Construction of the Pentacles of Mercury

Five pentacles belong to Mercury. Because Mercury is a mixed and changeable planet, the Key assigns it a mixture of metals rather than one, and on paper a mixture of colours. The work is done in the day and hour of Mercury, which the Key also treats as the general hour of inception for many instruments. The plates show interlaced Hebrew letters and angelic names, with verses about wisdom and the hidden things of God. As with the other planetary classes, the operator must be pure, the material new, the incense of the Art present, and the finished pentacle stored in silk. The book attributes knowledge, persuasion and the obtaining of answers to these figures.

Purpose

Mercurial pentacles are said to bring understanding, eloquence and knowledge of hidden things, and to open what is closed.

Timing

Day

Wednesday — the day of Mercury

Planetary hour

An hour of Mercury, reckoned from local sunrise and sunset

Moon

Waxing (increasing in light)

Ch. 18 requires the pentacles to be made in the days and hours proper to their planet. Book I ch. 2 favours the Moon increasing in light for any work of construction and forbids beginning anything while the Moon is conjoined with the Sun.

Materials

• Mixed-metal plate (the metal of Mercury)
• or virgin paper/parchment written in mixed colours
• incense of the Art
• silk cloth for wrapping

Tools

• burin or graver of the Art (for metal)
• pen and ink of the Art (for paper)

Omitted

Book II ch. 17 describes "virgin parchment" as made from the skin of a young animal flayed with ritual words; this is recorded for historical understanding only and should not be performed. Ordinary paper is the text's own lesser alternative.

Fire safety when burning incense.