Like any good (?) ceremonial magickian my magickal correspondences are so heavily engrained that I can’t sneeze without linking it to a planet. (Okay, that was a joke, but now I’m thinking about bodily expulsion processes and planets…) For the first time in 14 years my hair is no longer blue so I have expanded my collection of dress shirts and ties to include colours other than blue, and that quickly ballooned to me getting a dress shirt and tie in the colours of every planet. This allows me to mix and match to either represent planetary days and sub-planets, or to dress in appropriate colours as a form of invocation. Yes, it’s a touch silly and cheesy, but have you seen most ceremonial magick paraphernalia? It’s not exactly the most serious and elegant much of the time.
Dammit Al, boxers go on your hips, and leopard rugs stay on the ground.
Rocking Mars of Jupiter (Not me)
Just saying one of the above looks a bit more silly and cheesy than the other…
It started innocently, when I realized if I had planetary ties and shirts I could use that to embody different combinations. On a day like today (in my system) of Venus of Mars I’d wear a green shirt and a red tie. (Sub-planets gets a bigger representation because they’re more subtle and I want to draw them out more) Or if I was going to an important meeting about my mortgage I could wear a black shirt and blue tie, for Saturn of Jupiter. Though when talking to a friend about this, it became even deeper, and more silly – linking tie knots to planetary forces. They suggested it as a joke, and without much thought I already had several associations in a matter of seconds and I thought I’d share the list with you, and my reasoning.
Saturn: Kransy Hourglass or Oriental knot
Jupiter: Full Windsor or Balthus knot
Mars: Merovingian
Sun: Trinity knot
Venus: Pinwheel/Trulove knot
Mercury: Van Wijk or Four-in-hand
Moon: Floating spiral
(Sidenote: None of these pictures are me. Originally I wanted to tie each knot in the right colour and take a pic but in general I suck at selfies, and I’m currently sick, so even though I’m wearing a Merovingian knot (yes, while home sick…) I don’t feel like taking pictures of myself. So all of these pictures just come from google and pintrest, if I use your picture and you want it taken down just let me know.)
I linked the Kransy Hourglass with Saturn for the cheesy, but obvious link of the hourglass, and Saturn being the planet of time, old age, and death. Also, linking the Triangle with Saturn this knot is essentially two stacked triangles.
The Oriental knot seems like a good match for Saturn because it is essentially the simplest tie knot you can make. It is the most basic of tie structures possible. Saturn is the planet of structure, and when you look at the emanation of shapes and numbers Saturn is tied with three, the smallest number of sides possible on a geometric shape, the triangle. So the simplest structure really applies.
The Full Windsor and Balthus knots both struck me as very Jovial knots, they’re very big and broad knots. Jupiter is about expansion and increase, so it makes sense the biggest knots are linked with Jupiter. They’re also classic “authority” knots, they’re simple but elegant and demand attention.
The Merovingian was the hardest knot to place, but I decided to go with Mars. The shape reminds me of a military epaulet. There is something in the shape that is reminiscent of a shield with a sword in front. Also, because of how it is tied you are required to wear a vest with this knot, so it’s as if it needs a chest plate. I could also see it being Jovial, it is very regal, and even Saturnian.
The Trinity knot is fairly solar to me. It forms a hexagonal knot, the shape of the sun. Also the sun is the center of the planetary triplicity of Saturn, Sun, and Moon. Also on a more joking side, the knot is visually similar to the recycling symbol, and the sun is about renewal.
The Pinwheel, or Trulove knot is tied to Venus. It looks like a heart for Abyss’s sake, point one. Also, as Freeman pointed out on twitter, it looks like it’s having sex with your clavicle.
The spirals of the Van Wijk make me think of the flow and movement of Mercury. Not to mention the spirals around the tie body are reminiscent of the snake around both the Asclepius and Caduceus.
The four in hand seems Mercurial to me because it’s a quick and simple knot, literally can be tied in under ten seconds, and that speed and efficiency is Mercurial.
Lastly the floating spiral I associated with the Moon. The floating, slightly angled, and apparently unsupported knot just has a sort of dreamy quality to it.
Do folks have other suggestions? I know there a lot of knots I haven’t placed (yet?) I just categorized the ones I use the most.
Like I said, it’s fairly silly, on the other hand most magickal correspondences have an element of silliness when you look at the
m. Also, like in a lot of magick, you get out what you put into it. Just mixing colours and tying knots probably won’t get you anywhere, but when consciously thinking about what you’re doing that adds to the effectiveness, not to mention the long history of knot-based magick, I’m just taking it in a more dapper direction.
Two years, two months, and two days after I started my skrying experiment, it came to an end with this session, after a lot of work it came time to explore my experience of the Tree’s equivalent to Kether. Again, it was more difficult to being as there are less correspondence for Kether, but I set twelve white candles around my circle, formed as Konshal taught me, copal on the charcoal, and I settled down in front of the mirror. I let myself float into the black triangle and began.
