Medieval Astral Magic for TTRPGs - Part Two - Saturn
In a previous post, I discussed in very general terms the principles of medieval astral magic and some of its applications. What follows is a more detailed account of the powers and influence of the planet Saturn, together with some system-agnostic thoughts on how these can be used in TTRPGs.
The Months, Days and Hours of Saturn
Saturn is at its most influential (in Dignity) in December and January and is marginally less powerful in September (in Exaltation). In March Saturn’s authority is diminished (at Fall) and is at its lowest ebb in June and July (in Detriment).
In Dignity: Capricorn (December) and Aquarius (January)
In Exaltation: Libra (September)
At Fall: Aries (March)
In Detriment: Cancer (June) and Leo (July)
Saturn’s day is Saturday.
The propitious hours of Saturn are as follows.
Saturday - 1st and 8th hour after sunrise or sunset
Sunday - 5th and 12th hour after sunrise or sunset
Monday - 2nd and 9th hour after sunrise or sunset
Tuesday - 6th hour after sunrise or sunset
Wednesday - 3rd and 10th hour after sunrise or sunset
Thursday - 7th hour after sunrise or sunset
Friday - 4th and 11th hour after sunrise or sunset.
The Qualities of Saturn
Nature: Cold and dry, treacherous.
Image: A man wrapped in a green cloak with the head of a dog, holding a sickle in his right hand.
Influence: Profound or secret knowledge, law, causes and effects, magical incantations, occult properties, deception, the ancient past, inheritance.
People: The elderly, generous men, kings and princes, hermits, those working the soil, slaves, thieves, fathers and grandfathers.
Places: Basalt mountains, deep lakes, wells, ditches, abandoned houses or settlements.
Organs: Ears, spleen, bladder, skeleton.
Crafts: Building, working the soil, ploughing, digging, mining and working minerals.
Animals: Black camels, pigs, monkeys, bears, dogs, cats, all birds with long necks and loud cries - cranes and ostriches - and crows, all insects that dwell below the earth.
Trees, Herbs and Spices: Elderberry, oak, carob, palms and vines, cumin, rue, onions, colocynthe, all plants with deep roots.
Stones and Minerals: Diamond, onyx, cameo, jet, magnesium, golden marcasite, hematite and all black stones.
Metals: Lead, iron, white lead.
Colours: Black and tawny.
Vestments: All black materials, especially black wool.
Incenses: Cinnamon, styrax, foul smelling things - asafoetida (a dried substance harvested from the root of several species of the carrot family native to Iran and Afghanistan), bdellium (also known as false myrrh, a resin extracted from the gugal plant in India) and hemlock.
Talismans of Saturn
In actual medieval astral magic, each talisman was inscribed with a series of occult symbols, letters, planetary signs and geometric designs specific to the effect desired. These devices were called ‘the figures’.
To drive away flying pests: Make the figures on a thin sheet of tin when Scorpio prevails (October) and no flying insect will enter the place desired.
To drive away rodents: Write or carve the figures on a sheet of red bronze under Leo (July) and place it in the location from which the creatures are to be driven.
To drive away insects: Make the figures on sulphur or smokey quartz under Taurus (April). No insect may enter the place where the stone remains.
To ease a maid’s courses: Make the figure on a stone under Aquarius (January) at the day and hour of Saturn (Saturday at the 1st or 8th hours). Any virgin woman who carries the stone shall not suffer the pangs and blood flow of menstruation.
To drink immoderately without harm: On the day and hour of Saturn (Saturday at the 1st or 8th hours) engrave onto a turquoise the image of a man enthroned wearing a linen cloth upon his head and a scythe in his hand. For as long as one carries this stone one may never be afflicted by alcohol. Only the one who creates this stone can benefit from its possession and if it is given away or stolen it will lose all its power.
To create enmity: If you wish to sow discord between two people so that they will never after love one another, inscribe the figures on a sheet of black lead using the tooth of a black dog during the day and hour of Saturn (Saturday during the 1st or 8th hour after sunrise or sunset) when Saturn is in exaltation (September) and place it in one of their houses or a place where they are accustomed to meet and their friendship shall be sundered for as long as the sheet of lead remains in place.
To sow discord: Draw the figure on a diamond when Saturn in in exaltation (September) and in his day and hour (Saturday at the 1st or 8th hours) and impress the diamond into a lump of pitch to create a seal. Place one of these seals in the home of each of the two parties and they shall hate each other for as long as the seals remain. Never carry the diamond on your person, or you shall provoke the ire of all you meet.
