Magick Without Tears

20 Talismans: The Lamen: The Pantacle Cara Soror, Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Really you comfort me when you turn from those abstruse and exalted themes with which you have belaboured me so often of late to dear cuddlesome little questions like this in our letter received this morning: "Do please, dear Master, give me some hints about how to make Talismans (that's the same as Telesmata, isn't it?) [Yes, 666] and the Pantacle. The official instructions are quite clear, of course; but somehow I find them just a little frightening." Well, I think I know pretty well what you mean; so I will try to imitate the style of Aunt Tabitha in "The Flapper's Fireside. " For one thing, you forgot to mention the Lamen. Now what are these things when they are at home? That's easy enough. The Lamen is a sort of Coat of Arms. It expresses the character and powers of the wearer. A talisman is a storehouse of some particular kind of energy, the kind that is needed to accomplish the task for which you have constructed it. The Pantacle is often confused with both the others; accurately, it is a Minutum Mundum, "the Universe in Little" ; it is a map of all that exists, arranged in the Order of Nature. There is a chapter in Book 4, Part II, devoted to it (pp. 117-129); I cannot make up my mind whether I like it. 155