Crafts from Christmastime

This past Christmas was kinda fantastic, you guys.  I took off about two weeks from work in the office, started it off with a low-key party at my boyfriend’s, spent a week in my ancestral hometown at my parents’ house dogsitting for them while they went to Maine to see the rest of the family, then returned to Northern Virginia for a good number of ribald New Year’s ruckuses and riots.  A pretty nice, relaxing, and recharging time; I didn’t do much in the way of ritual or practice, but it was fun all the same.  Now that I’m all recharged and refreshed, especially after that two-week conjuration ordeal I did recently, I’ll get back on my five-week conjuration cycle (and see how long I can maintain that again).

However, just because I wasn’t doing much in the way of practice doesn’t mean I wasn’t busy.  I busted out the woodburner, woodstain and finish, and a bunch of wooden placards and got to work making a whole slew of goodies to sell, some as commissions and some at the local store in Fairfax, Sticks and Stones.  Coming up with names or descriptions for them to sell at the store, making them friendly enough for New Agey-types and small enough to fit on the back of a business card, was about as soul-wrenching and fun as making the things themselves, in my opinion, but here’s what I got done:

• Tables of Practice.  You know, the summoning circles with the names of the elemental archangelic kings and planetary angelic governors around the triangle with the cross, pentagram, and hexagram.  I use one in my own conjuration work, based off the Trithemius ritual.  I made four of them: two basic ones, one with “Tetragrammaton” around the triangle, and one with the signs of the zodiac on the outside bevel.
• Divination trays.  These were inspired by my friend Raven Orthaevelve, another occult crafter (whose skill and art far surpasses mine).  They’re large wooden plates to hold runes, stones, crystals, or other small objects used in divination, kinda like the trays used in Ifa (opon Ifa).  The outside could have an abecedarium or some arrangement of symbols, and the inside could be divided up to assist in divination or for art.  I made four of these, each with a different style and script:
  • Runic tray: the Elder Futhark on the outside, with a triquetra on the inside with the names of the three Norns (Nordic Fates), decorated with an eight-spoked wheel and little faces representing the Norns.
  • Greek tray: the Greek alphabet on the outside, with a quartered square and latticework on the inside with the symbols and names of the four traditional elements.
  • Theban tray: the Theban script, also called the Witches’ Runes or Runes of Honorious, on the outside with a pentagram, the five elements, and five holy weapons of the magician’s altar. Definitely my most neopagan-friendly one, ascribing Swords to Fire and Wands to Air instead of vice versa (you know, the ceremonial/correct way) and including the Triple Moon in the center.
  • Hebrew tray: the Celestial Hebrew script on the outside with the hexagram and seven planets on the inside, each with their names written in mundane Hebrew.
• Sator Square.  An ancient Roman charm that can be read forwards, up, down, or backwards to reveal the same text: SATOR AREPO TENET OPERA ROTAS, a perfect palindrome and magic square of rank 5.  Used across the Mediterranean and European world for centuries.
• Wand of Trithemius.  A rod engraved with “AGLA ON TETRAGRAMMATON” with a hexagram, a hexagram with a yod inside, and a cross on one side, and “EGO ALPHA ET OMEGA” on the other.  The standard wand from the Trithemius ritual, except using oak instead of ebony (because I’m not that resourceful).   Nothing too spectacular here.
• Wand of Homer.  This was fun, and I really liked how it turned out: a wand bearing the Golden Chain of Homer on one side (an alchemical symbol describing the process of manifestation from and reunion with the Divine Source that is the Great Work of the alchemists) and the symbols for salt, mercury, sulfur, and azoth (the four alchemical principles) on the other.  Made of oak as well, I stained it with ebony (though it didn’t take as well as I’d hoped), inlaid it with gold leaf, capped the ends with brass, and set a crystal point on top.  It’s got a different feel than my other wands, and I almost don’t want to get rid of it.
• Sets of runes and geomantic figures (geomes).  These are small little things, sets of wooden tokens with the Elder Futhark or the geomantic figures on them, for use in divination.  The store’s had a dearth of divination supplies, and apparently runes are in high demand, so I made three sets of those and one of the geomantic figures.  I’m going to borrow Les Cross‘ term for the figures, “geomes”, since that works pretty well and gives it a cooler sound.

