The historical tradition of astrological magic is not complete. We have a technical knowledge base in the form of rules for astrological elections. We have a rough philosophical framework with many variations from individual authors in their historical context. We have a patchwork of guidance on what materials to use and how. And we have many at times partial recipes for specific individual talismans.

What we do not have is a back to front instruction manual with step-by-step instructions about how to go about making talismans in vivo in the ritual setting. Consequently, there’s a lot of room for questions, and a lot of room for people to find their own system of what works for them.

One area where questions come up concerns offerings. Are offerings necessary? What offerings should be used? Will things go wrong if one doesn’t use offerings in astrological magic? Some people have asked us about offerings, and the issue also came up recently on Clifford Low’s astromagic forum, Stellar Sorcery.

Our approach at Idola Stellarum, as anyone can plainly see, does not lean toward minimalism. Aesthetically, we appreciate beautiful altars with generous offerings (inspired in no small part in the context of astromagic by the work of Kaitlin Coppock of Sphere+Sundry). As with everything we do, our maximalist approach to offerings is a considered choice. In this post, we will explore the question of offerings within astrological magic, explaining a bit about our own practice while also making room for plenty of other perspectives and approaches.

Offerings are not Necessary for Astrological Magic

If making offerings to the celestial spirits were necessary, we would expect traditional sources to both include instructions on offerings, and to include warnings about not offering instructions. Picatrix, for example, is not shy about issuing warnings about ways that the practice of making talismans can go wrong, particularly when it comes to elections. 

If we go looking, however, we do not find much in terms of insistence on offerings. Sources such as Picatrix and De Quindecim Stellis are quite insistent on what images and materials must be used, but remain somewhat silent about offerings when it comes to making talismans. Notably, Picatrix does suggest certain offerings when it comes to petitions, so it is not as if the issue was being passed over or forgotten. Likewise, if we look at Agrippa’s Three Books of Occult Philosophy or Ahmad Ibn ‘Ali Al-Buni’s Shams Al-Ma’arif, we find images and inscriptions listed, frequently with specific materials, but no ceremonial instructions about offerings.

On the other end of the spectrum, we have sources such as Albertus Magnus, who emphasized a very austere version of astrological magic. In his Speculum Astronomiae (see “The Speculum Astronomiae and its Enigma” by Paola Zambelli), Albertus Magnus makes quite clear that he considered ceremonial trappings such as invocations and suffumigations to be “abominable,” and the reliance on spirit hierarchies (“exorciz[ing] by certain names”) to be “unsuitable” (Ch. 11, p. 241). Presumably, Albertus Magnus would have similarly denigrated the practice of making offerings.

For Albertus Magnus, true astrological magic consists only and exclusively in creating an astrological image at an appropriate time:

“The third type [of image magic] is [that] of astrological images, which eliminates this filth, does not have suffumigations or invocations and does not allow exorcisms or the inscription of characters, but obtains [its] virtue solely from the celestial figure.”

—Albertus Magnus, Speculum Astronomiae, tr. C.S.F. Burnett et al., Ch. 11, p. 247

We can consider Albertus Magnus the limiting case: his example shows that the essential core of the tradition consists in carving, casting, or otherwise creating an appropriate image/sigil at an appointed time. Nothing more, nothing less.

Offerings are Part of the Tradition of Astrological Magic

Although Albertus Magnus represents the limiting case of astrological magic as a minimalistic practice with no bells and whistles, we must acknowledge that he does not wholly define the art. Astrological magic exists as a specific branch of a broad river of magical practice whose roots can be traced to various places and traditions, including Harranian Sabian paganism, syncretic Alexandrian magic and Hermeticism, Islamic talismanic magic, and Neoplatonism. Each source within the tradition has its own approach, and each approach has idiosyncrasies and exists as an inherently partial piece of a fragmentary whole.

Bottom line: there is no One True Astrological Magic. Thus, we might wisely move away from asking whether any one aspect of practice such as offerings is absolutely necessary, and instead ask what role offerings play in the practice.

From this perspective, we can say that although sacrifices and offerings are not essential to astrological magic, their use is widely attested in traditional sources relevant to the art. Renaissance sources such as Agrippa and Ficino regularly refer to Neoplatonic philosophers like Proclus and Iamblichus, firmly grounding at least one style of astrological magic in Hellenistic and Alexandrian theurgy (devotional practices of “god working”).

The religious studies scholar Gregory Shaw explains:

“[For] Iamblichus, theurgy may be defined as divine activity communally shared. It is not transcendent knowledge, something that that might be grasped or experienced by an individual, for, as Iamblichus puts it, ‘it is impossible to participate individual in the universal orders, but only in communion with the divine choir of those lifted up together, united in mind.’ … [Theurgy involves] a radically non-dual vision that sees the physical world as radiantly transformed, not rejected or denied in favor of a ‘spiritual’ reality.”

