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Hexagonal Figure of Solomon

A parchment hexagram worn at the skirt of the white vestment and uncovered before an appearing spirit.

Simple orientation drawing representing Hexagonal Figure of Solomon
Modern orientation drawing—not a reconstruction of a manuscript design.

What the source describes

The Goetia calls this Solomon's 'sexangled' figure. Its central and surrounding names include AGLA, Tetragrammaton, Alpha and Omega, and a Tau-like sign. It is worn low on the white vestment under a linen covering, then shown after the appearance so that, in the text's terms, the spirit takes human shape and becomes obedient.

Historical setting

The Ars Goetia is the first part of the seventeenth-century Lemegeton compilation. Its diagrams and implements belong to that textual setting; attribution to Solomon is part of the work's traditional frame, not a historical authorship claim.

Common uses

The figure is concealed during part of the operation and deliberately revealed at the encounter. That action distinguishes it from a breast lamen continuously displayed and from the Secret Seal used on the vessel.

Form, materials and reconstruction

Sloane 3825 says parchment made from calf skin, though the manuscript's spelling may also allow 'caul'; Sloane 3648 more clearly supports calf. A new linen cloth covers it. Comparable figures occur in Scot, the Book of Oberon, and pseudo-Peter of Abano, but their materials and lettering should not be merged into a single silent composite.

Element: No fixed element

This source does not assign this particular instrument a fixed element. Its materials or effects should not be turned into an elemental correspondence without a named source.

Sources and variations

This six-angled figure is not the five-sided breast figure, the individual spirit seal, or the Secret Seal of Solomon. The Goetia assigns each a separate place and action.

Primary account used here

Lemegeton, Ars Goetia, 'Solomon's Sexangled Figure' ↗

Further references