PICATRIX 


A MEDIEVAL TREATISE 
on ASTRAL MAGIC 


TRANSLATED WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 
DAN ATTRELL AND DAVID PORRECA 





PICATRIX 





THE MAGIC IN HISTORY SERIES 


FORBIDDEN RITES 
A Necromancer’s Manual of the Fifteenth Century 
Richard Kieckhefer 


CONJURING SPIRITS 
Texts and Traditions of Medieval Ritual Magic 
Edited by Claire Fanger 


RITUAL MAGIC 
Elizabeth M. Butler 


THE FORTUNES OF FAUST 
Elizabeth M. Butler 


THE BATHHOUSE AT MIDNIGHT 
An Historical Survey of Magic and 
Divination in Russia 


W.F. Ryan 


SPIRITUAL AND DEMONIC MAGIC 
From Ficino to Campanella 


D.P. Walker 


ICONS OF POWER 
Ritual Practices in Late Antiquity 


Naomi Janowitz 


BATTLING DEMONS 
Witchcraft, Heresy, and Reform in the 
Late Middle Ages 


Michael D. Bailey 


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ANCIENT AND LATE ANTIQUE WORLD 
Edited by Scott Noegel, Joel Walker, 


and Brannon Wheeler 


BINDING WORDS 
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Don C. Skemer 


STRANGE REVELATIONS 
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Lynn Wood Mollenauer 


UNLOCKED BOOKS 
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Benedek Lang 


ALCHEMICAL BELIEF 
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Bruce Janacek 


INVOKING ANGELS 
Theurgic Ideas and Practices, Thirteenth to 
Sixteenth Centuries 


Edited by Claire Fanger 


THE TRANSFORMATIONS OF MAGIC 
Illicit Learned Magic in the Later Middle Ages 
and Renaissance 


Frank Klaassen 


MAGIC IN THE CLOISTER 
Pious Motives, Illicit Interests, and Occult 


Approaches to the Medieval Universe 
Sophie Page 


REWRITING MAGIC 
An Exegesis of the Visionary Autobiography of a 
Fourteenth-Century French Monk 


Claire Fanger 


MAGIC IN THE MODERN WORLD 
Strategies of Repression and Legitimization 
Edited by Edward Bever and Randall Styers 


MEDICINE, RELIGION, AND MAGIC IN 
EARLY STUART ENGLAND 

Richard Napier’s Medical Practice 

Ofer Hadass 


The Magic in History series explores the role magic and the occult have played in European culture, religion, 


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PICATRIX 





A MEDIEVAL TREATISE ON ASTRAL MAGIC 


TRANSLATED WITH AN INTRODUCTION 
BY DAN ATTRELL 


AND DAVID PORRECA 


Based on the Latin edition by David Pingree 





THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS 


UNIVERSITY PARK, PENNSYLVANIA 


Library of Congress Cataloging-in- Publication Data 


Names: Majriti, Maslamah ibn Ahmad, -1004?, author. | Attrell, Dan, 1988- editor, 
translator. | Porreca, David, 1974- editor, translator. 

Title: Picatrix : a medieval treatise on astral magic / edited and translated by 
Dan Attrelland David Porreca ; based on the Latin edition by David Pingree. 

Other titles: Ghayat al-hakim wa-ahaqq al-natijatayn bi-altaqdim. English | Magic 
in history. 

Description: University Park, Pennsylvania : The Pennsylvania State University 
Press, [2019] | Series: Magic in history | In English; translated from the Latin, 
which was translated from the original Arabic. | Includes bibliographical 
references and index. 

Summary: “An English translation, with accompanying introduction, commentary, 
and notes, of the medieval treatise on astrological magic known as Picatrix, 

a guide for constructing magical talismans, mixing magical compounds, 
summoning planetary spirits, and determining astrological conditions’— 
Provided by publisher. 

Identifiers: LCCN 2018044815 | ISBN 9780271082127 (cloth: alk. paper) 

Subjects: LCSH: Magic—Early works to 1800. | Alchemy—Early works to 
1800. | Astrology—Early works to 1800. 

Classification: LCC BF1618.A7 M3513 2019 | DDC 133.4/3—dc23 

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018044815 (https://Iccn.loc.gov/2018044815) 


Copyright © 2019 Dan Attrell and David Porreca 

All rights reserved 

Printed in the United States of America 

Published by The Pennsylvania State University Press, 
University Park, PA 16802-1003 


Second Printing, August 2019 


The Pennsylvania State University Press is a member of the Association of 
University Presses. 


It is the policy of The Pennsylvania State University Press to use acid-free paper. 
Publications on uncoated stock satisfy the minimum requirements of American 
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed 
Library Material, ANsI 239.48-1992. 


Though I speak with the tongues of men or of angels, but have not love, I am but a 
resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 


1 Corinthians 13:1 


Therefore I say to you, if you wish to apply your intellect to those lofty, noble, and impor- 
tant realms of knowledge, then spare no zeal, and do not neglect studying the books and 
words of the wise for it is by that path that you shall reach your desire. 


Picatrix 2.8.4 


CONTENTS 


List of Tables / ix 
Acknowledgments / xi 


INTRODUCTION 


A Prehistory of the Latin Picatrix / 3 

A Brief History of the Latin Text / 4 

On Knowledge, Wisdom, and Self-Legitimacy in the Picatrix / 8 
On Nigromancia / 10 

The Cosmology of the Picatrix / 12 

The Picatrix, Social History, and Material Culture / 16 
Psychoactive and/or Poisonous Substances in the Picatrix / 26 


Translators’ Notes / 31 


PICATRIX 


Prologue / 37 
Book1 / 39 
Book 2 / 69 
Book 3 / 131 
Book 4 / 217 


Notes / 281 

Bibliography / 299 

Index of Terrestrial Names / 305 

Index of Celestial Names and Magical Words / 311 
Index of Subjects and Materials / 317 


TABLES 


1 Picatrix ritual objectives by category / 17 

2 Agriculture rituals in the Picatrix / 19 
Apotropaic rituals in the Picatrix / 20 
Commerce and wealth rituals in the Picatrix / 21 
Occult science rituals in the Picatrix / 21 
Healing and health rituals in the Picatrix / 22 
Infrastructure rituals in the Picatrix / 23 


Interpersonal relations rituals in the Picatrix / 23 


o AN DWN HR WwW 


Travel rituals in the Picatrix / 25 


10 Other/outlier rituals in the Picatrix / 26 


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 


A project such as this one does not come to fruition in a vacuum. We are grate- 
ful for the support of a number of colleagues and peers who have contributed 
their time, effort, and expertise to make this volume both a reality and better 
than it would otherwise have been. Any remaining omissions or errors are, of 
course, the result of our own shortcomings. 

We acknowledge and appreciate the assistance of Brett Bartlett, Leonard 
Curchin, Sophie Page, Liana Saif, and Ziad Wadi for their detail-level contribu- 
tions to the introduction, annotations and/or editorial adjustments. We thank 
Ashley Street for her work on the images that appear throughout the text. We 
thank Matthew Hyde for his work in rendering part of the original handwrit- 
ten translation into an electronic format. 

We would like to thank all our friends and colleagues in the Societas Magica 
who contributed so much along the way in terms of encouragement and oppor- 
tunities to share ideas. 

Weare grateful to our friends and colleagues in the department of classical 
studies at the University of Waterloo who have endured the repeated progress 
reports and casual references to black magic in conversation over the years. 
Porreca thanks his friends and colleagues in the faculty association of the 
University of Waterloo for the same reasons; he is particularly grateful to Erin 
Windibank, who bore the brunt of the updates. 

All of our Latin teachers over the years deserve particular thanks—inter 
alios/-as, Leonard Curchin, Greti Dinkova-Bruun, Riemer Faber, Lucinda 
Neuru, Padraig O’Cleirigh, George Rigg, and Andrew Sherwood. This transla- 
tion represents the culmination of their labors as much as that of the authors. 

We acknowledge the individuals—giants of scholarship, one and all—whose 
pioneering efforts form the bedrock of this work: David Pingree, Martin Pless- 
ner, and Helmut Ritter. We are likewise grateful to the more recent translation 
efforts of Davide Arecco, Ida Li Vigni, Paolo A. Rossi, Stefano Zufh, Béatrice 
Bakhouche, Frédéric Fauquier, Brigitte Pérez-Jean, John Michael Greer, and 
Christopher Warnock, whose work we inevitably had to take into account. 


xii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 


We would like to thank S.O.S. BBQ in Kitchener, Ontario for the hecatombs 
of chickens that kept us fed over the several years of collective effort we invested. 

Last, yet first by priority, we thank our families and partners for their patience 
and support over the entire length and breadth of this project. Our gratitude 
goes well beyond words. 


INTRODUCTION 


The book you are holding in your hands is an English translation of a manual 
of astral magic known as the Picatrix, itself a medieval Latin rendition of the 
Arabic Ghayat al-Hakim (..SoJ\ 4, The Goal of the Sage), which was written 
circa 954-59. The confluence of ideas that formed this eclectic tome draws its 
sources from numerous geographical tributaries: Spain, North Africa, Greece, 
Egypt, Nabataea, Arabia, Babylon, Persia, India, and beyond. Its scope is ency- 
clopedic. As a general overview of long-lost beliefs, occult worldviews, and 
ritual practices, the work is fascinating to intellectual and religious historians. 
As a compendium of material that reflects the personal needs, ambitions, fears, 
and desires of magicians and their clients, the Picatrix is no less interesting to 
critical social historians, who might tease from it a great number of subtle 
observations. Its importance as a primary source lies in its incorporation of the 
vast magical, philosophical, and astrological heritage of antiquity and the 
Islamic Middle Ages, setting them within an internally consistent theoretical 
framework. 

The chief factor in the Picatrix’s complexity and comprehensiveness as a 
treatise of medieval magic is its twofold nature. The author of the Ghayat al- 
Hakim, Abi ’1-Qasim Maslama ibn al-Qasim Ibrahim al-Qurtubi al-Zayyat 
(905/6-964), an Andalusian hadith scholar described by his contemporaries 
as “a man of charms and talismans” (henceforth referred to as al-Qurtubi), 
tells us clearly that “magic is divided into two parts, namely, the theoretical 
and the practical” (1.2.2).! That is to say, the Picatrix is no mere compendium 
of disassociated bits and pieces of decontextualized operations, though large 
portions of the work do indeed strictly apply to the practical application of 
magic. Such practical portions generally involve recipes for the material 
ingredients necessary for rituals, prayers for invoking the planets and their 


2 PICATRIX 


spirits, instructions for the crafting of talismans, formulas for suffumigations, 
remedies for specific conditions, and so forth. These sections, however, are 
quite distinct in character from their theoretical counterparts, which explain 
the system underlying the efficacy of practical magic. These theoretical dis- 
courses include admonishments to initiates, aphorisms of famous sages, 
astrological instructions pertaining to the figures of the heavens (decans, 
constellations, planets, etc.), and exposés on the theoretical underpinnings of 
magic and ritual image-crafting. 

Although some might dispute the Picatrix as belonging to any kind of rei- 
fied tradition (such as “Hermeticism” or “Gnosticism”), this work can be neatly 
encompassed by an historiographical concept recently come to be known as 
Platonic Orientalism.” This concept circumscribes the belief that there exists 
one single perennial wisdom tradition (such as Ficino’s prisca theologia) that 
unites all the sages of every nation, and whose origins can be traced back to the 
likes of Plato, Pythagoras, Orpheus, Moses, Hermes Trismegistus, Enoch, 
Zoroaster, and ultimately, to a pre-lapsarian Adam. In reality, this “wisdom 
tradition” is a manifestation of late antique mystical Platonic idealism more or 
less veiledin and syncretized with the pre-existing religions of assorted peoples 
conquered and bound together by Hellenism.? We must not, however, over- 
stress the purely Platonic character of the Picatrix at the expense of pseudo- 
Aristotelian causality that was an Arabic innovation to the science of magic 
not present in Late Antiquity (e.g., al-Kindr’s theories of rays and Abu Ma‘Shar’s 
extension of the theory to include souls).* This development is rooted in a 
quasi-mechanistic, natural magical worldview that contrasts with a more mys- 
tical late antique “theurgy” that is centered on the statues of temple gods. The 
Theology of Aristotle was the most prominent source of Neoplatonic ideology in 
the medieval Arabic world, and it is an adaptation of Porphyry’s Enneads IV- 
VI as translated by al-Kindi’s scholarly circle in Baghdad during the ninth 
century.° 

Our translation is based on David Pingree’s Latin edition of the Picatrix, 
and is specifically intended for students and scholars of the history of science 
and magic.® This introduction offers a detailed history of the text and its 
various versions and editions, a discussion of the author and his worldview, 
a caveat on the problematic term nigromancia, a numerical breakdown 
of the Picatrix’s rituals, and a number of observations on the poisonous 
and psychoactive ingredients contained therein. Finally, our translators’ 
notes lay bare the inevitable trade-offs involved with idiomatically render- 
ing a medieval text into a modern language, in addition to other editorial 
issues. 


INTRODUCTION 3 


A Prehistory of the Latin Picatrix 


The word “Picatrix” itself, according to the Latin text’s prologue, is the name of 
the original author: “one wise philosopher, the noble and honored Picatrix,” 
who “compiled this tome from over two hundred books of philosophy and then 
named it after himself” (Prologue .1). By and large, this was the title most 
familiar to the magicians, astrologers, and occultists of western Europe. From 
at least the time of the renowned Arab historian Ibn Khaldtin (ca. 1332-1406) 
until quite recently, the Ghayat al-Hakim had traditionally been attributed to 
Abt ’1-Qasim Maslama ibn Ahmad al-Faradi al-Hasib al-Majriti al-Qurtubi 
al-Andalusi (d. 1007), the Madrilenian polymath, or alternatively to one of his 
disciples under the name of Pseudo-Majriti. More recently, however, Maribel 
Fierro has argued forcefully for attributing the work to al-Qurtubi, an attribu- 
tion we accept as being most plausible.’ 

Al-Qurtubi lived in Islamic Iberia, where he not only had access to over 224 
books of both ancient and contemporary philosophy but also benefited from 
the great intellectual ferment and relative tolerance toward unusual scholarly 
and spiritual pursuits of the time. This author with batini aspirations traveled 
widely and accessed many of his sources from within the broader Islamic world 
beyond Spain, in particular while undertaking his ritla during the early 930s 
when he passed through major cities and met the sages of distant lands.® 

One may ask how al-Qurtubi and the Latin version of his text came to be 
called “Picatrix.” If we take the Latin prologue at face value, which says “hunc 
librum ... quem suo proprio nomine nominavit” (this tome .. . [which he] 
named after himself), we run into a problem in the body ofthe text. While the 
author writes in an initiatory style, in the first person, the work cites a few 
operations of a so-called Picatrix that refer to the author in the third person 
(2.10.10-11, 16, 24, 27, 33, 37). Though this could be a strategy to embed himself 
among the ranks of such ancient sages as Empedocles, Hermes Trismegistus, 
Aristotle, and Plato, we cannot be certain that this is not a mere rhetorical 
device used by the author. Furthermore, in a section concerning magical 
stones (2.10.2-8), there are at least two correspondences between the Latin 
edition’s “Picatrix” and the Ghdyat al-Hakim’s “Bugqratis/Biqratis.” Béatrice 
Bakhouche and her collaborators report the theory that this name “Picatrix” 
could merely have been a corruption or transliteration of “Buqratis,” while 
Ritter had suggested that this “Buqratis/Biqratis” was a simple corruption of 
Hippocrates (Innoxpatns), the father of Western medicine.’ Nevertheless, 
Ritter’s hypothesis was abandoned for two reasons: first, the Periclean-era 
physician can already be found cited twice in the Picatrix under the name 


4 PICATRIX 


“Ypocras” (3.3.32; 4.4.58); and second, this would be the first instance of a book 
on astral magic ascribed to the Hippocratic tradition.” Others proposed Har- 
pocration (Apmoxpatiwv), the second-century Greek grammarian who lived 
in Alexandria, on account of his interest in magical stones; they believed it 
was the Spanish translator of the original Arabic (and thus the author of the 
prologue) who attributed the name “Picatrix” to the text." Johannes Thom- 
ann, however, suggests an alternative hypothesis that would reconcile the 
titles of the Latin Picatrix and the Arabic Ghdyat al-Hakim. He believes the 
feminine noun “Picatrix” was first translated in Spanish as “Picatriz,” the 
feminine form of picador (from the Latin picator, meaning goader or stinger). 
This was done as a sort of pun in imitation ofthe Arabic first name “Maslama” 
on the basis of the Spanish verb picar (to sting, prick, or bite), a crude render- 
ing of the Arabic stem s-l-m, which can mean “to prick, sting, or bite like 
a snake.”” Thus, “Picatrix” would not be a corruption of “Buqratis,” but 
rather a corrupted translation of “Maslama” into Spanish. The appearance 
of “Picatrix” for “Buqratis” in Book 2, then, was merely a confusion in the 
scribal tradition between the translation of the Arabic “Maslama” and the 
transcription of the name “Buqratis.” Ultimately, this association between 
the word “Picatrix” and the concept of pricking or stinging remains conjec- 
tural, although it seems to stand as the least implausible of the ideas put 
forth so far. 


A Brief History of the Latin Text 


In its prologue, the Picatrix declares that the Christian King Alfonso “the 
Wise” was the first to have the original Arabic text translated into Castilian 
Spanish “in the year of the Lord 1256 (in the year of Alexander 1568, in the year 
of Caesar 1295, and in the Arab year 655)” (Prologue .1). These dates, however, as 
pointed out by Pingree, do not align with one another perfectly. Nevertheless, 
it seems safe to assume that this work was translated into Spanish sometime 
between 1256 and 1258.” The translation (and transliteration) from Arabic to 
Spanish to Latin was not without its problems. Although the passages regard- 
ing lunar mansions and planetary images were written in fairly simple Arabic, 
Pingree believed that the Spanish translator “often blundered” and that “he did 
far worse in philosophical passages, and in passages such as the prayers to the 
planetary deities, where the Arabic is more complex.”'* He maintained that the 
Spanish Picatrix was not a very accurate rendering of the Ghdyat al-Hakim, 
abounding in elaborations, errors, and omissions, which is not unusual for 
translations of the time. Some of these omissions include longer segments that 


INTRODUCTION 5 


were either just too difficult for the translator (including some theoretical sec- 
tions) or were otherwise too offensive to Christian sensibilities (e.g., rituals 
involving homosexual relations or passages from the Qur'an). Pingree cau- 
tiously speculated that the identity of the Spanish translator was a Jewish 
scholar named Yehuda ben Moshé (one of the translators at King Alfonso’s 
court) while proposing even more cautiously that the individual responsible 
for the Latin text was Aegidius de Tebaldis of Parma (an imperial notary).’° The 
Spanish version only survives in a short fragment, so a full detailed compari- 
son of the three versions of the text remains impossible.” Charles Burnett has 
recently undertaken a detailed reevaluation of the Latin translation itself, 
revealing it in a more positive light as a translatio ad sensum (i.e., a translation 
faithful in meaning rather than a literal word-for-word rendering).* 

It is unknown how long it took for the Spanish version to be translated into 
Latin. Nicolas Weill-Parot argues that an interpolation in 2.12.39-51 (and in 
particular 2.12.44) originated from Montpellier in southern France around the 
year 1300, thereby establishing a terminus ante quem for the translation since 
the Latin text must have already existed when the interpolation was added.” 
Fortunately, the Latin version is very nearly a literal rendition of the Castil- 
ian.” Ultimately, the Latin edition that is the basis of our translation is shorter 
than its Arabic original despite several additional interpolations.” Never- 
theless, it was undoubtedly this Latin version (in its various and divergent 
manuscript traditions) that circulated widely throughout Europe from the 
mid-fifteenth century onward. Accordingly, we have consciously worked 
toward a translation that captures the spirit of the text’s reception in Europe 
rather than in the Arabic world. 

