Amulets & Talismans for Beginners: How to Choose, Make & Use Magical Objects

by Richard Webster

Saint Christopher medals, ankhs, birthstones, four-leaf clovers―all are examples of magical objects used for protection or to attract good luck. This introductory guidebook tells you everything you need to know to make or find talismans, amulets, and charms, and use them to improve your life. Author Richard Webster shows you how to create, charge, purify, and empower your own personal magical objects for a variety of purposes, from attracting love to attaining wealth. With protective amulets from around the world and a dictionary of lucky charms, this easy-to-use book is designed so even absolute beginners can achieve success with their own magical objects.

Genres: Witchcraft, Nonfiction

264 pages, Paperback

First published January 20, 2004

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Richard Webster is an author, ghostwriter, mentalist, hypnotist and magician.

Reviews

[Ashley (Red-Haired Ash Reads) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book gives a basic history, definitions, and basic examples of amulets, talismans and Lucky charms. The brief history and examples are adequate and easy to understand for beginners.

Webster also gives a brief description of the elements of making a talismans. Making a talisman takes a lot of steps and the perfect timing for what you want the talisman for. The descriptions for this seem easy to understand and apply. It's mostly about timing and concentration.

Overall, this is a good started book that discusses the history and uses of amulets and talismans. It barely discuss how to make them though, so I plan on looking for more advanced books. You can never go wrong with more knowledge.

Also, the appendix for this book will be a great reference for the future work.

[Nancy Svinicki · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found some of the numerology aspects of this book diverting, simply because I haven't seen them before. It made for a fun lazy afternoon doing my own numerology, but I don't think the resources he provides in this book are any more than a passing glance at numerology. I didn't find any of the numbers or meanings I got relevant to my personality or in regards to divination.

There's not a whole lot of things in this book I'd take very seriously in my practice. It's rife with many of my biggest gripes about new age books - appropriation of symbology from other cultures and religions, and no anthropological corroboration of statements. Important cultural details are glossed over or omitted entirely, and there are no footnotes or any evidence Webster did his research. I'm sure he did, but he isn't sharing it with the reader, which to me is entirely the point of writing an informational book. There are two different sections of recommended reading in the back of the book, but assuming folks are going to go looking for it seems short-sighted.

Cons:
- no explanation of correspondences.
- correspondences are hetero-normative, based in Western philosophy
- heavy reliance on the zodiac, and in most places Webster assumes the reader knows more than they do

Pros:
- not really any mention of deities, so to speak, which as a secular witch, I do appreciate

[Min · Rating 4 out of 5]

This work covers the meaning, and differences between amulets, and talismans while offering several examples of each across time and cultures. The ones most new to me are those of Asian cultures, particularly the usage of yantras. There are extensive methods for their construction for one based upon one's birthday, as well as how to modify that to aim toward a specific, common desire such as wealth, and health. Webster's works are always eminently practical so one can use the items, and techniques immediately. The basics of color, number, and dates assist one in finding the best timing and duration for their construction and usage. Talisman Magic is a much more expansive work by Webster from which to continue to delve into the possibilities from that Yantra perspective.

[Rusty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book to be very informative and interesting. It also contained some useful information on Amulets and Talismans. It's a very good read.