The Mars talisman: how and when to make it

What a Mars talisman means

A Mars talisman, or talisman of Mars, is a work begun in the planetary hour of Mars while Mars himself stands strong, for a matter that belongs to his nature. Canopy states that nature in one line, "Courage, decisive action, and victory over an opponent", and its note on the planet adds a caution: a talisman of Mars is "used sparingly for courage, decisive action, and prevailing over a clearly defined opponent." This guide covers how to make a Mars talisman, as far as the app goes, and when to make a Mars talisman by Canopy's rules.

In the Arabic tradition Mars, al-Mirrīkh, is one of the two malefics, with Saturn, and his hours were kept for matters of fire, iron and contest. The app's word "sparingly" keeps that caution: a Mars work answers a defined contest, not a general wish for strength or luck.

The great Arabic handbook of talismans, the Ghāyat al-Ḥakīm, known in Latin as the Picatrix, gives each planet its own matter and its own moment. Canopy keeps to those two and, for Mars, shows no image or procedure; this guide reads the subject as history and makes no claim that a talisman works.

How to make a Mars talisman: iron, garnet and red

In Canopy, how to make a Mars talisman comes down to the materials paired with Mars and the window in which to begin. The materials sit on the planet's Correspondences screen, headed al-Munāsabāt and drawn from the classical correspondences:

• Metal (al-Maʿdan): iron, al-Ḥadīd.
• Gemstone (al-Jawhar): garnet.
• Color (al-Lawn): red and scarlet.
• Fumigation (al-Bakhūr): pepper, filfil, or dragon's blood, dam al-akhwayn, "the blood of the two brothers".
• Herb (al-Ḥashīsha): pepper or dragon's blood again: for Mars this row repeats the fumigation.

The set holds together: iron, a red stone, red and scarlet, and fumigations that are pungent or blood-red all carry the heat the tradition gave to Mars. A window's own page also gives iron, garnet, and red and scarlet in its Talisman Correspondences block, with dragon's blood alone as the incense. Canopy gives no steps for combining them, and neither does this page.

The planetary hour of Mars

Every Mars window Canopy offers falls in the planetary hour of Mars: the Hour Ruler box always names Mars, and "Why this time?" always counts three points for it. Mars stands third in the Chaldean order, after Saturn and Jupiter, and Tuesday is his day, its first hour after sunrise his.

The hours are unequal, twelve to the daylight and twelve to the night, so an hour of Mars runs long on a summer afternoon and short on a summer night. Counting through the Chaldean order, Mars rules the first and eighth hours of Tuesday's daylight and the third and tenth of its night, and his hour returns every seventh hour on the other days too: three or four times in each day and night, twenty-four times a week. The free planetary hours calculator lists today's day and night hours for your city, so you can see where the hours of Mars fall today.

When to make a Mars talisman: Mars in Aries, Scorpio or Capricorn

When to make a Mars talisman depends first on his sign, because his essential dignity there admits a moment or rules it out. Mars rules Aries and Scorpio and is exalted in Capricorn: a window with Mars in his domicile earns five points, in his exaltation four, and the first row of "Why this time?" names the dignity, as in "Mars in Scorpio (domicile)". So Mars in Capricorn and Mars in Scorpio are among the best placements a Mars talisman can have.

Three signs are closed. Taurus and Libra are his detriment and Cancer his fall, and Canopy sets aside every moment with Mars in one of them, whatever else favors it. Mars stays in each sign for weeks, so while he crosses one of these no Mars window appears at all.

In the other six signs he needs a lesser dignity, since a peregrine Mars is refused too. A term, one of the Egyptian bounds, or a face is enough. Mars holds a term in every sign; outside his own signs his faces lie at Gemini 10–20°, Leo 20–30° and Pisces 20–30°; and by night Canopy counts him the triplicity ruler of the water signs, which covers Pisces. Elsewhere he is peregrine: in Virgo, for instance, he is dignified only from 21 to 28 degrees, in his term. Such windows rank lower: three points for a term, two for triplicity, one for a face.

Two more tests fall on Mars himself. A retrograde Mars is set aside, and so is a combust one, within 11.5 degrees of the Sun. Each recurs about every two years, the retrograde season near his opposition to the Sun and the combust one near his conjunction with it. And he must stand within three degrees of the Ascendant, for three points, or of the Midheaven, for two.

The Mars talisman election: what Canopy requires

A Mars talisman election is a set of conditions that must all hold in the same few minutes. Beyond the hour, the angle and the dignity, Canopy asks these of the Moon and of Mars:

• The Moon applying to Mars by conjunction, sextile or trine.
• The Moon not applying to a square or opposition of Mars or Saturn, so she must reach Mars softly or by conjunction.
• The Moon clear of the Sun and the South Node. A combust Moon, or one close to the Node, closes the window.
• Mars clear of Saturn: not applying to him by square or opposition.

One rule of Canopy's ordinary elections is missing here. Every purpose search, from a contract to a wedding, sets aside a moment with Mars or Saturn within three degrees of the Ascendant, a rule drawn from Sahl ibn Bishr and Māshāʾallāh. For a Mars talisman, Mars on the Ascendant is the point of the work, so the talisman search leaves that rule out; the planetary talismans guide explains how the two kinds of search differ.

The day and the Moon's phase are scored, not required: two points for Tuesday, counted from sunrise; one for a waxing Moon; up to two for the Moon's condition, the full two only when she is waxing and not void of course; and one each for Venus or Jupiter in conjunction, sextile or trine with Mars. Since neither benefic is Mars, a Mars window can reach a full score. It needs 50 percent to be listed.

A Mars window set aside, and one that passes

Take two imagined skies. In the first it is Tuesday, in an hour of Mars, and Mars is rising within a degree of the Ascendant with the Moon applying to him by trine; but Mars is in Cancer, his fall, and the moment is set aside before it is scored. In the second, Mars is in Capricorn, his exaltation, rising in his own hour on a Tuesday, direct, clear of the Sun and making no hard aspect to Saturn. The Moon, waxing and not void of course, applies to him by sextile, clear of the Sun, the South Node and Saturn, while Jupiter stands in trine to Mars. That window earns sixteen of eighteen points, 89 percent, which Canopy rates Excellent.

Now put Mars at 22 degrees of Gemini, in his own term, culminating on a Wednesday afternoon under a waning Moon that is not void of course, with neither benefic in aspect. If every test passes, the window earns nine points: exactly half, the lowest score Canopy lists.

Either window lasts roughly ten minutes either side of its exact time; the planetary talismans guide explains why a window lasts only minutes.

Finding the Mars window in Canopy

Open the Talismans tab and choose Planetary Talismans. All seven planets are selected under Bodies; choose None, then Mars. Keep or change the location, since the angles depend on where you stand, set a date range of up to six months, and tap Search Planets. Talisman scanning requires an active subscription.

The filters only narrow the results and never admit a refused moment; for Mars, ASC under Angle keeps the rising windows, which score higher. Results sort Soonest or Top Rated.

A Mars window opens on a page titled Mars Talisman, Tilsam al-Mirrīkh: the exact time, span and score; the timing boxes, with the hour and day rulers; "Why this time?", which itemizes every point; and About & Correspondences, which holds the materials above. Set Reminder alerts you thirty minutes before, Save to Calendar adds it to your calendar, and Share sends it on. Birth data is optional: with it, the page also shows how the moment meets your nativity.

Questions