Venus in Pisces: Ancestral Agape

At perhaps its most mundane and profound, magic is a balm for feeling alone.

The mages at Idola Stellarum have been deeply involved in ancestral healing and ancestor veneration practices for many years, and designed this talismanic working to collaborate with the celestial angelic powers who imbue talismans with the aim of ancestral connectedness. 

The Ancestral Agape talismans support bringing oneself into more profound presence with the wise ones who most intimately connect us to spirit and the divine, to the Earth, and to each other. Described as having a soothing rose-blush glowing quality, the Ancestral Agape talismans increase one’s capacity and willingness to accept the gifts of our ancestors. 

Drew Levanti, astrologer and Idola Stellarum collaborator, shared of his Ancestral Agape talisman: “This talisman was an incredible door, not only into my own ancestry of a genealogical sort, but also my queer ancestry. This talisman has supported me in embracing and sharing my queerness with the world. I really feel like I have become an emissary for an entire lineage of spirits and support.” (See below for full testimonial)

Agape is the love of 1 Corinthians 13, in which Paul writes of the unfailing love that intertwines with the highest three values cited: “Faith, hope, and love.” This type of love is sometimes translated as charity: the outpouring offering to those in need. We often come to the ancestors when we are in need; accepting the blessings—and wrangling with the burdens—bestowed by the ancestors necessitates developing our capacity to receive and opening more fully to the support of others. 

Approaching Venus in the first decan of Pisces requires orienting ourselves toward a more expansive and encompassing vision of divine love. In the diffuse and all-pervasive spirit of Venus in Pisces, you are invited to consider your chosen family and ancestors of lineage, vocation, place, magic, and community, as well as the more-than-human ancestors who comprise and support us; ancestors of land, air, and water; ancestors of flame and light; ancestors of food and drink that build and nourish our bodies.

These talismans were created to aid in the ongoing process of helping us to “put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light” (Romans 13:12) which is what happens when we wade into and join in coherence with the river of ancestral momentum, which flows from and ultimately back toward the divine love from which originates the whole of creation.

Hawk Grubb, magician and astrologer, shares about their Ancestral Agape talisman: “I feel like in the time since I’ve been hanging out with this talisman, I have gotten so much clarity on my ancestral love inheritance and how that impacts my ability to have healthy relationships. It feels like I’ve had a lot of clearing away of some of the illusions that make it difficult to understand what’s going on in my love relationships. It resonates with my understanding of: what are the obstacles toward long-term partnership? And what among those have you inherited?” (See below for full testimonial)

Idola Stellarum is offering two types of the Ancestral Agape talismans, both created during the same election and the same ritual with the same images and herbs, the details of which are below. Pallas is bound to one of each and shares, “The spirits are similar and directed toward complimentary ends, the main difference being the fossil coral is more gentle in their intensity with a broad swath of spiritual impact, while the copper feels more concrete and familiar. Much like the contrast between the ocean and the local watershed, both are potent magically, but at distinct scales of relatability.”

Note that the fossil coral version of the Ancestral Agape talisman comes with a sterling silver chain, while the copper coin version of the Ancestral Agape talisman comes with a waxed black cotton cord.

Technical Details

These Venus in Pisces talismans were ensouled on Thursday, April 14 during Venus hour between 9:50am and 10:27am EDT. Note that the ritual for this election began slightly after 9:50am, once the Ascendant moved into the sign of Cancer.

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. In this election, Venus was culminating on the Midheaven at 9° Pisces. Venus was free from essential or accidental afflictions and was dignified by exaltation and triplicity, making Venus extremely strong in this chart.

Planetary elections also require the Moon to be in sufficiently good condition. In this election, Luna was moving with good speed and increasing in light in the sign of Virgo in the 4th house, waxing within a couple of days of being full. The Lord of the house of the Moon, Mercury, was unafflicted in 11th house Taurus, the sign of the Moon’s exaltation. Luna’s next planetary aspect was to the Saturn, but making a positive trine aspect and well out of orb (far away enough) such that this was not considered a great affliction—for more discussion of this aspect, see below. Moreover, the Greater Malefic was highly dignified in Saturn’s home sign of Aquarius, further mitigating this faint influence.  

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. Since the Moon is the Lord of the Ascendant as the sign ruler of Cancer, the same considerations of the previous paragraph apply.

Further Magical Factors in the Election

One excellent feature of this chart is the placement of the malefic planets, Mars and Saturn, which are cadent in the 9th quadrant house, tucked away from the significator planet, Venus. Venus was also in a close trine to the Ascendant, and the Lord of the house of the Moon, Mercury, was in a close sextile to the Ascendant, rendering this chart fairly harmonious overall.

