What does the magic square of Mercury mean?

Mercury's magic square is an 8-by-8 numerical table incorporated by Agrippa into his planetary magic. The numbers are arranged so that each row, each column, and the two main diagonals add up to 260. The total is 2080. Agrippa connects this structure to sacred names, planetary powers, and the seal of Mercury.

Why is this grid called magical?

The arrangement preserves an identical sum along the grid's main axes. Agrippa incorporates this mathematical property into a cosmology in which each planet has its sacred table.

The square thus becomes a structure of correspondences rather than a simple calculation table.

What place does Mercury occupy among the seven tables?

The seven kameas progress from Saturn's 3 × 3 to the Moon's 9 × 9. Mercury occupies the sixth position in this series.

Changing the order modifies the number of cells, the constant, and the numerical values associated with the planet.

How do numbers meet sacred names?

Agrippa associates divine and spiritual names with the table's characteristic values. This interpretation is based on numerical correspondences applied to the letters.

The kamea thus becomes a link between arithmetic, sacred language, and planetary hierarchy.

How does the table produce a planetary character?

The magical seal of Mercury is presented as derived from this table. The characters of the planetary intelligence and spirit are given separately.

The astrological glyph should not be confused with these talismanic constructions.

What does Mercury's kamea represent in occultism?

In Agrippa's system, the table serves to numerically establish the planet's qualities: memory, understanding, communication, divination, and gain.

Later Hermetic traditions reuse these grids to create seals, talismans, and sigils based on sequences of numbers or letters.