Showing all posts tagged occult art

In art, scholarship, witchcraft

Astrological Images: Fixed Star(s) Pleiades

Author Satyr MagosPosted on

Under the constellation of Pleiades, they made the image of a little Virgin, or the Figure of a Lamp; its reported to increase the light of the eyes, to assemble Spirits, to raise Winds, to reveal secret and hidden things. – Henry Cornelius Agrippa, Three Books of Occult Philosophy, Book II, Chapter XLVII (1)

The second Fixed Star in the lists I’ve found, and the second to receive full treatment in this series, is the constellation Pleiades, a cluster of six stars most famous for their near-universal recognition across times and cultures.

De Quindecim Stellis (2), a treatise on the fixed stars, describes the Pleiades as “of the nature of the Moon and the complexion of Mars”. This “nature and complexion” scheme is reported for each of the fixed stars, and if we’re being honest, I don’t know exactly what that is meant to mean. It also gives the stone of the Pleiades as “crystal” or “diadocos”, neither of which can be mistaken for clear identifications, and the herbs as fennel and frankincense. Other texts included in De Quindecim give quicksilver as the metal of the star, and suggest including it in talismanic rings.

Similar to, if not outright drawing on Agrippa, the lapidary Speculum Lapidum gives this image as, “A virgin or a young woman or a torch…” (3), and the Hebrew name of the constellation (at least, according to De Quindecim Stellis) is “the Lamp”, giving a strong through-line to the images.

Warnock reports that the Pleiades constellation, as marked by their brightest star, Acyone, is currently at 0 Gemini 14.

Nigel Jackson’s image in Warnock’s Fixed Star Magic (4) is a woman with a lamp beholding disembodied spirits and buffeted by winds. I chose a similar theme but wildly different visual composition: a portrait more suitable to a tarot-sized card in the Art Nouveau-inspired style and framing that I’ve been exploring over the last couple months, with seven sets of glowing spirit-eyes numbered for the Seven Sisters but not actually meant to represent them, and a spiral of winds around the central figure and her lamp. The bowl-shaped lamp is marked with the Agrippan Characters of the Moon. Yes, she has an Adam’s apple. Yes, that’s the now-slightly-dated trendy nose-ring chain.

Overall, I am exceptionally pleased with this image. I love her face. I love how the winds turned out. The eyes came out way better than I thought I could pull off. I think I did a fantastic job of a minimalist and suggestive background. I believe that she is having a mystical experience. And I think that the colors really work.

Admittedly, I am less happy with the fennel and frankincense at the bottom. Frankly, they were just much, much harder to draw than the hellebore and mugwort I did for Algol, even if I were more of a plant. This, of course, is why I drew the plants instead of the stones.

As you can see, I produced two versions: one mostly black and white with just a bit of color pop, meant to be easily printable for at-home use, and one full color, because this image really called for me to push myself.

For all that the Pleiades are held to be bad stars to be born under, and that fixed star elections are notoriously difficult to catch, I have found the spirits of these stars to be extremely amenable to sorcerous contact. I made my first such contact made during morning ritual with the aid of my Third Lunar Mansion talisman spirit (the 3rd LM is associated with the Pleiades), from which I got my first inkling of the image I would make, and a sense that a full-scale conjuration would be a good way to dial in both the art and the magic.

I made my second contact with the spirits of the Pleiades on the Day of the Moon during the hour of Mars, using the triangle of conjuration taught to me by Saturn (6) and a variation on the invocation in Warnock’s Fixed Star Magic, which combines a prayer written by Nigel Jackson with a PGM invocation. The spirits of the Pleiades approved the sketch i had done for my Image with a few editorial adjustments: more eyes, more winds. They also recommended that I substitute either archangel’s seals or the Picatrix planetary glyphs for the Agrippan Grand Planetary Seals that I used.

The spirits also told me to carry the Pleiades glyph that I had made for the conjuration ritual with me when I went to continue my work on the image. When I went to do so the next day, the paper lamen was hot to the touch, and my vision of the image stayed sharp and clear. In fact, it was a real struggle to put down my stylus and turn off the computer at the end of the day: I’d save the image, take one last look, and find myself tweaking some other little part.

