Last week, I asked for help.
I wanted to see 45 pre-orders of my forthcoming book Pentacle: The Shape of Power in honor of my 45th birthday, and in exchange, I would give $1 for each pre-order to the Bird Alliance of Oregon in honor of Julio the Owl.
You all came through.
I got 50 pre-orders!
And as a result…THIS happened!
I’m so honored and delighted with your support, and so happy to be able to help sweet Julio. If you weren’t able to pre-order this past week, you can still do so at this link. And if you want to support Julio and the Bird Alliance of Oregon, you can do so here. Plus, I’ll be offering more opportunities to have fun with Julio as it gets closer to book release time.
Now to thank YOU, I’m sharing another preview of the book:
The Pentacle as Talisman
In its journey toward religious symbolism and rebellious fashion, the pentacle was used as a powerful talisman within esoteric orders. It was a tool for summoning spirits, creating Magick, and casting a variety of spells. With the pentacle, a practitioner could create a short-hand language with the spirit world, one intended to shape the physical world into one the practitioner wanted to see. Equally as important as the pentacle itself was the process of the pentacle’s creation.
The pentacle was often described as a diagram for Magick. Through its creation, the practitioner could set themselves apart from daily life and connect with a different plane of existence by summoning and concentrating their own inner resources.[i] The pentacle was a neutral object, subject to the will of the person creating it. It was believed to preserve the practitioner from evil influences and circumstances (both within the ritual and in their daily lives), while also helping the practitioner to drive away evil spirits and attract good ones.[ii] Pentacles were also used to curse and harm the practitioner’s enemies or rivals.
Some of the earliest instructions for the creation and use of a pentacle come from The Key of Solomon the King (hereafter referred to as The Key of Solomon). The Key of Solomon is perhaps the most famous (or infamous) of all Magickal books and certainly the most influential in modern Witchcraft practice, this book is thought to have inspired many other European grimoires and Magickal texts. Existing in many different languages, it is of unknown origin but considerable antiquity, composed of at least seven manuscripts housed in The British Museum.
Legend has it that the Key of Solomon was authored by King Solomon, himself. Whether King Solomon ever existed is a matter of great debate (one certainly outside the scope of this book). He was believed to be a monarch of Israel and Judah in the tenth century BCE. Legend says that Solomon was a formidable magician who employed legions of spirits to build the Temple at Jerusalem, compelling them into obedience with a Magickal ring.[i] Of the many myths that surround King Solomon, one of the arguably most famous is that he received his Magickal knowledge from an angel and wrote the Key of Solomon to leave the legacy of this knowledge to his son. Of particular importance in this text were the pentacles: each one was believed to have been carved onto plates of copper and preserved in King Solomon’s temple, and each was designed to serve a unique Magickal purpose: [ii]
[i] Cavendish, from The Key of Solomon, v.
[ii] The Key of Solomon, 1.
The different pentacles of the Key of Solomon, each with their own intricate imagery and symbolism, had numerous purposes including: to reveal the identity of thieves, render oneself invisible, hinder a hunter from killing game, draw love and curry favor, or enchant specific objects that could be used to connect with spirits and gain universal wisdom, and more. In many cases, these pentacles were believed to coerce spirits to do the bidding of the Magickal practitioner.
[i] Cavendish, from The Key of Solomon, vi.
[ii] Magus II, 80.
Thank you all so much for your support.
I can’t wait to share more of the book with you. Truly, I had a blast writing it and hope you have just as much fun reading it!