The history of the text in the period between its first appearance in Latin 
and the earliest surviving manuscripts is largely obscure since no precise refer- 
ences to the text have so far been found.” The widespread circulation of the 
Picatrix only begins around 1450, as evidenced by the large number of manu- 
scripts extant in the libraries of Paris, Florence, Oxford, London, Krakow, 
Hamburg, Prague, and Darmstadt, all copied between the fifteenth and the 
seventeenth centuries.*? Aside from the scribe of the illustrated Krakow 
manuscript,“ Italian scholars appear to have been the first to engage with the 
text on an extensive basis. Galeotto Marzio (1427-1497) is among the original 
users of the Picatrix in the context of his medical, philosophical, and astro- 
logical work.” Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499) relied on it heavily for the elabora- 
tion of his theories of natural, astral magic in his De vita coelitus comparanda.”® 
‘The great Christian kabbalist Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494) kept 
a handwritten copy in his library, and the text was also known to a contempo- 
rary, the poet and Hermeticist Lodovico Lazzarelli (1447-1500).”’ Pico’s nephew, 


6 PICATRIX 


Giovanni Francesco Pico (1470-1533), appears to have possessed some degree of 
knowledge concerning the Picatrix according to a work he wrote after his 
uncle’s death.”* For each of these Renaissance men, however, this work was not 
entirely seen in a favorable light. As a testament to the Picatrix’s illicit reputa- 
tion in Europe, the text never received a printed edition during the Early 
Modern period. 

North of the Alps, the earliest citation of the Picatrix occurs in the com- 
monplace book written in 1477 by John Argentine (ca. 1442-1507), doctor of 
medicine at Cambridge and personal physician to King Edward V and his 
brother Richard, Duke of York.” Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (1486-1535) made 
extensive use of the Picatrix in his magnum opus, De occulta philosophia. The 
widespread infamy of this textbook throughout western Europe is attested by 
the fact that Francois Rabelais (d. 1553) condemned a certain Picatris as a 
“reverend father in the devil” and “rector of the diabolical faculty” in one of 
his novels.** His contemporary, the French thinker Symphorien Champier 
(1471-1539), railed against the Picatrix in the following terms: “It is a very point- 
less book, full of superstitions, and structured like a ladder toward idolatry.” 
Agostino Nifo (ca. 1473-1538 or 1545) called Picatrix “the foremost among the 
magi,” while Gabriel Naudé (1600-1653) accused him of being a “Spanish char- 
latan who writes about magic.”” The Benedictine abbot and occultist Johannes 
Trithemius (1462-1516) was also vehement in his criticism of the Picatrix.? 
Despite all this, even the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I owned two cop- 
ies.’ Moreover, according to Pingree, there were a number of vernacular 
translations: “The Latin version was translated, in whole or in part, into Eng- 
lish, French, German, Hebrew, and Italian.”® The clandestine circulation of 
such manuscripts is evidenced by a letter composed circa 1575 by the French 
poet Agrippa d’Aubigné (1552-1630), wherein he claims to have been secretly 
given access to a number of magical books imported to France from Spain by 
King Henry III. Among these were “les commentaires de Dom Joiian Picatrix 
de Tollede.”*® 

More recently, Aby Warburg brought fresh attention to the Latin Picatrix in 
the period before the First World War. Starting in 1910, Warburg was on the 
lookout for manuscripts of the text, and in 1912, he borrowed two Latin ver- 
sions from the Bibliothéque nationale de France in Paris. That very year, Fritz 
Saxl confirmed and revealed the close relationship between the Picatrix’s 
planetary invocations and the prayers of both al-Tabari and Sabaean authors 
from Harran.” In 1914, Wilhelm Printz established that this so-called Picatrix 
was in fact a copy of a much older Arabic text, the Ghdyat al-Hakim. On 
account of this discovery, Ritter, then a young orientalist living in Hamburg, 
turned his interest toward the subject. In 1926, the only extant fragment of the 


INTRODUCTION 7 


Castilian version of the text was published by Antonio Solalinde.** When this 
fragment was first discovered, Warburg refused to believe it.” 

Despite the puritanical sentiment expressed in 1897 by Rev. J. Wood Brown 
that “it is to be hoped [the Picatrix] may never be translated into any modern 
language,”° projects were established for creating two distinct critical edi- 
tions (one Latin and one Arabic) and a translation of the Arabic into German. 
These, however, were beset with all manner of delays, due both to the inter- 
vening wars and to assorted personal crises in the lives of the individuals 
involved. Among other complications, Ritter was twice arrested for homo- 
sexual activity under the repressive legal system prevailing in Germany at the 
time. After being released from prison by virtue of general amnesty on August 
13, 1926, both he and Martin Plessner were forced into exile. In the summer of 
1929, Plessner reconnected with Ritter in Istanbul but fell into a deep bout of 
depression. In a letter to Saxl, Ritter declared that Plessner was suffering from 
a nervous breakdown and would not make an able collaborator.’ Not long 
after, Plessner himself bemoaned to Saxl how Ritter had stopped working on 
the Ghaya and would probably contribute nothing more to the project.” In 
1933, after all these disastrous setbacks, Ritter’s edition of the Arabic version 
appeared without any introduction. An early draft of an introduction had 
been published separately back in 1926. It was reprinted, along with updates, 
in Plessner’s German translation of Ritter’s Arabic text, which had been ready 
by early 1927 but never published. Only a single copy of the page proofs of 
Plessner’s German translation would survive World War II. During this time, 
the Kulturwissenschaftliche Bibliothek Warburg moved to London and even- 
tually became the Warburg Institute. The translation project was put on 
standby for many years, but in 1949, Plessner could finally resume where he 
had been forced to abandon the project sixteen years prior. It took Plessner 
another thirteen years to publish an authoritative, thoroughly annotated Ger- 
man translation of the text in 1962.*4 

In the summer of 1971, he asked Pingree, an ardent orientalist and professor 
of the history of mathematics at Brown University, a “knight without fear, 
without reproach, [an] erudite connoisseur and enthusiast of ancient magic,”* 
about the possibility of publishing an edition of the Latin Picatrix while 
Plessner himself was busy working on an edition of its Hebrew versions.** As 
a man who had long been captivated by the Arabic version, Pingree agreed. The 
Warburg Institute, under the direction of Ernst Gombrich, gave its assent and 
support to the publication project. Pingree was given the copy of the Latin text 
made by Wilhelm Printz from a Hamburg manuscript (designated as H in 
Pingree’s edition) and extensive notes concerning the Picatrix collected over 
decades by Elspeth Jaffé.”” In 1986, the work was finally published. 


8 PICATRIX 


On Knowledge, Wisdom, and Self-Legitimacy in the Picatrix 


The magical operations and desired effects listed in the Picatrix are by no 
means set within the bounds of today’s conventional morality or “political cor- 
rectness.™* Scattered throughout are rituals or operations calling for cannibal- 
ism, coprophagia, animal sacrifice, and genital mutilation. Inasmuch as there 
are numerous rituals for acquiring friendship, benevolence, and healing, there 
are also a large number designed toward coercion, abduction, violence, and 
ruin. The text abounds with the realities of magic being weaponized in power 
politics, war, patriarchal dominance, mind control, manipulation, and cruelty 
to both humans and animals. More hair-raising still for many today is the very 
theoretical basis upon which the Picatrix’s astral magic operates. 

The Picatrix presents us with an unseen world of cosmic energy currents 
that radiate down from the firmament of stars and pass through the planetary 
spheres. They are augmented and diminished before pouring into the people, 
places, and things disposed to them. Hiding behind these rays, however, are 
spiritual entities with whom “wise” individuals can communicate given the 
fulfillment of complex ritual conditions. Ultimately, in the world of the Pica- 
trix, we see a seamless integration of practical magic, earnest piety, and tradi- 
tional philosophy. There is noincompatibility between traditional monotheistic 
beliefs and the invocation of planetary spirits that might, at first glance, be 
reminiscent of pagan gods—particularly in name. The unity of God is pre- 
served since the planetary powers are understood as astral volitional forces 
that constitute the hidden inner workings of a cosmos ruled entirely by God’s 
will.” 

For al-Qurtubi, magic is the inevitable consequence of a zealous philo- 
sophical life»? Regarding the question of efficacy, the practical elements of the 
Picatrix concerning ritual magic are founded upon a consistent syncretic 
philosophical worldview. The praises of wisdom and true science in the open- 
ing portion of the work are no mere rhetorical embellishments. A complete 
understanding of the work necessitates a thorough knowledge of Pythagorean, 
Platonic, and Aristotelian philosophy, to say nothing of the teachings of certain 
Arabic, Indian, Babylonian, and Egyptian sages. The Picatrix often imparts its 
wisdom in an esoteric style, as ifa cult hierophant, chief initiator, or Sufi mas- 
ter were addressing his sole acolyte. Wisdom, ritual purity, and discretion are 
constantly advised to the practitioner. 

But what makes someone wise according to the Picatrix? Who is eligible, 
according to our author, to learn how to bring the heavens’ forces down to 
Earth and consort with astral entities? The answer is, of course, the righteous 
man—and the man who is astrologically predisposed. When asked “what do 


INTRODUCTION 9 


science and philosophy have in common?” the wise Hermes answered: “perfect 
nature” (3.6.5) (Arabic: al-tibd al-tar). The Hermetic concept ofa Perfect Nature 
is arecurring theme throughout the Picatrix, and it refers to a kind of telos built 
into the seven liberal arts. It constitutes a state of mystical fulfillment that the 
magician achieves by aligning himself with the planets governing his own nativ- 
ity and closely adhering to ceremonial scruples such that a personal informing 
daimon or guardian spirit is generated (not unlike the one with whom Socrates 
is said to have dialogued in his mind).*! Through this ritually purified, guiding 
intellect, which is empowered both by an understanding of the ebbs and flows of 
cosmic forces and by drawing upon the rays cast down by the spirits of the celes- 
tial spheres, the magus performed effective magic. 

‘The path of the sage contained within the Picatrix appears to be based upon 
the notion of a self-legitimizing cycle: the individual who is righteous becomes 
wise by adhering to religious law; through this wisdom, the sage becomes natu- 
rally inclined toward acquiring sciencia and thus turns toward the handiwork 
of God (botany, geometry, arithmetic, astronomy, metaphysics, etc.); the natu- 
ral outcome, then, of living a righteous life with an eye fixed upon the orderly 
nature of creation is a sort of gnosis—an awareness of a holistic Neoplatonic 
cosmology that places humankind as mediator between God and the material 
world. To the Picatrix’s ideal sage, however, the study of creation is the study of 
the creator, and the love of nature (imperfect though it may be) is the love of 
God. Once the knowledge is revealed on how the world is actually organized 
(with its threefold division of matter, spirit, and intellect/mind), one attains the 
metaphysical framework within which to perform magical operations. 

In the Picatrix, magic is the inevitable outcome of a life lived in holy con- 
templation. Magic is the thread that ties together the wisdom of the likes of 
Moses, Plato, Aristotle, Geber, and Hermes—it is an emergent property of the 
righteous life. It is the mark of the true mystic, not of the madman lost in dia- 
bolical pacts and Faustian bargains. The opening prayer, which prefaces the 
entire work, states that God “must be praised since it is by His light that secrets 
are revealed and things concealed are made manifest. It is through God’s 
power that all miracles occur, and by Him that all prayer and science is under- 
stood” (Prologue .2). By putting God at the forefront of the work, by making 
Him the fount ofall miracles and all science, the author ultimately stands justi- 
fied in the pursuit of magic as a pious act of knowing God and His creation. 

Due to this heavy emphasis on divinely imparted knowledge, the author 
puts great stress on prohibiting the foolish (ie., the impious and therefore 
ignorant) from having any access to his enigmatic compilation (1.1.2; 1.4.33; 
2.1.3; 2.2.7; 3.8.4). The cryptic and labyrinthine nature of the Picatrix is one of 
the more evident aspects of its composer’s heightened sense of esoteric elitism. 


10 PICATRIX 


“Ifthis knowledge were revealed to humankind,” he writes, “it would destroy the 
universe” (Prologue .3). We are told that its obscure style and figurative speech 
is in the interest of “honesty and goodwill” and that this is done to protect 
humankind against its own ambition—against men who would operate for 
themselves rather than “for the good, and in the service of God” (Prologue .3-4). 
A more cynical interpretation would see these methods as thinly veiled 
attempts to preserve trade secrets. Admonishments against the unwise abound 
throughout the work, as is traditional in the discourse of magic. Cynicism 
aside, exhortations to secrecy are a well-known trope in all esoteric literature, 
Hermetic or otherwise.” Such warnings recall Pico della Mirandola’s caution 
to would-be practitioners of Kabbalah: “Si errabit in opere aut non purificatus 
accesserit, devorabitur ab Azazele” (If he errs in the work or comes to it un- 
purified, he will be devoured by Azazel).°? Likewise, the fool who errs in the 
operations of the Picatrix or delves into them unpurified risks destruction by 
evil spirits. Such admonishments were not idle threats either. A great number 
of operations contained within the work include ingredients for suffumiga- 
tions, potions, pills, capsules, and confections that would render a human 
sick, blind, insane, or dead if improperly handled or consumed. Great caution 
is expected of the user throughout the work, yet few specific precautions are 
noted.”* To the sage, the noxious qualities of mercury, hemlock, and human 
excrement are a priori information; to the fool, they can be a fatal oversight. 
For the individual who is righteous, with a consequently keen interest in natu- 
ral philosophy and insight into the inner workings of creation, the work should 
pose no problems. 


On Nigromancia 


A recurring term that has caused much confusion in the study of the Picatrix 
specifically and medieval magic in general is nigromancia, the word used to 
render the Arabic sihr (=~). By the High Middle Ages, this word emerged 
due to a gradual corruption of the Greek adjective vexpos, vexpa, vexpov 
(dead) into the Latin niger, nigra, nigrum (black, dark). Thus, the word nigro- 
mancia stood as a composite of the Latin adjective niger and the Greek noun 
pavteia (manteia; prophecy, divination). As to its meaning, the term had 
essentially lost its original connection with the narrow sense of the ancient 
term “necromancy,” a form of divination based on communion with the dead. 
Although we certainly recognize these etymological transformations, the 
magic in the Picatrix is strictly concerned with invoking the powers of spirits 
belonging to specific heavenly bodies, and there are no forms of divination 


INTRODUCTION 11 


pertaining to the dead in its pages (though the dismembered body parts of 
humans and sacrificial animals do occasionally appear as ritual compo- 
nents).°° While this word nigromancia pertains to the invocation of occult 
forces, the spirits invoked are not necessarily malefic beings conjured up to 
worship or to make pacts with, as a Faust does with a Mephistopheles. Con- 
temporary conceptions in popular culture of the word “necromancy” elicit 
images of dark wizards summoning skeletons and living in dank crypts, yet 
these connotations are absent from the Picatrix, where the term is practically 
synonymous with “natural magic.”°” 

As such, we would give a wrong impression if we were to interpret nigro- 
mancia as “necromancy” or even “black magic.” The astral magic of the Picatrix 
is laid out (as discussed) as a consequence of a righteous life and an act of 
devotion to the one true God. It is God who moves the creative spiritual forces 
to act on behalf of the righteous magician, not the magician who compels 
either nature or the spirits of the dead to work in his favor. Magic in the Pica- 
trix is noble and hieratic, not base and hubristic.°® Nevertheless, such kinds of 
magical operations were only considered true and valuable through an appeal 
to antiquity, insofar as they gained legitimacy from being passed down directly 
by the sages of old. After all, the star-worshipping Sabeans were granted pro- 
tection by the Qur'an, although somewhat tenuously, as “a people of the book” 
(CLS! Jal, “Ahl al-Kitab).°? We should always keep in mind that our author 
was very aware that the material he was passing on to unforeseeable readers 
could be objectionable in the face of contemporary religious law, though he 
assures us that his intentions are pure (3.8.4). This explains the numerous 
exhortations to secrecy throughout the work, because for the true sage, the 
ends justify the means. 

Nigromancia then, in a European context, might best be understood simply 
as ceremonial magic. In their own translation of the Picatrix, Greer and War- 
nock use the expression “black ops” to emphasize the element of secrecy. It is 
comprised of scrupulous work with talismans (Latin: telsam) or “images” 
meant to channel stellar rays down from the macrocosm into the microcosm. 
It is the art of binding spirit into matter and is not therefore “demonic” in the 
Christian understanding of the term. The Picatrix should also not be retro- 
jected with the same air as an “evil grimoire,” like H. P. Lovecraft’s fictional 
Necronomicon. Those who secretly practiced nigromancia considered it the 
natural outcome, the consummation, of all medieval science, wisdom, and 
philosophy. Thus, in our opinion, it is not entirely correct to connect the Pica- 
trix with necromancy, black magic, or any form of objectionable sorcery. For 
this reason, we have ultimately opted to render nigromancia with the nebulous 
word “magic” in our translation, and we hope this interpretation will serve to 


12 PICATRIX 


clean up the sullied reputation that easily misunderstood words like nigroman- 
cia gave to this great treatise of medieval astral magic. 


The Cosmology of the Picatrix 


‘The practice of magic described in the Picatrix assumes from its practitioner a 
high degree of knowledge in the sciences of the time. By the late thirteenth 
century, medieval theories of physics were based predominantly on Aristote- 
lian thought, and they were as fundamental to the Picatrix as they were to any 
contemporary treatise on natural philosophy. The four elements (fire, water, 
air, and earth) compose the whole material portion of the cosmos. Further 
pairs of opposite qualities (hotness and coldness, wetness and dryness) cause 
these elements to interact with one another in a vast array of combinations 
according to Empedoclean notions of Love (attraction) and Hate (repulsion). 
As it was until Johannes Kepler’s time, the circle/sphere was believed to be the 
shape synonymous with perfection and thus figured extensively in systems of 
medieval astronomy. Its simplicity appealed both to the scientific perspective 
of the time and to theologians. In the Book of 24 Philosophers, Hermes Tris- 
megistus defines God as “an infinite sphere whose center is everywhere and 
whose circumference is nowhere.”® Implicit to the Picatrix is a vision of the 
world that Aristotle had organized and that later figues such as Ptolomy, al- 
Kindi, and Abu Ma‘Shar would expound upon in much detail. It is a vision of 
the universe as a series of concentric spheres made of some ethereal substance. 
Nestled in the center of the cosmos, the gross material world is fixed in place 
yet ever changing in its elemental constitution. The four elements organize 
themselves naturally according to their density. The grosser elements (water 
and earth) fall naturally to the very center, and the lighter ones (fire and air) 
rise heavenward. Ascending beyond the realm of the four elements, one leaves 
behind the microcosmic (lesser) world and enters the macrocosmic (greater) 
world. 

