Traditional Astrological Magic by Christopher Warnock, Esq.
The Renaissance philosopher, scientist and mage John Dee wrote, "The entire Universe is like a lyre tuned by some excellent artificer, whose strings are separate species of the universal whole. Anyone who knew how to touch these dextrously and make them vibrate would draw forth marvelous harmonies." Propaedeumata Aphoristica [1558] translated in John Dee on Astronomy, ed. Wayne Shumaker (UCal 1978) page 127. Extending this analogy, an astrologer is like a concert goer, listening to the music of the spheres and interpreting their harmonies to foretell events here on Earth. The astrological magician, by contrast, takes a more active role, and rather than merely listening becomes a player of celestial harmonies, effecting change in the rhythms of the Material World. For Renaissance philosophers, both astrological prediction and astrological magic were dependent on the view that the Cosmos was one, great unified being with sympathy and chains of correspondence connecting everything within it. Just as man was composed of a divine spirit, a material body and a soul intermediate between these two, so was the Cosmos divided into the World of Divine Ideas and Angels, the intermediate Celestial World of the stars and planets, and the Material World composed of the four elements of fire, air, water and earth. While we can see that the four elements of the Material World comprise what we now call the four states of matter: solid, liquid, gas and radiant energy or plasma, Renaissance thinkers saw these four elements and indeed, all materials things as existing also in a purer form in the planets and stars, and in an ideal form in the World of Angels and Divine Ideas. Similarly, the stars and planets of the Celestial World and the Divine Ideas can be found in the Material World. This multiple interpenetration of worlds is the foundation of astrological magic.
In the most basic form of astrological magic, which uses the seven classical planets, the mage decides first what effect he wishes to manifest. For example, suppose he desires eloquence and good memory. He then selects a planet that embodies the chosen Divine Ideas. In this case, the planet Mercury is appropriate, as he rules speech and communication. The mage then selects a time when Mercury is astrologically strong, which would be when he is in his signs of Gemini and Virgo, his exaltation Virgo, or he is in his triplicity, which is air signs by night. Mercury's powers would also be enhanced if he were placed in the Ascendant or first house or in the Midheaven or tenth house. At the selected time, the magician creates a talisman from materials that are ruled by the chosen planet or star and so contain the essence of the selected Divine Idea. Mercury, according the Renaissance philosopher and mage Cornelius Agrippa, rules the metal mercury, silver marcasite, emeralds, topazes, marjoram, parsley and mixed colors, particularly yellow and green. Three Books of Occult Philosophy, Bk. I, Chapter 29, (Llewellyn, 1993) page 94. In addition to incorporating materials ruled by Mercury, talismans typically are engraved or inscribed with characters and symbols appropriate to the planets. One very powerful type of symbol is the tables or magic squares of the planets. A magic square contains a grid of numbers in rows. Each row whether horizontal, vertical or diagonal adds up to the same total. Each planet has a particular magic square associated with it from Saturn, which contains nine numbers, to the Moon, which contains 81 numbers. Thus, to construct a talisman for eloquence and memory, we chose a time when Mercury is astrologically strong and well placed, and then create a talisman out of Mercury-ruled materials. After making the talisman we can inscribe upon it the table of Mercury. Agrippa notes that a Mercury table can be placed on a talisman made of silver, tin, yellow brass or virgin parchment. Three Books of Occult Philosophy, Bk. II, Chapter 22, (Llewellyn, 1993) page 319. While precious metal talismans have a stronger and more lasting effect, it is also possible to make a talisman for any planet or star on paper.
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Finally, when constructing the talisman, it is important to conduct certain rituals in order to consecrate and charge the talisman. Because each person, like the Cosmos, has a body, soul and Divine Spirit, we are closely and harmoniously connected to the Anima Mundi, the Soul of the World, a key magical link. By choosing incense, candles, music, clothing and surroundings that correspond to our chosen planet, we align ourselves with the planet and its embodied Divine Ideas, and so become a conduit for its energy. This further increases the power of the talisman. The Renaissance philosopher and astrological magician Marsilio Ficino says that the music of Mercury is relaxed in its gaiety, as well as being vigorous and complex. Three Books on Life, Bk. III, Chapter 21 (MRTS, 1998) page 361. Agrippa says that the incenses of Mercury are frankincense, cloves, cinnamon, mace and all odoriferous seeds. Three Books of Occult Philosophy, Bk. I, Chapter 44, (Llewellyn, 1993) page 133. It is also helpful to make an invocation to the chosen planet. For our Mercury talisman, we could recite this prayer to Mercury from the ancient Hymns of Orpheus, as translated by Thomas Taylor: To Mercury. The Fumigation from Frankincense.
