Welcome to the Strength Collection:
Idola Stellarum’s 2026 Summer Solstice Collection
of Astromagical Talismanic Jewelry
Read more below, or jump to the individual talisman pages:
The Strength collection will open at the following times:
- Early access for Inner Sanctum members: Sunday, June 21, 2026 @ 12:54pm EDT.
- Mailing list subscribers: Tuesday, June 23, 2026 @ 12:47pm EDT.
“Arabic writers also prove that by an application of our spirit to the spirit of the cosmos, achieved by physical science and our affect, celestial goods pass to our soul and body.
This happens from down here through our spirit within us which is a mediator, strengthened then by the spirit of the cosmos, and from above by way of the rays of the stars acting favorably on our spirit, which not only is similar to the rays by nature but also then makes itself more like celestial things.”
—Marsilio Ficino, Three Books on Life, bk. 3, chap. III
Introducing the Strength Collection
The above quotation from Ficino underscores an aspect of this practice that, in our opinion, deserves top billing: the purpose of astrological magic is not simply to make our material lives better in the here and now, but also and even perhaps primarily to kindle intimacy with the celestials. Ficino’s reference to “Arabic writers” is a euphemism for referencing the Picatrix, the Latin translation of Maslama b. Qāsim al-Qurṭubī’s Ghāyat al-Ḥakīm, which in Book I, Chapter 2 discusses how the science of astrological magic “operates on spirit by spirit” (trans. Greer & Warnock). The Strength afforded by these spiritual, celestial connections can be understood in a sigificantly different light from our vantage point in history.
One thing we have been strongly emphasizing in the Inner Sanctum over the past year or so is the vast gap between modern ways of understanding the world and the more ancient worldview(s) in which astrological magic arose and came to prominence. Although the cultures that contributed to what we have inherited of astrological magic span approximately three thousand years—from the astral medicines of Mesopotamia to the amulets of the Hellenistic world to the celestial petitions and talismans of the Islamicate occult sciences—it is fair to say that they are more alike than not when contrasted with the secular materialism of the culturally dominant contemporary worldview in the English-speaking world.
In the Islamicate world, the ‘strengthening of the spirit’ would have been understood in a soteriological or salvific sense. To cite a specific example, the twofold achievement Ficino speaks about, of (1) securing ‘celestial goods’ in this world and (2) rendering our spirit more similar to the celestials, appears in the Epistles of the Brethren of Purity (Rasā’il Ikhwān al-Ṣafā’), an encyclopedia spanning 52 volumes written by a secret society in the period just before al-Qurṭubī compiled the Ghāyat al-Ḥakīm:
“[If] the stars and [celestial] souls take possession of the bodies in virtue of this science and capability, and if there are those [stars and souls] which are propitious to us and which take possession of us, then necessity compels us to get closer to them and to implore them, so as to repair what is corrupt in us…in order that two things be attained by us: goodness of life in this world; and the mastering of freedom in the afterlife.”
—Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʼ, On Magic I, 126.
As any Inner Sanctum Member will recognize who has engaged in the Worldview course material, these sentiments harmonize with the Platonic theurgy of late antiquity. Iamblichus, for example, wrote that through prayer, “we gradually take on the perfection of the divine” (trans. Emma C. Clarke et al., I.16). In today’s world, however, we want to suggest that the spiritual transformations of astrological magic can offer us a special kind of Strength.
Strength Against Despair
Based as we are in the continental United States, in a culture dominated by technocratic accelerationism, hyper-individualism, and a near-wholesale rejection of social safety nets, it has become hard for many to resist the conclusion that those with wealth and power are actively hostile toward the lives of most people on earth. As but one example, the alleged advances of artificial so-called intelligence are transparently designed to come at the expense of the livelihoods and well-being of entire sectors of the workforce and (often already marginalized) communities in the vicinity of data centers. This is not an ideological position: it is a fact, given Jeff Bezos’s statement that we should deprioritize “baseline human comfort” to divert resources toward accelerating AI development.
Consequently, any utopian narratives about AI or claims to altruistic motives by its architects resound with a hollowness so vast and cavernous that it cannot help but evoke a threatening, nihilistic emptiness.
In short, contemporary so-called Western society seems increasingly designed to instill despair in most of its citizenry—not to mention the populaces it bleeds to furnish its excesses.
We have made the case elsewhere that Astrological Magic is Medicine for Materialism. More and more, though, the cosmology of astrological magic—the interconnected Great Chain of Being, the administration of the natural world by celestial angels, the heavenly family guided by Intelligent order, and so forth—strikes us as medicine for despair.
In a world that whispers, ‘Your worth is equal to what you produce,’ a worldview that instead centers “the idea of a related universe where no part was superfluous [and that] enhance[s] the dignity of all creation, even of the meanest part of it” (Tillyard, The Elizabethan World Picture, p. 28) provides Strength.
In a world that increasingly closes off all opportunities for advancement except the lottery ticket, a worldview that makes room for magic “by which subjects are joined to [the rank of] kings and kings to that of angels” (Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʼ, On God and the World, p. 95) provides Strength.
