The words talisman, amulet and charm are quite often used interchangeably, but they are very different and have their own specific purposes. How they are created and when, is done in a way very much apart from just making a piece of jewellery to adorn the body for aesthetic reasons. These words are increasingly used to describe items of jewellery, with the wave of wellness and new age metaphysical trends taking over social media platforms, it feels like just another marketing ploy, where nothing is sacred, and the esoteric, which by its definition in the occult sense means that this knowledge is specialised, it had been earned…has been laid out bare in reels, with private rituals being perfectly recorded, with more ego at the forefront than anything else.
Nothing of meaning can be made cheaply in a factory, on a mass-produced scale, and constructed in ways and times that do not align with the specific function of the talisman or amulet (I have left out charms here, which I will explain more later). But can these mass-produced items be altered in a way that can personalise them and shift them into the category of a talisman or amulet? yes, they can…coins for example have been throughout history, bent and marked to transform them into a protector, a secret weapon for gamblers, love tokens and any other deeply desired tool for attracting or repelling.
Take mercury coins for example (especially those minted in leap years) which are an American dime that features an image of the Lady Liberty, this image greatly resembles the god Mercury, who among many things is associated with luck and monetary gain. How many gamblers have held these coins in their hands, rubbing their fingers over every groove and high point, until the metal becomes a hot disk of transferred energy and heat…holding their great highs and lows, their sweat and tears, worries and fears.
I know I have, with my crudely bent little Mercury dime ring, with its scars and roughly lead soldered band…and how many held it before me?
So yes, it is not so black and white, because as you may be sensing, the power really in essence comes from the owner. My point above regarding the mass production of talismans and amulets claiming to be of significance, is not only due to my distain for mass-production, especially in the arts and personal adornments, but because someone you don’t have a connection to, cannot really be creating anything for you of real value beyond a monetary, material level, just because they say it has been imbued with reiki or whatever the claim may be…just call it what it is, a beautiful piece of jewellery.
This article may be coming off more hostile than informative, but I promise it isn’t intended that way, I myself offer services making talismans and amulets for my clients, although not in large volumes, and they are usually custom bespoke pieces with hidden, secret engravings that only have significance to the wearer, and only seen by them, and if they are created when the inspiration strikes, once purchased they will be altered to suit the new owner.
What is the difference between charms, talismans, and amulets?
I am going to start with charms, because they are the purer of the three, in regard to the simplicity of their very nature. A charm would have been the predecessor of talismans and amulets, a shell with a wave worn hole, bearing the abuse and the loving caress of the ocean, to find itself washed ashore, only to be found and carried in animal skin pouches or worn on the body, some mystical and magical gift from the sea, studied and touched, pondered over and cherished, unlike many objects modern humans can’t hold enough attention for, our thirst for “stuff” dulling any significance, regard for environmental consequences or even an awareness our own corruption.
A charm can be a seed, a bone, an ancient coin lost to time, a hag stone…it can be anything small enough to carry, there are no rules, only the animistic pull it has on you, where you just feel “something” for this object that the sanitization of industry, science, cynicism, tells us is nothing of importance and has no lifeforce. The ancients and some living cultures today will tell you differently, take the animist Hindus of Bali for instance, even a motorbike or car will have a special ceremony, because it is made of metal, it carries life and is essentially…alive.
Just as rocks, the ocean, mountains, the entire macro, and micro-cosmos…are all alive, and without due respect and acknowledgement, will remind you.
I have held a fascination with found objects since childhood, and still have old rusty boxes filled with treasures, where only I will see their worth. A small piece of wood that had grown into a triangle topped key, strung onto tiger snake bones and cheap hessian thread, Iron nails, feathers and dried petals from gifts of those who I once loved and who loved me back…even a page from a diary given to me by a friend when on my birthday, he had nothing to give me but a day from his life, a friend who I would run amok with, burning our little world to the ground. I have held on to these trinkets for a lifetime, they are more than mere objects to me.
Charms are not so much created, but found as they are, you resonate with them, connect to them, and feel that they bring you luck and favour with the universe, gods, or whatever you believe governs your existence in this life.
