Do Talismans Need to Be Charged? What the Traditions Say, and Why My Talismans Are Not

Perhaps you have just received a talisman, and the first thing you read online was a list of instructions: leave it under the full moon, pass it through sage smoke, hold it against your heart and repeat your intention until you feel it is charged. And perhaps a small doubt came with those instructions. If a talisman needs all this to work, what was it before? And what happens if you forget?

It is a good question, and the honest answer is that it depends on the tradition your talisman comes from. In this article I want to explain what "charging" a talisman really means, how the different traditions do it, why the talismans I create are never charged, cleansed or programmed after they are made, and how you can meet yours for the first time.

Do talismans need to be charged?

It depends on how the talisman was born. In the traditions where a talisman receives its force through a rite, a prayer, a precise moment in the sky or the energy of the person who makes it, that act of charging is what turns an object into a talisman. In the oracle tradition, which is the one my jewels come from, nothing is added afterwards: a talisman born from a channel already carries its force when it is finished, so it does not need to be charged, cleansed or activated. It opens when you connect with it, by resonance.

How are talismans charged? Five traditions

To charge a talisman is to place a force, an intention or a blessing into an object, so that it carries more than its form. Different traditions do it in different ways, and each one is a real path with its own masters and its own logic. Here are the most common ones.

Through projected energy and intention

Some practitioners project energy into a jewel with their hands, in a way close to Reiki, while holding a clear intention for the person who will wear it. In this family, the talisman will carry real energy only if the person who projects it truly has that gift and that power. It is not something the mind can do on its own.

Through prayer and ceremony

In many cultures, a talisman is blessed through prayers, chants or a ceremony. In Bali, where my pieces are made, offerings and ceremonies are part of daily life, and objects are often blessed in this way. The blessing gives the object its sacred function.

Europe has its own memory of this. At the Cutlery Museum of Albacete, in Spain, a city with centuries of cutlery tradition, I discovered that the master cutlers used to recite a kind of ritual prayer in their workshops, invoking the forces of fire, water and earth to forge the best metal for their knives and blades, and asking God to bless the object they were shaping. They also engraved symbols and words on the blades, as protection.

Through the stars

In the astrological tradition, a talisman is made at a precise moment in the sky, such as an eclipse or a planetary alignment, so that it receives the quality of that moment. The medieval handbook of this art, the Picatrix, times the making of talismanic images by the passage of the Moon through its twenty-eight lunar mansions.

Through what is placed inside

Some talismans are hollow, and the maker fills them with herbs, perfumes, written words or spells before closing them. The jewel then becomes a container for everything that was placed inside it with intention.

Through the hands that make it

There is also a quieter tradition that I find very beautiful. Think of the women who embroider sacred geometric patterns on clothes or carpets. All over the world, these women pass on a wisdom hidden in their designs. Their patterns carry a meaning, but they also carry energy, because these women put their heart, their soul and their intention into every thread and every gesture.

My teacher, an Andean shaman, explained to me that in her lineage the weavers call the Ñusta of weaving, a feminine force of nature, before they begin to turn the wool into thread, and again each time they return to their work. This feminine force does not only protect the work; it becomes woven into the fabric itself.

The same can happen when someone engraves a word or a symbol into an object or a jewel with full presence.

All these ways are real, and I respect them. In each of them, the force comes from something that is added to the object, at the moment it is made or after.

Why are Unna talismans not charged?

My talismans belong to another family, the oracle tradition. An oracle opens a door between two levels of consciousness and lets something pass through her. She does not produce the force, and she does not project it.

This is what happens when I create a piece. I enter a deep, receptive state, the same state I enter when I channel the goddesses through sacred dance, and I receive the vision of the jewel and its codes. I draw them and explain them to my silversmith, who makes the piece by hand. My hands do not touch the metal, and when the jewel is finished, its vibration is already there. I discover it at the same time as everyone else.