Check out the pictures below, also put up on the Crafts page, for closer looks.  If you’re friends with me on Twitter or Facebook (yes, I succumbed and got another account after two and a half years, mutter mutter), you probably saw pictures of the unfinished projects as I made them.  If you’re in the area, consider stopping by Sticks and Stones and making a purchase!  If not, be it known that I take commissions now, so if you’re interested in something like this or something original, send me an email (polyphanes at gmail) and let’s talk about it.  Once we get the details sorted out and the design finalized, I’ll make it, you pay me, I’ll ship it, and you get it.

And the crafting isn’t quite over yet, either; a friend of mine who attended one of my workshops is gifting me an actual Gabon ebony dowel to make into a wand.  I cannot express how grateful and omg excited I am over this thing, not to mention the ebony shavings and sawdust they saved to use in future crafting projects (waste not, want not).  Plus, another two crafts for friends for gifts are in the works, a special type of summoning circle/ritual focus connected to a well-known dreamworld and a special cane with alchemical symbols and a poem in ancient Chinese script (bronze script and oracle bone script).

A Variation on the Trithemian Table of Practice

I was bored and decided to throw together a potential design for a customized Table of Practice, a kind of combined summoning circle and Solomonic triangle used to conjure spirits into.  This one is a bit more complex, and was based on ideas from using the Zodiac on a Table of Practice I made for my sister, a dream I had involving a more complex and circle-based form of the Solomonic Triangle of Art, as well as the three-ring arrangement from the Greek Sigil Wheel developed a few weeks back.  To me, it borders slightly on gaudy and cluttered, but since when have magicians ever had good taste?  There are a few blights in the design, but you’ll get the idea.

 

The Table of Practice as described by Trithemius is a triangle with an equal-armed cross in one corner, a pentagram in another, and a hexagram with a Hebrew letter yod in it in the last.  The triangle is circumscribed with a circle and the names of the four elemental kings; these names are circumscribed with another circle and the names of the seven planetary angels along with their planetary symbols.  All this is bound in one final circle.

This customized Table of Practice, however, has a few extra bits:

• There’s another ring of names around those of the planetary angels.  These are the names of the twelve angels ruling over the Zodiac (Agrippa, book II chapter 14).  The signs of the Zodiac are also next to each angel name.  This helps incorporate the sphere of the fixed stars into the Table of Practice.  The Hebrew spellings of the names came from Tyson’s edition of Agrippa (note 13 on book III chapter 24).  I knew that there were angels ascribed to the signs of the Zodiac, but this is the first time I’ve ever come across or used their names; given their lack of attention in the grimoires I’ve found, I don’t know what they’d bring to the table (zing!).  Chances are one might normally talk to the angel Raziel of the entire sphere of the fixed stars (Chokmah) instead of the angels of the zodiac or the angels of the lunar mansions, but I don’t have experience of this yet.
• The names of the elemental kings are written in Celestial and not Roman script, and also have the symbol for their ruling elements (Agrippa, book II chapter 7).  This reaffirms their nature as angels and clearly links them up to the four elements in no uncertain way.  Using the Roman or Hebrew scripts, though, might also be suggested since these are not, strictly speaking, celestial beings.  I went with Celestial for uniformity and angelicosity.
• The three godnames Tetragrammaton, Elohim, and Tzabaoth are written around the central triangle in Hebrew.  This reflects one interpretation of the three godnames Tetragrammaton, Primeumaton, Anaphaxeton written around the Triangle of Art from the Goetia of the Lesser Key of Solomon.  This was done in Hebrew and not Celestial since, well, God is kinda higher and more-inclusive than any one sphere.  To that end, these could also be written in Paleo-Hebrew, Roman, or any other script.
• The number of circles and bands drawn around the central triangle are now four and three, respectively, bumped up from three and two.  I like these numbers better, since they can now represent the four worlds of Creation and the three parts of the triune God.  A nifty side-effect of this kind of design.

