Sun in Leo – Radiant Beloved: Chrysoprase Pendant

“[The Sun] sits as a king in the center of the other planets, excelling in all light, magnitude, and beauty, illuminating all, and distributing virtue to them for disposing the inferiors, regulating and disposing their movements… Just as by its light it chases away the darkness of night, it also chases away the powers of darkness.”

—Agrippa, Three Books of Occult Philosophy, Book II, Chapter 32, tr. Eric Purdue

Despite not being seen as the most fortunate of the seven traditional planets (Maslama al-Qurtubi describes the Sun as “of mixed good and ill in his influence… both a fortune and an infortune” in Picatrix, Book III, Chapter 7), the life-giving power of light, illumination, and warmth led the Sun to carry a unique and preeminent status within the tradition of astrological magic and esoteric astrology. 

The planetary petition to the Sun in Picatrix, for example, begins: “You [i.e., the Sun] who are the foundation of heaven and are exalted above all the stars and all the planets, holy and revered…” (Book III, Chapter 7). Around the same time as Picatrix was being written, the Ikhwān Al-Ṣafā (aka the Brethren of Purity) noted the the angels of the sphere of the Sun had a special status which was “the most majestic status for the supreme spiritual beings” (Epistle 49, Eds. W. Madelung, C. Uy, C. Baffioni, & N. Alshaar). An even earlier celestial prayer to the Sun from al-Tabarani (one of the many sources of Picatrix) has a wonderfully gender-bending take on the same theme, praising the Sun who, “like a mistress and queen, with [her] light surpass other spirits in all things” (tr. Idola Stellarum) where ‘spirits’ in the context of these prayers refers primarily to the planets.

Later, Marsilio Ficino said of the Sun that it is “the Lord of life and generation and author of increase” (ibid, Book III, Ch. 4), and Agrippa documented that the Sun is referred to as the “creator of light… prince of the world, keeping all of the stars under him, lighting all of the stars… giv[ing] light and splendor to all” (op. cit., Book II, Ch. 59). Ficino also documents a consensus from antiquity that all celestial goods are contained in the Sun: “That all the powers of the heavens are assuredly in the Sun, not only Iamblichus and Julian but all men affirm, and Proclus says that all the powers of all the celestial are gathered and collected into one in the presence of the visible Sun” (Book III, Ch. 6).

The Radiant Beloved name arose in a ground-up fashion. The talismans themselves were designed with the idea of “all celestial goods” in mind, using a general image from Picatrix that, although it occurs in a specific recipe, first appears toward the front of Picatrix Book II, Chapter 10 in which several images of each planet are listed without specific effects associated with them. The petition crafted for this election requested a variety of solar gifts—including honor, wealth, vitality, dignity, magnanimity, and protection from foul fortune—and so we did not really have firm expectations of the personality that these talismans would take on. 

In the course of testing, themes of buoyancy and childlike rejuvenation came up, and early candidate names for these talismans included Child of Light and Heart of a Child, because the Radiant Beloved Sun in Leo talismans just ended up feeling so much like the Tarot card named after this sphere:

Of The Sun, Arthur Edward Waite writes:

“The card signifies, therefore, the transit from the manifest light of this world, represented by the glorious sun of earth, to the light of the world to come, which goes before aspiration and is typified by the heart of a child… The sun is that of consciousness in the spirit – the direct as the antithesis of the reflected light. The characteristic type of humanity has become a little child therein—a child in the sense of simplicity and innocence in the sense of wisdom. In that simplicity, he bears the seal of Nature and of Art; in that innocence, he signifies the restored world. When the self-knowing spirit has dawned in the consciousness above the natural mind, that mind in its renewal leads forth the animal nature in a state of perfect conformity.”
—Arthur Edward Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, pp. 144-147

As much as neither of us are the biggest fans of the metaphor of the ‘inner child,’ the experience of donning this talisman brought to the fore blocked issues of pleasure, growth, and provision from earlier points in development (including, but not limited to childhood) along with the enthusiasm and curiosity to engage them with “simplicity and innocence in the sense of wisdom.”

