Introducing Talismanic T-Shirts

I started Talis in 2017 as a line of clothing for psychic protection, and since then, it’s grown to include my astrology and tarot consultation practice. As a result of this, and because of all that the ongoing Plague brought in 2020, I took a pause on making clothing. I’ve had a lot of time to think about if and how I want to re-engage with this aspect of Talis, and I’m excited to let you know how it’s evolving.

I’m returning to the original impetus for its namesake: namely, talismans. In essence, talismans are objects crafted at auspicious astrological moments in time (when the planets and signs create harmonious aspects with each other), using symbolic correspondences (color, image, symbol, material), in order to draw down the influences and energies of the astral bodies they intend to capture. I will be incorporating this aspect of astro-magic into my clothing by making small editions of unique pieces, and these shirts will act as permanent containers of the energies they intend to capture, material links to the fleeting celestial movements above.

The first of these talisman shirts captured the Sun in Leo. Much like taming a dragon, pursuing one’s creative work in the world often feels like a quest for the buried treasure that exists just beyond the fears, doubts and anxieties that emerge along the path. These fears and doubts are like ogres at the threshold of a bridge that one must negotiate with to cross to the other side. Even when experience teaches us to trust our intuitive hunches on this shadowy path, it can be hard to continually take new leaps, when every time somehow feels like the first big jump. The Sun in Leo provides an infusion of bravery, but not for the sake of bravado alone — it’s a bravery to meet the inner fears so that one may take those meaningful risks, however big or small. It provides an influx of creative energy that simultaneously connects one deeper to one’s inner creative compass while also flooding the spirit with a brightness and a desire to radiate outwards.

Because these pieces are hand-printed within very tight windows of time (ranging from a few minutes to a couple hours), they will be made in limited quantities and priced higher than my regular inventory, which I’ve also brought back to my web store. Auspicious sky-weather being what it is, (rare and infrequent) these talismanic pieces won’t come out at regular intervals — only when the moment is truly ripe for the picking. Each piece of clothing will also come with information on the election, suggestions for ritual use and incorporation into your own life.

Click here to purchase and read more about the Sun in Leo shirt.

The Art and History of Talismans

Lecture recorded for the Golden Dome School on 4/10/21, register for the class here to view the playback!

Talismans exist at the nexus between art, magic, astrology, ritual, adornment, cosmology, theology, divination, psychology, philosophy and folklore. Before the Scientific Revolution, these disciplines were intimately connected in esoteric literature. Astrology and science, magic and medicine, prayers and spells — unlike today, the boundaries between these practices were loose, and studying (or practicing) the talismanic arts is one way to re-enchant one’s personal connection to the larger, fluid cosmic whole today.

This class will be both a theoretical as well as practical overview of talismans, and primarily, their connection to astrology and magic. We will cover the origins of astrology in ancient Babylon and Egypt, the co-evolution of magic and medicine in the Corpus Hermeticum, the codex of magical spells in the Greek Magical Papyri, and the work of three Medieval and Renaissance philosophers: Al-Kindi, Henry Cornelius Agrippa, and Marsilio Ficino. Recounting this history will take us through the deep recesses of the esoteric past, including...

Ancient Babylon, where the careful observance of the nightly movements of the seven visible planets and stars became the basis of time-keeping, astronomy, astrology. Observance turned to ritual, ritual turned to myth, and the zodiac as we know it today was born.

Ancient Greece, where the Greek Magical Papyri emerge in the 2nd century, a codex of magical spells, formulae, and rituals, with instructions for creating amulets and talismans like the one seen above. Everything from prophetic dream invocations, to love charms, to magical pest control is covered in this mysterious collection, which helped to lay the foundations for Western Esotericism.

Ancient Mesopotamia, where we find a collection of “Incantation Bowls” — talismanic pottery created by ancient Jewish mages with spells written in a spiral script, often meant to trap the demons drawn inside. These bowls were discovered buried underneath homes of those who commissioned them, which is why they are preserved in rare form today.