Hermes, draw near, and to my pray'r incline, Angel of Jove, and Maia's son divine; Prefect of contest, ruler of mankind, With heart almighty, and a prudent mind. Celestial messenger of various skill, Whose pow'rful arts could watchful Argus kill. With winged feet 'tis thine thro' air to course, O friend of man, and prophet of discourse; Great life-supporter, to rejoice is thine In arts gymnastic, and in fraud divine. With pow'r endu'd all language to explain, Of care the loos'ner, and the source of gain. Whose hand contains of blameless peace the rod, Corucian, blessed, profitable God. Of various speech, whose aid in works we find, And in necessities to mortals kind.
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Dire weapon of the tongue, which men revere, Be present, Hermes, and thy suppliant hear; Assist my works, conclude my life with peace, Give graceful speech, and memory's increase. The Hymns of Orpheus, [1792] page 153. So when our chosen astrologically auspicious time for Mercury arrives, we play mercurial music, burn mercurial incense, create our talisman from mercurial materials and inscribe it with mercurial symbols. Finally, with our invocation, we complete the creation of the talisman and align ourselves fully with the energy of Mercury and the Divine Ideas of eloquence and memory which he embodies. Planetary talismans are just one form of astrological magic. Agrippa describes talismans for 16 fixed stars stating, for example, that, "Under the Spike [Spica] they made an image of a bird, or of a man laden with merchandise; it conferreth riches and maketh one overcome contentions, it taketh away scarcity and mischief." Three Books of Occult Philosophy, Bk. II, Chapter 47 (Llewellyn, 1993) page 395. There are also talismans of the Mansions of the Moon, the signs of the Zodiac and the faces of the signs. Talismans can be created for a great variety of effects. Picatrix, an encyclopedic work of medieval Islamic astrological magic, lists hundreds of different types of talismans including talismans for generating peace between two friends, for love, for servants to love their lord, to have dignity from the king, for freeing prisoners, to gather lots of fish, to get rid of scorpions, for health, and for increasing the growth of plants. Many of these talismans are adorned with unusual and arresting images. Cornelius Agrippa describes, "...an image of dreams which being put under the head of him that sleeps, makes him dream true dreams concerning anything that he hath formerly deliberated of; and let the figure of that be the figure of a man sleeping in the bosom of an angel..." Three Books of Occult Philosophy Bk. II, Chapter 50 (Llewellyn, 1993) page 403. While the best results come from using the whole range of traditional astrological techniques to choose a time for creating talismans and images, this requires either that
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the user be simpler and creation of the planets
a traditional astrologer or consult one. A still fairly effective method is to time the talismans of the planets by using the tables of and the planetary days and hours.
