To attract the force of a heavenly body into a talisman by means of the carving

obliges the operator to turn to a planet determined by his intention

necessary that the Planet be in its best disposition,” says Belin, who reminds his
readers that the planets have enemies that “alter & and infect their natural
influences with contrary qualities

it is essential to respect a precise hour to make the talisman and for “the
attraction of the Planet to be drawn at the Planetary hour

In the world of magic, everything is connected by occult correspondences. The

celestial bodies govern all things and disperse their energies in minerals, plants,
and animals. They also rule over the different parts of the human body. To obtain
an effect, the dispersed virtues are gathered back together based on their
affinities

Every talismanic operation consists of compelling the descent of a spirit into an

object in order to infuse that object with that spirit’s force. To attract the
spirit, the practitioner should know the nature of the planet whose spirit he
wishes to draw down, and whose strength or virtues he wishes to spread. He should
know what color, what taste, and what odor is governed by its nature. It is
therefore necessary that his body possesses this color externally, which obliges
the wearing of certain garments, and that he is appropriately perfumed. The same
holds true internally: the practitioner should ingest certain foods in order to
perform this work

Every talismanic operation consists of compelling the descent of a spirit into an

object in order to infuse that object with that spirit’s force. To attract the
spirit, the practitioner should know the nature of the planet whose spirit he
wishes to draw down, and whose strength or virtues he wishes to spread. He should
know what color, what taste, and what odor is governed by its nature. It is
therefore necessary that his body possesses this color externally, which obliges
the wearing of certain garments, and that he is appropriately perfumed. The same
holds true internally: the practitioner should ingest certain foods in order to
perform this work.17

The magician should also know the exact nature of the support material of the
talisman he is making and make sure there is nothing incompatible between its
nature and that of the spirit descending into the shaped image (IV, 4). He will use
the chains of sympathy to select this support material insofar as his working
amounts to binding natural effects. This is only possible, the Picatrix says (IV,
4), when one knows what effects animals, plants, and minerals possess, and what
planets, fixed stars, and signs of the zodiac cover this or that region of the
earth. In short, it is necessary to master astronomy and to know the stations of
the planets, their exaltation and their debilitation, the longitude and latitude of
the houses of the moon, the nature of the earth’s regions, their waters, soil,
atmospheric precipitations, animals, and their position with respect to the
equator. Based on his working, the magician should observe when the planet
concerned is fully in its place in the zodiac to ensure its effects are not
obstructed by those of another celestial body opposed to its nature

It is necessary to know:

the relationships of the planets and constellations;

the movement of the heavens;
the signs with oblique or straight risings, the fixed and movable signs, the
diurnal and nocturnal signs;
the favorable and unfavorable planets;
the talismans adapted to the planets and signs; and
the words and figures that move the sidereal spirits and their powers.

It is necessary:

to work at night because the manufacture of the talismans will be better for it;
to distance the unfavorable planets from the ascendant and its master;
to place a favorable planet in the house that gives a good aspect to the ascendant
and the master;
to know when the Moon is without opposition—it should not be in conjunction with
the Dragon’s Tail (the southern point of intersection of the lunar and the ecliptic
orbit), nor in a squared aspect with unfavorable planets;
to avoid times when the moon is in the third, sixth, eighth, or twelfth houses;
to place the ascendant in accord with the reasons and qualities of what is being
requested; and
to never choose as the master of the ascendant a planet that is in retrograde.