Creating Talismans for Writing Success - by Lu Hersey

Looking for something specific on my bookshelves earlier this week, I got totally distracted by a book on charms and talismans, some of which were 'certain' to help bring writing success. OK, I had a few doubts (actually quite a lot) - but writing success is something we all crave, right? So I decided I may as well share a few relevant talismans with you.

The following info all comes from The Book of Charms and Talismans, published in 1924, written by a man who went by the pen name of Sepharial. Investigating Sepharial further (meaning a quick google), I discovered his real name was Waltar Gorn Old, and apart from his many writings on esoteric subjects, he was a founder member of the Theosophical Society. According to Wikipedia, he was a prolific but 'slapdash' writer, otherwise he might have gained more posthumous success. Slapdash or not, I figured Sepharial had a keen interest in Enochian magic and talismans, and on these subjects it might be worth giving him the benefit of the doubt. 

So which Talismans did Sepharial reckon would bring you writing success? Firstly he tells us that A Talisman to Secure Eloquence (above) is very useful for public speakers, and should be worn by clergymen, auctioneers and politicians as well as writers. Apparently it's important to make this Talisman on a Wednesday, though he doesn't bother to explain why (probably because of the slapdash thing), but I happen to know it's because Wednesday is the day associated with Mercury and successful communications. 

More importantly, it's best to use the Talisman to Secure Eloquence alongside The Seal of Eloquence (below) to ensure success. Or in Separial speak, you'll 'find great benefit from the use of these in combination.'

He assures us that 'this Talisman will assist all those who are desirous of becoming writers, authors, journalists, orators and who may wish to develop ability for radio, stage or screen activities...' and that 'concentration upon this Talisman will intensify the natural inspiration and hence assist in the writing of books and plays, poetry or short stories'. 

So I guess it might be worth a shot. Sepharial stresses again that you make your Seal of Eloquence on a Wednesday, also suggesting you make it using either silver, platinum or aluminium, in either the first, eighth, fifteenth or twenty-second hour of the day (which is all to do with Mercury again. And no, he doesn't explain that either).

If you don't happen to have any silver, platinum or aluminium handy, he says you can cut the Talismans you need out of his book if you prefer, and place them in a silk bag to wear on your person. I reckon on that basis, it should also work if you print out this post and cut out the talismans instead. Though where you get the silk bag from is up to you, and you probably need at least one pocket in whatever you're wearing to keep them on your person. Also, on a practical note, remember to take them out before washing your clothes. (He doesn't tell you any of that, obvs)

If I haven't already lost you at the silk bag bit, and you can be bothered to follow all his instructions, you might also want to include Prosperity (with a capital P) in your collection of talismans. After all, what's the point of all that eloquence if you don't earn anything?

The Seal of Great Prosperity is best made on a Sunday, and Sepharial suggests we make it in gold (gold is associated with the sun, and Sunday is the sun's day...& no, of course he doesn't explain this). Fortunately you can save yourself a lot of effort and money by cutting the page out of his book (or from a print-out of this post) so long as it's in the first, eighth, fifteenth or twenty-second hour of the chosen Sunday. Sepharial was a keen numerologist, so the hour numbers probably hold significance. Oh, and remember that silken bag to put your Seal of Great Prosperity in, and keep it on your person. The benefits are not only wealth, but also finding "the right contacts, and to say and do things at the right time in order to lift you from mediocrity to relative eminence."

So there you go. A simple matter of making your talismans (on the right day, at the right time) and putting them in that silken bag you happen to have, so you can wear them on your person - and writing success will be yours. Probably.

Got to admit I haven't tried any of this out so far, but doutless Sepharial would say that's why I'm neither rich nor successful...

Yet :)

Lu Hersey

Patreon: Writing the Magic

Substack: An Old Hag's Snippets of Folklore, Myth and Magic

Adventures in Youtubeland By Steve Way

 

As children’s writers we often aim to create new worlds and new dimensions. I’ve been wondering lately if a utopian land, that I’m certainly not a resident of, called Youtubeland exists.

Recently a friend of ours very kindly gave us a smart TV that she was no longer using.* As her various streaming accounts, such as Netflix etc. were still linked to the TV, I turned to Youtube to find out how to return it to its factory settings, so that we could erase her accounts and start anew using ours.

Sure enough, it didn’t take long to discover videos explaining how to do this. The instructions were along the lines of; ‘Click on this option, this page will appear, click here, this second page will appear, click here… and so on a few times and then Hey Presto, factory settings will be restored!’

I don’t know if you’ve had the same experiences as me, perhaps you unconsciously own passports to Youtubeland and all works for you as on the videos. In my case, as on previous similar occasions, when I tried this in real life, it didn’t quite work out that way. I carried out the first instruction, I clicked on the named option but even though I’d seen the page in the video appear on the same model TV as ours, a completely different page appeared instead. Not for the first time I fell at the first hurdle.

What I fail to understand is why based on the same action, one screen appears on the TV in Youtubeland replaced by a totally different one in what appears to me to be reality (we’re getting philosophical here.) It’s the same with the ‘watch how we make something complicated appear really easy’ videos. For me these activities remain complicated and fraught with various frustrations and difficulties, accentuated since it appears they don’t exist in this parallel reality.

I suppose when it comes down to it, we’re exposed to many odd apparent ‘other’ worlds, starting with the inappropriately named ‘reality’ shows where participants are thrown into largely unreal environments. There’s also Cooking Competition Land where food has to be prepared that no longer looks like food and is manhandled onto the plate by hand. (I don’t know about you, I don’t care how posh the food is, I wouldn’t want anyone fiddling about with it by hand before serving it.) Also, House Renovation Land where, no matter how badly things seem to be going at some stage, without fail the house always ends up looking like a five star show home. Meanwhile out here in what I perceive as reality (here I go again) the vast majority of renovations are fraught with far more problems and often end up incomplete or imperfect.

So maybe sometimes when we’re thinking of creating imaginary worlds different from our own, perhaps they could be closer than we think.

By the way we did get the TV sorted out in the end, mainly with the help of our teenage grandchildren.

*We’re very lucky when it comes to friends – see last month’s piece about tea bag deliveries!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Despite my trials and tribulations, I have ventured into Youtubeland in my own ways. You might enjoy this poem about flat shapes;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Koo5U4eLDss

Or possibly my silliest poem…

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/7eci8Bc98U0

Birdie, by J.P. Rose, reviewed by Pippa Goodhart

                 Author J.P. Rose tells in her Acknowledgements that 'Birdie is a book drawn from my heart'. It certainly engages readers' hearts, and had me sobbing (happily!) at its end.

                Set in 1950s Yorkshire Dales, this is the story of a child moving from a children's home in Leeds to live with an unknown great aunt in a small mining village. Such a change would never be easy, but its made harder for Birdie, and for her aunt, by her looking different from other villagers. She's of mixed race. The stupid school teacher assumes she'll be unable to keep up with others, when in fact she's ahead of them. Bullies taunt her. Parents don't want their children to befriend her. She runs from bullies, finding a hiding place at the old coal mine ... and soon finds herself down in the mine itself. It's empty, except for one old pit pony. 

                That pony becomes her friend. Birdie defies the adults to help the pony, and the story works into an exciting adventure of escape and peril and lives saved, before a return to the village for a tense heroic rescue that changes village attitudes to both girl and pony.  

                The story, told in short lively chapters, gallops along. It's a very appealing middle grade read that raises issues about identity and racism and friendship and family and love for animals whilst fully delivering on plot and character. Recommended.  

Not all sports, please - Anne Rooney

 This something of a follow-up to Lynda Waterhouse's post about children's writing. I'm a bit late with this today as I had to go out to MB's sports' day this morning when I was expecting to write my post. It was very much last minute as she'd forgotten to tell us when it was and I was the only person even slightly free to go. It occurred to me as I sat in the scorching sun watching children who didn't really want to be running around, that each summer there is a sports' day, and there is some kind of dramatic performance, but that's it. There is no art exhibition or celebration of children's writing. This is a shame, as writing gets dumped in the bin of academic accomplishments and is never celebrated for itself, as a creative endeavour for the child's pleasure and enrichment. 

 MB moves up to secondary school in September, so it's a bit late to try to persuade her current school to do anything about it. But I will be looking out for what the secondary school does. How about a pupils' literary festival and art exhibition? Does any school do this? I can't say I've ever come across it. Maybe it happens in the private sector. There are concerts for the musical pupils, and drama, and a ton of sports (of course). 

The same is true of the holiday club activities available. There are summer camps that offer arts and crafts, drama, music, sports, bushcraft and survival, but not writing. Perhaps it's not just that writing isn't highlighted as enjoyable in school, but there's not much support outside school hours/days, either. It's quite telling that a lot of professional children's writers haven't heard of National Writing Day, organised by the Literarcy Trust. I certainly hadn't. (25th June 2025, if you're in the UK.) The Literacy Trust also has lots of ideas and resources to help schools develop writing for enjoyment. None, that I can see, mention fanfic, which is one way kids find their way into writing. Maybe I should start up a fanfic summer school....

