ONE STROKE

Dictionary of Occult – Hermetic and Alchemical Sigils

Index of Sigils

MY AIM IN CONSTRUCTING THIS INDEX has been to reduce a vast number of the more frequent sigils to a formal clessification which will facilitate identification, and thus supplement in a useful way the entries within thin Dictionary.

Towards this end, I have reduced some 5,000 sigils to small distinctive groups on the basis of a two Eold division. The first division is based on a count of strokes comprising the sigils – a division loosely allied to the character count favoured by the Chinese lexicography – whilst the second division is based upon salient ‘recognition features’ within the sigils themselves. By this two fold division a very large number of sigils has been reduced f by a fair graphic logic, to groups which may be presented in the space of approximately two pages – indeed, in most cases, within the space of one page only.

My first division is in terms of character strokes. The sigils have been divided according to the number of strokes {straight lines, curves, circles, and so on) which give them their distinctive* forms* For example, the following three sigils are each different forms for MERCURY :

A simple count of the number of strokes underlying these three forms reveals each slqil to belony to a different primary class, thus :

equals which gives THREE STROKES

equals which gives FOUR STROKE

equals which gives FIVE STROKES

A curved loop is counted as THREE STROKES, on the grounds that it consists of an enclosure with two arms, thus :

Because of this, a sigillic form for MERCURY such as would be counted as consisting of FIVE STROKES, on the following basis :

equals which gives FIVE STROKES.

In practice, one must be careful to distinguish such a ‘three stroke’ loop from the form which is in fact actually made up from two strokes, one being a straiqht line, the other a curve. Similarly, the three stroke 1 must be distinguished from the form which is made up from the small circle and the curve, thus :

What may at first appear to be a somewhat complex matter, proves in fact to be very simple. Anyone who wishes to Identify an unknown sigll, in order to find the relevant entry in the Dioticmary, must first count the number of strokes from which the sigil is constructed, suppose, for example, one wishes to seek the identity and meaning of the three sigils :

The first consists of the constituents :

The second consists of the constituents :

The third consistS of the constituents :

Accordingly, one would therefore seek the forms (and hence the identity) of each of these three sigils in the columns ranged under the prime class of FOUR STROKES.

By means of this prime division, only five groups are established.
It proved inpracticable to extent the Index beyond the limits of sigillic forms constructed from more than five strokes. However, the very large number of sigils included within such limitations require a further basis of division to make them manageable. I have accordingly adopted a subdivision based on salient recognition principles, which reduce these groups considerably.

The basis of this subdivision is a recognition of the individual images themselves. For example, if we examine once more the three forms given above – – we must observe that what they have in common is a structure based on three straight lines producing an enclosure of some form or other. If, therefore, we seek to identify these three sigils, we need only look under the prime classification of FOUR STROKES, and under the subdivision Three straight lines producing an enclosure, on page 379 and we should be able to identify these three forms. By means of this identification it should be possible for us to discover the corresponding name which will refer us to the actual entry within the body of the Dictionary.

relates to OIL OF TARTAR

relates to LIME OF EGGSHELL

relates to SATURN

Within the respective entries of the Dictionary, further information relating to meaning, source, and so on, will be found.

This second basis of division, by salient recognition principles, has led to the following groupings, alongside which I give here two examples to help in identification of the class.