The Pentacles

The 5th Pentacle of Venus

A verse about a heart melting like wax surrounds this love-attraction figure. Its square carries special-script names, two of which Mathers left undeciphered; merely showing the pentacle is said to excite love. [1]

Mathers 1889 · Book I, chapter XVIII; printed p. 67; figure 43, Plate X; plate PDF page 92

Pentacle profile

Tradition and Group: Mathers 1889 · Venus [1]
Position within the Set: Pentacle 5 · figure 43 · plate X [1]
Attributed Purpose: When shown to any person, to incite and excite love. [1]
Design: A square surrounds two circles and an angular central character, with Passing of the River names outside its sides and Psalm 22:14 around the rim. [1]

A square contains two circles and an angular, rectangular-topped central character. Special-script groups line its outer sides; a Hebrew verse runs around the enclosing circle beneath a six-pointed star. — **Source reproduction** The 5th Pentacle of Venus: partly deciphered Passing of the River names within Psalm 22’s melting-heart verse. Mathers 1889, Plate X, figure 43; notice on p. 67.

Love excited by showing

The last Venus pentacle is said to incite and excite love when it is shown to a person. The condition is stated broadly—any person—and the notice emphasises the force of the attraction. Unlike the fourth’s command to come immediately, this notice describes love being aroused. [1]

A square and partly unread names

Two concentric circles sit within a square, around a central angular character with a rectangular upper part and descending strokes. More characters run along the square’s outside edges. The outer Hebrew verse lies in a separate circular band, topped by a six-pointed star. [1]

Mathers identifies the edge characters as Passing of the River writing. He reads Elohim and El Gebil among the names but cannot decipher two others, which he reproduces as they stand. [1]

A melting heart in a lament

The circumference draws from Psalm 22:14: “My heart is like wax, it is melted in the midst of my bowels.” In the psalm, the image belongs to an anguished description of the body: the speaker is poured out like water, the bones are out of joint, and strength is drying away. [1][2]

Sources and editions

The Key of Solomon the King · The 5th Pentacle of Venus
S. L. MacGregor Mathers, 1889; printed edition, including editorial restoration of Hebrew characters. Book I, chapter XVIII; printed p. 67; figure 43, Plate X; plate PDF page 92; complete Venus sequence pp. 66–67; general chapter XVIII materials/timing pp. 56–57
Psalm 22:12–18 · A heart like wax in a lament
King James Version, public-domain biblical text. Psalm 22:12–18

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