The first of the planetary spheres, that of the Moon, is like a silvery gate 
leading out from the sublunary world (the world of matter and corruption) into 
the supralunary world (the world of spirit and source of generation). From here 
onward, the cosmos is no longer comprised of elemental matter—the planets 
are formed out of an immaterial spiritual substance that radiates power down- 
ward. They are ordered as follows above the Moon: Mercury, Venus, the Sun, 
Mars, Jupiter, and finally Saturn. All passages in the Picatrix that concern the 
planets specifically follow this pattern in reverse order. Beyond the planetary 
spheres is the eighth sphere, the ring of the Zodiac, through which the planets 


INTRODUCTION 13 


appear to make all their wanderings.® Beyond this eighth sphere lies the ninth, 
the Primum Mobile or the veil covering the Empyrean, which gives us the daily 
revolution of the firmament and shields us like a perforated black canvas from 
the light and total glory of the One. God dwells in the infinite space beyond 
these cosmological spheres. This very specific cosmology, rooted in centuries of 
Greek, Egyptian, Babylonian, Arabic, and Indian natural philosophy, is abso- 
lutely essential to the internally consistent theoretical foundations of the magic 
in the Picatrix.®* 

From Neoplatonism the Picatrix borrowed the concept of a “hierarchy” or 
“great chain of being” that emanates downward from a single divine principle.® 
The path to achieving any degree of union with, or understanding of, this 
divine principle, is an ascetic, rather than a hedonistic, one. We find three 
distinct hierarchies of being scattered throughout the Picatrix, each no doubt 
stemming from different textual sources. The first hierarchy of being is 
described as follows: God, the intellect/mind, spirit, matter, the sphere of 
nature, the sphere of fixed stars, the planetary spheres, prime or universal mat- 
ter, the elements; within the latter, there is another progression from stones up 
through plants, animals, and finally, beings endowed with reason (1.7.1). The 
second hierarchy takes a slightly different form: the Principle, high matter, ele- 
ments, matter, form, nature, body, growth, animals, humankind, men, indi- 
viduals (1.7.2). The third hierarchy has another variation: God, Prima Materia 
and the First Form, sense perception or mind, spirit, the nature of the heavens, 
the elements, and that which is composed of them (4.1.1). All of these cosmolo- 
gies share a process of emanation downward from a divine principle through 
successive phases of emergent properties that ultimately result in the formation 
of the rational human. It is by employing this rationality that the human mani- 
fests his predisposition for achieving righteousness, thus aligning himself to 
the divine principle and creating a feedback loop of awareness between the 
microcosm and the macrocosm. 

Everything that exists on the great hierarchy of being between the just, 
righteous, and rational human and the divine principle at the root ofall things 
is subject to the workings of magic. This heavily stratified vision of the cosmos 
lies at the root of the Picatrix’s ambiguous oscillations in content “between 
astrolatry, angelology, and monotheism.” Itis unclear exactly at which level of 
existence magic operates, if any such single level does exist, since each level in 
the hierarchy of being seems to effect it. 

It is the burden of the magician to understand the intricate interrelation- 
ships that exist between the various things on the chain of being before 
embarking on any of the operations laid out in the Picatrix. From this founda- 
tion of knowledge, the magician will learn the hidden or occult correspondences 


14 PICATRIX 


(also known as “sympathies” or “dispositions”) between the plants, animals, 
and minerals of the lower world and the spiritual forces of the heavenly bodies 
in the upper world. With this awareness, he can gather up all the requisite sym- 
pathetic materials and use them to invoke the planetary spirits pertaining to the 
nature of his objective. For example, copper plates, saffron suffumigations, and 
“things of moderate heat and excess humidity” may be necessary to invoke 
Venus in rituals for love or seduction (1.3.2). By the sympathetic resonances 
between the gathered objects and their respective heavenly bodies, the magician 
can draw upon their power to effect change in worldly affairs. This function 
operates in the same manner that a note on one stringed instrument will cause, 
at a distance, another string tuned to the same note to resound in sympathy. The 
magician tirelessly gathers materials (whether through trade or foraging); crafts 
elaborate images or talismans; spends countless nights staring up into the night 
sky; pores over astrological charts, tables, and star maps; pays close attention to 
the slightest details of astronomical position (down to the seconds of arc); and 
then, by the grace of God, can move nature to act. The practitioner comes to 
Mercury with issues concerning knowledge or study; he looks to Venus to liven 
up his existence with games, pleasures, and love affairs; he seeks Mars in times 
of war or in legal battles; he calls upon Jupiter or the Sun in order to charm kings 
and noblemen; he turns to Saturn when he wishes to create enmity between 
friends. Every planet governs its own set of plants, animals, and minerals, but 
also its own psychologies, professions, places, languages, and people. Astro- 
logical considerations are foundational to the operation of magic; the practi- 
tioner must potentially wait years for the occurrence of the right celestial 
circumstances to enact his desired outcome. In the meantime, he would prepare 
himself by selecting the right locations, clothing, suffumigations, sacrifices, 
tinctures, and, most importantly, magical images. The Picatrix relies on the idea 
that all particulars contain universals (2.3.17). All things in the lesser, material 
world reflect those of the greater, celestial world (1.6.1; 3.5.1). Thus, bringing 
together various ritual components is an act of devotion, a work that the sage 
performs as a sort of Plotinian “flight of the alone to the alone.”*” 

One word used for the magical images is “talisman,” from the backward 
reading of the Arabic word musallat, yielding tillasm, which means “that to 
which power over something is conferred.”** The talisman is a composite object 
that, by nature of its constituent parts, draws down the influx of spiritus from 
the upper world by means of a hidden cascade of physical rays, as theorized by 
al-Kindi in his De radiis (also known as Theorica artium magicarum).® The 
Latin Picatrix tells us the word telsam may be translated as “force-bearer”—a 
thing that operates by force—since the magician who makes a talisman does so 


INTRODUCTION 15 


through force, conquering the substances from which it is composed (1.2.1). 
The talisman is built out of appropriate substances and at appropriate times, 
and it is consecrated with the appropriate ritual actions. Then, it is strength- 
ened by the appropriate suffumigations and sacrifices that will attract the 
spirits to the image. Throughout the text, all the magic described in the Picatrix 
is self-consistent within its own theoretical parameters. There is a definite 
cosmological system that all practitioners are expected to understand, and the 
effectiveness of all the magic in the Picatrix depends upon a thorough under- 
standing of that physis. 

The most powerful action in magical ritual is animal sacrifice. The sacrifi- 
cial act forces a resonance upon external things through its very solemnity in 
combination with the power of the human will. The choice of sacrificial victim 
is determined by the astrological influences that constitute it—influences that 
the magical operator is in essence seeking to harness. Liana Saif has aptly 
described how al-Kindi’s model of the mechanics behind this process sits at the 
foundation of the Ghdyat al-Hakim’s magical system: 


As part of the elemental world, a living animal emits rays and so when it 
dies from natural causes, the rays do not cause any discernible modifi- 
cation on the natural world. Al-Kindi here does not elaborate on what 
happens to the rays upon natural death, perhaps they dissipate or even 
get reabsorbed into the universal network of rays. However, if the death 
is unnatural and achieved by human intervention, then the rays will have 
a strong impact on the material world. The implication here is that the 
violence of the action will result in a sudden release of the animal’s rays, 
causing a kind of ripple in the universal harmony thus affecting the 
immediate natural world. Even the efficacy of animal sacrifices is given 
natural reasons (rationem naturalem habere) by al-Kindi.”° 


This surprisingly mechanistic-seeming theory is the result of a Neoplatonic 
cosmology that is imbued with a system of Aristotelian natural causation. 
‘The rays are transmitted by “vital and volitional agents ... which are called 
ruhdaniyyat, [or] spiritual powers.”” Such a combination of Aristotelian and 
Neoplatonic elements did not coexist in antiquity, and their synthesis in the 
theory of rays must be understood as an innovation of the Arabic world. 
Nevertheless, we know only of these theories from the Latin translation of De 
radiis as no Arabic version has yet been found. The Latin readers of the Pica- 
trix, therefore, were likely familiar with the idea that all earthly processes 
were caused by the influx of variously conditioned stellar rays that emanate 


16 PICATRIX 


downward from heavenly bodies as “proximate efficient causes,” though ultim- 


ately from the divine principle as the “far efficient cause.””” 


The PicatrixSocial History, and Material Culture 


Magic in Western culture (at least according to some scholars)? comprises 
activities that breach social norms.” While many of the authors of medieval 
magical texts, including al-Qurtubi, claim higher and more salubrious goals 
for their magic, this section aims to unpack and compare the specific, operative 
objectives of the magical rituals described in the Picatrix. In other words, what 
were its intended users so desperate to achieve, yet so powerless to bring about 
(keeping in mind the often reprehensible and illegal nature of the magical 
practices in question)? 

Before examining the details of the materials in the Picatrix, it is impor- 
tant to observe the common thread that unites virtually all of the rituals in 
this book: the attempt to control what lies beyond the grasp of whoever is 
requesting or performing the magic. By repeatedly questioning the intent, 
purpose, or objective of each ritual in the text and then compiling and aggre- 
gating the results, one can also get a generic sense of what kind of person 
would need the rituals described in the book and, therefore, of the intended 
audience of the book itself—at least as far as its Latin version is concerned. 

In the Picatrix, a total of 2,325 different objectives for the magical rituals can 
be identified and categorized. This high number was reached on account of a 
methodological choice, namely, to separate out different elements or compo- 
nents within larger rituals. For example, Picatrix 3.7.26 is a lengthy description, 
complete with an extensive prayer to be spoken aloud, of how to invoke the 
planetary spirit of Mars. One could have taken that at face value and treated it 
as a single objective, but a number of additional, more precise purposes emerge 
by examining the details within the ritual, which are consonant with the 
inherent properties attributed to Mars elsewhere in the text. The more detailed 
list of objectives in this instance includes killing, spreading sadness and anger, 
attracting the fury of kings, suffering the victory of enemies and that of wild, 
savage beasts, among many other analogously negative goals. In the tabula- 
tions presented below, each of these specific objectives is treated as a separate 
entry. In essence, since the author would not have bothered to include all these 
details merely by accident, the specifics become important, especially once 
they are aggregated over the entire text. The large sample size allows for con- 
clusions based on the proportion of rituals dedicated to one or another of the 
broad categories of objectives. 


INTRODUCTION 17 


When attempting to make sense of such a large data set, one is confronted 
with the task of creating categories that both make sense and are helpful. 
Details of interest might be neglected if the categories are too few, yet multiply- 
ing them to excess retains too much of the incoherent complexity of the origi- 
nal text. We are in the presence of the classic “lumper” versus “splitter” debate 
that perpetually dogs the fields of biology and the data-based social sciences. 
The tabulation presented here does not attempt to resolve that debate, but 
rather to offer a balanced presentation of the materials. This analysis is akin to 
the one done by Jean-Patrice Boudet specifically regarding sex magic in his 
article “L’amour et les rituels 4 images d’envotitement dans le Picatrix latin.” 
Weare extending the scope to all types of magical operations in the entire text 
rather than focusing only on one particular type.” 

Now, the results: in table 1 below, all 2,323 rituals are divided into fourteen 
categories. While the categories are meant to be self-explanatory, they also 
bear further detailed investigation, which follows. 

Before examining the principal categories listed in table 1, a few general 
observations arise. The most challenging facet of life for those inclined to prac- 
tice magic is clearly what one might call “dealing with others” (roughly one- 
third of the rituals involve such concerns), whether these “others” be family, 
spouses, lovers, friends, associates, or social superiors, as can be seen in table 8. 
It is also a category of rituals where the combination of the practitioners’ 
intently focused wills with their targets’ beliefs in the effectiveness of magical 


TABLE1 Picatrix ritual objectives by category 





Category Number of ritual objectives noted 
Interpersonal relations 751 
Healing/health 372 
Knowledge/skills 229 
Apotropaic magic 132 
Commerce and wealth 124 
Occult sciences 120 
Elements/properties of matter 117 
Agriculture 97 
Military 84 
Travel 56 
Infrastructure 52 
Foraging 40 
Illusion/sense perception 29 


Outliers/others 120 





18 PICATRIX 


operations more reliably creates conditions for real-world effects than is the 
case for most of the other categories in the table.”° 

Personal health is a matter of abiding concern—approximately one-sixth of 
the rituals are devoted to this topic. The assortment of ailments listed makes 
explicit which sorts of health problems were most widespread, as is detailed in 
table 6. It is nevertheless surprising that such a critical matter as personal 
health would solicit less concern than interpersonal relations. 

Shortcuts to becoming knowledgeable and/or skilled at performing certain 
tasks were also a major priority (just under one-tenth of the total number of 
rituals). While this category could be entitled “achievement without effort,” 
this also may be a misnomer considering that the complexity of some of the 
rituals involved rivals that of acquiring the skill in the first place—analogous 
to the Ars Notoria’s supposed “shortcuts” to knowing the seven liberal arts.’” 
The additional paradox here is that the Picatrix repeatedly recommends a 
thorough knowledge of nature as a prerequisite for the practice of magic, while 
knowledge of nature—via the seven liberal arts, inter alia—is one of the more 
frequently seen objectives of the rituals that fall under this category (see dia- 
gram 1 below). 

The “elements/properties of matter” category encompasses rituals that 
attempt to control the raw materials that were thought to make up the material 
universe, i.e., the four elements and their primary effects on human activities: 
air in terms of storms and weather; earth and fire in terms of how they interact 
with each other; and water in terms of precipitation, flooding, and related 
effects. Rituals for levitation, cleansing, and creating light or darkness have 
also been included under this category since they also represent attempts to 
control the behavior of inert matter. 

Under “foraging” appear such things as hunting, fishing, and finding trea- 
sure, which collectively represent the vast majority of rituals in this category. 
The relatively small number of these rituals compared to some of the other 
categories indicates that these interests were fairly minor in the author’s mind, 
reflecting urban concerns rather than rural ones. 

The Picatrix was not written by a famished individual: only a small fraction 
of the rituals (roughly one twenty-fifth of the total) are related to agriculture. 
Basic subsistence, relatively speaking, was not a primary concern for those 
social elites interested in reading about or performing these magical rituals. 
The fact that concerns surrounding commerce and the accumulation of wealth 
do not make any mention of agricultural productivity further confirms that 
the author was chiefly concerned with urban life. Military affairs appear even 
less prominently than either urban or rural issues.” 


INTRODUCTION 19 


As was pointed out above, there is a certain arbitrariness in the choice of 
groupings. “Sex magic” could have been a category of its own that currently 
overlaps with “interpersonal relations,” “healing/health,” and even “military,” 
which contains rituals to induce sex for weakening an enemy and to avert sex 
for one’s own greater strength in war. 

One must be mindful that the target audience of this text is literate but a 
practitioner’s clients need not be. Nevertheless, any conclusions that arise from 
an analysis such as this one by definition reflect the interests of those elements 
of society that could afford the leisure time and effort necessary for cultivating 
literacy. 

One methodological weakness in this approach must be acknowledged: 
equal weight is attributed to each of the rituals’ objectives, and conclusions are 
drawn based on their aggregate numbers. This approach can tell us nothing 
about the popularity or frequency of use for any given ritual. Thus, the conclu- 
sions drawn in this section are applicable to the concerns of the author and 
consequently his intended readers in the aggregate, not to what any particular 
reader may have done with any specific ritual or even with the entire book. 

Now, we can turn to examining some of the categories in table 1 in more 
detail in order to draw conclusions from them. Note that not all of the rows 
necessarily yield anything noteworthy. 


Agriculture 


Table 2 reveals that magic dedicated to agriculture splits roughly into two- 
thirds that focus on plant crops and one-third on animal husbandry, with 
about one-fifth of the total rituals in this category devoted to harming others’ 
crops or animals. In terms of specific crops, vines are mentioned five times 
while figs, wheat, and broomrape are each mentioned once, with the latter 
specifically referred to as a weed. Animals are mentioned as follows: sheep four 
times; cattle three times; bees, chickens, dogs, goats, and horses each two times; 
and cats and pigs each once. 


TABLE2 Agriculture rituals in the Picatrix* 


Harvests/crops (66) Animal husbandry (31) 





Improve/increase/protect (77) 52 25 
Harm/decrease/destroy (20) 14 6 





*In this and all subsequent tables, the numbers in parentheses indicate the specific number of rituals 
falling under that category. 


20 PICATRIX 


Apotropaic Magic 


Table 3 shows that nature and its fauna were still an immediate threat to per- 
sonal safety in our author’s world—more so even than hunger when one com- 
pares the number of apotropaic rituals to those devoted to agricultural 
concerns. Controlling the deadly aspects of nature was—not unreasonably— 
more of a concern than its merely noisome effects. Small, poisonous creatures 
(like snakes and spiders) were definitely seen as a greater threat than large, 
predatory ones (like bears, lions, or wolves), which serves to reinforce the 
impression that the author and his intended audience lived principally urban 
lives: rural people have reason to fear predators, whereas cities tend to be safe 
from them (a fact which increases the intensity of insect and vermin infesta- 
tions). Rituals for depopulating places of human habitation also fall under this 
category since they effectively function like warding rituals against people 
rather than beasts. 


Commerce and Wealth 


This category includes rituals concerning profit, commercial goods, theft, 
inheritances, and other similar concerns (see table 4). Of note here are some of 
the specific sources of profit that are mentioned along the way: law, battle, 
medicine, scribal work, and the trade of perfumes. The sharp difference 
between the high proportion of rituals directed at destroying or diminishing 
wealth as opposed to those directed against the means of its acquisition sug- 


TABLE3 Apotropaic rituals in the Picatrix 








Kill/bind/ Protect from Assemble/ 
ward off bite/harm | empower/make 
Nuisances 33 vi 2 


(ants [1], bedbugs [5], bees [3], 
birds [10], dogs [3], fleas [6], flies/ 
bugs [7], frogs [2], leeches [1], lice 
[1], mice [7], wasps [5]) 


Deadly animals 51 12 18 
(reptiles/snakes/serpents/adders/ 

vipers [39], scorpions [8], 

tarantulas [6], wolves [4], bears 

[4], lions [1], wild/ harmful/ 

poisonous animals [19]) 


People (9) 8 (for depopulating, 1(from n/a 
+ others under wicked folk) 
“anti-healing”) 


INTRODUCTION 21 


TABLE 4 Commerce and wealth rituals in the Picatrix 








Wealth/abundance/ 
Trade/commerce/ __finance/ fortune/ 
profit/goods riches/inheritance Other 
Improve/increase 45 35 - 
Diminish/destroy 2 24 - 
Other - - 18 (includes theft & fraud 


[8]; arranging debts [3], 
spendthrifts [2], honesty, 
estimates, balance of 
things, expanding a city 
for prosperity, crumb 
collectors [1 ea.]) 


gests that, for our author and his intended audience, jealousy was more intently 
directed at the former than the latter. 


Occult Sciences 


Table 5 demonstrates that divination was the primary concern of those willing 
to practice magic in order to harness supernatural powers in a sort of self- 
reinforcing, bootstrapping process. The relative absence of alchemy should be 
no surprise since the elder sibling volume to the Ghdyat al-Hakim was the 
Rutbat al-Hakim, which focuses on alchemy as opposed to astral magic.” 


Healing and Health 


As the second-largest category of rituals, the need for healing looms large for 
the Picatrix’s author and his intended audience. Table 6 reveals that those ail- 
ments that are hidden from view (i.e., those that are psychological or that affect 
internal organs) are most predominant. Here as well we see that inflicting ill 


TABLE5 Occult science rituals in the Picatrix 








Type of ritual Number of occurrences 
Divination (including astrology and geomancy) 39 
Spirit/demon summoning 29 

Magic (unspecified) 20 

Curses Bestow: 6; remove/prevent: 12 
Alchemy 2 


Other 12 





22 PICATRIX 


TABLE6 Healing and health rituals in the Picatrix 





Improve/cure/ Cause/induce 
Disease/ailment type prevent illness (280) illness (92) 
General health 28 30 
Mental/psychological (insomnia, epilepsy, 55 18 
anxiety, melancholy, depression, irritability) 
Organ health (head and fevers, eyes, ears, 63 12 
throat, spleen, heart, blood, gallbladder, 
kidneys, liver, gastric system, skin) 
Limb health (teeth, tongue, back, hips, groin, 25 ll 
arms, hands, legs, feet [incl. gout], paralysis, 
agility, strength/weakness, wounds, 
rheumatism) 
Poisons 30 7 
Sex and childbirth 29 7 
Aging 9 1 
Other (laughing to death, drinking/appetite, 41 6 


planetary illnesses, pain, children’s illnesses, 
dryness, old ailments) 





health upon others represents roughly one-third of these rituals, one of the 
higher proportions of such harmfully oriented rituals among the categories 
examined here. This ratio is fully consonant with the proportion of bestowing 
versus removing curses that was revealed in table 5 and surpassed only by the 
ratio of creating versus destroying infrastructure in table 7 below. 


