A kamea (from the Hebrew word for amulet) is a magickal number square in which all rows, columns, and diagonals sum to the same total. Each of the seven classical planets has its own kamea, which serves as a matrix for generating planetary sigils and as a focus for planetary energy.

How are planetary sigils derived from kameas?

A sigil is drawn by plotting a path on the numbered grid of the kamea, connecting the digits of a planetary name or spirit name as they appear when the Hebrew letters are converted to their numerical values. The resulting line drawing carries the energetic signature of that name.

Where do I find the original planetary seals?

The primary historical source is Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa's "Three Books of Occult Philosophy" (1531), Books II and III, which contain the kameas, the planetary seals, and the spirits and intelligences associated with each planet.

Can I use a planetary kamea without a full ceremonial practice?

Yes. Many contemporary practitioners copy or draw a kamea onto paper, metal, or parchment during the appropriate planetary hour and day, use it as a focus for meditation or intention, or incorporate it into a talisman alongside other planetary symbols.

Planetary Seals and Kameas | Grimoire

Planetary seals and kameas are among the most precise and elegant instruments in the Western ceremonial magick tradition. A kamea is a magickal number square, a grid in which every row, column, and diagonal sums to the same number, each one uniquely structured for one of the seven classical planets. The seals derived from these squares are the signatures of planetary spirits, drawn by tracing a numeric path across the grid according to the numerical value of a name in Hebrew letters. Together, the kamea and its seals form a complete symbolic language for working with planetary force.

The system has been in continuous use since the Renaissance and remains central to modern Solomonic, Hermetic, and contemporary ceremonial practice. Even practitioners who work primarily in folk magick often incorporate these squares as concentrated planetary foci when constructing talismans.

History and origins

The magickal number square appears in Babylonian mathematics and in Indian and Chinese traditions as a curiosity of pure number. Its formal integration into Western ceremonial magick appears in the work of Jewish Kabbalists and was transmitted to Renaissance Europe through the Arabic scholastic tradition. The fullest and most influential treatment for magickal purposes is Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa”s “Three Books of Occult Philosophy,” completed around 1509 and published in 1531. In Book II, Agrippa presents the kamea (he uses the Hebrew term) for each of the seven classical planets, their associated spirits and intelligences, and the seals derived from each.

The number squares Agrippa records are:

Saturn: 3x3, rows sum to 15, total 45
Jupiter: 4x4, rows sum to 34, total 136
Mars: 5x5, rows sum to 65, total 325
Sun: 6x6, rows sum to 111, total 666
Venus: 7x7, rows sum to 175, total 1225
Mercury: 8x8, rows sum to 260, total 2080
Moon: 9x9, rows sum to 369, total 3321

These squares, and the seals derived from them, passed into the grimoire tradition through the “Key of Solomon,” “The Goetia,” and numerous manuscript and printed sources, eventually reaching the Golden Dawn and then modern Wicca and ceremonial practice.

In practice

Practitioners engage with planetary seals and kameas in several ways.

Talisman-making is the primary traditional use. A talisman is constructed during an appropriate planetary hour on the planet”s ruling day (Saturn on Saturday, Jupiter on Thursday, Mars on Tuesday, the Sun on Sunday, Venus on Friday, Mercury on Wednesday, the Moon on Monday). The kamea is drawn or engraved on material linked to the planet: lead for Saturn, tin for Jupiter, iron for Mars, gold or gilt for the Sun, copper for Venus, mercury-associated metals or glass for Mercury, silver for the Moon. The relevant seals and the names of the planetary intelligence and spirit are added, and the talisman is consecrated in planetary incense smoke.

Sigil derivation using the kamea provides a personalised tool. To draw a sigil for a specific purpose, the practitioner takes the Hebrew name of the desired spirit or of a quality associated with the working, converts each letter to its number using the traditional gematria values (Aleph=1, Beth=2, and so on through the Hebrew alphabet), and then connects those numbers in sequence on the appropriate kamea. The resulting shape is the sigil.

