Reconstruction of the Veneris Pentacle

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Our friend Andy has done IMO a very good job ! With his conscent I repost his work here; about the corruption of most GKoS Pentacles.

The main source of Pentacles in Western Tradition - books, known collectively as a "Key of Solomon".

The modern reader who is familiar with Western magic, texts "Clavicules" known mostly from the works of Papus and McGregor Mathers. The latter belongs to, it seems, the first compilatory edition of "Greater Key of Solomon", for which he used several manuscripts. Mathers also to be commended not only for the publication of books, but also for trying to understand the many distortions in the inscriptions, formulas and images of Pentacles.

But there are those, of which he wrote that does not know and does not understand what is depicted there. And as you know, that's incomprehensible is usually the most interesting and effective.

One of these relates to the pentacles of Venus (Figure 43 in this volume), and the description is able to arouse love in any particular: "When it is only showed unto any person soever, it inciteth and exciteth wonderfully unto Love."

Mathers’ comments: “Around the central Square are the Names Elohim, El Gebil, and two other Names which I cannot decipher, and have, therefore, given them as they stand. The characters are those of the "Passing of the River." The surrounding Versicle is from Psalm xxii. 14:– "My heart is like wax, it is melted in the midst of my bowels."”

So great Mathers could not decipher these names, but we will make an attempt to reconstruct the talisman, because, in our disposal there is a greater number of available manuscripts and images.

1. Text in a circle, or words of power:

It would seem text is clear: הָיָ֣ה לִ֭בִּי כַּדֹּונָ֑ג נָ֝מֵ֗ס בְּתֹ֣וךְ מֵעָֽי׃

Or without diacritic signs: היה לבי כדונג נמס בתוך מעי׃

However, in most of the manuscripts it is written in Latin: 'Inflammatum est cor meum, et renes mei commutati sunt'.

Translation: Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins.

And this is a quote from another Psalm – 72, 21: 'Quia inflammatum est cor meum, et renes mei commutati sunt'.

Others contain a lengthy quote from the same psalm (often distorted):

'Inflammatum est cor meum et renes mei commutati sunt et ego ad nihilum redactus sum'.

Translation: Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins. So foolish was I, and ignorant:

'I was as a beast before thee'. (Ps.73, 21-22 of KJB).

This is clearly more suitable quote for words that define love with those feelings, which are supposed to be transferred to the object of love, as opposed to text Ps.21.15.

Incidentally, with regard to the text of the words of power, according to the traditions of the Middle and Dark Ages quotations from the Vulgate (Latin Codex of Bible) are more preferable, because it is the sacred language used in the worship of the Western Church, whose priests were fathers of grimoires their selves.

2. Symbol in the center:

The central character – is a seal of Venus, which is composed with a kamea of Venus in manner not usually described from contemporary authors.

Seal is drawn by vertical and horizontal lines between the five points (the principle of the pentagram, and the secondary number of Planet relates to the human world, microcosm of cause).

The sum of these five numbers should result into a secondary number of Planet.

In our example we have:

The Sum that gives the sigil of this form is equal to 13, ie Venus secondary number corresponding to the words of Ahaba - Love.

This number is typical for one of the spelling of a name in Hebrew Venus (Nogah).

13 = 58 = 5 + 3 + 50 = נגה

Two other names too distorted, so in this version of talisman they can not be read.

3. Words around the Seal and the formula of the pentacle:

Names that are arranged around the Seal in this kind of Pentacles formed based on certain rules, which are based on the numerical equivalent of the name (the number of the name).

Firstly, the number of the Name should not be greater than the number of Seal.

Secondly, the number of Names must form an equivalent or a spiral structure.

Equivalent structure implies that the number of each word to one or less coincides with the number of Seal.

Example:

Spiral structure implies that the numbers go counterclockwise from the smallest to largest, leading to the center of the whole structure - the number of Seal.

Example:

Inscriptions around our pentacle written with alphabet, which Agrippa called Transitus Fluvii (passing the river).

Handwritten variant of this alphabet are quite diverse. Therefore, for comparison (from the manuscript Magia Criptographica):

Thus, the two Names around the square, which Mathers was able to read, in Hebrew: אלהים אלגביל

El Gebil (bottom) - Aramaic origin. גביל means something that is mixed, collected together. Meaning of the verb גבי - collect, rake, purify, clean. El Gebil - a "God unites [by purification]."

However, I have not find this Name nowhere else. At least, it is not known to us. Elohim (top) in this context is not the Name of God but the rank of angels corresponding to Sephira Netzach

The number of names:

Elohim: 86 = 14 (in the alphabet "passin the river" there is no final Mem, so the name is not the sum of 646, but 86)

El Gebil: 76 = 13

This, of course, does not fit into the scheme of drawing before for this kind of Pentacles. It is possible that the author of this grimoire experimented with "reverse spiral."

Other names in this example cannot be deciphered or restored, since there is an obvious combination of alphabets, possibly, the subsequent distortion of copyists.

In the next example, characters and the names are similar, but the right word has been replaced by the Elohim.

Figure from Sl. 3091, fol. 65v

And the left word some authors indicate as Adonai. But in this case the numbers of the names are distributed not quite correctly:

	14
11		14
	13

In contrast to the above instances, "Clavicules" which stored in the library of Leipzig, have images that are more readable.

Reconstruction # 1

Figure from a manuscript Clavicula del Salomone re dEbrei Spiegata dallEbreo in Volgare per Rabbi Colorno per ordine di. Sua A. S. il Duca di Mantova in Anno 1453.

Word Above:

תצלם = 560 = 11

Anagram verse of Deuteronomy (Devarim) 33.4: "Moses commanded us a law, even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob.." used by Kabbalists for the acquisition of masculinity

Full anagram MlVT (תצלממקי)

The word at the bottom:

אליבה = 48 = 12

Anagram verse of Psalm 116.9: I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living.

אתהלך לפני הי בארצות החיים =

1413 = 9

HBYLA

The word on the left:

אדני = 65 = 11

God's name, translated as "Lord" (literally, Lords of mine). YnDA

This makes sense, especially if you remember that earlier in the manuscript at this point it occurred.

The word on the right:

Word written with symbols "Passing the river", but the penultimate letter is of the usual Hebrew - he. Usually, the combination of alphabets alludes to deliberately wrong spelling, coding. This is typical for the pentacles, which the author has decided to distort, because they seems to have a real effect.

Familiar with tradition to understand. So we have something like: גודהל

The sum of the word - 48 = 12

I do not know the meaning of the word. Maybe it's the name with permutation of letters Gedulah (second designation Chesed): גדולה HLEDG

But by the logic of the talisman, we have two acronym and one Name of God. The forth has to be some divine name. If it is encrypted, the only thing that comes to mind is the name Gadiel. Vav and Heh (the letter, which is written in Hebrew and indicates a simple point of distortion) have amount of 15, and if replace them with a pair of Yod-Aleph, we get the same number 15. Name of an angel

גדיאל LAYDG

However, Gadiel - a great angel, who does not have a planetary correspondence. In Heptaméron of Peter d’Abano the Great Angel of Friday is Dagiel. Only one transition of letters else: LAYGD

And numerical values fit perfectly into a spiral shape of Pentacle: