The Key of SolomonFirst Talisman of Mercury

The First Pentacle of Mercury from the Greater Key of Solomon. According to the greater key “It serveth to invoke the Spirits who are under the Firmament.” Spirits who are oriented towards the element of Air who are not angelic in nature is the way I personally define it. All kinds of elemental based creatures and slyphs are only the beginning.

The names in parenthesis are to denote the name of the Hebrew letters. In the original Key of Solomon some of the sigils have been reconstructed using various copies because the writing was bad, or the ink had faded over time etc. I decided to include the English name of the letters for reference in case my drawing was terrible.

The letters form 2 distinct names, one name in the outer circle and one name within the star. The name in the outer circle begins in the upper left with the letter Yod and follows the pentagram in the direction that these days is commonly taken as the direction for invoking the element of air. We then have the letters in order as YKAHL. Written in modern terms it forms the name Yekahel. Nearly all the sources I have found on this particular name come from the same source that says in the Cabbalah Yekahel is an angel of Mercury. Usually write after that they mention his name being inscribed on the pentacle or talisman of Mercury. This means everyone is simply going back to the Key of Solomon. The one other thing I can mention is that translated his name would read something like “The Empowerment of God” or “the ability to overcome which God possesses.”

The Inner Circle is a little easier on research. Based on Mathers translation these letters are read from Right to left AGYALwhich translated into modern language as Agiel. According to Parcelsus, Agiel is the presiding intelligence of Saturn. Saturn, according to classical astrology, represents the ideas of boundaries and limitations. So there is a kind of logical sense to first call on the angel that governs Mercury to invoke the , and then to bind them with an angel of \Saturn.

Note that the outermost ring is a double circle. This is, as far as I can tell, an artistic form from the late 19th century and early 20th century as most of my books (even those not dealing with summoning) from that period all use a double circle as an outer circle. The actual instructions given in the Key of Solomon do not mention the outer circle being double as is depicted here. The reason I include it is so that I could note that this is the most common depiction of the talismans and other various circles published during that period of time.