Scaraoschi's Books of Sorcery: The Picatrix Experiment

Earlier this week I was looking up some easy scholastic image talismans for someone and an election time that would preferably be sooner than later. The Picatrix seemed like a good source, since Book I details on such talismans in Chapters 10, 11, and 12. Lo and behold, I quickly found the one! The second decan of Taurus, decan of the Moon. I made this selection based on the powers of the decan and the fact that the Moon moves quickly through the signs, something that is very useful for these talismans, as I will be detailing further on.

The Arabic version of the Picatrix has this to say about the decan in question:

"In the second phase of Taurus, we find the image of a man whose body and face look like those of a camel, his nails similar to the hoof of a cow, wearing an old garment, interested in developing land and buildings, and using cows for planting and cultivation. This is the phase of the Moon; it is a phase of ability, honor, vice-regency, destruction and oppression of constituency."

The Latin version of the Picatrix mentions:

"A man like the figure of a camel and having on his fingers are hooves like those of cows, and he is covered completely with a torn linen sheet. He desires to work the land, to sow, and to make things. And this is a face of nobility, power, and of rewarding the people."

Needless to say, the words in bold letters are the powers of the decan according to the two sources.

The only thing that remained for me to do was to select an election time. The Picatrix mentions that the decan Lord (ruler of the decan) is to be located in the decan of choice at the time of the operation as a prime condition. Secondary conditions mention these talismans made at sunrise in the day of the decan Lord, along with aspects between the decan Lord and the Sun.

Looking up the chart, I noticed the Moon was a few days away from entering the second decan of Taurus. Moreover, a Full Moon was to take place in Taurus towards the end of the first decan (ninth degree), which meant that the Moon was a very short distance away from entering the second decan. This translates in under two hours. So I had the aspect between the Moon and the Sun, even though it was an opposition, but the Picatrix does mention that the Moon is most powerful when she is Full - to my shame I forgot where it says that, so take my word for it, or not. Given the fact the Full Moon took place on a Saturday afternoon, with the Moon close to rising in the location of the person from whom I was selecting the election time, I had to browse the chart forward until such time it entered the second decan. As such, having the Moon on the Ascendant was not an option for this election, but luckily the Moon on the Midheaven was perfect! Here's the election chart:

The Moon is thus exalted, in her triplicity, and in her decan in Taurus, making her +8. The Moon is also applying to a conjunction with the Midheaven, giving her accidental dignity too. And she is Full. And she's also in her sect, to go even further back in time when it comes to studying planetary dignities. The Lord (ruler) of the Midheaven (and thus the tenth house in which the Moon is located) is Venus, who is very horny in her domicile in Libra - and will become even hornier starting tomorrow. She does not make any aspects, but she's in the decan of the Moon and the Moon is Full, so wtf! Moreover, the tenth house does seem to fit with some of the powers of the talisman. It was also the beginning of the hour of Venus, which to me seemed super cool.

(Edit: I'm sure there are going to be some who will disagree with this election, in which case I'd actually be willing to know what an astrological mage thinks of it. Otherwise, people who know little about this are free to run their mouth and they can... something to do with the May Pole! I got the following reaction from someone just earlier on my email. "Oh no! Moon conjunct Uranus! NOOOO!" - it's separating, and the Moon is greatly overpowering Uranus, the latter being in fall <debilitated> in Taurus. And besides, there were no outer planets 1000 years ago when the Picatrix was written, doh!)

I communicated the details to the person. But then I was like "Hot diggity! Imma also do it myself!".

It seems like a lifetime since I last made scholastic image talismans, so I got super excited I was going to do it again, having found a good talisman and a good election so easily. I should mention the fact that I'm not one of those mages who spends hours on end looking up election times on a specialized software, but I highly respect them for their dedication and the vast amount of knowledge they possess when it comes to these highly sophisticated operations.

Initially, I was going to go for the simple method of drawing the image at the time of the election and ask the spirits of the decan to consecrate it for such and such purposes. But why do that, when I can go all high-magicky on it? Right?! So I thought that since it was the hour of Venus, with Taurus culminating, at night (midnight, to be more exact) - which fits with Taurus, since it is a nocturnal sign - I should go ahead and tune the space to Taurus. And since I was going to work with the second decan of Taurus, decan of the Moon, I might as well tune the space to the Moon as well, because high-magicking.

Fast forward to the actual ritual, I started when the Moon was applying to a conjunction with the Midheaven. I quickly locked the ritual in that moment using Scott's Operant Field. Then I did the Godhead Assumption of Taurus using *my technique* which I found to work super great, which I followed through with the Greater Invoking Ritual of the Hexagram of Taurus and the Greater Invoking Ritual of the Hexagram for the path of the Moon, the latter being that way because it's a practical operation, not a mystical one. I usually perform the godhead assumption after I perform the specific Greater Invoking Ritual, but in this case it felt more natural to me to perform it beforehand.

Having the space tuned to the second decan of Taurus, I began to draw the image as best as I can. Luckily, the images on these talismans are more sympathetic in nature, so one doesn't have to be an artist to draw them, unlike the pompous Solomonic pentacles that require more than a bit of precision when it comes to drawing the various symbols and such - it's a pity those pentacles aren't usually made and consecrated during very auspicious times, though... Once I finished, I held the talisman over the incense smoke and called on the spirits of the decan to consecrate it:

"Oh ye, spirits of the second decan of Taurus, known as Ārt, Arat, Iudal, Tourtour, Aron, Sarnotois, Aryo, die Horen, Viroaso, Helitomenos, in the name of the great god YHHV, and by the angel Minacharai, manifest before me in order to answer my behest!"

The names of the decan are from old sources, such as Firmicus, Kircher, etc. The name of the angel of the decan, Minacharai, is from Uncle Al's Liber 777. One thing I could not wrap my mind around, but I'm not bothering with right now, is the fact that the names of the decans also seem to be the names of their spirits. I did not inquire about this at the time of the arrival of the spirits and I went ahead and gave them the command:

"Oh ye spirits of the second decan of Taurus, consecrate this talisman made in the image of your decan, so that from now on it will act on (...) So mote it be!"

While saying this I kept holding the talisman over the smoke until such time a voice told me it's done. I placed the talisman inside a new envelope and placed the tea light candle over it, while offering the candle and the incense to the spirits - Moon incense sticks ftw!

I found it interesting that the image of the Six of Pentacles tarot card from the Rider-Waite deck flashed in front of my eyes while I was consecrating the talisman. I don't think it's a coincidence and not only because this card is attributed to the second decan of Taurus.