Controlling and Ruling Spirits: Hermetic Image Magic
Ruling over spiritual beings is a theme frequently encountered in the manuals of Hermetic image magic. Essentially, the Hermetic talisman formulas offer iconographical features of the image, the characters and words to be inscribed, as well as other rituals, such as suffumigations, oral prayers or invocations and astrological timing.
Usually, the image is to be carved on a stone, which should be located somewhere specific or inset in a ring. The power to rule the spirits is usually only one of the many capabilities of the multifunctional magic gem or ring. For example, the first ring of Saturn described in Liber planetarum can liberate an infant from tumours and vexations caused by evil spirits (vexationem malorum spirituum). Amongst its other functions are strengthening the foundations of buildings, curing epilepsy, making a lazy person diligent and driving out illness and other negative effects in general.[831]The first ring of Saturn ousted the undesirable effects of spirits, but the remaining references to spirits in the same treatise concentrate on control. The fourth ring, in the image of which a man stands on a dragon (cf. the personification of the art of magic at Chartres CathedraP[832]) and holds a sieve (cribrum), makes all the spirits that roam in the shadows (spiritus qui ambulant in tenebris) obey the ring-bearer and reveals all treasures. The second ring of Jupiter (showing a man with a lion's face and an eagle's legs, while beneath his feet is a dragon with two heads) cures disease, makes spirits obey and helps in finding treasures[833] [834] [835] De imaginibus sive annulis septem planetarum describes a ring showing Saturn (crowned, sitting on a throne and holding a twig); once a dove is sacrificed, the ring makes all animals and spirits obey the ring-bearerP7 In another excerpt, possibly from the same treatisep8 the first ring of the Moon (showing a woman standing on two oxen and holding a rod) gives the wearer power over demonic things (demonia—one of the very few appearances of the term in Hermetic talismanic magic). The second ring of the Moon subjugates all spirits to its authority and, once again, reveals all hidden treasures.[836] The Hermetic rings, as we can see, are predominantly dedicated to temporal good, omnipotence and power, almost in a Tolkienian sense. Virtually half of the rings described in these treatises have some kind of potency to control and rule over spirits and demonic beings. The rings are sometimes also used to cure diseases, but demons and illnesses appear together only arbitrarily in these sources, as in the first example from Liber Planetarum and the focus is on control of demons for a range of purposes rather than the curing of illness.