Byzantine Europe, where the talisman of Charlemagne, which is purported to have a piece of the True Cross enclosed within it, survived many changes of hands. Allegedly, a bone fragment of Charlemagne's right arm was added to it in 1804, when the Bishop of Aachen in Germany snuck it in as a thank-you to Empress Josephine, (wife of Napoleon) for the safe return of certain relics which had previously been confiscated during the French Revolution.

Medieval Europe, when centuries of magical texts reached European hands through the translation of ancient Greek, Hebrew and Arabic texts into Latin. This contributed to a flowering of occult art, including this fresco depicting the 36 decans of the zodiac (middle frescoe) in the Palazzo Schifanoia, in Ferrara, Italy.

19th century Talismanic manuscript

ABRACADABRA Charm from Ancient Greece

Participants will also receive a practical guide to talismanic creation... Details below to sign up!

The Art and History of Talismans

Where: The Golden Dome School's online class portal

When: 4/10/21 at 5:13 pm

Registration link: here (participants who can't make it live will receive a playback link)

Venus, By Way of the Dream World

“All transits and progressions will start to express their energy, or effect, at the deep levels of the unconscious. The first indication of this may occur in the dream world as ideas and energy bubble up to levels of consciousness.” — Bernadette Brady, “Predictive Astrology: The Eagle and the Lark”

Venus/Aphrodite love charm, hematite, 3rd c CE

I’ve been observing the connections between the movements of the planets and my dreams for the past several months, and have noticed a particular connection between the movements of Venus and my dreams ever since I made a Venus talisman earlier this year, when transiting Venus was in the sign of Pisces. The energy of Venus finds easy expression in the two signs that she rules: Taurus, which is oriented towards the material and sensual pleasures; and Libra, which is oriented towards mental and intellectual pleasures. But Pisces is the sign where Venus is traditionally considered to be Exalted, a watery and boundless domain where Venus is said to express her full range of sensual, artistic and relational harmonies.

Venus in Pisces talisman: paint rags and juniper berries cast in wax

I wanted to capture and make permanent a bit of Piscean Venus energy with a talisman because my natal Venus is in Aries, which is traditionally considered to be in the sign of its detriment. Here, Venus’ relationship to the body and all of its incarnate pleasures is a bit more contentious. This is because the natural energy of Venus to receive pleasure is slightly uncomfortable in the sign of Aries, which, being ruled by Mars (the God of War), is more focused on outward action and the independent pursuit of one’s desires. My Venus is wearing a chainmail suit and, placed in the 6th house of physical health and daily routine, is stuck in line to get the flu shot at CVS.

Venus in domicile with Libra and Taurus (left), Venus in detriment with Aries and Scorpio (right), from "Introduction to Astrology" by Abu Ma'shar, 1403

In late April, I had a Venus return — this is when transiting Venus comes back to its position in your natal chart (once every 19 months or so), and themes related to your natal Venus are emphasized. Because I’d been tracking Venus’ movements in the sky alongside my dreams, I paid attention for any Venusian themes to emerge. Around this time, I had a dream whose connection to Venus was not immediately obvious: in this dream, my identity was Phosphorus — as in, I just was Phosphorus. I had my same human form, but I wore bright neon clothing and continuously danced around, perfectly at ease and joyously celebrating my identity as this bright and glowing substance. Knowing nothing about phosphorous other than having a faint recollection that it’s some sort of rock, a Wikipedia search quickly revealed its Venusian connection:

“The name Phosphorus in Ancient Greece was the name for the planet Venus and is derived from the Greek words (φῶς = light, φέρω = carry), which roughly translates as light-bringer or light carrier."

Venus Phosphorus with sign of Venus (left) and Scorpio (below), Agate, 16th c.

