From the Key of Solomon: “This hath great power. It serveth for assured visions. Jacob being armed with this Pentacle beheld the ladder which reached unto heaven.”

It’s no secret that many a frustrated occultist agonizes over the nature of spiritual perception. It’s further common knowledge to proclaim that the debate rages, externally and internally, over how good people really are at seeing, hearing, feeling or otherwise knowing spirits and other-worldly intelligences. Training methods to increase these skills abound, contradict eachother and clash as often as those who tout them.

Is it the visionary capacity within us and our imagination that allows us to see spirits provided it is properly honed? Does it truly boil down to training oneself to “hallucinate on command” as some modern practitioners have half-jokingly claimed? Do we truly witness spirits manifesting for us in three-dimensions like a page out of the Bible? It’s difficult to say and, when it comes down to it, these experiences are really only truly known by the individual having them.

Towards this end, we here at Practical Occult make the suggestion that this often-overlooked talisman may help the aspiring magician in their training towards this end. This pentacle is said to bring visions. In our experience it does, indeed, do this and in several different ways for different sorts of people. While we also take the time to stress that this talisman will work best for someone who is already undergoing a process of training the visionary capacity or the knowing, we would also be remiss if we didn’t honestly say that even owning this amulet has opened some otherwise insensitive people up to spiritual revelations.

While the Fourth of Mercury is normally the diviner’s best friend, this pentacle can help a scryer, channeler or even cartomancer deepen their craft by allowing themselves to be flooded with insight as a result of the bridge created between them and their craft by this Jovial blessing. Wearing this pentacle when working with clients or even keeping it on the table next to one’s spread can produce some wildly intriguing results that, when compared to the ones before its addition, really make a person wonder at how deep this rabbit hole truly goes.

For those intrigued by the prospect of Lucid Dreaming, this pentacle is another hidden gem. Keeping it on while sleeping or hidden in the pillow or a charm bag between the mattresses can provide spirit-contact in dreams vivid to the point of forcing Lucidity on a regular basis. Petitioning it before one sleeps and engages in existing Lucid Dream practices, Dream Yoga or the like can result in a speedy level-up of sorts in this domain.

Taking this pentacle on a hike through the forest to get to experience messages from the local spirits is a favorite use of it by the author and something that is deeply recommended. For the more daring, wearing this while camping and sleeping under the stars can send the wearer into a spiraling, celestial sea of gnosis and spiritual song. While care is always to be taken to ensure one’s safety, sometimes stepping out of one’s comfort zone, especially aided by materia like this, is just what is required to break through a spiritual plateau.

In short, this pentacle is recommended for anyone who finds themselves frustrated during their development of visionary, scrying or spirit-sensing capacity who finds they may need a small push ahead. The Discerning Individuals to whom we cater know the wisdom behind the right tool for the job and the right aid in training.

A short disclaimer: I unironically caution against wearing this amulet while operating heavy machinery. As a former forklift operator who wore this by accident while undergoing some very aggressive psychic development training I can assure you that this is a critically bad idea.

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This post was originally a Practical Occult newsletter dated August 11th, 2022.