Infrastructure 


Table 7 reveals the breakdown of the rituals relating to physical infrastructure 
(ie., the built environment). Here, we see that wrecking other people’s property 
is almost as desirable as maintaining or protecting one’s own. In terms of 
attempts to do harm with rituals in the Picatrix, targeting others’ wealth and 
homes is preferred proportionally over doing direct harm to their health— 
although the latter is certainly also featured, just less prominently in terms of 
relative numbers. Some peculiar methods include a ritual to curse a bath so 
that no one frequents it (4.9.55), a ritual for populating a deserted place (4.7.8), 
and several other rituals that do not fit neatly into table 7, such as protecting 
roads, ancient sites (3.7.9), and places of faith (3.7.10); opening doors (3.7.11); or 
making a house appear red or shine like a ruby (4.9.18). 


INTRODUCTION 23 


TABLEZ Infrastructure rituals in the Picatrix 





Buildings/homes _City/village Prison Wells/channels 





Building/strengthening/ 15 2 10 4 
protecting 
Destroying/preventing 12 8 0 1 





Interpersonal Relations 


Representing a significant plurality of the rituals contained in the Picatrix, the 
category of interpersonal relations deserves close attention (see table 8). The 
large number of rituals directed at promoting—or more particularly, gaining 
the help or favor—of social superiors exemplify how important social hierar- 
chy was to the author and intended readership of the Picatrix. Furthermore, 
this high number—roughly one-fourteenth of the rituals in the entire book— 
reflects the fact that those who were interested in these magical rituals were not 
at the apex of the social pyramid and were very cognizant of the need to appeal 
to social superiors in order to benefit materially or socially. This disproportion 
attests to the power social superiors exerted over their subjects, as well as the 
seeming inscrutability of the superiors’ decisions, favors, and dislikes—why 
else would one resort to the risky, often frowned-upon, and largely illegal prac- 
tices of magic to influence them? That rituals directed at social superiors should 
exceed the number dedicated to love, sex, or relationships is a surprising find 
that underscores the importance and power of the social hierarchy at the time 
our author and his intended readers lived. These rituals conferred a perception 
of agency in the minds of those who otherwise lacked it so desperately. 


TABLE 8 Interpersonal relations rituals in the Picatrix 





Promote/ Vengeance/enmity/ 





enhance/help discord 

Social inferiors (slaves, children, “the masses”) 46 36 
Peers/allies/friends 36 18 
Social superiors (kings, noblemen, lords, prelates, 158 16 
ministers, elders, judges) 

Love/sex/relationships (husband/wife, man/woman) 115 30 
Fear (cause/remove) 14 5 
Unspecified 94 83 
Unspecified (e.g., “for kings,” “for sons,” without 100 


indication of intent) 


24 PICATRIX 


Knowledge/Skills 


Diagram 1 divides the realm of knowledge and skill into three broad categories: 
theoretical knowledge, applied skill (techne in the Greek sense, as it pertains to 
the working of material objects), and public performance. The numbers to the 
right of the slashes represent rituals devoted to diminishing or destroying that 
skill. Note that the seven liberal arts span the intersection areas of the diagram 
marked 1 and 2. The strong numeric predominance of theoretical knowledge 
combined with the observations made above regarding the literacy of the Pica- 
trix’s audience explains its appeal to a readership among the junior ranks of the 
Western medieval academic system. The relatively small numbers devoted 
exclusively to applied skills that do not belong to the seven liberal arts (only 
sixty-one rituals fallin the bottom right-hand lobe of the diagram) emphasize 
how the Picatrix reflects primarily intellectual and academic concerns rather 
than those of individuals engaged with practical apprenticeships; indeed, 
guild-based crafts are nigh absent. 
















Grammar (4) Music (17/1) 
Dialectic (1) Rhetoric (11) 
Arithmetic (6) . Knowledge (145/12) Teaching/advice (5) 
Geometry (8) Science/natural philosophy (32/1) 
Astronomy (2) Intellect (29/7) 
Magic (1) Philosophers (11) 
Law (3) Memory (6/2) 
Physiology (1) Wisdom (4/1) 
Books (2) 
History (2) 





Painting/decor (13) 
Scribes (10/1) 












Skill (10/1) 
Poetry (4) Jewelers (8) 
Shows (3) Subtlety/novelty (7/1) 


Games (1/2) 
Embroiderers (2) 
Tanning, ironworks, 
minting, tinctures, 
mariners (1 ea.) 








Jokes/puns (2/1) 


Public 
performance (43/2) Applied skill (115/4) 


Diagram1 Knowledge and skill rituals in the Picatrix 


INTRODUCTION 25 


TABLEQ ‘Travel rituals in the Picatrix 








On land By water Undetermined 
Make safe/help/assist 13 13 20 
Harm/hinder 0 4 6 





Travel 


Table 9 reveals that our author and his audience are just about equally con- 
cerned with travel by water as by land. That travel should appear at all on this 
list reveals that the intended readership of the Picatrix, despite generally not 
being from the apex of the social pyramid, did have substantial opportunities 
for personal mobility. At the same time, these rituals show that travel of any 
sort—maritime or land-based—was a risky and hazardous enterprise on 
account of brigands and pirates. We have included two borderline cases: a ritual 
for teleportation (2.12.59) and one specifically for military travel (2.12.37). 


Other/Outliers 


The only large-scale concern with respect to the “other” category is method- 
ological: none of its subdivisions is larger than the smallest category in table1, 
as table 10 shows. 


So, after examining all the data, what sort of impression emerges of the Pica- 
trix’s values and priorities? The typical reader for whom the Picatrix would 
have been most relevant occupied the middle rungs of the medieval academic 
or clerical ladder, desirous of both material and social elevation: someone 
rather envious of others, especially of their accumulated wealth and physical 
surroundings. The author assumed his readership was familiar with the prac- 
tice of medicine on some level, considering how prominently healing and 
health concerns of a variety of sorts arise in the text, especially concerning the 
hidden ailments of the psyche or of the internal organs. The book reflects the 
needs of those who predominantly inhabited an urban, built environment 
resulting in few encounters with large wild animals, and many more with 
poisonous and/or harmful pests. The text offers methods for magical control 
over both physical matter and the spirit world in roughly equal measures, but 
a greater priority than either was the acquisition of knowledge by any means, 
fair or foul. It represents a world with only occasional need for travel, in the 
case of a magus perhaps to gather and trade material components for rituals or 
for religious pilgrimage, both of which remained risky enterprises. It reveals 


26 PICATRIX 


TABLE10 Other/outlier rituals in the Picatrix 





Good/evil 26 
Motion/laziness 16 
Law/governance (abstract)/justice 16 
Animal friendship/control 15 
Achievement (otherwise unspecified) 13 
Beauty 8 
International relations 4 
Food 4 
Shape changing 3 
Purity 3 
Grief/burial 2 
Manual labor 2 
Returning borrowed item, good belief, benefit, necessity, hope, 8 (1 each) 


truth, virtue, crowds 





that our author was only peripherally involved in military conflict and margin- 
ally concerned about the source of his next meal. Indeed, commercial success 
was a greater worry than bountiful harvests: the latter must have been regular 
enough occurrences. This situation corresponds to what is known about the 
environment in the Medieval Warm Period, during which the text was first 
composed and translated into Castilian and shortly thereafter into Latin. 

Although it is impossible to go beyond these sorts of general observations 
based on a study such as this one, the portrait that emerges from all these 
particular interests coexisting in a single book serves to explain the Picatrix’s 
eventual success in and among what Richard Kieckhefer has called the “clerical 
underworld” of Europe’s magical practitioners—with literacy being the sine 
qua non of the learned magic tradition, a skill largely guarded and maintained 
by the Church.* It should be mentioned that this conclusion applies to the use 
of the Latin Picatrix, and it is not necessarily transferable to the use of the 
Arabic Ghayat al-Hakim. 


Psychoactive and/or Poisonous Substances in the Picatrix 


Homemade concoctions, suffumigations, pills, ointments, potions, and incenses 
abound throughout the text, particularly in books 3 and 4. Most suffumigation 
magic in the Picatrix seeks the assistance of planetary spirits. The ingredients 
composing these compounds, however, have hitherto received little specific 


INTRODUCTION 27 


attention, perhaps being deemed less important than the astrological or theo- 
retical elements in the Picatrix. Throughout the work’s magical recipes there 
are instructions for fashioning concoctions from variegated combinations of 
both inert materials (such as animal parts, human excrement, pine resin, and 
tarragon) and explicitly psychoactive ones (like opium, mandrake, datura, and 
cannabis). At times, suffumigations appear to contain no known psychoactive 
ingredients at all, while others are veritable cocktails of drugs mixed with 
binding agents to enhance the product’s combustibility (e.g. mastic gum, 
frankincense, storax, and balsam). When the magician wished to speak with a 
planet, he dressed himself in robes dyed with the colors of that planet and 
made with an appropriate cloth, he found and abided by its hours, he prayed its 
prayers, and he “suffumigated” with its ingredients (3.7.1). Every ingredient 
found in a magical recipe (whether psychoactive or not) was selected according 
to its sympathetic nature with the particular planet governing the operation at 
hand. Since most scholars and students of history are typically not trained in 
the pharmacology of exotic compounds, we do not recommend that anyone try 
to recreate any of the following mixtures at home. 

The operations in the Picatrix assume the body of the sage itself to be a 
magical vessel, taking in and synthesizing various spiritual powers and physi- 
cal materials, at times in order to elicit a sensory experience and thereby 
accomplish the sage’s aims. If the degree of complexity inherent to each ritual 
is indicative of the intensity of its practitioner’s intent, the user of the Picatrix’s 
magic was compelled to possess what William Blake famously called a “firm 
perswasion [that] removed mountains.”* The astral spirits can only appear to 
the individual who truly believes in them, not to those who are merely testing 
or toying with the book. Like the initiate of some preliterate cultures’ shamanic 
rites, the sage, who spent months planning his work, collecting an array of 
ingredients, and charting out the right astrological hours to perform his work, 
was doubtless assisted—in certain cases—with achieving what he desired 
through the help of psychoactive substances. The substances for certain rituals 
involving suffumigation in the Picatrix are often required in such large quanti- 
ties that a powerful mind-altering experience would have been inevitable for 
the practitioner. In these dreamy (or delirious) states, the planetary spirits 
cascaded down into the mind of the adept, who straddled the realm of com- 
mon experience and the abstract realm of forms hidden within the subcon- 
scious. Nevertheless, through the perturbation of regular consciousness, the 
well-prepared sage perceived himself not as falling into a state of madness or 
delirium but into a perfected rationality (2.5.4), which granted access to other- 
worldly spirits. This world was opened to the sage alone who—refined by fast- 
ing, ritual, and intention—had studied the ways of the wise and could harness 


28 PICATRIX 


the effects of these mind-altering experiences without becoming over- 
whelmed. We do not, by any means, wish to suggest that all magic in the 
Picatrix can be explained away as drug-addled delusion; we merely wish to 
stress the ingredient lists’ frequent reliance on psychoactive substances, which 
has received far less scholarly discussion than the text’s underpinning astro- 
logical postulations. 

Suffumigation is the chief method of ingestion for most psychoactive sub- 
stances in the Picatrix (at least for those not meant as offensive poisons). Oint- 
ments, confections, and pills made of strange mixtures are not so rare either, 
but their use is more generally relegated to medicinal mixtures (e.g., for healing 
the stings of scorpions or the bites of vipers) or as composite poisons (e.g., for 
causing sleep or “ruining someone spiritually”). From a list of aphorisms 
attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, the twenty-seventh states simply: “Rituals 
performed with suffumigations and prayers are more effective than those in 
which suffumigations are lacking or the will is divided” (4.4.28). Among those 
practicing the science of suffumigation, the Picatrix recognizes the Indians 
and the Nabataeans (Naptini/Neptini) as the most proficient (2.5.1). The alleged 
masters of this art, the Indians, say that “suffumigations must correspond to 
the nature of the planet to which the request is made” (4.2.18). Ritual suffumi- 
gation, therefore, when used as a means of altering states of consciousness 
demands explicit and focused intent. It requires the magician to willfully 
remain standing over a smoldering mixture, sometimes in an enclosed area, as 
the world around him becomes progressively hazier and more bizarre, and the 
drama of his ritual reaches its apex. It is unclear, however, if any given magi- 
cian would know which of the many substances they had compounded was 
responsible for the psychotropic effects. Although the effects of indirectly 
inhaling vapors would admittedly not be as potent or economical as direct 
consumption (e.g., through a pipe), it appears that the quantities required in 
some of the recipes would provide more than ample fumes to produce vision- 
ary experiences, at least given a confined space or close proximity. 

One suffumigation, for example, is created for the purpose of conjuring 
Saturn (3.7.16), and is one of many recipes containing opium. We have isolated 
at least two substances that are known to be strongly psychoactive (opium and 
wormwood).” The ritual suffumigation of opium in braziers stretches back to 
at least the Neolithic Age.* Its addictive properties were not recognized until 
an epidemic of laudanum addiction swept over Europe during the nineteenth 
century due to its overprescription, especially to children. During this time, 
romantic poets like Thomas De Quincey wrote about their profound experi- 
ences with the drug, sensing within it a strong association with the far-off and 


INTRODUCTION 29 


mysterious “Orient.” In his visions, he experienced communion with Egyptian 
and Indian gods and “was buried for a thousand years in stone coffins, with 
mummies and Sphynxes, in narrow chambers at the heart of eternal pyra- 
mids.”** Smoked opium produces a relaxation to the point of disassociation 
wherein one falls in and out of waking dreams and becomes prone to visions.*” 
In both waking and sleeping dreams, the planetary spirit could come to the 
magus all the more easily. With the addition of other known psychotropic 
substances, such as wormwood, this suffumigation would undoubtedly have 
induced profound mind-altering effects. 

In many other suffumigations, such as the “suffumigation of the hermits” 
(3.7.27), nutmeg plays a prominent role. Intoxication from the essential oil of 
nutmeg (ie., from the phenylpropene called myristicin, aptly named for its 
production from the Myristica fragrans tree), has along history in India and 
Indonesia. It is traditionally used medicinally as a sedative, an aphrodisiac, 
a remedy for asthma symptoms, and a treatment for digestive problems. 
Nevertheless, its rather potent psychoactive effects are manifest after con- 
suming as little as five to ten grams; in its early stages, its effects have been 
likened to a deliriant mix of alcohol and cannabis, while in its later stages, to 
a nauseating and sedative combination of LSD and tropane alkaloids.** Mal- 
colm X, in his autobiography, famously reported that nutmeg use was a popu- 
lar method of intoxication among prisoners.*’ In one account recorded by the 
British Medical Journal, a nineteen-year-old girl reported her experience 
with nutmeg in some detail: after a few hours she felt cold and nauseous; she 
saw faces and the room appeared distorted with flashing lights and loud 
music; she felt like a different person and everything seemed unreal; time 
appeared to stand still; and when she shut her eyes, she saw lights, black crea- 
tures, and red eyes.* 

Throughout the Picatrix, a number of toxic ingredients appear that seem to 
be meant to test the subtlety of the magus’s intellect in properly preparing the 
recipes. The Picatrix is clear that not every mind can bend without breaking 
and that its secrets should never be privy to any weak-minded individuals. 
Many plants listed among the ritual ingredients have parts with psychoactive 
effects and parts with deadly ones. Nevertheless, these details are rarely laid 
out in the ingredient lists. Other ingredients ought not to be consumed by 
humans at all. In one ritual for Saturn drawn from the works of a pseudo- 
Aristotle, the magician is advised to use a suffumigation made from “the 
brain of a black cat, euphorbia, hemlock, myrrh, and St. John’s Wort” (3.9.11). 
Although quantities here are unspecified, it is certain that inhaling the fumes 
of hemlock (cicuta) would be injurious at best and lethal at worst.*® This toxic 


30 PICATRIX 


herb, infamous for ending the life of Socrates, appears numerous times in the 
planetary suffumigations. It is indeed possible that a number of recipes such as 
this one were inserted by the author as a ploy to weed out the unwise readers of 
his cherished compendium of secrets.” Such ploys would have certainly rein- 
forced the notoriety surrounding the use of magical books like the Pictarix. 

Undoubtedly the most accessible and regularly consumed psychoactive 
substance at the time of the Picatrix’s rendering into Latin was alcohol, in the 
form of beer in northern Europe and wine in the south. The relative absence 
of this substance in the Picatrix’s recipes reflects the religious strictures 
against it due to the Islamic context of its origins. Indeed, the vast majority of 
the instances where wine is mentioned in the text feature its use as a moisten- 
ing and binding agent for the manufacture of pills intended for combustion as 
suffumigations. That being said, there are a few rituals where the actual con- 
sumption of wine is integral, and a state of drunkenness appears necessary for 
its proper performance. Most prominently, we see among the instructions to 
invoke the power of Mars that the operator is instructed to “drink as much 
wine as possible,” clearly leading to an altered state of consciousness (3.9.13).”! 
‘The rarity of such instances serves to highlight the intentionality behind them. 

The most psychoactive and dangerous of the substances used in the Picatrix 
come from the family of solanaceous plants, such as various Daturas, Mandrag- 
ora officinarum, and Hyoscyamus niger, which are infamous for their uses in 
European witchcraft.” These, and a handful of other plants appearing through- 
out the work, contain the tropane alkaloids scopolamine, hyoscyamine, and 
atropine, which are each powerful deliriants even in small doses. Mandrake, 
henbane, and datura (also known as jimsonweed or thorn-apple) are known to 
provoke bizarre deliria, nightmarish hallucinations, out-of-body experiences, 
and so-called “flights.” In some recipes containing solanaceous plants to be 
eaten or drunk, warnings are given of the mixtures’ lethal potency in order 
that the magician might use them as poisons against enemies.” They can also 
cause death by respiratory paralysis. These substances can be lethal in low doses 
and must be prepared with extreme care. For this reason, they have not gained 
much popularity as recreational drugs despite their widespread availability. 
Modern connoisseurs of these plants tend to come from the ranks of Wiccan 
and Neo-Pagan revivalists willing to risk their sanity in recreating the rituals 
of medieval magical practitioners, whereas the average “psychonaut” or ritual 
magician shies away from them, preferring to stick to the safer, more predict- 
able illegal drugs. Therefore, we neither advise nor encourage any reader to 
perform the operations described in this book. We cannot vouch for the safety 
of any one recipe, although we can acknowledge the inherent danger and/or 
illegality of many. 


INTRODUCTION 31 


Translators’ Notes 


This section is provided as a caveat for those who may have been expecting a 
word-for-word “literal” rendering of the Latin text. The fact is, all translations 
are interpretations. Any attempt at such a literal translation of a medieval Latin 
text would yield, at best, what we like to call “latinese’—or at worst, outright 
gibberish. In other words, there is no such thing as a literal translation, and 
whatis ultimately desired is equivalent meaning. For this reason, we as transla- 
tors have taken some liberties (which will be elucidated below) in order to 
breathe some degree of life, clarity, and elegance into an old, recondite, and 
esoteric work. Our intention behind this translation is to combine the two 
seemingly contradictory concepts of scholarly rigor and ease of accessibility. 
Our desire is to make the text appear to a twenty-first-century English reader 
as we believe it might have been understood by a typical European medieval or 
Renaissance magus, aspiring to be well-schooled in the seven liberal arts. Our 
version does not in any way aspire to give an account for the original work in 
Arabic (the Ghayat al-Hakim); it is admittedly (and unabashedly) Eurocentric 
in this sense. Others are at work on the Arabic text itself, leaving us to focus on 
the version of the text that was so influential to its readers in medieval and 
Renaissance Europe.” Our interest in the Picatrix, at least as far as this book is 
concerned, lies with reception rather than inception (though admittedly, the 
latter phase is not entirely isolated from the former). 

