“English magical sigil, 16th century. Sigils are occult symbols written in geometric and other stylised pictorial forms. They are used by magicians in order to increase their power, either in determining the outcome of a magical practice, or in the naming and control of spiritual entities. The Lesser Key of Solomon is a famous example of a list of sigils associated with the 72 princes of the hierarchy of Hell. Dee’s application of these devices was, however, entirely benign and the mathematically intriguing six-pointed star, the hexagon, was imprinted on his ‘Seal of God’, which is now in the British Museum. This metal sigil dates from the same period and was found in the Devil’s Dyke, Cambridgeshire. It was given to the Ashmolean Museum by Sir Francis Palgrave in the nineteenth century and later transferred to the Museum of the History of Science. (Included here by kind permission of the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford)”
