The Fifth Pentacle of Venus: shown, and stirring love

The pentacle, in its own words

It is called The Fifth and Last Pentacle of Venus, and the text says: When it is only showed unto any person soever, it inciteth and exciteth wonderfully unto Love.

That is a different kind of working from most pentacle descriptions. Many pentacles are described as things to be worn, carried, or used in a rite, with the work happening through the rite itself. This one is described as acting through being shown. The showing is the working, or at least the beginning of it. The pentacle is not hidden away in a drawer, and it is not only worn where no one can see it. It is shown to a person, and the text says that showing stirs love wonderfully.

That description should be taken seriously, and also taken carefully. It does not say that love follows automatically, or that it follows in the same way for every person, or that showing the pentacle replaces speaking, listening, and treating a person with respect. It says that the pentacle, shown, incites and excites unto love. What that love is, in a particular case, and what you do with it once it is stirred, are matters for your own practice, and for your own conduct in the ordinary world.

Love, in this pentacle, is not a vague wish

Love, as a petition, is often left vague, and vague love work is hard to read afterwards. With this pentacle, be specific about what kind of love you mean, before you show anything to anyone. Attraction, affection, commitment, reconciliation, and holding a relationship steady are different petitions, and they should not be blurred together. A pentacle shown with a clear purpose in mind, and a clear person in mind, can be judged afterwards by what actually happened in that situation. A pentacle shown with no clear purpose, and no clear person, cannot be judged at all, and it leaves you, months later, with no way of knowing whether the working did anything, or whether you simply wanted it to have done.

Reflection about being specific about what you want is worth the time here, for a practical reason as well as a magical one. Love work touches real people, with real lives, and real feelings of their own. Being specific forces you to name who is involved, what you are actually asking to change, and what you are prepared to do yourself, in ordinary life, toward that change. If you cannot name those things, you are not ready to show the pentacle yet. Write them down, leave them overnight, and come back to see if they still read true. That pause is part of the work, not a delay in it.

Venus, as the planetary figure of this pentacle, is the context for that love, in the Key of Solomon system. The rest of the work, the preparation, the showing, and the conduct that follows, belongs to the system you already work in, and to the teaching you already follow in it.

The central square, and the names upon it

Around the central square, it says, are the Names Elohim, El Gebil, and two other Names which the editor cannot decipher, and has therefore given them as they stand.

That editorial note is honest, and it is worth keeping honest in your own practice. Two of the names around the square are given as they stand in the manuscript material, not smoothed over, not guessed at, and not replaced with something that looks more complete. A pentacle that claims to be a faithful copy should carry that honesty with it. If a name cannot be deciphered, it should be shown as it stands, and the fact that it cannot be deciphered should be stated, not hidden.

When you hold the pendant, look at the central square first, and at the names around it. That is the heart of the pentacle, in design terms, and it is the part that the Key of Solomon text itself draws attention to. The rest of the design surrounds and supports it, but the square, and the names, are where the pentacle's character is concentrated. Spend time with that part of the design before you use the pendant in any working, so that you know what you are showing, and not only that you are showing something.

Showing, as a practice

Showing a pentacle is a practice in itself, and it deserves more thought than it usually gets. Showing is not the same as wearing, and it is not the same as displaying. Wearing is for yourself, and for your own attention through the day. Displaying is for a room, or for a group, and it is often done without a particular person in mind. Showing, as the text describes it, is to a person: unto any person soever, in the text's own words. It is directed, and it is personal.

That directed quality is what makes showing different, and it is what makes it worth preparing for. Before you show the pentacle to anyone, know why you are showing it, and to whom, and what you are asking to change in that person's regard, or in your regard for them. Do not show it casually, as a curiosity, and then wonder afterwards whether anything followed. Show it deliberately, as part of a working you understand, in a setting where the showing itself is clear and open, not hidden or hurried.

Showing also has an ordinary side that should not be skipped. If you show a pentacle to a person, and then speak to that person carelessly, or treat them without respect, the showing will not make up for the speaking. Love work, above all, is tested in ordinary conduct: in how you listen, how you speak, and how you treat the person concerned, day after day. The pentacle supports that conduct. It does not replace it.

Copper, casting, and the pendant itself

The pendant offered here is lost wax cast in copper, as its title states. Lost-wax casting means the pentacle is first worked in wax, then cast in metal from that wax form. The wax is lost in the process, which is where the name comes from, and the metal that remains is a solid, cast object, not a printed shell. You can feel that difference when you hold it: a cast pendant has weight, it has a surface that shows the hand work, and it does not have the layered texture of a printed object.

Copper is the metal of this pendant, as listed, and the pendant is offered for Venus, as listed. What can be said, in practical terms, is that copper is a warm, workable metal, that it takes engraving well, and that a cast copper pendant, worn or shown, will develop its own surface over time, with handling. That change of surface is ordinary for copper, and it should be expected, not treated as a defect.

Keep the pendant in a place set aside for working tools, not loose among ordinary objects. A small pouch or box, used only for this pendant and for the tools that belong with it, is enough. The point is not elaborate storage. It is that the pendant is not treated as an ordinary object between workings, and that when you take it out, the act of taking it out already marks the time as set apart.

Working with the pentacle, in the general way seals are worked

With this pentacle, showing it is the central practice named in the text itself, and the others support it.

Holding the pentacle, when you are preparing to show it, or when you are reflecting on a relationship, is a way of bringing the working back to attention at the moment it is needed. Putting it under a candle is a way of keeping it present through a working, set beneath the flame, in the space where the work is done, for the duration of the rite. Putting oil on it is anointing: marking it deliberately, naming the purpose in your own words, with an oil made for that kind of work. Carrying it, and wearing it, keep the working present in ordinary life, in the setting where love is actually lived, rather than confining it to a room you visit once and leave.

Showing it, as above, should be done openly, as part of a working you understand, not as a hidden gesture you hope will do the speaking for you. The speaking, in love work above all, still has to be done by you, in your own words, in the ordinary world.

A simple working order, to adapt to your own practice

The following is a general order, not a fixed script. Adapt it to the system you already work in, and to the instructions you already follow for Key of Solomon work. First, prepare the room and yourself, and be clear about the person, and the kind of love, you mean. Second, set out the pendant, and any oil, incense, or candle you will use. Third, anoint or fumigate the pendant, if your practice calls for it, deliberately, naming the purpose in your own words. Fourth, show the pentacle, or wear it, as your practice calls for, clearly and deliberately, rather than hurriedly. Fifth, sit quietly for a time and listen, rather than filling every moment with more words. Sixth, close the working properly, in whatever way your practice requires, and put the pendant away in its proper place, or keep it on, as your practice requires.

Afterwards, write down what you did, when you did it, and what you noticed. Not what you hoped would happen, but what actually happened, in plain language. With love work, note the ordinary record alongside it: what you said, what you did, how the other person responded, and what changed in the relationship itself, in plain terms. If nothing changes, that is also information. Do not repeat the same working endlessly in the hope that repetition alone will force a result. Do the work properly, once, observe, and then decide, calmly, whether a second working, a different approach, or no further working is the right next step.

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