Pentacle of Venus: Seal of Attraction

Among the seventy pentacles recorded in Book I of the Key of Solomon (Clavicula Salomonis), the 3rd Pentacle of Venus stands out for the sheer economy of its documented use. Where most pentacles of the Key require burial, binding, wearing next to the skin, or elaborate ritual timing to unlock their virtue, Mathers' translation records of this one only that 'if it be only shown unto any person, serveth to attract love' — no touch, no exchange, no words required. The sigil itself does the work the moment it is seen.

This simplicity is deceptive rather than lesser. A pentacle whose power activates on sight must be prepared with unusual care, since its consecration is the only safeguard between the practitioner's intention and a symbol that will act on whoever's eyes fall upon it. The working below therefore spends most of its span not on the drawing, which is brief, but on binding the pentacle's attraction to a specific, freely-consenting intention — most commonly to make the practitioner's own presence more magnetic and approachable, rather than to compel a particular person against their will.

The pentacle is inscribed on parchment in copper-toned or rose ink appropriate to Venus, in the hour of Venus on a Friday, and finished with rose and myrtle, the two plants most consistently tied to Solomonic Venus work. Once consecrated it is not buried or burned like the solar pentacle above; it is carried, worn, or displayed exactly as the Key describes, its power activating each time it is seen.