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The Brass VesselPlanetary and Manuscript Sets
Mars’s seven pentacles move between harm and preservation: illness treated by contact, hostility stirred, victory promised, demons subdued and weapons returned against an attacker. The sequence ends with hail and tempest, around scripture’s damaged vines and fig trees. [1]
Mathers 1889
Invocation of spirits of Mars, especially its written angelic company.
The Key’s healing claim, conditional on application to the afflicted part.
Stirring conflict, resisting enemies and frightening rebellious spirits.
Power in war and the notice’s promise of victory.
Obedience of demons compelled by the figure’s sight and presence.
Protection in combat and the return of an attacker’s weapons against their owner.
Immediate hail and tempest upon uncovering within the circle and invoking the written demons.
| Pentacle | Attributed purpose |
|---|---|
| The 1st Pentacle of Mars | Invocation of spirits of Mars, especially its written angelic company. |
| The 2nd Pentacle of Mars | The Key’s healing claim, conditional on application to the afflicted part. |
| The 3rd Pentacle of Mars | Stirring conflict, resisting enemies and frightening rebellious spirits. |
| The 4th Pentacle of Mars | Power in war and the notice’s promise of victory. |
| The 5th Pentacle of Mars | Obedience of demons compelled by the figure’s sight and presence. |
| The 6th Pentacle of Mars | Protection in combat and the return of an attacker’s weapons against their owner. |
| The 7th Pentacle of Mars | Immediate hail and tempest upon uncovering within the circle and invoking the written demons. |
The first Mars pentacle calls the planetary spirits, with Madimiel, Bartzachiah, Eschiel and Ithuriel around its wheel. The next turns to disease: the Key credits application to the afflicted part with success against illness. Its six-pointed star carries IHShVH, a name Mathers associates with Joshua or Jesus, inside John’s words about life and light. [1]
The third excites war, wrath, discord and hostility, while also resisting enemies and terrifying rebellious spirits. Vau stands among Eloah and Shaddai within nested triangles. The fourth concentrates on victory in war; AGLA fills its centre, inside the Psalm’s scene of kings struck down in wrath. [1]
The fifth is a figure on virgin parchment or paper whose sight compels demonic obedience. Its drawn scorpion carries HVL on four sides; the surrounding verse speaks of treading upon lion, adder and dragon. The sixth gives a different protection: when the bearer is attacked and fights, the aggressor’s weapons turn against their owner. [1]
The sixth’s ray-end lettering is Malachim, the writing of angels, read by Mathers as Elohim’s covering or protection. Psalm 37 surrounds it with the returning sword and broken bow. In the biblical passage, those weapons had been drawn against the poor, needy and upright. [1][6]
The seventh joins El and Yiai within an eight-pointed star and surrounds them with Hebrew and Celestial spirit-name characters. Its notice prescribes virgin parchment or paper, bat’s blood and the day and hour of Mars, followed by uncovering within the circle during invocation. Immediate hail and tempest are the promised result. [1]
Psalm 105 supplies hail instead of rain, flaming fire and ruined vines and fig trees, within an account of signs in Egypt. This destructive storm closes a family that has also promised protection from injury. [1][7]
Iron and red are Mars’s general metal and paper colour in chapter XVIII. The fifth and seventh notices give their own paper prescriptions. Mathers’s preface also warns against blood, although the seventh’s bat’s-blood requirement remains in his printed sequence. [1]
S. L. MacGregor Mathers, 1889; printed edition, including editorial restoration of Hebrew characters. Book I XVIII, printed pp. 63–64; figures 25–31, Plates V–VII (PDF pp. 76, 79, 83); general materials/timing pp. 56–57; Preface p. vi
King James Version, public-domain biblical text. John 1:1–5
King James Version, public-domain biblical text. Psalm 77:11–20
King James Version, public-domain biblical text. Psalm 110:1–7
King James Version, public-domain biblical text. Psalm 91:9–16
King James Version, public-domain biblical text. Psalm 37:12–17
King James Version, public-domain biblical text. Psalm 105:26–36
S. L. MacGregor Mathers, The Kabbalah Unveiled, 1887; primary introduction reproduced by the Internet Sacred Text Archive. Introduction §§65, 67; printed p. 32