A great deal of my output over the last … several years has been illustrations of the astrological images described in the Picatrix, Agrippa, and a few other ancient sources. I have made digital images meant to be printed out or reproduced on paper, and metal images meant to be worn as jewelry or used as altar pieces. Experienced astro-magicians already know their conventional uses, and can intuit or invent new ones. But my target audience is my peers: witches and chaotes, most of whom have certainly heard of the Picatrix but who may not yet have gotten knee-deep in the astrological magical tradition. And it’s past time I gave that audience a little more to work with.
The conventional (perhaps even intended) use of most of these images is to engrave them on gemstones and enchant them as talismans during carefully selected astrological moments. These consecrated talismans are then worn in jewelry, particularly rings and necklaces. This is, as I will describe below, far from their only use.
But, first, this brings us to a necessary digression about terminology. To many in the astromagic community, the word “talisman” is exclusively reserved for astrological images created and consecrated within the narrow time window of an ideal astrological configuration called an election. I appreciate where they’re coming from, to a point, but that’s just literally not what the word talisman means; it always has been and always will be broader than that. I do my best to walk a narrow road of compromise between specialist and lay language, but I know that I cannot please everyone. Throughout this post, I use the word “talisman” to mean the object (paper, pendant, coin, whatever) bearing the astrological image and which has been or will be used in magic.
These are by no means the only uses to which the astrological images of the Picatrix, Agrippa, and other grimoires and manuals can be put. They are, rather, the uses to which I have put them and seen them put.
Attunement
The first use of these images, for me, is in the making of them. Studying the descriptions of the images in the Picatrix (and other sources) and then producing them on paper and digitally inking them helps attune me to the stars and planets they depict. Producing the images establishes relationships where I do not already have one and deepens the relationships where I have already established contact.
I have, at times, been more and less meticulous about starting or finishing my images in appropriate planetary days and hours. I have not found that it makes a significant difference, possibly because I am not attempting to influence the material world in any way.
This differs significantly from other uses of astrological images in that, unless you’ve decided to build a more elaborate ritual structure around your drawing and contemplation than I have, there really isn’t a suffumigation. You’re not trying to create a vessel that you are immediately filling with a spirit, but rather trying to reach the power behind the image so that they’ll take your calls in future rituals.
This is, of course, an off-label use in the eyes of astromagia purists.
Those wishing to more closely attune and ingratiate themselves to the planetary powers behind the images, but lacking the skills, time, or other resources to make the images for themselves, will find contemplating these images to be a more than adequate alternative. This, of course, segues nicely into the second off-label use of the astrological images: idolatry.
Icons and Idols
My theory, based on my experiences and those shared with me by other eclectic mystics and magicians making use of astrological images, is that these images were and are portraits of spirits. Horns and animal heads and birds’ feet, all common motifs in the Picatrix images, have connotated divinity and immortality in the art of the Mediterranean and Near East for millennia. Images of Mercury and Venus, in particular, sound remarkably like descriptions of the gods for which the planets are named. One person I know sees Herakles in the lion-headed image of Jupiter, and I can find no rational argument against that understanding. As such, these images make fantastic icons and idols for planetary magic and worship of all kinds.
This, too, is generally considered off-label by purists.
Materia Magica
Astrological images are ideal materia magica for use in all kinds of rituals, with or without other astrological considerations.
You can use metal images in mojo bags and other cloth talismans: tied up inside a small cloth square, or hung outside the bag on the same cloth that ties it closed. Paper images could go inside such bags. The images, themselves, could even be painted or embroidered onto the cloth.
You can incorporate astrological images into your candle magic. I have Mercury and Jupiter talismans in the silver bowl where I burn prosperity candles, along with the salt and rice and tea leaves and quartz and citrine and cinnamon. (The salt is a little rough on the bronze talismans, so they have to be cleaned periodically.) You can also use the image as a table of practice, printing or drawing it large enough to set up your candle magic altar on top of.
