The Trunk

With Mercury Retrograde I have been putting off buying tools and ingredients. However, whilst reading around Verum it says at the end of how to make a wand and staff "then sprinkle, fumigate and lock up in a trunk."

Now, this is the only mention in Verum that I have seen so far where a "trunk" is mentioned. However, in one of the KOS manuscripts it says: "It is very important to have a casket of olive or hazel wood, a foot and a half in length, and the height and width proportional to the length. You can use another wood , if you like, with no reservations, provided that it is new, lined with a piece of new white cloth and fitted with a little lock."

There are a couple of ideas around this trunk. The first is, well, it is good to keep your tools away from the eyes and fingers of those who are just curious. These tools should be only used when the purpose arises. The other being that many of the tools will have sigils on them, these sigils are meant to draw the spirit into that tool, so one could see the trunk as a Spirit House for you Spirit Tools.

To be honest, I am not using olive or hazel, or a new trunk. I picked up a bedside table at the Salvation Army and have spent several days now sanding it down. By the time I have finished sanding, staining, polishing, painting and decorating, not to mention lining the inside with white cloth, the trunk will be as new as if I bought a new one ;) Again, I feel that the work one puts into the tools, makes up for some tools being scavenged. That being said, with the cost of sandpaper alone I think I could have bought a new trunk. But in the end, this will be something that I have put much effort into for my tools to lay safe and sanctified :)

Smelly things

Along with blessing the new tools one also fumigates them.

Verum says: You'll need lignum aloes, frankincense and mace: where mace is only needed to perfume the Circle, and the other two are used for all other operations.

So, to begin with all I need is lignum aloes (or agarwood) and frankincense to fumigate the tools.

Aloes ain't cheap and because of the diminishing trees, and I'd really love to get a cultivated source. More or less the resin is produced in response to the tree catching a fungus. One only knows if the tree has the resin once one cuts it down, as the resin is excreted in the heart of the trunk. Of course, once scientists discovered why the tree was excreting this resin it was easy to cultivate trees, deliberately introduce the fungus and boom, and all the trees have a nice oily center. The oil is called Oud (I wander if R. T.Davis knows about this hence the Oud in Dr Who?) It is loved by Muslims.

Frankincense is always confusing in MS because it is often just called "incense." But I am pretty sure Frankincense is meant. Easy to get and cheap!

First things first

Before any tool is bought or made it will have to be blessed with purified water. This is done with the Asperer.

The Asperser or Sprinkler

Verum says: Make an Asperser of Mint, Marjoram and Rosemary, tied with thread spun by a virgin girl, which will serve in all operations. It should be made in the day and hour of Mercury, while the Moon waxing.

Now, the first problem is virgin girls. :) Personally, I was thinking I would spin my own thread. I know, I am neither a girl nor a virgin, but come on, if the Spirits are that picky they can find their own virgins.

In the Key of Solomon, there is a similar instruction: "...make unto thyself a Sprinkler of Vervain, Fennel, Lavender, Sage, Valerian, Mint, Garden-Basil, Rosemary and Hyssop, gathered in the day and hour of Mercury, the Moon being in her increase. Bind together these herbs with a thread spun by a young maiden, and engrave upon the handle the characters shown."

Of note is the absence of Marjoram from KOS, but the absence of Vervain, Fennel, Lavender, Sage, Valerian, Garden-Basil, and Hyssop from Verum. However, what I do find interesting is that only Rosemary, Mint and Marjoram get both a planetary and fixed star mention in Agrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy. Rosemary gets the Moon and Alphecca, Mint gets Jupiter and Capella, whilst Marjoram gets Mercury and Deneb Algedi . None of the other herbs mentioned above get mentioned twice like this. It may be an idea to cut each herb as its Fixed Star rises.

Anyhow, Mint, Rosemary and Marjorum are all really easy to grow and all are now in my garden.