I am also very careful not to involve my mind. I do not decide which energy a piece should carry, I do not hold an intention while it is being made, and I perform no ritual on it, neither before nor after. The energy is not mine. It passes through me, and I channel only the Divine Feminine: the goddesses and the feminine masters.

So there is nothing to add. An Unna talisman leaves the workshop complete, and it reaches you exactly as it was born, unused, without Reiki, ceremonies, smudging or programmed intentions. This is why it does not need to be charged, cleansed or activated before you wear it. If you want to see how this began, I told the story of the first rings of the Goddess Codex in What Is a Talisman?.

Can energy really pass through an object?

The rational mind finds this difficult, and I understand why. But human traditions have always recognised that some places and some people can transmit something that cannot be measured. Pilgrims have reported experiences in temples and sacred sites for thousands of years. In India, people still seek the darshan of a saint or a master, the blessing of seeing and being seen, and shaktipat, the transmission of spiritual energy through a look, a touch, a word or a thought. Some accounts say shaktipat can even pass through an object, such as a flower or a fruit, and it is always described as grace: it cannot be forced.

A talisman born from a channel works in a similar way. It opens a portal of transmission, and the woman who wears it receives by resonance, according to what she is ready to receive. You do not need to believe this to read on. But the women who feel it, and many feel warmth or a vibration even when they do not consider themselves sensitive, recognise immediately what I am describing.

How to meet your talisman for the first time

You do not need to activate your talisman: it opens the first time you wear it. But a quiet first meeting can help you feel it more clearly. This is what I suggest.

1. Find a quiet place where you can be alone, and take off any other jewels you are wearing.

2. Hold your talisman in one hand.

3. Stand with your feet grounded, barefoot if you can. Relax your body, keep your knees and shoulders soft, close your eyes and breathe deeply at your own pace.

4. Wait, without expecting anything, for one to five minutes, and simply notice whether something subtle is happening:

   • Is your breath changing? Does it become wider or tighter, faster, or does it stop for a moment?

   • Is there a subtle movement, a vibration or a tingling?

   • Is there a change in your temperature, a colour, a sensation, a feeling, an emotion or an image?

   • Does it feel pleasant or uncomfortable? Scan your whole body.

5. Do not try to understand it with your mind. Open to the experience without judgment, and afterwards wear your talisman as you like, following your intuition.

What if the first meeting feels uncomfortable?

It can happen, and in my experience it is part of the path. Discomfort often means the talisman is clearing something, or showing you a place where you are not yet aligned. My advice is to go through it without fear. We usually want to avoid what feels uncomfortable, yet it is often right behind that discomfort that the gift is waiting, the elixir of the jewel. Some women go through a period of clearing; when it is complete, the energy feels different, and the most beautiful part of the talisman opens. Always follow your intuition, though: if you ever feel a strong, clear "no", take the piece off and come back to it another day.

Will I always feel the energy of my talisman?

Not always in the same way, and this is natural. In my experience, the first contact with a piece is often the strongest. At the beginning, the energy can feel intense, until the information settles into your field. Then it integrates step by step, and you may feel it less, because it has become part of you.

Each talisman works differently, and each woman lives it differently too. One feels heat in her heart, another feels her feet and her connection to the earth, another feels something open at the top of her head, and another receives an insight or an image. What I have seen again and again is that the heart is always involved, because every piece I create works through the heart.

Where does your intention belong?

Your intention belongs to you, and it has a beautiful place in your relationship with a talisman, as long as it is in harmony with what the talisman already carries.

Once you wear an Unna talisman, you can use it as a reminder. Each time you touch it, see it or put it on, you can remember the quality you want to live: the strength of Sekhmet, the beauty and sensuality of Bastet, the abundance of the Great Mother, the priestess you are in your everyday life. The jewel becomes an anchor for your own intention. It does not do the work for you, but it walks with you while you do it.

What you cannot do is program a piece against its nature. You can set your intention with it, but you cannot turn its frequency into something it is not.