Also, Venus’s co-presence with the dignified Greater Benefic, Jupiter in Pisces in the 10th house, gives a nice boost to this election. The benefic nature of this chart was reinforced by Mercury’s applying sextile to Venus. This reception of Venus from the Lord of the house of the Moon in her home sign of Taurus provides a sweet link between the Moon, Venus, and Mercury, the Lord of the house of the Moon. Luna was also in the 4th quadrant house, which is associated with the home and family, which ties in the theme of ancestral connection.

Another lovely feature of this chart was Luna’s application to the fixed star Alkaid, who represents the Great Mother Bear. This star’s name means the leader, and Alkaid is associated with hired mourners in mundane astrology and has significations of protection and spiritual guidance in astrological magic. These significations are extremely well-suited to collecting and bolstering the protection and guidance of our wise and connected ancestors.

Reflection on Weaknesses of the Election

As mentioned above, the Moon’s next aspect would be a trine to the Greater Malefic, Saturn in Aquarius. This does cast a darker pall on an otherwise lovely Venus election. It is, however, mitigated by Saturn’s dignity as well as the very wide orb of the trine, which is well outside of the moiety of Moon-Saturn aspects. The trine is also out of sign.

In death-avoidant cultures where the violences of white supremacy and extractionist late capitalism have been normalized as externalities, relating to the human and more-than-human ancestors requires opening to grief. The mitigated trine to Saturn brings a groundedness to the otherwise free-flowing Venus in Pisces, supporting and increasing our capacity for grief that allows for more depth and appreciation of connection.

Recommendations

Overall, these talismans are generally beginner-friendly and also potent enough to support the flow of an already well-established spirit ecosystem. The main folks we might issue caution to for this election would be those with a combust Venus. For people who do have a combust Venus, we can offer that easing into connection with Venus in Pisces would likely be supported by Sphere+Sundry’s Exalted Venus II series.

Ceremonial Details

Gemstone/Metal & Talismanic Image

For each and every one of the Venus in Pisces Ancestral Agape talismans: The talismanic image used for this election was “the image of a woman whose body is human with the head of a bird and the feet of an eagle, in her right hand an apple and in her left hand a wooden comb,” with some other specific magical characters written on the stone as described in Picatrix. According to the Picatrix, the bearer of this image will “receive good and be liked by everyone.” 

For the gemstone pendant talismans (pictured above): Fossilized coral, one of the stones attributed to Venus in the Picatrix, was used for the gemstone version of these talismans (note that by modern standards, coral is not a gemstone, but that it was historically considered a gemstone within this tradition). The lapidary De Virtutibus Lapidum (The Virtues of Stones) by Damigeron attributes many powers to coral, including that it “acts as a remedy for foolish dreams… makes [those who wear it] unconquered, powerful, unable to be touched, free from care, giving orders easily and having easy access to the great… [and] at any our of the day or night the coral stone is a great safeguard.” Fossil coral from Indonesia, almost certainly where these originate, is created when living coral is buried under volcanic sediment and then agatized by millions of years of tectonic shifts. The Ancestral Agape fossil coral talismans carry the wisdom of deep time in stone and in spirit. The front of the talismans were engraved by hand with the traditional Venus image from Picatrix described below, as well as the words ANCESTRAL AGAPE. The reverse side of the talismans were engraved with the symbol of Venus and affixed with a mixture of herbs from the suffumigation detailed below.

For the metal coin talismans (pictured above): Pure copper, the metal traditionally associated with Venus, was used for the metal coin version of these talismans. For this election, we commissioned the creation of two steel metal punches: one with a version of the talismanic image described below designed by Pallas, and one with the symbol and seal of Venus as well as the sigils of her planetary intelligence and spirit. The copper coins were stamped during the electional window using a 5lb copper hammer, first with the talismanic image metal punch and then with the metal punch with the symbols on the reverse side of the coin. After the metal was stamped, the front of the coins were hand-engraved with the words ANCESTRAL AGAPE and the reverse side of the coins were affixed with a mixture of herbs from the suffumigation detailed below.

Note that the metal coin talismans are hand-stamped with great efficiency during a narrow electional window. There will be small variations in the centering, orientation, and depth of the stamping. Also, copper is a soft metal and scratches easily, both in the stamping process and otherwise. If you will be unhappy with these sorts of aesthetic variations in handmade items, please consider the possibility that these talismans are not for you.

