Pentacle
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A pentacle or pantacle is an amulet used in magical evocation, generally made of parchment, paper or metal (although it can be of other materials), on which the symbol of a spirit or energy being evoked is drawn. It is often worn around the neck, or placed within the triangle of evocation. Protective symbols may also be included (sometimes on the reverse), a common one being the five-point Seal of Solomon. Many varieties of pentacle can be found in the grimoires of Solomonic magic; they are also used in some neopagan magical traditions, such as Wicca.
Owing to their similarity, the words pentacle and pentagram (a five-point unicursal star) are sometimes confused, although their etymologies are different. Adding to this confusion, in the Tarot and in some forms of modern witchcraft, pentacles often prominently incorporate a pentagram in their design.
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[edit] Pentacles as magical objects
Pentacles, despite the sound of the word, had no connotation of "five" in the old magical texts (see etymology). They were, rather, magical talismans inscribed with any symbol or character. When they incorporated star-shaped figures, these were more often hexagrams than pentagrams. Pentacles showing a great variety of shapes and images appear in the old magical grimoires, such as the Key of Solomon; as Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa summarises it, their use was to "fore-know all future things, & command whole nature, have power over devils, and Angels, and do miracles." Agrippa attributes Moses' feats of magic in part to his knowledge of various pentacles.<ref>Agrippa, Heinrich Cornelius (1533). Third Book of Occult Philosophy, part 5. Retrieved on 29 August, 2006.</ref>
A Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy (c. 1565) spuriously attributed to Agrippa gives detailed instructions as to how pentacles should be formulated:
- But we now come to speak of the holy and sacred Pentacles and Sigils. Now these pentacles, are as it were certain holy signes preserving us from evil chances and events, and helping and assisting us to binde, exterminate, and drive away evil spirits, and alluring the good spirits, and reconciling them unto us. And these pentacles do consist either of Characters of the good spirits of the superiour order, or of sacred pictures of holy letters or revelations, with apt and fit versicles, which are composed either of Geometrical figures and holy names of God, according to the course and maner of many of them; or they are compounded of all of them, or very many of them mixt.<ref>Anon. (c.1565). Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy. Retrieved on 29 August, 2006.</ref>
Francis Barrett, in his influential work The Magus of 1801 (Book 2, part 2), repeats these instructions almost verbatim.
Another common design employed in pentacles is a magic square, such as the Sator-Arepo-Tenet square.<ref>As described in S. L. MacGregor Mathers' introduction to The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage.</ref>
In the Golden Dawn magical system, the Earth Pentacle is one of four elemental "weapons" or tools of an Adept. These weapons are "symbolical representations of the forces employed for the manifestation of the inner self, the elements required for the incarnation of the divine."<ref>Regardie, Israel (2003). The Golden Dawn. St. Paul, Minnesota: Llewellyn Publications, p. I:94. ISBN 0-87542-663-8.</ref> Other pentacles for the evocation of spirits are also employed in the Golden Dawn system; these are engraved with the name and sigil of the spirit to be invoked, inside three concentric circles, having painted on their reverse a circle and cross like a celtic cross.<ref>Regardie, Israel (2003). “Z.2”, The Golden Dawn. St. Paul, Minnesota: Llewellyn Publications, p. III:159. ISBN 0-87542-663-8.</ref>
According to Aleister Crowley's instructions for the Ordo Templi Orientis, the pentacle is a disc of wax, gold, silver-gilt or Electrum Magicum, eight inches diameter and half an inch thick; the Neophyte should "by his understanding and ingenium devise a symbol to represent the Universe", and engrave this on the disc.<ref>Crowley, Aleister. Liber A.</ref>
- There is, therefore, nothing movable or immovable under the whole firmament of heaven which is not included in this pantacle, though it be but 'eight inches in diameter, and in thickness half an inch.' Fire is not matter at all; water is a combination of elements; air almost entirely a mixture of elements; earth contains all both in admixture and in combination. So must it be with this Pantacle, the symbol of earth."<ref>Crowley, Aleister. Book 4.</ref>
A pentacle is also employed as a magical tool within Wicca and other modern forms of witchcraft, generally to summon certain energies or command spirits.
 The Second Pentacle of Jupiter, from the Key of Solomon (Clavicula Salomonis). This was found on the body of Anselm, Bishop of Würzburg, on the night of his death in 1749. He was rumored to be an alchemist.<ref>Shah, Idries. The Secret Lore of Magic: Books of the Sorcerors.</ref> |
 The pentacle of the Art, as given in Pietro d'Abano's Heptameron. It is to be drawn on kid-skin parchment on the day and in the hour of Mercury, the Moon increasing. |
 The "First Pentacle of the Moon" from the Key of Solomon. It serves "to call forth and invoke the spirits of the moon, and further serveth to open doors, in whatever way they may be fastened." It is to be drawn in silver or grey. |
 The Earth Pentacle in the Golden Dawn system of magic, one of the elemental "weapons" or tools of an Adept. |
 The Pentacle of the Art as given in a 19th century publication of The Sixth Book of Moses, incorporating characters of the Alphabet of the Magi. |
[edit] Pentacles in the Tarot
In the Tarot the minor arcana are divided into four suits (much like modern playing cards): swords, staves, cups and coins. Following the innovation of Eliphas Levi, many writers on Tarot now call the coins "pentacles", and many decks depict them as discs marked with a pentagram. In this context they represent divinity manifesting in matter.[citation needed]
[edit] Etymology
According to the Theosophical Society's Encyclopedic Theosophical Glossary<ref> The Theosophical Society's Encyclopedic Theosophical Glossary accessed 20 March 2006. </ref> a pantacle or pentacle is
- An amulet, talisman, a geometrical figure so used. There is much confusion as to the derivation of this word, but it seems most likely that it comes through Italian and French from the root pend- "to hang," and so is equivalent to a pendant or charm hung about the neck. From the fact that one form of pentacle was the pentagram or star-pentagon, the word itself has been connected with the Greek pente (five).
In Latin translations (many grimoires first appeared in Latin) the word is pentaculum, which does not refer to five, since the Latin root for five is quinqu-; the words pentacle and pentagram are not from the same language root. Latin pend-, however, is the root to hang, as in suspend, pendulum, appendix.
[edit] Pentacle in mathematics
The term pentacle is used in Tilings and Patterns by Grumbaum and Shepard to indicate a five-pointed star composed of ten line-segments, similar to a pentagram but containing no interior lines.
[edit] References
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