Third contact was made on the Day of Mars during the Hour of the Moon, with the Grand Planetary Seals of the Moon and Mars switched out for seals of the archangels Gabriel and Sammael, as previously instructed. I had originally intended to repeat my Moon-day/Mars-hour invocation from the week before, but Monday … did not work out. Tuesday morning divination indicated that an additional conjuration/contact was unnecessary, but not unwanted.

The spirits came clearly and quickly. I asked to know them, and to be initiated into their mysteries, and they answered. The point of planetary seals was clarified somewhat: one should call them by the Lunar and Martial powers that one knows best, not by Gabriel and Sammael, in particular.

They confirmed, both explicitly and implicitly, that any combination of Lunar and Martial days and hours is a good time to conjure them. They told me to call on them under the waxing moon for their aid in seeing and commanding spirits of the upper air, and to call them under a waning moon for power over the dead, and to call upon them at any time for power over the winds: as messengers across the spirit world, and to raise and calm storms. They did not say, specifically, when to call them to clarify sight or to reveal hidden things; perhaps those are more closely associated with Pleiades talismans, only, but more likely they come with closer friendship.

They told me that rites of the Fixed Star Pleiades (with a bit of hopefully obvious modification) can be used to call up any of the sets of seven associated with the constellation, but that one must start from the beginning with each septet – that is to say, friendship with the daughters of Atlas and Pleione will win you no favors with the Babylonian MUL.MUL goddesses(5).

And they gave me this invocation to share with you:

I call upon you O Pleiades, you Seven Sisters: Alcyone, Maia, Electra, Taygete, Celaeno, Sterope, Merope. Under the auspices of the Moon [NN] and of Mars [NN], I call you. By Zizaubio, your messenger, I call you. Come to my circle. Shower me with your power, your spirit, your pneuma. Initiate me into your mysteries and [do the deed i wish].

Hail unto you, O Pleiades. Hail unto you Seven Sisters. Hail unto you, Alcyone, Maia, Electra, Taygete, Celaeno, Sterope, Merope. Daughters of gods, mothers of heroes, you who guard the gates of the ecliptic, I honor you. Initiate me into your mysteries and [do the deed i wish].

O you Pleiades, beautiful nymphs. O you mighty Seven Sisters. O Alcyone. O Maia. O Electra. O Tygete. O Celaeno. O Sterope. O Merope. I thank you for your presence in my circle. I thank you for the gifts of your mysteries. I thank you for your mighty deeds on my behalf, [the deed you wish]. As you came in power, go in peace with my gratitude.

Between the research – which I can hardly claim to have finished – the conjurations, and the illustrations, this image was significantly more work than the image of Algol. I had some concern that I would not be able to finish this post this month. I am both excited to continue to develop my relationship with the Pleiades, and extremely glad to be done with this image.

The next in the series will be Aldebaran, which comes third in those lists where he doesn’t trade places with Algol for first. I’ve done an Aldebaran image before, but I can’t recall that I’ve ever caught a proper election, which means that I will have a lot less previous relationship to draw on as I start my new illustration and do my conjuring. Still, I’m really looking forward to it, and I hope that you are, as well.

1 – Agrippa, Henry Cornelius. Three Books of Occult Philosophy. Book II, Chapter XLVII https://esotericarchives.com/agrippa/op2.htm

2 – De Quindecim Stellis: The Comprehensive Translations of Hermes on the Fifteen Fixed Stars. 2022. Various authors. Translated by Regulus Hess, edited by Christopher Warnock. This book also includes excerpts from several other texts, including the Speculum Lapidum.

3 – Leonardi, Camillo. Speculum Lapidum. Pennyslvania State University Press. 2023. Translated by Liliana Leopardi. (Hess and Warnock render this “A virgin or maiden, or a torch” in their excerpt in De Quindecim Stellis.)

4 – Warnock, Christopher. Fixed Star, Sign & Constellation Magic. 2019. Image by Nigel Jackson. Page 28.

5 – MUL.APIN. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MUL.APIN

6 – I am very seriously working on my baseline conjuration ritual writeup, but in the meantime this link will take you to a pretty good explanation: https://journeythroughtheobsidiandream.com/index.php/2023/06/16/triangles-of-the-art-an-idiosyncratic-journey/

In art

Pop Zodiac Leo

Author Satyr MagosPosted on

Behold, friends! The second image in my new series of Pop Culture Zodiac icons!

