The brass disc: making your own talisman from a blank

Why start from a blank at all

Most talismans you can buy are finished. Someone else chose the design, engraved it, and consecrated it, and your job is to work with what you receive. A blank disc reverses that. You choose the design, you engrave it, and the object carries your hand from the beginning. That is a different kind of talisman, and for some practitioners it is the only kind that feels fully theirs.

There is a practical reason to start from a blank, too. The traditions are full of designs that no shop stocks: a seal from a manuscript you are studying, a combination of figures for a particular working, a talisman for a purpose too specific for a catalogue. If you can engrave, a blank disc lets you make exactly what the working calls for, rather than settling for the nearest finished piece. That exactness matters in talisman work, where the design is not decoration but the working itself, drawn in metal.

There is also a learning reason. Engraving your own talisman teaches you the design in a way that buying one never does. You learn every line, every letter, every proportion, because your hand has made each one. By the time the disc is finished, you know the figure from the inside, and that knowledge stays with you in later workings, whether you use that disc again or not.

Why brass, and why three inches

Brass is most often used for gold, or the sun, or Kings of the Goetia, or Sun pentacles for the Greater Key of Solomon talismans. That is a useful guide to choosing your metal. If the working you have in mind concerns the Sun, or a solar figure, or a King of the Goetia, brass is the traditional metal for it. If your working concerns another planet or another class of spirit, another metal may be more fitting, and choosing the metal is part of choosing the talisman.

Brass also has practical virtues for engraving. It is hard enough to hold a clean line, soft enough to cut without specialist machinery, and it takes a good finish, so the finished disc looks like the careful object it is. A disc that looks cared for is easier to treat as a working tool, and a working tool that is treated with care is easier to work with seriously.

Three inches is a generous size for a hand-engraved piece. It gives room for a full seal with its lettering, for a pentacle with its surrounding words, or for a design that would be cramped on a smaller disc. It is also a size that sits well in the hand, on an altar, or hung where it can be seen during a working. If you are engraving your first talisman, the extra room is a kindness to yourself. Small, cramped lettering is one of the commonest faults in a first piece, and a three inch disc forgives a great deal of it.

Practise first, then engrave the real disc

Take that advice seriously. Buy or find a piece of scrap brass, or even a cheaper metal of similar hardness, and engrave your design on it first, at full size, with the same tools you will use on the real disc.

The practice piece teaches you things no amount of reading will. How deep your cuts go with your hand pressure. How your graver behaves on a curve versus a straight line. Where your lettering crowds, and where it spreads. How long the whole design actually takes, so you can plan the real engraving in sessions rather than rushing it in one sitting. Every fault you find on scrap is a fault you will not carry onto the disc that matters.

Plan the layout before you cut anything. Draw the design on paper at the exact size of the disc, then transfer it carefully. Check the spelling of every word, twice, because a misspelled word engraved in brass is not easily undone. Check the orientation of every figure. Then, when you are satisfied with the paper version, transfer it and begin, slowly, in good light, with the disc held firmly. Engraving rewards patience more than speed, and a disc engraved over several calm sessions will look better, and work better, than one hurried through in an evening.

Designs this disc suits

That covers a wide range, but a few examples show how the choice of design and metal work together. A seal of a King of the Goetia is another, for the same reason. A solar talisman from the Agrippa tradition, or a personal design built on solar principles, would also suit this metal.

Whatever design you choose, choose it from a source you trust, and understand it before you engrave it. A talisman is not a picture. It is a figure with a tradition behind it, and engraving a figure you do not understand is like copying words in a language you cannot read. You may get the shapes right, but you will not know what you have made. Study the design, know what each part of it means in its own tradition, and only then put graver to metal.

Keep a record of the making, as you would for any working: the design and its source, the date and time of engraving, the metal, and the purpose the disc was made for. That record becomes part of the talisman's history, and it is useful later, when you are deciding whether the piece is still serving its purpose, or whether a new piece is needed for a new working.