—Gregory Shaw, Theurgy and the Soul, pp. xx-xi, emphasis original

This captures something important about how we understand the nature, purpose, and value of talismanic magic: astrological talismans are a immanent, accessible, powerful avenue of devotional theurgic practice, and Neoplatonic theurgy has important bearing on the tradition of astrological magic. 

Theurgic practice to a large degree consists in coming into rhythm with divinity through recognizing, collecting, and ritually embracing and refining the immanent presence of the divine in matter here on earth. Offerings serve an important part of this ritual practice. Iamblichus, for example, dedicates an entire section of his De Mysteriis (On the Mysteries of the Egyptians, Chaldeans, and Assyrians) to issues of sacrifice and its relevance to theurgy. In this section he notes how offerings (sacrifices) play an important role in respecting the gods and spirits of various orders of nature: 

“[W]e should in a manner entirely perfect, pay attention to all that surrounds us, and to the Gods, angels, and daemons that are distributed according to genera in the universe. And to all these, in a similar manner, an acceptable sacrifice should be offered; for thus alone sanctity can be preserved in a way worthy of the Gods who preside over it” 

—Iamblichus, De Mysteriis, Section V, Ch. XXV, tr. Thomas Taylor

Proclus, in a fragment alternatively known as “On Sacrifice and Magic” or “On the Priestly Art According to the Pagans” likewise writes: 

“The ancient sages…offered certain things to certain of the celestials, others to others, and so would bring divine powers into the mortal realm and attract them through likeness; for likeness is sufficient to connect beings with each other. For instance, if you first heat a candle-wick and hold it in the light of a lamp, not far from the flame, you will see it catch fire without touching the flame, and the kindling of what is below arises from above.”

—Proclus, de Sacrificio et Magia, tr. Brian Copenhaver

This way of seeing things situates offerings as a way to draw oneself closer to the divine spark. By making offerings of things that are like the celestial spirits—that is, things that belong to their celestial sphere—they are drawn closer in toward us and potentiate their spark within us in the context of devotional theurgy. Iamblichus expands upon this idea:

“It is better, therefore, to assign as the cause of the efficacy of sacrifices friendship and familiarity, and a habitude which binds fabricators to the things fabricated, and generators to the thing generated. Hence when… we [offer] a certain animal, or any thing which germinates in the earth, and which genuinely and purely preserves the will of its maker; then through a thing of this kind, we appropriately move the demiurgic cause, which presides over it in an undefiled manner… [All such myriad demiurgic causes] are moved in conjunction by a perfect sacrifice.”.

—Iamblichus, De Mysteriis, Section V, Ch. IX, tr. Thomas Taylor

When we think about this within an ecological spirit model, Iamblichus is practically suggesting that an array of offerings turns devotional ritual into a party. If we invited someone over to our house to hang out, they would be more into it if they already know us. But if we told someone we don’t know very well that we’re also inviting a lot of their friends, they would probably be much more inclined to show up with enthusiasm. When we see the offerings as beings (as non-human persons) in themselves, bringing offerings to our rituals can be seen as saying to the celestial spirits: look, come on over, the gang’s all here!

More directly relevant to astrological magic, Agrippa writes:

“Whenever magicians made any confection concerning some star, whether natural or artificial, they afterward religiously sacrificed and offered to the same star. [The confection would] not just undertake a natural virtue from the influences duly accepted but also by receiving that religious offering. It was divinely confirmed and strengthened.”

—Agrippa, Three Books of Occult Philosophy, Book III, Ch. 59, tr. Eric Purdue

This quotation suggests that offerings may play a kind of supplementary role in the rituals of astrological magic. They may make the resulting talismans or materia more effective. Offerings may be like a bonus, or like icing on the cake: not essential, but perhaps helpful from the standpoint of magical effectiveness.

Offer What You’d Like to Offer

To summarize, offerings are not necessary for astrological magic, but they can be used as part of the tradition of devotional theurgy, and may provide one way to increase the effectiveness of astrological magic.

Christopher Warnock frequently takes the position that there is no one right way to do astrological magic. Each person has to find the way that works for them. We have a great deal of sympathy for this position. When it comes to making offerings, a lot will turn on how a particular mage thinks about the talismanic ritual as devotional or theurgical. At Idola Stellarum, we focus on relationship. Everything we do comes from a lens of connection and devotion.

In Part II of this post series, we will explore in greater detail our own approach to offerings, and provide a more detailed framework for thinking about them from a relational perspective.

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