Astrological and planetary magics are numerous, diverse, and often intricate-seeming, especially to newcomers. When I first began my ceremonial magic studies, I struggled to find genuinely beginner-level content. Everyone seemed to assume that you had already read a great deal of ancient writing and were already familiar with conjuring other kinds of spirits. My then-recent deep-dive into chaos magic gave me the tools and courage to fuck around and find out, and that turned out genuinely fantastic, but I don’t think everyone should have to start from scratch on that level in order to add some old-world astromagic to their modern neo-Pagan witchcraft.
One of the things that tripped me up the hardest was finding a basic ritual outline. There are more resources available now than there were then, but there’s also a lot of slop garbage, and as someone who makes images for astrological magic, and is constantly advocating for witches to give this shit a try, it behooves me to do my best to help fill that gap.
I got my start doing planetary magic with the Seven Spheres in Seven Days challenge, which was based in the Trithemian art of Drawing Spirits Into Crystals, but even that was more elaborate than what I’ve since learned some astromagicians use.
So, here is the most basic possible outline for consecrating astrological image talismans during an election (that is, an opportune and auspicious astrological configuration), be they petitions, paper talismans, metal, or whatever. I considered including this in my recent post on using my magical images, and have gone back and added a link to this in that post, but I thought it would be more useful to the community at large to have this as a freestanding document.
Finally, this is not a be-all and end-all of planetary ritual. This is a place to start so you can begin your experiments while you continue your research. Perfect is the enemy of good.
The Barest Bones of A Ritual
- Do the Usual (Wind up): cleanse and purify yourself, cast your circle, call your patron gods, allies, and familiars, however you do.
- Call on the powers of the planet in question (scripts exist but are not necessary).
- Burn lots of planetary incense when you do your invocations.
- Make/complete/activate your image. Describe the image aloud, particularly if the original text includes attributes that can’t be conveyed in the physical image (fabric colors in metal; moral and emotional qualities of the figure).
- Burn lots more incense.
- Hold your image/petition in the smoke as you say your petition out loud.
- Do the Usual (Wrap up): thank everyone you called, dismiss the planetary powers, dismiss your spirit court, wind down your ritual space.
Invoking the Planets
Invoking the planet and its powers off the cuff and from the heart is rarely wrong. But traditional prayers and invocations bring a lot to a ritual.
There are, of course, near endless invocations of the planets and their powers. In my own work, I use a combination of Orphic hymns and Picatrix prayers and occasionally PGM spells.
The public domain and readily available Thomas Taylor translation of the Orphic hymns is a great place to start with your astrological magic, but it’s worth your money to get a copy of the Picatrix and cannibalize the prayers from Book IV Ch?. I favor the Atrell and Porecca 2019 translation.
Further Considerations
Contrary to popular opinion, astrological talismans do not need to be consecrated at the moment of physical creation. If you can make your talisman, start to finish, in the electional window? Fantastic. But it’s an unrealistic ideal, especially if you want your final talisman to actually look good.
If you can conjure a spirit to appear in a circle, you can conjure a spirit to dwell in and ensoul an empty talisman, regardless of when, where, and how it was made. To borrow a metaphor from Sara Mastros (she was speaking of Solomonic pentacles, at the time, but the logic applies here equally): the creation of the physical but unenchanted talisman is the moment when the enchanted talisman is conceived, not when it is born; the relevant astrological moment for the birth of the talisman and its spirit is when you perform your ritual.
To consecrate your pre-made talisman, draw, print, assemble, or acquire it as far in advance as you need to. Making use of planetary days and hours helps prime the pump, but isn’t absolutely necessary. If there is some significant part of the construction that you can save for the ritual circle where you will consecrate, enchant, and ensoul the talisman, that’s ideal, but not necessary.
Cleanse and purify the (fully or partially constructed) talisman beforehand. As you prepare and perform your conjuration, focus on the image: trace it with your fingers, or wand, or stylus; describe the image aloud, even as you describe its intended effects. Then suffumigate it at the height of the ritual.
If you are printing your image and your home printer is in the same room as your altar, you may be able to print and assemble the image in the election window. If not, print and ritually purify the image in advance.
If you are drawing your own image, you can pencil the image in advance and ink and/or color it in the election window. I am particularly fond of drawing images on watercolor paper, penciling and coloring with watercolor pencils in advance, then inking and coloring within the election window.
If you are making your talisman in metal, there are a variety of approaches you can take. Since I run a casting studio, I cast my talismans in the election and clean them up later. If you are a stone-setting, you can set the stones in the election. If you are an engraver, you can do some final strokes of engraving in the opportune moment.
If you are using a wholly pre-made talisman, really focus your energy and attention on the image, reciting its original description as you trace it with your finger, wand, or stylus.
Dialing Up Your Ritual
Some folks like a really simple ritual. Some folks like to take two or three hours to conjure a spirit. Generally, I like something more middle-of-the road. For this, I use an exceptionally idiosyncratic version of my own DSIC variant ritual, leaning heavily on the power of my personal grimoire and spirit allies. I wrote about it here.
The first and simplest thing you can do to wind up your astrological magic is prayers and incantations. I use a combination of Orphic hymns and Picatrix prayers to call spirits down into my talismans. More (and perhaps better for you) prayers can be found throughout the grimoire and literary traditions.
The second thing you can do is more and better incense. Really chong out the room. Get high on it.
The third thing you can do is really bring your allies to bear. I mention it in the ritual above, but it bears doubling down on. Invoke your patron gods and familiar spirits explicitly to vouch for you and bring down only the best and most suitable spirits. (This can also help improve a mediocre election.)
The fourth thing (though purists would argue it’s the first thing) is to really dial in your timing. I know that I just wrote a post on all the things you can use astrological images for without bothering with astrological timing, but my argument is not and never has been that proper electioneering isn’t a massive power boost; it is a massive power boost.
Further Reading
As far as I know, there is only one book on this kind of magic published in the 20th or 21st Centuries: Secrets of Planetary Magic by Christopher Warnock, 2010.
Traditional sources are more numerous. The two most important are the 11th Century Picatrix (originally written in Arabic; translated into Castellian and from there into Latin before finally coming to us in English) and 16th Century Three Books of Occult Philosophy by Agrippa. I recommend the Attrell-Porecca (Llwellyn, 2019) and Perdue (Inner Traditions, 2021) translations, respectively. Other sources include other grimoires, astrological manuals, treatises on the natural sciences, and lapidaries, none of which I know well enough to recommend for or against.