Sun meaning
The alchemical sun is a circle with a dot, the sign for gold and for the metal that does not tarnish. It is also the planet. Astronomical and alchemical uses share the mark on purpose.
The center, and the metal that does not tarnish.
The name. A circle with a point. Gold, Sunday, the heart.
Where it comes from
In the old sky the sun is one of seven wanderers, lord of Sunday and of gold. The glyph is not a sunburst. It is a point in a circle: center made visible. Alchemists used it as lab shorthand for the metal and, in the spiritual reading that later esotericism preferred, as the perfected state the work aims at. Practical metallurgy and mystical chrysopoeia share a sign and are not the same shift in the workshop.
Alchemy
Two uses, one circle
If the text is weighing gold, the sign means gold. If the text is describing the end of a soul’s heating, the sign means completion, the heart, a king. Collapse these and you will misunderstand both the recipe and the prayer. Sigilla will not collapse them for you.
Astrology
What the other six answer
The septenary is a court. The sun is why there is a court. Moon reflects it, Mercury carries for it, Saturn limits it. That political picture is how premodern people organized the lights. It is not yet modern astronomy, and it is not trying to be.
Near this
Sources
- Early modern planetary glyphs: sun for gold, a circle with a point
Named when the entry depends on a text, a date, or a standard. Catalog numbers are not invented.
Your margin
Private. It stays in this browser and never joins the canon.
symbol.wiki, edited as Sigilla. Last reviewed 2 October 2026. A reading of public tradition, not a ruling.