Greetings, Talismanic Mages!
The following is a clarification about Solomonic Talismans I recently posted to Facebook:
Apparently there is some confusion over the subject of Solomonic Talismans, how they are made, and exactly what I’m teaching about them. So let me clear up a couple of points.
When someone mentions the “charging” of Solomonic Talismans, I tend to point out there is no mention of “charging” such Talismans in the texts. There is simply no point where the practitioner is instructed to direct their personal energy at a Talisman and “empower” it. This is a modern concept (specifically energy-model magick), not found in the grimoires.
So, how do the Solomonic Talismans work? Primarily, they are empowered by the time they are made. Just as you were born and took your first breath – thereby setting your natal chart for life – so too is this true of Solomonic Talismans. After it is fashioned, you consecrate it – either on the day/hour of the Talisman’s Planet, or on the day/hour of Mercury. (Think of the making of the Talisman as birth, and the consecration as the Christening.) One could argue this consecration is the “charging” – and that’s fine. (Actually, you do give the spirit its “charge” – that is its instructions – at that time. So there you go.)
But some folks are getting confused, thinking I am making a blanket statement about ALL Talismans ever. Or even that I am stating this is how it MUST be done, even with Solomonic Talismans. That is not the case.
First and foremost, the Key says its Talismans are not just for use during evocations, but can also be carried for various kinds of protection. Now, honestly, it probably assumes you know to perform the evocations with the Talismans first, THEN carry them for protection. But, that phrasing in the grimoire has given rise to several extra-Solomonic Traditions making use of the Talismans in their own way. Hoodoo being one great example – wherein a Talisman can be charged by merely placing it next to a relevant Psalm in a Bible for seven days. Or, even better, the methods developed by our own Balthazar Van Der Merwe (def. check out Balthazar’s Conjure on YouTube!).
EVEN the Key of Solomon agrees that an election isn’t always necessary:
Key of Solomon, Book II, Chap. I:
“So exact a preparation of days and hours is not necessary for those who are adepts in the art, but it is extremely necessary for apprentices and beginners, seeing that those who have been little or not at all instructed herein, and who only begin to apply themselves to this art, do not have as much faith in the experiments as those who are adepts therein, and who have practiced them.”So, the more adept you are, the less you are restricted by the magical timing. (Andreas Erneus points out this may apply to evocation instead of Talismans – but I’ve generally taken this passage to heart for everything.) And, indeed, when I do work for myself, I rarely bother with elections (unless I’m making a full Talisman). That is to say – as I have years of experience AND altars here to every Angel I work with, then I don’t have to worry so much if the Moon is waning, or Mercury is Rx, or even if I’m working in the proper hour. Because those angels live here, I’m not calling them long-distance.
But, for clients, I follow all the timing every time – because they are paying me to do things RIGHT, not for my personal theories on how I can do it quicker and easier. To me, that’s just honest business practice. You do NOT half-ass a Talisman or other magical tool and fail to inform your clients you are doing so.
Having said all of that – if YOUR Tradition tells you to point at a Talisman and direct energy into it, or breathe life into it, that’s fine. (The GD does that – and guess what Order in which I’m an officer?) I’m not telling you that your tradition is wrong, nor am I suggesting charging Talismans “doesn’t work.” Simply stating the facts of what is and is not in the Solomonic texts is NOT an attack on your Tradition.
Of course, if you try to tell me that “everyone knows” you are “supposed to ‘charge’ Solomonic Talismans”, I’m going to inform you that you are incorrect. 😉
Some time ago, I made a video discussing these exact same matters:
Ananael (The Secrets of Wisdom) 
This, I find perplexing:
“So exact a preparation of days and hours is not necessary for those who are adepts in the art, but it is extremely necessary for apprentices and beginners, seeing that those who have been little or not at all instructed herein, and who only begin to apply themselves to this art, do not have as much faith in the experiments as those who are adepts therein, and who have practiced them.”
Unless you’re talking about simply performing an evocation, which is I think what you are saying. In other words, you don’t need a great election for that, but you do need a great election for making a talisman. And this is really difficult. The more I learn about traditional astrology, the more difficult it becomes to find a workable election, never mind a great one. I’m going to look at the Ruling Sign on the Asc approach. I’d abandoned Day/Hour pretty quickly, that’s nearly impossible, and even Hour is really difficult for both Jupiter and the Sun during a waxing Moon for the next couple months.
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One theory is that the quote from the Key of Solomon only applies to evocation, and not talismans at all. However, I will attest that Talismans made in other manners, without full elections, can indeed work. But I ALSO think utilizing full elections are going to make any such Talisman much more powerful and reliable.
Example: You’ll notice Golden Dawn literature hardly, if ever, makes use of elections for Talismans. This is because we, instead, use Pentagram, Hexagram, and other invocation rituals to evoke the spiritual forces we want to imbue into the Talismans – regardless of where the stars are at the time. This works, and I have both seen and made successful GD-style Talismans.
Now! – would adding a full election TO that process make it even more powerful? Yep! So I say we should. 🙂
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This makes perfect sense. I’ve made plenty using GD ritual forms and have had about a 75% success rate with what I call “affirmatively confirmable” charges. Things that don’t fall into that category are things like protection, where success is measured by nothing happening. I factor those kinds of things out.
I think about operations in terms of optimizing, and for the past few months I’ve been learning what I can about Scholastic Image Magic (Picatrix, etc.) and in tandem with that, learning as much as I can about astrological elections. This is all dovetailing for me here in your post. So my concept of how this works (magick, that is, or the universe, and how magick functions within it) is that we are always dealing, at the highest level, with astrological forces. So a GD ritual which sort of seeks to bypass elections by invoking specific Planetary or Zodiacal forces is still working against astrological resistance (in the case of a poor election). Meaning, the same ritual during a poor election is going to end up invoking less of the desired Planetary or Zodiacal force than it would under a good election. And it may even it invoke undesirable aspects of the invoked powers, etc.
So in terms of bang-for-the-buck, it makes sense to make the talisman under the SIM election rules (described in the Picatrix, etc.) – which also may well have been observed early in the history for making Solomonic Pentacles, only later simplifying ultimately to Day/Hour – since this provides the best conditions for making the talisman (a Solomonic Pentacle in this case). And then consecrating the talisman according to the same rules to whatever extent possible. This would provide the least resistance and the greatest access to the desired forces while they are most active in the ways you want them active. Ideally, prepare the talisman as much as possible so that it can be made and also consecrated during the same election.
This is one of those situations where I’m realizing I’ve been talking to myself, working this out. 🙂
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Hello, I came across that you spoke on the glitch bottle podcast about biting pentacle of Mars on four corners of your property which gave you potent protection. Do you know which episode you spoke about that on? Can you link the vid or any information regarding your experience of those pentacles? Thanks.
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Greetings! I’ve been on Glitch Bottle several times, and for some VERY long episodes!, so I’m not sure where exactly I discussed those Talismans. (As a matter of fact, it might have been in more than one episode! We’ve done the operation twice now.) Maybe contact Alexander Eth and see if he can recall. 🙂
As for my experiences, see this search for Samael here on my blog:
https://aaronleitch.wordpress.com/?s=samael
The first two links are directly related to the Talisman work we do with him. 🙂 I can say we have been very well protected by Samael and his Seraphim in both locations we have performed the working.
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*buried, I meant buried not biting
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