LEO (Jul 23 – Aug 22)
Domicile of the Sun
Detriment of Saturn
Element: Fire
Mode: Fixed

I already had the mental image for this piece by the time I was done with Cancer, which made this really easy to start. Perhaps unsurprisingly, I had originally planned for Leo to be sculpted-buff with a glistening sixpack and cumgutters. I’m glad I changed my mind, though, because I think fat and hot with 80s hair works even better for Leo.

As happy as I am with the figures of Leo and his lion, I’m even more pleased with how the background came together. Neither backgrounds nor colors are my strongest suit as an artist, and I approached this from a more painterly (albeit distinctly digital) direction than I have my previous attempts.

The background is composed of four layers: the sky, the ground, the “details” (signpost, road, and cactuses), and an underlayer. The underlayer wasn’t really planned. The transparency that helped the colors of the backgrounds blend also desaturated them, and the particular pen tool I used left some artifacts that I wasn’t quite pleased with. So I decided to see if a gradient underlayer would pull it all together. And boy howdy, did it ever. The plan was actually for the gradient to only go under the central box, but it was my first time using the gradient tool in ClipStudio so I screwed it up a little and the gradient ran the whole height of the image. But that turned out to be, in the immortal words of Bob Ross, “a happy little accident”, because the background now looks incredible and the purple bar at the top and the orange bar at the bottom fucking pop in ways I did not plan.

Yes, Macklemore’s Thrift Shop was playing in my head as I drew and colored this.

Inevitably, I’m tempted to begin waxing verbose on the nature of Solar Leo, but this is a fully visual project. More to the point, the project is (as I described it to my partner) capital-b Basic, and digging into the actual astrology any further than noting the elemental nature and planetary dignities is well beyond that scope.

The next image, Virgo, presents the problem of having too many options. There are, after all, many many kinds of women.

In art, witchcraft

Picatrix Image of Mars According to Mercurius

Author Satyr MagosPosted on

Behold, my latest Picatrix planetary image, Mars according to Mercurius!

The image of Mars according to the opinion of Mercurius, is the shape of a man standing erect on his feet, holding on his right a beautiful virgin standing on her feet, which is an image of Venus with her hair fastened back. Mars is placing his right hand on his own neck and his left hand extending above her chest; he is facing her and admiring her. – Picatrix, Bk II, Ch 10, Para 20, trans. Attrell and Porreca

This image is interesting (and a technical challenge) first and foremost because it features not one figure but two: Mars, here, is accompanied by Venus, and they are very explicitly interacting. I may be missing something, but as far as I can tell the only other mutltiple-(human-)figure image is Venus According to Ptolemy as translated by Greer and Warnock: “a nude woman with a chain around her neck held by the image of Mars who stands before her” (Picatrix Book II, Chapter 10, p. 104 of the Liber Astratus edition), though it’s worth noting that Attrell and Porreca render that line as “in front of her neck she has the shape of Mars with a single chain” (Bk II, Ch10, Para 29 of their translation), in which case “the shape of Mars” could easily be understood as a man holding a chain, a man who is chained, or a big ol’ glyph of Mars around her neck like she robbed some macho man from the 1980s. (If I do ever come back to the Picatrix planets as an artistic subject, Venus According to Ptolemy is a strong candidate; in this moment I’m juggling two possible versions: a muscle mommy Venus wearing a glyph of Mars on a heavy chain and a high femme Venus holding Mars in chains.)

It also presented an interesting design challenge in that while the man is described as naked, the image of Venus is neither given a costume nor explicitly also nude. I think I was unconsciously recalling that Greer-Warnock rendering of the image of Venus when I decided to make them both naked. Having realized that as I write this, I have taken a moment to reconsider that decision, but I think it’s the right call because of how “naked man/dressed woman” hits on the internet in this year 2026 of our Demiurge. (And, of course, because I just like making art with naked people.)

Inevitably, there’s some very tiny technical things that vex me. There’s still something just a hair off about their respective proportions (though, of course, humans aren’t actually any one set of idealized proportions: we come in all shapes and sizes, which is something that I have tried to showcase in my collection of images.) Flaccid penises always look silly, no matter how big, small, or average they are. There’s also a few thematic elements that I’m still trying to figure out: do I want that white outline around them? I’ve added it to some and not to others; I also haven’t gone about it quite the same way twice. Before I print them, I need to make an actual decision about that for the sake of consistency.

