This is a continuation of my little series on sigils, symbols, and sacred geometry. These are always interesting to me because very simple shapes like circles, triangles, spirals, and intersecting lines can carry a surprising amount of meaning.
9 shapes to symbolize a circle of life
I did some research and realized there isn’t one universal circle of life symbol, but the Ouroboros is probably the closest. From there, the idea quickly connects with other symbols of cycles, creation, growth, and renewal.
I’m also adding some corresponding themes under each symbol. If you’re making a sigil, these can be a useful starting point for choosing a shape that already carries some of the meaning behind your intention.
1. Ouroboros: Cycles and Renewal
The Ouroboros is the snake or dragon eating its own tail. Its meaning is pretty intuitive: the ending returns to the beginning, making it a symbol of eternity, renewal, transformation, and repeating cycles.
I actually used this symbolism before in the Ouroboros Full Moon Crystal Grid, where the serpent’s circle represents the cyclic nature of the universe, growth, and renewal.
Keywords/Themes: rebirth, transformation, renewal, recovery, endings, beginnings, breaking cycles, eternity.
2. Ensō: Wholeness
The Ensō is the simple circle of Zen calligraphy. It isn’t specifically a Circle of Life symbol, but its simplicity makes it useful for expressing wholeness, presence, acceptance, and completeness.
Keywords/Themes: inner peace, acceptance, completion, simplicity, presence, wholeness.
3. Vesica Piscis: Creation
This takes me back to my post on the Vesica Piscis and symbols of creation. Two circles overlap and a new space appears between them. From this very simple construction, more complex sacred geometry can be built.
Keywords/Themes: creation, fertility, relationships, union, new ideas, manifestation, bringing something into existence.
4. Seed of Life: New Beginnings
Keep adding circles and you arrive at the Seed of Life, the smaller structure from which the Flower of Life develops. It also appears in discussions about creating crystal grids, where the Seed of Life is associated with genesis, birth, and new energy.
Keywords/Themes: new beginnings, potential, growth, fertility, creativity, planting intentions, nurturing something new.
5. Flower of Life: Connection
The Seed expands into the Flower of Life, one of the best known patterns in sacred geometry. I used it for a Flower of Life crystal grid because the overlapping circles make it easy to visualize separate things forming part of one larger pattern.
Keywords/Themes: connection, harmony, relationships, community, integration, unity, interconnectedness.
6. Spiral: Growth Through Cycles
A spiral is almost a circle, except that it keeps moving. You return around and around without reaching exactly the same point.
That makes it a useful symbol for the way we revisit experiences and lessons while still changing.
Keywords/Themes: growth, healing, evolution, learning, spiritual development, expansion, introspection, progress.
7. Triquetra: Three Parts of One Cycle
The Triquetra can also be constructed from intersecting circular forms. I explored some of that geometry in my post on the Triquetra and the power of three.
Its three connected sections can represent whatever threefold cycle matters to you: past, present, future; birth, life, death; mind, body, spirit.
Keywords/Themes: continuity, balance, integration, unity, threefold cycles, completion, past-present-future.
8. Triple Moon: Growth, Fullness, Release
The Triple Moon gives us another simple cycle: waxing, full, waning. Growth leads to fullness, fullness leads to decline, and eventually the cycle begins again. The Triple Goddess also reflects this cycle through the Maiden, Mother, and Crone, representing different stages of life and transformation.
Keywords/Themes: personal transformation, lunar work, growth, fulfillment, aging, release, change, life stages.
9. Wheel of the Year: The Circle Turns
Strip away the Sabbat names, colors, plants, and decorations and the Wheel of the Year is basically a circle divided by spokes.
That makes it useful beyond seasonal practice. The spokes can represent turning points, stages, directions, milestones, or different parts of one repeating cycle.
Keywords/Themes: movement, timing, seasons, direction, milestones, completion, transition, life cycles.
Why Does the Wheel Keep Appearing?
What I find especially interesting is how often humans arrive at some version of a circle with spokes.
The Wheel of the Year resembles the Buddhist Dharmachakra, often shown as an eight-spoked wheel.
The Ashoka Chakra on the Indian flag has 24 spokes.
Older solar wheels and sun crosses divide a circle into sections, and some Indigenous traditions use circular Medicine Wheel or Sacred Hoop forms connected with directions, seasons, and cycles.
These symbols do not all come from the same tradition and shouldn’t be treated as interchangeable. But I think the repeated geometry points to something very basic.
A circle is probably the simplest way to show return and recurrence. Once you divide that circle, it can show stages within the cycle. Seasons return. The Sun rises and sets. The Moon waxes and wanes. Life moves through growth, decline, endings, and beginnings.
Maybe the universal part isn’t one particular symbol. Maybe it’s the observation behind the geometry: life moves in cycles.
Using Existing Symbols as Starting Points for Sigils
This is also why I like using older symbols as inspiration instead of always trying to invent a sigil from a blank page. I mentioned this years ago in Sigils, What to do?. You can start with a shape that already expresses part of your intention and then modify it until it becomes personal.
I actually did this for the good luck sigil I made. I started with the circular seal shape, added the Fehu rune for luck, and included a small ankh for eternal life. The finished sigil wasn’t any one of those symbols. They were the ingredients I used to build something specific to my intention.
Here are some other sacred geometry posts which can also be treated as examples or starting points for sigils: Vesica Piscis and the symbols of creation, Metatron’s Cube, the Flower of Life, and Squaring the Circle. I also explored the same idea more directly in Symbols for Intuition and Ideas for Sigil-Making.
Which of these symbols speaks to you the most? 