I’m unsure about what changes in efficacy, strength, or style these changes would have on the Table, but it’d be interesting to try.  My current Table gets me decent results as it is, and I’d need to find an extra-large circular plaque of wood to fit everything on neatly, so I doubt I’ll be making one of these anytime soon.  If you ever wanted to experiment, though, have at and let me know how it turns out.  I also posted this under the Designs page for easy access; I’ll eventually go back and fix a few of the errors in the design and maybe change the design around for improvements.

Liber Omnipotentis sum, merdas magnificas facio

I think I’m finally starting to get a hold of this Jovian energy and power from the Gate rite a few weeks back.  In a fit of creativity and energy this past weekend, I decided to spend all day Saturday woodburning and staining several projects, up to and including a Triangle of Art (using Hebrew names instead of the faux-Greek names from the Key of Solomon, check the Crafts page) and a plaque of Nyan Cat for a friend in New York.  I love my crackhead friends.

In addition to that, I perked my lovely astrologer and Tarot reader sister‘s interest in conjuration, since getting in contact with the beings who actually manage the stuff she reads on could be a valuable resource for her to get more information.  Plus, she’s had a long-term interest in qabbalah and other similar interests as mine (she’s the one who got me hooked on Alan Moore’s Promethea, which you should TOTALLY read).  Since she didn’t have the tools for conjuration, I decided to make for her a Table of Practice and wand as early Christmas gifts.  My skills have improved since I did my own Table of Practice and wand, so she’s got a nicer set than mine.  The wand I made for her is slightly more “to code” per Trithemius’ Art of Drawing Spirits into Crystals in that it has “AGLA ✡ ON ✡ TETRAGRAMMATON ✠” as well as “EGO ALPHA ET OMEGA” engraved and inlaid with gold leaf; my own wand has the letters simply woodburned on and lacks the latter phrase entirely.  Of course, since I don’t have any ebony dowels handy, I had to do with a few light coats of ebony stain.  (Protip: stain first with several thick coats, THEN engrave and inlay.)  The Table of Practice is nearly the same as mine, but I engraved the signs of the Zodiac on the bevel since there was just so much empty space and, well, my sister is an astrologer, after all.  Like this, the Table is a complete model of the cosmos: the sphere of the fixed stars, the seven planets, the four elements, and the three modes of existence all neatly represented on an upside-down wooden plate.

Since I was making a wand for her, I decided to make a wand for myself that was similarly “to code”.  However, the dowel I was using looked and felt weird, and it took a bit before I realized that it was particlewood and dropped it mid-burn in disgust.  Besides, I had already made a wand earlier that day, and a fancy one at that.  While investigating the logistics of carrying a magical staff around with me (as part of a kind of magician monasticism), I thought it appropriate to make a cane: suitable but still innocuous enough to not draw too much attention to myself.  Its construction was simple: take a 3′ dowel and affix some fancy wooden bits as a handle and butt with wood glue and a steel nail (there’s a hole in either cap).  It’s got the “AGLA ✡ ON ✡ TETRAGRAMMATON ✠” on it, but instead of “EGO ET ALPHA ET OMEGA”, I tried something different.  I remembered the word Azoth, the essential spirit in alchemy, related to the Ain Soph and the divine spark within all things.  It’s composed of the first letter of the Hebrew, Greek, and Roman scripts (A/א) and the final letters of each of these alphabets (Roman zed, Greek omega, and Hebrew tav).  I inscribed the letters Z, Ω, and ת around the butt of the cane, and the Egyptian hieroglyph for ox (which eventually became Phoenician alp, thence Hebrew aleph, etc.) on the top of the handle.  Envisioning each letter as a point in space, they form a triangular pyramid, the Platonic solid associated with fire.  For a final touch, I engraved the Shema (trans. “The LORD is our God, the LORD is one”) around the handle.  It’s a nice cane, but a damned awesome occult tool and has plenty of connections to fire (pine wood, gold inlay, steel nails, triangular pyramid form).  I’m excited to try it out, even if it is a bit big for indoor use.

Now I only need to learn canne de combat, and I’m gold.

