“Under the constellation of Pleiades, they made the image of a little virgin, or the figure of a lamp; it is reported to increase the light of the eyes, to assemble spirits, to raise winds, to reveal secret and hidden things.” – Henry Cornelius Agrippa, Three Books of Occult Philosophy, Book II, Chapter 47 (transl. Joseph H. Peterson)
The Pleiades are a combination of seven stars in the shoulder of the bull in the Taurus constellation. In traditional astrological magic, the Pleiades are associated with the uncovering of secrets, with magic, with clairvoyance and the ability to summon and see spirits.
The Election
The place is London, UK and the time is 06:50 on 25 April 2020.
Alcyone, one of the stars of the Pleiades, is rising. The moon is waxing. Most importantly, the Moon makes a very tight applying conjunction to Alcyone (there is just over 1 degree of separation) and an applying trine to a very strong Saturn in Aquarius.
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)
Although Agrippa suggests that any harmonious aspect between the Moon and the star can be used, Liber Hermetis only mentions the conjunction. In my experience, the conjunction works best, and the tighter the aspect between the star and the Moon, the stronger its effects.
The herbs, suffumigations and stone for the Pleiades can be found described in Liber Hermetis* which gives the herbs as fennel, frankincense and quicksilver (liquid mercury – do not use this in your incense!), and the stone of the Pleiades as rock crystal or quartz. The seal of the Pleiades 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 quartz stone should be engraved with the image of a lamp or a maiden, and the seal of the Pleiades while invoking the Angel of the constellation and the spirit of these stars. The quartz should be set in a ring or pendant with some of the ground herbs. This ring should then be suffumigated with the herbs while a petition for the ability to perceive spirits and to uncover secret and profound things 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 Pleiades talisman election for your location, feel free to order an election via my services page here.
* Liber Hermetis, in Joan Evans, Magical Jewels of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, (transl. John Michael Greer)