Seed of Life
Make the seed of life symbol at an exact size: seven circles of the same radius, one in the middle and six round it, each passing through the middle. Start from one of our 14 designs: the classic seed in a ring, the six-petal rosette or all 12 petals filled in two colours, the centres and crossings marked, a bold colouring page, a light grey tracing sheet, a page of eight compass construction steps, a stencil with the 12 petals as cut-outs and bridges of the width you choose, or a sheet of small seeds. Set the circle radius in inches or centimetres on US Letter or A4 and download a PDF, 300 DPI PNG or SVG. Nothing is uploaded.
100% private — everything runs in your browser. Everything runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
Print at 100% (Actual size). The six outer circles are centred on the first one at exact 60° steps, so each passes through the middle; every petal edge is a 60° arc of one of the seven circles.
Seed of life
Lines and colours
Size and paper
Runs in your browser with our own code: nothing you choose is uploaded or saved. The drawings are our own. You may use what you make here, including commercially, with no credit needed.
How to make and print a seed of life
- Pick a design: classic, rosette, all petals, colouring, tracing, steps, stencil or a sheet of small seeds.
- Choose the ring, the fill and whether to mark the centres and crossings; turn it 30° if you want a petal pointing sideways.
- Set the circle radius (r) in inches or cm; the whole figure is 4 r across.
- For a stencil, set the bridge width between the cut-outs.
- Download the PDF and print at 100% (Actual size); check the 1 in (or 2 cm) bar.
What you can use it for
- Learning to draw the seed of life with a compass
- Colouring pages and art lessons on circles and symmetry
- Cutting a stencil for walls, fabric or cards
- Laser or vinyl cutting from the SVG
- Tattoo and design layouts at an exact size
- A starting grid for mandalas and rosettes
The 14 seed of life designs
| Design | Ring | Fill | Layout | Extras |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seed of life in a ring (7 circles) | Ring (2 r) | Lines only | One figure | – |
| Seed of life, no ring | None | Lines only | One figure | – |
| Six-petal rosette filled | Ring (2 r) | Six inner petals | One figure | – |
| All 12 petals filled, two colours | Ring (2 r) | All 12 petals | One figure | – |
| Centres and crossings marked | Ring (2 r) | Lines only | One figure | Centres and crossings |
| Colouring page: bold outlines | Ring (2 r) | Lines only | One figure | – |
| Tracing sheet: light grey lines | Ring (2 r) | Lines only | One figure | Light grey |
| Gold on navy | Ring (2 r) | Six inner petals | One figure | – |
| Turned 30° (petal to the side) | Ring (2 r) | Six inner petals | One figure | – |
| Construction steps (compass only) | Ring (2 r) | Lines only | Construction steps | – |
| Stencil: 12 petal cut-outs, 2 mm bridges | Ring (2 r) | Lines only | Stencil | 2 mm bridges |
| Stencil, wide 3 mm bridges | Ring (2 r) | Lines only | Stencil | 3 mm bridges |
| Sheet of small seeds (0.5 in radius) | Ring (2 r) | Lines only | Sheet of small figures | – |
| Largest on US Letter (radius 1.875 in) | Ring (2 r) | Lines only | One figure | – |
All are our own drawings. Each design is a starting point: change the ring, fill, colours, line width, radius and paper.
The points of the seed of life
| Points | How many | Distance from the middle | Lies on |
|---|---|---|---|
| O (the middle) | 1 | 0 | all six outer circles |
| Centres C1 to C6 | 6 | 1 r | the middle circle and the two neighbouring outer circles |
| Outer crossings Q1 to Q6 | 6 | 1.7321 r (√3 r) | two neighbouring outer circles |
| Ring touch points T1 to T6 | 6 | 2 r | one outer circle and the ring |
Every point is worked out from the circles, not placed by eye. Our tests check that each point is on every circle listed for it, and that every crossing of two of the seven circles is one of these points.
The 12 petals
| Petal | How many | Edges | Where | Area |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inner petal (six-petal rosette) | 6 | 2 arcs of 60° | From the middle to a centre | 0.1812 r² |
| Outer petal | 6 | 3 arcs of 60° | Between two centres and an outer crossing | 0.5236 r² |
Areas are in units of the circle radius squared and are checked against a numeric measurement of the drawn shape. Fill the inner petals for the six-petal rosette, or all 12 in two colours.
Construction steps
| Step | What you draw | Circles so far |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Draw a circle of radius r round the middle point. Keep the compass at this setting. | 1 |
| 2 | Put the point on the circle (here at the top) and draw a second circle: it passes through the middle. | 2 |
| 3 | Put the point where the new circle crosses the first one and draw the next circle. | 3 |
| 4 | Move to the next crossing on the first circle and draw circle 3. | 4 |
| 5 | Move to the next crossing on the first circle and draw circle 4. | 5 |
| 6 | Move to the next crossing on the first circle and draw circle 5. | 6 |
| 7 | Draw the sixth circle: it closes the ring of six petals (the seed of life). | 7 |
| 8 | Open the compass to 2 r (from the middle to the far edge of any circle) and draw the ring: it touches all six outer circles. | 7 + ring |
Each step adds to the one before and the last step is the whole figure; on the printed page the earlier lines are grey and the new one is dark.
