“Under the head of Algol they made an image whose figure was the head of a man with a bloody neck; they report that it bestows good success to petitions, and maketh him who carrieth it bold and magnanimous, and preserveth the members of the body sound: also it helpeth against witchcraft, and reflecteth evil endeavors and wicked incantations upon our adversaries.” – Henry Cornelius Agrippa, Three Books of Occult Philosophy, Book II, Chapter 47 (transl. Joseph H. Peterson)
Algol, a fixed star in the Perseus constellation, is one of the 15 Behenian Stars described in Agrippa’s Three Books of Occult Philosophy as well as earlier works on astrological magic. It is a star with an evil reputation and has been associated with death, decapitation, and malefic power by a wide variety of cultures.
In astrological magic, we make use of this star by electing a fortunate time to construct a talisman imbued with the powers of Algol to protect us against the malice of others, particularly when spiritual malice is directed towards us. The following election represents an ideal time to create an Algol talisman.
The Election
The place is London, UK and the time is 00:34 BST on 27 July 2019.
Algol is rising and the Moon applies to a partile conjunction to Algol. The moon hersel is waning (totally appropriate here where we want to ward away evil) and she is dignified by triplicity and is in her exaltation in Taurus. She makes applying sextile aspects to Venus and to a very strong Sun.
The working
Agrippa describes the manner of working with this election in Book I, Chapter 47 of his Three Books of Occult Philosophy:
“Now the manner of making these kinds of rings, is this, viz. when any star ascends fortunately, with the fortunate aspect, or conjunction of the Moon, we must take a stone, and herb that is under that star, and make a ring of the metal that is suitable to this star, and in it fasten the stone, putting the herb, or root under it; not omitting the inscriptions of images, names, and characters, as also the proper suffumigations…” – Henry Cornelius Agrippa, Three Books of Occult Philosophy, Book I, Chapter 47 (transl. Joseph H. Peterson)
The herbs, suffimigations and stone for Algol can be found described in Liber Hermetis1 which gives the herbs as black hellebore and wormwood mugwort2, and the stone of Algol as diamond. The seal of Algol can also be found in Liber Hermetis, although versions are also available in Agrippa in Book II, Chapter 52 which Joseph H. Peterson has kindly made available here at his Esoteric Archives website.
At the time of the election, a diamond should be engraved with the image of a decapitated head and the seal of Algol while invoking the Angel of the constellation and the spirit of Algol. The diamond should be set in a ring or pendant with some of the ground herbs. This ring should then be suffumigated with the herbs of Algol while a petition for courage and protection is recited.
The election is only valid for London, UK and would need to be rectified for your location. If you would like to order a Algol talisman election for your location, feel free to order an election via my services page or contact me here.
1 Liber Hermetis, in Joan Evans, Magical Jewels of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, (transl. John Michael Greer)
2 Although John Michael Greer translates artamesie [sic] in Liber Hermetis as wormwood, I believe mugwort (artemesia vulgaris, i.e., common artemesia) is the correct herb. For one, mugwort was commonly used in medieval times to repels insects and pests (and so the symbolism fits). Artemesia also usually referred to mugwort since Roman times.