In translating the obtuse prose of the Picatrix—which at times is extremely 
prolix and at others, extremely terse—we chose to adhere to a number of stylis- 
tic conventions that, in our opinions, do not detract readers from the sense of 
the Latin text but rather elucidate the intentions of its original translator. In 
this sense, we are acting as “de-occultists” of sorts, surely much to the chagrin 
of the original author, al-Qurtubi. As a monumental compilation of carefully 
curated sections drawn from 224 separate sources, according to the author 
himself (3.5.4), the Picatrix was intentionally designed to be elusive and diffi- 
cult to read. The intention was to dissuade those common men merely inter- 
ested in a casual perusal and attract only those who thrive in dealing with 
abstruse, esoteric texts. We can infer this from a claim the author himself 
makes: “The ancient sages who wrote in their books about mystical knowledge 
and magic did so as obscurely as possible such that few or none might benefit 
from them except for the wise and those who study and work with them assidu- 
ously” (3.4.1). Evidently, the author’s intent was to carry on with this ancient 
tradition. 

As a result, in our efforts to illuminate the obscurities in the text, we have 
eliminated a great number of redundancies that often clutter the text while 


32 PICATRIX 


providing virtually no additional clarity or meaning; if we sensed that they 
contributed anything to the meaning of a sentence, we retained them. Another 
regular practice was to eliminate the excessive use of self-referential expres- 
the things said above,” “the 
things discussed”)—these are often simply rendered (if at all) as “these things.” 


6 ” 


sions (e.g., “the aforementioned,” “the aforesaid, 
Likewise, we liberally cut out extraneous adverbs and conjunctions that ful- 
filled the function of punctuation in medieval Latin, while trying to maintain 
the text’s imperious feel. 

Since the punctuation of the Latin text depended on Pingree’s interpreta- 
tion of numerous variant manuscripts, we often took the liberty of subdividing 
excessively long sentences into more manageable parts and resupplying sub- 
jects in place of pronouns. For intelligibility’s sake, we have been very cautious 
to employ the Oxford comma. At times, we provide brackets to disambiguate 
particular examples from general principles, which often run seamlessly in 
succession. Other times, we simply supply brackets to break up a lengthy sen- 
tence for clarity. In order to produce a clearer and more idiomatic text, we 
rendered into an English active voice a countless number of sentences hinging 
upon Latin passive verbs. In most cases, we distilled the three different types of 
Latin imperative formulations (imperative, second person subjunctive, second 
person future) into simple present imperative English commands. For example, 
“take such-and-such a thing, and grind it into a powder” instead of “you should 
take such-and-such a thing and you should grind it into a powder” or “you will 
take such-and-such a thing and you will grind it into a powder” or, most turgid 
of all, “let such-and-such a thing be taken and ground into a powder.” This 
seemed far more concise and appropriate, especially in magical recipes. 

In regards to the planets, we have supplied gendered pronouns where neces- 
sary in accordance with astrological tradition: Moon (female), Mercury (male 
or hermaphrodite), Venus (female), Sun (male), Mars (male), Jupiter (male), 
and Saturn (male). The signs of the Zodiac, however, are left gender-neutral. 

In those instances where the Latin was impenetrable or nonsensical, or for 
particularly complex and technical astrological passages, we consulted a num- 
ber of other translations into modern European languages (German, French, 
Italian, and English) and then exercised our judgment accordingly. These 
translations are listed in the “Picatrix Editions and Translations” section of the 
bibliography. In cases where the identification of specific ingredients was 
unclear, we checked the manuscript variants from Pingree’s critical apparatus 
to see if any meaning could be gleaned from them or left the terms in their 
transliterated form, as it is likely these would have appeared alien to the text’s 
medieval and Renaissance readers as well.®* All translations into English from 
both ancient and modern languages are our own. 


INTRODUCTION 33 


Pingree’s edition includes a full table of contents at the beginning of the text 
as well as at the beginning of each of the Picatrix’s four books. We judged the 
tables at the beginning of the text and those before each of the individual books 
to be redundant and have thus left them out of this volume. In including 
selected materials from Pingree’s appendices, we inserted the passages where 
they belong in the sequence of the text, but used square brackets to distinguish 
them from the main text since they only appear in a minority of manuscripts. 
Typically, we excluded excerpts that added little relevant content. Furthermore, 
we also excluded marginalia from various manuscripts, as they represent the 
idiosyncratic interests of individual readers and/or copyists. Lastly, the num- 
bers in square brackets that appear throughout the translation correspond to 
the page numbers in Pingree’s Latin edition, while elision marks between 
pointed brackets (<... >)indicate lacunae or corrupt sections of the Latin text. 

In recipes that include specific measures for ingredients, Pingree’s edition 
ubiquitously uses the medieval apothecary’s symbol for “dram” (3). All avail- 
able translations have interpreted this as “ounce,” yet the recognized symbol 
for ounce is 3. The extant manuscripts of the Latin Picatrix are inconsistent 
with respect to their use of these symbols, so wherever our translation reads 
“ounce,” the reader should be aware that the intent may equally well have been 


“dram.” 


PICATRIX 


[1] PROLOGUE 


§1 To give praise and glory to the highest and omnipotent God, who com- 
mands us to reveal the secrets of the sciences to His chosen ones (and for the 
enlightenment of Latin scholars who lack works published by ancient philoso- 
phers), Alfonso, most illustrious king of Spain and all of Andalusia, by the 
grace of God, ordered that this book entitled “Picatrix” be translated from 
Arabic into Spanish with the utmost zeal and diligence.’ This undertaking was 
accomplished in the year of the Lord 1256 (in the year of Alexander 1568; in the 
year of Caesar 1295; and in the Arab year 655).? One wise philosopher, the noble 
and honored Picatrix, compiled this tome from over two hundred books of 
philosophy and then named it after himself. 

§2 Inthe name of our Lord, amen. Here begins the book that this most wise 
philosopher Picatrix composed about the magical arts with the help of a great 
many volumes. As the wise have said, the first thing we must do in all worldly 
affairs is give thanks to God.’ I proclaim that God must be praised since it is by 
His light that secrets are revealed and things concealed are made manifest. It is 
through God’s power that all miracles occur and by Him that all prayer and 
science is understood. At his command, the day was separated from the night. 
Through God’s power, all things were created from nothing and proceed 
toward their perfection—and by His potency all creatures are renewed. God 
himself is not confined by other things, nor is He separate from them. He has 
no definite location, nor is there anything outside of Him, since He is space 
itself. All the languages in the world could not bear witness to God’s works or 
proclaim His powers. Indeed, God’s wonders are infinite and nothing is novel 
to Him. For that reason, let us praise Him. Let us obey Him, His prophets, and 
His saints, who were illuminated by His command and who revealed to human- 
kind the ways of the world through which they might attain that knowledge 


38 PICATRIX 


and wisdom of God. So, let us implore Him to receive us into His grace and 
lead us to eternal reward for His glory. Amen. 

§3  O you who wish to direct your attention toward the knowledge of the 
philosophers, to know and ponder their secrets, first you must seek out the 
great wonders of the art that they set forth in their books, and you must strive 
to focus on the wonders of the science of magic. Before that, however, you must 
know that these philosophers kept this knowledge secret and were sworn not to 
divulge any of it to humankind. More precisely, they occulted this knowledge 
on account of its powers and discussed it through shrouded words, [2] images, 
and symbols, as if discussing some other sciences. This decision to hide their 
knowledge is indicative of their honesty and goodwill, since if this knowledge 
were revealed to humankind, it would destroy the universe. On this account, 
the philosophers shared their knowledge figuratively, in such a way that none 
could understand it unless they were as enlightened in this knowledge as these 
philosophers were. Despite all their efforts at concealment, they nevertheless 
shared the paths and rules by which a sage might attain this knowledge and 
make progress in all the subjects they discussed esoterically. It is for this reason 
that I compiled this book, and in it I intend to explain the means and ways to 
this knowledge, to outline what sages have said about it, and to reveal what they 
concealed in their works through exotic and deceptive words. 

§4 I therefore pray to the highest creator that this work of ours fall into the 
hands of no sage lest they be capable of following everything I am about to say 
herein—and consider it beneficial—such that everything done through it be 
done for the good and in the service of God. 

§5 Furthermore, this tome is divided into four books and each of these is 
divided into their own chapters. In the first book, we discuss the nature of the 
heavens, as well as their effects that ensue from the signs therein. The second 
book discusses the figures of the heavens in general, the motion of the eight 
spheres, and their effects upon this world. The third book discusses the proper- 
ties of the planets and signs, laying out their figures and forms in their appro- 
priate color, revealing how one might speak with the spirits of these planets, 
and many other magical affairs. The fourth book discusses the faculties of 
spirits, the necessities of this art, and how one might be assisted by images, 
suffumigations, and other things. [3] 


BOOK 1 


Chapter 1 
On the Science of Knowing Where You Are 


§1 Know, dearest brother, that the ability to possess knowledge is a very 
great and noble gift that God bestowed on humankind since through knowl- 
edge one can become acquainted with ancient things, the causes of everything 
in this world, which causes are more immediate than others, and how one 
thing influences another. In this way, everything in existence can be under- 
stood (i.e., why it exists, why one thing is set in order above another, and where 
that singular root and foundation of everything exists). Through God all things 
are reconciled, and through God all things both new and old are discerned. He 
Himself is first in truth. Nothing is lacking in Him, nor does He lack anything. 
He is the cause of Himself and everything else, and He receives qualities from 
no other. God is neither a body, nor composed of any matter, nor mixed with 
anything outside of Himself. Rather, God is whole in and of Himself. He can- 
not be described except as The One. One sole truth and one unique unity per- 
tain to Him, and through His unity each thing has unity. He Himself is the first 
Truth, nor is He lacking the truth of another; everything receives its truth from 
Him. Indeed, everything other than God is imperfect. God alone is perfect. 
Truth is incomplete without God’s unity and vice versa, for only His truth or 
unity can be considered perfect. All things exist below God and from Him 
receive their truth, unity, generation, and corruption.’ On this account, one 
can discover how every part of each thing [4] receives its properties from Him, 
how this happens, and why. God alone understands the order and rank of 
generation for all creatures (which of them are first, which are middling, and 


40 PICATRIX 


which are lowest). Those creatures in the lowest rank are a source for corrup- 
tion to other creatures but nevera source of generation to them. Those creatures 
in the middle have a source of corruption within themselves but only cause 
corruption in all the creatures that exist beneath them. Those creatures ranked 
highest are the source of generation and corruption for all the creatures that 
exist beneath them, but nothing is higher and more perfect than that which is 
the source of its own generation and corruption. There is nothing aside from 
‘The One that seeks to know perfectly the proper order of created things, how 
those lowest creatures are exalted by their similarity to another until they are 
conformed with the first, and how they proceed from the first in due order 
until they conform with the last. God alone is the first—perfect philosophy and 
knowledge of Truth. Understand that knowledge is the utmost noble thing and 
strive in God every day—in His commandments and in His goodness—since 
knowledge, sense perception, and goodness all proceed from Him. God’s spirit 
is a boundless and excellent light. Anyone who intends to be deeply devoted to 
Him must despise the concerns of this world, since they are transient and lack 
permanence. As if from a celestial world, the human spirit descends from God. 
As such, one must desire to return to that place whence one came, where the 
root of one’s existence lies. There, he will understand the nature of the world, 
what its powers are, and how it was made by its creator. The source of this 
knowledge is true wisdom. Know that God Himself is maker and creator of the 
entire universe and that everything existing within it was created by Him, the 
most exalted. The mind of God is too deep and powerful to be understood, and 
that which can be understood from it must be grasped through study and 
knowledge. Dedication to knowledge and understanding—this is the greatest 
gift that God gave to humanity. Therefore, to study is to serve God. Understand 
that knowledge has three properties: the first is that it always grows and never 
diminishes; the second is that it is always praised and never devalued; and the 
third is that it is always clear and never ambiguous. Likewise, knowledge has 
three more properties: the first is that it causes humans to spurn the concerns 
of this world; the second is that it promotes good character; and the third is 
that it does not exceed what it desires to learn while seeking out its wishes 
through reason and will. 

§2 Know, therefore, that the secret we mean to divulge in our book cannot 
be understood without the prerequisite knowledge. Whoever intends to 
understand it must focus on knowledge and pursue it exhaustively.’ The secret 
will not be revealed except by a sage—one determined to study these disci- 
plines in the right order. This secret is most pure and will be of great advantage 
to you. [5] 


BOOK1 41 


Chapter 2 
What Magic Is and What Its Properties Are 


§1 Know that this science is called “magic.”* We call “magic” any act some- 
one performs in which the spirit and all the senses are engaged throughout the 
whole process and through which miracles are produced to the extent that the 
senses are driven to their contemplation and wonder. Magic is difficult to per- 
ceive through the senses and lies hidden from sight on account of its similarity 
to sense perception. This is because divine powers have been set aside for per- 
ceiving these things and using them. This knowledge, however, is too deep and 
powerful for the intellect. One part of this magical science is practical, on 
account of how it works by operating from spirit into spirit, making those 
things similar that are not so by their essence. Working with images, however, 
involves spirit in matter, and alchemical work involves matter in matter. Gen- 
erally, we use the term “magic” for everything hidden from the senses whose 
causes most of humanity cannot perceive. The wise call the images “talismans” 
which literally means “force-bearers” because those who fashion images do so 
through force, by conquering the substances from which they are composed. 
To succeed, one builds images with mathematical proportions, influences, and 
celestial effects. Such talismans are composed from substances appropriate for 
receiving the celestial influences.* This is done at appropriate times, and the 
influences are further fortified by suffumigations that attract specific spirits to 
those particular images. This works similarly to the Elixir that overcomes mat- 
ter and, by transmutation, reduces it to another purer matter.° In the same way, 
magicians craft images that operate through force. Poison works similarly 
when coursing through a body, changing it, and reducing it to its base state 
(since poison changes one body into a different body through the power of its 
composition). Know that the power of purification, which is called the Elixir, 
arises from earth, air, fire, and water. These four elements are united into one 
and reduced to the union’s original state because once the purification process 
begins and penetrates matter, the Elixir scatters throughout its makeup such 
that the altered matter becomes more perfect, more potent, and changed in 
state. This Elixir likewise functions in alchemy insofar as it effortlessly trans- 
mutes matter from one nature into another nobler one: first by overcoming the 
spirit, then the hardness, and then the resonance by removing the dross and 
the noise. This is the secret of the Elixir according to the wise ancients. The 
word Elixir means “power” because it shatters other powers by overcoming 
them and transmutes them from one state to another until reducing them to a 


42 PICATRIX 


state similar to its own’ The Elixir can only be produced if one combines ani- 
mals, trees, plants, and minerals throughout every step of the process since 
they say the Elixir is a reflection of the world, and the world is composed of all 
these things. Moreover, the Elixir must be composed of like things because 
each part influences [6] every other part, and each part depends on every other 
(just as trees cannot stand on their own, plants and animals cannot subsist 
without other plants, and minerals need heat and the power of fire with humid- 
ity and air); this is how the Elixir is made. This we discovered in a book called 
On Ordinations.’ Now let us return to our proposed topic. 

§2  Isay that magic is divided into two parts, namely the theoretical and the 
practical.’ The theoretical part is the knowledge pertaining to the positions of 
fixed stars since the celestial signs and the forms of heaven are derived from 
these. The theoretical also pertains to how the fixed stars project their rays onto 
the planets that move themselves about. It is the science of knowing the signs 
in the heavens when they (the astrologers) do what they intend to do. Under 
this topic we include all the debates of the ancient sages regarding the selection 
of hours and times for the crafting of images. Know that one who truly under- 
stands the construction of images is aware that their power relies entirely on 
the correct selection of astrological hours and times appropriate to the things 
for which the images are made. Another aspect of magic is concerned with 
words since words hold in themselves the strength of magic. And Plato agreed, 
saying: “friends are made foes through callous and cruel words, and so too are 
foes made friends through kind and pleasant ones.”’ From this it is clear that 
words have inherent magical power. Moreover, this power is augmented when 
many powers are coordinated; this is how the power of magic is manifest. All 
this encompasses the theoretical part. 

§3 Now, the practical part pertains to three natures in combination with the 
power that pours down from the fixed stars. The wise call this “power,” but they 
do not understand what type it is nor how it links with the powers mentioned 
above. Once these things have been brought together (i.e., those that have the 
abovementioned properties), they ought to have elemental heat. This is the heat 
that in suffumigations helps perfect that imperfect power. Therefore, suffumi- 
gations must be lit with a natural heat to be used for consumption. Ultimately, 
these two things are useless and impossible to perform without the spirit of 
man and animal. 

§4 Know that magic is performed through works and deeds and also 
through other subtle means. Indeed, the magic accomplished through works 
and deeds emerges from the disciplines that the sages of the world carry out 
below the sphere of the Moon (as one sage said in the Liber Alfilaha, where it is 
written to trap four birds).!° The part of magic acquired from subtle means, 


BOOK 1 43 


however, comes from the works written by that sage who labored on the move- 
ments of the sphere of Saturn and so too from the writings of that wise man 
who labored on the movements of the sphere of Venus. Both these wise men 
wrote in this Liber Alfilaha. 

§5 Ancient Greek sages used to perform tricks for altering vision and making 
things appear that do not exist. They called this science of images yetelegehuz, 
which translates as “the attraction of celestial spirits.”” [7] The sages applied this 
name to all facets of ceremonial magic. They came to such knowledge by no 
means other than astrology, and they could not proceed beyond astrology until 
they knew (i) all the figures on the eighth sphere,” (ii) their motion, (iii) the 
motion of the other spheres, (iv) the division of the twelve signs with their own 
degrees and natures, (v) the qualities of each sign and the implications of each 
upon worldly affairs, (vi) the parts of each of the planets in those twelve signs, 
(vii) the movements of the Zodiac and at what times other bodies are conjoined 
with them, (viii) the natures of the seven planets and the Head and Tail of the 
Dragon, (ix) their location in the heavens and the meaning of each relative to the 
things of this world, (x) how to predict each of their ascendants and descen- 
dants, (xi) which ones rise and fall before the others, and (xii) their radical sig- 
nifications; these are the fundamentals of astrology. Furthermore, one must 
know which of the seven planets dominates in which sign, one must understand 
their proper order in that dominion, and one must determine the parts of the 
planets from the Zodiac. These are the things without which one cannot attain 
a working knowledge of this science; and all these things are found in the books 
of astronomy.” This is what the first sage said in the Liber Alfilaha, where we 
read: “They exalted me above the seven heavens.” What he meant was that he 
understood all the motions of the heavens and their qualities through the power 
of contemplation and sense perception. This is what God meant when He spoke: 
“Let Us exalt man on high.” Indeed, He means to say: “Let Us give him sense 
perception and understanding such that he might grasp profound knowledge.” 


