Magickal Talismans Through History

From protective amulets to planetary seals, and why these symbols still sell

Talismans and amulets show up everywhere once you start looking: tucked into pockets, worn under clothing, sewn into linings, hung above doors, carried on journeys. Not because people are naive, but because uncertainty is old, and portable reassurance is useful.

Before we talk about our own Magickal Talismans, it helps to understand what talisman culture actually looked like historically.

Amulet vs talisman: a practical distinction

Modern usage blurs the terms, but historically you will often see a rough split:

• Amulets are typically protective objects, carried or worn to ward off harm.

• Talismans are often understood as more “constructed” objects, made to attract a desired outcome, sometimes using inscriptions, names, diagrams, or timed making.

Talismanic logic: names, inscriptions, authority

A huge amount of historical talisman practice rests on one simple idea: inscriptions matter. Names of holy figures, verses, angelic names, and symbolic scripts were treated as conduits of protection, legitimacy, and power.

In Islamic contexts, for example, talismans with inscriptions and names of religious figures were believed to protect the bearer by acting as conduits to those holy figures.

That matters for understanding why “angelic glyphs” and “ruling angel names” became such sticky motifs in later European magical material. People liked systems with receipts.

The medieval and Renaissance explosion: books, diagrams, seals

By late medieval and Renaissance Europe, talisman culture becomes increasingly “diagrammatic”, meaning you see more structured seals, pentacles, and named spirits or angels. This is where grimoires enter the chat.

One of the most famous is the Clavicula Salomonis, commonly called the Key of Solomon. Special Collections notes it is a pseudepigraphical grimoire attributed to Solomon, part of a broader period where occult authors claimed ancient lineages to legitimise their “secret knowledge.”

Scholarly work on the manuscript tradition also emphasises that the surviving “Key of Solomon” materials are largely later, with manuscript evidence clustered centuries after the biblical Solomon, and a complex history of versions and languages.

So when modern jewellery references the Key of Solomon, it is usually referencing a Renaissance and early modern magical tradition, not an artefact from 1000 BCE. It is worth being honest about, because customers who know their stuff can smell nonsense.

Planetary and elemental magic: aligning intention with cosmos

Another major current in historical talisman-making is astrological or planetary magic, where the goal was to align a desired effect with a planet’s perceived influence. Academic overviews describe a “science of talismans” that developed across Arabic, Greek, and Latin contexts in the first millennium and later moved into European vernacular traditions.

This is the historical backbone behind the classic blend you mentioned: planetary powers plus elemental symbols plus angelic names. It is not random aesthetic soup. It is a recognizable lineage.

Where our Magickal Talismans fit

Our collections are designed as modern, wearable objects that draw from these historical patterns without pretending to be museum replicas.

Ancient Magical Talismans focus on intention in the most universal sense: protection, peace, love, prosperity, vitality, safe travel. Historically, that is exactly what people used amulets for: portable, everyday reassurance and support.

Mediaeval Magickal Charms speak more directly to the “grimoire era” visual language: structured sigils, planetary and elemental symbolism, angelic names, and Key of Solomon style references. That maps neatly onto the late medieval and Renaissance tendency toward named, diagram-based magical systems.

What customers get is the best part: symbolism that feels coherent, historically rooted, and visually striking, without requiring them to read a dissertation before they can choose one.

How to talk about them without making dodgy claims

If you sell these (or wear them), the smartest framing is:

• symbolic intention (what the wearer is choosing to focus on)

• historical inspiration (planetary, elemental, angelic, Solomonic motifs)

• craft and presence (materials, weight, finish, presentation)

Avoid promising outcomes like it is a vending machine. Historically, even the texts frame this as alignment, protection, and support, not guaranteed miracles.