Anyway, crafting all this made me realize that the space in my room and closet is not, in fact, boundless, and eventually I’m going to have too much stuff.  I don’t see any intrinsic problem with selling or gifting what I need to get rid of when it comes to occult tools, though, so in the future I’ll be posting about goods you might be interested in.  For instance, this staff I found it upright in a forest and modified.  It’s about 5’6″, shaved and oiled, engraved with “AGLA + ON + IHVH” on one side, the symbols from the Key of Solomon for the staff engraved on the other, A and Ω engraved at the top, and has a quartz crystal point glued into the top of the staff.  I’ve never used it and probably won’t, at this rate, but if anyone wants it, shoot me an email; price is $50 plus S+H.

Temples are really just for holding all your crap.

With the amount of stuff I’m accumulating and crafting, I need a much larger space to keep all of it, or even a separate building, like an insulated shed.  Hopefully I can get an extra room in my next apartment or house to use as a temple room or something.  Did you know that places like the Parthenon or other temples in the old Mediterranean were ancillary buildings as part of a more general sacred space?  They were used as warehouses to store all the loot they got from wars and worshippers alike.  The actual “temple” and sacred focus of the place was just a small stone altar, which the whole complex was oriented upon.  Funny how the temples get all the respect anymore.

First, the planetary talismans project.  All the talismans have been enmetaled, engraved, colored, and lacquered, with the Saturn talisman drying as I type this.  With the construction happily and mercifully done, and now that Mercury is direct and the Moon waxing, I’m printing out lamens for each of the planetary angels so I can conjure them and consecrate each of the planetary talismans I made.  My plan is to just start with consecrating the Sun talisman this Sunday and continue straight through to Saturday, asking each angel to consecrate the talisman with their planetary essence, as well as to begin the process of integrating its forces into my own sphere.  The Unlikely Mage generously helped me with formulating a request to the angels instead of going “Hey, sup Tzaphqiel.  I was wondering if you in your awesomeness would maybe make this wooden thing I made awesome like you.  That cool?  Sweet.”  If all goes well, I’ll have a complete set of talismans, and a complete altar, before too long.  A divination reading I did recently implied that there might be some delays with this, but we’ll see.

Not long ago I got wind from a local pagan blog that the well-known store Esoterica in Northern Virginia was going out of business.  S’a shame when that happens, but in this economy, it happens.  Everything there was on markdown, and so I helped myself to a number of goodies and ended up spending more than I feel comfortable admitting.  I will admit that I got, amongst other things, a rackful of herbs, a pair of selenite candleholders, and a selenite orb the size of a large orange (so pretty!).  Apparently, I really like selenite.  It’s easy on my eyes and I get a soothing feeling from it. It has connections to Taurus and the Moon, according to a few books I read, and is good for energy work and healing.  (If you know of any other uses or purposes for selenite besides looking really cool, please leave a comment below.)  In addition to all that, I got ten 1yd pieces of fabric for my working altar, one for each Queen scale color of the sephiroth for when I do planetary or qabbalistic rituals (using a dark natural linen cloth for Malkuth).  They’re all a little rough on the edges, so I want to get them hemmed up, maybe using the King scale for the threads.

The selenite orb didn’t come with a decent stand, so I decided to make one.  I had a spare circular wooden plaque lying around, into which I carved in a shallow pit and burned out more-or-less smooth.  Turns out that it fits both the selenite orb as well as my quartz ball I use for conjurations and, surprisingly, the stand itself fits the inner circle of my Table of Practice perfectly.  I decided to woodburn on some more symbols onto the stand (the triangle and its symbols from the Table of Practice, and the Tetragrammaton), which I’ll proceed to use in conjunction with the Table of Practice for conjurations.  With a little bit of stain and finish, the whole set looks kinda awesome.

I actually burned the inner circle before I did the pit, and just happened to make the pit the right size for its circumscribed triangle to perfectly fit inside the inner circle.  The whole thing was done informally with a compass and straightedge.  Without planning the size of the stand with reference to the Table of Practice or measuring the design for the triangle and circles, I almost have a hard time imagining it was just luck that things turned out as nicely as they did.  Almost.

As a side note, be wary when you ask an archangel to introduce you to a familiar spirit “harmonious and compatible with your temperament and self”.  You may end up getting one that likes to flirt with you.