Chapter 3 
On What the Heavens Are and of What Substance They Are Made 


§1 ‘The shape of heaven is spherical, round, and smooth in its surface area 
and so is everything in it with respect to their qualities and rotations.’* Certain 
people believe that at one time the heavens did not appear round. This is false: 
the shape of heaven is its own shape and cannot be otherwise because that is 
the shape of spirit, and one must admit that spirit is first, and nothing in the 


44 PICATRIX 


universe is older. Doubtless, what is first and oldest in the world ought to have 
a perfect shape. The perfect shape and figure is a circle because it is the first of 
all the shapes and is itself made up of a single line.’> None of the generation and 
corruption in the matter that constitutes this world can occur in the heavens. 
On the contrary, no part of the heavens can have its essence undergo the gen- 
eration and corruption of here on Earth; and all this is because of the heavens’ 
power and superiority. The firmament is, as we have said, a round sphere in all 
its parts, truly symmetrical in its roundness and contained by the line of a 
circle, in whose middle is a point from which all the lines that lead to the line 
of the circumference are of equal length; that point is called the center. [8] They 
say that those lines symbolize the rays that the stars project onto the Earth, as 
ifinto its core. From these rays arise the effects and powers of the images, and 
this is how they work. As we said, the heavens are a round sphere containing 
the whole world within itself (i-e., within its capacity). Such a sphere has neither 
bumps nor holes—it is form, permanent in itself, and from it, all the spirits’ 
powers arise. The heaven of fixed stars is beneath it, and its center is separate 
from it, for in fact, its center is the same as the center of the Earth. The nature 
of the heavens is of one single nature, and all motion, both of bodies and of 
nature, follows the motion of the heavens. All heat pours down from them, and 
by this we mean that all of Earth’s heat comes from the heavens. The degrees of 
heaven are 360 in the first division, and the figures are the same in number. 
Through these, all of the judgments of astrology are determined, since the 
judgments follow the images of the heavens, and the heavens are the cause of 
all processes below. 

§2 The effects and powers manifest when the planets are in these figures. 
Both the aspect and the conjunction that they have with one another and the 
effects of the planets that govern over earthly affairs in the world are of the 
same type. So, ifit were Saturn, cold and dry things would be affected; if Jupi- 
ter, hot and humid; if Mars, hot and dry; if Venus, things of moderate heat and 
excess humidity; if Mercury, things of low heat and high dryness; but ifit were 
the Moon, cold and humid things would be affected, and if it were the fixed 
stars, then they would be affected through their own powers (like the Moon). 
When any planet enters some degree of heaven within which it has power and 
if the planet were itself clearly hot yet lacking in humidity and dryness, and if 
the Sun were drawing upon its power, we ought to conclude that its effect must 
increase and grow. Similarly, if we find that a planet is acting by empowering 
something through its own nature and power, that thing will be stronger and 
more potent in its effects on Earth. If the planet were affecting a contrary thing, 
its effect would be weakened according to the planet’s power in that function. 


BOOK 1 45 


According to this, understand the effects of planets, and you will not go astray. 
This you can find in the books of astronomy. 


Chapter 4 


On General Theories and the Arrangement of the Heavens 
for Fashioning Images 


§1 When the sages of old wished to craft magical images, they could not 
ignore the constellations, which are fundamental to the science of images. The 
constellations are the very things by which the images’ effects are made mani- 
fest. What we mean is that there are fundamentals to those constellations that 
will support you in all rituals with these images. These fundamentals are the 
heavens’ workings toward the effects of the images. Those who seek to make 
images should have knowledge of the relationships of planets, the other con- 
stellations, and also of the motion of the heavens. They must firmly believe in 
the rituals they perform with the magical images such that the work they 
implement will be genuine and without doubt. They must not [9] doubta single 
thing concerning the rituals’ effects and not perform them for the sake of test- 
ing or probing whether or not they are efficacious. Through this, the rational 
spirit is strengthened and united to that power of the upper world whence the 
spirit acting upon the image came. Thus, what is sought shall be. [Firmly 
believe that a combined action of the intellect and of the first and principal 
among all intelligences and intermediaries is required for the image to have 
power. Among all intelligences, the human soul or intellect seems to be the 
lowest, whose combined action is also required. It, however, acts alone and 
collectively with firm and total concentration, diligence, and the utmost con- 
cern. In our parlance, this is called “faith.” In matters of craft, if the craftsman 
does not make his product with diligence, concern, and total concentration, he 
will seldom bring about and complete his task skillfully.]’® 

Now, I want to teach you a most necessary component to these operations, 
and that is performing your ritual when the conditions on this world are favor- 
able for magic. Indeed, I say that you should have nothing to do with these 
operations unless the Moon is sitting in a favorable and appropriate degree rela- 
tive to those tasks you intend to accomplish since the Moon, to whom nothing 
lies hidden, has power and obvious effects upon the things beneath her. After- 
ward, I will explain to you the most splendid results in these processes that will 
profit you greatly in those works; but at present I intend to talk about the effects 


46 PICATRIX 


and works of the Moon within the boundaries of her own mansions according 
to what every sage in India agreed upon regarding the Moon’s twenty-eight 
mansions.” 

§2 The first mansion of the Moon is called Alnath. It begins from the first 
minute of Aries and ends in the position of the twelfth degree, fifty-first minute 
and twenty-sixth second of the same sign. The sages of India would begin 
journeys and take medicine when the Moon was in this mansion. Place this 
mansion as a foundation to all the images that you intend to make for those 
going on a journey so that they may come and go safely. Also, this mansion 
ought to be placed as a foundation to creating discord and enmity between a 
man and a woman and between two friends so that they become enemies and 
also to sow discord between two associates; and do this similarly when you 
wish to cause a slave to flee. I shall demonstrate to you the fundamental source 
that must be observed in all beneficial works and rituals: namely, that the 
Moon be well-positioned, safe from Saturn and Mars, and safe from the com- 
bustion of the Sun. On the other hand, in every ritual bent on causing harm, 
know that the Moon must be in combustion from the Sun and in conjunction 
with Saturn and Mars or at least be facing one of them. 

§3 The second mansion is called Albotain. It begins in the twelfth degree, 
fifty-first minute, and twenty-sixth second of Aries and ends in the same sign at 
the twenty-fifth degree, forty-second minute, fifty-second second. In this man- 
sion, make images when you wish to dig channels or wells, to discover lost trea- 
sures, to plant a mass of wheat, or to destroy the completed buildings of 
households; and similarly, make an image in this mansion to make one man rage 
against another and also to make a prison stronger and securer for its captives. 
§4 The third mansion is called Azoraya. It begins in the aforementioned 
degree and ends in the eighth degree, thirty-fourth minute, and second second 
of Taurus. In this mansion, make images to protect those sailing by sea such 
that they might return safely, to reinforce the prison cells of captives, to accom- 
plish works of alchemy, to carry out any work done with fire, to pursue hunting 
expeditions on land, and to create affection between husband and wife. [10] 

§5 The fourth mansion is called Aldebaran. It begins in the eighth degree, 
thirty-fourth minute, and second second of Taurus and ends in the same sign, 
namely in the twenty-first degree, twenty-fifth minute, and forty-fourth sec- 
ond. In this mansion, make an image to condemn a city or village or some 
other building you wish to destroy, to make a master abhor his slave, to instill 
discord between husband and wife, to contaminate springs and wells, to find 
buried treasures, and to kill or bind every kind of reptile and poisonous 
animal. 


BOOK 1 47 


§6 The fifth mansion is called Almices. It begins at the twenty-first degree, 
twenty-fifth minute, and forty-fourth second of Taurus and ends in the fourth 
degree, seventeenth minute, and tenth second of Gemini. In this mansion, 
make images for children learning a craft or profession, to protect those on 
journeys that they may return quickly, to protect those travelling by sea, to 
improve buildings, to destroy the alliance of two men, and to instill affection 
between husband and wife. This happens when the Moon is rising in a human 
sign, safe from Saturn and Mars and safe from the combustion of the Sun, as 
we have mentioned above regarding the first mansion. These are the human 
signs: Gemini, Virgo, Libra, Sagittarius, and Aquarius. 

§7 ‘The sixth mansion is called Athaya. It is from the fourth degree, seven- 
teenth minute, and tenth second of Gemini all the way to the seventeenth 
degree, eighth minute, and thirty-sixth second of the same constellation. In 
this mansion, make images to destroy cities and villages, to position armies 
around them, to enable the enemies of kings to exact vengeance, to condemn 
harvests and trees, to spark friendship between two associates, to improve 
hunting in the countryside, and to curse medicines such that they fail to work 
on those taking them. 

§8 ‘The seventh mansion is called Aldirah. It begins in the seventeenth 
degree, eighth minute, and thirty-sixth second of Gemini and ends at the end 
of the same constellation. In this mansion, make images to increase trade and 
profit and to travel safely, to increase harvests, to sail safely, to generate friend- 
ships between one’s friends and one’s associates, to prevent flies from entering 
a location you wish, and to ruin someone’s career. The mansion is effective for 
going before a king or some other notable person, for gaining royal favor, or for 
getting whatever you wish from some lord. 

§9 The eighth mansion is called Annathra. It begins in the first degree of 
Cancer and lasts until the twelfth degree, fifty-first minute, and twenty-sixth 
second. In this mansion, make images for love and friendship, to ensure that 
whoever goes through villages in a wagon may proceed safely, to spark friend- 
ship between two associates, to reinforce a captive’s jail cell, to curse and afflict 
captives, and to expel mice and bedbugs from wherever. [11] 

$10 The ninth mansion is called Atarf. It begins in the twelfth degree, fifty- 
first minute, and twenty-sixth second of Cancer and ends in the twenty-fifth 
degree, forty-second minute, and fifty-first second of the same constellation. 
In this mansion, make images to condemn harvests, to curse travellers and all 
those seeking to do harm, to erect divisions and enmities between allies, and 
to force a man to defend himself from another man who wants something 
from him. 


48 PICATRIX 


§11 The tenth mansion is called Algebha. It begins in the twenty-fifth degree, 
forty-second minute, and fifty-first second of Cancer and ends in the eighth 
degree, thirty-fourth minute, and eighteenth second of Leo. In this mansion, 
make images to incite love between man and wife, to curse enemies and travel- 
lers, to reinforce the jails of captives, to reinforce and complete buildings, to 
create benevolence between associates, and to help one another. 

§12 The eleventh mansion is called Azobra. It begins in the eighth degree, 
thirty-fourth minute, and eighteenth second of Leo and ends in the twenty- 
first degree, twenty-fifth minute, and forty-fourth second of the same constel- 
lation. In this mansion, make images to liberate captives, to position armies 
outside cities and villages, to organize trade and the wealth it yields, to protect 
travelers on the road, to reinforce buildings for stability, and to increase the 
wealth of friends. 

§13. The twelfth mansion is called Acarfa. It begins in the twenty-first degree, 
twenty-fifth minute, and forty-fourth second of Leo and ends in the fourth 
degree, seventeenth minute, sixth second of Virgo. In this mansion, make 
images to improve harvests and plants; to ruin someone financially; to curse 
ships; or to bolster allies, authorities, captives, and slaves that they may be stable 
and prosperous. 

§14 The thirteenth mansion is called Alahue. It begins in the fourth degree, 
seventeenth minute, and sixth second of Virgo and lasts until the seventeenth 
degree, eighth minute, and thirty-sixth second of the same constellation. In 
this mansion, make images to increase trade and its profits, to enlarge harvests, 
to protect travelers by road, to complete buildings, to free the incarcerated, and 
to charm noblemen for one’s benefit. 

§15 The fourteenth mansion is called Azimech. It begins in the seventeenth 
degree, eighth minute, thirty-sixth second of Virgo and ends at the end of the 
same constellation. In that mansion, make images to instill love between man 
and wife, to heal the infirm with knowledge of the body and medicine, to curse 
harvests and plants, to empower kings such that they may be strong and take 
the throne, to protect those sailing, and to win the friendship of associates. 
§16 ‘The fifteenth mansion is called Algafra. It begins in the first degree of 
Libra and ends in the twelfth degree, fifty-first minute, twenty-sixth second of 
the same constellation. In that mansion, make images to dig wells, to seek 
buried treasures, to impede travelers on their journeys, to put a division 
between a husband and his wife so that they may never have sex, to induce [12] 
discord between friends and associates, to scatter enemies from their positions, 
and to destroy their homes. 

$17. The sixteenth mansion is called Azubene. It begins in the twelfth degree, 
fifty-first minute, and twenty-sixth second of Libra and ends in twenty-fifth 


BOOK 1 49 


degree, forty-second minute, and fifty-second second of the same constella- 
tion. In this mansion, make images to curse merchandise, harvests, and plants; 
to induce discord among friends or between man and wife; to curse a woman 
you desire; to impede those on a journey such that it might fail; to induce dis- 
cord between friends; and to free captives from jail cells. 

§18 ‘The seventeenth mansion is called Alichil. It begins in the twenty-fifth 
degree, forty-second minute, and fifty-second second of Libra and ends in the 
eighth degree, thirty-sixth minute, second second of Scorpio. In that mansion, 
make images to heighten deceptions so that one might excel through them, to 
position armies around cities and villages, to reinforce and stabilize buildings, 
and to protect those navigating on water. Everyone agrees that the Moon 
should be in this mansion while forging friendships; the friendship will endure 
and never be destroyed. In this mansion, make everything for the arrangement 
of lasting love. 

$19 The eighteenth mansion is called Alcalb. It begins in the eighth degree, 
thirty-eighth minute, and second second of Scorpio and lasts all the way to the 
twenty-first degree, twenty-fifth minute, and forty-fourth second of the same 
constellation. In this mansion, make images to rouse conspiracy against kings, 
to inflict vengeance upon desired enemies, to build and reinforce buildings, to 
free captives from prison cells, and to divide friends. 

§20 The nineteenth mansion is called Exaula. It begins in the twenty-first 
degree, twenty-fifth minute, and forty-fourth second of Scorpio and ends in 
the fourth degree, seventeenth minute, and tenth second of Sagittarius. In this 
mansion, make images to position an army around cities and villages, to enter 
and take them, and seize what you will, to ruin the wealth of whomever you 
please, to drive men from a place, to benefit men going through villages in 
wagons, to increase harvests, to make captives escape, to destroy and shatter 
ships, to divide and ruin the riches of associates, and to kill captives. 

§21 The twentieth mansion is called Nahaym. It begins in the fourth degree, 
seventeenth minute, and tenth second of Sagittarius and ends in the seven- 
teenth degree, eighth minute, and forty-sixth second of the same constellation. 
In this mansion, make images to domesticate wild and untamed beasts, to 
cause those travelling by carriage to return swiftly, to make any man come to 
wherever you wish, to associate good men with one another, to reinforce prison 
cells for captives, and to bring evil and ruin upon the riches of friends. 

§22 The twenty-first mansion is called Elbelda. It begins in the seventeenth 
degree, eighth minute, and forty-sixth second of Sagittarius and lasts all the way 
to the end of the same constellation. In this [13] mansion, make images to rein- 
force buildings, to increase harvests, to retain profits firmly, to protect those 
travelling through villages, and to separate a wife from her own husband. 


50 PICATRIX 


§23 ‘The twenty-second mansion is called Caadaldeba. It begins in the first 
degree of Capricorn and lasts all the way to the twelfth degree, fifty-first min- 
ute, and twenty-sixth second of the same constellation. In this mansion, make 
images to heal infirmities, to set discord between two men, to make slaves and 
captives flee, to cause goodwill between associates, and to cause captives to 
escape. 

§24 ‘The twenty-third mansion is called Caaddebolach. Itbegins in the twelfth 
degree, fifty-first minute, and twenty-sixth second of Capricorn and ends in 
the twenty-fifth degree, forty-second minute, fifty-second second of the same 
constellation. In that mansion, make images to heal infirmities, to unite 
friends, to divide a man from his wife, and to make captives escape from their 
jail cells. 

§25 The twenty-fourth mansion is called Caadacohot. It begins in the twenty- 
fifth degree, forty-second minute, and fifty-second second of Capricorn and 
lasts all the way to the eighth degree, thirty-fourth minute, and twenty-eighth 
second of Aquarius. In this mansion, make images to improve commerce and 
its profits, to induce goodwill between husband and wife, to give soldiers vic- 
tory over enemies, to ruin the riches of friends, and to disrupt enterprises such 
that they might not come to fruition. 

§26 ‘The twenty-fifth mansion is called Caadalhacbia. It begins in the eighth 
degree, thirty-fourth minute, and twenty-eighth second of Aquarius and 
ends in the twenty-first degree, twenty-fifth minute, and forty-fourth second 
of the same constellation. In this mansion, make images to position armies 
around cities and villages, to take vengeance upon enemies and to inflict evil 
upon them as you please, to hasten envoys to deliver their messages and 
return quickly, to separate a wife from her husband, to wither harvests, to 
bind a man and his wife or a woman and her man such that they cannot have 
sex, to bind any limb of the human body you wish so as to render it useless, 
and to further reinforce the prisons of captives; it is good for making 
buildings. 

§27 ‘The twenty-sixth mansion is called Almiquedam. It begins in the twenty- 
first degree, twenty-fifth minute, and forty-fourth second and ends in the 
fourth degree, seventeenth minute, and tenth second of Pisces. In this man- 
sion, make images to unite men in mutual esteem, to protect those travelling 
by carriage, to reinforce the prisons and cells of captives, and to inflict evil 
upon them. 

§28 ‘The twenty-seventh mansion is called Algarf almuehar. It begins in the 
fourth degree, seventeenth minute, and tenth second of Pisces and ends in the 
seventeenth degree, eighth minute, and thirty-sixth second of the same con- 


BOOK 1 51 


stellation. In this mansion, make images to improve commerce and its profits, 
to unite associates, to increase harvests, to heal infirmities, to ruin someone’s 
riches, to impede the construction of buildings, [14] to imperil those sailing, to 
prolong the incarceration of captives, and to inflict harm on whomever you 
desire. 

§29 ‘The twenty-eighth mansion is called Arrexhe. It begins in the seventeenth 
degree, eighth minute, and thirty-sixth second of Pisces and lasts unto the end 
of the same constellation. In that mansion, make images to improve commerce, 
to besiege cities, to increase harvests, to balance things, to ruin jokes, to cause 
someone to lose treasure, to protect those travelling by carriage and ensure 
their return in good health, to instill peace and harmony between husband and 
wife, to reinforce the prison cells of captives, and to inflict harm upon those 
who sail by ship. 

§30 ‘The wise Indians held these twenty-eight mansions as foundational in all 
of their rituals and elections. 

§31 ‘The fundamental part of this text is that you ensure that in all benevolent 
rituals, the Moon is safe from both Saturn and Mars, from their aspects, and 
from the combustion of the Sun; and that she is tied to the fortunes by favor- 
able aspects (i.e., the trine and sextile aspects). In all these affairs, ensure that 
the Moon is separate from one fortunate planet and joined to a different fortu- 
nate planet. Make sure you do the opposite in malevolent rituals. 

§32 A practitioner of magical arts should be one who puts faith in his own 
actions without any doubt regarding the rituals. That is how the practitioner 
becomes well-disposed to receiving the effects and powers through which he 
intends to do magic. This disposition exists within humans alone. The disposi- 
tion exists in other sensible creatures, however, it is such that they receive sen- 
sations according to their own individual natures (just as wax effortlessly takes 
the forms pressed into it, or a demonically possessed man is invaded by other 
demons since his body is disposed to receiving such demons given that his 
broken body is powerless to resist them). Similarly, a disposition toward weak- 
ness is found in a place of power, just as the disposition suited to the materials 
from which images are fashioned is found in those materials; for all materials 
are predisposed to receiving some effect harmonious to them. This is a funda- 
mental to these rituals, and everyone agrees on it. When a disposition exists for 
receiving influence, it will be received; and when the reception has occurred, 
the effect will be clear and manifest, and the figure will receive power. The 
effect will be as you desire insofar as matter and form will be united as one, just 
as the image of a man is united with a mirror or a pool of water or just as the 
unity of spirit and body. 


