Behold, friends! The first four designs from my 2024 Samhain line! A saint-style devotional pendant featuring Hekate Trimorphis; Three-Winged Gorgoneion; a Memento Mori skull pendant, and the seal of Belial.
Hekate Trimorphis
Hekate Trimorphis is my fourth Hekate devotional image. This one, based on images found on Roman magical gemstones, is in my oval “saint’s pendant style”. It depicts Hekate with three overlapping bodies: three faces, six arms, six legs, all bound within a single peplos, and holding a whip and torches and daggers. I’ve been planning some version of this image for a while, and I am very proud to be presenting it at last.
I have cast up these exemplars in sterling silver and shibuichi. I will also be making it available in bronze. Probably not brass, though, since I just don’t think it will look good in yellow.
The Three Winged Gorgoneion is based on ancient shield designs. I’m super excited to finally be releasing a second Gorgon image. This one in particular has actually been sitting on my bench waiting to be molded and released for most of the year. I’ve cast up these exemplars in sterling silver (bottom), as a pin, and shibuichi (top), as a pendant, and will also be making it available in brass and bronze, and with rosary fixtures and as a bolo tie.
Momento Mori: remember that you will die (in Latin). This metal skull pendant is the first of several designs that I’m calling Momento Mori. Again, I’ve cast my exemplars in sterling silver and shibuichi, and I will also be making the pendant available in brass or bronze. The hole through the skull is suitable for a 2-3mm chain, but could be made larger upon request.
This will be available as a pendant or as a solid altar-piece.
Finally, least for this first round, is the Seal of Belial from the Lesser Key of Solomon.
“The 68th spirit is called Belial, he is a mighty king and powerfull; he was Created next after Lucifer, & is of his order; he appeareth in ye forme of a Beautiful angel sitting in a Charriot of fire, speaking wth a comly voice, declaring that he fell first & amongst ye worthier & wiser sort which went before Michael & other heavenly angels; his office is to distribute preferments of senatorships, and to cause favour of friends & foes, he giveth Excellent familiars & governeth 80 Legions of spirits.” (from the Peterson translation on Esoteric Archives)
At long last I present to you the first of this year’s Pride offerings!
I say, “at long last” both because I wanted to have this out two, even three weeks ago, and because I have wanted to make an image of Tiresias since before my first Pride line.
For those of you who don’t know, Tiresias is one of most famous oracles of Greek myth, second only to poor Cassandra. His name is a byword for wisdom and righteousness, and a famed reader of signs and omens. It is he who counsels Cadmus in the Bacchae and Oedipus in Oedipus Rex.
Though I do love him as an initiate of the Dionysiac Mysteries, and as a prophet and diviner, the tale that has made Teresias most dear to my heart is that of his time spent as a woman. Ovid, of course tells the story as a dirty joke, with a punch line about Zeus winning a bet with Hera about who enjoys sex more, but the tale also appears in (pseudo)Apollodorus: how Tiresias came upon two entwined and mating snakes on the road and separated them with his staff and was thereby transformed into a woman, and how some (traditionally seven) years later “restored” his masculinity by separating another pair of mating snakes. (Pseudo Apollodorus’ verseion can be found here, scrolling down just a little to 105; Ovid’s version can be found here.
For my own part, given the assumption (and the account of Apollodorus) that Tiresias gifts of prophesy and divination dated back to his youth among the nymphs of Athena, I take not just the latter transformation but the first as well to be conscious and deliberate choices. That is to say, Tiresias found (or perhaps even sought out) the first pair of snakes in order to spend some years as a woman, and only sought out another pair when it suited her to once more be him. Moreover, in both versions of the story, Tiresias led a full and active life as a woman: whether or not women, generally, have a better time of sex than men, clearly Tiresias had a better time as a woman.
To make this pendant, I looked to Attic red figure pottery for inspiration. I was not able to find any images clearly designated as Tiresias, so instead I chose a generic man with a himation and a staff, and retooled it to my liking. I then reversed the image, removed the beard and changed a visible pectoral for a tit, and soldered the two prototypes back to back.
I am very, very pleased with this image, and may well keep the exemplar for myself.
Hail and well met, friends. Thank you for joining me as I finally and proudly present my inaugural Samhain Line: six new designs and three unique pieces of jewelry perfect for spooky season.
Some of these have been in the works for a long time. Some of them were designed exclusively for this line. All of them are fantastic and much-needed additions to the Sorcerer’s Workshop. Would you like a tour?
