TALISMANS OF TRUST: Extremely dignified Mercury Ascending in Virgo with the North Node, with the Moon applying to a conjunction of Jupiter.

This project was full of all kinds of surprises, great and slightly bad.

My lost emerald cabochon which popped out of its ring at ConVocation and I’d deemed lost forever was found right before the election taped to the side of a box with packing tape. I’ve observe that I often lose a talisman when the planet it’s based upon is in Fall, and I recover it when it is Exalted. That’s seemingly what happened here. My lost Mercury spirit came back home, right on schedule.

And then, about 4/5ths of the way through the electional window– after I’d engraved the ymages but right before I added the vegetal component– my street had an hour long blackout. So I had to finish the project by candlelight. I did end up adding the herbs to the rings after the planetary hour had ended, but thinking quickly I dipped the rings in a tea of the herb and finished the whole thing before Mercury was fully off the Ascendant. I think it should be fine. Other than that, this was a pretty great election.

Mercury was greatly essentially dignified. In Domicile, Exaltation, and Term. Mercury was making a loose sextile to a Benefic and moving reasonably fast. The Moon was slow but waxing and applying to conjoin with Jupiter (finally Direct and gaining speed.) For the early part of the election, the North Node was on the Ascendant, adding much good fortune. The Moon’s Sign Ruler was succedent, which is good. The Moon’s Mansion is suitable for works of love and friendship, which seems compatible as well. The electional window was about thirty minutes for engraving, cut off a bit by the end of the planetary hour.

For the larger talismans I chose the Picatrix frog acceptability talisman in Picatrix II:10.

If, under the influence of Mercury, you make the figure of a single frog on the hour of Mercury, with Mercury rising, in an emerald stone, whoever carries it will offend no one. To the contrary, everyone you meet will speak well of you and say good things about your works.

“MERCURY” was engraved across the middle of the frog, though in one instance the word was placed on the back.

For the smaller, I used the Latin Picatrix Mercury sigil, which resembles the standard Mercury symbol but has a stem between the “horns” and circle, and the lower cruciform portion is slightly squashed.

For the herb below the rings I used aniseed. For suffumigation I used gum arabic, cloves and myrtle. It did not burn terribly easily, but it worked after a few tries.

The incantation was the standard long version of the Picatrix Mercury petition.

Six emerald ring talismans in gold wire were made. One additional green agate ring talisman with gold-filled wire was made. One moss agate tie clip talisman was made. Two loose brown agate cabochon talismans were made– brown agates protect against injuries, especially if made into talismans. A pair of very unusual lodestone/magnetite talismanic cufflinks were made. And finally, one large emerald cabochon talisman was made.

Ultimately only the cufflinks got the sigil. The remainder all got the Mercury frog, even the brown agates.