Talismania Revisited

Materialism is a wonderful & magical thing.

Talismanic objects are important in how we structure and experience our daily lives. Talismans affect us because we have empowered them to. They often carry a spirit or energy that we feel we need; sometimes at regular intervals, and sometimes in the spur of the moment. Talismanic veneration is one of the most common forms of magic in everyone’s life. Many may disagree but that never changes the fact itself.

We all possess and interact with talismans as kids: enchanted objects we find or are given, and that fill life with utter excitement and deep meaning… An old doll, a comic book, a pocket knife, a gadget, gizmo, or garish piece of clothing… When we return to them, they fill us with warm, fuzzy feelings of both safety and adventure.

But the magic doesn’t really go away, ever; everyone still has talismanic objects as adults, but perhaps less consciously so. They might be more commonplace and abstracted; yet they do fill the same function: as doorways of the desired. Examples could be mass-produced religious artifacts that one carries around every day. In need, they can be touched and facilitate a replenishment of the desired.