Bygone Beliefs: Being a Series of Excursions in the Byways of ThoughtRedgrove, H. Stanley (Herbert Stanley)
Philosophy
Bygone Beliefs: Being a Series of Excursions in the Byways of Thought
Redgrove, H. Stanley (Herbert Stanley)
Alchemy; Magic; Superstition
_The Third Pentacle of Venus_.--"This, if it be only shown unto any
person, serveth to attract love. Its Angel Monachiel should be invoked
in the day and hour of Venus, at one o'clock or at eight." The design
consists of two triangles joined at their apices, with the following
names--IHVH, Adonai, Ruach, Achides, AEgalmiel, Monachiel, and Degaliel.
The versicle is from _Genesis_ i. 28: "And the Elohim blessed them, and
the Elohim said unto them, Be ye fruitful, and multiply, and replenish
the earth, and subdue it" (see fig. 24).
_The Third Pentacle of Mercury_.--"This serves to invoke the Spirits
subject unto Mercury; and especially those who are written in this
Pentacle." The design consists of crossed lines and magical characters
of Mercury. Around are the names of the angels, Kokaviel, Ghedoriah,
Savaniah, and Chokmahiel (see fig. 25).
CORNELIUS AGRIPPA, in his _Three Books of Occult Philosophy_, describes
another interesting system of talismans. FRANCIS BARRETT'S _Magus, or
Celestial Intelligencer_, a well-known occult work published in the
first year of the nineteenth century, I may mention, copies AGRIPPA'S
system of talismans, without acknowledgment, almost word for word. To
each of the planets is assigned a magic square or table, _i.e_. a square
composed of numbers so arranged that the sum of each row or column is
always the same. For example, the table for Mars is as follows:--
11 24 7 20 3
4 12 25 8 16
17 5 13 21 9
10 18 1 14 22
23 6 19 2 15
It will be noticed that every number from 1 up to the highest possible
occurs once, and that no number occurs twice. It will also be seen that
the sum of each row and of each column is always 65. Similar squares
can be constructed containing any square number of figures, and it is,
indeed, by no means surprising that the remarkable properties of such
"magic squares," before these were explained mathematically, gave rise
to the belief that they had some occult significance and virtue. From
the magic squares can be obtained certain numbers which are said to be
the numbers of the planets; their orderliness, we are told, reflects
the order of the heavens, and from a consideration of them the magical
properties of the planets which they represent can be arrived at. For
example, in the above table the number of rows of numbers is 5. The
total number of numbers in the table is the square of this number,
namely, 25, which is also the greatest number in the table. The sum of
any row or column is 65. And, finally, the sum of all the numbers is
the product of the number of rows (namely, 5) and the sum of any row
(namely, 65), _i.e_. 325. These numbers, namely, 5, 25, 65, and 325, are
the numbers of Mars. Sets of numbers for the other planets are obtained
in exactly the same manner.(1)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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