Jupiter’s vision pentacle is credited with the ladder Jacob saw reaching heaven. Its lettered star, however, sits inside Ezekiel’s words about opened heavens beside the Chebar—a meeting of two biblical visions that Mathers tried to reconcile. [1]
Mathers 1889 · Book I, chapter XVIII; printed p. 62; figure 22, Plate V; plate PDF page 76
Source reproduction The 5th Pentacle of Jupiter: recombined Ezekiel letters within the longer opened-heavens verse. Mathers 1889, Plate V, figure 22; notice on p. 62.
Jacob’s dream and the pentacle’s claim
The fifth Jupiter notice promises assured visions and says that Jacob, armed with this pentacle, beheld the ladder reaching heaven. Genesis 28 describes his dream during a night on the journey toward Haran: a ladder rises from earth to heaven, angels ascend and descend, and the Lord promises land, descendants and protection. The Key adds the pentacle to this story. [1][2]
Five words, twenty-five letters
A six-pointed star has a horizontal line across its centre and further subdivisions at the lateral tips. Hebrew letters occupy the internal fields and spaces outside. Mathers derives them from the last five words of the surrounding verse, each containing five letters, and says they are recombined into mystical names. [1]
Those five Hebrew words are נפתחו השמים ואראה מראות אלהים: the heavens opened and the speaker saw visions of God. El is visibly present in the upper central field, with three Mem letters below; other groups fill the points and side compartments. [1][4]
Ezekiel’s river and Mathers’s proposed shortening
The outer verse comes from Ezekiel 1:1, where the speaker is among captives by the river Chebar when the heavens open. The next verses locate Ezekiel in the land of the Chaldeans during Jehoiachin’s captivity. This setting belongs to Ezekiel’s account, long after the patriarchal story of Jacob. [1][3]
Mathers recognises the chronological difficulty and proposes using only the five final words. That would remove the captives and Chebar from the inscription, leaving the general statement about opened heavens and divine visions. The printed plate retains the longer verse. [1]
S. L. MacGregor Mathers, 1889; printed edition, including editorial restoration of Hebrew characters. Book I, chapter XVIII; printed p. 62; figure 22, Plate V; plate PDF page 76; Complete Jupiter notices and notes, printed pp. 61–63 (PDF pp. 74–75, 80); general Book I VIII pp. 39–41 and XVIII pp. 56–57