52 PICATRIX 


§33 If you wish to undertake a ritual during daytime, ensure that the Moon 
is ascendant and—while she is ascending—that she is in one of the diurnal 
signs. If the ritual is at night, she should be ascending in a nocturnal sign. If 
she will be ascending out of the signs of direct ascent, the effect will be 
swifter and surer. If the Moon is ascending in a sign of tortuous ascent, the 
task will be more difficult.’* This can be improved or impeded by [15] aspects 
toward the fortunate planets, such that if the Moon were ascending out of a 
sign of direct ascent and an unfortunate planet were also in it, it would curse, 
cancel, and suppress the effect. If the Moon were ascending out of a sign of 
tortuous ascent and a fortunate planet were to look toward her or gaze upon 
her with a good and favorable aspect, that effect would be effortlessly brought 
about. Likewise, when diurnal signs ascend at night or nocturnal signs by 
day with a fortunate planet in aspect with them, the fortunate planet directs 
and fortifies them; and if unfortunate planets are in aspect with them, they 
bring about ruin. One who intends to craft an image must thoroughly under- 
stand: the signs of direct and tortuous ascent; the fixed, mobile, and impar- 
tial signs; the diurnal and nocturnal signs; the fortunate and unfortunate 
planets; the times when the Moon is safe from the influences opposed to her; 
and which images are appropriate to each planet and sign. As much as pos- 
sible, beware of performing magic pertaining to beneficial effects when the 
Moon is eclipsed or beneath the rays of the Sun by twelve degrees ahead and 
behind. Likewise, guard her from Saturn and Mars and beware lest the Moon 
herself be setting in a northern latitude when she goes out of the twelve 
degrees mentioned above; and that same thing is true concerning southern 
latitudes in opposition. Be sure that the Moon is not ina slow, waning course, 
that is, when she proceeds less than twelve degrees in a day because she is 
assimilated to the motion of Saturn; and beware that she not be in a com- 
busted path, which is also to be avoided (i.e., from the eighth degree of Libra 
all the way to the third degree of Scorpio). Moreover, make sure the Moon is 
not on the edges of the signs, which are the boundaries of the unfortunate 
planets, nor falling from the angle of the mid-heaven (ie., in the ninth 
house). If an emergency arose and there were some important desired effect 
that could not wait until the Moon was free from all unfortunate planets, 
have Jupiter and Venus in the ascendant or in mid-heaven because they rec- 
tify the unfortunate influences of the Moon. Know that whatever we say, we 
do not say to profane the secrets that are written in the books of the wise. We 
beseech God omnipotent that, by His piety and grace, this book may reach 
the hands of none but those who are wise and good. You must, therefore, be 
the custodian of everything written herein; never reveal it to any unworthy 
person. 


BOOK1 53 


Chapter 5 


On Examples of Cases for Discussion and the Requirements 
for Making Images 


§1 When you wish to craft an image for inducing love between two individu- 
als (and to give their love and joy the strength of an oak), make images in both 
of their likenesses. Make them in the hour of Jupiter or Venus with the Head of 
the Dragon ascending.” Let the Moon be with Venus or looking toward her 
with a favorable aspect. Let the lord of the seventh house look upon the lord of 
the first house in a trine or sextile aspect. Afterward, join the images together 
in an embrace, and bury them at the home of one of the two people (i.e., at that 
person’s home whom you wish to feel most in love). Whatever you desire shall 
come about. [16] 

§2 Images for generating peace and love between two individuals. Make two 
images under the ascendant of the querent’s question. Let the ascendant and 
the tenth house be fortunate. Remove the influence of unfortunate planets 
from the ascendant. Let the lord of the tenth house be fortunate, facing the lord 
of the ascendant from a trine or sextile aspect.”° 

§3 Here I intend to clarify other key concepts about the aspects. The trine 
aspect pertains entirely to love because all signs of a fiery nature gaze at each 
other in a trine aspect; the same applies to aerial and aquatic signs. This aspect 
creates perfect friendship. The sextile aspect, however, concerns lukewarm 
friendships because the signs gazing upon each other in that aspect are congru- 
ent with one another in their active but not their passive natures; thus, it is called 
an aspect of “moderate friendship.” The square aspect pertains to moderate 
enmity because the signs gaze upon each other from two contrary natures. The 
opposite aspect is one of extreme enmity because the signs gazing upon each 
other are opposed in all four natural qualities. Now, let us return to our proposed 
topic. 

§4 Makea second image: were it for two friends, make the eleventh house of 
the first image the ascendant of the second; were it between a man and a woman 
you wish to make friends, make the ascendant of the second image be the sev- 
enth house of the first image. Let the lord of the ascendant of the one who seeks 
to return to friendship be facing the lord of the other image’s ascendant with a 
favorable aspect, and let it be well received. Afterward, join the images, and 
bury them at the home of the one who seeks the friendship; henceforth they 
will be friends as before. 

§5 An image to cause two individuals to fall in love. Make two images with 
Venus ascending in the first face of Cancer and the Moon in both the first face 


54 PICATRIX 


of Taurus and the eleventh house. Once you have, join the images in an 
embrace, and bury them in the home of either one. They will like each other, 
and a durable love will prevail between them. They call these the figures of 
alteration, and Ptolomy speaks about this in proverb thirty-three of his book 
Centiloquium.” We shall speak of this in the fourth book of this tome. There, if 
God wills it, we shall further explain. 

§6 An image to cause a durable love. Make two images, and place a fortunate 
planet in the ascendant and the Moon in Taurus joined with Venus. Using the 
figures of al-Khwarizmi (the ones that employ os), write “220” on one image 
and “284” on the other.” Join both images in an embrace. Then there will arise 
a perfect, durable love between the two. [17] 

§7  Animage to cause kings and nobles to favor whomever. Make an image in 
the shape of that man, in his name, in this way: make the ascendant fortunate 
with a fortunate planet that is strong and not waning, retrograde, or com- 
busted. Let the lord of the ascendant be strong and in good condition, direct, 
and in its exaltation. Let the lord of the tenth house gaze upon the lord of the 
ascendant in a trine or sextile aspect with a strong reception. Place the lord of 
the ascendant in commanding signs and the lord of the tenth house in obedient 
signs.”? As long as that man for whom this image was made will hold it close, 
he will be esteemed and honored. Whatever he seeks from the lords with whom 
he interacts, he will obtain. 

§8 An image to cause a lord to be esteemed and obeyed by his men. Make two 
images. Make one in the hour of Jupiter with the Moon facing the Sun in a 
favorable aspect and separated from the unfortunate planets with the Head of 
the Dragon in the ascendant. Next, make the other image whose ascendant 
should be the fifth house from the ascendant of the first image in the hour of 
Venus; let the Head of the Dragon be in the ascendant or facing it while ascend- 
ing with a favorable aspect. Do this in the hour of the Moon, when the Moon is 
free from unfortunate influences. Bury the images beneath the ascendant of 
one of the fixed signs in the hour of Saturn. Join them in an embrace, and bury 
them in the place of that man who seeks the love of another. 

§9 An image to cause a slave to favor his master. Make two images. Make one 
in the hour of any of the superior planets; let the ascendant be outside the 
houses of any of the superior planets with the Moon waxing and the Head of 
the Dragon in the ascendant, fourth, seventh, or tenth house.” Make the sec- 
ond image in the hour of any of the inferior planets, whose ascendant should 
be the tenth house of the first image’s ascendant, and place the Tail of the 
Dragon in the ascendant, fourth, seventh, or tenth house. Once you have made 
those two images in this way, join them in an embrace, and bury them in the 
home of the man who seeks the love of the other. 


BOOK1 55 


$10 An image for being promoted by alord. Make an image, and let the ascen- 
dant, the tenth house, and likewise the lord of the ascent be fortunate. Remove 
the unfortunate influences from the ascendant and its lord, and let the fortu- 
nate planet be in the eleventh house gazing toward the ascendant and its lord 
with a favorable and praiseworthy aspect. Let the lord of the tenth house be 
facing the lord of the ascendant with a favorable aspect and reception. Once the 
image is completed, keep it near and secret, out of sight; when you go before a 
lord and seek an office or promotion from him, you will have it. 

§11 An image for increasing wealth and trade. Make an image, and let the 
ascendant, the tenth house, their lords, the lord of the house of the ascendant’s 
lord, and the lord of the house of the tenth house’s lord, the Moon, the lord of 
her house, also the second house and its lord be fortunate; let the lord of the 
second house receive [18] the lord of the ascendant in a trine or sextile aspect. 
Let a fortunate planet be in the second house. Let the Part of Fortune be in the 
ascendant or the tenth house, with the lord of that Part of Fortune facing it 
with a favorable aspect.”° Let the eleventh house and its lord likewise be fortu- 
nate. Once this image is complete, guard it, keep it secret and out of sight. You 
will profit in whatever you do, and you will succeed in all your efforts. 

$12 An image for expanding cities so that they may prosper. Make an image; 
let the ascendant, the tenth house, and its lord be fortunate; let them face a 
fortunate planet. Let the lord of the second house, the lord of the eighth house, 
and the lord of the ascendant be fortunate, and face a fortunate planet. Let the 
lord of the house of the ascendant’s lord, the Moon, and the lord of the house of 
the Moon be fortunate. Once this image is completed as described, bury it in 
the middle of the city, and what you seek will unfold. 

$13. An image for acquiring the love of another. Make two images. Make one 
in the hour of Jupiter with Virgo ascending and the Moon waxing. Let the 
Moon be in the ascendant, fourth, seventh, or tenth house. Make the second 
image in the hour of Venus, herself facing Jupiter; let the unfortunate planets 
be receding from the ascendant; let the ascendant of the second image be in 
the seventh house and the lord of the ascendant facing the lord of the ascen- 
dant in a trine or sextile aspect. Once this is done, join them together in an 
embrace, and bury them in the home of that man who wants to acquire love 
and goodwill. 

§14 An image for destroying an enemy. Make an image in the shape and 
appearance of the man upon whom you wish to inflict evil in the hour of Mars 
with the Moon in Scorpio. As much as possible, let the ascending planet be 
unfortunate by placing an unfortunate planet on the ascendant or facing it with 
a bad aspect. Let the unfortunate planet and the lord of the ascendant face each 
other. As much as possible, let the lord of the fourth house and the ascendant’s 


56 PICATRIX 


lord be unfortunate, and let them face each other. Let the lord of the ascendant 
in the fourth house be unfortunate, or have it be received by an unfortunate 
planet in the fourth house or in the ascendant. Once you have done this, bury 
the image upside down outside the city wherein your enemy resides. Your wish 
will unfold. 

§15 An image for destroying a city. Make an image in the hour of Saturn (since 
it is an unfortunate planet) under the ascendant of that city. Let unfortunate 
planets bein the ascendant, present with the lord of the ascendant, and the lord 
of the house of the ascendant’s lord. Let the fortunate planets be removed from 
the ascendant, its lord, the lord of the triplicity of the ascendant, and also from 
the fourth, seventh, and tenth houses. Once this is done, bury it in the middle 
of the city, and you will see wondrous things. 

§16 An image for hindering the construction of buildings. Make two images, 
one in the hour of the Sun with Leo ascending and the other in the hour of the 
Moon with Cancer ascending. Do this when the Moon is waxing and safe from 
the unfortunate planets [19] and swift in its course. Once this is done, bury 
them in the hour of Venus, and the building will be impeded. 

$17. An image to cause a prisoner to escape. Make an image in the shape of the 
incarcerated individual whom you wish to free in the hour of the Moon, while 
she is waxing, swift in her course, and free from unfortunate planets. Bury the 
image under the ascendant of the tenth house of that city by placing the face of 
the image toward the building where the imprisoned is detained. 

§18 An image for destroying an enemy. Make two images, the first in the hour 
of the Sun with Leo rising and the Moon receding from the ascendant; make 
the other in the hour of Mars with both Cancer ascending and Mars receding 
from the Moon. Make the images look like one is striking the other. Bury them 
in the hour of Mars with the face of Aries ascending. Once this is done, you will 
be able to act against your enemies by whatever means. 

§ig_ An image for making aman flee from his home. Make an image under the 
ascendant of any of the signs ascending tortuously. Let its lord be receding 
from the ascendant, fourth, seventh, or tenth house. Let the Moon be receding 
likewise. Bury the image at a crossroad under a combust path. Place the face of 
the image towards the place from which you wish to make the man flee, and 
you shall see wondrous things. 

§20 An image for separating two friends. Make an image beneath any ascen- 
dant, and let the ascendant and the tenth house be unfortunate; let the lords of 
the ascendant and the tenth house be unfortunate; let an unfortunate planet 
face them with a square or opposite aspect. Then let the fortunate planets 
recede from the ascendant, the tenth house, and their lords. All in all, make the 
other image just as was described above. Bury it in the place of the other image 


BOOK1 57 


under the ascendant of the fixed sign made unfortunate by the Tail of the 
Dragon or when another unfortunate sign rises. Once this is done, those friends 
will hate each other and never love one another again. 

§21 An image for directing the wrath of a king upon someone. Make two 
images according to the instructions for the images above. Let the lord of the 
ascendant be receding from the lord of the tenth house or be made unfortunate 
by him and facing the lord of the fourth house from a square or opposite aspect. 
Bury them under the unfortunate ascendant of any of the fixed signs. Once this 
is done, the king will hate that man. 

§22 An image for catching many fish. Make an image in the shape of a fish 
living in that specific river. Do this with Pisces ascending and Jupiter within it, 
and make Venus the lord of this hour. Make it this way: first make its head and 
body, then a tail, and join them together at the hour discussed. Make one thin 
silver stylus, and place the image on the head of the stylus; then make a jug or 
another vase made of lead with a narrow spout. Place the stylus upright in the 
middle of the spout and the image of the fish on the very top of the stylus. Next, 
fill the vase [20] with water, and plug its spout with wax lest the water escape 
the vase. Afterwards, throw the vase to the bottom of a river. All the fish from 
that area will be gathered to it. 

§23 An image for catching fish. Al-Hanemi spoke in a certain book of his 
concerning an art that he himself possessed, tested, and found to be true.** He 
spoke thus: make an image in the shape of a fish, cast it with the second face of 
Pisces ascendant, and let the Moon and Mercury be in the ascendant. Do this 
in the hour of the Moon. When this image has been made thus, throw it in the 
river when fishing; you will see wondrous things because of the multitude of 
fish that will gather there. 

§24 An image for repelling scorpions. Make an image of a scorpion out of the 
purest gold in the hour of the Sun; place the Moon in the ascendant, fourth, 
seventh, or tenth house, in Taurus, Aquarius, or Leo (the best of which is Leo 
because its nature is more contrary to the scorpion). Let the Sun be in Leo and 
Saturn retrograde. First craft a tail, then the feet, next the claws, and finally the 
head. Pay close attention to the order, and understand it well for it will help you 
in many tasks. Once you have crafted those limbs, place the left claw in the 
place of the right claw and the right foot in place of the left foot; then place its 
head in its proper place and likewise the tail. After this, craft the stinger, and 
attach it to the tail upside down; then place the tip of the stinger in such a way 
that the scorpion can only strike itself with its tail. Once the image is made, 
bury it in a perforated stone from a mine. Subsequently, bury the stone in an 
important part of the city; scorpions will flee and no longer come within forty- 
five miles of the site of the image from any direction. 


58 PICATRIX 


§25 An image for healing scorpion stings. Make an image of a scorpion in a 
bezoar stone. Do this in the hour of the Moon in the second face of Scorpio, 
with Leo, Taurus, or Aquarius ascending. Bind that stone to a gold ring, and 
impress the seal into softened incense under the abovementioned constella- 
tion. Give one of those impressed pieces of incense to the stung man in a drink; 
he will be healed at once, and the pain will subside. 

§26 There spoke a certain man from the land of the Blacks who made it his 
life’s work to prove the above and its understanding.””? He recommended writ- 
ing a single name on a tin tablet that one holds on his person. When someone 
was stung by a scorpion, this man soaked the tablet in water, which he gave to 
the stung man to drink. He was healed at once, and the pain subsided. This 
man also said that when he did not have a tin tablet, he wrote the names of 
things that can be drunk (such as saffron) on a clear glass plate with writing 
chalk. He gave the drink to the sick man, and his pain ceased immediately. 
$27 Were it not from fear of being verbose, I would recount the wonders that 
he performed with those names; because he gave those drinks [21] to numerous 
men, I could not name them all in brief. Nevertheless, since I saw those names 
put to the test, I have decided to relate them in this book here. They are: 


ZAARE ZAARE RAAM ZAARE ZAARE 

FEGEM BOHORIM BORAYN NESFIS ALBUNE 
FEDRAZA AFFETIHE TAUTUTA TANYN ZABAHAT 
AYLATRICYN HAURANE RAHANNIE AYN LATUMINE 
QUEUE ACATYERY NIMIERI QUIBARI YEHUYHA 
NUYYM LATRITYN HAMTAUERY VUERYN 

CATUHE CAHUENE CENHE BEYNE 8 


‘These names must be written in precisely seven lines—no more no less—and 
with Solomon’s seal at the head of the seventh line.”? Some say that they must be 
written on the first Thursday of the month of May, and others say that could be 
written on the first Thursday of any month. I have seen them written whenever. 
Beware lest you make a mistake in those names, in their forms, or in their fig- 
ures; they must be transcribed accurately. Among the names written, I have 
seen a wise man write “BOHORIM” or “NOHORIM’” with an “n,” but I recall it with 
a “b” as I said above. I say this to you so as to reveal the secrets of this science. 

§28 An image so that men may be loved by women. Make an image ofa girl out 
ofa cold and dry metal, and make it with Mercury ascending in Virgo, increas- 
ing in the circle or being the almutaz of the chart.’ Do this in the hour of 
Mercury until the image is complete. Afterwards, make another image in the 
form of a young man while Mercury is in Virgo and returning to the place of 


BOOK 1 59 


the first image or in Gemini. Watch for the diversity of the ascendant (that is, 
when Mercury is in Gemini, do not put Virgo in the ascendant, but whichever 
one you do put in the ascendant, put Mercury in it). Once you have made both 
images thus, join them in an embrace, and wrap the hands of each around 
the sides of the other. Do all this in the hour of Mercury with Virgo or Gemini 
ascending. Encircle the images with a band of that metal from which you 
created them, and bury the images in the most densely populated quarter of 
the city. Once you have done this, men will be joined with women and have 
high quality sex. Similarly, do this when a man desires the favor of a woman so 
that she might fancy him; bury the images in the place where you want them to 
be joined. 

§29 An image for destroying cities, homes, and similar things. Make an image 
under the ascendant of that city, if you know it, or under the ascendant of the 
question. Let the ascendant, the fourth house, the lord of the ascendant, the 
Moon, the lord of the Moon’s house, the lord of the house of the ascendant’s 
lord, the tenth house, and its lord be unfortunate. Once you have made the 
image, bury it in the middle of the city, and what you seek will happen. 

§30 An image for making a physician profit. On a tin lamella make an image 
of a man sitting on a throne, performing the task of a physician. Make [22] 
another image of a man standing on his feet with a urine sample in his hands 
in front of the physician performing a diagnosis. Make both of those images 
under the ascendant of Taurus or Libra with Mars in the ascendant and with 
the Head of the Dragon in mid-heaven. Once you have done these things, set 
that lamella and the images together in that place where you wish men to come, 
and you will see men drawn to that place miraculously. 

§31 An image for multiplying harvests and plants. Make an image on a silver 
lamella of a man sitting surrounded by harvests, trees, and plants. Make this 
with Taurus ascending, when the Moon is in Taurus journeying away from the 
Sun toward Saturn. Bury it anywhere, and all the seeds and plants there will 
grow quickly and well, without loss from beast, bird, storm, or any manner of 
pest to the harvest. 

