Disc of Solomon? Where else can we read about this Disc of Solomon? Is it in the Testament of Solomon? Maybe the Talmud? Josephus? No, those all mention a finger ring.
What about all the manuscripts of the Goetia of Solomon? Unlike Mathers, we can search the internet and in a short period of time collect PDF versions of most of the manuscripts. A very good version of the GoS can be found at Joseph H. Peterson's site (click HERE). That's where I snagged this image:
A ring like this would have been easy to acquire in the 16th and 17th centuries. All you would have to do is purchase a band like the ones used in common posie rings. For a little extra charge, the smith or jeweler would probably stamp or engrave the words for you. Or you could put your burin to good use.
Heh I recognise that CG'd image. I did tend to get carried away putting gradient fills on everything back when I made that (2003 I think).
ReplyDeleteI legit don't know what MS. sources Mathers was using: but I'm pretty sure he had at least two, probably more, *in addition to* the four in the BL, and I strongly suspect that one of those, probably the one from which he got the coiled serpent design for the circle (as well as the colour scheme), was by Hockley or one of his associates. E.g. *none* of the versions of Mathers' "Brief Introductory Description" agree with any of the Sloane copies, but the fourth column is quite close to that in Wellcome 4665 & 3203, including the description of the Ars Paulina as "A book governing..." rather than "A book of Spirits governing..."; none of the BL MSS. AFAIK use coloured washes or even rubrication on the figures, but the description of colours Mathers gives, along with that snake design, is consistent with the kind of artistic / talismanic flourishes Hockley put on magical MSS. he copied.
The source for the "Gold or Silver" stipulation in Mathers & Crowley which, combined with the description of the thing as "bright yellow" (again, probably a coloured wash in a Hockley MS.) prompted me to give it that gold gradiant-fill is most likely Sloane 2731; 3825 & 3648 don't specify the material with the design, & as Peterson points out, the entry for Bileth in the spirit catalogue, which mentions a ring in a similar context, states it should be silver.