The Seal of Purson is the engraved or drawn symbol that grants the magician authority over the great king Purson, a spirit of the Goetia who commands twenty-two legions and knows all hidden things. Create it correctly, and you hold the door. Create it carelessly, and the door stays shut. This guide covers the exact design, materials, consecration methods, and common mistakes that break the seal.
What Is the Seal of Purson?
The Seal of Purson is a specific geometric emblem assigned to the spirit Purson in the Lemegeton Clavicula Salomonis (the Lesser Key of Solomon), compiled in the mid-seventeenth century. It consists of a central circle containing a cross with four smaller circles at the cardinal points, surrounded by an outer ring of characters and sigils. The seal functions as the spirit’s signature and its binding. Without it, the magician has no authority to command. With it, Purson is compelled to appear and answer truthfully.
The seal is not interchangeable. Each of the seventy-two spirits of the Goetia has a unique seal, and using the wrong one is considered worse than using none at all. The seal of Purson specifically governs spirits of music, divination, and the discovery of treasures both material and hidden.
Where Does the Seal of Purson Come From?
The earliest known appearance of Purson’s seal is in manuscript copies of the Lemegeton dating to the 1640s. The most famous version appears in S.L. MacGregor Mathers’s 1904 edition of The Goetia: The Lesser Key of Solomon, which he compiled from several seventeenth-century manuscripts held in the British Library. Mathers, a co-founder of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, standardized the seals into the form most modern practitioners use.
But the seal’s lineage is older than the Lemegeton. The design draws on medieval Jewish angelic seals found in the Sefer Raziel HaMalakh (thirteenth century) and the Clavicula Salomonis (fourteenth century). The cross within a circle, the surrounding characters, and the use of planetary squares all derive from Solomonic magic, which itself absorbed elements from Greek magical papyri and Babylonian incantation bowls.
The seal of Purson specifically incorporates the planetary influence of Mars. Purson is classified as a king of the Goetia, and his seal bears the martial geometry of iron and fire. This is not stated in the grimoire explicitly, but the seal’s angular lines and cross-heavy structure align with Mars-ruled sigils in the planetary magic tradition.
What Does the Seal of Purson Symbolize?
The seal operates on three levels: geometric, planetary, and functional.
Geometrically, the central cross divides the circle into four quadrants, representing the four cardinal directions and the four elements. The four smaller circles at the cardinal points echo the fixed signs of the zodiac. This is the magician’s claim to universal authority: the seal declares that Purson answers not to local spirits but to the structure of creation itself.
Planetarily, the Mars influence appears in the angular, aggressive lines of the outer ring. Where other Goetic seals use flowing curves (Paimon’s seal, for example, is all arcs and crescents), Purson’s seal is sharp. The characters around the rim are not arbitrary. They are derived from the Kamea of Mars, the magic square of five-by-five numbers that governs war, iron, and cutting. Practitioners who work with Purson for martial purposes often note that the seal feels hot to the touch after consecration, a sensory detail reported in the Golden Dawn’s internal documents.
Functionally, the seal is a binding contract. The spirit’s name is encoded in the seal’s geometry. When the magician draws it, they are not creating a symbol. They are recreating the spirit’s essential form. This is why the grimoire insists on exact reproduction. A seal with a missing line is not an incomplete seal. It is a different seal entirely, and it may call something that is not Purson.
How to Create Your Own Seal of Purson
The method depends on the tradition you follow. We describe the three most common approaches, from the strict Solomonic method to the modern practical one.
The Solomonic Method (Traditional)
This is the method described in the Lemegeton and practiced by the Golden Dawn. It requires:
- A brass or virgin parchment plate. Brass is preferred because it is associated with Mars. Virgin parchment means a sheet that has never been used for any other purpose.
- A steel engraving tool or a quill pen with black ink made from soot and gum arabic.
- A compass and ruler for exact geometry.
- A consecrated space with a circle drawn on the floor.
The process:
- Engrave or draw the seal on a Tuesday (Mars’s day) during the hour of Mars. The planetary hours are calculated from sunrise, not midnight. A planetary hour calculator is essential.
- Begin at the center. Draw the cross first, then the four circles at the cardinal points. Then the outer ring of characters, working clockwise from the top.
- As you draw, recite the conjuration from the Lemegeton: “I conjure thee, O Spirit Purson, by the Seal of thy Creation, that thou appear before me in a fair and human form.”
- After the seal is complete, fumigate it with frankincense and myrrh. Pass it through the smoke three times.
- Place the seal on your altar under a black cloth for twenty-four hours before first use.