I will say now that while I have a strong line of Irish Catholic heritage, and even a great aunt who was a nun, I am not a follower of any Abrahamic belief system, and remain in the human default of animism, but as I have discussed in depth within previous articles, I do believe in the power of unified energy creating egregores, that do hold some weight. So, I do occasionally wear a necklace I have constructed of silver and depicts a large locket with an ancient little known pagan goddess I deeply identify with, but also has catholic medallions attached to the chain. The first of which was a medallion given to me while shopping once, it is the “Miraculous medal of the virgin Mary” and while waiting at the checkout in one of the last old remaining shops in Fremantle, that I have been shopping in since my teens, a lady started talking to my toddler.
I said hello to her, and she proceeded to invite me to see a relic at the local Catholic church (a statue of a saint, on tour from overseas and containing a real part of his body!) I would have actually liked to see it, as this was the church of my great, great, great grandmother, who was infamously murdered on the swan river in 1909, and who I have been intensely studying after finding hard proof that will re-write her story. She then proceeded to also give me her virgin Mary medallion and told me to always wear it as we all need protection, especially in these times.
Now again, normally I would be moving far away from this, as I have also studied my great, great, great, great grandmother on my other side, who is immortalized on the Woodlawn boys school stained glass church windows, and her great granddaughter burnt all the family photos…so what does that say. But the gesture in itself was one of good intention and kindness and thus this charm was imbued with that, and so yes, I do wear it often…she also told me I should return to my Catholic roots, but I shall not be doing that, I quite enjoy my animist-pagan, debaucherously, indulgent life. On the same chain I wear a medallion of St Benedict, who is associated with unlocking doors and clearing the path (sounds rather occultist to me, but take a deep dive into Rosicrucian gnostic Christianity, because that is very interesting).
The last charm on that chain is a four-way medal, that while is Catholic has uncanny associations with Western occultism, and I view it as the four magical weapons, the four directions, the coins, swords, wands, and cups of the tarot, because the imagery can absolutely transfer over, right down to the birth in the east, and the returning to the cup, the feminine, the void of death, in the west. I have categorised these medallions with charms in this article mostly because they had not been created with intent for the specific wearer, but acquired as they are.
What I am articulating here, is that charms can come from anywhere, but you know they are special when you acquire them, regardless of their origins.
I see you scanning the room, searching through old boxes and drawers…could it be that you own some charms too?
Now charms are not without their own rules, my ex-husband in Bali would never pick up a coin found on the ground without replacing it with a lower denomination, because you really should leave something in its place, which reminds me of traditions here, where we should not collect a coin on the ground if it is tails up, because that will not be a lucky charm at all. I remember hearing a story of an occultist whose floor was covered in coins, because he refused to ever pick one up if it fell and was not heads up! So, they would remain where they were.
Not all coins should be collected either, take Britain’s coin trees for instance, which are filled with rows and rows of coins, some coins date from as far back as the 1700’s, so many in fact that you struggle to see the bark. They are wedged into the trunk in the belief that if placed there by a sick person, the sickness will be absorbed by the tree and that they will be healed, but if someone removes the coin, they will then become sick themselves (contagious transfer).
I feel like this may be a good time to also introduce touch pieces. These have traditionally been coins and medallions blessed and held by royalty or a person of religious significance. When touched by the source of power, that power is then transferred into the coin, this tradition dates to ancient Rome from a ceremony known as “the touching” in which coins were given to the sick by the emperor Vespasian. I see how the making of charms, amulets and talismans by self-confessed healers, shamans and empaths on Instagram may be related to this ancient practice, but they are in no way comparable.
There are many notable pieces of significance that I could cover in this article, which I am going to save for another time, but I will make a mention to the Lee penny, which is a silver penny from the reign of Edward IV (1422-1483) that has been set with a triangular shaped deep red stone, which was acquired by Sir Symon Locard during the crusade in 1330. This stone was Persian in origin and was reported to have the power to stop bleeding, fevers, the bites of mad dogs, and to heal cattle and horses. To use this jewel, it was said that it must be dipped three times and then swirled once in water, (without speaking, as this would render it useless) which was then to be used as a drink or to be bathed in, It was also forbidden to ask to be paid for the healing water, although if the jewel ever left the estate, a deposit would need to be paid. The Lee penny had been used to transfer healing powers in water for sick livestock and even to cure those affected by the plague, and still remains in the Lockhart family to this day. This beautiful and alluring gem while found in its natural state and acquired as a charm had effectively been transformed into an amulet, first by the Persian mother who had to hand it over to Sir Symon Locart (the stone was reported by some to originally be set into a coin of the lower Roman empire) as part of a ransom paid for the freedom of her son, who was held captive, to then be set into the silver penny and transformed into an amulet so connected to the church that it was spared from the ban on the use of amulets, which came about due to the belief that charms, amulets and talismans were linked to witchcraft.
