Welcome to the Spark Collection:
Idola Stellarum’s 2023 Winter Solstice Collection
of Astromagical Talismanic Jewelry

Our Spark collection contains bright stellar beacons that radiate through the darkness of the shortest days of the Northern year, during this time of strife and collective activation.

Read more below, or jump to the talismans:

• Riches & Honors – Royal Persian Star Aldebaran (SOLD OUT)
• Panacea & Therapeia – Fixed Star Ras Alhague (SOLD OUT)
• Esoteric Knowledge – 24th Lunar Mansion (SOLD OUT)

Sparks of Light in the Darkness

Corresponding to the shortest day of the year in the Northern hemisphere, the winter solstice mythically corresponds to a death and rebirth of the Sun. At this point in midwinter, when all light seems to be fading out and waning to nothing, humans for millennia have devised ways to symbolically mirror and evoke the Sun’s return—ritually cultivating the Spark of brightness, warmth, and fire that would mark the turning of the days back toward growth and life and away from the tomblike dark and cold.

In the phantasmagoric dime store knockoff cyberpunk dystopia that is the present day, however, this archetypal framework breaks down considerably. For one thing, in an era of global interconnectivity, many of us share collective experiences of life, death, joy, and grief, and yet not the seasons. Poetic gestures from the North toward the dark of winter might ring hollow for people in the Southern hemisphere going through their own summer, and folks living along the ever vibrant equator may just shrug off metaphors of cold deadness. Climate change, especially in an El Niño year, disrupts these images even more, offering a larger-scale sense of threat absent a promise of return.

And when numerous peoples around the globe are experiencing or under threat of genocide, including in the land that birthed Christmas and Hanukkah, two of the celebrated festivals of lights occurring around this calendrical season, the Northern Solstice stands as a reminder that darkness can fall swiftly at any time.

To be honest, we are less than thrilled about launching a collection right now, especially given that our tax dollars fund the sales of arms that fuel some of these genocidal fires.

But the spirits in the Spark collection insist that their moment is now.

Kindling the Spark

Almost none of the talismans in this collection—all from the outer spheres of the fixed stars and lunar mansions, none from the closer and more readily accessible spheres of the seven traditional planets—were ones that we originally considered during our initial sketches for the winter solstice collection months ago. Our initial concepts failed to gel, and, humbled, we had to relinquish our sense of control and let the collection’s coalescence be guided almost purely by the spirits.

The resulting collection, which came to be known as Spark, is Idola Stellarum’s fourth collection of astromagical talismanic jewelry and the final collection of our first year of public existence. It has been an incredible honor and service to bring these talismans into relationship with you over the first year, and we are grateful for everyone—human and otherwise—who has made this possible.

Where the story of the ritualistic death and rebirth of the Sun applies for us all, even though it may not be winter at our particular geography, is in the lesson that our psychic, spiritual, and sometimes literal survival can hinge on our ability to cultivate—together and within ourselves—Sparks of life, heart, and spirit in the face of death, despair, and hopelessness. Maintaining the rhythms, projects, and commitments of our lives as best we can help to furnish meaning, purpose, and momentum when those things seem far away.

And if, as we do here at Idola Stellarum, we have faith in the transformational potential of spirit relationships, then it would not do to put them aside in times of darkness. Rather, we keep hitting the steel against the flint until the Spark catches, until the warmth returns, until all beings are liberated.

Though each talisman in the Spark collection is very different than the others, they all share in common a kind of bright beacon quality, shining forth and illuminating essential core energies and archetypes. The Aldebaran Riches & Honors talisman carries the Spark of raw power. The Ras Alhague Panacea & Therapeia talisman kindles the Spark of health. And the 24th Lunar Mansion Esoteric Knowledge talisman shimmers with the guiding Spark of intelligence and wisdom.

Whether in this collection, within your own magical and devotional practices, or within yourself, we hope you find and kindle the Spark that will keep you going and nourished as the New Year beckons.