Devotional Image of Persephone
An image of Persephone embracing her three aspects of Dread Queen (the skull), goddess of spring and flowers (the flowering vines), and patron of the immortalizing Eleusinian Mysteries (the skull’s mushrooms crown).
I received this image during an oracular session this spring, not long before Beltane, and is the flagship design of my inaugural Samhain Line.
The pendant is one inch across and 3/16ths of an inch thick, solid and made to last, with a loop that can be used to attach a cord or chain or any kind of bail.
The pendant is available in sterling silver or red bronze.
These pendants are not consecrated. That is your responsibility to perform in accordance with your traditions.
A devotional image in my signature style, featuring my take on Eliphas Levi’s iconic image of Baphomet as the Goat of Mendes.
To me, Baphomet is the queer and genderqueer god/dess of witchcraft and chaos magick. Their sexual and gender ambiguity is the point. Their theriomorphic imagery is the point. The fact that they are on the one hand a newly-revealed divinity and on the other hand share imagery with gods more ancient than the written word are the point. Their passage through modern Gnosticism as a vision of Sophia and/or the God Above God is the point.
* Talisman is one inch in diameter with an image on each side.
* Available as a pendant with an upeye suitable for a 3mm chain or with three rings suitable for stringing as a rosary piece.
* Available in sterling silver, shibuichi (a 3:1 copper:silver art metal alloy), yellow brass, or red bronze.
This piece is not consecrated. That is your responsibility to do in accordance with your tradition or gnosis.
Rattlesnake vertebrae earrings cast in silver or bronze with silver earrwires. The third design from my inaugural Samhain Line, perfect for goths, witches, and other lovers of dark vibes. Molds were taken from genuine rattlesnake vertebrae.
Tourmaline and Sterling Silver Rattlesnake Vertebrae Bracelet
The fourth new design in my inaugural 2023 Samhain Line, this bracelet is made of rough tourmaline beads and cast sterling silver rattlesnake vertebrae strung on silver wire with a hook clasp. These materials and design are ideal for grounding and protection magic, and as a stylish witchy statement piece.
The bracelet is available at lengths from approximately six inches to nine inches. The pictured exemplar with eight tourmaline beads and four pairs of vertebrae is nine inches long; shorter bracelets will consist of fewer beads.
A 1 inch coin depicting the seal of Astaroth as described in the Lesser Key of Solomon, better known as the Goetia. In the words of the anonymous author: “The 29th spirit in order is Named Astaroth, he is a Mighty & strong duke and appeareth in [the] forme of an unbeautifull angel, ridding on an Infernall like dragon, and carring in his right hand a viper (you must not lett him come to neare yu least he doe yu damage by his stinking Breath. Therefore ye Exorcist must hold ye Magicall Ring nere to his face and yt will defend him he giveth true answares of things present past & to come & can discover all secreets; he will declare willingly how ye spirits fell, if desired, & ye reason of his own fall. He can make men wounderfull knowing in all Liberall siences; he rules 40 Legions of spirits, his seal is this, wch weare as a Lamen before yu, or else he will not obey you.”
The front of the coin bears the image of the seal. The reverse may be polished or textured.
Use this talisman seal in your conjurations — traditional or modern — or as the core materia in a prosperity bag.
Work with demons at your own risk.
Each piece is hand-made to order and will include unique variations and blemishes.
A 1 inch coin depicting the seal of Asmoday as described in the Lesser Key of Solomon, better known as the Goetia. In the words of the anonymous author: “The 32d spirit in order is called Asmoday. he is a great king, strong & powerfull; he appeareth wth 3 heads, whereof ye first is like a Bull The second like a Man, The Third like a Ram, [he appeareth also] with a serpents Taile, Belching or vomitting up flames of fire out of his mouth his feet are webed like a Goose, he sitteth on an Infernall dragon carring a Launce and a flagg in his hands, he is ye first & chifiest under ye power of Amaymon, & goeth before all others: when the Exorcist hath a mind to call him, lett it be abroad, and lett him stand on his feet all ye Time of action, wth his cap of [off], for if it be on, Amaymon will deceive him, and cause all his doeing to be bewrayed, But as soone as ye Exorist [Exorcist] seeth Asmoday in ye shape aforesaid, he shall call him by his Name, saying, thou art Asmoday, & he will not deny it; and by & by he will bow down to ye grownd &c he giveth ye Ring of vertues he teacheth ye art of Arithmitick, geomitry, Astronomy, and all handicrafts36b absolutly; he giveth full and True answares to yr demands, he maketh a man Invisible, he showeth ye place where Treasures layeth, and guardeth it if it be among ye Legions of Amaymon, he governeth 72 Legions of Inferiour spirits, his seal is thus, to be made and worne as a Lamen before [thee] on your Breast.”
