Table of Contents
What is astrological magic?
Astrological magic is the least known and understood form of Western magic. Although one of Heinrich Agrippa’s books (Three Books of Occult Philosophy, Book II) is entirely dedicated to the practice, it has gone relatively unnoticed during the recent revival of interest in other esoteric practices, such as Solomonic and other traditional forms of Western magic.
Astrological magic is not simply reciting a hymn or incantation on a full moon or planetary hour. A talisman is not just a piece of jewelry with astrological symbols and esoteric images. It is an ancient, highly complex, and precise science of the stars, originating when history first began to be written. An amulet or charm simply requires something sacred to be written or spoken, but an astrological talisman requires the planets and stars to be in very specific and precise positions when it is created. The entire practice of astrological magic as it existed for thousands of years is consolidated in the medieval grimoire Ghayat al-Hakim (Goal of the Wise), better known as The Picatrix.
Astrological magic was largely limited to the ruling classes of the Christian and Islamic worlds during the medieval and Renaissance eras. This was due to several factors, largely because Picatrix and its related texts (with the exception of Agrippa and Ficino’s writings) only existed in a few closely guarded, hand-written manuscripts in Europe and the Middle East and never made it to the printing press until the 20th century. In Europe, possession of it was most likely an automatic death sentence unless that person was above the law. The Ottoman rulers were patrons of astrological magic for centuries and the first Holy Roman Emperor, Charlemagne, was widely known for a large sapphire talisman he wore at all times. The Medici dynasty, who were at one time the most powerful family in Europe, also utilized astrological magic. The famous scholar Marsilio Ficino was employed by Cosimo Medici as his personal physician and used the Picatrix for his own treatise Three Books on Life. Catherine de Medici, the Queen of France and the patron of Nostradamus, owned and wore astrological talismans.
Silver Venus talisman owned by Catherine de Medici Source: Warburg Institute
Forms of astrological magic date back to the earliest recorded history and long before, It has become widely accepted that many of the wonders of the ancient world such as the temples of Egypt, Stonehenge and pyramids of the Maya and other Mesoamericans were carefully aligned to the planets and stars with mind boggling precision. The sun’s position in the zodiac has marked religious celebrations for tens of thousands of years, and still have a strong but largely unnoticed role in many mainstream religious practices today. It has quietly driven the development of human civilization in various ways as I show in the history of the practice
The criteria for successfully performing astrological magic are incredibly complex and the I strive to follow the stringent standards set forth in Picatrix. For perspective, many talismans can only be created in a time window of 20-40 minutes out of an entire decade. Some talismans, such as Saturn’s Degree of Exaltation, can only be made in a 30-minute window once every 29 years. Even more exotic talismans are literal once-in-a-lifetime, and some are even impossible to make correctly once in a century. A talisman of high quality is rare, and each one is truly one-of-a-kind, with the exact conditions of the skies impossible to replicate again. The astrological factors, compiled from Picatrix, are listed here: Astrological Factors for Creating Talismans – Cosmic Artifacts
How are Talismans priced?
A casual observer would be put off or puzzled by the prices of astrological talismans. The answer is that talismans are priced primarily according to the rarity of the astrological factors required to make them, and the price of the required stone and/or metals. As shown in the list of factors, finding a suitable time to make a talisman according to the Picatrix or other source material is extremely difficult and time-consuming. The time windows are no more than 20 minutes or so, sometimes even less. However many images can be engraved in that short time is all you will get when the time window has passed.
On average, most talismans can only be created for a few minutes out of a period of a year or more. Jupiter talismans can only be made a few times every 4-5 years, and only a few times every 29 years for Saturn. Some exotic talismans are often once in a lifetime opportunity, if they can be made at all. There are no programs or AI capabilities to automate this process; at best some programs can narrow down a few factors to make searching a little easier. Each talisman requires hours upon hours of studying the movements of the skies coupled with extensive knowledge from the books. In short, each talisman is a very difficult undertaking even in the best of circumstances.
It is not uncommon to plan ahead for over a decade in order to find a few minutes to make a set of talismans, and very often the time is highly inconvenient. Many must be created in the middle of the night, a task that few would be eager to perform. They cannot be created anywhere, as Picatrix states that most should not be exposed to direct sunlight while being made, requiring a private indoor space.
