The Fourth of Mercury: A Magician’s Academy

One of the more intriguing and elusive pentacles in the set is the Fourth of Mercury. Of this pentacle, the following is said: “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.” Beyond how useful and, frankly, exciting this sounds, one might be forgiven in asking something to the effect of, “well… how do I get it to work, exactly? Who are the Allatori and what are the ’embassies’ they perform?”

A reasonable inquiry from a Discerning Individual. To that end, we elucidate happily. The spirits within this pentacle are masters at helping the owner learn things. Anything from a new skill to a much-needed answer to a vexing question to the solution to a long-lasting dilemma, the attendant spirits the Allatori (or the Penchoi, as our personal experiments have discovered they prefer to be called) are very able to give aid and expansion. It might be fair to say that they have a mastery over life’s calculus so great that nothing is beyond their ability to figure out and, particularly, they are a group of spirits uncommonly willing, able and eager to learn and process new information. It might even be said that new information itself, interesting problems to solve and puzzles of all kinds are their favorite offering and why they are so willing to be summoned.

This can take several forms, as is often the case with magic. From a sudden insight to a seemingly random conversation to sudden gifts of books and academic resources, answers given by this pentacle can show up in all manner of ways. Even questions such as, “how does this person feel about X?” or “what are their opinions about me?” or “what is this person likely to do under the following circumstances…” are fair game in the arena of the Fourth of Mercury.

This amulet can even serve as a divinatory aid kept on the person of the diviner or near the table upon which cards, bones, dice, runes or anything else are cast in order to discern deeper into things. Astrologers, too, have found the application of this pentacle to be useful when learning the science and art of the heavens or even when parsing difficult charts or seeing extreme subtleties that they may otherwise have missed.

Beyond that, the spirits attending this pentacle can make a good connection for the magician to the local spirits serving as ambassadors of sorts. They can help to “translate” your desires into something better understood by more obtuse or eldritch spirits and, by turn, help the owner understand the complex ecology and community of the spectral beings around them. Thinking of it like a translator, diplomat and library all in one pocket-sized bit of magic is an accurate concept for the Fourth of Mercury.

As we often say, speaking your concerns aloud to the amulet and asking its help is often enough to get the ball rolling. However, for those with greater interest in direct, psychic communication with these spirits, one might be well-served by the Spirit Diplomacy Course offered on our website. In fact, these spirits are some of the best we can think of to test, train and implement the skills learned in that training and boost one’s spirit communication skills overall.