Lucky Talisman
Dec. 19th, 2023 01:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lostianvsLucky Talisman
With the season of obligation upon us, I decided to bestow one of my relatives with a bit of magic. More specifically, I planned to gift them with a lucky talisman. I chose a pendant they would find aesthetically pleasing made from their birthstone. Ideally, the effect would complement their natural energies, which in this case were strongly lunar. I chose a balance of venusian and mercurial energies in the form of a mildly attractive glamour and a ward of protection during travel. These two effects should make the charm feel "lucky," at least as far as non-magical people are concerned.
Auspices
As I do withevery most procedures, I conducted a reading to assess the possible outcomes. I used the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot to explore "what I needed to know" about creating and gifting this talisman. I generally use an intuitive (or improvised) form of Le Grand Tableau modified for the RWS. The outcome appeared generally positive in terms of this person's well-being and the relationship between us.
Harvesting
The initiation of a harvest is difficult to describe. In a way, I seem to send out a signal to the landscape that I'm looking for materials. I then get subtle information in return. This information feels like a tug in one direction or another, as if a string is attached to my head. As I get closer to what I need, I get the sense of a beacon floating high above the terrain like a way point on a map. I knew I needed something venusian and something mercurial to charge this talisman. I was led to a forest across town.
As I approached the forest, I knew I would find the venusian material first. I followed my "senses" as I always do. I was led to a part of the forest I had never been to before. It had just rained the day before and it was still overcast and chilly. The trail was muddy and seemed to get worse the closer I got to where I was going (where ever that was). I came to a steep ravine where the trail went down to a stream bed. I knew what I needed was across the ravine, so I carefully scaled the sides down and up.
Just on the other side, I found a cleared out hollow inside a thicket of trees and bushes. Inside I found a strange tree that had grown into a perfect fork. One side of the fork was alive and the other was dead and covered in fungi. The fungi emanated a strongly venusian energy. I harvested some and put it into my pack. As I made my way back and scaled the ravine for a second time, I got the sense that the mercurial material would be easier to get to, but harder to find.
I could sense Mercury lurking in another part of the forest far enough away that I would have to drive to get there. Upon arriving at the trailhead, I was greeted by two young men leaving the main trail. They were suspiciously under-dressed given the weather. I inquired about the state of the trail and they said it wasn't muddy, but very "quiet." As we parted ways, I felt a sudden urge to veer away from the main trail and circle around the edge of the forest through a meadow.
As I circled the forest, I found a sparsely-used animal trail leading into the forest. The forest floor was littered with a dense layer of dead pine needles. I followed the trail apprehensively being cautious of snakes. I eventually found my way to a ruined concrete wall blocking my way forward. The region beyond the wall appeared to be a hidden dumping ground containing piles of discarded construction materials like loose rock and metal. It was an apparent paradise of mercurial materials hidden under the forest canopy, but something didn't seem right.
I paid my respects at the wall, crossed the threshold, and waited. The forest was eerily quiet, just as the young men had said. The only movement I observed were falling dead and dry pine needles. I looked up and saw some of the pine needles were falling in pairs and every so often would catch on the limbs of a tree in the lower canopy. These strange dangling pine needles were what I needed. I stowed away some needles, navigated the ruined wall, and headed back. I noted as I left that I had passed thousands of dangling pine needles hanging within easy reach on smaller trees. I've grown used to this level of mercurial irony.
Empowering
With the harvested materials in hand, all that was left was to enchant the talisman. I created two sigils in the usual way, one of Venus and one of Mercury. I cleansed and balanced the pendant, sigils, harvested materials, and a working candle with incense smoke. I prepared myself mentally and magically with music and relaxation techniques.
I inscribed the sigils on paper and charged them each individually. I applied planetary circulation, "resting" in the relevant planet to charge the relevant sigil. While occupying the relevant planetary sphere, I entered a discourse with the harvested material in which I guided the energies to imbue the sigil with power. I saw the characters and lines of the sigil spark and smoke like a branding iron, which attracted additional energy from the environment like a fire consuming oxygen.
I completed the planetary cycle and grounded between each sigil. With the two sigils "charged", I started a new cycle but rested in Jupiter. Jupiter is where I staged the work to transfer power from the sigils to the pendant. All the work up to this point was aimed only at weaving together hidden threads (i.e. occult virtues). The effort of harvesting the materials, embellishing the sigils, and bathing them in planetary energy merely set the dominoes.
I released the power of each carefully crafted sigil by destroying it and ripping it to shreds. I quickly built a pile of shredded sigilized paper and harvested ingredients over the pendant. I guided the free energy into the pendant and set it to my intended task, that was bestowing the wearer with an aura of beauty and safe travels. I left the pendant to absorb the energies until the incense finished burning.