Meditative focus is a less formal use: sitting with a drawn or printed kamea during planetary hours and focusing on the qualities of that planet draws its influence into the practitioner”s awareness and work.

The seals themselves

Distinct from the kamea-derived sigils, each planet also has a traditional seal, a fixed symbol reproduced across grimoire sources. These seals are considered the signatures of the planetary archangels or ruling spirits themselves. The seal of Jupiter, for instance, appears in numerous manuscripts as a specific geometric figure, distinct from any sigil one might derive using the kamea. Both the fixed seal and the derived sigil may be incorporated into a single talisman.

Working with this system rewards sustained study of Agrippa”s original text or one of its reliable modern commentaries. The squares themselves are freely available, and their mathematical elegance is not incidental: it is part of the philosophical claim that number, the underlying structure of the cosmos, is the medium through which planetary force operates.

In myth and popular culture

Magic squares have a much older and broader history than their specific use in Western planetary magick. The Lo Shu square, a 3x3 magic square in which all rows, columns, and diagonals sum to fifteen, appears in Chinese legend connected to Emperor Yu”s observations of a sacred tortoise emerging from the Yellow River; the square was understood to encode the fundamental patterns of the cosmos. This is the same 3x3 magic square assigned to Saturn in Agrippa”s planetary system, a convergence that has fascinated historians of mathematics and occultism alike, though the two traditions appear to have developed independently.

Albrecht Dürer”s engraving “Melencolia I” (1514) features a 4x4 magic square prominently displayed in the upper right corner of the composition. Dürer”s square is Jupiter”s kamea in a specific arrangement, and its inclusion in an engraving devoted to the melancholic Saturn-ruled temperament has been interpreted as a talisman against Saturnine gloom: the Jovial square incorporated to counteract the heaviness of Saturn”s influence. The engraving is one of the most analyzed works in Western art history, and the magic square remains a focal point of scholarly discussion.

The seal of Solomon, a hexagram surrounded by divine names that appears on hundreds of amulets across Jewish, Islamic, and Christian traditions, draws on the same tradition of inscribed protective symbols that the planetary seals represent. While not itself a kamea-derived sigil, the seal of Solomon is related in function and shares many manuscript contexts with the planetary seals, appearing alongside them in grimoire collections.

In contemporary fiction, the planetary kameas and seals appear in Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke, which draws extensively on the British grimoire tradition. The television series “The Secret Circle” and various occult-themed films have used magic squares and geometric seals as visual shorthand for authentic ceremonial magic practice.

Myths and facts

Several misconceptions about planetary seals and kameas circulate in both popular and practitioner writing.

A common belief holds that the number 666 associated with the Sun”s kamea (the total of all numbers in the 6x6 square) refers to the Biblical “number of the beast.” In the Agrippan planetary tradition, 666 is simply the solar total, a mathematical property of the square and a marker of the Sun”s energy; the association with Revelation 13:18 is a coincidence that has generated more confusion than the mathematical fact warrants.
Some practitioners assume that the planetary seals were channeled or received from spirits and have a magical authority separate from their mathematical structure. In the historical tradition, both the fixed seals and the kamea-derived sigils are human constructions based on mathematical and alphabetic systems; their power in the tradition derives from their correct construction and consecration, not from a supernatural origin.
Many beginners believe that a kamea needs to be reproduced exactly in every detail to function. While accuracy is important, the tradition allows for handwritten reproduction on appropriate materials and does not require printed or mechanically perfect versions; the practitioner”s attention and correct construction during an appropriate planetary hour are the operative factors.
It is frequently stated that magic squares are a Western invention. Magic squares appear independently in Indian mathematics, Chinese cosmology, and the Islamic mathematical tradition, and were integrated into Western ceremonial magick through Arabic scholastic sources rather than invented by European magicians.
A widespread assumption holds that the seals and kameas are interchangeable, the same thing under different names. They are related but distinct: the kamea is the numbered grid; sigils are derived from it by tracing a path through the numbers; the fixed seals are separate symbolic figures transmitted across grimoire sources without derivation from the kamea”s number sequence.