The difference you can feel

Charging is a real and ancient art, and the traditions that practise it deserve respect. My path is simply a different one. I do not fill my jewels with power after they are made. I receive them, already alive, and I let them reach the woman who recognises them.

If you have a talisman and you have always wondered whether you were doing something wrong by not charging it, I hope this article brings you some peace. And if you wear one of my pieces, write to me on Instagram and tell me what you felt the first time you held it. I love to hear it.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to cleanse an Unna talisman before wearing it?

No. Unna talismans are sent to you unused, without any ceremony, Reiki or projected intention, so there is nothing to cleanse or charge before you wear them. The metal is also pure from the start: the silver and gold in my studio are bought new from a known source, or come only from melting down our own pieces. Recycled metal usually carries a long story whose origin no one knows, and for energetic reasons I want every talisman to begin from metal whose origin we know.

How do I activate my Unna talisman?

You do not need to activate it: it opens the first time you wear it. If you would like to feel it more clearly, follow the short first meeting described above in "How to meet your talisman for the first time".

How do you charge a talisman?

It depends on the tradition: with projected energy, prayer or ceremony, at a precise astrological moment, or by placing herbs and written words inside it. Talismans from the oracle tradition, like Unna's, are not charged, because their force arrives with their creation.

Can I program my talisman with an intention?

You can simply talk to your talisman and share your intention with it, and you can use it as a reminder of your own intention, which can be very powerful. You can also build a relationship with your goddess by connecting with your talisman and following your intuition. What you cannot do is program it against its own frequency.

For more questions, visit our FAQ.

What Is a Talisman? The Traditions of Talismanic Jewelry and the Oracle Lineage

Has it ever happened to you that you felt mysteriously drawn to a jewel? Not because it was pretty or precious, and not because it carried a famous name or a special sign, but because something in it, something you could not see, kept calling you back.

And perhaps, when you finally held it in your hand or put it on, you felt something inside it: a pulse, a quiet vibration, as if the jewel were alive. Maybe it frightened you a little. Maybe you loved the feeling and did not want to take it off.

If you have ever been in contact with a jewel like this, I can tell you, from my own experience, that it is more than a jewel. When a piece carries a living power that you can feel, you are holding a talismanic jewel. In this article I want to tell you what a talisman is, where the word comes from, the different traditions of talisman-making through history, and the lineage my own talismans are born from.

What is a talisman?

A talisman is an object made to carry a power and to bring it into the life of the person who keeps it. Through history, talismans have most often been discs of metal or stone engraved with astrological or magical signs, and later rings, seals, pendants and written words worn close to the body (Encyclopedia.com). What every tradition shares is the belief that a talisman is more than its material: it holds a force.

What is talismanic jewelry?

Talismanic jewelry is jewelry created to carry something beyond its form. It is made with a specific purpose, and it usually carries a living force that connects the woman who wears it with a higher, sacred power.

This is why a talisman is more than a decorative piece. A beautiful jewel is complete the day it leaves the workshop, while a talisman tends to respond to the person who wears it, and opens a space of dialogue and relationship with her.

If I had to say it in one sentence, I would say this: a talismanic jewel is a jewel that is alive, because it carries a force that connects you with something greater than yourself.

There are several traditions of talisman-making in the world, and each one understands differently where this force comes from and how it is channelled into the object. We will look at them below.

Where does the word "talisman" come from?

The word has travelled a long way to reach us. It begins in ancient Greek with telos, which means "end" or "completion". From telos came the verb telein, to perform a religious rite, to fulfil. Then came telesma, which first meant "completion" and later "consecration" and "ceremony". In Byzantine Greek, telesma also came to mean a talisman. Arabic borrowed the word as tilsam, and through Arabic it entered French and then English, where "talisman" appears in the 1630s to describe a magical figure cut or engraved on stone or metal (Online Etymology Dictionary).

There is an idea hidden in this word that I love. A talisman is something complete, something brought to its end and made whole.