Over all, though, I’m very pleased with this image. I’m proud of the clean evolution from my first sketch, where I was figuring out the pose and how to interpret the texts, to the sketch I shared with you last week, to this final black line version. I feel like I’m fucking finally figuring out how to draw feet. I’m like the composition and how they interact with the frame. I like both their faces, but especially hers. I really like how the textures of their hair turned out. I think I did a particularly good job on the linework, especially the heavy border.

In art, witchcraft

Occult Art: Solar Guardians of Polyphanes

Author Satyr MagosPosted on 2 Comments

In May of last year, Polyphanes reached out to me about doing a series of illustrations for him: icons of six solar guardians that feature prominently in his personal practice.

I was, of course, delighted. I’ve only done a handful of commissioned illustrations, but I’ve always wanted to do more. And Polyphanes and I have admired eachother’s work since we were both in college. But it was also a large project, which I feared might be a bit past the edge of my expertise: six figures, three theriomorphic and three anthropoid, drawing on both Eastern and Western visual traditions. Real talk: the dragon and the wizards/priests were right up my alley, and i was excited for the challenge of the pseudo-Egyptian falcon, but the crocodile and the child fucking concerned me.

Working up a price estimate was its own challenge. I know how long making jewelry takes, and what to charge for that labor. The time it takes me to do an illustration is a lot less consistent, and this project included both revisions and publication rights, which I really didn’t know how to calculate. But I did ultimately put together a quote that we were both happy with, and if I did underestimate the labor … well, that’s just part of the learning process. When I said “give me six or eight weeks after I get back from my road trip”, Polyphanes laughed and said, “how about I give you until this time next year?” (He was absolutely right.)

Polyphanes, himself, has this to say about the project as a whole:

This project of the Guardians of the Directions of the Cosmos came about from my work with the PGM, extending certain aspects of it into a more cohesive and expansive approach. These spirits can be sourced at least in part from PGM II.64—183 and PGM.XII.14—95, but there’s a huge amount of own explorations of and experience of these spirits that went into my realization of them and their images. There are two groups of them, the four for the directions and the two for the heights and depths, each marking a particular motion or domain of the Sun. I call on them as part of my daily empowerment ritual, and I also make an offering to them in my seasonal rite for the Sun crossing the equinoxes or solstices. They take a role not unlike the Watchtowers in some forms of modern magical practice, but they have a distinctly solar presence for me where each intertwines with the other, not wholly joined but not wholly separate either. That I’ve been able to work with JS to bring form to these spirits as JS brings these spirits into the world has been nothing short of a privilege, and I am deeply grateful for all the work and diligence xie’s done.

He has also done his own writeup of the project, which you should definitely read here: https://digitalambler.com/2026/04/11/icons-of-the-solar-guardians-of-the-directions-by-and-with-many-thanks-to-satyr-magos/

Along with the descriptions of the images (much clearer than anything the Picatrix has given me), Polyphanes included a copy of his ritual document and some pictures of his altar, which I used to make initial contact with the spirits in question. I don’t know that I ever made particularly lasting contact with those spirits, but it was enough. Like other magical art projects, in particular, inspiration came in clear strong bursts, in between which were days, weeks, even months of inactivity. Throughout the whole process, I tried to keep in mind that these images were icons, portraits of spirits whose pleasure was as important as my mortal client’s.

I drew the dragon first, then the falcon, then the crocodile, then the child, then the wizard, and finally the priestess. I chose that order deliberately, working roughly from hardest to easiest. I draw a lot of dragons, but I knew from the beginning that I wanted to draw Every Single Scale, and I knew that was going to suck, and that he was going to be a struggle to fit onto the page. I had a similarly clear vision of the falcon, but knew that the strong geometry of the pseudo-Egyptian stylization was going to be a real challenge. The crocodile, somewhat outside my wheelhouse, was easier chiefly in that I thought the experience of the dragon and the availability of reference photos would smooth over some of the difficulties (though his scale texture proved one of the greatest challenges of the project). Similarly, the Buddha-like child was easier only in that he has a human form; this may literally be the first child I’ve ever drawn. Finally, I got to the wizard and the priestess: themes so deep into my comfort zone that I knew that, no matter how exhausted the other figures left me, I would be well equipped do to them justice even if I were skating in at the last possible minute.

