Last night I made my first ever attempt at anything that might be called planetary magic. In the Hour of Mercury on the Day of Mercury, I blended a planetary incense—ground nutmeg, ground majoram, fennel, and lavender (because that was what I had on hand, and could get at my local pagan store; looking to Cunningham’s Book of Shadows for the correspondences)—and made two talismans under the auspices of Mercury.
The first was a pure Planetary Talisman, with the Planetary Talisman of Mercury on one side and the Planetary Seal of Mercury on the other (the Talisman did, indeed, come from Asterion; the Seal I used for refference may have come from anywhere). Because I am a decidedly post-modern Magos, and because I lack the proper tools to inscribe the Talisman legibly into clay, I printed out the Talisman and colored it by hand; pressing the clay onto the back of the paper Talisman, I then scribed the relatively simple geometry of the Seal into clay on the other side.
The second talisman was to a much more specific purpose. Attic Greek kicked my ass last semester, and I can’t afford to let that happen again. Fortunately, I’m a witch, and there are Powers I can call upon for aid; in this case, the Powers of Mercury, the glib god Hermes, and the Titan muse Mneme. The quick wit and silver tongue of Hermes are things that I desperately need, and the aid of goddess of memory even more so; besides, who better to call upon for this assistance than two gods first worshiped in the language I’m trying to learn? Each are credited (by some, obviously conflicting, sources) with inventing language all together!
[More and better pictures once I’ve finished painting them.]
And what was the purpose of the Planetary Talisman, you ask? The specific inspiration came from Lon Milo DuQuette, as I mentioned the other day. In his new book Low Magick, he discusses using planetary talismans to help balance and enhance his life (Low Magick 49-55), as suggested by Israel Regardie (Talismans pp). And I would, of course, be lying if there weren’t a certain element of “to see if I could”.
So … behold! My first ritual magic of the new year! Magic of a sort I have barely dabbled in before! And hot damn, it was fun. Ritual magic plus arts and crafts.
Both talismans are mixed-media, using a combination of printed paper, colored pencils, air-dry clay, scribed with a copper stylus, and painted with acrylic.