The Venus talisman bears the planet's magic square of forty-nine numbers, each line totalling 175, and the seal of Venus's Intelligence, Hagiel. Agrippa wrote in 1533 that this table, made under a fortunate Venus, brings concord, ends strife and wins goodwill. Made in that spirit, as a token of peace in a household, a partnership, a friendship or a working team, rather than as a means of drawing a particular person, it is one of the gentlest of the planetary talismans.

How to do it§

Choose the time. Find a Friday with a waxing Moon and consult the planetary hours for an hour of Venus; the first hour after sunrise on Friday always qualifies.
Prepare. Tidy and air the room, wash your hands and set a few rose petals with a grain of benzoin on lit charcoal. Write your aim as a wish for a shared good, for instance "That peace, kindness and good humour dwell in this house."

Draw the square. Rule seven by seven cells on the front of the disc and copy Agrippa's numbers. Each row, column and diagonal makes 175; the whole makes 1225:

22  47  16  41  10  35   4
 5  23  48  17  42  11  29
30   6  24  49  18  36  12
13  31   7  25  43  19  37
38  14  32   1  26  44  20
21  39   8  33   2  27  45
46  15  40   9  34   3  28

Draw the seals. On the reverse, copy the seal of Venus and the seal of Hagiel from Book II, chapter 22 of the 1651 English edition. Agrippa adds a seal for the Venusian spirit Kedemel; most later makers omit the spirits' seals and use only the intelligence.
Consecrate. Pass the disc through the fragrant smoke and speak a short blessing in your own words, for example: "Through the goodness of the Creator, may this sign of Venus bring concord where there is strain, and friendship where there is distance, freely and to the good of all." (This wording is modern.)
Place it. Wrap it in green or rose cloth. For household harmony, keep it near the hearth, the dining table or the place where the family gathers; for a partnership, keep it in a shared space; for friendship, carry it.
Finish. Let the charcoal burn out under watch. Renew your intention on Fridays if you wish. When it has served, give thanks and keep it, or burn a paper talisman safely and scatter the ash among flowers.

Origins and history§

The planetary squares run in the old Chaldean order of the planets, from Saturn's square of three down to the Moon's square of nine, which gives Venus the square of seven. Squares of this order were studied by Arabic mathematicians and passed into Latin Europe, where a treatise on the squares of the seven planets was copied in the fifteenth century. Agrippa's De occulta philosophia (Book II, chapter 22) printed the square, its numbers (7, 49, 175 and 1225), the corresponding Hebrew names, and the seals of the planet, its intelligence and its spirit. He specifies a silver plate with Venus fortunate, though Venus's own metal in the medieval scheme is copper, and lists among its effects concord, the ending of strife, and favour in love and in childbearing.

Maps of the Earth and Venus are shown at the same scale. The surface topography of both planets is displayed at the same radar resolution as that achieved by the Pioneer-Venus spacecraft. Prepared for NASA by…Lunar and Planetary Institute from Houston, TX, USA · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Agrippa's suffumigation for Venus (Book I, chapter 44) combined musk, ambergris, aloes-wood, red roses and red coral with the brains of sparrows and the blood of pigeons; the rose and resin alone are used here. The Renaissance theory behind the practice, developed by Marsilio Ficino in De vita (1489) from Neoplatonic and Arabic sources, held that each planet's influence could be drawn down by matching materials, colours, numbers, times and images. Historians such as D. P. Walker distinguished this "natural" or spiritual magic from demonic magic, a distinction Agrippa himself was careful to preserve. Ritual magicians of the Golden Dawn later assigned green to Venus and taught these squares as kameas.

Variations§

Some make the talisman jointly with a partner or family, each drawing part of the square. Golden Dawn practitioners may add an invoking hexagram of Venus. Others write the square on paper and keep it under a vase of fresh flowers renewed each Friday.

Safety and good sense§

Use charcoal only in a heat-proof censer, on a stable surface away from fabrics, with a window open, and never leave it unattended. Rose and resin smoke can irritate sensitive lungs. If you handle copper sheet, mind the sharp edges. Harmony grows from honest conversation; a talisman is no substitute for counselling, mediation, or legal help where conflict is serious.

Sources and further reading§

Three Books of Occult Philosophy — Henry Cornelius Agrippa, 1533
The Language of Demons and Angels: Cornelius Agrippa's Occult Philosophy — Christopher I. Lehrich, 2003
Spiritual and Demonic Magic from Ficino to Campanella — D. P. Walker, 1958
Agrippa and the Crisis of Renaissance Thought — Charles G. Nauert, 1965
The Arabic Influences on Early Modern Occult Philosophy — Liana Saif, 2015
The Golden Dawn — Israel Regardie, 1937