--- In solomonic@yahoogroups.com, + Kempis <kempis057@...> wrote:

> I get the impression that a seal in the similar style
> can be made just the same. So one could pull a verse
> on dreams, wrap it around characters of the moon, and
> place this under the pillow. The choice of these
> characters and geometics might be simpler than I've
> previously assumed.

It's standard talismanic procedure - as explained in Agrippa's work.
I've often wondered about the Geomantic figures on the Solomonic
Talismans. However, they seem less mysterious to me now that I
finally know a thing or two about Geomancy. The Geomantic figures
(Tetragrams) *could* simply be those associated with the Planet in
question. (There are two Tetragrams for each Planet, and you can make
several pictograms out of each of them.)

On the other hand, I have to wonder if the Tetgragrams might be drawn
from an actual Geomantic reading that was done before the Talisman was
created. One could take the Tetragrams from the reading that fall
into the Houses that govern the question, and are fortunate, and
inscribe them on the Talisman.

I also note that most of the Solomonic Talismans have 8-pointed stars
on them, regardless of their proper Planets. I found the likely
source for this in Orthodox Christianity. For them, the number 8 is
extremely holy. It is illustrated with a Hexagram (shades of the
Pauline Arts?), where all six points are counted along with the center
and one point below the Hexigram itself. I'll have to look for a list
I wrote down long ago - but they have Virtues and colors associated
with each point. (The same colors they use in their Iconography.) I
don't remember the list off-hand, but I do remember that the central
point was Spirituality/White, and the lower-most point was
Humility/Black. Come to think of it, one of the points of the
Hexagram was Valor/Red...

I believe that the number 8 played a larger role in Christianity at
the time the grimoires were written. I note the number pops up all
the time in Dee's magick - usually a principal Seven with a hidden
Eighth. It represents the Seven Days of Creation followed by the
final "Eighth" Day of the Tribulation. Thus, the number 8 represents
the entirety of Time and Space, the full Creation of God from
beginning to end, etc.

Consider that the Wheel of Spirit we commonly use in modern systems
like the Golden Dawn and Neopaganism is an 8-rayed Star enclosed in a
Circle. On the other end of the specturm, the ancient symbol for the
Sumerian God Anu- Father Sky- was an 8-rayed Star.

LVX
Aaron