Anne Rooney

Out now: Weird and Wonderful Dinosaur Facts, Arcturus 2025, illustrated by Ro Ledesma

 

 

 

Share your voice – National Day of Writing June 25th by Lynda Waterhouse

 In 2024 the National Literacy Trust undertook its annual survey into children’s writing habits. The results were shocking. Fewer than 3 in 10 (28%) children and young people aged 8 -18 said that they enjoy writing in their free time.

 Levels of enjoyment have decreased by 18.1 percentage points over the past 14 years, with levels decreasing by 11.9 percentage points over the past year alone. Just 1 in 9 (11.1%) children and young people told us they that they wrote something in their free time. Interestingly, the data shows that opposite is true of children’s experience of writing in schools with more than half of the children and young people saying they enjoy the writing that they do at school.

Findings show that children’s and young people’s enjoyment of writing and frequency of writing in their free time is at an unprecedented low

What’s happened to writing for enjoyment?

Children and young people deserve to be re - connected to the amazing art form that develops their creativity, gives them a voice, helps them to understand the word and supports their mental well-being.

Wednesday 25^th June is National writing Day. The theme for this year is Share Your Voice. Everyone is invited to take part.

First Story have commissioned Dean Atta to create an activity to inspire us, so let’s get started!

Check out these websites. They have lots of wonderful resources .

https://firststory.org.uk/writeday/?mc_cid=d8b31fb5ea&mc_eid=a7f4527e64

https://literacytrust.org.uk/about-us/national-writing-day/

https://nationalpoetryday.co.uk/national-poetry-day/poems-and-resources/

Have fun sharing your voice!

CARN EUNY, ANCIENT CORNISH VILLAGE. by Sharon Tregenza

CARN EUNY

On a recent trip "home" to West Cornwall we decided to visit the ancient village of Carn Euny. As a child the random stone settlements and circles that seemed to populate every lane and cow field were of no particular interest. Now though, I want to know more. 

If you're brave enough to the navigate the winding narrow lanes, where the hedgerows are so close and prolific that the wildflowers brush against your car, you can visit this fascinating piece of history.

Carn Euny is Britain's best preserved ancient village. It's a landscape dotted with mossy stone huts, mysterious underground chambers and the kind of silence that you only find on deserted moorland.

It was once a bustling settlement with people living there from the Iron age right up to late Roman times. That's over 1,500 years of living in round stone houses with thick walls to suit the wild Cornish weather.

The main attraction is the Fogou (pronounced fo-goo) it's a mysterious underground passage that still has archaeologists scratching their heads. Was it for storage? Rituals? Who knows.

What makes Carn Euny such a delightful place to visit is its peaceful tucked away location. Apart from the odd tourist or druid you'll probably have the place to yourself. There are no gift shops or visitor centres, just the quiet hum of history and the buzz of the bees. It's the perfect place for a picnic and to listen to the whispers of an ancient world.

www.sharontregenza.com

sharontregenza@gmail.com

Members' news

Sue Klauber's novel COBALT has been short-listed for the Young Quills Award for historical fiction. The sequel to her debut, ZINC, the novel is a high-stakes adventure,  following three Jewish siblings as they join the war effort in World War 2.
The aim of the competition is to find books which:

• Are a ‘good read’, engaging the imagination of the young reader

• Have good historical content and factual information

• Have history as a component of the story, not just a convenient backdrop or setting

• Inspire young readers to find out more about that historical period or people.

Fingers crossed for you, Sue.

Lui Sit's debut Middle Grade novel LAND OF THE LAST WILDCAT was Waterstones's book of the month in May and featured a special edition with sprayed edges. Lui's next book is out in June, THE LUCKY HOUSE DETECTIVE AGENCY, writing as Scarlet Li with illustrator, Sian James. 

Check out Lui's website here.

Pippa Goodheart's new picture book, YOU CHOOSE BEDTIME, was published on June 5th. With illustrations by Nick Sharratt and fold out flaps, it's described as a joyful and accessible introduction to the 'You Choose' series.

Also published on June 5th, Jasbinder Bilan's NAELI AND THE SECRET SONG features a young Indian girl trying to find her English father in Victorian London, armed only with her violin. The Times Literary Supplement describes it as 'Atmospheric, dreamy, charged with wonder and menace, loss, sorrow and delight'.

https://www.jasbinderbilan.co.uk/

Congratulations, all. 

If you have any news to share, send it to Claire Fayers for the next round-up.