Pentacle

A pentacle (or pantacle in Thelema [Crowley, Aleister. "Liber CLXV". Available [http://www.hermetic.com/crowley/libers/Liber165.pdf here] . Accessed 21 June 2007.] ) 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 form of the Seal of Solomon, called a "pentacle of Solomon" or "pentangle of Solomon". [OED, Second Edition, 1989] 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, alongside other magical tools.

The relationship between the words "pentacle" and "pentagram" (a five-point unicursal star) is unclear. The Oxford English Dictionary (Second Edition) treats the two as apparently synonymous, but notes that the actual history of "pentacle" is obscure. In an extended use, many magical authors treat them as distinct. In many tarot decks and in some forms of modern witchcraft, pentacles often prominently incorporate a pentagram in their design.

Pentacles as magical objects

"Pentacles", despite the sound of the word, often had no connotation of "five" in the old magical texts, but were, rather, magical talismans inscribed with any symbol or character. When they incorporated star-shaped figures, these were more often hexagrams than pentagrams.fact|date=February 2007 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. [cite web |last=Agrippa |first=Heinrich Cornelius |authorlink=Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa |url=http://www.esotericarchives.com/agrippa/agripp3e.htm |title=Third Book of Occult Philosophy, part 5 |year=1533 |accessdaymonth=29 August |accessyear=2006]

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. [cite web |last=Anon. |year=c.1565 |url=http://www.esotericarchives.com/agrippa/agrippa4.htm#chap6 |title=Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy |accessdaymonth=29 August |accessyear=2006]
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. [As described in S. L. MacGregor Mathers' introduction to "The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage".]

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." [cite book |last=Regardie |first=Israel |authorlink=Israel Regardie |title=The Golden Dawn |pages=p. I:94 |year=2003 |location=St. Paul, Minnesota |publisher=Llewellyn Publications |id=ISBN 0-87542-663-8] 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. [cite book |last=Regardie |first=Israel |authorlink=Israel Regardie |title=The Golden Dawn |pages=p. III:159 |chapter=Z.2 |year=2003 |location=St. Paul, Minnesota |publisher=Llewellyn Publications |id=ISBN 0-87542-663-8] 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. [cite book |last=Crowley |first=Aleister |authorlink=Aleister Crowley |title=Liber A |section=The Pentacle] :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. [cite book |last=Crowley |first=Aleister |authorlink=Aleister Crowley |title=Book 4]

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. [Farrar, Janet and Farrar, Stewart. "The Witches' Way" (1984) (published as Part 2 of "A Witches' Bible", 1996) Custer, Washington, USA: Phoenix Publishing Inc, p.20. ISBN 0-919345-92-1]

Method of employment

In many old grimoires dealing with magical evocation, the pentacle is described as being hung about the neck, providing protection and authority to the operator. Trithemius has the magician donning the pentacle just before casting the protective circle::Then taking your ring and pentacle, put the ring on the little finger of your right hand; hang the pentacle round thy neck; (Note, the pentacle may be either wrote on clean virgin parchment, or engraven on a square plate of silver and suspended from thy neck to the breast)... [Johannes Trithemius, [http://www.esotericarchives.com/tritheim/trchryst.htm "The Art of Drawing Spirits Into Crystals"] . Retrieved 2007-01-18.]

One version of the "Key of Solomon" mentions both a "Great Pentacle" which is drawn in a book, as well as a collection of other pentacles which are drawn in ink on separate pieces of parchment for use as amulets::Thou shalt preserve them to suspend from thy neck, whichever thou wilt, on the day and hour wherein thou wast born, after which thou shalt take heed to name every day ten times, the Name which is hung from thy neck, turning towards the East, and thou mayest be assured that no enchantment or any other danger shall have power to harm thee. [Rabbi Abognazar (translator from Hebrew to Latin), [http://www.esotericarchives.com/solomon/l1203.htm "The Veritable Clavicles of Solomon"] . Retrieved 2007-01-18.]