I only use 100% natural stones for my talismans, with no treatment or dye of any kind. Finding these stones is more difficult than most would assume, and their price is also considerably higher than their artificially treated or lab created counterparts. Although it’s perfectly fine to make many talismans with stones and metals that are listed as compatible in Picatrix, Three Books of Occult Philosophy and others, the books often recommend a specific stone or metal for optimal results, and I follow these whenever possible. The incense and plant material prescribed by many of these books is also quite expensive.
In short, creating an astrological talisman is much, much more than simply engraving a stone or metal pendant. When a talisman performs its function successfully, it is not uncommon for the owner to report the result as near miraculous, as shown in the Testimonials.
What is an Astrological Talisman?
A simple analogy is to consider every created thing as having a horoscope at birth, including manmade objects. A talisman is made by choosing a moment of time that has an ideal horoscope and creating the talisman in that precise window of time, using images and material that correspond to the planets and stars involved. At that moment the talisman is “born” and the astral light has been captured inside it. From that moment on, the talisman’s owner carries that influence. Some have likened it to “capturing a horoscope in a bottle”.
Talismans are created with suitable and specific metals or stones that have a spiritual connection to the planet or star. For instance, silver is excellent for a Moon talisman because of the similarity of silver and the moon’s light. Selenite, or “moonstone” is also a good choice because the stone itself resembles the look of the moon. Likewise, gold or pyrite is an excellent material for the Sun because its light is golden. Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa published an extensive list in his Book One of “Three Books of Occult Philosophy”, and many ancient lapidaries continue to be published and provide more options.
Over the last 2,000 years astrological talismans have been created in the form of statues, large stone spheres, rings, pendants, large sheets of metal, mirrors, crowns, crystal balls, wax figures and even metal containers with images engraved on them. One of the earliest concepts of wave-based physics can be found in De Radiis (On the Stellar Rays) by the famed medieval Arab polymath Al-Kindi which was often included as a companion guide to the Picatrix. The premise of De Radiis is that the light produced by the cosmos, in particular the stars and planets, have invisible qualities that interact with and affect the natural world. When these celestial bodies are in specific positions relative to the earth, the light can be “captured” and amplified with specific natural substances, that being gems and certain types of metals. Interestingly, the underlying idea of De Radiis has now grown to dominate and permeate the entire world through the development of electronics and wireless transmission. Many of the stones and metals that were used to capture the invisible light waves of the stars are now used as conductors and transmitters for electricity, radio waves and digital communications.
Anything that is made of suitable materials and taking its final form at the precise moment can be a talisman. Apollonius of Tyana, the famous philosopher and miracle worker of late antiquity, was known to have crafted large talismanic statues at the behest of kings for improving their cities. According to the Corpus Hermeticum and the writings of Iamblichus, the statues in Egyptian temples were ensouled in this way. Very large stones, chalices, and many other objects of metal or stone were used by those influential enough to afford talismans. Rings, pendants and other types of jewelry were and are the most convenient and therefore the most common but are by no means the only way astrological talismans can be crafted. In at least one case an entire city, ancient Harran, was constructed as an enormous astrological talisman. Its people, known as Sabeans, were commonly called star worshippers; their main temples and buildings contained large stones that were engraved during astrologically favorable times, and their architecture and placement designed to reflect the geometry found in the skies. The Sumerian king Gudea of Lagash (2144–2124 BC) is recorded in an ancient clay tablet to have received a dream from the god Ningursu in which he was shown the constellation Pegasus and was given instructions for building his temple based on the position of that constellation, and the temple itself functioned as an enormous astrological talisman.
How are talismans created?
A brief window of time is carefully chosen according to the stringent instructions in Picatrix, on average 15-25 minutes, when the astrological conditions are just right. I set up what will become my talismans in a private area, facing east, and for a half hour, I conduct a personal meditation based on the Sefer Yetzirah to get myself in touch with God and the cosmos. I recite some personalized prayers and divine names in ancient Hebrew while burning appropriate incense. I normally use specially made incense from the 16th century grimoire Liber Razielis, Agrippa’s Three Books of Occult Philosophy or an incense mixture that I gathered based on the instructions in Picatrix, often requiring plants and other materials that are hard to obtain and sometimes expensive. I meditate and focus on the astrological spirit(s) that will be called on to ensoul the talismans. When the chosen time window begins, I use a battery-powered diamond-tipped engraving pen to engrave the stones and/or metal with the required images and symbols. At the end of the time window, I conduct suffumigation of all the talismans, holding them over the incense smoke and requesting again that the astral spirit ensouls it strongly.
