Tides of Tethys is the jewelry studio and astrological talisman practice of Genie Raftopoulos, founded in 2014. The atelier creates astrological talismans and bespoke fine jewelry, including engagement rings and wedding bands. Each piece is handcrafted using traditional gold and silversmithing techniques, with a focus on astrological timing, spirit relationship, and sustainable practices.
Tides of Tethys is named after Tethys, one of the old gods—a Titan, a primordial ocean goddess and mother of the oceanic gods & merfolk. She is also the namesake of a moon of Saturn, which contains a chasm named after Genie’s ancestral home of Ithaca, Greece.
The pieces created under Tides of Tethys are predominantly astrological talismans. The ethos is one of small, periodic releases of high-quality handcrafted talismanic jewelry, made in alignment with specific celestial configurations.
Astrological Study & Philosophical Orientation
My education is broad and ongoing. I studied Hellenistic astrology through Chris Brennan and first learned medieval astrological magic and electional techniques with Ryhan Butler. I continue to study primarily with Tides of Tethys’ resident astrologer, Gray Crawford.
My approach to astrological magic has evolved through years of dedicated study. What began as a practice informed by familiar texts—the Picatrix, Agrippa’s Three Books of Occult Philosophy, and Ficino’s Three Books on Life—has expanded into a wider study of human relationships with the stars across cultures and throughout history.
My interests now span Greco-Egyptian magic, Babylonian star lore, Mediterranean folk traditions, the intersections of ancient Greek religion with Orthodoxy, and Indigenous animistic traditions and spirit relationships. What draws these interests together is a fascination with the ways people have looked to the skies and cultivated relationships with gods, spirits, and stellar ancestors.
Astrological magic doesn’t exist in a (Picatrix) vacuum. It developed across medieval Europe, within the cunning-craft traditions of England, and in Byzantine and Orthodox Christian contexts. The rules around elections varied and evolved across these settings. The Picatrix belongs to a broader body of talismanic and ritual literature, including works such as the Hygromanteia, and I am still discovering the breadth of magical texts and practices that belong to this history.
This diversity gives us grounds to question why the Picatrix is sometimes treated as the sole authority. I approach it as one influential expression of a living tradition that continued to evolve. Historical context, comparative study, and a willingness to question inherited assumptions are central to my approach.
Philosophically, my practice is grounded in Platonic and theurgic traditions, particularly the writings of Plato and Iamblichus. It is also informed by the natural philosophy of Paracelsus and the depth psychology of C. G. Jung and James Hillman. I work with a mythic and animistic orientation, engaging with gods, daimons, and spirits within an understanding of a living cosmos, in which the stars and planets cast their rays upon and inspirit the natural, sublunar world.
About Genie, Education, Smithcraft, & Lineage
I am an interdisciplinary artist working in gold and silversmithing. I have been a practising artist since completing my Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1999, and I hold a Master of Fine Arts from RMIT University in Melbourne.
My practice sits at the intersection of art and magic, although I understand these practices as one and the same. Their relationship is something I have spent many years exploring through making, contemplation and scholarship, and which I write about on my Patreon. There is magic inherent in the work of the smith. It has been said, after all, that the smith is the brother to the alchemist.
As Mircea Eliade writes:
“What the smelter, smith and alchemist have in common is that all three lay claim to a particular magico-religious experience in their relations with matter; this experience is their monopoly and its secret is transmitted through the initiatory rites of their trades. All three work on a Matter which they hold to be at once alive and sacred, and in their labours they pursue the transformation of matter, its perfection and its transmutation.”
—Mircea Eliade, The Forge and the Crucible, foreword, pp. 8–9.
I come into communion with the gods, daimones and saints through ritual, sculpting, smithing, mediumship, and scholarship. Study is itself part of this relationship: I follow the breadcrumb trails of practice-led research.
My ancestors are my most direct connection to this work. I am of Greek and Italian heritage: my father was born in Frikes, a small village on the Greek island of Ithaca, and one of my grandparents on the other side of my family was born in Italy. These roots inform my relationships with Greek and Roman gods, daimones, mythology and folk magic.
The stars are at the centre of these relationships. I work with astrological timings and court the stellar spirits through devotional art making, handcrafting dwelling places for them. This is smithcraft as a magical practice.
The smiths of history and myth are ancestors of the craft: makers of enchanted rings, protective charms, talismans and extraordinary weapons. I understand my work in relation to this lineage and its tutelary spirits.
“Thus we read that ancient priests made statues and images that predicted the future and infused them with the spirits of the stars. These spirits were not confined in such material but were happy there; they found that material agreeable to them, always and willingly inhabiting there. While there, they spoke and brought about miracles.”
—Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim, Three Books of Occult Philosophy, Book I, chapter 39.
In Greek myth, the smith-god Hephaestus finds refuge beneath the sea with Thetis and Eurynome, where he works at his craft. This meeting of water, metal and divine making speaks to the heart of my practice. Named for the primordial ocean goddess Tethys, Tides of Tethys belongs to this current of smithcraft.
Materials and Techniques
Each piece is hand-crafted using ancient techniques such as wax carving, lost-wax casting, and sand casting. The work follows traditional slow-making methods rather than contemporary computer-aided production. Each stage is done by hand, from wax to metal to final form. This includes filing, polishing, stone setting, and the application of surface treatments such as patina.
Only high-quality precious gemstones and metals are used, including sterling or argentum silver and solid gold. Stones are selected by hand for their quality, cut, and optical properties.