In a world that endows full humanity only contingently, depending on your skin color or ability or access to intergenerational wealth, a worldview that insists that we all have Perfect Nature—a spirit that “shows compassion for the individual that relates to it, and cares for it in the same way that a father does with his child” (Abū’l-Barakāt, quoted in Noble, Philosophising the Occult, p. 81)—provides Strength.
Angelic Strength
To us, this is the magnificence and the birthright of astrological magic: rather than an apocalyptic theology that promises the good only after this life, astrological magic tells us that relationship with the celestial spheres does not have to wait. From the Moon all the way up to the fixed stars, we can step into communion and call down their power into the here and now. You can hold the powers of the stars in your hands. Indeed, they are not separate: the powers of the stars is your hands (and more than this besides).
According to the Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʼ, the stars and planets and their administering spirits are angels. The fixed stars were identified as angels of particularly high rank:
“[T]he angels that surround the throne [of God] are those who carry the throne, and they are the fixed stars that surround the ninth sphere from inside.”
—Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʼ, On the Natural Sciences, Epistle 20, 303.
Astrological magic is not a simple psychology. It is not modern myth-making. A talisman does not symbolize or represent the powers of heaven. Celestial petitions do not operate only upon our unconscious mind. The “rays of the stars” referenced by Ficino are not photons. All of these ways of framing things come from contemporary worldviews that deny the interconnection of all things great and small, and that simultaneously exalt the individual while telling them that their life ultimately amounts to nothing.
Truly stepping into the world of astrological magic asks us to step into the worldview of astrological magic, in which the very powers that uphold the throne of god and constantly sing the praises of the divine find instantiation and embodiment in animals, plants, and stones. From the firmament of the earth to the primum mobile of the outermost sphere, all of creation thrums with divinity, right here, right now.
Faith in that? Embodying that?
That’s Strength.
References
Ficino, Marsilio. Three Books on Life. Translated by Carol V. Kaske and John R. Clark. Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies in conjunction with the Renaissance Society of America, 1498.
Iamblichus. De Mysteriis. Translated by Emma C. Clarke, Jackson P. Hershbell, and John M. Dillon. Society of Biblical Lit, 2003.
Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʼ. On God and the World: An Arabic Critical Edition and English Translation of Epistles 49-51. Translated by Wilferd Madelung, Cyril V. Uy II, Carmela Baffioni, and Nuha Alshaar. Oxford University Press, 2019.
Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʼ. On Magic I: An Arabic Critical Edition and English Translation of Epistle 52. Translated by Bruno Halflants and Godefroid de Callataÿ. OUP Oxford, 2011.
Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʼ. On the Natural Sciences: An Arabic Critical Edition and English Translation of Epistles 15-21. Edited and translated by Carmela Baffioni. Oxford University Press, 2013.
Noble, Michael-Sebastian. Philosophising the Occult: Avicennan Psychology and “The Hidden Secret” of Fakhr Al-Dīn Al-Rāzī. De Gruyter, 2021.
Qurtubi, Maslama al-. The Complete Picatrix: The Occult Classic of Astrological Magic Liber Atratus Edition: The Classic Medieval Handbook of Astrological Magic. Translated by John Michael Greer and Christopher Warnock. Adocentyn Press, 2011.
Tillyard, Eustace Mandeville Wetenhall. The Elizabethan World Picture. Chatto & Windus, 1943.
The Strength Collection
The Strength Collection holds gemstone talismans from two elections from 2025. Please follow the links below to visit the individual talisman product pages, or scroll down to see brief previews of each of the talismans.
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 approximate weights for the entire shipped package, not for the talismans themselves individually. None of the decorative elements displayed in altar photos or product shots besides the chains and jewelry boxes are included with purchased talismans.)
Fixed Star Aldebaran – Bullseye
Ensouled around sunset on Wednesday, March 5, 2025 between 5:21pm and 5:42pm EST.
Of the nature of the fixed star Aldebaran, these talismans were created with the intent of enhancing wealth and bringing honors.
The Bullseye talismans were carved from 15mm granatus cabochon gemstones (modern name: garnet) and set in gold-plated sterling silver crown bezel pendant settings.
The high-octane nature, sheer intensity, and single-mindedness that can come from the influence of Aldebaran suggest that this talisman may be unsuited for people who consistently struggle to intentionally direct their emotional energies or attend to their essential needs.
Fixed Star Deneb Algedi – Structure
Ensouled on Tuesday, April 22, 2025 between 8:26am and 8:45am EDT.
Of the nature of the fixed star Deneb Algedi, these talismans were created with the intent of securing the protection and bringing order to the home, finances, and relationships of its bearers.
The Structure talismans were carved from 20x30mm chalcedony cabochons and set in sterling silver crown bezel pendant settings.
From a technical perspective, these talismans are beginner-friendly and general purpose, though please read our fuller recommendation upon collection release regarding the justice system and law enforcement presence if those are touchy subjects for you.
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 linked above, 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, we aim 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 Strength collection has been set in high quality metal settings. All pendant settings in the Strength collection are sterling silver or gold-plated sterling silver, and each pendant talisman includes a matching sterling silver or gold-plated sterling silver rope chain.
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 several guarantees, which we encourage you to look over, and we also endeavor to be very transparent 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.
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.
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