In other words, phosphorous is a glowing rock, and when it was discovered in Ancient Greece, it was named after the brightest “star” Venus (the planets were called “wandering stars” before it was discovered that they were in fact, planets.) Because Venus is visible in the morning for the first half of her synodic cycle, and is visible in the evening for the second half of her synodic cycle, the early Greeks believed these to be two different astronomical bodies. Venus’ appearance as a morning star was called Phosphorus, while her appearance as an evening star was called Hesperus. Later Greeks concluded that they were in fact a single astronomical entity, and the mythology of Phosphorus and Hesperus were absorbed into one goddess: Aphrodite, later to be known as Venus.

(Note: sometimes you will see the word Lucifer in place of Phosphorus, because this is the literal Latin translation for “light-bringer” — but it’s not to be confused with the Devil.)

White phosphorus

It’s quite simple to spot how Venus appears in your own chart just by looking at it: if Venus is behind the Sun in zodiacal order (for example, if Venus is in Aries and the Sun is in Taurus) then you have a morning star Venus; if Venus is ahead of the Sun (for example, if your Sun is Aries and Venus is in Taurus) then you have an evening star Venus. Even though we now know these two faces of Venus emanate from the same astronomical body, the quality and meaning of Venus can vary depending on her morning or evening star status. In “An Astrological Study of Psychological Complexes”, Dane Rudhyar elaborated on their differences:

“Venus Lucifer, as morning star ‘rising ahead’ of the Sun, refers to a type of emotional activity which might be said symbolically to run ahead of the self…It describes a person who goes out to meet the world (and especially other human beings) with an eager expectancy as if life itself depended upon the results of the meeting… The individual ‘feels’ situations and persons in an act of almost immediate ethical judgment. They are good or bad — for him and at that particular time. He acts as he feels he must act, and there often emanates from him a strong contagion of feelings, a ‘warmth of feelings.’

Venus Hesperus and Venus Phosphorus by Evelyn De Morgan, 1882

Venus, as evening star, is a symbol of feeling after the act; that is, of the type of emotion which results from and is a judgment upon an action having been performed…The judgment is either esthetical (it considers the value of the relationship between all significant factors in the case) or legalistic (thus according to traditional standards and precedents). Indeed many persons with Venus rising after the Sun may be highly emotional, but this emotionality is not as spontaneous and immediate as when Venus is morning star in a birthchart.”

The tradition of seeking insight from dreams is not only a feature of modern psychotherapy, but one that dates back to Ancient Greece, where patients suffering from illness would practice dream incubation. The sick in search of healing made pilgrimages to various healing temples called Asclepions. There, they slept on temple floors in hopes of being visited by Asclepius, the god of medicine, and being cured or having the cure revealed to them in their dream. The patients made careful records of their dreams until a “symptoma”, a coincidence with the dream of a priest occurred. When both the priest and the patient had the same dream, the patient was considered to be cured, often with overt and immediate physical relief.

Asclepius and his serpent-entwined staff, red Jasper, date unknown

Records preserved from these ancient healing temples illustrate the healing dreams of many thousands of patients. In one instance, a crippled man was healed because Asclepius appeared to him in a dream, circumambulated him three times in a horse-drawn chariot, and then let the horse trample on his paralyzed limbs. This man left the temple with the power of his limbs restored, and no medical treatment was given. In place of the principle of causality we find that of analogy, the idea that like is cured by like, which later became the basis of homeopathy (poison = remedy).

In my own natal chart, Venus is a morning star. Why would she appear to me in a dream, with me assuming her (veiled) identity as a morning star? Perhaps this was a gentle reminder from the goddess of love to not disparage any of her forms — whether she appears in detriment, fall, domicile or exaltation — the sign she inhabits in any one natal chart is perfectly right for that individual. Maybe my talisman conjured her, only to be reminded that she’s exactly the kind of Venus that I need, in detriment or not. Whether it was the talisman or simply my receptivity, perhaps Venus appeared this way in my dream to show me that these planetary archetypes can teach us, and transmit knowledge to us, if we pay attention. Perhaps we don’t need to travel to the Asclepions and sleep on the temple floors as the ancient Greeks did. Perhaps we can court this divine intercession in our dreams, with talismans, invocations, or simply a willingness to listen.