Seven mysterious

planetary pentacles
Or a history of transmission of seven talismans
through texts.

Originally published on 21.10.2018 on

https://studies-vartejaru.blogspot.com/2018/10/seven-
mysterious-planetary-pentacles.html

1
 In the ”Key of Solomon” as published today in numerous
editions with a multitude of textual sources we are used to find a
number of pentacles and talismans, listed by their planetary
affinities.

Not all these figures were not in the oldest manuscripts of

the text, but were later adopted by scribes to either
supplement the lack of figures that the text mentions and did not
keep from previous sources, or to add to the visual arsenal of the
manuscript they were compiling and make it even more
”complete”, as they would consider it. The modern compilations
and reworkings (Raphael, De Laurence, Hockley, Papus) were
not included in the present study, my main goal being to
research their transmission in the manuscripts, the only
exception being the Calendarium Magicum.

Source 1:
Les Vraies Clavicules du Roi Solomon par Armadel (
Ms. Lansdowne 1202)
The manuscript (1) contains many visual discordances, spelling
errors and the drawings are not executed by a very talented
hand. Our pentacles appear once, as a complete series and some
appear before them, with explanations. The transcription was
checked with Joseph Peterson`s excerpts of the text, the
translations are my own. The second series contains three
figures, but only the two relevant to our study were isolated. The
figures are coded VCA.

2
VCA1: Saturn

VCA2: Jupiter
3
VCA3: Mars

VCA4: Venus
4
VCA5-6: Saturn
5
VCA7-8: Jupiter

6
VCA9-10: Mars

7
VCA11-12: Sun

8
VCA13-14: Venus

9
VCA15-16: Mercury

10
VCA17-18: Luna
11
 Sources 2 and 3
Les Veritables Clavicules de Salomon(Ms.
Lansdowne 1203 and BNF Ms.Fr.25314)
I believe one of these very beautiful manuscripts, possibly
Lans.1203 (2) to be the source of Lansdowne 1202 presented
above. The script is concise and clear, with very few mistakes,
and the figures are executed by a very talented artist that took
great care to lay down the lines and letters perfectly, which can
hardly be said of the scribe of Lans.1202. The explanations,
which are more detailed than 1202, were checked against one
another (generally BNF lacks some details in Lans.) The figures
are supplied from the BNF manuscript (3), which were clearer,
but identical. The figures are coded VCS.

VCS1: Saturn, BNF.103, LANS.118

12
CS2: Jupiter, BNF.105, LANS.123

CS3: Mars, BNF.111, LANS.127

13
CS4: Sun, BNF. 96, LANS.113

CS5: Venus, BNF. 97, LANS.

14
CS6: Mercury, BNF. 99, LANS.117

CS7: Moon, BNF. 127, LANS.142

15
 Source 4
Perpetual Card: Vaticinia Varia
(UPenn Ms. Codex 1196)

This very interesting manuscript, generously offered by the

Penn State University Library (4), clearly draws upon the
printed Magical Calendar: although it does contain detailed
accounts of using the wheels for divinatory purposes, it does not
contain any further details on the origin or use of the talismanic
figures. The date might be far younger than the cited 1688, but I
have no expert data regarding the age of the paper, watermark or
palaeographic evidence.

The drawings are neatly (but not perfectly) executed by a

talented artist, with a free line that defines forms quite easily.
For the sake of clarity, the artist placed the magical squares of
the last three talismans on the following page. The figures are
coded VV.

16
VV1-2: Saturn
p.127

17
VV4-5: Jupiter
p.128

18
VV5-6: Mars
p.129
19
VV7-8: Sun
p.130
20
VV9-10: Venus
p.131
21
VV11: Square of Venus
p.132

22
VV12-13: Mercury
p.133
23
VV14: Square of Mercury
p.134

24
VV15-16: Luna
p.135

25
VV17: Luna
p.136

26
 Source 5
Calendarium Magicum
Popularised by Joseph Peterson (5) with a few excerpts and
completely published by Adam McLean (6), this 17th century
engraving contains a wealth of synthesized data from various
sources, unfortunately all uncited. I extracted the pentacles from
the high definition scan of the copy kept in the Bibliothèque
Nationale de France under the mark GED-5082 (7).

CM 1-2: Saturn
27
CM 3-4: Jupiter
28
CM 5-6: Mars
29
CM 7-8: Sun

30
CM 9-10: Venus

31
CM 11-12: Mercury

32
CM 13-14: Moon

33
 Source 6
Calendarium Magicum Manuscript Source
(Harley Ms. 3420)

Dated to 1614, British Library Manuscript

Harley 3420 (8) was identified by Carlos Gilly
as being the source of the printed engraving (9).
As I do not possess the entire manuscript, in
order to check the numbering, I will refer to the
pages as they appear in the images themselves.
Also, having a low resolution scan of the
microfilm proved a bit problematic, but I made
every effort to enlarge and clean the figures so
as to render the writing legible.

