The Metals

The magnitude, the splendor and danger of the event triggers something in the witness' mind. After a long wait he or she guardedly snatches up one of the still-warm stones. Somehow, the witness feels, this is a powerful object, infused with the energies of the eerie points of light in the sky.

Ten thousand years later a priestess of the goddess Isis sits in a walled garden beside a lotus pool. She fingers a shiny metal image of a winged and kneeling figure. Silver, she muses, the metal of Isis.

Four thousand years hence a man strips off his clothing and carefully removes his glasses and brass bracelet. He changes into a robe possessing no metal zippers, no steel reinforcing tabs. He is preparing himself for magic.

Metals are the flesh of the gods and goddesses'. the bones of the Earth, manifestations of universal powers. To our consciousness they may be expensive or common, beautiful or merely interesting, sacred or utilitarian.

All metals are potent magical tools. Their ritual use-or avoidance-is as old as magic itself just as early peoples sensed forces within stones, so too were metals found to contain energies which had tremendous influence. One guarded against evil. Another banished nightmares. A third was used solely in honor of the forces behind life and the universe.

Later, as humans devised the technology to free metals from their rocky matrixes, more sophisticated magical knowledge concerning metals evolved.

Today, metal magic is nearly forgotten, as herb and stone lore once was. This is unfortunate because metals are just as powerful and effective in magic.

Metals can be used alone or in combination with stones. If you are a lapidary or a jeweler, you can fashion your own magical rings, bracelets and crowns. If not, many potent pieces can now be obtained in stores, by mail or can be made to order.

The magic of metals doesn't require investing in a pound of gold or a ton of silver. Neither will you have to travel to distant lands in search of legendary mines. Metals are everywhere around us. To perform this magic, all we need do is recognize the energies lying in wait within them.

PLANETARY METALS

Since at least ancient Babylonian times certain metals have been associated with the planets. This system, designed for ritual use, has remained fairly constant to this day.

To perform a spell related to one of the planets (see Part IV for planetary ritual information), empower its metal with your specific magical need and use it in some meaningful ritual way, just as you would stones.

Metals may be worn, carried, placed in small cloth bags, or situated near candles or stones-there are no limitations.

Keeping in mind that the ancients viewed the Sun and Moon as planets, here's a list of the heavenly bodies and their respective metals:

SUN-Gold
MOON-Silver
MERCURY-Mercury (Quicksilver), Electrurn
VENUS-Copper
MARS-Iron
JUPITER-Tin
SATURN-Lead

Other metals have been discovered since those far-distant times (and planets as well), but this is the basic system. Full information on each of these metals is presented in the body of this section.

ELEMENTAL METALS

Though metals are obviously connected with the Earth, they are also attributed to each of the elements in order to provide another structure for ritual design. For magical influences of the elements, see Part IV.

EARTH rules Lead and Mercury
AIR rules Aluminum, Mercury, and Tin
FIRE rules Antimony, Brass, Boji Stones, Gold, Iron, Meteorite, Pyrite, and Steel
WATER rules Copper, Lodestone, Mercury, and Silver
AKASHA rules Boji Stones and Meteorite

Mercury, due to its peculiar properties, is jointly ruled by Earth, Air and Water. (See the article concerning this unique metal.) Electrum and other amalgams, or mixed forms, of metal are, obviously, governed by the elements which rule each of its components (i.e., an electrum of gold and silver is ruled by Fire and Water).

These two systems of ritual associations are, once again, tools which the magician can use in creating rituals. They are systems, not straightjackets!

On to discussion of the various metals.