The front of the coin bears the image of the seal. The reverse may be polished or textured.
Use this talisman seal in your conjurations — traditional or modern — or as the core materia in a prosperity bag.
Work with demons at your own risk.
Each piece is hand-made to order and will include unique variations and blemishes.
Unique Devotional Image of Baphomet with Mexican Fire Opal
A one-of a kind image of Baphomet cast from a hand-carved wax, with a Mexican fire opal set over their head as the flame of gnosis. This image is, of course, a take on Eliphas Levi’s iconic drawing of Baphomet as the Goat of Mendes. It is also the product of my years of work with the god/dess, who is to me a deeply queer figure of creation – both creator and created.
To me, Baphomet is the queer and genderqueer god/dess of witchcraft and chaos magick. Their sexual and gender ambiguity is the point. Their theriomorphic imagery is the point. The fact that they are on the one hand a newly-revealed divinity and on the other hand share imagery with gods more ancient than the written word are the point. Their passage through modern Gnosticism as a vision of Sophia and/or the God Above God is the point.
The pendant is heavy, and the stone set in strong prongs.
The pendant is one inch across an eight of an inch thick.
I would be happy to add a jumpring to the arch bail at the top if you would prefer that.
It is not yet consecrated. That is your responsibility.
Unique Gorgoneion Prayer Beads and Protection Talisman
Prayer beads featuring my signature Gorgoneion protection talisman cast in bronze and strung on bronze wire with jet and tiger iron beadsbeads and bronze rattlesnake vertebrae and a bronze sword. These prayer beads were made in trance according to the whims of Spirit and will never be exactly reproduced.
The image of a Gorgon’s face, as seen on the front of the talisman, was a common protection symbol throughout ancient Greece and the Hellenistic world. The back of the talisman bears the names of the three attested Gorgons – Medusa, Sthenno, and Euryale – in Greek. This particular image was done in the Attic style, based particularly the Gorgon images found painted in kylix cups from the 4th Century BCE.
Unique Hekate Prayer Beads with Bronze Talisman and Key, Genuine Rattlesnake Vertebrae, Tiger Iron, Jet, and Amber Beads
The third and final of the unique pieces in my inaugural 2023 Samhain Line of jewelry.
Prayer beads featuring my signature Eye and Six Hands devotional Hekate talisman and wardrobe key cast in bronze, strung on bronze wire, with genuine rattlesnake vertebrae and beads of tiger iron, jet, and amber. The total bead count is: six 8mm tiger iron beads, ten 10mm rattlesnake vertebrae, thirty-two 3mm jet beads, fourteen 2mm jet beads, and fifteen 2mm amber beads, for a total of seventy-seven beads.
The beads were chosen and strung as the spirit moved me: six sets of nine beads interspaced with five sets of three, with seven beads and a key hanging from the central talisman.
The central talisman is a one inch bronze circle bearing an image of Hekate on one side — “O Six Hands crowning a flaming eye,/ Extending in every direction;” and her crossroads sigil, name, and epithets in Greek — “Hekate, Atalos, Apotropaia, Soteira, Rexichthon” — on the reverse.
The key is two and a half inches long.
The beads are thirty-six inches long with a six and a half inch dongle.
Yesterday I got the second new design for my Samhain line cast up, along with the first of the season’s three unique pieces. All three depict Baphomet as iconically illustrated by French mystic and grade-A weirdo Eliphas Levi. (He was a legit mystic, but being a Catholic mystic who does fake Christianized kabala and takes a fake Jewish name makes him a weirdo and kind of an asshole.) I’m really pleased with how they all turned out, and I’m excited to finally have some Baphomet pieces in my line.
The stock design is done in my signature style, and will be available in all four of my usual metals: sterling silver and shibuichi (both pictured above) as well as yellow brass and red bronze. It’s a one sided talisman and will be selling for $153 in silver, $130 in shibuichi, $88 in brass, and $123 in bronze.
The unique design was cast from a hand-carved wax, one of my best yet, and features a gorgeous orange Mexican fire opal as the gnostic flame. It looks so much better in person, and I’m really frustrated with my inability to get a good photo. I will keep trying, but do need to get it out in the world in the meantime. This piece is selling and shipping for $340.
Coming the first of October – or possibly a few days before, to catch that full moon energetic boost – I’ll be launching my first annual Samhain line. This year’s line will feature six new stock designs and three unique, one-of-a-kind pieces.
