ink of Mercury

Ingredients

planetary incenses, flowers

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

A recipe for the 'ink of Mercury' is identified in a 4th or 5th-century Greek magical papyrus preserved in Berlin (p. 11). The text, quoting Manetho, registers the 'flowers of the seven planets' and dictates that the ink used to inscribe amulets must be 'compounded of these planetary incenses and flowers' (p. 11).

Evidence

"A fourth- or fifth-century papyrus now in Berlin gives a recipe (again different from Solomon's) for the ink of Mercury."

Remarks

The paper compares these late antique Greek and Solomonic ink traditions with the later Arabic Ghāyat al-hakīm, noting a long-standing association between planetary deities and specific organic/mineral ingredients in inks (p. 11).