The Hidden Second Form of the Sigils of the Scales

The Sigils of the Scales form an integral part of the symbol set employed by the Golden Dawn, combining with the Colours of the Scales to help pinpoint specific worlds, powers, and energies. Yet public knowledge of them has been limited, thanks to them being omitted from Regardie's tome, resulting in a major piece of the Order's corpus being left out of many people's work.

So, what are the Sigils of the Scales? Here is an example of them below, from at the back of the Tarot papers of G.D. member M.W. Blackden (dated 7 June, 1899):

(An aside: the Scales of Prince and Princess are sometimes referred to as Emperor and Empress respectively, while the list here names them in relation to the traditional Court Cards. The Prince Scale is also sometimes referred to as the Child Scale, or Scale of the Children of the Forces.)

Like many parts of the G.D. corpus, we do not know their exact origin (indeed, Florence Farr seems to have looked for this elsewhere, at least in relation to the colours, and marked it as "source unknown"). It is likely they were received or skryed symbols via Mathers, Moina, or Westcott, possibly as a more Western replacement for the symbols of the Tatwas.

Ritual N1 (part of "Book T") references the Sigils of the Scales in relation to the Ace of Wands (a reference intact in Regardie's tome), and most original versions of this document depict only the five Sigils in the King Scale "with which alone the Zelator Ad- Min- has to deal" (a note from Mathers).

This, to me, suggests that Mathers intended to unveil the remaining Sigils in subsequent sub-Grades, perhaps Queen Scale in Theoricus Adeptus Minor, Princess Scale in Practicus Adeptus Minor, and Prince Scale in Philosophus Adeptus Minor. 

Thankfully, however, the full set has survived and appears to have been documented by some members who were still ZAM. This suggests that members were not keen to wait for this information (especially since it was required to complete the Tarot deck designs), and it either leaked from higher sub-Grades or was eventually given out by Mathers.

But is this really the full set? Perhaps surprisingly to some, I have discovered historical evidence of a second set of symbols, and personal insight and higher guidance have suggested others.

First, there has been published for a while (by Darcy Küntz) a version of the Sigils from one of Florence Farr's notebooks (which can also be found in another set by J.W. Brodie-Innes) which depicts the Sigil of Fire in the Queen Scale in two forms:

As one can probably see, this is the form of a three-dimensional Tetrahedron, seen from the top in the first form and from the side (showing two sides) in the second form. I have yet to see any discussion on this second form, however, which might suggest that it was largely interpreted by modern readers as being simply an explanation of the former symbol as opposed to another way to draw it.

Things become more interesting when we explore a series of Tarot papers by Brodie-Innes in 1898 (shared by Tony Fuller), where his depiction of the Ace of Wands gives the second form (seen from the side), making it clear that this is actually a usable form of the Sigil.

Much more fascinating, however, is his sketch of the Ace of Swords, which shows a curious symbol in the centre:

An accompanying note reads: "Queen Sigil has 2 forms to indicate solidity[.] It is like a whirl of dust - seen from the side & from above".

Firstly, this confirms in writing that there are "2 forms" for this Sigil (which is also a Queen Sigil, which itself raises questions). Secondly, it adopts the same approach as the Sigil of Fire in the Queen Scale, seeing it from above and from the side. The two poorly drawn scribbles in the rings on either side are the four concentric circles of the Sigil of Water in the Queen Scale (showing the dust whirl from above), while the central figure of four flattened circles is the second form (showing the dust whirl from the side).

This is, to my current knowledge, the only direct textual confirmation of a second form of any Sigil (even the dual Tetrahedron is not directly explained in any text that I have seen). It is curious that both examples are from the Queen Scale, and we see hints at how this may be expanded.

For example, the Sigil of Earth in the Queen Scale is a solid cube, shown in three dimensional form, seen from the side, so as to show three sides. This, being the only other obviously three dimensional symbol besides the Tetrahedron, can easily be seen from other perspectives, and the most simple one is to look at it from above, which would give us a square.

There is a hint to the legitimacy of this second form as a simple square when we see Brodie-Inne's description of the Sigil of Earth in the Prince Scale: "a combination of the above two [a "Hexagram" for King Scale and a "solid cube" for Queen Scale], namely a square charged with the Hexagram". This is also easy to see in the form of the Sigil itself.

In a surviving Tarot drawing of the Queen of Pentacles (often attributed to Westcott, but which is more likely, in my view, to be Moina's, and matches her style), the cubes are shown, but one version of the cube depicts only two sides, not three. More tellingly, however, is the emblem on the front of her crown: a two-dimensional square. 

As Brodie-Innes writes, "The Court cards have each their respective sigil in the front of the crown, and introduced into other parts of the picture, such as on the shape of the Pillars of the thrones and in the sceptres, etc."

Clearly, then, the form given on the crown must be the Sigil, and yet it does not match the three-dimensional form of the cube we are familiar with. This is, to me, further confirmation that there is a second form, and that in this case it is a simple square.

In the form of a solid cube, my work has also suggested that this can be seen in the form of a cube of ice (solidified water, or Water of Earth).

This brings us to the Sigil of Water in the Queen Scale, which clearly shows three sets of waves, each made up of crescents. This to me, is a depiction of waves from above, and thus if we were to look from the side, we would see just one line of crescents, or even, in its most simple form, a single crescent.

