Each one of these bespoke Venus-in-Pisces Talismans is hand carved in lapis lazuli as Venus is angular and during her planetary hour to be completed and consecrated during an auspicious election on April 27th while Jupiter is rising co-present with Venus. This particular configuration will not happen again until 2034.

While in the nocturnal sign of Pisces, the telos and intention entwined within the talisman: to embody the power of the fair lady expressed within the sign of her exaltation. When a planet is in its exaltation, it performs very cleanly, free from extremes, and it is treated like an honoured guest, or as a magistrate who is in their own court, free to make their own rules. Pisces is a yin-sign ruled by the benefic Jupiter, amazingly conjunct Venus at the time of this talismans creation, this association helps Venus to act in her own best interest while avoiding the pitfalls that come with an excessive emphasis of desire, pleasure, and passion, helping the bearer to do the same — to be in touch with their highest desires, pleasures, and passions, those that move them in the direction of temperance within the Venusian domain. Equally, this talisman will grant you the ability to accentuate your best qualities both in charm and physicality so as to be “loved by everybody and you will be well-known and seem sweet-voiced not only to human beings but also to gods.”

This particular design, sometimes referred to as “Aphrodite unbinding (or binding) her hair”, is inspired by lapis magical gems that were carried by the peoples of the Hellenistic Mediterranean around the 1st century. On the back, you will notice a name written in two lines in Greek, this is Aphrodite’s secret and magical name, ΑΡΩΡΙΦΡΑΣΙΣ, pronounced as “Arorifrasis”, which can be translated in modern Greek as “aroma”. This name, however, means much more. Some scholars have speculated that “the magical name of Aphrodite, ΑΡΩΡΙΦΡΑΣΙΣ, would express perfectly the goddess's duality by calling her goddess of fertility and goddess of heaven in one name, thus combining for the amulet wearer and magician all the powers of the celestial Aphrodite Ourania and the popular Aphrodite Pandemos.” In my opinion, this is a perfect way to understand the exaltation of Venus in Pisces and why this design chose to be used.

Lastly, and most fittingly, these talismans have the option of being housed within a shell purse that will also be consecrated and dedicated to Venus during the auspicious election. The shell is filled with rose petals that were given out of love, frankincense grains, rose incense resin, and a root called spikenard, or musk root. This root has a strong sweet and earthy fragrance, and has been associated with Venus for millennia.

Everything comes from you:

you have yoked the world,

you control all three realms,

you give birth to all,

to everything in heaven,

to everything upon the fruitful earth,

to everything in the depths of the sea,

O venerable companion of Bacchos.

-Orphic Hymn to Aphrodite (Athanassakis & Wolkow, trans)