Iamblichus and other theurgists believed that the ancient languages themselves had special properties of their own because human beings were closer to the divine long ago. Iamblichus held the Egyptian, Assyrian and ancient middle eastern languages in particularly high regard for sacred rites. Dr. Richard Steiner identified a spell in ancient Semitic / Hebrew in the Pyramid Texts, approximately 5,000 years old. It is my personal preference to use the ancient Hebrew language in my practice and for inscriptions on my talismans.
What are the odd Images?
Astrological magic is the most widely used term for crafting astrological talismans, but Picatrix calls it “The Science of Images”.
Although Picatrix was penned around 1,000 years ago, it was compiled from over 200 older sources from the Middle East, Europe, and Central Asia. Many of the images have ancient origins; an excellent example is the bird-headed image of Venus in Picatrix which is very similar to images of the goddess Inanna or Ishtar, a Mesopotamian goddess dating back over 5,000 years. Many of these images originate from long ago and have survived for thousands of years. Some symbols in Picatrix are also of unknown origin and likely originate from antiquity.
Other images are symbolic and serve to focus on the effects of the astral spirit that inhabits the talisman. Picatrix, Agrippa, and Ibn Qurra explain the process as such. A talisman intended to increase knowledge would have a person reading a book, such as The 24th Mansion. According to many magicians of old such as Iamblichus, spirits easily understand images and symbols, called synthemata or “divine signs”. This could be one of the reasons that hieroglyphics were called “the writing of the gods” by the Egyptian priesthood.
The primary factor is the time of creation. The time of creation is the moment that the talisman takes on its final form. Most practitioners agree that this is the moment the final mark is made on its surface. In the case of a small statue or other metal objects cast with molten metals, the time of creation is the moment that the talisman’s metal is poured into the mold and solidifies.
The images do not even need to be aesthetically pleasing. Simple stick figures are highly effective, as long as the astrological configuration is strong.
In fact, Picatrix and Marsilio Ficino state that if an image or symbol is not feasible for whatever reason, a simple “X” or cross engraved on metal or stone is sufficient for the astrological spirit to ensoul the talisman because it is a perfect mathematical representation of the cosmos and four directions. A pretty image without the careful astrological configurations is just that: a pretty image. It has no astrological influence.
I have a lifelong love for world history and personally prefer the simple clay and rock carving style of the ancient Phoenicians, Akkadians and Sumerians. I engrave most of my talisman images in this style, but I make some exceptions. With Decan talismans from the Sacred Book of Hermes to Asclepius, I have access to authentic Greco-Egyptian images and imitate them closely on my talismans. In some cases, I have sculpted replicas of ancient Greek and Roman planetary deities to cast talismanic statues.
How exactly does it relate to astrology?
Astrological magic combines the principles of astrology with the techniques of ritual magic. It does not involve modern astrology that became popular in the early 20th century and largely deals with an individual’s psychological makeup. It utilizes very different forms of astrology that largely vanished by modern times, now called traditional astrology. The last well-known traditional astrologer was William Lilly (1602-1681), who became famous in his lifetime for his highly accurate predictions and his clientele like the British Royal Family and members of Parliament, who made many key decisions based on Lilly’s astrological information. By the late 1800s, traditional astrology had disappeared and most of its important texts remained out of print, untranslated, and unknown.
In the past 30 years, some people have dedicated enormous efforts to translating, publishing and putting into practice the astrology of the ancient world. Project Hindsight was established with the purpose of reconstructing the astrological knowledge of the Hellenistic era, as far back as 300 BCE, carefully translating obscure texts in Greek, Coptic Egyptian, classical Latin, and others. Benjamin Dykes has published countless translations of astrological manuals from the Islamic Golden Age and medieval Europe. The astrologers who wrote these books were trusted by kings and generals to provide useful and critical advice, and failure resulted in catastrophic consequences. Some astrologers changed the course of history. For one fascinating example of astrology used successfully in war, read Cosmic Conquerors: How the Ottomans Used Astrology to Topple Constantinople – Cosmic Artifacts
Picatrix was compiled around 1,000 years ago from over 200 older sources and clearly states that its use requires the practitioner to be knowledgeable in astrology as it existed at the time. The practice of astrological magic itself, called “the Science of Images” in the book, also has many unique requirements.