Each planet rules a particular day. Sunday is ruled by the Sun, Monday by the Moon, Tuesday by the Mars, Wednesday by Mercury, Thursday by Jupiter, Friday by Venus and Saturday by Saturn. Some of the days of the week in English use the names of Teutonic rather than Roman gods. Tiw was the Teutonic god of war and equivalent to Mars, Wotan is equivalent to Mercury, Thor to Jupiter and the goddess Frigg to Venus. Planetary days, rather than starting with midnight, begin with sunrise. The daylight period (sunrise to sunset) is divided into twelve planetary hours as is the night period (sunset to sunrise of the next day). Except on the spring and fall equinox (equinox means "equal night"), the day and night hours of a planetary day will not be the same length of time, nor will they correspond to the conventional hour length of sixty minutes. Each planetary hour is ruled by a particular planet. The first hour of each day is ruled by the planet that rules the entire day. Thus the first hour of Sunday, beginning at sunrise, is ruled by the Sun, the first hour of Monday by the Moon and so on. The planetary hours of each day then follow what is known as the Chaldean Order of the planets: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, the Moon and then repeating Saturn, Jupiter, etc. So the second planetary hour of Sunday, for example, would be ruled by Venus, the third by Mercury and so on. The Chaldean Order follows the apparent speed of the various planets in their orbits with Saturn the slowest and the Moon the fastest. To use the planetary hours to create a talisman, one would first decide which planet to use for the desired effect. For example, to obtain good fortune and prosperity, Jupiter would be appropriate. One would then create a Jupiter talisman on Thursday (Jupiter day) at a Jupiter hour. The simplest way to do this is to create the talisman at dawn on Thursday, as this will always be a Jupiter hour. For a Venus talisman for love, we would use dawn on Friday and so on. But, if more convenient, the Venus talisman could also be created at the eighth
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planetary hour after dawn on Friday, which is also a Venus hour. (But remember that the eight planetary hour of the day would not correspond to the eighth conventional sixtyminute hour of the day). Because determining the beginning of a planetary hour other than those that begin at dawn is complex, one can consult the very handy Dell Horoscope Monthly Hour guide, which provides a complete listing of planetary days and hours. Here is listing of the effects of the various magic tables of the planets from Francis Barrett's the Magus: The table of Saturn, "...helps childbirth and to make any man safe and powerful, and to cause success of petitions with princes, and powers..." The table of Jupiter, "...conduces to gain, and riches, favor, and love, peace, and concord, and to appease enemies, to confirm honors, dignities, and counsels..." The table of Mars, "...makes a man potent in war, and judgments, and petitions, and terrible to his enemies, and victorious over them.." The table of the Sun, "...renders him that wears it to be renowned, amiable, acceptable, potent in all his works, and equals him to a king, elevating his fortunes, enabling to do whatever he will..." The table of Venus, "...promotes concord, ends strife, procures the love of women, helps conception, is good against barrenness, causes ability for generation, dissolves enchantments, and causes peace between man, and woman, and makes all kind of animals fruitful; and being put into a dove or pigeon house, causes an increase. The table of Mercury, "...it renders the bearer thereof grateful, and fortunate to do what he pleases: it brings gain, and prevents poverty, conduces to memory, understanding, and divination, and to the understanding of occult things by dreams..." The table of the Moon, "...renders the bearer thereof grateful, amiable, pleasant, cheerful, honored, removing all malice, and ill will. It causes security in a journey,
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increase of riches, and health of body, drives away enemies and other evil things from what place soever thou shalt wish them to be expelled..." Francis Barrett, the Magus [1801] Book II, Chapter 22 (Weiser, reprint 2000) pages 143-5.
So at the day and hour ruled by your chosen planet, light candles and incense and write the appropriate table along with the desired goal on a piece of paper. Calmly meditate and visualize your desired goal. You can repeat your meditation at the same day and hour of each week for several subsequent weeks to further enhance the strength of the talisman. After the talisman is fully consecrated, fold it up and carry it with you.
Through traditional astrology and astrological magic, we can align ourselves with the harmony and sympathy of the Cosmos, draw down the celestial influences and cause change in the Material World. By following the path set forth by our illustrious predecessors we, too, can achieve their magical effects. Bio: Christopher Warnock, Esq., practices as an attorney and Renaissance astrologer in Washington, D.C. He received an M.A.(Hons.)concentrating in Renaissance and early modern history from the University of St. Andrews (Scotland) and a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School. Mr. Warnock has studied with the leading traditional astrologers in America. He was a speaker at the 1998 ARHAT Traditional Astrology Conference and will be a faculty member at the United Astrology Conference in Orlando, Florida in July, 2002. He has published in Horary Practitioner, Pathways, the Astrological Association Journal, the Mountain Astrologer and the Llewellyn Moon Sign Book for 2002, as well as the forthcoming 2003 edition. Mr. Warnock is available for traditional electional and horary consultations, and is particularly experienced in questions of love, career and law. He also specializes in Renaissance astrological magic. He can be reached at (202)
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234-6756 or by e-mail at
[email protected] His Renaissance Astrology site http://www.renaissanceastrology.com is the largest traditional astrology web site with over 160 pages of material on traditional electional and horary astrology and astrological magic, including articles, charts, actual examples and results, and reference material to help construct astrological talismans.
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