What is a Talisman & How It’s Used in Magick

A talisman is an object specially made and charged to embody a specific energy or force. It is then used to represent or attract the energy in ritual or to attract or radiate that energy for the person who carries or wears it.

Talismans in Rituals

The word talisman derives from the Greek verb teleō (τελέω); “to complete a ritual”. Talismans are often created as part of a ritual or ceremony using prescribed materials at designated times.

These may be highly formal; the creation of a Sun talisman working during the planetary hour of the Sun when the sun is in Leo using gold and gems that correspond to the element of the sun and inscribing it with symbols that represent the sun in order to allow the wearer to raise their consciousness, all while burning appropriate incense and candles and chanting the appropriate prayers.

Creating a Talisman

Or the creation of a talisman may be less formal;  the weaving of Brigid’s Cross out of straw at Imbolc to be hung in the home to invite Brigid’s protection against fire damage.  Some talismans are simply words, often prayers, written on a piece of paper.

Whether complex or simple, the act of creating the talisman is the spell. This is why some traditions hold that a talisman only works if the person who is going to use it is also the person who creates it.

Others believe that magick users can create talismans for the use of others, but the person for whom it is created must be taken into account during the creation.

Yet other schools of thought allow for the creation of a talisman by a stranger to be charged by the intended user after it has been obtained, and fully assembled.