Fixed Star Vega: Charm & Creativity

The keywords ‘charm’ and ‘creativity’ represent a creative and modern rendering of the purposes of a Vega talisman. Within the texts handed down in our tradition of astrological magic, a Vega talisman is attested to “maketh [its bearer] magnanimous and proud, [and] giveth power over devils and beasts” (Agrippa, Three Books of Occult Philosophy) while the Quindecim Stellis says the virtues of Vega talismans consist in “affrighting demons…[and in] repress[ing] nocturnal phantoms and fears,” and in later version also giving “influence over beasts.”

Our traditional sources emphasize power, favor, and protection, but as with all talismans, it is wise to inquire into exactly how—via what avenue—their virtues come to pass. It is worth emphasizing that Vega is held to be of the nature of Mercury and Venus, and that the vulture image associated with Vega is not intended as the ghoulish carrion creature that modern associations might assume, but a noble creature charged with carrying the lyre of Orpheus in the heavens (the vulture was also an animal sacred to the Egyptian pharaohs, with protective qualities associated with the Egyptian goddess Nekhbet).

The connection to Orpheus and the planetary associations with Mercury and Venus underscore the connections of Vega with music and beauty. On this point it is paramount to credit and quote a fellow astrological magician and dear friend, Genie Desert of Tides of Tethys, who writes, “Rather than attack or defend with force, Vega charms with an enchanting sweetness.” Genie’s research and experience have gone a long way toward helping the astrological magic community understand the Vega talisman, and we are grateful for her work.

The songs of Orpheus were said to calm wild beasts, stir the ghosts of the dead, and even to charm the rocks and the trees. Vega’s famed powers of protection seem to derive, then, from the ability to ingratiate oneself to and come into more positive relationship with all manner of forces that might be dangerous—even the very land itself. Through providing Solace to others, we thereby enjoy Solace in return.

To this latter point about the land, we noted with great interest when a family of turkey vultures moved in across the street from us and spent a fair amount of time circling over our home and the fields beyond shortly after we introduced ourselves to the Charm & Creativity talismans. And as for beasts, Vesper—the sweetest, most good-natured dog we have ever been blessed to know—came to live with us in the aftermath of these talismans, as well. Your mileage may vary, but we do recommend these talismans for those who live and/or work with people of fur and wing and claw.

Our experience has been that these talismans have a lovely effervescent quality and are wonderful talismans to partner with for creative projects. The Charm & Creativity talismans do give a boost to writing (less so, we note, for material of the dry and scholarly variety), though we suspect that wordsmithing is not where the Vega talismans thrive to the best of their abilities. Music, theater, public speaking, and any manner of performance is where the Charm & Creativity talismans will truly shine, and we certainly appreciate the way they serve to gild the tongue.

Although this point is an extrapolation and speculation not rooted in our personal experience, the traditionally attested suppression of nightmares and fears may also make these talismans a good choice for people struggling with doubts and uncertainties about their own creative or performance capacities.

Technical Details

The fixed star Vega Charm & Creativity talismans were ensouled on Saturday, November 26, 2022 between 2:40pm and 2:50pm EST.

Essential Features of the Election

For fixed star astromagical elections, we require that the relevant fixed star either rises on the Ascendant or culminates on the Midheaven. In this election, the fixed star Vega at 15^◦37’ Capricorn was culminating on the Midheaven and the working took place while Vega was within 2^◦45’ of the MC: a slightly wider orb was supported by divination and used for this election since Vega is one of the brightest stars in the northern sky.

Fixed star elections also require the Moon to be in sufficiently good condition and applying to the relevant fixed star. Idola Stellarum only uses lunar conjunctions to fixed stars. In this election, the Moon was within 2 degrees of a conjunction to Vega. Luna was waxing and moving with great speed, and her next aspect was to dignified Jupiter in Pisces. Furthermore, the Moon’s ruler, Saturn, was highly dignified by domicile and triplicity.

Although we consider the condition of the Lord of the Ascendant to be a lesser factor in fixed star elections due to their austere nature and remoteness from the sublunary realm, we always examine the Ascendant Lord for all elections since the first house represents the bearer of the talisman. In this election, Venus was dignified by term in Sagittarius, and while she was approaching wide application to aspects to the malefics, these aspects were intercepted by Mercury and wide enough for our purposes. We did wait until Taurus rising even though this constricted the electional window quite severely, since we wanted to avoid a retrograde Mars as Lord of the Ascendant.

Note that for fixed star talismans, planetary hour and day are not essential considerations. 

Further Magical Factors in the Election

The Moon in this election was in a fairly atypical condition of bonification. Usually, enclosure by benefics involves an aspect to both the benefic planets, Venus and Jupiter. However, in this election, the Moon was separating from a square from Jupiter in Pisces and applying to a sextile…to Jupiter in Pisces! Both malefic planets were also safely tucked away in succedent houses away from the significators.

Reflection on Weaknesses of the Election

Notably, the Moon was in a prolonged period of not making an aspect to any planet, going about 30 degrees between aspects to Jupiter. However, the Moon was within a day of a sextile to Jupiter, and so we do not view this as an affliction—in any case, traditional astromagical sources do not emphasize any sort of voidness of the Moon as a consideration.

While the Moon being in detriment in Capricorn is often seen as a negative, for certain fixed star elections (those for stars in Capricorn and Scorpio), this is not seen as an affliction because it is in fact a necessary condition of the working.

Recommendations

These talismans should be fairly beginner friendly, and we do not issue any specific cautions about their use.

Ceremonial Details

Gemstone & Talismanic Image

The stone attributed to Vega is ‘chrysolite,’ also known as peridot. An old epithet for Orpheus shares the same root: Khrysolyris means ‘of the golden lyre,’ just as ‘chrysolite’ means ‘of golden light.’ The peridot is a beautiful pale green-gold stone also attributed to Venus, which is sensible, since Vega is of the nature of Mercury and Venus. The stones for this election were very high quality eye-clear 8×10 peridot gem cabochons, since peridot is rare enough to not often appear in larger, lower quality stones. The Quindecim Stellis calls for the juice of winter savory and the herb fumitory. A blend of fumitory herb mixed with winter savory essential oil was affixed to the back of the talismans to augment its effect.

The peridot cabochons were engraved with the image of a vulture, with the glyph of Vega carved on the back side of the stone. Agrippa says of Vega talismans that they “maketh a man magnanimous and proud, [and] giveth power over devils and beasts,” while the Quindecim Stellis says that such a talisman “grants favor with beasts, protects from scabies, that is, against demons, nocturnal phantoms, and fears.”

Ritual Setup

An altar adorned with a clean gold and silver cloth was established prior to the working. Offerings stayed largely within a gold-green color scheme, including copious offerings of food and spirits. Foremost among the offerings were objects native to the imagery of the constellation: an eagle statue (Vega is alternatively known as vultur cadens, the falling vulture, or aquila cadens, the falling eagle), a small tortoise shell (to represent the tortoise shell that Hermes used to construct the lyre for Orpheus), and a lyre stood as the centerpiece of the altar, with seven candles on either side (a nod to the seven strings of the classical Greek chelys, the tortoise shell lyre originally attributed to Orpheus). Two golden green poinsettias framed the altar. Small bowls filled with the herbs of Vega were also set out: fumitory scented with winter savory essential oil.

Suffumigation

Suffumigation consisted of the finest Sultan’s grade royal green Hojari frankincense added to the mixture used to augment the talismans: fumitory herb blended with winter savory essential oil.