Petitions
Another excellent (and relatively conventional) use for astrological images is as a petition. Draw or print an image on paper or cardstock (I like 4×6 and 5×8 inch note cards for this). Astrologer and astromage Nina Gryphon says to write your petition across the face and chest of the image when enchanting for good, and across the back of the image when enchanting for evil; I believe this is from the Picatrix, but I can’t find the citation at the time of this writing.
A petition is an excellent way to take advantage of a mediocre or very short astrological election. It also combines well with less rigorous timing methods (just planetary day & hour), with candle magic, and with planetary invocations. I imagine that they would also combine well with hoodoo petition techniques.
Astrological image petitions do not seem to work well with Chaos Magick style sigils, at least not for me. My experience is that whole words, or better yet full sentences, work better.
Talismans
The iconic use of astrological images is the making of long-lasting talismans that bring the blessings and power of the planets to bear on the owner’s life as a whole. I say “owner”, here, rather than “magician”, because the iconic use of astrological talismans (at least in the 21st century) is as something that the magician makes for the benefit of a client. Talismans can be carried, worn, or left on your altar, but my experience is that they work best when worn or carried at least semi-regularly.
Paper Talismans
Printed or hand-drawn astrological images can be consecrated and enchanted as paper talismans. A paper talisman is different from a petition chiefly in duration and specificity. Where a petition is a more specific short-term enchantment, the effects of a paper talisman are broader and longer lasting.
Paper talismans are where I got my start in astromagic, and I think that they’re a great place to begin your experiments with proper astrological elections, as well. I have a write-up of my paper talisman technique here. When I make one, now, I really emphasize the part of a Picatrix invocation where I ask the planet and the powers to fill the talisman with pneuma, rather than (a) spirit.
Metal Talismans
Metal talismans with astrological images can be consecrated and enchanted as permanent homes for lifelong spirit allies, or they can be used as materia in other kinds of magic. Like paper talismans, they can be used as icons and idols – as a coin or hung over other images on your altar, or strung into prayer beads, or worn as religious jewelry.
Because I am a magical jeweler running my own casting studio full time, the majority of my personal metal talismans are cast and consecrated during astrological elections, then cleaned and polished during subsequent planetary hours. When performing the ritual, I ask the planet and the powers to send down spirits to fill the talismans, spirits who will serve whoever carries them and who will manifest the planet’s will in the world. As I’m cleaning and polishing the talisman, I introduce myself and ask it for its name and specialty. Thereafter, the talismans live on my altar when I’m not wearing them, along with my other familiar spirits, and I wear them in certain other rituals.
Consecrating Astrological Images
The most traditional use of astrological images is to create and consecrate them as talismans at an astrologically opportune moment. Whatever else you are doing with the image, getting that traditional timing right is never wrong. If you are not going to work up a full astrological election, I do recommend working in the appropriate planetary day and hour and phase of the moon.
Whether or not you are employing astrological timing, the other through-line across all uses of astrological images is suffumigation. Incense offerings are made throughout the consecration of the astrological image, and at the culmination of the ritual, the image is moved through the smoke to awaken and empower it.
There are basically three steps to empowering astrological images: creating or collecting the image, consecrating it, and then using it in ritual. My experience is that you can combine the first two steps or the last two steps, but that trying to do all three in a single sitting/ritual will spread your attention and energy too thin and probably take longer than the election window (even if you’re just using just planetary days & hours). Generally speaking, for permanent metal talismans, I will cast and consecrate them in a carefully elected astrological moment, then work with the resulting spirit-ally in later rituals; for all other uses, I’ll prepare the image in advance then consecrate and deploy it in a single ritual.
For those who like to have a pre-written template/example ritual, here is mine. In the meantime, I can say from personal experience that they work excellently in conjunction with Seven Spheres style planetary conjurations and initiations, and with candle magic, whether metal or paper. I have also had good results consecrating them using PGM rituals.
1 comment
Comments are closed.