The flagship of my Samhain 2023 line is this devotional image of the Dread Queen Persephone.
This image was given to me by the Dread Queen, herself, during an oracular session where my friend Juniper served as her vessel. I asked for an image of her that I could use as the basis for devotional jewelry. I don’t remember the exact words, now – death and life and something about the mycelium – but this image is what appeared in my head, and flowed into my wax, culminating in the most technically excellent wax carving I have done to date. As an interesting note, one of the other suppliants at the oracular session had a near-identical vision on hearing those words.
Persephone is the goddess of spring and flowers, yes. And she was one of the Two (with her mother, Demeter), who oversaw the immortalizing Eleusinian Mysteries. And she was also the Dread Queen, the much-feared wife of Hades. In this image, I attempt to honor all three aspects of the goddess: the skull of death; the mushrooms that might induce visions, sustain life, or destroy it; the growing vines and flowers of spring.
If you’d like to pre-order one of these designs in silver ($171) or bronze ($125), please reach out to me to make payment arrangements and I can get it cast in advance and ship the day of the launch. Patreon supporters can reach out to me and buy their copy today.
At the end of February, I had the opportunity to catch one of the last talismanic elections for Saturn in Aquarius.
My memory of the ritual is, at this point, a little vague. The preverb vibes were raucous. I barely slept the night before, and in the process of not-sleeping an intense vision of the Saturnian spirits coming toward me and my temple in a crackling storm cloud. When the spirits came through, it was in a rush.
Then I cocked up an unrelated ritual the next day, and it took me a while before I felt sufficiently fortified and clear to finish processing those talismans: cleaning up the sprues and divining their names and sigils and purposes.
But, at last, with Saturn all the way into Pisces, I have done that final work. Of the nine talismans, two failed to cast and one I kept for myself. The rest of the spirits are ready and available for purchase.
These talismans are all cast in lead in my home studio. Most of them are my original Picatrix Saturn design. One is my new triangular talisman. For the moment I have chosen to include exemplars, rather than pictures of the individual talismans.
The fifth Spirit is a triangle pendant. She offers the favor of Saturn. Sold.
After six months of working with my own talisman, I can offer this advice: these talismans promise and deliver much, but they require clear communication on your part and demand that you meet the terms of your agreements.
If you want to get my posts a week before everyone else, to see the magical experiments that I don’t share with the public, to get first dibs on my elected talismans and fine art jewelry, or just want to support my work, you can do so through patreon. If you’d like to make a one-time donation, or don’t want to deal with all the non-occult content I post on patreon, I also have a ko-fi.
A couple weeks ago, the Trance Possession Club subset of my Lunar Shenanigans Crew invoked Persephone. (If I haven’t told any stories about that, oops. But everything you need for this post is contained in that sentence and the next.) I was neither Vessel nor Trance Guide, and the Vessel (who assigns roles for their ritual) hadn’t assigned additional roles, so my only task was to be ready to ask a question of the goddess when my turn came.
I’ve simplified my life a lot since we started this project, and I have really struggled to find questions to ask the gods we call on. In a couple cases, it’s been a matter of not wanting to owe that god anything, but more often – since we’ve gotten away from Hekate – it’s just a matter of having the parts of my life generally governed by those gods largely under control. So, when the question of devotional images came to me, it felt like a real moment of genius.
I asked for two images, but only got one.
The above art is the image I received of Persephone, alone: “life and death joined … mycelium” (the lacuna there being my inability to understand the words of the oracle). I sketched this image on my phone immediately after ritual: a skull crowned in mushrooms with a flowering tree growing out of it.
This image is definitely a tier or two above my existing wax carving skill, but it’s also too three-dimensional for my usual process, so … I guess I need to learn to be a better wax carver.
The second image I asked for was of Persephone as one of the two goddesses of the Eleusinian mysteries, for those devotees looking to discover and invent new Mysteries in that tradition. To that request, she answered: “I will say only that there was a reason I was known as the Dread Queen.” Which I partially take as, “not for you.” Which is fair, as I have no dream of rediscovering/reinventing the Eleusinian mysteries, myself, just being the personal jeweler of those who do.
It’s a little interesting and embarrassing that I didn’t think to ask that question before now. After all, I’ve wanted to create 21st Century magical images of the planets since I first started fucking with astrological image magic. For some reason, though, that didn’t translate into doing the same for the various gods my crew and I invoke.
Behold the second of April’s additions to the Sorcerer’s Workbench: a pendant for devotees of Hephaistos, the Greek god of fire, the forge, metalwork of all kinds, and the broad portfolio “craft” which overlaps with the territory of the goddess Athena.
