- What the Seal of Sitri Actually Is
- Where the Seal Originates (Dated Sources)
- How Is the Seal of Sitri Constructed?
- What Are the Ritual Uses of the Seal of Sitri?
- How Does the Seal of Sitri Compare to Other Love Sigils?
- What People Get Wrong About the Seal of Sitri
- What Are the Common Misconceptions About the Seal of Sitri?
The Seal of Sitri is the engraved sigil of the 12th Goetic spirit, a Prince of Hell who governs love, passion, and the drawing of hearts together. The practitioner uses it to focus intent, mark the boundary, and present a request that the spirit can read at a glance. The seal is drawn last, not first—three deliberate strokes on virgin parchment, set at the western edge of the triangle of art.
What the Seal of Sitri Actually Is
The seal belongs to Sitri, a spirit listed as the 12th in the Ars Goetia, the first book of The Lesser Key of Solomon (compiled in the mid‑17th century from earlier manuscripts such as the Lemegeton). Johann Weyer (1515‑1588) had already cataloged Sitri in his Pseudomonarchia Daemonum as a Prince who “causeth men to love women, and women to love men, and also to strip them naked if desired.” In the Goetia, Sitri appears “at first in the likeness of a Leopard with wings, but after the command of the Exorcist he putteth on the form of a man, and that very beautiful.” His rank is Prince, and he rules spirits of the East under the dominion of King Amaymon.
The seal itself is a composite of intersecting lines, loops, and points. Each element corresponds to a letter in Sitri’s name, arranged according to the rules of angelic and demonic sigil construction laid out in the Ars Paulina and Ars Almadel. The seal is not arbitrary. It is a cryptographic signature that identifies the spirit and binds the practitioner’s request to a specific authority.
Where the Seal Originates (Dated Sources)
The earliest surviving version of Sitri’s seal appears in the manuscripts of the Lemegeton from the 17th century, notably Sloane MS 3824 and Sloane MS 2731 in the British Library. The design is consistent across these texts, though minor variations exist in the thickness of lines and the placement of the central cross. Samuel Liddell Mathers (1854‑1918) published the first English edition of the Goetia in 1904, with redrawn seals that became the standard for modern ceremonial magic. Aleister Crowley edited that edition and added his own invocations.
Before Mathers, the seal had been copied in grimoires by hand for centuries. Practitioners were instructed to draw the seal on virgin parchment using a black ink made of soot, gum arabic, and rainwater. The material was not optional. The parchment had to be cut from a lamb’s skin, and the ink mixed under a specific lunar phase (waxing for love work, waning for binding). Most modern magicians substitute paper and standard ink, but the old rules remind us that the seal was never just a picture. It was a contract drafted in a sacred material.
How Is the Seal of Sitri Constructed?
The seal of Sitri is built around a central cross that divides the design into four quadrants, representing the four elements and the four directions. Sitri governs the East, so the upper‑right quadrant often contains the largest loop. The loops themselves are called “houses” in the Ars Paulina, and each one corresponds to a celestial hour. The number of points in the seal (commonly seven) links Sitri to Venus, the planet of love, which is also his planetary correspondence in the Heptameron tradition.
The overall shape resembles a stylized heart if turned sideways. That is not accidental. Goetic seals often encode the spirit’s function in the flow of the lines. The cross anchors the spirit to the material plane; the loops represent the binding of wills. When you draw the seal, you are not copying a picture. You are tracing the path of contact.
What Are the Ritual Uses of the Seal of Sitri?
The seal serves three functions in ritual: it identifies the spirit, it focuses the practitioner’s will, and it provides a target for the spirit to manifest upon. The specific steps vary by tradition, but the core logic is consistent.
Evocation in the Triangle. The most common method: draw the seal on a square of parchment, consecrate it with a brief prayer or a statement of intent, and place it inside the triangle of art at the west point. The triangle is the boundary of manifestation. The spirit appears in the triangle, not outside it. The seal serves as the address. Without it, the spirit has no reason to come.
Talismanic use. Some practitioners create a talisman by wearing the seal on the body during the ritual window (usually a Wednesday, hour of Venus). The seal is drawn on a piece of silver or a copper plate, then wrapped in white silk and carried for a day. The goal here is not evocation but attraction: the seal acts as a beacon that draws affection toward the wearer. This method appears in the Calendrier Magique of Pierre de Lasenic (1900‑1944), who adapted Goetic seals for personal practice.