The traditional method is exacting. One mistake means starting over. The brass plate cannot be reused for another seal.
The Parchment Method (Simplified)
Most modern practitioners cannot engrave brass. A common alternative is to draw the seal on virgin parchment using a steel-nibbed pen and black ink. The parchment can be purchased from art supply stores. The ink should be handmade if possible: soot scraped from a lamp, mixed with gum arabic and distilled water. Commercial India ink is acceptable if no alternative exists.
The geometry must still be exact. Use a compass to draw the outer circle. The inner cross must bisect the circle at exactly ninety degrees. The four smaller circles must be equidistant from the center and from each other. The outer characters must be drawn in the order given in the grimoire, not rearranged for aesthetics.
The Digital Method (Controversial)
Some practitioners now create seals using vector graphics software and print them on parchment. This is debated. Traditionalists argue that the act of drawing is itself a magical operation, and that a printed seal lacks the magician’s personal energy. Others point out that the grimoire tradition already allowed for seals to be copied by scribes, and that the intent matters more than the tool.
Our position: a printed seal can work if it is consecrated properly. But the consecration must be more intense. The seal must be traced with a wand or finger while reciting the conjuration, effectively redrawing it energetically. A printed seal that is simply placed on an altar without activation is inert.
Consecration is what turns a drawing into a seal. Without it, you have a picture of a seal. With it, you have a working magical tool.
The traditional consecration involves:
- Purification: Sprinkle the seal with consecrated water while saying, “Be thou cleansed of all impurity.”
- Fumigation: Pass the seal through the smoke of frankincense, myrrh, and a small amount of sulfur. The sulfur is Mars-specific.
- Charging: Hold the seal in your dominant hand and visualize it glowing with red light. See the lines become fire. Say the spirit’s name nine times: “Purson, Purson, Purson, Purson, Purson, Purson, Purson, Purson, Purson.”
- Sealing: Wrap the seal in black silk and store it in a wooden box dedicated to Purson alone.
The consecration should be done at night, preferably during a waning moon for binding work or a waxing moon for revelation work. Purson answers to both, but the intent changes the timing.
Wrong Planetary Hour
The most common error. Practitioners draw the seal at a convenient time rather than calculating the hour of Mars. This produces a seal that is technically correct but energetically dead. Use a planetary hour calculator. They are freely available online.
Incorrect Proportions
The outer ring of characters must be evenly spaced. Many modern reproductions compress the characters to fit the circle, distorting their proportions. The original manuscripts show the characters extending slightly beyond the circle’s rim. This is intentional. The seal is not contained by the circle. It reaches outward.
Using the Wrong Material
Brass is ideal. Copper is acceptable. Silver and gold are inappropriate for Mars spirits. Parchment should be from a lamb or goat, not cow. The animal’s sacrifice matters in the Solomonic tradition, and cow parchment is associated with lunar spirits.
Skipping Consecration
A seal drawn but not consecrated is a drawing. It has no authority. The consecration is not optional. It is the step that binds the spirit to the symbol.
Purson’s seal is often confused with the seal of Balam (the 51st spirit) because both use a central cross. But Balam’s cross has curved arms, while Purson’s is straight. The outer characters also differ. Balam’s seal uses Hebrew letters. Purson’s uses a script that resembles Enochian but is actually a corrupted form of the Theban alphabet.
The seal of Purson is also one of the few Goetic seals that includes four distinct circles at the cardinal points. Most seals use dots or small crosses. The circles indicate Purson’s rank as a king. Kings of the Goetia receive circles. Dukes receive dots. This hierarchy is consistent across all seventy-two seals.
FAQ
Can I use the Seal of Purson for protection?
No. The seal is for summoning and binding, not protection. Using it as a protective talisman may attract Purson’s attention without a containment structure. Use the Seal of Solomon for protection instead.
Do I need to be initiated to use the seal?
No. The Lemegeton does not require initiation. It requires preparation, purification, and exact execution. Initiation into a tradition like the Golden Dawn may help, but it is not necessary.
What if I make a mistake while drawing the seal?
Start over. Do not correct the line. A corrected seal is a corrupted seal. Burn the incorrect drawing and begin again with fresh materials.
The Seal of Purson is not a symbol you collect. It is a tool you build, consecrate, and use. The act of creating it is the first act of the working itself. For more on the seventy-two spirits and their seals, see our guide to demonology and Goetia. For the specific conjuration and offerings used with Purson, read how to summon Purson. And for the symbols of related spirits, visit the glossary of Goetic seals.