Armorum cup design?
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Jim (and anyone else who'd care to chime in),
You posted a picture of your triple-flame Wand a while back. Is there a picture you're willing to share of your Cup? I'm wondering what sort of "design" for a cup would fit Armorum.
One could apparently just make an 8" tall by 3" diameter highball glass out of silver and call it a Cup and still be doing it by the letter of Liber A vel Armorum, but I wonder if folks have more elegant designs.
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@sk4p said
"You posted a picture of your triple-flame Wand a while back. Is there a picture you're willing to share of your Cup? I'm wondering what sort of "design" for a cup would fit Armorum."
My official cup was quite ordinary, but did fit the 8 x 3 parameters. Almost anything would fit Armorum. It is more or less like this, but with a more parabolic bowl (a deep parabola, somewhat emphasizing length) and shorter stem. (I have this idea in my head that the shape being parabolic is important to certain cosmic patterns and proportions.)
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Appreciate that, Jim. Armorum says to take silver and fashion it therefrom, but you feel silverplate is reasonable for mages of more modest means?
What of other "silvery" metals such as pewter? Pewter being largely tin and copper, that would be a lot of Jupiter and Venus in the mix, but those don't strike me as terrible for a Cup as planetary influences go ...
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@sk4p said
"Appreciate that, Jim. Armorum says to take silver and fashion it therefrom, but you feel silverplate is reasonable for mages of more modest means?"
Personal opinion: Yes, I do. Cup ends up silver looking, silver metallic to the touch (skin always in contact with silver molecules), silver in electrical characteristics... and, actually, the cup is actually fashioned from silver. Also, people who don't have major brewery family inheritances can afford it.
"What of other "silvery" metals such as pewter? Pewter being largely tin and copper, that would be a lot of Jupiter and Venus in the mix, but those don't strike me as terrible for a Cup as planetary influences go ..."
You are correct that you are adding other factors. I think in all of these implements that the physical electrical characteristics are among the most important in the traditional descriptions. I don't know for sure what these are for pewter (if it's tin and copper, it should be good conductivity), but pewter always feels to me leaden, more inert, heavy - always feels like a Saturn metal to me. That could be personal subjective reaction, of course. It would take a lot of magick (I should actually say, a lot of yoga) for me ever to feel uplifted and embraced and inspired by elevating a pewter cup.
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@Jim Eshelman said
"Also, people who don't have major brewery family inheritances can afford it."
"I think in all of these implements that the physical electrical characteristics are among the most important in the traditional descriptions."
... I'd never thought of that. WOW. I had for the wand (the GD practice of having a conductor down the length of the Fire wand) but not the other tools. Huh.
"I don't know for sure what these are for pewter (if it's tin and copper, it should be good conductivity), but pewter always feels to me leaden, more inert, heavy - always feels like a Saturn metal to me."
Well, nowadays because of lead poisoning, etc. food-safe pewters are made without it. Wikipedia tells me it's mostly tin, plus copper and stuff like antimony or bismuth. But your point is taken.
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There's a bunch of stuff like that. I think it's sufficiently established that contact with a substance affects the body - there's molecular exchange. Around 1980 I wrote a short piece reflecting on the traditional insistence that a sword (made of steel needs to have a copy hilt. Crowley's explanation (something to the effect that love is the motive) always seemed forced to me. Then I learned that... biochemically the body needs copper in order to use iron efficiently. Bingo!
A lot of the "buzz" people get off of a tool might be static electricity - something with real electrical potential - but I'm not convinced that's the whole story. I think it more likely that materials with high electrical conductivity vs. resistance (chant Ohm) have parallel astral or etheric characteristics. Nonetheless, if there were nothing but a physical effect that boosts a psychological effect, that would be worthwhile.
Consider that we wrap tools in silk. Charge it (CHARGE it!) and then wrap it in silk. Hmm.
On the other hand, beeswax has an electrical conductivity potential about 1/18 that of water (usually under 3k). That's what we use for something intended to convey inertia. (However, my pantacle does have a discernible but subtle buzz to the touch after 30+ years. Good silk, I guess
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