Cornelius Agrippa's Sirius Rising Talisman
for Honor, Good Will and Reconcilation
Midsummer’s long, luxurious day,
And amber-red the ripe waves glow,
Ah, then it is she slips away!
For with the blighting dog-star’s blaze,
The reapers wade within the wheat...
The Spirit of the Wheat Edward A. U. Valentine
This week we return again to
Astrological Magic and
Astrological Talismans with a talisman from
Cornelius Agrippa'sThree Books of Occult Philosophy.
This week's talisman is an example of the use of fixed stars in astrological magic
utilizing the star Sirius.
Sirius is the brightest star in the heavens
and quite close to Earth, only 8.7 light years away. It is a binary system
with a companion white dwarf star called Sirius B. Sirius is known as the
dog star because it is the brighest star in the constellation Canis Major.
The heliacal rising of Sirius, when it is first visible
rising before the Sun, was highly significant to the ancient Egyptians as it marked
the beginning of the annual flooding of the Nile and the first day of their solar year.
Sirius also was the beginning star of the Egyptian decan calendar. The period between
the combustion and heliacal rising of Sirius is known as the "dog days" of summer as it takes
place in midsummer.
Cornelius
Agrippa says that, "Under the Greater Dog Star, they made an image of an hound
and a little virgin; it bestoweth honour and good will, and the favor of men,
and aerial spirits, and giveth the power to pacify and reconcile kings, princes,
and other men." Three Books of Occult Philosophy Bk. II, Chapter 47,
(Tyson ed.) page 395. An appropriate image appears at right.
Agrippa discusses the construction of rings using
astrological magic and his instructions are applicable to talismans as well,
"...when any star ascends fortunately, with the fortunate aspect or conjunction
of the Moon, we must take a stone, and herb that is under that star, and make
a ring of that metal that is suitable to this star and fasten the stone, putting
the herb, or root under it; not omitting the inscriptions of images, names and
characters, also the proper suffumigations..."
Three Books of Occult Philosophy Bk. I, Chapter 47, (Tyson ed.) page 140.
On October 4, 2001 at 11:54 pm EDT (+4)
in Washington, D.C. 38 N 55, 77 W 03, Sirius rises. We note that
the Moon, highly dignified by exaltation, triplicity and term, and
well placed in the benefic 11th house, is
applying to a sextile of Sirius.
Sirius is also conjunct Jupiter,
the Greater Fortune, who is exalted and the Moon applies to a
sextile of Jupiter with reception. We note that Mars has separated
from Jupiter and Sirius. Thus, this would be an excellent time
to construct Agrippa's Sirius talisman.
Agrippa says that Sirius rules over the
mineral beryl, the plants savin,
[also known as Juniperus sabina], mugwort and dragonwort and among animals,
the tongues of snakes.
Three Books of Occult Philosophy Bk. I, Chapter 32, (Tyson ed.) page 98.
Mugwort is available from the
Lucky Mojo Curio Co.
the largest on-line purveyor of supplies for hoodoo and rootwork, the folk magic
of the American South. You're on your own as far as acquiring snake tongues!
Agrippa also gives the characters for some of the
most important fixed stars, including Sirius, whose character is shown to right.
Three Books of Occult Philosophy Bk. II, Chapter 52, (Tyson ed.) page 410.
Here is further information on
Astrological Talismans
and Astrological Magic. If you
wish to delve even deeper into this fascinating area I offer an
Astrological Magic Web Course.
