I have no idea how or why the octagon shape came about. It just came to me seemingly out of no where but I knew it had to have some meaning behind it.

Thank you for the insight into this symbol. That my “house”, my sanctuary, would be octagon now makes perfect sense.

I opened myself to learn an octagon is the symbol of M.I.T Technology Hackers Association (THA). In their view:

“The eight sides of the octagon represent eight aspects of human endeavor; initially these coincided to some extent with the areas mentioned inside the little dome at MIT: arts, agriculture, science, etc. Whatever specific definition one would like is fine, providing the set covers most of the categories of what people do with their brains. The center of the octagon represents the activity of the generalist, bordered on the edges by the above realms of the specialists. The solid crossbar in the octagon signifies creativity as the unifying element in all of these areas. The small lines paralleling the crossbar are intended to represent the necessity of intellectual discipline to hold it all together.”
(Anyone can expand on this and members are open to input)
http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/bentz/octdesc.html