This now brings me to amulets.
The reason behind why amulets and talismans are so distinctly apart, is that amulets repel…they repel illness, evil, bad fortune, and danger. They should be created during the waning moon, because as the moon decreases, so does the sickness or misfortune of the person the amulet is to be created for, or for its intended function. The hour of the moon and even the day is also relevant, for instance you would not be making a pendant to attract love during a waning moon on a Tuesday in an unfavourable planetary hour (Tuesday is linked to Mars and war), you would be making it on a Friday (linked to Venus) and in the hour of Venus, during a waxing moon, preferably in Taurus or Libra.
The sole purpose of an amulet is to protect, it is to be made and forgotten about, it does not necessarily need constant energy poured into it, for it will continue to deflect and repel. Take for instance the “all suffering eye” from ancient Rome, which is depicted as an eye surrounded by wild beasts, nails, swords, bow and arrows and even penises, which draw in the attention of the evil, knowingly or unknowingly directed at the target, which is then vanquished by the weapons, rather than finding the actual target themselves.
Another good example are ABRACADABRA amulets, which were very popular during medieval times for fevers and illness. This ancient word meaning “I create as a speak” of Aramaic origin was written in the form of a triangle, with one letter dropped each time the word is written, when the word is spoken as a chant, said each time without the last letter, the illness will decrease, this amulet was written on parchment and hung around the neck of the ill person on flax cord, then being discarded into a flowing stream.
There are some adornments that can be transferable in meaning, such as bells. They can either be used to draw in and to summon or push away and cause fear in evil spirits, as a guide I feel the sound they emit will tell you which category they fall into, you would intuitively know it, and if you have created them yourself, you would be making them with the intent of either being an amulet or a talisman, lets not forget that bells are also used across cultures to induce a state of trance and shift.
The materials in which Amulets and charms are constructed is also of great importance, for reference iron is used to protect and repel, gold is for wealth, masculine power and its link to the sun, silver is often used for its link to the feminine and the moon, and copper is associated with healing, love and also as a conductor for the precious gemstones that are set into it.
This is why I have always worked with a range of mixed metals, regardless of their intrinsic value, because I would never be making a talisman for wealth with iron components, or a talisman for sex and love without silver or copper.
So now let’s move onto talismans, which is where I feel most people have their interest really sparked. A talisman is the most involved and complicated of the three, it should be made during the waxing moon when power is increasing, in the correct sign and in the right planetary hour. For example, a talisman to attract wealth would be made during a waxing moon, preferably on a Wednesday or Thursday and in the planetary hour of mercury. You would also be paying close attention to the gemstones used, wanting to edge towards green or yellow and using a yellow metal such as gold or if you must brass or bronze.
A talisman needs constant feeding like a hungry beast, you do not just make or purchase it and then leave it be, you constantly infuse more energy and thought into it, it is not a tool to push away or deflect, it is a tool that is required to work, to draw in and manifest. After construction you would cleanse it in the relevant manner, say again for wealth, you would be using chamomile, for healing saffron, or love something like lemon verbena (depending on the nuances these plants vary greatly), you could even take it a step further and base your use of magical, medicinal plants on whether they are masculine or feminine. As a guide, mugwort can be used as a consecration plant for most new magical, significant items. The same applies if you are using smoke for cleansing, something like amber would be appropriate for a wealth talisman, while frankincense resin would be suited to an amulet to ward off illness. You then must think of how your amulets and talismans are stored, such as the relevant coloured bag that would correlate with the items function, and please store them away from sight, they should not be seen, unless in use and intended to be. The same goes for any inscriptions, they should not be in sight, they should be hidden on the reverse of things like rings and pendants, because only you need to know their true purpose and meaning.
I am going to conclude by saying that you do not have to use wildly valuable materials to create pieces that hold wildly valuable meaning, purist Western occultism will tell you differently, but it is my deeply held belief that intention is everything.
If you would like to learn more about the creation of amulets and talismans, and to make one with your own hands, I will be holding small group workshops and one on one classes in my Fremantle studio. Please contact me for more information or to make a booking.