After the operation, the pendant was noticeably heavier and luminous with the appropriate energies. I wrapped it and sent it to my relative. I disposed of the sigil papers, ingredients, and incense dregs by burning and disposing of the ashes in a place in my garden reserved for this purpose.
Ianvs
With the season of obligation upon us, I decided to bestow one of my relatives with a bit of magic. More specifically, I planned to gift them with a lucky talisman. I chose a pendant they would find aesthetically pleasing made from their birthstone. Ideally, the effect would complement their natural energies, which in this case were strongly lunar. I chose a balance of venusian and mercurial energies in the form of a mildly attractive glamour and a ward of protection during travel. These two effects should make the charm feel "lucky," at least as far as non-magical people are concerned.
Auspices
As I do with
Harvesting
The initiation of a harvest is difficult to describe. In a way, I seem to send out a signal to the landscape that I'm looking for materials. I then get subtle information in return. This information feels like a tug in one direction or another, as if a string is attached to my head. As I get closer to what I need, I get the sense of a beacon floating high above the terrain like a way point on a map. I knew I needed something venusian and something mercurial to charge this talisman. I was led to a forest across town.
As I approached the forest, I knew I would find the venusian material first. I followed my "senses" as I always do. I was led to a part of the forest I had never been to before. It had just rained the day before and it was still overcast and chilly. The trail was muddy and seemed to get worse the closer I got to where I was going (where ever that was). I came to a steep ravine where the trail went down to a stream bed. I knew what I needed was across the ravine, so I carefully scaled the sides down and up.
Just on the other side, I found a cleared out hollow inside a thicket of trees and bushes. Inside I found a strange tree that had grown into a perfect fork. One side of the fork was alive and the other was dead and covered in fungi. The fungi emanated a strongly venusian energy. I harvested some and put it into my pack. As I made my way back and scaled the ravine for a second time, I got the sense that the mercurial material would be easier to get to, but harder to find.
I could sense Mercury lurking in another part of the forest far enough away that I would have to drive to get there. Upon arriving at the trailhead, I was greeted by two young men leaving the main trail. They were suspiciously under-dressed given the weather. I inquired about the state of the trail and they said it wasn't muddy, but very "quiet." As we parted ways, I felt a sudden urge to veer away from the main trail and circle around the edge of the forest through a meadow.
As I circled the forest, I found a sparsely-used animal trail leading into the forest. The forest floor was littered with a dense layer of dead pine needles. I followed the trail apprehensively being cautious of snakes. I eventually found my way to a ruined concrete wall blocking my way forward. The region beyond the wall appeared to be a hidden dumping ground containing piles of discarded construction materials like loose rock and metal. It was an apparent paradise of mercurial materials hidden under the forest canopy, but something didn't seem right.
I paid my respects at the wall, crossed the threshold, and waited. The forest was eerily quiet, just as the young men had said. The only movement I observed were falling dead and dry pine needles. I looked up and saw some of the pine needles were falling in pairs and every so often would catch on the limbs of a tree in the lower canopy. These strange dangling pine needles were what I needed. I stowed away some needles, navigated the ruined wall, and headed back. I noted as I left that I had passed thousands of dangling pine needles hanging within easy reach on smaller trees. I've grown used to this level of mercurial irony.
Empowering
With the harvested materials in hand, all that was left was to enchant the talisman. I created two sigils in the usual way, one of Venus and one of Mercury. I cleansed and balanced the pendant, sigils, harvested materials, and a working candle with incense smoke. I prepared myself mentally and magically with music and relaxation techniques.
I inscribed the sigils on paper and charged them each individually. I applied planetary circulation, "resting" in the relevant planet to charge the relevant sigil. While occupying the relevant planetary sphere, I entered a discourse with the harvested material in which I guided the energies to imbue the sigil with power. I saw the characters and lines of the sigil spark and smoke like a branding iron, which attracted additional energy from the environment like a fire consuming oxygen.
I completed the planetary cycle and grounded between each sigil. With the two sigils "charged", I started a new cycle but rested in Jupiter. Jupiter is where I staged the work to transfer power from the sigils to the pendant. All the work up to this point was aimed only at weaving together hidden threads (i.e. occult virtues). The effort of harvesting the materials, embellishing the sigils, and bathing them in planetary energy merely set the dominoes.
I released the power of each carefully crafted sigil by destroying it and ripping it to shreds. I quickly built a pile of shredded sigilized paper and harvested ingredients over the pendant. I guided the free energy into the pendant and set it to my intended task, that was bestowing the wearer with an aura of beauty and safe travels. I left the pendant to absorb the energies until the incense finished burning.
After the operation, the pendant was noticeably heavier and luminous with the appropriate energies. I wrapped it and sent it to my relative. I disposed of the sigil papers, ingredients, and incense dregs by burning and disposing of the ashes in a place in my garden reserved for this purpose.
Ianvs