As seen below in the images of Saturn, there

is a little extra material that did not make it into
the engraving.

34
35
 The top of the first talisman is marked with
a set of characters not found in the engraving,
but found in earlier manuscripts, which can help
us identify the sources even closer. Those will
be dealt with in a separate study. Below them
we find the characters that have made it into the
engraving (the ones Agrippa collected as well
and proved their geomantical origin) and a
comparison between them and the Darmstadt
Manuscript can be found on Table 10. The
images are coded H.

H 1-2: Table of Saturn

f.30r
36
H 3-4: Table of Jupiter
f.30r

H 5-6: Table of Mars

f.30
37
H 7-8: Table of The Sun
f.30r

38
H 9-10-11: Table of Venus
f.30r

H 12-13: Table of Mercury

f.30r
39
H 14-15: Table of the Moon
f.30r

40
 Source 7
The Book of Tables of Thaytamen
(Dartmstadt Manuscript)

Manuscript Hs1410 (10), reffered to here as

the Darmstadt manuscript (11), contains the
only version I know of this text, on fols 9v-14v.
It is preceded by a work on planetary rings by
Zoel and followed by a work of Messahala on
the same subject. The full title is Liber
Thaytamen Philosophi Magni et astronomi
nobilissimi de laminis seu Tabulis
Planetarum, that is The Book of Thaytamen,
Great Philosopher and most-noble astronomer,
on the lamens or Tables of the Planets.

This is not only the first time I have seen

this treatise but also the first time I`ve met with
this (supposedly Arabic) author. And this could
be caused by my profound lack of knowledge in
41
the field of astral magic authors if it weren't for
the fact that I haven`t found him in any
bibliography or in Frank Klaassen`s list of
authors of image magic, astral magic and every
other kind of magic (12).
The only author it resembles would be Thethel
(Thethel>Thaythelem>Thaytam), which in turn
is a corrupted version of Zahel
(Sahl>Zahl>Zahel>Cahel>Cathel>Tethel). This
however seems a bit unlikely since there are
other treatises by Zahel in the codex.
The figures are called ”Tabula”, just like in
the Calendarium manuscript and in Agrippa,
which can be translated as Table. The circles
and lines are in faded black ink and the figures,
numbers and writing are in bright red. Due to
the lack of consistency of contrast, I will be
doing a superior version of these seals in a
future post.
I am currently working on a translation of
this work which will be published separately.
42
D 1-2: Table of Saturn
fol. 10v

D 3-4: Table of Jupiter

fol.11r

43
 D 5-6: Table of Mars
fol.11v

D 7-8: Table of the Sun

fol.12r

44
 D 9-10: Table of Venus
fol.12v

D 11-12: Table of Mercury

fol.13v
45
D 13-14: Table of the Moon
fol.14r

46
 Table 1: Names of the Saturn Pentacles

VCA VCS VV CM H D

Saturnus Saturnus Satvrnvs Satvrnvs Saturnus Saturnus

Saturnus

Caroler Caroser Carose Caroser Caroseriren Mars

Caroler

Maraca Managa Maraca Maraca Marac onosernus

Maraca

Cesileie Lesilege Fesileie lesileie Lesileie yaleye

Heseleie

Kabractam Kabractan Kabractan Kabractan kbzucharan

Gabriel - Gabriel Gabriel Captiel

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 Table 2: Names of the Jupiter Pentacles

VCA VCS VV CM H D

Jupiter - - Ivpit Iupiter Jupiter

Jupiter

Mirach Merach Alirah Mirach Morach Meras

Miraoth

Lamo Lamo jamo lamo Ianic bergis

Lamo

Calbat Calbat Calbat Calbat Calbat -

Calbut

Caolos Caolos Caolos Caolos Cados -

Cados

Alma Almadij Asmadi Almachia- Alnahy- -

Chiamoch Moch. amoch moch niach
Almadram-
oth
Arosbonachar Arolbo- Arolbo- Azolbo- Szobara-
nachar nachar nachar Btan?

