2741 – Mars Talisman: Amulet

Physical description:

Square metal talisman (probably bronze, poss silver) dating from the 16th or 17th century, inscribed on one side with the Square of Mars and spirit names, and on the other side with the Seal of Mars, spirit names and other sigils and symbols. Purchased from Bill Lovett in 2023

Museum classification:

Protection

Size:

41 x 41 x 1

Information:

Purchased from the finder, Bill Lovett. This finely inscribed talisman is a metal-detector find, discovered about 18" deep in a field in East Anglia. 
The Square of Mars is a 5 square grid of the numbers 1 to 25, arranged so that each line (horizontal and vertical) adds up to the number 65.
The spirit names on the side inscribed with the Square of Mars are Ielahiah, Friagne, Mathon and Lana. The spirit names on the side inscribed with the Seal of Mars are Phaleg, Madimiel, Camael and Dagon. The symbols also inscribed on that side of the talisman include the astrological symbols for Mars, Aries and Scorpio, the character of the Spirit of Mars (Phaleg), and the sigil of the Archangel Samael.
The creator of the talisman seems to have drawn on Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa's 'Three Books of Occult Philosophy', the 'Heptameron' attributed to Pietro d'Abano, and the anonymous book of magic 'Arbatel'.
The significance of the spirit names is as follows:- Friagne - Angel of Mars ruling at the East; Lana - Angel of Mars ruling at the West; Ielahiah - Angel of the Schemhamphoras (the Name of God concealed in the Book of Exodus), associated with warfare; Mathon - Name of the 5th hour of the night (probably a mistake for Machon, the name of the Sphere of Mars); Phaleg - Ruling Spirit of Mars; Madimiel - Spirit of Mars; Dagon - God of the Philistines (in the Bible, King Saul was defeated by the Philistines as a punishment from God, and his head hung in the temple of Dagon); Camael - Angel set over Mars.

The use of the name Dagon may seem strange, but Bill Lovett has explained that Samael and Dagon are connected in Gnostic beliefs.

The scanned image below is from "The Golden Dawn" by Israel Regardie Volume 4 (1940) page 82 in the Museum library:

Mars Talisman by Alexander Cummins

The creation of early modern magical objects typically involved casting the metals at astrologically appropriate times - presumably when Mars was in a strong position in the heavens and/or when the Sun was in Aries or Scorpio, the signs ruled by Mars. They would then be fumigated with incense (the incenses of Mars including pepper and other materials with hot, caustic, burning or sharp 'savours') and otherwise 'vivified' with ardent prayer and incantations of voces magicae, which might include the names of Martial spirits (such as those actually written on the talisman) or so-called 'barbarous' words of power. Finally, it might have been charged by hanging or otherwise leaving it to soak up the occult virtues of Mars in an appropriate environment: battlefields being the obvious example of a location associated with the war-monger planet.

The names of spirits are here accompanied by the seals, sigils and characters of these entities - further cementing their employment in bring about the effects the magician sought. On the reverse side, the tabulated digits form a kamea or 'number square'.

The occult philosopher Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa described ‘tables of the planets, endowed with many, and very great virtues of the heavens, in as much as they represent that divine order of celestial numbers, impressed upon celestials by the Ideas of the Divine Mind, by means of the Soul of the World, and the sweet harmony of those celestial rays’. Such number squares marshaled celestial forces which could be framed and employed for tangible operative uses.

Agrippa elsewhere details what these functions of a Martial kamea might include: 'being engraven on an Iron plate, or sword, makes a man potent in war, and judgments, and petitions, and terrible to his enemies, and victorious against them... but if it be engraven with Mars being unfortunate, on a plate of red Brass it hinders buildings, casts down the powerfull from dignities, honors, and riches, and causeth discord, strife, and hatred of men, and beasts, chaseth away Bees, Pigeons, and Fish, and hinders Mils, and renders them unfortunate that go forth to hunting, or fighting, and causeth barreness in men and women, and other Animals, and strikes a terror in all enemies, and compels them to submit.' These kinds of Martial talisman were also used for warding off diseases and maladies thought to be ruled by Mars, including: lice, hairloss, pimples, swellings, intermitting fevers, and problems with the gall, kidneys, veins and reproductive organs.