All six images began as pencil sketches on drawing paper, which remains my strong preference even as continue to master (and learn to genuinely love) digital linework and start to really grasp digital colors. The linework was almost all done in Clip Studio Paint 2.0, first on my laptop and then on my desktop, using a Wacom Intuos S graphics tablet (yeah, one of the little ~6x8in ones), with a few sections of the falcon done on my low-end Samsung Galaxy tablet using the mobile version of Clip Studio. I tried sections of the dragon and the crocodile on the tablet, as well, but couldn’t get it to work the way I wanted.

Last week, when I finally set them all down side-by-side-by-side to see how they worked as a set (looking at them on the screen is not the same), I was genuinely stunned by how well the whole thing had come together despite being the work of an entire year. I love each and every one of them. I can’t pick a favorite. Each has some element that I think is spectacularly executed, and I think they serve their intended purpose(s) admirably. I think I did a great job on the dragon’s scales, and I love his face and his cloudy crown. I love the falcon so much that I want to make jewelry out of him. I am so pleased with the face of the crocodile, and how I was able to work the reference image into what I wanted using my knowledge of foreshortening and anatomy. I love the lotus that the youth is sitting on, and I think he looks fucking fantastic for being my first child ever. I love the textures I achieved on the old man’s robes and sandals. I love the woman’s headscarf and the shadows over her face and hair and the way her peplos came together.

Overall, working on the project was an absolute blast. I am honored to have been chosen for the project, and proud of myself for seeing it through despite being a bit outside my wheelhouse. I hope to have the opportunity to do more images like these: portraits of beloved gods and spirits for the magicians who conjure them, drawn not just from ancient texts but from their experiences of these powers.

Along with my Picatrix planetary images, and the illustrations for my novel, The Prince’s Fighters, these images have really pushed me to mature and grow as an artist. I’ve felt very stagnated as an illustrator for several years, now, and it feels really good to see and feel such clear improvement over the last twelve to eighteen months, especially while the final results remain so recognizably my own.

In art, scholarship, witchcraft

Picatrix Image of Jupiter According to Apollonius

Author Satyr MagosPosted on

“The Image of Jupiter, according to the opinion of Apollonius, is the shape of a man sitting on an eagle, wrapped in a cloth, with his feet on the eagle’s back, and a head, covered by a cloth, held in this right hand. This is his shape.” -Picatrix Book II, Chapter 10, Paragraph 15 (Attrell and Porecca, 2019)

Behold, my latest Picatrix astrological image, Jupiter According to Apollonius”, my third Image of Jupiter following “… According to Picatrix” and “… Mercurius”.

The man and the eagle are obvious elements for an image of Jupiter. The head is less obvious. Having taken Gil the Dragon’s argument that the lion-headed image of Jupiter according to Picatrix is a callback to Herakles, similar lines of thought lead me to take the severed head here as a callback to Algol and Medusa, which would make this figure a rendition of Perseus.

As with all of these images, the vague description left me with a lot of room to make creative design decisions. I took “wrapped in a cloth” here the same way I did on my Mercurius image because it fit with the flying motif, because I like the continuity it adds between the two Jupiter images, and honestly because it’s just so much fun to draw. I chose to depict Jupiter as a hairy trans man with visible top surgery scars for mostly the same reasons I made the Mercurius image fat: because it’s fun, because it looks cool, and to add a bit more diversity to my imagery.

The eagle was a real technical challenge on account of I don’t have a lot of practice drawing birds. I based this one on a photo I found of a European imperial eagle in flight. The drawing is imperfect, but the fact of the matter is that real birds aren’t ever actually majestic, they’re all just that funny looking. And I’m proud of the feather patterns if not the degree to which it turned out more stylized than the figure.

The head he’s holding up, though, gave me a little bit of pause. From a design perspective, it was a challenge to navigate showing enough of the thing he’s holding under its cloth to be clear that it’s a head without reducing the cloth to the point where it looks like a doily hat. Plus the inevitable question of why the cloth isn’t blowing away in the wind that’s billowing Jupiter’s hair and the cloth he’s wearing. Ultimately, I went for intelligibility over realism, and I think that it looks pretty fucking good.
Also, while I do think that I am persuaded by my own speculation that the severed head is supposed to be (or at least evoke) Algol/Medusa, I chose to render it as a bearded man’s head for the sake of intelligibility at the intended scale of print (tarot car size).