Is a talisman the same as an amulet or a charm?

Not exactly, although one jewel can play more than one role. These three words are often used as if they meant the same thing, so here is how I distinguish them.

• An amulet protects and repels. It is worn to keep harm away: misfortune, illness, envy, the evil eye.

• A charm attracts. It is worn to call good luck, money or love.

• A talisman accompanies, guides, activates and anchors. It is worn to awaken or strengthen something inside the woman who wears it, or to guide her and confirm what she already senses.

The amulet pushes away what can harm you, and the charm invites what you wish for from outside. The talisman works from the inside: it empowers you.

Scholars of religion have long described amulets and talismans as two sides of the same coin, one repelling what is harmful and the other drawing what is beneficial (Encyclopedia of Religion). But for me, the most important question lies underneath all three words, and it is the one we will explore now: where does the force of a talisman come from?

What are the different traditions of talismans?

There is no single way to make a talisman. There are several families, or technologies, and each one is a true path with its own masters. Depending on the tradition, the power comes from words, from the stars, from a blessing or from a channel.

By word and rite

In ancient Egypt, magic was called heka, a divine creative force. Amulets were part of daily life and of burial, and their power was understood to be awakened by words spoken in a precise way, by inscribed signs and by ritual (Ancient Egyptian magic).

By the stars

In the astrological tradition, a talisman is made at a precise celestial moment so that it receives the quality of that moment. The great handbook of this art is the Picatrix, known in Arabic as Ghāyat al-Ḥakīm, "The Aim of the Sage", which times the making of talismanic images by the passage of the Moon through the twenty-eight lunar mansions. Alfonso X of Castile had it translated from Arabic into Spanish around 1256 (Picatrix). This lineage is still alive today: there are astrologers and alchemists, in Bulgaria, in Israel and elsewhere, who make talismans during eclipses and planetary alignments.

By blessing and consecration

In many traditions, a master, a priest or a practitioner consecrates, charges or encodes an object through chanting, prayer or the focused will of the maker. In this family, the force of the talisman is understood to come from the force of the person who charges it.

By channel

A channel, or oracle, works differently. She opens a door and lets something pass from one level of consciousness to another. She does not produce the force and she does not project it. The force simply passes through her and is transmitted, in this case, into the jewel.

This lineage is older than its name, and it is the one I belong to.

The oracle lineage: what history remembers

At Delphi, for more than a thousand years, women known as the Pythia sat on a tripod in the temple of Apollo and spoke with a voice the Greeks believed was not their own. They called this state enthusiasmos, and they understood that the priestess was filled with the god. Older myths say that the oracle first belonged to goddesses, and to Gaia, the Earth herself (Britannica).

In India, some masters still practise a kind of transmission that the mind cannot explain. Darshan is the blessing of seeing, and being seen by, a holy person. Shaktipat is the transmission of spiritual energy through a look, a touch, a word or a thought, and some accounts say it can even pass through an object, such as a flower or a fruit. It is described as grace: it cannot be forced, and the one who receives it cannot make it happen (Shaktipata).

This is the family my jewels come from. They receive nothing after they are made, and I perform no ritual on them, neither before nor after they are conceived.

How is an Unna talisman born?

Every piece begins with a vision. I receive the form of a jewel and its codes, and I draw them as well as I can in a school notebook. There is nothing artistic or technical about these drawings, and I never manage to put everything on paper, but the subtle information stays inside me.

Then I explain the drawing to my artisans in Bali. My hands do not touch anything. The silversmith works from what I explain and what he understands, which is not always easy because we do not speak the same language, so we correct the piece together at every stage until it is as close as possible to what I received. Each piece has its own rhythm: some take months to be born, others only a few weeks.

When a jewel is finished, I discover it in its completeness, just as you will. Its vibration is already there.

