Frater Barrabbas Author Literary Tour - Part 7 - Talismanic Magic For Witches

Even while I was editing and revising my book “Elemental Powers for Witches” I had already started writing my third book in that series. We were still in the grips of the pandemic, so I had a lot of time on my hands, and I had already decided to write a book on the topic of talismanic magic, incorporating my own specific brand of planetary magic. Two things happened while I was writing this book. The first is that I needed to deepen my astrological research, since I had determined to bring into this work more astrological information and to write up an historical perspective that included the writings of the ancient Greek philosopher, Pherecydes and the mystical ideas of the Zurvan sect of Zoroastrianism. This is because I intended to bring into my book a detailed discussion about the temporal model of magic, which I felt was strategically important to understanding why working planetary magic on a certain day and time was important, while also being able to examine an elective astrological chart.

I was ambitious to the point of craziness when I included so much material in this book that it threatened to make it monstrously huge and as it turned out, I had to scale this book down in order to make it fit with the objectives of presenting talismanic magic and the associated rituals, much as I had done in the previous two books. This work had ballooned to around 140K words, but the final manuscript had around 94K, so there was a lot of material that was excised, and the final product, I believe, warranted cutting it down to a more essential size.

Recently, I posted an article in my blog that presented my perspective on the temporal model of magic, so I don’t need to present that idea in this article. You can find it here. I have also talked about planetary magic using the septagram, the psychological model of magic, planetary and astrological magic, and zodiacal magic. I also wrote an article that is a brief but comprehensive approach to practicing magic, where talismanic magic is a part of the overall approach. There is a great wealth of articles to be read in my blog, since there are nearly 500 articles, and many of them are quite substantive. A lot of the content of this material was used in my book, but my manuscript presents the actual ritual structures and methodologies for working this kind of magic, which the blog articles have purposely omitted. These linked articles should keep you busy for a while if you choose to read them, but if you really want the details then my books in the “For Witches” series is what you will want to explore.

Here is the advertising text that appears with the book.

Talismanic magic is the art of creating perpetually active spells that can help you create a charmed life. Once the provenance of ceremonial magicians, this book, for the first time, brings planetary and zodiacal magic based on a concise and simplified methodology to the Witchcraft community.

Talismanic Magic for Witches is the third installment of the ‘For Witches’ series, and it is the most comprehensive book on the topic of celestial magic written expressly for the Pagan and Witchcraft community. The product of celestial magic is the creation of a talisman. Talismanic magic is the art of making for yourself and others a charmed life. It is a life where reality seems to consistently bend to the will of the talisman’s owner at all times and places, lessoning the possibility of misfortune and empowering great good fortune. A talisman is nothing more than encapsulating a wish or desire and continually setting upon it the powers of the elements, celestial spirits and archetypes of the Gods.

A talisman is a materialized spell that is continually and perpetually operating for the benefit of the owner. A talisman makes a charmed life possible, and building up a battery of them to act on several fronts simultaneously is the final magical mechanism that makes this kind of overall effect possible. There is no magical artifact that I am aware of that has these qualities except a talisman. Learning to produce a talisman would be the best of all possible magical methodologies that a Witch or Pagan could master.

Talismans are a magical treasure, and a good practitioner of celestial magic will create a series of them to act on every aspect of his or her life, tapping them for a specific purpose when the need arises. This capability alone represents the quantitative wealth or richness of talismanic magic. Who would pass up a chance to acquire this wealth to make a charmed life for themselves? This is also why I refer to talismanic magic, and to celestial magic as its organizing principal, as the veritable crown jewel of Witchcraft magic.

As you can see by the advertising text, this book is promising a lot to the one who will undertake this kind of magic. I am quite serious when I say that mastering the art of talismanic magic will help you to acquire a charmed existence because talismans are continuously working 24/7 to help you to gain your objective, or the object that you set the talisman to work on your behalf. If you were to gather together several of these talismans and set them to work on the various areas of your life then you would have a powerful array of magical charms that would aid and bolster every area of your life. You could forge talismans to enhance employment opportunities, gain long term wealth, achieve a good love life, friendship, and excellent relations with business partners, or protection from physical and emotional harm, and any other area covered by planetary magic joined with an element or a zodiacal sign and performed at the optimal and auspicious time. Such an array of continuously working magical artifacts would over time help you achieve everything that you might desire.