Fatqniel Satgviel Satguiel Angelus Satquiel

Satquiel

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 Table 3: Names of the Mars Pentacles

VCA VCS VV CM H D

- Nate Nare Nate nate Madi

- Mars Mars Mars Mars Mars

- Reicho Reihe Raihe Reihe He

- Ma Ma Ma Ma Mare

Yriochsos Yvigo Yriocas Yriocas yrius Yrreys

Coves Aries Aries Aries Aries -

Malchidael Malchi- Malchi- Malchi- Malchi-dael -

Malchidael dael dael dael
Bareschas Barechas Bareshas Bareschas Bareschas Barros-
Bareschas carkas
Samael Samael Samael Samael Angelus Samahel
Samael Samael

49
 Table 4: Names of the Sun Pentacles

VCA VCS VV CM H D

Vau Vau Vau Vau Vau Anima

Ferus Febus Phoebus Febus Febus Febus

Nantho Xamba Fanha Xanho Xanha? Xancha

Elou? Eloha Eloha Eloha Eloha -

Sol Sol Sol Sol Sol Sol

Abihai - Gabi Lia Abiha Abiba? -

Staytabortas Staitabor- Staytabor- Geyrabo- Szaroth-

tos tos rius? berthos
Staytabo-
gtis
Raphael Raphael Raphael Raphael

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 Table 5: Names of the Venus Pentacles

VCA VCS VV CM H D

Mago Mago Mago Mago Mago -

Imago Mago

Remis Remis? Renus Renus Venus Venus

Remis Remus? Venus

Sehva Setiiu Schya Schya Schya habya ?

Sehia hehiu ?

Tarson? Sariof Forsons farsous farsour forforas

Farton forforus

Tarso Farso farso farsa -

Farto

Asmodel Asmodet At-model Asmodel Asmodel -

Amoday

Zamiel Zame Zamiel Zamiel Zamiel -

Zamiel

Messy- Melli Lo- Melly Melly- Enielli-

Ioxondich xonaich loxondich loxondich kendich

Anael Anael Anael Angelus Anael

Anael

51
 Table 6: Names of the Mercury Pentacles

VCA VCS VV CM H D

Le-He-rah Rah-He- le-he-rah Le-he-rah Le-he-rah ? -

Le

a-na-po- A-Na-Po- a-na-po- a-na-po- A-na-bo-na -

nua Na na na

ni-hop Nj-Toph nr-toph Ni-toph Ni-toph -

de-e-a Le-E-A Le-e-a Le-e-a Le-e-a ? -

Son-Mas Mas-Son Son-Mas Son-Y- Y-Son-Y- -

Mas Mas

Horasten- Horasten- Horasten- Horasten- Hetascei-

dem dem dem dem don
Harastan-
ten
Michael - Michael Angelus Michael
Michael

52
 Table 7: Names of the Moon Pentacles

VCA VCS VV CM H D

THET THEX TETR Thet Thet -

RAGR YAGR AGRA Ragr Ragr
AMMA AMYA MMAT Amma Amma
THON HOAV ON Thon Thon
A ET Ω O AΩT AΩT
O
Barmot- Barmotiba Barmottiba Barmottiba -
Tiba

Gabriel - Gabriel Angelus Gabriel

Gabriel

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 Bibliography:
(1)
British Library Lansdowne Manuscript 1202, digital copy
provided by Jérémie Segouin.

(2)
British Library Lansdowne Manuscript 1203, digital copy
provided by Jérémie Segouin. Printed as Les Veritables
Clavicules de Salomon, editions du Monolith, Paris, 2018.

(3)
Les Clavicules de Salomon ; traduit de l'hébreux en langue latine
par le rabin Abognazar et mis en langue vulgaire par M. Barault,
archevêque d'Arles. — 1634
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b90633658/f1.item.r=clavic
ule%20salomon

(4)
Perpetual Card, Vaticinia Varia, London, 1688.
http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/d/medren/9943207803503681

(5)
Peterson, Joseph H.: The Magical Calendar (excerpts), online
edition at http://esotericarchives.com/mc/index.html

(6)
McLean, Adam: The Magical Calendar: A Synthesis of
Magical Symbolism from the Seventeenth-Century Renaissance
of Medieval Occultism (Magnum Opus Hermetic Sourcewo)
(English and Latin Edition), 2008.
54
(7)

Grosschedeh ab Aicha, Johan Baltista (sic): Calendarium

naturale magicum perpetuum, online copy at

https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b53006672b/f1.item.zoom

(8)

I am greatly indebted to Joseph Peterson for

sending me the required microfilm scan images
of this manuscript, without which this study
would have been far less informed.

(9)
Gilly, Carlos: The rediscovery of the original of
Großchedel's Calendarium Naturale Magicum
Perpetuum, in Carlos Gilly, Cis van Heertum
(ed.) Magia, Alchimia, Scienza Dal '400 al '700.
L'influsso di Ermete Trismegisto Centro Di: 2

55
vols. Firence, 2002, vol. 1 pp. 310-317 as cited
on http://esotericarchives.com/mc/index.html

(10)
http://tudigit.ulb.tu-darmstadt.de/show/Hs-1410

(11)
http://studies-vartejaru.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-darmstadt-
magic-manuscript.html

(12)
http://homepage.usask.ca/~frk302/MSS/authors.htm

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