John Aubrey dated his copy of the Latin Key 9 May 1674. Its third book brings together pentacle materials, forms and consecration before a catalogue of coloured figures bearing sacred names. [1]
To terrify spirits and cause them to fall to the earth and obey the invoker.
Aubrey’s four-book copy
The opening page names the work Zecorbeni, or the Keys of Solomon, and divides it into four books: preparations, experiments, pentacles and the arts. Aubrey dates the copy 9 May 1674 and says that his source was written by an Italian in a very good hand. McLean describes the resulting manuscript as 103 folios in Latin and English. [2][1]
The experiments include theft, invisibility, love, dreams, favour, hatred, deceptive appearances and extraordinary operations. The fourth book turns to the conduct of the exorcist and companions, fasting, places, circles and conjurations. Pentacles therefore occupy a book of their own between the experiments and the arts. [2]
Material, form and consecration
Book III first describes metal suited to a planet, engraved with the instrument of the art at that planet’s day and hour. It also permits unused parchment, written with the pen and ink of the art or the substance specified in an exemplar. The material is to be unused, or purified by fire in the case of metal; virgin wax is another possibility, described as less effective. [2]
The form chapter generally calls for circles but also allows pentagons, hexagons and quadrilaterals. Size can vary if the figure remains appropriately formed. The consecration chapter then gives Mercury’s day and hour, a waxing Moon in an air or earth sign, a freshly whitewashed room and prepared writing colours of gold, cinnabar and sky blue. [2]
After writing, the pentacles are wrapped in fine silk. The account continues with incense, a circle, an eastward orientation and a sequence of psalms, then returns the finished objects to their silk covering for storage until use. Its closing heading introduces figures in their proper colours, bearing sacred names and their particular virtues. [2]
The main series and inserted drawings
McLean records forty-one pentacles in the main series. At folio 36v, the first individual notice describes spirits falling to the earth and obeying when its pentacle is shown. Peterson compares it with Mathers’s first Saturn pentacle. [1][2]
Beyond the main series, McLean notes two inserted pentacle drawings and a pentalpha note attributed to Ralph Parkhurst. His description also records a heptagonal figure inside a circle, associated with sacred names of God and angels. English pieces on mirrors, crystal or beryl, conjurations and divining rods follow the Latin Key. [1]
Manuscript description of the Latin and English Aubrey copy. Bodleian MS Aubrey 24 entry: title, date and folio count; Book III and its forty-one pentacles; inserted drawings and concluding English pieces.
McLean records the main catalogue and additional manuscript material.
Latin transcription of Bodleian MS Aubrey 24, with introduction and critical notes. Opening title and date, printed p. 1 (PDF p. 9); contents of Books II–IV, PDF pp. 4–5; Book III, ff. 35r–36v, printed pp. 45–47 (PDF pp. 53–55), including the complete three preparation chapters and first pentacle notice.
The edition records the Latin manuscript text and distinguishes its editorial concordances.