My first vision was for the first rings of the Goddess Codex collection. I knew very well that they were activating codes, but I did not know how they would open. When the silversmith gave them to me, he asked: "Anna, what is this? This has energy." And when I took them in my hands, I felt it too. A vibration was there, and it was different in each ring.

• 

• 

At first I thought that my silversmith and I were simply too sensitive, and that nobody else would perceive it. So when I got home, I asked my neighbour to close her eyes and tell me what she felt as I placed each ring in her hand, without explaining anything. She felt the four different energies and understood the codes. She was moved, and she thanked me for receiving the transmission. For a whole year after that, I let the conscious people I knew around me try the rings, and every one of them told me they felt something. Some described it with great precision, and some even understood what was happening in them at an energetic level.

"How do you do it?"

People often ask me this, and my honest answer is that I do nothing.

This energy is not mine. It passes through me, and it does not belong to me. Part of it remains a mystery even to me, because I only fully know what a piece carries once it exists. I add nothing, and I am in fact very careful not to involve my mind, not to project anything, and not to hold any expectation or intention while a piece is being made. Every time, it is a surprise.

People also ask whether a copy of one of my designs would have the same effect. It would not. You can copy my designs, but you cannot copy the energy. Two musicians can play the same score with the same technique, and only one of them makes you cry. The score is the form, and the soul is the transmission. A copy has the score, but not the essence.

What makes an Unna talisman different?

Within the great family of talismans, an Unna talisman differs in where its force comes from:

• It is not made at an hour chosen in the sky.

• It is not consecrated or charged once it exists.

• No one places an intention in it.

• It is born from a channel that simply opens, and what arrives carries both the form and the force.

• The channel is a sacred feminine one. I channel only the Divine Feminine: the goddesses and the feminine masters, and nothing else.

This last point is what makes Unna unique. A channel can open to many different sources. Mine opens only to the feminine face of the divine, so every piece carries the frequency of a goddess or of a feminine master, and through it the memory of the sacred feminine that already lives in the woman who wears it.

Is every jewel with a sacred symbol a talisman?

No, and this is something I care about deeply. A true sacred symbol is different from a simple symbol. In my understanding, a true sacred symbol carries information and an energetic charge within it, and it works as a portal of transmission.

An ankh, a serpent, an eye of Horus or a rose can be printed on anything, and fashion has learned that sacred symbols sell. But a symbol worn as a trend, without the sacred force inside it, is only the image of a portal, an empty image with no life in it. It is like a score played without the soul.

If you compare a mass-made ankh sold as a souvenir with one of the ankh pieces I have created, you will feel the difference. The first represents a concept, while the second lets you experience that concept as energy.

I do not judge anyone who loves those pieces. I simply do not give them value, because I value what has a soul. If you want to read more about why the perfect, mass-made jewel means so little to me, I wrote about it in The End of Perfect Jewelry.

The goddesses behind the codes

For me, the codes and the goddesses behind my jewels, Sekhmet and Bastet, Hathor and Isis and others, are much more than decorations borrowed from mythology. They are facets of one consciousness, the Great Mother, and each piece is a frequency and a door towards one of them. When this door opens through resonance, something happens, and you may feel something inside you move, settle into place, or reveal itself. In a coming article, I will tell you more about each of them.

If you have ever tried one of my jewels, or if you already wear one, write to me on Instagram. I love hearing about your experience.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a talisman and an amulet?

An amulet protects by keeping harm away, while a talisman works from within: it accompanies, guides and activates a quality in the person who wears it. One jewel can be both.

Can any jewelry be a talisman?

A ring, a necklace, earrings or a pendant can all be talismans. What makes a jewel talismanic is the force it carries and the way it was created, whatever its shape.

Do talismanic jewels need to be charged?

It depends on the tradition. Astrological and ceremonial talismans are made at chosen moments or charged through a rite. Unna talismans come from the oracle lineage, and nothing is added to them after they are made. I explain every way talismans are charged, and why mine never are, in Do Talismans Need to Be Charged?