With Dionysos and Zeus out of the way, Hephaistos was the obvious next choice for Olympian devotional talismans. I have a miniature anvil which has served as an altar to him and which has lived on my workbench since it was first given to me by a lover in 2006. His image hangs over my workshop. Those hours not devoted to the work of the muses are devoted to the works of fire and hammers and tongs.
As such, I didn’t need to do much research for this image. I chose to depict a blacksmith’s tools rather than a jeweler’s because they will be more universally recognizable: anvil and hammer and tongs. And I included the modern elemental triangle of fire, partially to fill that negative space and partly because Hephaistus rules primal elemental fire, not just its use in art and artifice.
The detail didn’t come out in the metal quite as perfectly as I might have liked, so I may redo the design some day, but I’m still very pleased with it, overall.
Our society, like that of ancient Greece, habitually and systemically overlooks the skilled craftsfolx who design and make the things we use every day, and the gods who rule over those works. This image gives me, and others like me, a piece of jewelry with which to declare our devotion to the life of fire and metal, craft and artifice, and this fiery god who rules it.
The second new design appearing at the Sorcerer’s Workbench this month: behold the Lightning of Zeus.
I considered several gods as the second Olympian in my line of devotional imagery: Hephaestos, Hera, and Athena were all toward the top of my list. I chose Zeus for three reasons. Firstly, he’s the king of the gods, and including him second after Dionysus is potentially problematic in the first place. Second, of the Olympians, he is the one I have the least personal connection to and therefore represents the greatest inspirational challenge. And, third, he has the benefit of a clear and obvious icon: the lightning.
As with my other devotional images so far, my brainstorming for this devotional image of Zeus took me back to some Attic vase-painting. The image below, borrowed from theoi.com and dating to the 5th century BCE, was particularly inspirational.
I love the way the lightning looks like a dagger from a fantasy roleplaying game, and something about it reminds me of a phurba (though that’s almost certainly just an artist-brain shape-association thing, not a real cross-cultural connection).
Anyone looking at this can tell that the wouldn’t have been possible without multiple symmetry tools. Despite that, it was still two solid hours of fussing from initial inspiration to the final product you see above. Then, having done up the design, I showed it to a friend who *does* have a personal connection with Zeus.
Above and beyond the pure artistic joy of sharing with friends, I wanted to make sure the vibes weren’t off. Vibe check came back double-plus good, so I put it into production. Then things got crazy with the holidays, and the depression, and here we are in April, finally putting the design out into the world.
Ultimately, I am very pleased with my design, and with how that design translated into the metal. I hope that you are, too, and find it worthy for your altar or as a gift for your Zeus-worshipping friends.
Although I have so far only cast exemplars in brass and bronze pendant-shapes, these are available in all the metals I usually work in, and as either coins or rosary pieces.
This August, Nina Gryphon spotted six Mercury Elections, three worthy of metal talismans, the rest better suited for petitions and prayers. Looking for clearer-cut opportunities, I had actually overlooked all of these possible elections when I was looking back in May, which is why I still outsource my electioneering. Of those three superior elections, divination indicated that two of them were suitable for me to use.
The first election, I used for my own benefit, and for the benefit of my Lunar Shenanigans pseudo-coven, casting each of us a brass talisman of Mercury and distributing them at the end of our road-opening work at the Dark Moon. Preverb caught me hard the night before, and I barely slept. After the ritual, I was fucking high for hours.
The second election I cast for sale. The ritual, itself, was less dramatic in its effects on me. I think that the reason for this was twofold: firstly, none of these talismans was for me; secondly, the working first election had made me a better conduit for the Mercurial powers than I had been before. The spirits names and sigils came to me easily, as did their specialties, and their advice on how best to process them.
Of that second cohort, presented here, I attempted to cast six talismans. Only five came through. The technical difficulties were on the jewelry end, not the sorcerous side, and I have written about that experience here. All of the spirits – even the doomed one – spoke to me quite clearly, and I think they will all make good friends to whomever takes them.
They retail for $398, shipping included.
The first talisman is a pendant. Its spirit specializes in course correction.
The second talisman is a coin. The sprit promises to attract anonymous patronage and sponsorship – ideal, then, for internet artists.
The third talisman is a pendant. The spirit promises to bring professional renown.
The fourth talisman is a pendant. The spirit promises to teach perseverance.
The fifth talisman is a pendant. The spirit promises to teach excellence in art, craft, and skill. Sold