The completion of this Image of Jupiter marks the completion of my first full set of Picatrix images: all seven planets as described by Apollonius. I’ve been thinking about that fact all week as I’ve wound up to finishing the image and writing this post, but I think I have a bit of processing to do before I say more.
Now, finally, what are the magical uses of this image?

Modern magicians emphasize the wealth and abundance aspects of Jupiter, and those are absolutely present in the Picatrix:
“Entreat Jupiter for the accumulation of wealth…” (Book IV Chapter 4, Para 6)
“Jupiter [is the substance of] the power of increase” (Book IV, Chapter 4, Para 55)
More, though, the Picatrix speaks of Jupiter of the planet by which one extracts justice and favor from rulers, and for spiritual pursuits. Health (physical and mental) and safe travel also get honorable mentions.
“… the benevolence of Jupiter is appropriate to the works of clergymen, kings, and lords” (Book 2 Chapter Three Para 5)
“Jupiter is the source of growing power. He governs an aspect toward law, legality, jurisprudence, and the ease of acquiring requests, reparations, and restraints. He guards against mortal illness. He governs wisdom, philosophy, and the interpretation of dreams. … Among the crafts, he governs ruling, jurisprudence, and selling pristine merchandise.” (Book 3 Chapter 1 Para 4)
“Jupiter is the author of life and the sciences. Laws, treaties, and judgements proceed from him.” (Book 3 Chapter 3 Para 33)
“Entreat Jupiter for … the enhancement of dreams, the pleasure of escaping sadness, the leaving behind of toil and quarrel, and safe journeys by land or sea.” (Book 4 Chapter 4 Para 6)

In art, scholarship, witchcraft

Image of Saturn According to Apollonius

Author Satyr MagosPosted on

Behold, my latest astrological image, Saturn According to Apollonius!

“The image of Saturn, according to the wise Apollonius, is the shape of an old man sitting erect on a tall throne. This is his shape.” Picatrix Book II, Chapter 10 Paragraph 12 (Attrell and Porecca, 2019)

How do y’all like that crown? I feel like it belongs on the cover of a heavy metal album.

This image was an interesting technical challenge in that it’s basically the same as Saturn According to Picatrix except without the theriomorphic elements. and specifying “erect on a tall throne”. Behold, he sits erect. Behold, his throne is tall. And I gave him an orb to ponder, both because it brings a little bit of a sword-and-sorcery vibe to the illustration and to represent the worldly power he wields.

Overall, I’m very pleased with this piece. There’s a lot of little elements that didn’t quite turn out the way I wanted (go ahead and zoom in on at that fuckin’ hand that h olds the orb, and the way the fur collar interacts with the texture of the throne), but which will be invisible at the intended print scale, and one of the things I’ve been working on this year is just … letting that go and letting the art do what it needs to do. Really the only thing I’m unhappy with is that I didn’t get it out a week or two ago, and that is 100% because of Christmas depression.

As with my other “mainline” Picatrix images, this one is good for all things Saturn. It is superior to Saturn According to Picatrix in that only people with extremely suspect taste in men will find this one cute (a complaint that I saw on my crow-headed image), but for my own part I will always prefer the theriomorphic images.

Modern magicians call upon Saturn to set boundaries, build long-term / generational wealth, and to destroy their enemies.

The Picatrix says that, “Saturn is the source of retentive power. He governs an aspect toward profound knowledge; the science of law; the search for causes, effects, and the origins of things; the utterance of magical words; and the knowledge of deep and occult properties. … From the crafts, he rules working the soil, plowing, digging, extracting and working minerals, and the building trades.” (Book 3 Chapter 1 Para 3) and to “Entreat Saturn for delaying movement, concealing purity, destroying cities, humbling hearts, and calming waters.” (Bk IV Ch 4 Para 5)

Thus, Saturn is a fantastic patron and ally for witches and magicians of all stripes. Recall that it was the archangel and ruling spirits of Saturn that provided me with the triangle of conjuration that I use to this day.

As always (though I don’t always remember to remind you), a high resolution version of this image is available on Patreon. If you respect and enjoy my work, please consider supporting me there, or by dropping a tip in my Ko-fi cup.