Why are talismans so powerful compared to all other forms of magic? What makes them so capable of assisting their owner to achieve his or her objectives? The reason why is because of the nature of the talismanic charge, consisting of both an energy and an active planetary intelligence. It is focused and fused into a metallic artifact, where it becomes a perpetually functioning source of magical power set to a specific material end. A talismanic field lasts practically forever, or at least as long as the artifact into which that field has been infused remains intact. A talisman can be transferred to another person, and it will continue to work as long as the owner continues to maintain a mental connection with it. A talisman can become dormant if it is neglected for several months or a year, but it can be easily awakened and revitalized simply by being held by the owner and communed with in a deep meditative state. As long as the artifact is intact the talisman will continue to function.

An evocation working or an elemental working are used to bring about a specific intent over a short period of time. The timing for an evocation to produce its objective results is usually stated in the bond or pact between the spirit and the practitioner. The timing for an elemental working is within a lunar cycle. Such a working will target a specific objective, and once that timing cycle has reached its end, the magical working will end with either fulfillment, partial gratification or failure for various reasons. It represents a single event with a single objective, whether that event is using an elemental field or a spiritual being to fulfill the intent of the working.

However, a celestial magical working sets in motion a powerful talismanic field, which continues to operate long after the magical working has been completed. While the magical working is used to charge and infuse a talismanic artifact, what follows over the days, weeks and months, or even years, is part of the continuing magical effect of that working. What that means is that a talismanic field can be a bit more generalized and thereby serve multiple purposes simultaneously. In my many years of magical experience, I have found that there is no other kind of magic that can be used in this manner. It is for this reason that I have stated that talismanic magic is the crown jewel of all magical workings, and certainly it should be one of the tools in the magical toolbox for the experienced and knowledgeable Witch.

Talismanic magic, along with advanced energy workings and spirit conjuration are the trifecta of the magical arts missing from the standard Book of Shadows. I have returned this lore to the various traditions of modern Witchcraft and Paganism where it can act as a kind of completed system of magical workings, making the Witch who masters these three systems of magic something of a Wiccan or Pagan Magus. I felt that it was very important for Witches to be able to work solitary forms of high ritual magic within a methodology that would be comfortable to those who have some experience in the magical arts. These additional kinds of magic are for the experienced student who has mastered the basic magical practices of Witchcraft and its essential liturgical praxis and who now seek to expand their abilities in the areas of evocation, energy workings and talismanic magic.

Learning the art of planetary and zodiacal magic is challenging, and it requires a greater degree of discipline and a deeper understanding of the nature of the human condition from the standpoint of astrology and psychology. This art requires one to learn astrology, astronomy, psychology, and to develop a methodology of engaging and working through the planetary deities. Astrology, as it is used in the art of magic, is not a science as much as it is a religion, a system of divination, and a means of harnessing the potent psychological powers of the archetypes that underpin our cultural world. It is working and manipulating the very stuff of consciousness itself, and these forces and intelligences represent the building blocks of our own psyches and the foundation of our culture and language. Knowing how to wield and manipulate these forces and intelligences is the key to mastering one’s life and overcoming adversity.

Writing this book was something of an ordeal for me, since it forced me to completely reevaluate everything that I had long established regarding this kind of magic. I had the lore and the tech, which I had developed back in the early 1980's, but it was written in a manner that would not make it easy to incorporate into an efficient Witchcraft praxis. Additionally, I have learned a great deal about astrology, the lunar mansions and the decans that I had not known back when this lore was first developed. I had to rewrite and rework all of that lore so that it would be accessible and presentable to the experienced Witchcraft practitioner. This also included building an understanding of the history of astrology, which was a topic that I had neglected to seriously study in order to realize the importance of the historical evolution of astrology, and what it gained and lost by becoming an exoteric and philosophic discipline in antiquity. I studied a two volume book on the history of astrology and took extensive notes in order to recognize the contextual phases of the development of astrology through the various epochs and empires of the east and west.

One of the real treasures that I discovered in my research was the book written by Geoffrey Cornelius entitled “The Moment of Astrology” that helped me understand the magic and the art of astrology, and the historical precedence of such practices as horary and elective astrology and how they contradicted the causal and scientific perspective of modern astrology. I was able to more fully realize that the moment an astrological chart is cast and delineated is as important to the genius of astrological interpretation as the supposed belief in the predestination of the moment of birth. It made me understand that the interpretation of the astrological symbols is the real magic of astrology and its value, bringing it into the context of a system of divination instead of an objective science.