Sizes
| Paper | Largest radius, portrait | Largest radius, landscape | Largest radius, portrait (cm) |
|---|---|---|---|
| US Letter | 1.875 in | 1.658 in | 4.76 cm |
| A4 | 1.816 in | 1.6 in | 4.61 cm |
| Circle radius r | Across (4 r) | Outer crossing from the middle (√3 r) | Inner petal area |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.5 in (12.7 mm) | 2 in (50.8 mm) | 21.997 mm | 29.2213 mm² |
| 1 in (25.4 mm) | 4 in (101.6 mm) | 43.9941 mm | 116.885 mm² |
| 1.5 in (38.1 mm) | 6 in (152.4 mm) | 65.9911 mm | 262.9913 mm² |
| 1.875 in (47.625 mm) | 7.5 in (190.5 mm) | 82.4889 mm | 410.9239 mm² |
Stencil bridges
| Bridge | Smallest radius, seed of life | Smallest radius, vesica piscis |
|---|---|---|
| 1 mm | 3.7321 mm | 1 mm |
| 2 mm | 7.4641 mm | 2 mm |
| 3 mm | 11.1962 mm | 3 mm |
| 5 mm | 18.6603 mm | 5 mm |
Below these radii the cut-outs would vanish at that bridge width. Every cut-out is a single shape and the sheet left over stays in one piece.
History of the seven-circle pattern
Seven overlapping circles, with the six-petal rosette (hexafoil) inside, are an old pattern: one is carved on the threshold of an Assyrian palace at Dur-Sharrukin (7th or 6th century BCE), others are in Roman mosaics such as those at Herod’s palace (1st century BCE), and the rosette is common in alpine folk art of the 17th and 18th centuries (source: Wikipedia, Overlapping circles grid, read 12-Nov-2026). This page is about the geometry only: we make no claims about meanings, energy or health.
Which tool to use
| You want | Use |
|---|---|
| The seven-circle seed of life, its petals, steps or a stencil | Seed of Life |
| The 19-circle flower and the larger grids | Flower of Life |
| Two circles and the √3 : 1 lens | Vesica Piscis |
| Thirteen circles joined by 78 lines | Metatron’s Cube |
| Your own symmetric mandala | Mandala Maker |
To design your own symmetric pattern, try the Mandala Maker; for tiling star patterns, the Islamic Geometric Pattern Generator; to cut any picture as a stencil, the Stencil Maker.
What prints
| Download | What is in it |
|---|---|
| The page at real size, vector: circles, petals, lines, points and labels, with a 1 in (or 2 cm) check bar | |
| PNG 300 DPI | The page as a picture |
| SVG | The page at real size, with fills, circles, lines, ring and points in separate groups (for cutting machines and drawing programs) |
More free tools
Drawing with a compass?
Geometry and pattern tools that run privately in your browser, with no sign-up and no watermark.
Frequently asked questions
What is the seed of life?
Seven circles of the same size: one in the middle and six whose centres sit on the middle circle, 60° apart. Each of the six passes through the middle point and through the centres of its two neighbours, so the overlaps make a six-petal rosette inside the middle circle and six more petals round it.
How do I draw it with a compass?
Draw a circle and keep the compass at that setting. Put the point anywhere on the circle and draw a second circle. Put the point where the new circle crosses the first and draw the next; go round until there are six. For the ring, open the compass to twice the radius. The Construction steps design prints all eight steps on one page.
How big is it?
The whole figure is 4 r across: twice the circle radius each way, because each outer circle reaches 2 r from the middle. The ring round it has radius 2 r and touches all six outer circles. The Sizes table gives the largest radius for each paper.
What are the petals?
Inner petals are the six lens shapes inside the middle circle, from the middle point to each centre. Outer petals are the six curved triangles outside it, between two centres and the crossing beyond them. Every petal edge is a 60° arc of one of the seven circles.
How does the stencil work?
The 12 petals are the cut-outs. Each one is shrunk by half the bridge width on every edge, so the strip left between any two cut-outs is at least the bridge you set, and no piece of the sheet is cut loose. If the bridges are too wide for the radius, the tool says so.
How is this different from the Flower of Life tool?
Our Flower of Life page draws the 19-circle flower and its bigger versions, with the seed as one of its starting points. This page is only the seven-circle seed, with its petals as shapes you can fill or cut, the points marked, its own compass steps and a stencil.
Is the drawing exact?
Yes. The centres are worked out at exact 60° steps, every crossing is computed, and each petal is made of arcs of the seven circles; our tests check them to a billionth of the radius. The PDF is vector, so it prints sharp at any size.
Is anything uploaded?
No. The figure is drawn by JavaScript in your browser. Nothing you choose is sent anywhere or saved when you close the page.
Is it free?
Yes. There is no sign-up, no watermark and no limit.