To compel a person: To compel a person to come either to you or to some place you desire, make the figures on a linen rag on the day and hour of Venus when Venus is in exaltation (a Friday at the 1st or 8th hour after sunrise/sunset in February). When you wish to make use of the amulet, write the name of the person you wish to affect and cast the rag into a fire and they will hasten to you or to that place.
To curse a place: Make the figure on a thin sheet of lead using the ground up brains of a pig on the day and hour of Saturn (Saturday at the 1st or 8th hours) when Saturn is in exaltation (September) and place it in the area desired. For as long as the lead tablet remains undiscovered the region will be cursed and people will not be able to live there.
It can be seen immediately that these amulets have been listed in something approximating levels of power within the common assumptions of most quasi-medieval fantasy systems and settings. Mechanically a GM can, therefore, place the difficulty of successfully creating and employing these talismans on a spectrum by analogy to existing magic traditions within the desired rules’ set. Note, however, that descriptions of the effects of astral magic need not be taken at face value but can instead be taken to be merely indicative of what the tradition or the magician claims are the effects. In the above examples, cursing a place so that ‘people will not be able to live there’ could mean that the talisman causes disease and death but could just as easily mean conditions are unpleasant. Taking in to account the areas of Saturn’s influence, this could mean that houses are swarmed by insects, wells dry up, dogs go mad, vines wither. Another interpretation could be that an aspiring astral magician’s powers have these latter, less drastic, consequences but that a more proficient practitioner could indeed curse a household or village or perhaps even a whole town or city to suffer extinction.
Calling Down Saturn
In addition to the specific talismans of Saturn, an astral magician can employ a ritual that, if successful, will allow him to work wonders that fall within the influence of the planet.
When Saturn is in Dignity (December and January), on his day and at his hour (Saturday at the 1st or 8th hour after sunrise or sunsent), the magician must walk to a place propitious for Saturn’s influence such as a basalt mountain, a lake shore or an abandoned house. He must be dressed all in black with a cloak, tunic and hose of black wool. He shall be wearing a plain ring made of iron and be carrying an iron censer. At the place chosen, the supplicant must place burning charcoal in the censer and burn upon it pills made of equal parts opium, styrax, saffron, laurel seeds, carob, wormwood, lanolin, colocynth and the head of a black cat ground and mixed with the urine of a black she-goat. The magician must call upon Saturn with humility and seriousness before decapitating a black goat, draining its blood and burning its liver on a bonfire.
If successful, the ritual will enable the magician to be able to work a truly powerful effect on any sphere (or combination of spheres) that is the province of the planet as listed above among the Influence, People, Organs, Crafts, Animals or Plants asscociated with Saturn. Thus the magician might be able to call upon Saturn to -
discover a great and terrible secret of a prince;
cause all appropriate People to be subject to the magician’s deception;
heal or inflict disease on an appropriate Organ;
control or pacify any relevant Animal;
discover some intelligence about a particular Mineral or gemstone.
The exact magnitude and duration of any of these powers of Saturn is a matter for GMs to decide based on their preferences and the setting. In ‘low magic’ settings, a GM may wish either to limit the number of opportunities for calling down the planet or restrain the level of the effect caused or some combination of the two. Perhaps one can only call on the planet once per year but the effects are wide-ranging and durable. In such cases, all People subject to the influence of Saturn will automatically believe any deception of the magician for one year. Another option might be for the power of the planet to be called down with greater frequency, but the effects to be more limited so that only one group among the People subject to Saturn’s power will be deceived or all are affected but gain some ability to resist the effect such as a Save.
The Ring of Saturn
On a Sunday at the hour of Saturn (5th and 12th hour after sunrise/sunset) under Capricorn (December) inscribe on a turquoise set into a ring made of lead a man mounted on a dragon holding a sickle in his right hand and an egg in his left hand. The bearer of this ring will gain the favour of those spirits that dwell in dark and lonely places. Bulls, scorpions, serpents, mice and all reptiles will always be well disposed to him.
The ring is only effective when worn by the one who crafted it. If any Ring of Saturn is given away to another or stolen, it will lose all of its special powers. The wearer of such a ring must never eat red meat flavoured with dill nor enter any place that is in total darkness. If he does these things, the ring shall be rendered utterly useless.
As with Calling Down the Planet, the precise details of the powers of a Ring of Saturn are for the GM to interpet. Where the GM’s preference is to make the creation of such an object a highly complex task, then it might be appropriate for the ring to offer significant and substantial mechanical advantages to the magician within the general powers attributed to the object.