Talismans for pest control are one of the few
examples of "malefic" magic that are not usually considered objectionable. Just as we
might condemn the use of poison in general, but find it acceptable for getting rid of
termites, so too talismans that have a deadly effect on pests are justifiable.
These talismans were quite popular in the Middle Ages
and Renaissance. Picatrix, a major source for Arabic
and European astrological magic, has many examples of talismans for various pests,
including scorpions, flies, mosquitoes and mice. We can see an example from
Cornelius Agrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy of a talisman
Against Rats and a talisman
Against Roaches.
The noted Sabian astrologer and scientist Thabit
Ibn Qurra provides instructions for a pest control control talisman. While
using the example of scorpions he notes that the talisman be be adapted for
other pests,
"When you wish to operate [in this manner], you should begin beneath a
Scorpio ascendant, and fashion the image of a scorpion from iron or
tin or lead or silver or gold. And carve atop the image the name of
the ascendant and its lord and the lord of the hour and the lord of the day
and the name of the Moon; and place the Moon [also] in Scorpio.
And you should make the ascendant unfortunate in the following manner,
[so that] you should put the lord of the ascendant in the house of death,
and make unfortunate the lord of the house of the lord of the ascendant
[by placing it] in the house of death or joined to a malefic by square or opposition.
And when you have made it thus, you should bury it head downwards and say this:
Thus it is buried, and this image is buried that none [of its kind]
may enter this place."
"And it should be buried in the center of whatever place you wish that
it shall drive [the scorpions] from [that place], or from a dwelling place,
or in [any] place it is conjoined(?). And if you wish to fashion four images
of the second manner, and bury one of each of them in each corner or quarter
of a place from which you wish to drive [the scorpions], it shall be done
swiftly and with great strength. And you should do likewise to drive any
of the universal animals when you wish to expel it; and that
should be begun beneath an ascendant like unto the form [of the animal]
which you wish to drive out."
De Imaginibus, Chapter One, (translation by Robert Thomas).
The elected time and date is
May 14, 2003 at 6:43 pm EDT (+4) at Cleveland Park, a
Washington, D.C. neighborhood, 38 N 56 77 W 03,
Scorpio rises and the Moon is in Scorpio on the Ascendant.
The ruler of the first is Mars who is
peregrine and conjunct the 4th house, associated with the grave. Guido Bonatti,
Liber Astronomiae ch. 54 (Spica ed.) page 68.
The Moon first applies to a square of Jupiter, then an
opposition of 8th ruler of death, Mercury, then a square of first ruler Mars.