A Basic Introduction to Talismanic Magic

By Daniel

The creation and application of talismans is a vital part of the magical art, which this article aims to examine at a level suitable for the novice, or those with a limited knowledge of such things.

A talisman can be well defined as a material object that holds an inward spiritual or occult power, with the aim of conveying this essence upon the creator to aid in personal transformation. In a more basic summary it can be seen as a spiritual storage battery.

The creation of a talisman usually occurs after someone wishes to stimulate a particular factor in their nature or to attract a certain force toward them. The first step in achieving this is to take the desired factor and to give it thorough analysis, to uncover the factors primary attributes. It is at this point the realisation dawns that talismanic magic relies heavily on the form of magical correspondence. This being the interrelation of forces by identifying the attributes that are common amongst them. For example the element of fire corresponds with youth, the lion, Archangel Michael, Angel Aral, the colour red, the metal gold etc. Having then clearly in mind the nature that one wishes to attract, a base is created and graphical representations of the desired force applied. An example may be as follows. A person wishes to create within themselves a more forceful nature. They study the correspondences and find that the element of fire is appropriate for such a task. They would then take a disk of gold and inscribe upon it the sigil of Archangel Michael, a picture of the sun to represent fire, letters, shapes and other representation of the desired force. As can be seen, you are left with an object upon which graphical representations of the qualities you desire all linked by their interrelated correspondences.

This is all well and good however, before any magical action a divination should be performed to see if that action is appropriate and to gain foresight to prevent any mishaps. This warrants some further explanation. If a person with an inherently forceful manner finds themselves in a predicament due to this trait, they may decide that a talisman of force is required to get them from their current state. If they went ahead and created this device they would send themselves out of balance, by adding even more force to their nature. This may manifest in a trait such as cruelty. Before, they would have been very driven by their natural tendencies, whereas after the talisman they would manifest pathology resulting in a steam roll over all opposition approach to situations.

Now that we have seen in basic form why talismans are usually objects with pretty symbols on them, it is required to look at the material from which they should be made. Any object can be a talisman, however this statement ignores the fact that some objects hold the magnetic essence with which it is to be charged better than others. It is common to find people propagating the idea of creating talismans from paper. This from my experience is not a good approach as paper seems to be awful at holding the charge.

Objects that conduct electricity are well documented to be best, metals and quartz crystals are excellent. Also as a side note, wood, while containing inherent etheric properties is also noted as being a bad conductor, which is why I believe many practitioners insist that their wooden wands have a magnetized iron rod running the length of the tool. As we have seen earlier different metals correspond to different forces, planets etc. I don’t know about you but I have neither the money nor facilities to start creating talismans of solid gold. Copper however is a different matter. It is widely available from metal smiths, is relatively cheap in sheet form and doesn’t seem to have a vast bearing on the effect of the talisman. Symbols can be carved in if you have the tools and skill or can be applied with coloured enamel based paints found in craft shops. You therefore have the basic talisman, the metal disk with the relevant symbols applied.

There are many methods available to charge talismans, which should be the subject of another article as it requires much direction and elaboration. Here though I will say that the symbols upon the device should be meditated upon and built up in astral form so as to be conditioned to the force that they represent. They should be significant to the person who possesses the talisman. These meditations build up a thought form that creates a link between the symbols, the force they represent and the creator. If this is not done the device merely becomes an object covered with patterns.

Bio

I started out studying astral projection and out-of-body experiences via Robert Bruce’s New Energy Ways system. This was alongside the shamanistic techniques put forth by Michael Harner. Following this path I was drawn into the study and practice of ceremonial magic, firstly by using the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn system and later the system of the Aurum Solis. I later applied, and was accepted into the Aurum Solis where I completed the pronaos grade. Before full initiation I became slightly disillusioned with the ceremonial magic world due to its lack of study in the areas of the natural world. I left the Aurum Solis and began studying druidry. At the current time I follow a path mixing the practices of druidry with the techniques I learnt from ceremonial magic, which I have found to be most effective and which complement each other surprisingly well.

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