The same perspective can be applied to the moment of other forms of divination, such as the casting of tarot cards, the throwing of rune stones, Geomancy sticks or I-Ching coins. The action of divination sets in motion the activation of insights and the birth of guided action. There is also the moment of magic, when a magical working is started and thereby activating the celestial auspices that come into play at that moment. Becoming sensitive to the occurrence and timing of events makes a practitioner more aware that aligning one’s actions with powerful planetary and celestial auspices can maximize an operation.

However, working talismanic magic can not only use the celestial auspices, but lock them into the talismanic artifact, making them resonate and sending out their energy guided by the invoked intelligences established therein perpetually. This is why understanding the moment that something is started is the precipitating action that will make what is divined as an accessible potential possibility to be materially realized. There is no greater magic unleashed by the ritual magician to impact the material plane then these kinds of operations.

I have stated why I think that this book is so important, not only to Witches and Pagans, but likely to others as well. The methodologies and ritual patterns in the book can be adapted to any magical tradition or spiritual practice. It is why I feel that this book is one of the very best that I have written, and the fact that it took me over a year to see it completed is a statement to how much research, effort and care that I put into its writing. I cannot recommend this book more than what I have already presented here, but you should acquire and read it yourself to make your own judgement.

This book will be available in February, 2023, but you can pre-order it now.

Frater Barrabbas

Temporal Model of Magic and Gods of Time

 

In my forthcoming book, “Talismanic Magic for Witches” I talk about a new magical model that I recently discovered that explains the magical efficacy of what I call the talismanic equation. There are basically two parts to this consideration. The first part promotes the idea that the best and most stable talismanic force is one that combines both a planetary intelligence or archetype with an element. The second part is that incorporating the attribute of time through the use of the planetary day, hour and the astrological auspices of associated transits occurring when the magic is to be performed places that working into a more powerful disposition than if one were to ignore time altogether.

The first part is based on the concept that a mind and body joined together has greater utility than a mind without a body, or a body without a mind. In talismanic magic, the mind part is the planetary intelligence and the body part is the element energy, and when joined together creates a self-sustaining magical field. You can, of course, work planetary magic without adding an element to it, but there is something special about the energy and the intelligence when combining the two together.

A talismanic field that consists of both a planet and an element represents a kind of magical force that is intelligent (guided) and empowered (embodied) to a specific purpose. Such a magical force is radiant, and, I might add, perpetual. A planetary intelligence attached to a godhead archetype and fused within an element envelope that is continually charging it will continue to radiate its magical effect practically forever, or for as long as the talisman is maintained. Thus, talismanic magic is unlike any of other form of magic.

To ground and preserve this perpetually charged and active magical force, it is projected into a metallic body that is inscribed with symbols and sigils denoting the qualities and authorities (spirits) used to generate it. The importance of using a metallic body for containing the talismanic artifact is to ensure its longevity, since other material containers would be subject to the ablative effect of time and use. As long as the owner of the talisman maintains a mental link with the talisman, it will continue to operate perpetually. A talisman can be destroyed by destroying the base in which it resides and disbursing its energy, and it can become dormant if lost or unused for a period of many months. A dormant talisman can be easily awakened when merely summoned and focused within a consecrated space.  

Talismans can be created through a process of either active or passive magical actions. The active magical process incorporates a star polygon, such as a hexagram or a septagram. It uses the same methodology that is used to generate an element using a pentagram. Drawing the lines of force of a star polygon will produce the energy and intelligence of a specific planet or zodiacal sign. This can done at any time such a field is needed in a magical operation.

The passive methodology relies strictly on the astrological auspices of a given event to invoke and thereby focus that quality on an object or person. It teaches that merely exposing and invoking a celestial quality at the right time will suffice to complete a magical operation. An elective astrological chart is often required, along with the use of the planetary day and hour. Using the active magical approach overrides the necessity for predetermining the astrological auspices and selecting the best time, and many people work planetary magic using this approach. The passive approach has its benefits, and some would argue that it is superior, since it incorporates the omens and portends of a successful outcome. However, it requires more than a working knowledge of astrology and it is locked into a specific time and location to take advantage of a celestial event, thereby limiting when the working can be performed.

A magical  rule to consider whenever approaching magic that uses celestial objects, such as planets, is that there is a greater impact and long-term effect to be gained in the magical working when the factor of time is considered for such a working. When I am referring to time, I am, of course, referring to the event of the working, when it is performed, where and under what conditions. There is an important archetypal factor at play when the ritual magician incorporates time into a working. Not only are there the symbolic auspices at play, such as the planetary day, hour and associated astrological transits that link into the operator’s natal chart, but there are also the nature and qualities of the deity of time itself. There is also a magical model called the temporal model of magic that is also at play as we shall see later.