In that sense, the Radiant Beloved talismans might be thought of as talismans of restoration in Waite’s sense of signifying “the restored world” of one’s own self, life, and spiritual ecosystem. Radiant Beloved thus takes on a dual meaning, both referring to the beloved radiance of Sol, the bestower of all celestial gifts, but also embodying the radiance and belovedness that we either once had or were bereft of as children.

The Brethren of Purity (Ikhwān Al-Ṣafā) described the science of talismans as that “by which the citizens follow the nature of the kings, and kings the nature of the angels” (Epistle 52a, On Magic I, Chapter 6, p. 143, tr. G. Godefroid & B. Halflants). This movement up the Great Chain of Being indicates not merely a material but a spiritual uplifting. As Pseudo-Dionysus notes in The Celestial Hierarchy, “Material lights are images of the outpouring of an immaterial gift of light” (from The Complete Works, tr. Colm Luibheid, p. 146). May the bearers of these talismans don and become the radiance that permeates creation and blazes forth in the divine candle of Sol.

[Note: The obverse of the talismans has a mixture of saffron and calendula epoxied onto the gemstone. Be aware that if drenched with water or sweat for an extended period of time, there is a possibility that the herbs will leak and potentially stain clothing. We have not received reports of or experienced ourselves this feature staining skin.]

Technical Details

The Sun in Leo Radiant Beloved talismans were ensouled during Sun hour on Friday, August 4, 2023 between 5:29am and 5:54am EDT.

Essential Features of the Election

For planetary astromagical elections, we require that the relevant planet either rises on the Ascendant or culminates on the Midheaven during the relevant planetary hour. This election took place during Sun hour with the Sun rising on the Ascendant at 11° Leo, dignified by domicile and in aversion to the malefic planets.

Planetary elections also require the Moon to be in sufficiently good condition. During this election, Luna was peregrine in Pisces and separating from aspects to both malefic planets. Her speed was very fast and she was full of light in her third quarter.

Since the 1st house signifies the bearer of the talisman, we also look at the condition of the Lord of the Ascendant in planetary elections. Leo was rising, giving the Sun’s rulership double sway over the election.

Further Magical Factors in the Election

In addition to being in his sign of rulership, the Sun’s next aspect was to Jupiter in his own terms in Taurus. Note that medieval texts on astrological magic, most notably, Picatrix, favor any aspect to a benefic planet as a fortitude, and so the fact that the Sun’s aspect to Jupiter was a square simply moderates (rather than undermining or negating) the positivity of this connection. The Sun and Jupiter were also approaching one another by antiscia, bolstering the communication between them.

Reflection on Weaknesses of the Election

Having the Moon separating from her ruler is unfortunate. However, the presence of Venus in the 1st house and Jupiter in the 10th house serve to mitigate this issue, as attested by Ficino and al-Qurtubi in the Picatrix.

“[L]ook for Jupiter or Venus either in the ascendant or in the tenth place, for so they compensate for the debilities of the Moon.”

—Marsilio Ficino, Three Books on Life, Book III, Ch. VI, p. 271 (tr. Kaske & Clark)

Recommendations

Ceremonial Details

Gemstone & Talismanic Image

Ritual Setup

Suffumigation

The suffumigation for this working consisted of the highest quality sultan’s grade royal Hojari frankincense, to which was added a highly special and complex incense that was ritually blended and talismanically consecrated during a previous Sun in Aries talismanic working according to a recipe in Picatrix Book III, Chapter 7 in the passage on Solar petitions, which instructs the mage to combine eight different ingredients: “saffron, storax, frankincense, nutmeg, litharge, wild pomegranate flower, aloes wood, and saxifrage.” Because it is toxic and unwise to burn indoors, litharge was omitted in this blend.