Assuming that, in general, the elements are ordered in a spiral:
ClearAll[voigtSpiral]
voigtSpiral = Module[{indices = Accumulate[
Join @@ ConstantArray @@@ Transpose[
{PadRight[{{1, 1}, {-1, 0}, {0, -1}}, {Length@#, 2}, "Periodic"],
Range[Length@#, 1, -1]}]]},
Extract[#, indices]] &;
Examples:
array[n_Integer] := Array[Subscript[a, ## & @@ Sort[{##}]] &, {n, n}]
voigtSpiral @ array @ 3 // TeXForm
$\small\left\{a_ {1, 1}, a_ {2, 2}, a_ {3, 3}, a_ {2, 3}, a_ {1, 3},
a_ {1, 2} \right\}$
voigtSpiral @ array @ 6 // TeXForm
$\small\left\{a_{1,1},a_{2,2},a_{3,3},a_{4,4},a_{5,5},a_{6,6},a_{5,6},a_{4,6},a_{3,6},a_{2,6},a_{1,6},a_{1,5},a_{1,4},a_{1,3},a_{1,2},a_{2,3},a_{3,4},a_{4,5},a_{3,5},a_{2,5},a_{2,4}\right\}$
Visualization:
pathGraph = PathGraph[voigtSpiral @ array @ #, DirectedEdges -> True,
VertexLabels -> Placed["Name", Center], VertexLabelStyle -> 20,
ImagePadding -> 20, VertexShapeFunction -> None,
VertexSize -> Scaled[.1], ImageSize -> 350,
VertexCoordinates -> (RotationTransform[-Pi/2] @
(voigtSpiral[array @ #] /. Subscript[_, x__] :> {x}))] &;
Grid[Partition[pathGraph /@ Range[2, 7], 3]]