On a Spiritual Path: Venus Rising Talisman

I am very pleased to present a new current chart, the Venus rising in the 1st degree of Pisces talisman.

This can be a tough talisman to elect for, since Venus needs to be in the 1st degree of Pisces, (that's 0 Pisces 1 to 0 Pisces 59, not 1 Pisces!) and rising. We haven't been able to do this for several years so I am excited about this opportunity to make a rare talisman.

This talisman comes from Cornelius Agrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy,

"From the operations of Venus they made an Image, which was available for favor, and benevolence, at the very hour it ascending into Pisces, the form of which was the Image of a woman having the head of a bird, and feet of an Eagle, holding a dart in her hand. "

Three Books of Occult Philosophy Bk II ch 42.

This Agrippa image is based on several different images from Picatrix,

"Image of Venus. If, under the influence of Venus, you make the image of a woman whose body is human with the head of a bird and the feet of an eagle, in her right hand an apple and in her left hand a wooden comb....everyone who carries this image...with them will receive good and be liked by everyone."

"If, under the influence of Venus, you make the form of a woman, holding an apple in her right hand and a comb in her left hand, in white stone, the first face of Libra ascending, whoever has or carries the above image will always laugh and be cheerful."

Picatrix, Bk II ch 10.

This is very interesting! Note that Agrippa switches Venus' sign Libra for her exaltation, Pisces and combines the two images, showing flexibility and not following slavishly, but not departing entirely from his traditional source, Picatrix. He's not just making it all up and not trying to use a Saturn image for Venus, but on the other hand he's not FREAKING OUT that image doesn't follow Picatrix TO THE LETTER! We can see a master astrological magician in action here, innovating, but fully within the tradition in that innovation.

So, now the most important point, why would you want to make this talisman? Venus is the planet of love, friendship, arts, music and pleasure, so if you want these things, Venus is your planet. This particular talisman is for favor and benevolence, which I read as improving your social skills and getting along better with people, having people like you more and more.

And this is fine, if you are focused on what you want and how you can benefit from this and other talismans. We do need to enhance our lives and our ego selves. But it is possible to use astrological magic as part of our spiritual path as well. But how?

I do a daily invocation of the planet that rules the day and have done so "religiously" for almost a decade. The invocations are adapted from Picatrix see my Secrets of Planetary Ritual Paperback and Kindle versions. so these invocations do involve petitions, ie they often ask for things, but generally these are things like health, prosperity, safety and wisdom, general goals, as opposed to "make X love me" or "bring me $100,000" You can ask for specific stuff, but I like the idea of the superior wisdom of the planetary spirit deciding for me exactly what I need.

Further, through doing an invocation of an astrological spirit I am getting closer to that spirit and building up our relationship. I am aligning myself with the spirits of the planets and the stars who are, at the celestial or intermediate level, responsible for everything in the material world. These are key spirits in the Great Chain of Being connecting us to the Divine World of Archetypes and Platonic Ideas and eventually to the One.

These are not our servants, we serve and embody them! They are not waiting around to get us stuff, but we benefit greatly by being in their presence and rising to their spheres. These are beings of incredible power beyond our limited understanding and comprehension. While it certainly is a valid traditional approach, I find it presumptuous to command these spirits.

To get a sense of their otherwordliness, their being beyond our ken, look at the very bizarre image of Inanna, the Sumerian Venus at the Venus rising in the 1st degree of Pisces talisman which corresponds to the Agrippa and Picatrix descriptions: a woman with the head and feet of a bird. Strikingly weird! Meditate on this image and see that Venus is numinous filled with great spiritual power beyond our limited understanding.

So while it's great to do a Venus love talisman, (Venus loves love!) perhaps you are intrigued, hopefully mysteriously drawn to invoke and contemplate these very powerful, very numinous, ultimately inexplicable spirits.

Book Recommendations from the UPenn Magic in History Series

One of the problems of a magical practitioner in the early 21st century is getting caught between running aground on the Scylla (google it!) of fluffy bunny New Ageism or being whirled into the Charybdis of academic magical scholarship.

It's very tempting to be "serious" and start paying lots of attention to academic sources, after all they are the high priests of our society and their imprimatur (google it!) is necessary for legitimacy and prestige.

Unfortunately, academic observers of magic are still required to reject its actual existence. This makes them very problematic sources of information when one is actually interested in doing magic. Hard to get practical tips from someone that insists the whole exercise is a pointless exercise in outdated superstition. So, I've generally used academic sources very sparingly, in the very beginning of study, simply to get my historical bearings. I hadn't even bothered to read anything new coming out of academia in the past few years, so it was a pleasant surprise to run across two new books in the UPenn Magic in History series that I can actually recommend.

The first is The Transformations of Magic: Illicit Learned Magic in the Later Middle Ages and Renaissance by Frank Klaassen

Klaassen even goes to so far as to say that in his opinion, at least as far as the actual practitioners were concerned, that magic worked. Though I don't think he'd go so far as to endorse the practicing of magic by those in the contemporary world. Klaassen is one of the leading lights of the Societas Magicae, which is extremely frosty about actual practitioners. Their membership form, for example, asks either for your academic affiliation or a listing of academic articles published.

