Weapon of Earth - Pentacle, How to construct the earth pentacle Options

I am sorry I got you angry...that was not my intention...
Again I am not making assuptions,but the 2 examples that you gave are not exactly what I was talking about...
Your examples are about the comunity workings-with more tthan one mage...but I agree with u at this point...you can practice energy magic without tools... an again sorry but i remain with my opinion that you can not practice high evocative magic without the tools...at least not until u make full contact with the spirit world and u recive personal magical formulas from there!

well,but do not believe me...consider me stupid...I remain a skeptical believer!

I am sorry I got you angry...that was not my intention...
Again I am not making assuptions,but the 2 examples that you gave are not exactly what I was talking about...
Your examples are about the comunity workings-with more tthan one mage...but I agree with u at this point...you can practice energy magic without tools... an again sorry but i remain with my opinion that you can not practice high evocative magic without the tools...at least not until u make full contact with the spirit world and u recive personal magical formulas from there!

well,but do not believe me...consider me stupid...I remain a skeptical believer!

*shrugs* It's ok..no harm done. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) Thus in magick it's always specified "to each their own." Do what works best for you.

This post has been edited by Angalor: Aug 17 2006, 08:46 AM

Old topic but...

Shouldn't tools etc represent manifestations on all levels of exsistance rather than just astral?... and wouldn't people say that the Pentacle should be convex to somewhat represent the mound of creation? A personal interpretation of course, don't think it does well being flat.

Noticed the Self Initiation text by the Cieros mentions that the construction and consecration of tools should be left until the last grade whereas others would have one construct and consecrate them in their various grades which makes perfect sence as you would then be charging said tool with the energies of that grade.

Ok. Yeah - old topic. Still...

I've been thinking... From the summary of all the thought I've read here I've got an impression that there are only small chances to work without tools. Come on! I'm trying to imagine some sort of... man... hundreds of years ago attempting to find sword and dyes for pentacle, etc. It's not the physical world we're playing in. We are "playing" in other dimensions (to say - astral world). And no tools are needed here. It is the human itself who are the tool. These tools could only simplify the work but they could never do the whole "job"...

Well, let's put aside the nessessity of using tools for one moment (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
I have a question regarding the construction of a Golden Dawn pentacle. Just like A_Smoking_Fox, I followed the instuctions in Kraig's 'Modern Magick' (and just like him I didn't take this concave stuff seriously) but my pdf file with the book is black and white for some reason so I didn't see the colours in the picture. I just typed in the Wikipedia 'citron' and 'russet' (I didn't know such colours existed!) and painted my earth weapon. Later on I saw - somewhere on the net - a pentacle made by Chic Cicero, I think the very same picture as in Kraig's book and 'citron' was almost like olive, 'russet' almost like red and 'olive' was almost black. Black was, luckily, very black indeed (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

It made me a bit confused because my pentacle is definitely IMPERFECT, to put it delicately (IMG:style_emoticons/default/13.gif) so I wanted at least the colours to be OK. The ones I used resemble the ones on Smoking Fox's although the are some differences (my citron much lighter and more... juicy; russet not so red...). Do you think I screwed up? Are the colours and shades so important? What are these colours really supposed to be?
And no - I don' really want to show you my work. After what A_Smoking_Fox did, I would just ashame myself... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/face08.gif) Before I started creating the tools, I hadn't known that it's so difficult. I had had no experience and hardly any tools. Next time I'll definitely order a wooden disc from a carpenter. It's gonna be much more symmetrical...

Oh, and one more thing. I guess I should apply some protective laquer or something like that, right? What kind of it? When the shop assistant in some DIY-shop asks me what I want, what should I say? I don't want the pentacle to look glossy.
A_Smoking_Fox, did you use something like that? Because I can't see anything - which is good

I read through this interesting thread on the earth pentacle. I suppose that if you are a staunch traditionalist following in a certain tradition, then you have to approach the creation and use of your weapons in a very technical and fundamental (and fundamentalist) way. If you don't develop it to specification, then you've built in flaws according to the consensus paradigm of your tradition and it may come back to bite you because of the reality that you are playing in. (Ie, "it must be this way, not that way, or else.")

I was not trained in that tradition and it goes against the grain for me although I am fascinated by folks who do follow such paths. I agree, however, that obsession with tools and forms can be a limitation. But if it works, then my own view is irrelevant. Post-modern magic has veered away from traditionalist and spirit-focussed views but that does not mean that traditional ceremonial magick is irrelevant. It certainly needs to be practiced and preserved as a high art.

I had been trained to establish my weapons in a way related to personal relevancy, not formula. When it came time for me to make my earth weapon, I made an adaptation of the 12th plate of the Azoth of the Philosophers, which is-a 15th or 16th century alchemical pictorial book. I had been acclimated, after doing elemental and angelic evocation meditations ,to think about the earth weapon as a mirror. Whereas I began to use the Azoth mandala that I made for mediations on the elements, the archonic spheres, the sephira, etc., I now use a plain pentacle-shaped mirror as my earth element weapon. I also use mirrors in relation to the chalice in mediitation and magic--but this is spontaneously arising magic, not forumla that you will find in a 17th or 19th century grimoire based on medieval Hermetic or reconstructionist concepts.

Kraig may have suggested that the earth weapon be concave because John Dee used a concave magic mirror (a black piece of obsidian) in his scrying work.


Russet--is a rust color--an orangy,brownish red
Citron is a fancy way of saying "yellow" (citrons are kind of like lemons, or citrus fruits --lemons, grapefruits, oranges, limes)
And olive is the color of the usual looking jarred, green martini olive

These are earth colors, the point being that the earth pentacle should be earth colors.

What kind of paint did you use? If you used acrylic or water-soluable latex paint, you can coat the image with acryllic gel medium, which comes in either glossy or matte finish (you will want the matte finish if you don't want glossiness) Acrylic lacquers also are avaiIlable. Golden acrylic products are the best but are rather expensive. . If you buy clear lacquer at the hardware store, it may come in a matte finish, but you also want to look for a product that boasts that it is "non yellowing."

This post has been edited by Zosimo: Sep 17 2008, 06:47 AM

Thanks for the info.

Could you say something more about those 'alternative' (that is - for me) earth weapons? Like this "12th plate of the Azoth of the Philosophers". And frankly speaking, I didn't know that people use anything but hexagrams or pentagrams to symbolize earth in the ritual work - let alone mirrors! Tell us something more about your earth weapons, please.

I have a question. What should the back of an Earth Pentacle look like? Someone mentioned they have one side with a pentagram and the other as a hexagram. What do other people have? Identical to the front, or plain, or something in between.

Kraig says paint the four colors on the back, with black matching up, but I can't figure out if all the colors should match up, meaning it would be a mirror image of the front, or if it should look identical and the olive would be opposite the russet.

Or am I overthinking things? :)

Well, I'm almost sure that what Kraig meant (and what I did) is that only black (and, consequently, citrine) should overlap with the other side. As you noticed, the rest cannot without switching their places. So... anyway, both sides of my pentacle look the same. Well, at least I wanted them to look the same :) but I absolutely spoiled the motto inscription on one side. Nevermind, the point is: no pentagram/hexagram combination. No hexagram/plain colours combination.
I hope it helped.