Planetary magic is more effective when the planet is combined with an element, to produce a matrix of twenty-eight empowered spiritual intelligences. However, some folks can just work planetary magic without combining the planets with elements and produce an effective method of magical workings. Similarly, a ritual magician can use a star polygon to generate a planetary force and summon the angel or archangel for a working whenever needed and set that working to make a change in the physical world.

Yet this kind of magic is no different than performing an elemental working or an evocation. It is a single event that seeks to produce a very specific outcome. Using a planetary force and its associated angel or archangel might have different qualities than performing other kinds of magic, but it is really no different than just summoning an angel or archangel to help one successfully materialize an objective. All of these methods of magic require mundane steps to help the working to produce the desired results, and the more extensive these steps, the more likely the outcome.

It can been seen that combining a planet with an element would likely produce a more effective outcome because it generates a talismanic field that is constantly working, day and night, practically forever. Since the talisman is constantly working on an objective, there would be less mundane steps needed to ensure a successful outcome. Additionally, if the event of generating that talismanic field is governed by a careful selection of astrological auspices and incorporating the planetary hour or day into the elected date of the working then the effect of that working will likely require even less or no mundane steps to ensure success. Combining these three magical actions together, active generation of the planetary quality, empowering it with a base element and performing the working at the most auspicious time will produce a magical artifact that will be superior to using any other methodology.

You can imagine what could be possible if a ritual magician constructed, generated and charged a series of talismans, each to handle a specific aspect of his or her life, and arrayed them altogether in a sacred place in the home. It would be like creating a “charmed” life for the individual, where misfortune is blunted or even avoided, and good fortune amplified. Creating such a treasure of talismans operating in one’s life would certainly obviate the need for working any other kind of magic, at least for material gain and the blessings of good fortune. This would certainly put someone into the place where they could focus on working magic to expand their knowledge and quench their curiosity while the talismans would handle all of the material based concerns. Not only is this a possibility, but it is one that I have crafted for myself, and so far, it is working and greatly aiding me at all times.

What makes this kind of talismanic magic so potent is the underlying powers and effects of the archetypes, myths and the deity of time itself. It is called the temporal model of magic, and it is one that we should pay close attention to whenever we work any kind of magic.

The temporal model of magic is succinctly stated that when a ritual is performed, that moment in time becomes profoundly significant and auspicious. It places an indelible mark upon the operator’s time line. The more important that ritual working is then the greater its significance and auspiciousness. This event of magic becomes similar to the event of divination, or the event of casting an astrological chart. That event, in of itself, causes a change, whether imperceptible or profound, in the life of the operator. This is because the event triggers the layered occult symbology that is part of our cultural collective, and this causes a transformation of consciousness for everyone connected to that event.

Therefore, it would be highly prudent for a ritual magician to recognize the temporal model of magic working in their practice and to be mindful of the astrological auspices operating when choosing the moment or event of a magical working. The connection to elective astrology or even horary astrology should be evident when considering the efficacy of choosing the optimal time and place to perform an important magical working. There are reasons for this opinion that go far beyond the astrological auspices of a given moment.

The core of the temporal model of magic is the Deity of time itself, known in some circles as Chronos (not be confused with Kronos, the father of Zeus). Chronos is the Greek word for time, but as a Deity, he did not have a shrine nor was he part of the civic state religious cult. Chronos was given an important role in the writings of an early Presocratic philosopher Pherecydes, who was a contemporary of Pythagoras (6th century CE). For the perspective of magic, Chronos is considered a lintel deity who symbolizes both the beginning and end, and the gateway that leads from the past into the future. He is, therefore, similar to other lintel deities, such as the Roman Janus, Herne, Eris, Saturnus, and Laverna, or the Persian God Zervan, to mention a few. He is both the Lord of Misrule and the embodiment of the Celestial Order of continual change.

Such a deity represents the mystery and the magic of the greater potential of change, and the spark of fate or destiny that can be generated for the benefit of the magical operator. It is necessary, then, to give homage to this mysterious and multiform godhead so as to aid a specific magical working, especially a celestial working that incorporates astrological auspices. A simple rule to understand about this kind of magic is that the more the operator knows about the moment and event of the celestial operation, and the greater the focus on performing this act at the best or most auspicious time will ensure that the results will be in accordance with the magician’s objective. It would seem, therefore, that time and the temporal model of magic can help a magical working, or any kind of magical operation, to be more effective and profoundly meaningful.

Frater Barrabbas