Such a magical object could have been deployed or activated by being buried or carried on one's person in secret. However the remnant of a hole bored in the "top" corner suggests it was hung - either around the neck or from a nail in a place where it would radiate its Martial influence.

Resource:

Object

Materials:

Metal (bronze? silver?)

Copyright ownership:

Bill Lovett and the Museum of Witchcraft

Purchased from the finder, Bill Lovett. This finely inscribed talisman is a metal-detector find, discovered about 18" deep in a field in East Anglia. 
The Square of Mars is a 5 square grid of the numbers 1 to 25, arranged so that each line (horizontal and vertical) adds up to the number 65.
The spirit names on the side inscribed with the Square of Mars are Ielahiah, Friagne, Mathon and Lana. The spirit names on the side inscribed with the Seal of Mars are Phaleg, Madimiel, Camael and Dagon. The symbols also inscribed on that side of the talisman include the astrological symbols for Mars, Aries and Scorpio, the character of the Spirit of Mars (Phaleg), and the sigil of the Archangel Samael.
The creator of the talisman seems to have drawn on Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa's 'Three Books of Occult Philosophy', the 'Heptameron' attributed to Pietro d'Abano, and the anonymous book of magic 'Arbatel'.
The significance of the spirit names is as follows:- Friagne - Angel of Mars ruling at the East; Lana - Angel of Mars ruling at the West; Ielahiah - Angel of the Schemhamphoras (the Name of God concealed in the Book of Exodus), associated with warfare; Mathon - Name of the 5th hour of the night (probably a mistake for Machon, the name of the Sphere of Mars); Phaleg - Ruling Spirit of Mars; Madimiel - Spirit of Mars; Dagon - God of the Philistines (in the Bible, King Saul was defeated by the Philistines as a punishment from God, and his head hung in the temple of Dagon); Camael - Angel set over Mars.

The use of the name Dagon may seem strange, but Bill Lovett has explained that Samael and Dagon are connected in Gnostic beliefs.

The scanned image below is from "The Golden Dawn" by Israel Regardie Volume 4 (1940) page 82 in the Museum library:

Mars Talisman by Alexander Cummins

The creation of early modern magical objects typically involved casting the metals at astrologically appropriate times - presumably when Mars was in a strong position in the heavens and/or when the Sun was in Aries or Scorpio, the signs ruled by Mars. They would then be fumigated with incense (the incenses of Mars including pepper and other materials with hot, caustic, burning or sharp 'savours') and otherwise 'vivified' with ardent prayer and incantations of voces magicae, which might include the names of Martial spirits (such as those actually written on the talisman) or so-called 'barbarous' words of power. Finally, it might have been charged by hanging or otherwise leaving it to soak up the occult virtues of Mars in an appropriate environment: battlefields being the obvious example of a location associated with the war-monger planet.

The names of spirits are here accompanied by the seals, sigils and characters of these entities - further cementing their employment in bring about the effects the magician sought. On the reverse side, the tabulated digits form a kamea or 'number square'.

The occult philosopher Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa described ‘tables of the planets, endowed with many, and very great virtues of the heavens, in as much as they represent that divine order of celestial numbers, impressed upon celestials by the Ideas of the Divine Mind, by means of the Soul of the World, and the sweet harmony of those celestial rays’. Such number squares marshaled celestial forces which could be framed and employed for tangible operative uses.

Agrippa elsewhere details what these functions of a Martial kamea might include: 'being engraven on an Iron plate, or sword, makes a man potent in war, and judgments, and petitions, and terrible to his enemies, and victorious against them... but if it be engraven with Mars being unfortunate, on a plate of red Brass it hinders buildings, casts down the powerfull from dignities, honors, and riches, and causeth discord, strife, and hatred of men, and beasts, chaseth away Bees, Pigeons, and Fish, and hinders Mils, and renders them unfortunate that go forth to hunting, or fighting, and causeth barreness in men and women, and other Animals, and strikes a terror in all enemies, and compels them to submit.' These kinds of Martial talisman were also used for warding off diseases and maladies thought to be ruled by Mars, including: lice, hairloss, pimples, swellings, intermitting fevers, and problems with the gall, kidneys, veins and reproductive organs.

Such a magical object could have been deployed or activated by being buried or carried on one's person in secret. However the remnant of a hole bored in the "top" corner suggests it was hung - either around the neck or from a nail in a place where it would radiate its Martial influence.