Again, there is some supporting evidence for this. In his description of the Ace of Cups, Brodie-Innes references "the Queen Sigil of [Water] (and Silver Crescents)". The fact that he uses "and" here suggests this is a separate symbol, not merely a recognition that there are crescents in the Queen Sigil. 

This is also supported by a surviving Tarot drawing of the Queen of Cups, where a single crescent is given on the belt, separate to the multiple crescents that make up the waves elsewhere (though these are given in different formations compared to the familiar Sigil, which opens up other possibilities).

What, then, do we have for the Sigil of Spirit in the Queen Scale? This symbol of a spiral clearly, to me, depicts a vortex or whirlpool, as seen from above (showing three rings of the spiral or descent). If we look at it from the side, however, we get something like this (this design being my own):

I have limited the vortex to three rings, with the hint of more above and below (which carries its own mystical meaning, especially in relation to a Spirit Sigil).

This completes the Queen Scale, but can this approach be extended to the other Scales? While initially unsure, my own work has confirmed that it can and does. I give one example below, and a few hints at others.

Brodie-Innes describes the Sigil of Water in the Princess Scale as resembling "the splash made by a drop of water falling into water". I would add to this that the enclosing circle suggests a kind of containment, and thus a body of water, such as a pond. Clearly, this is seen from above in this form. However, it is also possible to see this from the side, which can be rendered as follows (my own design):

If we look at the Sigil of Water in the King Scale, showing a cross within an oval within another oval, we find this same symbol in many unpublished versions of the Enochian paper called Ritual X (this symbol being omitted from Regardie), which is referred to the Tree of Life projected in a Sphere. Because a sphere is necessarily a three dimensional object, it is possible to see it from multiple angles, and thus see it, as before, from both above and the side. It also hints at the Sphere of Sensation of a person within an egg, and thus the germ of life (Fire infused into Water).

If we look at the Sigil of Air in the King Scale, which shows a kind of curved triangle within a circle, with a smaller circle within the centre of the latter, the image I received was of a flame flickering in the wind (Fire of Air), with the central circle hinting at a wisp of smoke rising from the flame. The outer circle represents a candle. This can be shown from the side in a second form as follows (again, my own design):

There are many more examples like this, and I may share my full set of second form Sigils in the future.

Another principle that was communicated to me was that the Sigils of the Prince Scale (being the Child of the Forces) are always a combination of the Sigils of the King and Queen Scales. While some of these combinations are obvious (Earth, for example), others are less so, and yet still achieve this. However, all require a new perspective on the symbols.

For example, for Spirit, the spiral of the Queen Scale Sigil can be seen in the Prince Scale Sigil (the coiled bottom of the Lightning Flash), but what about the Pentagram of the King Scale Sigil? As we know from an unpublished Theoricus Adeptus Minor paper ("Treatise on the Dual Potencies"), the Pentagram can be opened out and bent around to form the Lightning Flash. The Prince Sigil, therefore, combines them both.

For Fire, the King Scale Sigil can be seen in the centre of the Hexagram that forms part of the Prince Scale Sigil, but where does this Hexagram come from? The Queen Scale Sigil is instead a Tetrahedron. However, applying the principles we know above, the Hexagram can be seen from another angle and represents the intersection of two Tetrahedrons, and the Prince Scale Sigil thus again combines the symbols of the King and Queen Scales.

For Air, we see the flickering flame symbol of the King Scale Sigil replicated neatly in the centre of the Prince Scale Sigil, but where is the Queen Scale Sigil of four concentric circles? This is not shown directly, but rather hinted at in the edges of the outer curved diamond figure, which is made up of the intersection of four circles (the same four circles of the Queen Scale Sigil).

For Water, we look at the ovals of the King Scale Sigil as being moon-shaped crescents, of which we can derive four (from two ovals), which, when combined with the singular crescents of the waves of the Queen Scale Sigil, give us the rotating symbol of the Prince Scale Sigil (a cyclone or hurricane, Air of Water). Note also the presence of the single crescent inside the inner circle, which is, as we have explored before, the second form of the Queen Scale Sigil.

There is much more that I could say on this, but I think the above is enough to highlight some lesser known aspects of these Sigils (which are themselves already lesser known), how we can approach and work with them, derive new forms and meaning, and honour the approach taken by both the founders and subsequent members in exploring these Symbols.

I should also state that, while Brodie-Innes' papers are marked as "not official", and thus represent at least partly his own ideas, there are indications within them that he consulted the "authorities" of the Order (with Moina and Westcott being named directly, but I believe he spoke also with Mathers) and received corrections to some of his points, which are documented. It is also clear that he had seen Moina's drawings of the cards. Add this to the fact that he ultimately became Mathers' successor, and we must, in my view, take his insights seriously.

As a final note, some might wonder why Regardie omitted the Sigils of the Scales, but it is my belief that he was not aware of them, that they had already been removed from the Tarot material he copied from. This view is supported by the fact that I have seen at least one original copy of Ritual N from the Stella Matutina that omits the King Scale Sigils. Another piece of evidence is the Golden Dawn Tarot deck by Robert Wang, which Regardie consulted on. Wang's clear misinterpretation of what the Sigils of the Scales were for the Ace of Wands (where he gives Sigils from the Rose and Colours from the Scales) suggests Regardie did not understand this point either. 

We must also recognise that the complete set of Sigils of the Scales (and Colours of the Scales, for that matter) was not given out to every ZAM, which means knowledge of them was considerably more limited. They are, however, a vital part of the system, which show up elsewhere, such as Tarot and Enochian work, and other higher Grade teachings.