Please follow the links below to visit the individual talisman product pages, or scroll down to see brief previews of each of the talismans.

• Riches & Honors – Royal Persian Star Aldebaran (SOLD OUT)
• Panacea & Therapeia – Fixed Star Ras Alhague (SOLD OUT)
• Esoteric Knowledge – 24th Lunar Mansion (SOLD OUT)

Note that all astrological talismans by their time-sensitive nature are extremely limited edition. Only a relatively small number of each specific talisman we release will ever be available. Once they are gone, they are gone.

(Note also: weight and dimensions listed in product attributes are for the entire shipped package, not for the talismans themselves individually. The Mercury dimes in some photos are shown for scale; neither the dimes nor any of the candles or other decorative elements displayed are included with purchased talismans. The jewelry box is included, however!)

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Idola Stellarum Puts the Stars in your Hands

By putting you in relationship with the powerful spirits who peer into the sublunary realm through these talismans, we hope you will be better equipped to face a strange, shifting, and at times terrifying world in which, too often, injustice reigns and corruption prevails. With institutions under siege (some rightfully so) and social contracts disintegrating at the expense of the most oppressed among us, we have to rely on each other. Thankfully, our interdependent networks of care can include celestial angels, too.

The spirits who guide Idola Stellarum know that if we can begin to equip each other with deep and consequential magic, we can begin to make the types of changes that many of us were told as children were possible, and reach toward the dreams which we knew could come true, but which remain withheld by those who hold structural and institutional power. To that end, we provide extensive information on our talismans, because we believe in making the tradition of astrological magic more accessible and allowing people to step into talismanic relationships equipped with the knowledge they need.

On each product page, we offer photographs and a narrative description of the talisman series before showcasing the electional chart (with a precise time range specifying the beginning and end of the ritual window) and discussing the essential features of the election, further magical factors of the election, and reflections on weaknesses of the election. We include ceremonial details of petitions, altars, suffumigations, and, of course, the talismans themselves.  

Sanctifying Relationships

In building Idola Stellarum, and in thinking about the Spark collection, we aimed to not only put people in relationship with talismanic spirits, but to offer an experience of coming into connection. We, as beings of the sublunary realm, rely on our visceral and tactile senses, and so Idola Stellarum set our intention to usher in an experience of quality that would appeal to the aesthetics of body and spirit alike.

To this end, each Idola Stellarum talisman will include: a foil-stamped black velvet jewelry box for safe keeping and display; a detailed writeup about the nature of the talisman, the circumstances and rituals of its creation, and guidance on how to introduce yourself to the talismanic spirit; and a certificate of authenticity signed by Rain & Pallas. All talismanic jewelry in the Spark collection has been set in high quality metal settings. All pendant settings in the Spark collection are either sterling silver or gold-plated sterling silver, and each talisman includes a matching sterling silver or gold-plated sterling silver rope chain in your choice of length.

Additionally, many questions related to the talismans you may have are answered in our frequently asked questions. We take our role as mages and mediators of the celestial spirits very seriously, and we stand by our work and the relationships we build, tend, and foster. To this end, each Idola Stellarum talisman is backed by a number of guarantees, which we encourage you to look over, as well as transparency about what we are not able to guarantee.

Note that good relationships have boundaries, and you should know ours: due to the nature of astrological talismans, all sales are final, and no refunds or exchanges will be offered. Please read our returns & exchanges policy for more information.

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Whether or not you hope to meet one of our talismans from this collection, we warmly invite you to keep up to date on our mailing list for more opportunities to join Idola Stellarum for events, spaces, and conversations intended to deepen and improve our relationships, talismanic and otherwise.

Membership in the Inner Sanctum is currently the only way to gain premiere early access to (as well as a member discount on) Idola Stellarum talisman collections. After Inner Sanctum early access, collections go out to our mailing list. Only after this are our collections open to the public, and then only if any talismans remain. The Inner Sanctum is currently closed, but opens quarterly.

Thank you for joining us at Idola Stellarum.

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