In art

Ritual Glam with Luxa Strata

Author Satyr MagosPosted on

Like most digital photographers, I take a lot of pictures when I do a photoshoot. Small differences in framing and lighting, tweaking settings, trying to get just the right shot. I’m not as uninhibited as some – I usually try for a one usable photo out of every four shot (I’ve seen other photographers online talk about ratios like one in ten or one in twenty). As such, when Luxa and I did the Conjuration of AOS ZOS, I inevitably ended up with some photos that didn’t quite make it into the official set but that I thought were too fucking cool not to share.

These are those photos.

Jeffrey Groves
Jeffrey Groves

A couple of these are likely to wind up as post headers for the blog, others are destined to be desktop backgrounds as patron rewards. All of them are worth your time and attention.

Enjoy!

In art, sorcerer's workbench

From the Sorcerer’s Workbench: Samhain 2023

Author Satyr MagosPosted on


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.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1573405735/dread-queen-persephone-devotional

Devotional Image of Baphomet

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.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1577711551/devotional-image-of-baphomet-samhain

Rattlesnake Vertebrae Earrings

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.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1569028490/rattlesnake-vertebra-earrings-in-silver

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.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1584459135/tourmaline-and-sterling-silver

Seal of Astaroth

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.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1571906436/astaroth-seal-goetic-coin-talisman

Seal of Asmoday

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.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1586084599/asmoday-seal-goetic-coin-talisman

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.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1577722019/unique-devotional-image-of-baphomet-with

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.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1568402114/unique-gorgoneion-prayer-beads-and

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.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1584458759/unique-hekate-prayer-beads-with-bronze

In art, witchcraft

Occult Art: DIY Grimoire

Author Satyr MagosPosted on

I may or may not have mentioned here that I changed jobs a few years ago, upgrading from the one-hour jewelry repair joint in the mall to my city’s premiere occult store. So, yeah. That happened. It’s been fucking fantastic, except for the temptations.

For two and a half years, I managed to walk by these every day and keep my hands to myself. Early in December I finally caved.

Jeweler’s Bench For Scale

This is not the first hilariously expensive journal I’ve bought for myself. I swore that this time I would not let it languish. This time I had a plan. Inspired by some occult-adjacent artwork, I set out to make a magical book that would work as well in a circle as it would in a photoshoot.

I actually started almost immediately, transcribing the Stele of Jeu onto some of the first pages of the book.

The Stele of Jeu the Hieroglyphist

I can already report that the Stele of Jeu produces even stronger results this way than using my old “book of shadows”, comprised of computer-printed pages in a three-ring binder. (Which, to be clear, worked super well, both in private and in public. But it wasn’t #aesthetic enough for me at this stage in my life.)

Yesterday I spent a few hours playing with magic circles and orphic hymns.

For Conjuring Spirits of the Moon
For Conjuring Spirits of Venus

The hardest parts so far have been: A) recognizing that it is not going to end up being perfectly ordered; and, B) carpel tunnel makes hand-writing the text really, really hard (harder than the drawing, to my surprise). The first did not come as a surprise. My obsession with well-ordered books is part of how I resisted buying such a thing in the first place; convincing myself that the aesthetic was worth it was the first step in deciding to buy it. The second, though I should have known better, was very much a surprise.

Careful observers will note that, while the Stele of Jeu is at the very beginning, the conjuration circles are in the middle. No, I haven’t filled the space in between. I put the circles there because I intend to balance candles and crystals on the open pages, and I figure that will go better if it lies relatively flat.

For anyone who is curious, yes, those are the Athanassakis translations. The particular Triangle of Art is idiosyncratic, shown to me by the spirits of Saturn during my first run of Seven Spheres in Seven Days (which apparently I need to write a new post about, because the artwork on the first one did not survive migration to the new web host).

Future plans for the tome include adding the original Greek to the two Orphic hymns above, the healing prayer to St. Raphael that my crew and I have used to good effect on several occasions, and the most outrageous occult art illuminations that I can free hand under the influence of drugs and/or magic.

This level of drama is, of course, not necessary for the practice of magic. Not even the magic I intend to use it for. But I fucking love the drama: how else would so much ceremonialism made its way into my witchcraft? So I make fine jewelry talismans for myself, my friends, and for profit. I make art exploring occult and magical themes and images. And I make magical tools that double as props for occult themed photoshoots.

And I’m here to say: if you, too, are an artist and occultist, you should, too.

Even if you Keep Silent, and no one but you is going to see it.