As you may note by looking to the right, I am a member of Christopher Warnock’s Spiritus Mundi mailing list. I’m not very active—I don’t know enough about traditional astrology to participate(1)—but I do like to take advantage of the elections he and his students are kind enough to share. Many of the folks on the Spiritus Mundi group, like myself, are too poor to create talismans of precious metals. So there’s a lot of talk about paper talismans. So much so, in fact, that Mr. Warnock has recently posted a page on the history and construction of paper talismans.
The prevailing wisdom on the mailing list is that paper talismans are good for 90 days. My own experience has been radically different: although my Jupiter talisman, made back in April, did require a bit of a boost over the summer, it is still going strong.
So as I gear up for Monday morning’s Mercury election (the last Hour of Night, just before dawn), I thought I would share the process that is working so well for me.
I start with two unlined notecards. I mark one as the front and one as the back: if I’m going to print them off (which I have done in the past) I’ll prepare everything the day before in an openoffice document(2); this weekend, as I’m out of printer ink and money, I’ll be hand-drawing them in pencil to be inked and colored at the electional moment. If I don’t already have an appropriate planetary incense on hand, I’ll gather the herbs and resins for that, as well, also to be mixed at the time of the election. Finally you need glue; I prefer rubber cement.
With your cards and images prepped, either digitally or by hand, you wait until the appropriate hour as taught in electional astrology, then print or ink the images. Write your legal and magical names on the backs of the cards—that is, what will be the “inside”. Blend or grab your incense that you will use to suffumigate the talisman. Trace the edge of one of the cards with your glue and sprinkle the incense blend inside it. Place the other card on top, make sure it seals all the way around. Suffumigate and incant as the ritual calls for. I also tend to finalize the concecration with a drop of Abramelin oil.
This is how I produce paper talismans that are still effective almost six months out. Checking and recharging these talismans is becoming a part of my Full Moon rites, along with my active sigils.
1 – I am, in fact, the exact kind of learn-at-my-own-pace system-hacker he despises. My saving grace is probably that I keep my damn mouth shut instead of demanding that he pontificate at my convenience.
2 – I’ll assume you know how to format the pages and everything yourselves to make that work. If not, there are message boards for that.