.
Planetary seals
Each of the 7 known planets have their own seal, but because the outer planets were not known in the middle ages when these seals were created, the outer planets don’t have a planetary square or a planetary seal.
The seal is drawn using the planet’s personal magic square. This means, for example, The Seal of the Sun was originally created using the magic square of the Sun. The Seal of the Moon was originally created using the magic square of the Moon and so on.
It was thought at one time that the seals were orginally drawn by ensuring a line cut across each number, ensuring every number in the magic square was used in the diagram’s creation. Although when people have tested this, it doesn’t look like every single number is used in all the seals, but it is true in some cases.
Planetary seal of the Sun
When this seal (drawn properly, unlike our dodgy Google Docs version!) is placed on its magick square, The Seal of The Sun does indeed overlap every number of the magic square of The Sun.
Planetary seal of Mercury
When drawn using its magick square, The Seal of Mercury does overlap every number of the magic square of Mercury.
Planetary seal of Venus
When placed on or drawn using its magick square, The Seal of Venus misses out twelve of the numbers. These are 3, 5, 7, 15, 19, 21, 33, 35, 36, 43, 44, and 47
Planetary seal of the Moon
When drawn using its magick square, The Seal of The Moon does overlap every number of the magic square of The Moon.
Planetary seal of Mars
When placed on or drawn using its magick square, The Seal of Mars misses out numbers 1, 5 and 21.
Planetary seal of Jupiter
When placed on its magick square, The Seal of Jupiter does overlap every number of the magic square of Jupiter
Planetary seal of Saturn
When placed on its magick square, The Seal of Saturn does overlap every number of the magic square of Saturn
Using planetary seals in magick
Calling on the power of the appropriate planet is something we do a lot here at Magenta School of Magick. Using planetary seals is a great way to capture the essence of the planet when working with physical objects.
Before getting started though, it’s worth spending a little bit of time understanding the characteristics of the planets before working out which one would suit the magick the most. We have some high level pointers on each planet’s relative characteristics on our Casting Spells page.
After that the rest is easy. The seal is already created, all that needs to happen is for it to be copied onto a talisman, drawn onto your object (such as a candle or piece of paper) or even drawn in chalk on the floor and objects of focus placed onto the seal.
Timing the magick
To ensure the magick is as impactful as possible, cast a chart for the best time to cast your spell using the planetary seal based on factors such as ensuring the planet is travelling along in a suitable star sign, that the magick is being worked at least in the hour of the planet (if not the hour and the day) and that you’ve factored in whatever the Moon is doing.
Thank you for subscribing. By subscribing you now have premiere access to exclusive content. Do you know someone who would like to enjoy all our free content? Please share this with them and invite them to subscribe too!