To extend the celebrations of my many years around the Sun, I am excited to announce the launch of the Solar Talismans. 

My idea for releasing Solar Talismans in November is more about this month being historically one of the darkest and rainiest times of the year (in the Pacific Northwest) than it being my Solar return. Last year was my first winter here as a transplant from Australia (a place generally known for its warmth and sunshine) and when November hit I was not prepared. It had started raining on the day of the Venus Cazimi in late October and it didn’t let up for what felt like three months. I recall by Thanksgiving last year I was feeling dragged by the weight of the dark skies and I was not looking forward to a repeat this year. So, I am sure you can understand why Sun talismans were at the top of my list of Talismanic elections over the summer. I was hoping for a good and solid election with the Sun in Leo; what I did not expect was that I was going to find the Operation of the Sun. 

In my many years spent as a professional talismanic artist I have learnt that there is much more to talisman making than finding the right astrological election. It is not a race to the finish-line, or a crass game of catch and keep, but rather a slow and long courting ritual.

A dance of seduction.

For Millenia people have seduced the spirits with Art. Bodies writhed in dance, music made with mouths and hands, canvases caressed with wet loaded brushes, paper feverishly scratched with poetry. These are just some of the many ways for Art is multifarious.

The ways of the jewellery talisman maker are the ways of the Smith and the Sculptor.

Exploring the mythological depths of Fomalhaut + ideas for Poesis & Praxis.

Fomalhaut is projected onto the ecliptic at 4 degrees & 10 minutes Pisces. It is one of the four Royal Stars, known as the watchers of the heavens, and is associated with the Archangel Gabriel. According to Ptolomy,  Fomalhaut is fortunate and powerful and has the potential to influence a “shift from material to a spiritual form of expression”. As the most esoteric in nature of the Royal Stars, this blue hued stellar being is more readily accessible to the dreamer who traverses labyrinthine paths into hidden and obscured depths, than to the waking world and therefore, I propose we seek to gain an understanding of the nature of Fomalhaut via symbols, myth, and the poetic. 

On the 22nd of May 2022 at 6:28am AEST Mercury in retrograde will be applying within one degree to the ascendant and forming a near exact (within 4 minutes) conjunction with the Sun. Mercury is at 0 degrees Gemini, which places him powerfully in his own bounds, triplicity, and domicile where he is crafty.

Retrograde Mercury is a psychopomp making his pilgrimage through the underworld and when he reaches the Sun, within 17 minutes (or 1 degree) orb it is called Cazimi, an Arabic word that translates as “being in the heart of the Sun.” This is a period when a planet is fortified and made strong by the Sun’s forge, born anew within his fiery rays.