How well does it work?
My personal success rate is somewhere between 60-70%. Of that success rate, approximately half were very fast and dramatic results that often shocked the person who was the proud owner of their new talisman (around 30% fast and dramatic results). There was no doubt whatsoever in their mind that something very out of the ordinary occurred.
The other 30-40% were successful, but the results came about in a very subtle way, taking months or sometimes a year or more, and out of nowhere the talisman’s owner realized that they’d gotten what they wanted from their talisman. The outcome was often accompanied by some sort of astrological “synchronicity”, such as the desired event coming to fruition exactly 365 days from the time a sun talisman was created, or the very day a planetary retrograde ended that corresponded to their talisman. For instance, I once had a load of expensive items dropped off on my doorstep that I never purchased, and no records or charges from Amazon, the very day that Mercury ended its retrograde and stationed direct. At the same time, I was looking all over for my misplaced Mercury talismans. Mercury governs merchandise, theft, trickery, disappearing, and the like. There was no doubt that this was the actions of Mercury. I’ve had people who own talismans for gaining money receive sizeable checks in the mail from accounts they never had on days that were relevant to their talisman.
The other 30% that produced no results can be attributed to some flaws in the astrological configuration, of which there will always be no matter what, or just the nature of the universe and that we can’t always win.
Regardless, these talismans have usually produced significant effects far beyond anything that can be attributed to chance on a fairly consistent basis.
Where does Astrological Magic come from?
The most comprehensive source is the medieval grimoire Ghayat al-Hakim (Goal of the Wise) better known as the Picatrix.
Cuneiform tablets from ancient Iraq show that this form of magic was used in very remote times, 4000 to 5000 years ago, when writing itself was first invented. Instructions for petitioning the stars are some of the oldest known writings. Lapidaries from this period survive listing stones and herbs that correspond to specific stars and planets, as well as instructions for using them.
Almost 2,000 years ago, Iamblichus and other theurgists of the Platonic tradition mention the use and effectiveness of astrological talismans, strongly implying that their use was well-established and had been known for some time. The Sacred Book of Hermes to Asclepius, a Hermetic text from this period, contains detailed instructions for using talismans of the 36 Decans, an Egyptian invention, for healing specific parts of the body.
The Persian Magi were famous in the ancient world for their vast knowledge and especially astrology. In fact, the very word “magic” itself is a variation of the Greek word “Magi”. Many Greek and Roman historians credit the use of astrological talismans to them. The priests of Harran, the ancient city where Abraham once resided, are a major source. Hindu magicians were also known to employ their own forms of it. Unfortunately, we are still in the process of rediscovering both the knowledge and its history.
Picatrix is the culmination of the “Science of Images”. Over 1,000 years ago, some of the early Muslim kings paid well for the best scholars in the region to translate and compile valuable knowledge. Almost 1,200 years ago Thabit Ibn Qurra put into writing a significant source for Picatrix at the behest of the Caliph of Baghdad. Around this time, the Ghayat al-Hakim (Goal of the Wise), also known as the Picatrix, was compiled by an anonymous writer in Arabic. In his introduction, he states that he gathered the most important knowledge from over 200 different sources to create a comprehensive book that encompassed the whole subject. The contents are vast and diverse, with elements from Hermeticism, Greek, pre-Islamic Arabic, and Hindu mysticism, among many others.
In the 1200s, the Spanish king Alfonso X (Alfonso the Wise) commissioned a translation from Arabic into Spanish, and a Latin translation was produced shortly thereafter. Although the existence of the book was widely known throughout Europe by occultists and astrologers, it existed only in manuscript form until the 20th century. In 2010, Christopher Warnock and John Michael Greer published an English edition from the Latin manuscripts, making the text available to a wide audience for the first time in over a thousand years.
For a comprehensive guide to the different types of astrological talismans, please see Types of Astrological Talismans – Cosmic Artifacts .
Chris has led efforts to reconstruct the cryptic practice of astrological magic for over 20 years, published many translations of obscure texts and even teaches distance learning courses in both traditional astrology and astrological magic through his website Renaissance Astrology: www.renaissanceastrology.com
Clifford Low has also done extensive research and experimentation with the Picatrix which is available at https://sorceror.blog and the YouTube channel GrimoireTV. He has shared lots of information, free of charge, for advanced practitioners of astrological magic and promotes the practice at live venues.