Showing all posts tagged image of venus

In art, witchcraft

Image of Venus According to Apollonius

Author Satyr MagosPosted on

The image of Venus, according to the opinion of the wise Apollonius, is the shape of a woman standing on her feet and holding an apple in her right hand. This is her shape.

– Picatrix Bk 2, Ch 10, Para. 26 trans. Attrell & Parecca

Modern magicians overwhelmingly use Venus to bring love, and that is absolutely in her wheelhouse: “Entreat Venus for the union of desires, the power of causing joy and friendship, driving out idleness and grief, for invigorating the appetite, augmenting procreation, multiplying sons, extinguishing fires, and remaining secure from animals.” (Book 4 Chapter 4 Para 8)

She also governs the arts: “She governs an aspect toward grammar, the art of poetic meter, sounds, and songs. … From the crafts, she governs all the skills of painting, illustrating, selling perfumes, playing instruments pleasantly, singing, dancing, and producing harmonies with instruments.” (Book 3 Chapter 1 Para 7)

My first astrological image of 2026, and my sixth of seven images “according to Apollonius. I’m really very pleased with how it’s turned out. I love her facial features, and the texture I was able to convey in her hair. I think I did a great job of making her fat and hot.

Even more than my other planetary images, it’s important to me as a politically conscious artist that at least one of my images of Venus be explicitly Black. When I picked Venus as my next Apollonian image to finish, I decided that there was no time like the present. I had originally wanted her costume to be much more clearly African-inspired, but I struggled to find inspirational images attatched to such basic information as, “who and where in Africa designed or wore or wears this”. So for this image I settled on a big cloth that reads somewhere in between a Hellenistic himation, in line with the vaguely Graeco-Roman vibes of most of my images, and the wrapped cloth I’ve seen both tribal and urban Ghanans wear. If I ever do this in color, the cloth will be bright yellow-orange and have my best simplified approximation of the vivid, intricate, and colorful patterns for which West Africans, in particular, are known. I wish I knew how to better convey Black skin in a black-and-white image, like this. That’s obviously going on the research list, along with traditional and modern African fashions.

I might go back and dial up the details and the shading, but my hands hurt like fire and I’m really, really pleased with this as-is.

In art, witchcraft

Picatrix Image of Venus to Be Well Received and Esteemed by All

Author Satyr MagosPosted on 1 Comment

The image of Venus. Make from the figures of Venus the shape of a woman with a human body but with the head of a bird and the feet of an eagle, holding an apple in her right hand and a wooden comb similar to a tablet in her left, which has these figures written upon it: OΛOIOΛ. Whoever carries this image will be well received and esteemed by all.

— Picatrix Bk 2, Chapter 10, Paragraph 55, translated by Attrell and Porecca

This was the first astrological image I ever drew, all the way back in college in 2013 or 14, when I first got my hands on my own copy of the Picatrix. At long, long last I have finally inked it and republished it as a part of this series of Picatrix images.

I have a lot of feelings about this image that I’m not entirely sure how to articulate. I was fucking ecstatic about it when I first drew it. I am really, really happy with how the digital inks came out. I like the thickness of her, and the textures of the eagle-feet and feathers, and that one staring eye.

I have used this image for all the Venus talismans I have so far made or kept for myself, and clients have attributed both professional and romantic success to its use.

It’s interesting to me that this is a hybrid image of PIcatrix’ and Mercurius’ images of Venus: a bird-headed woman instead of a man, holding the apple and comb and with the characters. Given my skeptical relationship with gender, you will be unsurprised to hear that I suspect the three images and their features can be used interchangeably, for all Venusian purposes, and this one is merely exceptionally potent at making the bearer well-liked.

Thank you for reading. If you’d like a high resolution version of this image, or to see my work before anyone else, please support me on Patreon.

In art, witchcraft

Image of Venus According to Picatrix

Author Satyr MagosPosted on

“The image of Venus, according to the opinion of the wise Picatrix, is the shape of a woman holding up an apple in her right hand and, in her left, a comb similar to a tablet with these characters written on it: ΟΛΟΙΟΛ. This is her shape.”

Picatrix Book II Chapter 4 Paragraph 27, Trans. Attrell & Porreca (2019)

Drawn and shared with plenty of time for you to prepare before Venus enters Taurus on 4/20.

Use this image as the face of your paper talismans by whatever method you prefer, or to accompany a petition by writing what you want across the face of the image. Hold on to the image for however long feels appropriate, and dispose of it in a similar manner.

In witchcraft

Crash, Burn, and Recovery: a New Lesson Learned from Venus

Author Satyr MagosPosted on

A while ago I had the opportunity to hit a series of elections that included a Saturn election one day and a Venus election the next.

The Saturn election went great. I had visions of spirits the night before, intense pre-verberations and insomnia. I just finished up the talismans the other day, and they are On Point.

The Venus election was a bust. No problem with the election, as far as I can tell, but I was so caught up in other kinds of preparation that I was twenty minutes late turning on my electromelt. I should have just quit then, but I really wanted to hit that election . So I hoped and I prayed and I proceeded as if success was possible. I set up the altar. I burned the incense. I chanted the invocations. I could feel the potent and eager Venusian spirits gathered around me to fill the metal, and I tried, I really tried, to get the metal hot enough to pour and hit that election.