After the engraving: finishing and using the disc

When the engraving is done, finish the disc properly. Clean it, smooth any rough edges that would catch or cut, and give it a finish that suits its purpose. Some practitioners polish the finished talisman bright. Others darken the engraved lines so the design stands out. Either is a matter of tradition and taste, but do one or the other deliberately, rather than leaving the disc half-finished because you were tired at the end of the engraving.

Then use the disc as its tradition directs. Some talismans are carried, some are worn as pendants, some are kept on the altar, and some are placed where their influence is meant to act. The disc as sold is a blank, not a pendant with a bail, so if you intend to wear it, plan how it will be mounted or carried before you finish the engraving, because a mounting decision made afterwards can damage a finished design. If it will live on an altar, give it a place of its own, kept clean and set apart with your other working tools.

Consecrate it, if that is part of your practice, in the manner your tradition directs, and state its purpose in one clear sentence at that time. A talisman made by your own hand, for a purpose you can state clearly, is a strong tool. Keep it clean, keep it set apart, and keep a record of the workings it is used in, so that over time you can see what it has actually served.

No promise is made here about what a disc you engrave will do for you in terms of magical result. That wording is about the work itself, not about delivery dates for a physical item. What is offered is a blank brass disc, three inches across, suitable for engraving talismans, spirit seals, and similar designs, in the metal traditionally used for the Sun, for gold, for Kings of the Goetia, and for Sun pentacles of the Greater Key of Solomon.

Tools, light, and the discipline of the graver

Engraving is a craft, and like any craft, it has its own discipline of tools and conditions. You do not need an elaborate workshop, but you do need a few things in order: a graver or burin that is sharp, a firm way of holding the disc so it does not slip, good light that falls across the work rather than glaring into your eyes, and a steady surface at a comfortable height. A dull graver is the commonest cause of a spoiled line, because it skids instead of cutting, and a slipping disc is the commonest cause of a spoiled design. Sharpen the tool, secure the work, and set the light, before you cut the first line on the real disc, and check all three again at the start of each session.

Work in sessions, not in marathons. Engraving demands close attention, and close attention tires. A tired hand makes shallow, wandering lines, and a tired eye misses a misspelled letter until it is already cut. Plan the design in stages: the outer circle and border first, then the main figure, then the lettering, then the small details, with a break between stages to look at the work with fresh eyes. Photograph or sketch the disc at each stage, so you have a record of its making, and so you can spot a fault while it is still small enough to correct or work around.

Accept that your first disc will not be perfect, and that perfection is not the standard. The standard is a design correctly laid out, correctly spelled, cut with care, and finished cleanly. Small irregularities of handwork are part of a hand-engraved talisman, and they are not faults in the sense a machine-made piece would judge them. What matters is that the figure is right, the words are right, and the disc was made with attention throughout. A disc made to that standard, by your own hand, is a strong talisman, even if a close look shows the hand that made it. Indeed, that is part of its strength.

When the disc is finished, sign it in your record, not necessarily on the disc itself, unless your tradition calls for a maker's mark. The record entry, with the date, the design and its source, the metal, and the purpose, completes the making. A talisman with a known making, a known maker, and a known purpose is a talisman with a history, and a history is part of what makes a working tool trustworthy, to yourself and to anyone who works with it after you.

Brass 3 inch disc

For making your own talisman, seal, or pentacle, this is the blank offered: Brass 3 inch disc, $44 CAD. View the product

These are circular discs for engraving talismans onto, engraving spirit seals, or other similar designs, for when you wish to create your own magical items. Brass is most often used for gold, or the sun, or Kings of the Goetia, or Sun pentacles for the Greater Key of Solomon talismans. Practise first on scrap metal before engraving the disc itself.

Video: Watch Athena holding and talking about this product: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-dKeW-4OIk

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