Ficino Talismans (Image of the Cosmos)
"
He
should therefore imprint this figure of the whole world on the very
birthday of the world".
Marsilio
Ficino
This Talisman was inspired by the
famous renaissance Philosopher and
Astrologer Marsilio Ficino. In his revolutionary work (for his times)
“De Vita” (the Book of Life) published in 1489
where Ficino synthesises Medicine, Astrology and Magic, In the chapters
dealing with the subject of magical Talismans he suggests a Talisman
for the cosmos:
“
How to Construct
a Figure of the Universe.”
“
But why, then,
should we neglect a universal image, an image
of the very universe itself? Through it, they seem to hope for a
benefit from the universe. The adherent of these things, if he can do
it, should sculpt an archetypal form of the whole world, if he pleases,
in bronze, he should imprint this subsequently at the right time in a
thin gilded plate of silver.”
“
But when exactly
should he imprint it? When the Sun has
reached the first minute of Aries. For astrologers customarily tell the
fortune
of the world - at least, what is going to happen in that year -
from this moment, since it is the return of it’s
birthday.”
The Talismans were assembled on March the 21st between 5:45 - 6:15 GMT+3 while the Sun was in 0 degrees with Aries.
I am following Ficino’s instructions and will assemble and
consecrate this Talisman when the Sun will enter the first minute of
Aries, As ficino explains this is considered the birthday of the world,
the beginning of a new cycle. The Sun in 0 aries is not only an
invocation of images of birth and beginning, it is also entering the
sign of its exaltation, where it is extremely strong (essentially
dignified) therefore this is also a solar Talisman, which has ingrained
in it the image of the whole cosmos as it is inherent in the Sun
itself; the powerful Architect and life generating force of our solar
system It is, in a sense, a Talisman that encapsulates the universal
image of birth and life, and it helps us tune our-self to the
generating forces of life as a whole.
A limited edition will be assembled at the exact ingress of the Sun in
the sign of Aries.
The Talisman is set with traditional stones ruled by the different
planets:
Moon - Moonstone
Mercury - Emerald
Venus - Peridot
Sun Pink Tourmaline
Mars - Amethyst
Jupiter - Yellow Topaz
Saturn-Sapphire.
The names of the planets are written in Hebrew,Latin and Arabic.
The outer circle is the Ancient Egyptian glyphs of the zodiac.
“
He
should therefore imprint this figure of the whole world on the very
birthday of the world. but don’t you see how beautifully the
argument that the whole world was born at a particular time will help
us in this discussion? For it is born in any and every year. In the
horoscope of a person, don’t astrologers measure first in
what sign, in what degree, in what minute was the Sun? And then they
lay the foundation of the whole figure. And in any year thereafter, as
soon as the Sun enters the same minute, they think that the man is as
it were, reborn; and thence they prophesy this year’s
fortune.“
“
Therefore, just
as in man it does no good to do this unless
he is, so to speak, reborn, and he cannot be, as it were, reborn,
unless he had been born at some particular time, so it can be
conjectured that the world, too, was born at some time, namely, when
the Sun entered the first minute of Aries, because a particular Lot of
the world being reborn, so to speak, is revolved through the same
position in every year. At this time, therefore, he should construct
the figure of the world.”
Ficino realized that the universe itself is a living thing, or in his
own words:
“
There will be
some men or other, superstitious and blind,
who see life plain in even the lowest animals and the meanest plants,
but do not see life in the heavens or the world ... Now if those little
men grant life to the smallest particles of the world, what folly! what
envy! neither to know that the Whole, in which we live and move and
have our being, is itself alive, nor to wish this to be so”
Therefore as a Neoplatonist he believed in the integration of the
Cosmos itself with the human soul and this integration found
it’s way to his Astrology and this Talisman