Ritual Setup

An altar spangled with green and gold was erected to Venus prior to the working, replete with lavish offerings for the laugher-loving Queen. Seven green candles embellished with the signs of Venus and her planetary angel, intelligence, and spirit and consecrated to Venus in her planetary hour provided illumination for the ritual. A copper statue of two intertwined roses was also included on the altar as a special offering for this election. Gustav Holst’s “Venus, the Bringer of Peace” from his opuses dedicated to The Planets served as a soundtrack for this ritual.

Suffumigation

The suffumigation used to ensoul these talismans consisted of a specially made Venus in Pisces incense blended and consecrated to Venus during the same electional window, prepared according to a modified recipe from Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa’s Three Books of Occult Philosophy: “For Venus, take musk, ambergris, lignum aloes, red roses and red coral.” Since musk and ambergris are ingredients derived from endangered species, suitable substances similarly situated on the cosmic hierarchy were used as replacements: Spanish labdanum resin was used in lieu of ambergris, and sustainably harvested Canadian beaver castor (scent gland) was used in lieu of musk. The incense was bolstered and tied into the significations of Alkaid with small amounts of periwinkle and mugwort, two herbs associated with both the fixed star Alkaid as well as Venus herself. After the ritual began but before the talismans were created, this incense was blended and then talismanically consecrated with a petition written exclusively for this election. After the incense was empowered, it was used to suffumigate the talismans.

Testimonials for the Ancestral Agape Talismans

Each of the following testimonials are for the copper coin versions of the talisman.

From Drew Levanti:

“I also wanted to just vouch for the talismanic quality of Rain and Pallas’s work. I was given an ancestor healing talisman, a Venus in Pisces talisman. We were at NORWAC last year, and on the last night, you know, for me, being at that NORWAC, I spoke, and the Seattle area is where I grew up. And I was just feeling this immense sense of belonging and that I had found my path in this moment. And that is the moment when Rain said to me, “Drew, do you have an ancestor practice?” And I said, you know, I don’t really think that I do. And this talisman that Rain gave me was an incredible door, not only into my own ancestry of a sort of genealogical sort, but also my queer ancestry. And the ways this talisman has supported me in embracing my queerness and in embracing—not only embracing my queerness but sharing that with the world. I really feel like I have become an emissary for an entire lineage of spirits and support. And so I want to thank [Idola Stellarum] for that for that work. And as a way to invite other people to similar kinds of engagement. I think it’s a really beautiful thing that you are doing.” 

—Drew Levanti

From Hawk Grubb:

“Right before you gave me this talisman, I was dating this person and our relationship was in chaos. I had this strong impression that some of our lineage healing journeys were intersecting in a way that was making intimacy between us impossible. I did a ritual with mullein and I got some helpful visions and information. I made this tincture which I jokingly called Pipe Cleaner, because it’s just the flowing juices of the ancestral juice, to clean out the gunk.

This talisman came to me as part of that ritual. There was some degree of attunement going on between my work and your work. I always feel like I can tell when the gods are actually present, or the planetary forces that are being invoked are actually present in the thing when results like this turn up. That felt really validating to my work and the magic that you guys are doing. It’s as if before I did the ritual you had already done the thing that would answer my prayer, and then without knowing that I did the thing, you knew to give it to me. She was really helpful in letting go of that relationship and getting through some of that process.

It’s difficult to attribute one thing or another to a specific talisman or a specific piece of magic, but I feel like in the time since I’ve been hanging out with this talisman, I have gotten so much clarity on my ancestral love inheritance and how that impacts my ability to have healthy relationships. It feels like I’ve had a lot of clearing away of some of the illusions that make it difficult to understand what’s going on in my love relationships. It resonates with my understanding of: what are the obstacles toward long-term partnership? And what among those have you inherited from somebody? I’ve also found out such a shocking amount about my ancestors—and in this really physical, corporeal way. It’s not just like doing internet research, right? I’m holding their pictures in my hands and talking to my living grandma about where in Switzerland I could go to hang out in the same places they’ve hung out.

Solid, nourishing, rewarding friendship is another thing that’s come in around the same time as this talisman, too. My group chat changed and became really super nourishing. I feel like I have a friend in my house—which is nice, because I live alone. I have my cat, obviously, but it’s also nice to have a conscious spirit person who’s sharing space with me. I just like having a friend in my house. She’s really grounded, I feel unusually so for the Venus vibe.” 

—Hawk Grubb