Saturn being such a malevolent planet, it is perhaps hardly surprising that there is a special pentacle devoted to protecting the operator against death on Saturday, his day. An eight-pointed figure decorates the centre of our illustration, with magical inscriptions within the circles
The image from Shah's book is above. Look familiar? Let's turn back to The Letter, the Witch, and the Ring (1976), specifically when Rose Rita sneaks inside the office of Gert Bigger's gas station:
Rose Rita...pulled it out and found that it was a folded piece of paper. When she opened the paper, she found a drawing done in pencil. It looked like this:
... She was no wizard, but she knew what this was, because she had once been allowed a closely supervised look into one of Uncle Jonathan's magic books. The drawing was a magic pentacle, one of those charms that witches and wizards use when they want good things or bad things to happen.
While the outside words appear to be the same in both images, the interior triangle seems a bit - well, obtuse in the Shah version. Other than that, though, the two charms appears nearly identical So, too, it would appear Mrs. Bigger has access to the Clavicula Salomonis. But I wonder what Bigger will do with this charm if its primary role is to protect her from death on Saturdays. If anything, Rose Rita might want to use it herself if she feels Bigger is up to no good. Maybe Rose Rita should leave a copy of the charm in the chicken yard. You know, just in case?
Shah's book does not mention shapeshifting but does include a brief mention of Asmodai (or Asmoday). Oddly enough, there is a brief mention of a chicken, too.
Maybe I should print this post for tomorrow. Let us not be silly. That's enough for this week. Month. Year. Whatever.
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