The pentacle is of central importance in the evocation of spirits. A fairly typical evocation involves a series of conjurations of increasing potency, each involving the display of the pentacle::... If they then immediately appear, it is well; if not, let the master uncover the consecrated pentacles which he should have made to constrain and command the spirits, and which he should wear fastened round his neck, holding the medals (or pentacles) in his left hand, and the consecrated knife in his right; and encouraging his companions, he shall say with a loud voice:::Here be the symbols of secret things, the standards, the ensigns, and the banners, of God the conqueror; and the arms of the almighty One, to compel the aerial potencies. I command ye absolutely by their power and virtue that ye come near unto us, into our presence, from whatsoever part of the world ye may be in, and that ye delay not to obey us in all things wherein we shall command ye by the virtue of God the mighty One. Come ye promptly, and delay not to appear, and answer us with humility.:If they appear at this time, show them the pentacles, and receive them with kindness, gentleness, and courtesy; reason and speak with them, question them, and ask from them all things which thou hast proposed to demand.:But if, on the contrary, they do not yet make their appearance, holding the consecrated knife in the right hand, and the pentacles being uncovered by the removal of their consecrated covering, strike and beat the air with the knife as if wishing to commence a combat, comfort and exhort thy companions, and then in a loud and stern voice repeat the following conjuration: ... [ [http://www.esotericarchives.com/solomon/ksol.htm "The Key of Solomon"] . Retrieved 2007-01-18.] Once the spirit has appeared and been constrained, the pentacle is covered again, but is uncovered whenever demands are made of the spirit or when it is compelled to depart.

In the Golden Dawn system, the pentacles are not suspended from the neck, but wrapped in a cloth covering; instead of a "pentacle", the magician wears fastened to their breast a "Lamen", which serves among other things as a magical shield.Fact|date=February 2007

Pentacles in the Tarot

In the Tarot, the minor arcana are divided into four suits (much like conventional playing cards): swords, staves, cups and coins. Following the innovation of Eliphas Levi, many writers on Tarot divination now call the coins "pentacles", and many decks depict them as discs marked with a pentagram. In this context they represent the element earth or divinity manifesting in matter.Fact|date=February 2007

Etymology

The Oxford English Dictionary gives the history of the word as obscure, but suggests an apparent derivation from the Greek prefix penta- (five) combined with the Latin suffix -culum (diminutive). An Italian word "pentacolo" appearing in 1483, is used to refer to 'any thing or table of five corners'."Oxford English Dictionary", 2nd Edn. (1989) "pentacle".] Mixed formations like this are not uncommon in medieval Latin.

The Oxford English Dictionary also offers an alternative possible derivation from the Middle French word "pentacol" (1328) or "pendacol" (1418), a jewel or ornament worn around the neck (from "pend-" hang, "à" to, "col" or "cou" neck). [Godefroy, M. "Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française" VI 88/1 (1328-1400).] This is the derivation the Theosophical Society employ in their glossary:

:...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). [The Theosophical Society's [http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/etgloss/pa-peq.htm "Encyclopedic Theosophical Glossary"] accessed 20 March 2006.]

A current draft Third Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary gives only the derivation "penta" + "culum", and defines it as a pentagram, especially enclosed in a circle; a talisman inscribed with such a shape; or any similar magic symbol; "pentacle" and the Middle French "pentacol" are considered separate and unrelated words. [Oxford English Dictionary, draft revision, September 2005.]

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.

Pentacle approved as religious symbol on soldiers' tombstones

After a ten year legal battle, the circled pentagram (referred to as a pentacle by applicants and the court case) was added to the list of 38 approved religious symbols to be placed on the tombstones of fallen service members at Arlington National Cemetery on 24 April 2007. The decision was following 10 applications of families of fallen soldiers who practiced Wicca. The government paid the families the $225,000 dollars to settle their pending lawsuits. [cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/23/wiccan.grave.ap/index.html|title=Wiccan symbol OK for soldiers' graves|author=Associated Press|publisher=CNN.com|date=2007-04-23|accessdate=2007-04-23] [cite web|url=http://www.cem.va.gov/cem/hm/hmemb.asp|title=Burial and Memorials: Available Emblems of Belief for Placement on Government Headstones and Markers|publisher=United States Department of Veterans Affairs|accessdate=2007-04-24|date=2007-04-23]

References

External links

* [http://www.symbols.com/encyclopedia/29/2914.html Symbol 29:14 — Pentagram inscribed in a circle] — Symbols.com