This month’s Practical Occult newsletter is a collaboration with occult author Rufus Opus who writes to us of his personal experience with this fascinating and useful pentacle.

On the Fourth Pentacle of Mercury
Stuck in a cramped and tiny room that hovered around 40 degrees Fahrenheit without the spaceheater that was keeping me functional as I quarantined after a suspected exposure to COVID this autumn, I found myself with little to do, a fountain pen, and a pile of parchment. Being bored, and it being Wednesday, I opened the planetary talismans section of the Greater Key of Solomon and scrolled down to the pentacles of Mercury. There, flickering in the way a talisman seal will flicker when it wants to play, my eye was drawn to the 4th of Mercury.

The fourth pentacle of Mercury.– This is further proper to acquire the understanding and knowledge of all things created, and to seek out and penetrate into hidden things; and to command those spirits which are called Allatori to perform embassies. They obey very readily. – The Greater Key of Solomon, Mathers Version

The name “allatori” means “those who bring back news or intelligence.” Compare with those spirits which bring back treasure or stolen goods. Le Véritable Magie Noire (“True Black Magic”) calls them “shadow spirits” (esprits ombreux). In Waite, this is pentacle number 21, where the verse reads “Sapientia et virtus in domo eius, et scientia omnia rerum apud eum in saeculorum saeculi. In Aub24 this is the sixteenth pentacle, but the verse reads, “Et tunc cognovi esse in me scientia cunctarum creaturas, tam quae in coelo, quam quae sub coelo sunt.” -Joseph H. Peterson

By the end of the next mercury hour, I had a paper talisman with the 4th pentacle of Mercury on one side, and the 3rd on the other. In my practice, I agree with Alison that there is one pentacle in each of the group of seals for each planet that has four names of spirits included in the design, and the descriptor of each indicates it is to be used with the other talismans of the planet. This key pentacle unlocks and enhances the forces of the rest of the pentacles of the planet. Putting it on one side of the talisman and the talisman with the desired intent of the talisman creates a physical evocation “ritual” that continuously “conjures” the spirits that rule the talismanic powers and their properties, and also creates the described effect in general in the lives of the owners. In addition, the four spirits that rule the powers of the planet’s pentacles can be specifically petitioned to direct the focus of the talisman at one aspect of your own life.

For the Mercury talismans, the 3rd of Mercury has the four names Coccaviel, Hechmadiel, Savania, and Ghedoria. These are specifically compared to the Allatori of the Fourth, and are of a very similar nature. The Allatori can be compared to the raw forces they represent, like the Spirits of the Tables of the Planets, and the four named spirits can be compared to the reasoned, more human-friendly Intelligences of the Tables of the Planets. Another example is the Archangels of the planetary spheres who are individually named entities, while the myriad of spirits that assist and perform the grunt work of manifestation are simply referred to as the Choirs of the planets.

The talisman I created was instantly effective. The Allatori made themselves known with a physical wind that immediately picked up. I asked it to be quiet, and it went still, although I could feel the air moving against my skin in the room, perhaps no more than the usual air flow of an old house with little insulation, but my perception of the flow of air was made incredibly intense. I asked the nature of the spirits, and they said they were wind. I asked for more information, and they revealed in sense and image and words I cannot recall now that they are present in every movement of air upon the face of the earth, behind and within every sound, whether railroad car or symphony, a child singing, the river flowing, hundreds of tires against the pavement as people shuttle to and from responsibilities.

They acquire understanding and knowledge of all things created, and seek out and penetrating into hidden things by virtue of this presence, for all winds are connected, all air that moves also moves air along with it until all the spirits of the Allatori have learned what the least among their ranks might see while traveling across the rooves of Kansas City.

I have worked with Cocaviel for years, and his immediate response when I called him by name was the usual prickle of a tightening scalp, and the feeling of his presence behind me, and on the left. He further confirmed the things I had learned, and demonstrated methods of focusing the winds, and the information they blow to and through me when I call on them, using prayer, and word, and sound. While I will never share my own personally received gnosis as fact and truth, I will strongly urge you to work with these spirits. The sense of knowing what’s going on alone is worth getting one of these into your life. It is much better than drugs for Hermeticists, in my opinion.

Obtain your own version of this pentacle, and see for yourself how they work, the information available, and the limits of their ability to influence this world we live in.