The Daimones of Askelpios Talismans

The Daimones of Asklepios  (aka the stellar spirits of Rasalhague) were called under the auspices of an astrological election when the Moon conjoined Rasalhague on the Midheaven.

The Moon in the election is applying within one degree to Rasalhague on the midheaven at night. The Moon was waning in her full phase, visible in the night sky underneath the head of the Serpent Bearer. Jupiter in his exaltation of Cancer is the lord of the ascendant, placed in the 5th house of Good Fortune along with Venus, who has her joy in the 5th place. Although there is not a Ptolemaic aspect between Jupiter and the Moon, they are in signs of equal ascension (also known as contra-antiscia) and have the mutual reception of the Moon being in the domicile of Jupiter and Jupiter being in the domicile of the Moon. 

During the election the undersides of the gemstones were engraved with the image of a man and a serpent. According to Albertus Magnus in De mineralibus, this image, engraved on a stone credited with protection against poison, was believed to protect its wearer against poisons and venomous bites. Agrippa, in Three Books of Occult Philosophy, says it“chases away poisons and cures poisonous bites.” Material attributed to Arnold of Saxony describes this talisman worn on the person, as “freeing its bearer from poison”. 

Carnelian was chosen for its long history of use in talismans and amulets. It is a variety of chalcedony, and historical lapidaries credit it with these properties:

“Calms anger, purifies the flesh, gives patience and resignation to those who wear it as a ring or otherwise; it strengthens eyesight, enlivens the soul, and gives one a venerable air and good character.”

—Claude Lecouteux, A Lapidary of Sacred Stones: Their Magical and Medicinal Powers Based on the Earliest Sources

The carving of this ring took a full lunar cycle, as it went through many permutations before its final form emerged. While the election is important, the slow art of smithcraft has a magic of its own. The sustained work of sculpting and working metal is itself devotion and communion with the stellar spirits. In The Forge and the Crucible, Mircea Eliade describes a distinct “magico-religious experience” shared by smiths, smelters, and alchemists in their relationship with material understood as alive and sacred.

Each ring was then set with the engraved carnelian gemstones, a mixture of the ashes from the petiton to Sanit Kosmas and Damian and earth collected from the sanctuary of Asklepios at Epidaurus.