Meditation and visualization. The seal can be used as a focus for entering a trance state. Stare at the seal for three minutes with the lights low, then close your eyes. The afterimage will shift. The loops begin to move. This technique is described in the works of Franz Bardon (1909‑1958) for contacting elemental spirits, but it works equally with Goetic seals. The seal becomes a door: the more you memorize its lines, the faster you can reconstruct it in your mind’s eye during a ritual.
Sitri’s Seal Compared to Other Love‑Related Goetic Seals
How Does the Seal of Sitri Compare to Other Love Sigils?
Sitri is not the only spirit of love and desire in the Goetia, but his seal is unique in its geometry. Compare it with the seal of Sallos (19th spirit, a Duke who “causeth love between men and women”). Sallos’s seal is more angular, with sharp points, and lacks the heart‑like loops of Sitri’s. In practice, Sallos is called when love is desired between two specific people, while Sitri is invoked to draw passion or lust more generally. Sitri’s seal also shares design motifs with the seal of Zepar (16th spirit, who “causeth women to love men”), but Zepar’s seal contains a triple curve that Sitri’s does not. A thorough comparison of seals reveals that each spirit’s function is not only named but drawn into the geometry.
Another useful comparison is with the planetary seal of Venus from the Key of Solomon (Book II, Chapter 12). That seal is a six‑pointed star with the planetary symbol of Venus at the center. Goetic seals evolved from the same Renaissance tradition, so the visual language overlaps. Sitri’s seal uses the same elements (cross, loops, points) but rearranged to match the spirit’s name. Knowing this helps a magician read any unknown seal in the Goetia by recognizing the building blocks.
What People Get Wrong About the Seal of Sitri
The common error is treating the seal of Sitri as a talisman of the love — the spirit’s office of the attraction read as the charm of the romance. Sitri, the twelfth spirit, appears as the leopard with the wings of the griffin, and his office is the causing of the love and the desire — but the seal is the focus of the evocation, not the automatic charm, and the working requires the ritual and the operator. Another useful comparison is with the planetary seal of Venus, whose correspondence is sometimes read onto the seal of Sitri: the comparison is suggestive, but the seal of Sitri is the signature of its own spirit, read within the system of the Goetia, not the planetary system.
What Are the Common Misconceptions About the Seal of Sitri?
The seal is not a toy. Some online sources treat it as a “love charm” that can be printed from a computer and rubbed for luck. The historical texts require consecration through ritual preparation. The seal without a triangle is just ink. The seal inside a consecrated triangle is a working key.
The seal does not require blood. Not in any of the primary sources. Weyer’s entry mentions that Sitri strips people naked, but the seal itself is drawn on parchment or metal, not on skin. Blood offerings appear in later corruption texts (the Grimorium Verum, 18th century), but the Ars Goetia does not mention them. A practitioner who uses blood does so outside the original tradition.
Drawing the seal incorrectly will not summon a different spirit. The letters might be off, but the seal still anchors Sitri’s energy. The risk is more practical: the spirit may not manifest clearly, or the connection may be weak. No one should fear that a wrong line will call something else. The seal is not a password that misfires; it is a signature and a visual pattern. If the pattern is recognizably Sitri’s, the spirit will respond.
FAQ
Can the seal be used without the triangle of art? Yes, for talismanic or meditative purposes. For full evocation, the triangle is recommended because it contains the manifestation.
What if the seal is drawn too small? The size matters less than the proportions. A seal drawn on a 2‑inch square works as well as one on a 6‑inch square, provided the lines are clear.
Is it necessary to memorize the seal? Not strictly, but practitioners report faster results when they can recall the seal mentally during the ritual. Memorizing it also helps with visualization.
The seal of Sitri is one of the more visually distinctive Goetic sigils, and its function is direct. Whether used for evocation in the triangle, as a talisman for attraction, or as a meditation focus, it works within the same procedural logic that has governed ceremonial magic for four centuries. For a deeper look at how Goetic seals are constructed and named, see our guide to Goetic sigil design. To understand where the triangle of art comes from and how to set it up, read our article on evocation circles. And for the full catalog of spirits, visit the demonology and goetia hub.