AAG30 Hanged Mans Skull Cup
The most ancient and efficacious remedy for any ailment.
Alchemy's Hanged Man's Skull Cup is made of bone china out of a mould taken from a male, human skull. The stem is typical in style of an English vernacular, 18th century, craftsman made artefact, and hand made here of fine English pewter. It is formed of three entwined, 'healing' snakes which terminate in typical claw feet, and is engraved with a potent variety of spells and seals.
On the underside of the cradle are three seals:
Mars Pentacle of Cures:
Guards against disease and has curative powers.
Jupiter Seal of Immortality:
Look at this seal every day and it will keep one healthy and long living.
14th Talisman (of the Sage of the Pyramids)
Gives the universal medicine and the faculty of healing all sicknesses
The cup should be left overnight where the stars can shine on the engraved charm. On the following morning the cup should be charged with the water or wine and drunk to cure any illness and misfortune caused by evil spirits.
In addition to this, engraved around the outside of the triangular brace is a spell; the operative words for the 14th Talisman of the Sage of the Pyramids, which can be recited before drinking for enhanced effect:
RETEREM, SALIBAT, CRATARES, HISATER.
An old British superstition dating from mediaeval times, claimed that anybody drinking water or wine from the skull of a hanged man would be cured of all their ills. Other related beliefs include the scraping of 'white moss' from the skull of a murdered man, which has similar magical and medical properties. It seems that such beliefs originate from the idea that the skull of a man who's life has been suddenly and violently ended, will still retain much of his life force within its walls and can be extracted and consumed by the lucky benefactor.
Skull cup related stories describe one of the secret rituals of the Templars, having possession of the skull and thighbones of John the Baptist they would fill the skull with a peyote based hallucinogenic, and sacramentally drink from it in a sacred ritual that was said to induce prophetic visions. Centuries later, on Christmas in 1811, Lord Byron, the celebrated gothic poet invited his friends to the ruins of Newstead Abbey, where, in mock ritual, they were to dress in monks robes and drink from a silver cup made from a human skull.