Dr. John Dee was a 16th century English astrologer who served as a key adviser to Queen Elizabeth I. Although Dee did not invent the concept of the Monad- essentially referring to singular authority, intellect or “Godhead” (the word’s root, “mono”, is a strong indicator of these ideas)- in 1583 he created this representative symbol by combing the visual indicators for a number of other significant phenomena:

POINT WITHIN A CIRCLE: astronomical symbol for the sun

HALF-CIRCLE/CRESCENT: indicative of the moon

EQUAL-ARMED CROSS: representative of the four elements (fire, earth, air and water)

DOUBLE CURVE: alchemical symbol for fire (Aries, the first sign of the zodiac, is aligned with the element of fire)