SourceAbraxas on Gnostic Gems
A cock-headed, serpent-legged figure interpreted through divine emanations.
Historical talisman traditionsLoading Lumitheca…
Codex
Objects & Symbols
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Ace of Cups
A cloud-borne cup, water and a descending sacramental emblem give this Ace several symbolic layers.
Western Tarot symbolism
Ace of Pentacles
A cloud-borne pentacle raises a distinction between material prosperity and its benefit.
Western Tarot symbolism
Ace of Swords
A crowned sword represents force whose outcome is not uniformly favourable.
Western Tarot symbolism
Ace of Wands
A hand from a cloud presents the suit's single stout wand.
Western Tarot symbolismSourceAnkh
Egyptian sign of life interpreted as a talisman of creative continuity.
Historical talisman traditions
Atalanta Fugiens
Maier’s alchemical emblem book brings engraved images, epigrams, prose and three-voice music into a single sequence.
Michael Maier’s Atalanta Fugiens (1618)SourceBagua Trigrams
Eight-line combinations used within the Pavitts’ account of Chinese talismans.
Historical talisman traditions
SourceBaphomet in Lévi
The composite goat figure used to represent equilibrium and the Absolute.
Éliphas Lévi, Transcendental Magic
SourceBook of the Dead
A variable collection of funerary texts rather than a single fixed book.
Egyptian funerary religionSourceBulla
A Roman amulet container worn as a sign and safeguard.
Historical talisman traditionsSourceCaduceus
Mercury’s serpent-entwined rod as an emblem of persuasion and reconciliation.
Historical talisman traditions
SourceCanna’s Stone
A stone chair used in a healing legend alongside the water of Canna’s well.
Welsh folklore, Wirt Sikes
SourceCaridwen’s Cauldron of Inspiration
The year-long preparation that concentrates its power into three drops.
The Mabinogion, Guest’s 1877 editionSourceCarn Cabal’s Returning Stone
A stone marked by Arthur’s dog that cannot be permanently removed from its heap.
Welsh folklore, Wirt SikesSourceCartouche
The enclosing name-sign treated as a safeguard of personal identity.
Historical talisman traditionsSourceCornucopia
The overflowing horn as a sign of provision, abundance, and fortune.
Historical talisman traditions
SourceDante's Living Shadow
The traveller's interruption of sunlight distinguishes him from the surrounding shades.
Dante, Purgatorio
SourceDeath
A rider whose passage joins mortality with transformation.
Western Tarot symbolism
SourceDeath-Stone
The haunted stone on Nasu moor that contains a fox spirit in Davis's retelling.
Japanese legends, Davis retellingSourceDjed Pillar
The amulet called Tat, associated with stability and Osiris’s backbone.
Egyptian funerary religion
Dragons around the tablet to Confucius
A tablet to Confucius stands within a shrine framed by carved dragons in Hayes’s photograph.
L. Newton Hayes, The Chinese Dragon
Eight of Cups
A departing figure gives the Eight an image of leaving an earlier concern behind.
Western Tarot symbolism
Eight of Pentacles
Stone work supplies an image of craft that can be preparatory rather than complete.
Western Tarot symbolism
Eight of Swords
A bound figure surrounded by swords is expressly described as temporarily confined.
Western Tarot symbolism
Eight of Wands
Flying wands carry the numbered suit into an image of swift motion.
Western Tarot symbolismSourceEmerald Table in Lévi
The Hermetic text used to connect upper and lower worlds through analogy.
Éliphas Lévi, Transcendental MagicSourceEye of Horus
A protective eye emblem whose divine associations vary within the compilation.
Historical talisman traditionsSourceFairy Money
A fairy gift whose value or continued arrival depends on secrecy.
Welsh folklore, Wirt Sikes
SourceFaust’s threshold pentagram
The incomplete sign that admits Mephistopheles but prevents his departure.
Goethe’s Faust, Part OneSourceFive Bats of Happiness
A Chinese grouped bat motif in the Pavitts’ compilation, bringing wishes for luck, wealth, longevity, health and peace into one emblem.
Historical talisman traditions
Five of Cups
Three fallen cups and two remaining upright make loss and remainder part of one composition.
Western Tarot symbolism
Five of Pentacles
Two figures passing a lit window receive explicitly incompatible interpretations.
Western Tarot symbolism
Five of Swords
A figure controlling the field watches two others retreat while their swords remain on the ground.
Western Tarot symbolism
Five of Wands
Five youths brandish staves in a scene described as mock combat.