I fucking failed. By the time the metal was finally ready to pour, Venus had crossed the midheaven. Technically Venus was still within orb, and I know that others have had success within those parameters, but … I knew immediately that I hadn’t, at least not that time. Strangely, and possibly of note to other magicians, the spirits hung about in my studio until I poured the metal, even though they did not apparently go into the talismans.

My initial concern was that I’d made curse talismans. So I did extensive divination. I got a bunch of weird mixed messaging, but the gist seemed to be that they weren’t cursed … I just had to decide what to do with them. The only clear and good option was 10 Disks for slagging them, and that was a monetary concern. Also good, but significantly less clear, was the Ace of Cups for “do something else” … except every “something else” I proposed after that initial reading was just as muddy.

Eventually, I just used them as photographic exemplars and kept them as well-consecrated materia for the next Venus election.

In retrospect, the talismans may not have been cursed, but the failed electional ritual definitely did a number on me. I fell into a depression that didn’t really lift until I had melted the failed talismans down (with appropriate thanks and apologies) and cast them into the next cohort of Venus talismans.

That batch of talismans is now fermenting happily on my altar. I have their names and sigils and will be writing them up for sale soon … once I’m done processing the cohort that came after (that will almost certainly be done by the time this post goes live).

I’m still not entirely sure what was going on with that divination, or with the depression. I don’t know if it would have gotten better faster if I’d melted the miscast talismans down sooner, of if I had done some more elaborate propitiation ritual. Or maybe I had just pushed myself too hard that week and would have crashed, after, even if the ritual had been a shining success.

But I want to share this story for the benefit of other astromages, so if you all experience something similar, they know you’re not alone.

In art, witchcraft

From the Sorcerer’s Workbench: Picatrix Image of Venus

Author Satyr MagosPosted on

“The image of Venus according to the opinion of Picatrix is the shape of a woman with a human body but with the head of a bird and the feet of an eagle, holding an apple in her right hand and a wooden comb similar to a tablet in her left, which has these figures written upon in [the Greek letters OLOIOL]. Whoever carries this image will be well received and esteemed by all.”

Picatrix Bk 2, Chapter 10, Paragraph 55, translated by Attrell and Porecca

I drew my first Image of Venus while I was in college, as I was beginning to catch my stride with what I was calling the Ceremonial Experiment (with no idea, then, the long-term effects it would have on my magical practice). I later remade the image as a photograph, with a hand-made mask and a human model. I returned to the Image of Venus, again, when I changed jewelry jobs after college and found myself in the rare position of having space and encouragement to learn and grow as a jeweler. If it was not literally the first piece that I prototyped through what would become my signature process (I think that it was), it was in the very first batch. And, thus, it was one of the handful of designs that launched the Sorcerer’s Workbench.

The Image of Venus was not the only Picatrix image I attempted at that time, but it was the only one I finished. It played to my strengths as an illustrator: a standing figure with animal features and simple iconography. When I went to take that first illustration – which, tragically, seems to have vanished into the void – it was relatively easy to take my line art and redraw it to fit the needs of the prototyping process I learned at the (then new) day job.

two-tone art and prototype

In a very real sense, the Image of Venus Picatrix talisman was the prototype for entire line of Piecatrix talismans. It was early experiments with the Image of Venus that taught me how much power could come from the image alone, without any enchantment, and how the inclusion of the Agrippan seals and characters amplified that raw power, and helped tune out any trouble from a mediocre election, or an unelected enchantment ritual. The talisman that I, myself, carry to this day has only the image, without the characters and seal, and was consecrated/enchanted post-facto after having been carried for some months. The spirit that now dwells in that talisman is one of my most trusted familiars.

It is, in large part, for the benefit of this talisman that have I practiced and perfected my shibuichi process. Shibuichi is a Japanese art metal alloy of copper and silver at a 3:1 ratio (the name literally translates as one in four) that can look like rose gold when highly polished, darkens to a lovely coppery rusty red over time, and takes a stunning matte black patina. It is also available in .925 sterling silver, yellow brass, or red bronze.

As with most of my talismans, I offer the Image of Venus as a coin, a pendant, or a “rosary” charm with three rings so that it can be easily strung on prayer beads. If you are particularly concerned about the talisman taking its “final form” during the election (something I have observed spirits require from some sorcerers but not others for reasons known only to the spirits, themselves), I recommend stringing the rosary or pendant variants on prayer beads, which you could complete during the electional window.

shibuichi image of venus talisman strung on copper and lapis prayer beads with tassel

Each piece is hand-made to order in my home studio, with unique variations and defects as a result of the fabrication and casting process.

These talismans are NOT consecrated. That is your responsibility. Many customers have reported intense vibes from the power of the image, seal, and characters, but you still need to put in your part of the work, whatever that looks like in your tradition.

Astrological timing and consecration is available with a minimum of 30 days advance notice at an additional charge depending on the difficulty of the election you provide me with.

Custom variations – such as with stones, or alterations to the image – are available at my usual custom jewelry rates.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/817915354/picatrix-image-of-venus-two-sided