Creating talismans for Venus & Jupiter

The first week of April was truly a magical one. The skies offered elections for the Sun in its exaltation (Aries) the Moon in domicile (Cancer), Venus in exaltation (Pisces) and Jupiter in his home sign of Pisces.

What’s an election?

You might have heard of electional astrology. In this branch of astrology, an astrologer chooses a time to begin an event such as a wedding, business launch, starting a book, and so on to seed the beginning of that endeavor in the most auspicious celestial container possible. The unfolding of the endeavor will reflect its inception.  The election is the window of time the astrologer selects to offer this new undertaking the most favorable start possible.

What are magical elections?

Magical elections are a little different. They work with planetary magic. Here the goal is to bottle the energies of the planet we’re working with. It’s like capturing lightening in a bottle.

More love please!

Let’s say we’re interested in bringing more love and affection into our lives. We would identify Venus as the planet capable of helping us with these goals. To make a Venus talisman, we would wait until Venus is well resourced, such as in her own signs and located on the Ascendant or Midheaven. We would ensure that Mars and Saturn weren’t aspecting her. We would take a look at the Moon as well, to see if it were aspecting her or Jupiter next. We’d also want a Moon with plenty of light and in her waxing phase for this request. Ideally, we could also an election on the day of Venus and her hour.

All in all, there’s a long checklist we would go through to determine 1) if Venus could offer a window of time in which to bottle her and 2) if the rest of the electional chart was supportive to our aims, or at the very last: not harmful.  If we did find the right time and created a talisman, it would ensoul and transmit her energy.

I like to think of it as similar to pheromones. We can’t see pheromones, but they affect behavior, drawing certain kinds of experiences and people to us. It’s the same with the talisman: like attracts like, and in this case, those things that vibe with Venus!

Talismanic Photography

Award-winning photographer Holly Wilmeth and I are creating talismanic photographs!  The ancients believed in the power of images. They held that the image traveled via the eyes into the soul. Integrating magical elections, ritual and photography, we ask a person to represent the focal planet while wearing items that correspond to that planet.  Here are the images for the Sun and the Moon along with a few behind the scenes photos.

THE SUN

• Planet: Sun with rooster feathers and laurel leaves
• Ambassador: Designer and Model Estéban Betancourt
• Location: San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
• Election: April 6, 2022 from 7:23am-7:50am
• Request: May this talismanic photograph carry health, vitality & healing, success on all fronts, favors from powerful people, distinguished honor and heightened confidence. May the viewer be filled with a sense of joy and optimism.

Behind the scenes

Here are some behind the scenes images. I open each electional window by setting the incense to burn at the altar and then proceeding with a ritual plan. Once I’m done, Holly shoots. Afterwards, we gather together and thank the planet and its spirits for cooperating with us. These were taking at sunrise. Holly and I were so grateful that Esteban, who didn’t know either one of us, agreed to come at sunrise to be photographed in rooster feathers and laurel leaves!

THE MOON

• Planet: Moon with her correspondences of cabbage and owl feathers
• Ambassador: Marly Benedicto @marlybenedicto, Founder of Gaia Temple of Transformative Arts & Sound
• Location: San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
• Election: April 8, 2022 from 11:32am-12:18pm
• Request: May this talismanic photograph ensure safety in travel to all that view it. May it increase psychic power and amplify clairvoyant dreams. May it help the viewer gracefully adapt to change. May it improve relationships with women. May the journey with one’s own mother soften in tenderheartedness and understanding.

Holly is photographing Marly partially covered in cold cabbage in a little space made from my sheets! It’s been a complete joy collaborating with Holly. Especially delightful is watching her come up with the most creative solutions in the very limited time we have on these shoots!

VENUS & JUPITER TALISMANS

As exciting as it is to create these talismanic photographs with Holly, the metal talismans is where I feel most connected to a long lineage of astromages that have been doing this work for thousands of years.

I work closely with a master metalsmith in creating talismans. The day before the election, I go over and do a deep clean. This time, I was lucky enough to recruit my daughter Marly and my friend Kirby Lee. We mopped floors, scrubbed walls, wiped down ledges and the door. We purified and protected with flowers, copal and a cleansing ritual. When calling down the spirits and petitioning a planet, we want to show up as our best selves. It only makes sense that the room we receive our dignified guests is also at its best.

Before sunrise on Saturday, we set up a Venus altar and lit the incense. During the election window (4:59am—5:27am), my daughter performed the ritual. With her Sun conjunct the Ascendant in Taurus and Venus in Taurus in the first house, she carries a Venusian vibe.

When it came time for Jupiter (5:56am—6:27am), I performed the ritual (lots of Pisces + an exalted Jupiter) and we repeated all the steps again which goes like this: After the ritual, the metalsmith removes the flask from the furnace and pours molten silver (for Jupiter) into the mold. The silver fills out the empty spaces where wax molds have melted away creating a templated void. The metal forms the image of the talisman during the election window. Then the flask is thrust into water to cool down and allow the silver to harden. After a few minutes, the flask is removed to reveal a talisman tree covered in investment.

Next the newly born talismans are jet washed and then very importantly: passed through the incense during the election window. The smoke connects the celestial plane to the earthly plane and breathes the breath of life into the talisman.

It’s a beautiful process. One filled with reverence, responsibility, devotion and an enormous amount of preparation. The next step is to get them cleaned up and have a stone bezeled on the back. For now, I feel so grateful for how these have turned out. It was also a precious experience to have my daughter Marly and our friend Kirby involved in this!

• Venus $285 + first class insured shipping
• Jupiter $369 + first class insured shipping