Medieval Astral Magic for TTRPGs - Part Three - Jupiter
In previous posts I have looked at the general principles of astral magic and on the powers of Saturn. Our series of discussions about medieval astral magic in RPGs continues with an examination of the properties and powers of Jupiter.
The Months, Days and Hours of Jupiter
Jupiter is at its most influential (in Dignity) in November and February and is marginally less powerful in June (in Exaltation). In December Jupiter’s authority is diminished (at Fall) and is at its lowest ebb in May and August (in Detriment).
In Dignity: Sagittarius (November) and Pisces (February)
In Exaltation: Cancer (June)
At Fall: Aries (March)
In Detriment: Gemini (May) and Virgo (August)
Jupiter’s day is Thursday.
The propitious hours of Jupiter are as follows.
Saturday - 2nd and 9th hour after sunrise or sunset
Sunday - 6th hour after sunrise or sunset
Monday - 3rd and 10th hour after sunrise or sunset
Tuesday - 7th hour after sunrise or sunset
Wednesday - 4th and 11th hour after sunrise or sunset
Thursday - 8th hour after sunrise or sunset
Friday - 5th and 12th hour after sunrise or sunset.
As listed below, some of the powers of Jupiter can perhaps only be accessed to create talismans at particular times and places. However, GMs should be free to adapt their chosen rules’ set to reflect more or less propitious times for appealing to Jupiter’s influence by awarding mechanical bonuses depending on the circumstances that an astral magician might be working in. A practitioner who works on Jupiter’s day and hour might be awarded a bonus to any skill check to create the amulet when these factors are not stated to be an actual requirement of the effect desired, or perhaps crafting the talisman at the right time increases its effects.
The Qualities of Jupiter
Nature: Hot and wet, fortunate.
Image: A man sitting on an eagle wrapped in cloth, holding in his right hand a human head; a man with a lion’s face and bird’s feet clutching a dragon with seven heads and holding a dart; a man wrapped in a robe riding a dragon holding a lance.
Influence: Rulership, law, legality, jurisprudence, science, treaties, facilitates requests, reparations and restraint, protects from mortal illness, promotes wisdom, philosophy, dream interpretation, peace, security of goods, courtesy.
People: Public officials, judges, prelates, rich men, honest men, nobles, hermits, philosophers, soldiers, cousins.
Places: All places of worship and holiness.
Organs: Left ear, liver.
Crafts: The practice of law, high value trade and commerce, officialdom.
Animals: All those used or valued for their beauty or for sacrifice - spotless doves, lambs, cattle - camels, beavers, stags, gazelles, all birds with beautiful plumage - peacocks, cockatiels, doves, quails, all insects that are useful and profitable - silk worms.
Trees, Herbs and Spices: Nuts, hazelnuts, pines, pistachio, fruit trees, white mint, all fruitful and aromatic herbs, saffron, yellow sandalwood, musk, camphor, mace.
Stones and Minerals: Chalcedony, emerald, all white and yellow crystals and precious stones - carnelian, beryl.
Metals: Lead, tin, calamine, gold.
Colours: Pinkish red.
Vestments: Expensive white garments, green silk.
Incenses: Amber, aloewood.
Talismans of Jupiter
A GM’s preferred system and play-style will dictate the precise mechanical power of these talismans. In low magic worlds the effects will be more subtle, of shorter duration or narrower application than the strict wording might imply. In more high fantasy systems and settings this same influence might be more powerful and universal. It is also possible to make the effects of these talismans somewhat elastic to take account of systems that use some form of ‘spell level’ or ‘caster level’ mechanic, with the power and utility of the talisman increasing proportionate to the capacity of the character creating the amulet. Note that the implication of the wording of some of these talismans is that, although they must always be made by the hands of the magician, they can be effective when given to others. Whether this transferability incurs additional complexity or difficulty in their manufacture is a question for individual GMs to determine.
To prevent floods: With Jupiter in Dignity (February and November) and on the day and hour of Jupiter (Thursday at the 8th hour after sunrise or sunset), make the figures for preventing excess rainfall on an amulet made of a sheet of lead or tin.
‘The figures’ here refer to the specific astological and occult symbols associated with the desire effect. It can be given expression through a simple narrative description of the weather - causing heavy rain to cease. This may or may not require some form of spall-casting check on the part of the magician in addition to any rolls that the GM deems necessary to create the talisman which, impliedly, is an object that has but a single use and must be crafted anew each time the effect is desired, though this need not be so depending on the system and setting being used.
For prosperity in all things: Inscribe upon a white or clear stone an image of a man crowned and enthroned holding up his right hand in the manner of a blessing, the throne resting on the necks of four prostate, winged, men. Do this in the hour of Jupiter when he is in Dignity (February and November) or Exaltation (June). The bearer will attract riches and honour, have many sons and achieve all that he desires.
This is one of those instances where the wording of the power of the amulet is such as to give GMs wide latitude of interpretation and mechanical expression. In high magic worlds or where the astral magician is truly powerful, this talisman might have an almost narrative effect that money just flows to him; all investments he makes pay off handsomely, all trades are profitable. In settings where magic is less prominent or dramatic, it perhaps awards bonuses to attribute or skill checks carried out in conducting any form of commerce. ‘Attracting honour’ might mean that the character possesses some reputation for probity or wisdom or honesty that, once again, can be handled narratively or as a mechanical bonus when rolls are required for social interactions.
To be esteemed by judges and officials: Engrave on an emerald or clear crystal a man with rich robes riding an eagle when Jupiter is in Exaltation (June) and at his hour. The man who bears this stone shall find favour among judges and all public officers.
