The Ritual Pentacle Presence on the Dais and Homer's Golden Chain

The Golden Chain of Homer (Aurea Catena Homeri) is one of the most influential alchemical texts of the eighteenth century, presenting a vision of the cosmos as a continuous chain linking spirit, elements, and matter. It begins with the divine spark, the invisible essence that descends into the world, and shows how this spark becomes clothed in the four elements, forming the foundation of all natural processes. The work is both cosmological and practical: it explains how creation unfolds through elemental transformations, and how the alchemist, by retracing this chain, can purify matter and elevate it back toward spirit. In this way, the text offers a map of ascent, a spiritual ladder that mirrors the pentagram’s geometry, where each point represents a stage in the cycle of descent and return.

It first appeared on the Golden Dawn radar in 1891 when, Thomas Henry Pattinson, published a number of chapters in the 1891 publication of Lucifer magazine. Mathers did an introduction to it and it was paper that never appeared to belong to any particular grade level, possibly due its publication. However it was a highly regarded paper in the Golden Dawn.

One the most overlooked items in Golden Dawn rituals in the Outer Order was the metal pentacle on the dais, as there is nothing that I could find that explained its existence in the rituals. However, when you look within the first nine chapters of Homers Golden Chain there is a strange parallel with the development of the pentagram as seen through a Golden Dawn lens. About 40 years ago when talking to a former member of Whare Ra temple I asked him if he knew what it meant, and if he thought it was part of an anchoring process. He told me that he had heard it was alchemical and related to the knitting together of the elements. That was all I had got from him, apart that it had the letters from the Grimoire of Honorius around it. It did not take me too long to consider a connection to Homer’s Golden Chain. The very brief summary below, of the elemental actions within Homer's Golden Chain is worth noting about the Chain and its elemental composition.

At the base of the chain lies earth, the densest and most material of the elements. Earth is the body of the world, the salt of alchemy, the place where spirit is most hidden. It represents stability, form, and the grounding of all life. From earth, the chain moves into water, the mercurial element of dissolution and flow. Water softens and carries seeds, breaking down rigidity and allowing transformation to begin. It is the medium of life, the womb of change. Rising further, we encounter air, the subtle breath that animates and connects. Air is the invisible bridge between the lower and higher realms, the spiritus that refines matter and makes it light. It corresponds to thought, communication, and the currents of vitality. Beyond air is fire, the sulphur of alchemy, the purifying flame that burns away impurities and reveals essence. Fire is the transformative force, the energy of will and divine passion, driving matter upward toward its source. At the apex of the chain stands spirit, the quintessence, the origin and goal of all things. Spirit descends into the elements to animate creation, and through the alchemist’s work it ascends again, united and purified.

In conclusion, the Golden Chain of Homer teaches that all of nature is bound in a cycle of descent and ascent, a golden link that ties the human microcosm to the divine macrocosm. The elements are not separate substances but stages in a continuous process: earth grounds, water dissolves, air refines, fire transforms, and spirit unites. The pentagram mirrors this chain, offering a ritual map for the practitioner to consciously engage with these forces. By working through the elements, the alchemist retraces the path of creation, climbing the chain point by point until the soul is rejoined with its source. The text thus stands as both a cosmological vision and a spiritual practice, reminding us that the divine spark is never lost but always waiting to be uncovered and lifted back into the light.