Western Tarot symbolism
Four of Cups
An offered fourth cup meets a seated figure's dissatisfaction with the three already present.
Western Tarot symbolism
Four of Pentacles
A figure holding several pentacles gives possession a concrete visual arrangement.
Western Tarot symbolism
Four of Swords
A knight's tomb effigy is described in prayer, linking repose with memorial imagery.
Western Tarot symbolism
Four of Wands
A garland joins four foreground staves beside a bridge and a house.
Western Tarot symbolism
Golden Lotus
The eight-petalled flower formed from a dragon's jaws at the end of Davis's Golden Lotus legend.
Buddhist legend, Davis retellingSourceGrass-Cleaving Sword
The sword given to Yamato that cuts a path through burning grass.
Japanese legends, Davis retellingSourceHand of Fatima
An open-hand charm interpreted through protection and sacred family memory.
Historical talisman traditionsSourceHeart Scarab
A protective beetle amulet connected with the heart and judgment.
Egyptian funerary religionSourceHorseshoe Charm
A household and occupational charm whose position is explained through retained luck.
Historical talisman traditionsSourceInexhaustible Rice Bag
The miraculous gift associated with Hidesato's title My Lord Bag of Rice in Davis's tale.
Japanese heroic legend, Davis retellingSourceIsis Knot
The red buckle amulet invoking the protective power of Isis.
Egyptian funerary religionSourceJade and Moral Virtue
A valued stone interpreted through both talismanic protection and ethical qualities.
Historical talisman traditions
SourceJataka Tales
Stories of previous births in which the Buddha-to-be develops his dedication.
Buddhist traditions, Nivedita and CoomaraswamySourceJudgment
A trumpet’s summons calls the figures from their tombs.
Western Tarot symbolismSourceJustice
Accountability according to deeds, distinguished from spiritual election.
Western Tarot symbolism
King of Cups
A cup-bearing king sits amid sea imagery, with a ship and a leaping dolphin.
Western Tarot symbolism
King of Pentacles
Bull-head throne symbols accompany a pentacle interpreted through the elements.
Western Tarot symbolism
King of Swords
A judging king holds the unsheathed sword as an emblem of authority and office.
Western Tarot symbolism
King of Wands
A flowering staff and lion throne place this court figure within the animated Wands suit.
Western Tarot symbolism
Knight of Cups
A quietly riding knight carries the cup suit into a scene of approach and invitation.
Western Tarot symbolism
Knight of Pentacles
A slow horse and an exhibited pentacle give the Knight an image of steady external service.
Western Tarot symbolism
Knight of Swords
A rider in full course is compared with the ideal hero of romantic chivalry.
Western Tarot symbolism
Knight of Wands
A moving horse makes travel and haste central to this court card's description.
Western Tarot symbolismSourceLamp of Trismegistus
The initiate’s lamp in Lévi’s account, whose triple flame represents reason illuminated by knowledge amid darkness.
Éliphas Lévi, Transcendental MagicSourceLingam
Shiva’s sacred emblem, represented in one legend as a pillar whose limits cannot be found.
Indian traditions, Nivedita and CoomaraswamySourceMaen Morddwyd
The Thigh Stone, which returns to its own valley despite attempts to remove it.
Welsh folklore, Wirt SikesSourceMantle of Apollonius
The folded mantle used as an emblem of complete self-possession.
Éliphas Lévi, Transcendental MagicSourceMargaret’s gifted jewels
The ornaments given to Margaret in Faust, circulating in secret after an earlier gift was surrendered to the priest.
Goethe’s Faust, Part OneSourceMenat
Hathor-associated ornament described as a charm of family prosperity.
Historical talisman traditionsSourceMorgan’s Magic Harp
A fairy gift that grants music to an unskilled player and compels listeners to dance.
Welsh folklore, Wirt Sikes
Nine of Cups
A satisfied seated figure appears before an arched counter stocked with cups.
Western Tarot symbolism
Nine of Pentacles
A garden and a wrist-borne bird accompany a deliberately tentative claim about ownership.
Western Tarot symbolism
Nine of Swords
A lamenting figure beneath swords gives the card an image of desolation.
Western Tarot symbolism
Nine of Wands
Eight upright staves stand behind a watchful figure leaning on a ninth.
Western Tarot symbolism
Page of Cups
A fish emerging from a cup turns the Page's contemplation into an image of thoughts taking form.
Western Tarot symbolism
Page of Pentacles
An absorbed Page studies a hovering pentacle while moving slowly.
Western Tarot symbolism
Page of Swords
An alert figure and disturbed clouds place vigilance at the centre of this Page's description.
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