‘Finding favour’ among judges and official can - at a lower level - mean that the bearer of this object is awarded mechanical bonuses to all rolls made when seeking to persaude or influence such figures and - more powerfully - can be regarded as a more or less permanent capacity to Charm the same people. Whether the object of this ability receive any save or other abilty to resist its workings will also be a function of the setting or the power of the astral magician.
To prevent pregnancy and catch birds: Engrave upon a geode under Sagittarius (November) at the hour of Jupiter the image of a vulture. If anyone bearing the stone goes hunting for birds, they will flock to him in great numbers. A woman who bears this stone shall never fall pregnant.
The obvious implementation of this power is a more or less substantial bonus on any attribute or skill check made when hunting, the exact scale of the bonus depending on the role of magic in the world and/or the power of the magician who created the talisman. The power to prevent pregnancy will, in most cases, fall to being a narrative effect, although some GMs and tables will doubtless be capable of adressing this in a more mechanical manner…
To be feared by men and demons: On the day and at the hour of Jupiter (Thursday at the 8th hour) under Pisces (February), inscribe the image of a fox on a geode. The bearer will provoke fear in both men and demons.
This amulet might bestow some permanent mechanical effect on the bearer such that they radiate Fear similar to any spell or psychological effect that the game’s mechanics may allow, with or without some saving mechanic as desired. GMs of a certain disposition might rule that this power cannot be employed selectively and so will greatly hinder the magician’s ability to interact with the world. This raises the question of whether an amulet created through astral magic, once possessed, can simply be put aside and then retrieved without consequence. It is possible that a talisman, once lost, stolen or abandoned, loses all of its power and other manifestations of the discipline of astral magic certainly suggest that this could be the case.
To see advantageous spirits: With Jupiter in Exaltation (June) and at his hour, inscribe on a geode the shape of a crane. When dropped into any liquid, the drinker of that liquid will be granted visions of spirits who will fulfil the drinker’s desires.
Jesuitically, this amulet does not actually summon a spirit, it only allows the magician to see and communicate with one and receive some benefit from what he learns. This can, therefore, be treated as a form of Augury or some other divination spell or power. As always, whether this object has only one use or can be employed multiple times will be determined by the setting and the ability of the magician. Additional factors that should be added to these calculations will be the difficulty of creating the object - with more obstacles to its fahioning being required in order for the talisman to have a longer ‘life span’. There is also, of course, the popular conception that to communicate with a spirit is, in some senses, to create a bond between it and the magician which may or may not prove a wise decision.
Calling Down Jupiter
The astral magician who would call upon the power of Jupiter must travel to a sacred site or temple when Jupiter is in Dignity (February and November). He must dress only in clothing of yellow and white and this must include a belt of white leather and a cloak of white lamb’s wool without a single thread of another colour. The magician shall wear a ring of crystal inscribed with a cross and must carry with him a censer made from the metal of Jupiter (tin). In this he must burn a suffumigation of equal parts sandarac gum, styrax, columbine, peony, calamus, pine resin and hellebore seeds ground and mixed with fine wine. The magician shall call upon Jupiter and make his request and afterwards take a lamb, decapitate it and burn the body, keeping back its liver that he must eat raw then and there.
As with the previous post on the powers of Saturn, it is suggested that the exact manifestations of the power of Jupiter when ‘called down’ be constructed in a ‘modular’ fashion, using the qualities of the planet described above as the basic building blocks of any desired effect. In this way an astral magician can call down Jupiter and, taking elements from the planet’s Nature, Influence and People or other qualities, construct an effect that will, for example, ensure him of good fortune when appealing to judges and lawyers in a matter that requires reparation of some loss. The same procedure can be used to create an effect that allows the magician to be esteemed as preternaturally courteous by wealthy men and so gain a substantial advantage in matters of trade and commerce.
These effects should be proportionately more powerful, persistent or of broader application than those things made possible by the creation of talismans to reflect the stringent requirements of the ritual for calling down the planet.
The Ring of Jupiter
On a Thursday during the hour of Jupiter (7th hour after sunrise or sunset) set into a ring made of lead or tin a chalcedony carved with the shape of man riding an eagle holding his right hand over his mouth.
The bearer of such a ring will be favoured by all first-born sons. Among the beasts, eagles, vultures and lions will be his to command and all the operations of Jupiter that he attempts shall be blessed with success.
The precise power of the ring of Jupiter - and the difficulty or complexity of its manufacture - can be tweaked by GMs to suit their system and setting. At one extreme the construction of the ring can be as simple as the basic description above (though a GM should perhaps require that the magician be capable of crafting the ring, cutting and carving the stone personally) with proportionate mechanical effects. If the power of the ring is desired to be greater a GM can require more onerous preconditions for its creation such as it can only be made after a successul attempt to call down the planet, limiting days and hours that can be employed in its construction to those propitious for the workings of Jupiter and so on.
These hurdles can in turn be reflected in the mechanical effects of the ring such that, where a ring of Jupiter is not a particularly exacting procedure, its powers should be correspondingly less impressive. At the lowest level, the ring might provide a small mechanical bonus to rolls made in the context of dealing with first-born sons and the relevant creatures or when undertaking the appropriate activites. A ring that is arduous or time-consuming to create will be suitably more formidable, perhaps allowing the magician automatically to Charm all first-born sons, Command beasts or tame them as a species of familiar and granting substantial bonuses to any attempt to manufacture an amulet of Jupiter or call down the planet.