The Latin notice gives a sudden response to the displayed pentacle: spirits fall to the earth and obey the person invoking them. Peterson associates its letter square with the first Saturn pentacle in Mathers. [1]
Bodleian MS Aubrey 24 · Folio 36v; Peterson’s edition, printed p. 47 (PDF p. 55), Latin notice and note 62.
Pentacle profile
Tradition and Group
Latin Solomonic tradition · Bodleian MS Aubrey 24 [1]
Position within the Set
Folio 36v, after the chapters on material, form and consecration. [1]
Attributed Purpose
To terrify spirits and cause them to fall to the earth and obey the invoker. [1]
Design
A square of four divine names in Hebrew letters, with a circular verse; Peterson compares it with Mathers’s figure 11.
The short notice at folio 36v describes the pentacle as especially effective at terrifying spirits. Once it is shown to them, they immediately fall to the earth and obey the person invoking them. [1]
The notice follows three chapters concerned with the material, form and consecration of pentacles. At the end of that preparation, the text describes the sacred figures as depicted in their proper colours, inscribed with the holy names of God and furnished with their virtues. [1]
The names and the Saturn comparison
Peterson’s note records four names in the square’s Hebrew lettering as IHVI, ADNI, IRAH and AHIH. It identifies the circular verse as Psalm 71:9, whose Latin words describe bowing before him and enemies licking the earth. The note gives a direct concordance with Mathers’s figure 11. [1]
In Mathers’s edition, figure 11 is the first pentacle of Saturn. Its notice says that spirits submit and kneel when it is shown. His editorial note prints the four names as IHVH, ADNI, IIAI and AHIH, and identifies the surrounding verse as Psalm 72:9. His preface specifies that he uses English psalm numbering. [1][2]
Latin transcription of Bodleian MS Aubrey 24, with introduction and critical notes. Book III, ff. 35r–36v: material, form and consecration, printed pp. 45–47 (PDF pp. 53–55); the f. 36v pentacle notice and note 62 on printed p. 47.
The edition records the Latin manuscript text and distinguishes its editorial concordances.
S. L. MacGregor Mathers, 1889; printed edition, including editorial restoration of Hebrew characters. Book I, chapter XVIII, first Saturn pentacle, figure 11 and editorial note, printed pp. 58–59 (PDF pp. 65 and 68); preface p. viii (PDF p. 7), psalm numbering.