In any case, I did find Transformation of Magic very interesting and can recommend it because it gives a great amount of information about the split between astrological and Solomonic magic. I had thought that this was a modern phenomenon, but in fact, while astrological magic texts, mostly of Arabic origin, were popular in the Middle Ages, by the time of the Renaissance, the Solomonic style, ala Greater Key of Solomon, Goetia, etc., were all the rage. Very, very interesting!

So definitely worth getting a copy here are the Kindle version of Transformations of Magic and Paperback version of Transformations of Magic

I was then on a roll, and found another good new academic magic source, Magic in the Cloister: Pious Motives, Illicit Interests, and Occult Approaches to the Medieval Universe by Sophie Page.

Here the focus is on the library of the Benedictine abbey of St. Augustine’s in Canterbury, (yes England). Interestingly enough a significant portion of the monks had the time, interest and inclination to collect and presumably practice magic, alchemy and astrology. Very interesting summary of medieval and Renaissance magic and magical texts. Well worth perusing!

Kindle version of Magic in the Cloister and Hardcover version of Magic in the Cloister

So let's just open the floodgates and look at the whole Magic in History series But I wouldn't buy it at the publisher, too expensive! Get Kindle or get used copies.

Here's what I like the most of the rest of the series:

Forbidden Rites: A Necromancer's Manual of the Fifteenth Century by Richard Kieckhefer

Oh, boy, this one really got me in trouble! This is a critical edition of a medieval book of magic, what Kieckhefer calls the Munich handbook of necromancy. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, while it includes the complete Latin, there is no complete English translation. Nevertheless, Kieckhefer gives a lots of information about the talismans, etc.

I got in trouble with the one talisman I made out of this book, a black Mirror of Lilith as you can see following the link. So while I can definitely recommend reading the book, I can't really recommend using it!

Paperback version of Forbidden Rites

The next book I can recommend is Unlocked Books: Manuscripts of Learned Magic in the Medieval Libraries of Central Europe by Benedek Lang

Again, by studying manuscripts and books in libraries, a great deal is revealed about the medieval and Renaissance practice of magic. Still, I'd love to have some actual critical editions of the magical texts discussed if not actual English translations.

Paperback version of Unlocked Books

Two more books in the series that actually contain translations of magical texts are:

Conjuring Spirits: Texts and Traditions of Medieval Ritual Magic by Claire Fanger

This contains a translation of Bokenham's "Book of the Angels, Rings, Characters and Images of the Planets"

Paperback version of Conjuring Spirits

Invoking Angels: Theurgic Ideas and Practices, Thirteenth to Sixteenth Centuries by Claire Fanger

This contains an English translation of Antonio Da Montulmo's "Book of Intelligences" which is very unusual, giving instructions for invoking the spirits of the Zodiacal signs and intelligences of the planets.

Paperback version of Invoking Angels

So you can lose yourself for awhile in a wealth of academic material and even get some actual astrological magic or malefic magical texts!

Review of Electional Astrology Course

Here is a review of my Electional Astrology Course by a recent graduate.

"For the past 18 months I have been working through (and have recently completed) the Electional Astrology course offered by Mr. Warnock. Since completing the course, I have used the skills acquired from Mr. Warnock’s Electional Astrology course in my daily life (and with clients) with good results.

As I browsed through the lessons prior to starting them, it became apparent I had enrolled in a course filled with depth and detail and that I was going learn a great deal which is what I was hoping for. I was also looking to study within the strict traditional approach found in Renaissance Astrology and not Modern Astrology – both hopes were fulfilled. Each lesson builds on the next, filled with the necessary information, reading material and chart examples to work through the questions at the end of each lesson. In the event there is something you are not sure of or have a question relating to the lesson, Mr. Warnock is available to answer any questions in a succinct and prompt manner. As a teacher, I have found Mr. Warnock to be approachable, supportive and helpful at all times, nothing is too much trouble – he is also patient and willing to clarify what it is you might not understand in a lesson. Mr. Warnock also carefully checks the student’s work thoroughly before recommending he/she move on to the next lesson. Over time, it became apparent the vast and extensive degree of Mr. Warnock’s knowledge when it comes to the subject of Traditional Renaissance Astrology - he is also willing to share this knowledge with other sincere and dedicated students.

Due to the detailed nature of the course, I would recommend students take their time to complete it – also, as a student, be prepared to do some additional research or reading on any astrological terms or theories to help broaden your knowledge and understanding. This is a course compatible with those who are self starters or have a high degree of initiative. It is essential that the student take their time with each lesson and refrain from rushing from one lesson to the next to ensure you have understood, grasped and comprehended the reading material otherwise you are setting yourself up for difficulties in the next lesson. I quote from the registration page: “Students should keep in mind that the material presented in the Electional Astrology Course requires commitment to master”. If you want to pass this course effort, patience and commitment will be required but the results are rewarding.

In closing, the course is excellent; I have thoroughly enjoyed it and would not hesitate to recommend it to others who are genuinely interested in learning the art of traditional Electional Astrology. Was the course value for money? Yes indeed it was when one considers the skill and depth of information it imparts. It was a joy and honour to have Mr. Warnock as a teacher."

LS Electional Astrology Student Victoria, AUSTRALIA