"Thou shalt then make unto thyself a sprinkler of vervain, fennel, provinca, sage, valerian, mint [majorana], garden-basil, and rosemary, gathered in the day and hour of Mercury, the moon being in her increase. Then cut a handle with a single stroke from a virgin branch of hazel; the length should be three spans.6 Bind together these herbs with a thread spun by a young maiden, and engrave upon the handle on the one side the characters..."
-Key of Solomon, Book II Chapter XI
The aspergillum is the bedrock of Solomonic magical tools. Along with the holy water, the aspergillum is used to sprinkle holy water, purify tools, ceremonial magical space and generally consecrate most elements before, during and after a rite (depending on what the text calls for).
So, to do this, I needed: 1. a proper branch, 2. proper herbs and 3. virgin-spun thread.
I ordered a 1. virgin-cut branch from a trusted Solomonic practitioner in Costa Rica, which was cut in the day or hour of Mercury. I then ordered the 2. appropriate (above) vervain, fennel, valerian from Alchemy-Works.com, which is a great resource for harder-to-find herbs. The others (mint, sage, garden-basil and rosemary) I obtained from the local grocery store/organic food place. Finally, I ordered the virgin-spun thread from Solomonic mage and author Aaron Leitch on his page DocSolomons.com. I highly recommend this page for anyone needing holy water, virgin-spun thread.
I waited until the Day and Hour of Mercury, and did the following steps (these are short-hand notes of what I was to do, so please ask me or look to the KoS for more information:
*Dip thy hands in water and Sprinkle over the sticks, with devotion.
*Trace these Key of Solomon characters on the stick:
*Gather all of the herbs from boxes and line them up on a plate.
*Because the incense was flicked by initial holy water hands, censor was cleansed.
*Go outside, w/ Aspergillum stick, lightly sand it and charge it with devotion (Raph)
*When charged, go back inside and bind the herbs with virgin-spun thread
* Light cense and bless the stick (w/herbs on it) w/ devotion
*Engrave aspergillum with characters.
This has been an immensely helpful tool in my workings. However the herbs are all dry and disintegrating. So, I am looking to either re-consecrate another batch of herbs, or also looking at Orthodox Church aspergillums as well (as magicians I trust tell me that these aspergillum can be just as effective in ritual).