I've read a couple really good blog posts in the last couple days about talisman creation.
The first is from The Crossroads Companion, written by a student in the Red Work series of courses. He's made the seven planetary talismans using a technique inspired by Chris Warnock. I learned a couple things I didn't know that will make my own future talismans much higher in quality.
The second is from Practical Solomonic Magic, written by my long-time colleague, Asterion Mage. He's come up with a brilliant way to make gold talismans out of beeswax. I'm looking forward to experimenting with the rosin and shellac he recommends.
Head for the Red: The ongoing adventures and insights of a magician's attempts to accomplish the Great Work.
Heheey, thank you! A real honor!
ReplyDeleteI'm definitely a bore on this subject, but when one makes an astrological talisman, the proper astrological timing is the key, the materials are not that important.
ReplyDeleteAs Thabit Ibn Qurra says, "you should begin to work on the image [i.e., talisman], that is, by means of casting it in the form you have made from gold or silver or copper or lead or tin. It does not matter of which of these metals the image is made, because its health and strength require nothing else; it is perfected by the exactness of the ascendant alone." De Imaginibus, Chapter V.
@Chris - Not a bore, sir. I stress in the courses that at a minimum the talismans should be created in the appropriate planetary hour and day, and that one needs to take into account the condition of the planet as well. I also recommend your courses to learn to identify the key astrological "deal-breakers," as I'm no professional astrologer.
ReplyDeleteMister Warnock, with all due respect, the Pentagonal Figure of Solomon, a subject treated in the post brother RO linked here, is not an astrological talisman.
ReplyDeleteThis figure is to be made in sol or luna and worne upon the brest with the seal of the spirit on one [the other] side of itt.
Sol or luna are of course gold and silver, but aside the alchemical lingo used, there is nothing in the text to sugest that the spirit s seal or the pentagoal figure must be made in a certain planetary day, hour or configuration. We could extrapolate, of course, but the text mentions nothing of the sort.
And deducing a planetary rulership from a metal is quite futile in some cases. There are quite a number of discrepancies between the associations we have today, and the ones in the Picatrix, for instance, or from Liber de Angelis.
Asterion, the other link was to planetary talismans, I think those are the ones Chris was referencing.
ReplyDeleteMy bad my bad :D I noticed too late.
ReplyDeleteIn that field, of course, you are THE authority, mister Warnock, and it is no sarcasm.
Many thanks for the mention. As Asterion said, an honor!
ReplyDeleteMr. Warnock is an eminency in all things astrological, his adviced has helped me a lot.
ReplyDeleteAs for talisman with no particular planetary association you can always used the rite for consecrating lamens found in the Key of Solomon. Totaly mercurial, but Mercury as Ruler of Writting, Magic and Psychopomp is more than appropiate for that kind of working IMO.
Blessings!