§32 An image for healing kidney stones.*! On a lamella of the purest gold, 
make an image of a lion with a stone in its paws as if in a war dance with it. 
Make it in the hour of the Sun in the first degree of the second face of Leo 
ascending. Let the sick man carry this lamella with him. Immediately, he will 
be cured. This has often been verified. [Regarding the construction of the 
image of a lion, Hermes adds that the Moon must not be facing the sixth and 
the Sun not be facing Saturn or receding from it.]** 

§33 An image for casting out depression and irritability. If you want to cure 
someone’s depression, to strengthen health thoroughly, or to withdraw curses 


60 PICATRIX 


from whomever you want, make an image out of the purest silver in the hour 
of Venus, the Moon being in the ascendant, fourth, seventh or tenth house, and 
facing Venus with a favorable aspect. Let the lord of the sixth house face a for- 
tunate planet in a trine or opposite aspect, and let the lord of the eighth house 
face Mercury with a square aspect. Beware lest Mercury be retrograde, com- 
busted, or faced by an unfortunate planet. Make that image in the last hour of 
the day of the lord. Let the lord of the hour be in the tenth house from the 
ascendant. Once it is made, these ills will abate. 

§34 Know that the qualities of the images, the powers and effects that they 
have within them, come solely from the celestial bodies. When the images are 
made according to the celestial motions, nothing can hinder or stop them. One 
must observe when casting images for love and friendship that the Moon be 
fortunate and full. Avoid making anything while the Moon is unfortunate and 
waning. A similar example: make an image for love and affection and for the 
visitation of kings or of lords ofa superior rank, on Monday, with the full Moon 
in Sagittarius, Taurus, Cancer, or Pisces (and were she in the Head of the 
Dragon, the image will be more effective) and always in a fortunate house, 
appropriate for the task. Let the Moon be joined to Venus in the hour of Jupiter 
with Jupiter himself in Pisces, [23] Sagittarius, or Cancer, the Moon being with 
him. On the other hand, if you want to make an image for evil, do it with the 
Moon in an unfortunate house and conjoined with unfortunate planets or fac- 
ing them with a square or opposite aspect; thus your work will be completed. 
In everything mentioned, note that the crafting of images is better done at 
night than during the day. 

§35 What is necessary to these magical operations—without which one can- 
not complete anything—is to link one’s whole will and belief to the operation 
such that the power of the spirit be joined to the power of the heavens; only 
then will everything actually be fulfilled. Plato said in his book of aphorisms 
that when one speaks a word with intention—and it agrees with one’s belief— 
those who hear it will be moved (and vice-versa if one did the opposite). This 
is the basis for joining the will with belief during prayer, and this is of utmost 
importance in seeking our desires from the Lord when we pray. 

§36 ‘The specifics of these magical rituals must be hidden from humankind 
and the light of day. They should not be performed anywhere the Sun might 
enter. Let no other individual know about these rituals unless he be faithful in 
his friendship and persuaded in the work. Let him be neither a scoffer nor a 
disbeliever in the works and powers of celestial spirits, in their potencies which 
have effect upon this world, or in the belief that these works ensue from these 
spirits. Thebit ben Corat stated in the book he composed, On Images: “Knowl- 
edge of the images is the most excellent part of astronomy,” to which he added: 


BOOK 1 61 


“A body without life has no spirit.”** He said this concerning images not made 
at the right and opportune times, which as such were not suited to receiving 
the spirits of the planets and were therefore akin to dead bodies wherein dwells 
no spirit. When crafted at the right and opportune times, the magical images 
receive spirits and the pouring down of planetary powers and thus are akin to 
living bodies from which ensue wondrous effects. 

$37 Aristotle said in his books on magical images: “The best and most excel- 
lent effects that images can have come from the seven planets. The effects are 
more durable when a fortunate planet is looking on.” He meant this in regards 
to drawing the spirits and powers down from heaven to Earth. Furthermore, 
he said that there are names of spirits that if one were to invoke and draw 
them down, their powers in their respective hour would kill the invoker unless 
he was wise and well-instructed in the nature of that spirit (and of the planet 
appropriate to this ritual for drawing it down) that he might receive it into his 
body. 

§38 ‘This is how those who perform rituals with very powerful names bring 
about miracles in the world, and they say that their power to change themselves 
exists according to their own natures. Most of those who practice with the name 
above disagree. I myself have completed one book on this name and how [24] we 
ought to understand it. I have laid this out in explanations on each of these. 
$39 I wish to return to the statement of Aristotle on magical incantations. He 
said that none of them exceed the circle of heaven, nor should they have such 
an ability to draw down spirits since words do not have such power except at 
the behest of the glorious and high God, who moves the spirits by His com- 
mand by diverting them toward Earth and sending them to its core. Thus spoke 
Aristotle. 

§40 Every sage who discussed this body of knowledge agrees that words 
coupled with prayers in image-based rituals may serve toward the completion 
of works and tasks. The wise Thoos said:** “Words on images are like spirits in 
a body, mobilizing spirits and powers to working effect. How powerful is the 
word of one who, while performing a ritual, applies his own will and confi- 


1” 


dence!” Therefore, it is this noble factor that allows for the completion of the 
images and words we discussed. The following things we intend to say are rel- 
evant in all the rituals that we will cover in these books. 


§41 An example. If you wish to make an image for love and unity, speak this: 


Let such a man, N, be joined with such woman, N, just as fire and air and 
water and earth are joined. Let the spirit of such a man be moved toward 
such a woman, just as solar rays move the light of the world and its inner 
capacities. Let this woman and her actions become as important to such 


62 PICATRIX 


a man as the stars are to the heavens or the blossoms are to the trees. 
Place the excellent and sublime spirit of such aman atop the spirit of such 
a woman just as water sits atop the earth! 


‘That said, such a man should refuse to eat, drink, dance, or feel any joy without 
such a woman. 

§42 If your image were made to separate people or put enmity between them, 
speak this: “Through the powers of those spirits and planets, divide and rend 
asunder such and such, just as light is divided from darkness; let enmity and 
hatred arise between them, just as fire and water are opposed!” 

§43 If your image were made to bind some man to some woman (or to many 
others), say this: “Let the spirit of desire for such and such a woman bind you 
(if you are doing this for a single woman) or for all the others (if you are doing 
this for a group); through the strength and power of the spirits and planets, 
may this work seize you in the same way mountains accumulate and bind 
stone!” 

§44 Ifyour image were for dissolving this magical binding, say this: “Through 
the power of the spirits and planets, may the fetters of such a bound and con- 
stricted man or woman’s spirit be broken, dissolved, and destroyed, just as fire 
melts wax, the Sun dis-spells the darkness and its spirits, and snow is consumed 
by the heat of the Sun!” [25] 

§45 Ifyou wish to prevent individuals from putting curses on you or anyone 
else, say this: “May you blanket such an individual with a cover of shining 
light, cut the tongues of men from their mouth, and blind their eyes with a 
cover of spirits that drive out evil incantations. Let their evil tongues and 
desires be cut out!” 

§46 Ifyour image were made to curse someone such that everyone might hate 
them, say this: “[hrough the strength and power of those spirits and planets, 
let such an individual be corrupted and destroyed, just as a solar ray dissolves 
or breaks down the thickness and density of clouds. Let their spirits be affixed 
to the malign tongues of men until they be ruined, just as bodies are ruined by 
the arrows loosed from bows! ” 

§47 Beware while you perform any aforementioned works lest you err in 
using things unsuited to the chosen operation. Instead, speak the words that 
reinforce and perfect your rituals. 

§48 Guard these words well and diligently since they offer great profit and 
utility in the use ofimages. With these words, and by adhering to those instruc- 
tions, you will be able to create all the images in the world. A magical image 
should be crafted in a similar manner and in proportion to the thing for which 
the image was made, whether for good or evil. Hereafter, I intend to relate 


BOOK 1 63 


which things are governed by each of the planets, from metals to animals, 
trees, colors, suffumigations, sacrifices, and so forth. From these you will ben- 
efit in all your operations, just as the physician works with many medicines 
and diagnoses in addition to the cooperation of the patient toward observing 
diets and taking medicines. This is how a physician reaches his intent. The 
entire basis of these procedures is the observation of the planets’ and constella- 
tions’ movements. Ancient Greek sages would observe a planet, waiting until it 
entered its own appropriate node.** Once the planet reached the point of mid- 
heaven, they would suffumigate it with the suffumigations suited to that planet 
and make sacrifices with suitable prayers. They requested their desires and 
fulfilled them. Similarly, when they worked with an ascending planet, they got 
what they desired. It should be noted that the rituals discussed are more effec- 
tive if the planet has power in the nativity of the one for whom the ritual is 
performed. Know this because through it, you will fulfill your desire. 


Chapter 6 


In What Degree Everything in the World Exists and How We Know 
That Humans Are a Microcosm Similar to the Macrocosm [26] 


§1 Recognize that knowledge is most excellent and exalted. Whoever pur- 
sues and applies it receives its excellence and splendor. Knowledge is like a 
ladder in the sense that once one thing is known, a new thing becomes imme- 
diately apparent to the knowledgeable individual. Perfect is the one who 
reaches the ultimate degree of knowledge—who rejoices and delights in those 
degrees of knowledge. Such men are called “lovers of wisdom” in Greek, but in 
Latin they are called “lovers of knowledge.” One who does not pursue knowl- 
edge is defective and lacking in authority. That individual should be considered 
human in name only, merely possessing a human form and shape. Neverthe- 
less, should one happen to pursue knowledge, one should recognize what a 
human actually is and how humankind itself is a microcosm analogous to the 
macrocosm—a body perfected by a complete, animate, and rational spirit. By 
those three spirits, humans are set apart, insomuch as they have reason, from 
the animals and all the other things of this world. Reason is like an attorney: it 
can recognize contingencies and determine which ones are false. Reason 
directs itself to any place in the world and takes it in through its own knowl- 
edge and sense perception. Reason retains the things it perceives through its 
own strength and power. Through this, humans perceive with their senses 
things that may happen throughout the day and to other humans (who are 


64 PICATRIX 


microcosms similar to the macrocosm, corresponding in form and contents). 
Humans are similar to animals in all their inherent characteristics but set 
apart by their knowledge and expertise. They have six motions; they have hard 
bones (all naturally set in straight lines and moved by the parts beside them); 
they have fingers and palms set out in straight lines; they have round heads and 
a capacity for reason. Humans engage both the sciences and the scriptures, 
attain mastery, and reject all things animal, while they themselves are not 
rejected by anything. They laugh, cry, and make sorrowful sounds in lamenta- 
tion. God’s virtue and the knowledge of justice for governing cities dwells 
within them. Humanity is an image, bearing an internal light, since the human 
body is an image. Humans are both powerful in spirit and well-proportioned 
in shape. They understand which things are beneficial and which are harm- 
ful?° They work with diligence and skill and are distinguished thereby. They 
learn subtle disciplines in fine detail, perform miracles, make wondrous images, 
and preserve all forms of knowledge. From all the other sensible creatures, 
humanity is distinct.God made humanity the author and explorer of His wis- 
dom and knowledge, the expounder of His qualities, the receiver of all worldly 
things through His prophetic spirit, the treasure of His wisdom, and the 
knower of all things (including the conjunctions that exist in the macrocosm). 
Through their senses, humans comprehend all intelligences and how the things 
of this world work, yet the intelligences themselves cannot comprehend human- 
ity. All things serve humankind, and humankind serves none of them. With 
their voice, at any time, humans can imitate every single animal. With their 
hands, they fashion shapes similar to them, and with their words, they recount, 
relate, [27] and explain the animals’ natures and actions. There is no other 
animal with the ability to understand humans nor any that can change their 
voices and imitate others. The cock, the dog, and the lion, for example, cannot 
change their voices. Humans, with their own intrinsic voice, have the power of 
replicating the sounds of all the animals and of shaping their forms and like- 
nesses as desired. Humans conduct themselves with good habits, impart them 
to the animals, and direct them accordingly. Humans possess a gross body and 
a subtle spirit since they are one part physical and another part spiritual. The 
subtle part pertains to life, the gross one to death; the essence of the one is 
changing, and the essence of the other is immutable; the one’s essence is 
formed, the other is formless; the essence of one is night, the other’s is day. One 
is light, the other darkness; one is openly visible, the other secret; one perceives, 
and the other is perceived; one weighs down, and the other is weighed down. 
Humans feel ashamed of their evil deeds, which they do by freewill, and repent 
for some. They are composed of both gross and subtle matter, having within 
themselves the density of earth, the subtlety of air, the heat of fire, and the 


BOOK 1 65 


coldness of water, all of which make humankind well-proportioned in the 
motions of its vital power. The heat of fire is discerned relative to the heat in 
humans, and the coldness of water is discerned relative to the coldness in 
humans. From this process, humans discern the other elements of this kind.*” 
§2 The shape of the human head is analogous to the shape, appearance, and 
roundness of the heavens. Generally speaking, all manner of subtleties are 
bound together in the human form. 

§3 The universal human form is a vessel in the form of universal spirit; 
universal spirit is a vessel of generalized consciousness; and generalized con- 
sciousness is a vessel of the light whence proceed the senses. Light is the mate- 
rial of universal consciousness, which belongs to a higher degree than all 
inferior things. Matter is always inferior to it and relatively simple. In this way, 
humans were created from the composite form of humankind, given that they 
rule over all other bodies, all the while being themselves united with another 
nature.*® 

§4 Whoever desires to understand this must live simply, be inclined to 
goodness, be ritually cleansed, and be free from all fleshly impurity and con- 
cerns, since anyone disposed as such possesses the capacity to search and 
behold with their own consciousness to confirm the matter. 

§5 | We mentioned that we have deviated from the intent of this book. This 
intent—the knowledge of magic and the awareness of it—are the very founda- 
tions of this book. If you strive diligently in the pursuit of knowledge, in the 
understanding of things and how they are perceived (whatever they may be), 
then regardless of what happens, you will be able to employ and understand 
ceremonial magic and the occult arts. Plato said this in the book he assembled 
called the Timaeus, wherein he explained the forms at great length. He put 
forth his reasoning very adeptly given that [28] he spoke in riddles, as it was 
customary for sages to obfuscate and conceal their knowledge such that fools 
could never understand it. A certain other sage, Zadealis by name, wrote of 
similar things in his book, which he conveyed secretly and profoundly. 

§6 ‘The subtlety of the wise in their explanations resides in the occult and 
profound nature of words. Consequently, wise men’s words cannot be under- 
stood without great concentration. Concepts lie dormant in those words until 
the hidden meaning is extracted from them. Then the meaning is extracted 
from other scenarios that are understood from the outset through the intellect 
and vision. This knowledge is divided into two parts, of which one is manifest, 
the other hidden. The hidden part is boundless. Boundless perceptions are 
those that cannot be well understood without first understanding the others 
that precede them. Only then is this explanation clear and revealed. If anyone 
were to study these things thoroughly, they would get what they desired: secrets 


66 PICATRIX 


would be revealed to them, and they would satisfy their will. The paths and 
methods for obtaining these things are many. Some of them are for sending 
manifest phenomena back into occultation, for tracing back branches to a root 
such that they may be integrated, or even for aligning your mind and thoughts 
with the reliable proverbs of holy men or saints. In this way, you will achieve 
completion and perfection and attain your desires. The hidden senses will be 
manifest and revealed to you in those words. Accept what is suitable from 
these paths such that you might achieve, reach, and reveal the things hidden 
to human understanding—through one of these paths, you will be able to 
obtain your desires, understand the sciences and their reasoning, and recog- 
nize everything and every sense in its proper order. 


Chapter 7 


In What Degree Everything in the World Exists and on Many Other 
Profundities Hidden by Sages That We Intend to Reveal in This Book 


§1 Everything in this world is connected and organized in accordance with 
its proper order. The first of all things in this world—the most excellent, splen- 
did, and complete—is God, the maker and creator of all. After God, in descend- 
ing order, is mind or intellect; after mind, spirit; after spirit, matter. Matter is 
inert, unalterable, and unchanging from place to place. Next is the sphere of 
nature, which is called the prime mover of motions, and it is the source of the 
generation and corruption that besets the world. Next is the sphere of fixed 
stars wherein are found the other spheres, according their proper positions, 
all the way down to the sphere of the Moon. Below that is found common 
matter—namely, the Prima Materia—which is inherent to every material thing 
in this world, though it is not apparent.*? After matter are the elements that are 
part of that common matter, since the elements have no [29] processes nor 
operations in matter. After the elements follow (in order): minerals, plants, 
animals, and finally, the rational animals. The discernment of this order is dif- 
ferent from others because other orders are discerned by the intellect, which is 
more excellent and splendid than everything else.*° And so, by descending, the 
other orders proceed toward baser things until they reach the sphere of the 
Moon; then by proceeding from the lower to the higher, they reach humans, 
who are more excellent than all sub-lunar things. For in humans, knowledge, 
wisdom, and inquiry are openly brought to fruition. Know that whoever 
intends to pursue knowledge must work scientifically. Whoever does so will 


BOOK 1 67 


secure an improved fortune and avoid becoming what one sage warned against 
in saying that there is nothing worse than people who want to appear sophisti- 
cated without having the knowledge.” Since these types cannot acquire under- 
standing, unlike those who strive for it faithfully, a human deprived of true 
knowledge is only human by equivocation. 

§2 Know that the things encountered in this world have other orders and 
divisions that I intend to relate here for sharpening the intellect so that it might 
have more practice in the pursuit of knowledge. Focus upon it, and you will 
understand the secrets of the wise. They are organized in this way: first there is 
the Principle, then high matter, then the elements, then matter, then form, then 
nature, then the body, then growth, then the animal, then humankind, then 
man, then the individual person named. The First Principle is more universal 
than high matter because it is said to be above matter and above the capacity to 
be acted upon. It is not called matter except as matter in a body. Matter is more 
universal than the elements because matter is without combination, and the 
elements cannot exist without combinations. The elements are more universal 
than other materials because an element is a simple body, and it receives quali- 
ties, whereas matter is an orderly unification of the elements for receiving form. 
Matter is more universal than form because it is simple before receiving form. 
Once it receives form, it becomes matter-and-form—just as brass is the matter 
constituting the form of a vessel, and wood is the matter constituting the form 
of a chair.47 When matter-and-form receive motion and applied intent, their 
quality is changed, and nature unfolds thus. When their natures are joined 
together, they receive color, growth, and diminution. Growth is divided into 
animal and non-animal; the animal is divided into human and nonhuman; 
human is divided into man and woman; and man is recognized individually as 
such-and-such a man. 

§3 Matter is a union of elements organized for receiving form. Matter is 
divided into two parts of which one is simple matter that does not receive 
anything but the form of the elements—earth, air, water, and fire—and is 
transmuted from one material to another. The other part is universal matter 
disposed to receiving every form composed of simple qualities [30] (heat, cold, 
dryness, and wetness). It cannot be transmuted from one material into 
another. One sage called it this: that which is disposed for receiving all diverse 
forms. It is also known by a different name, after that part of nature called the 
body where it is governed and perfected in all things. 

§4 Insofar as we have discussed this design, we have only done so to sharpen 
the intellect and illuminate consciousness because the words and explanations 
discussed are spiritual images—the very words that Adam received from the 


68 PICATRIX 


Lord God. They are intelligible to none but the sages who have faithfully 
labored in the pursuit of knowledge and those who have understood how they 
are beings predisposed to the truth. Understand all these things, and tuck 
them away in your mind, since what we have said in this book thus far is fun- 
damental to the magical art, if you understand it well. 


The first book ends [31] 


BOOK 2 


The Second Book Begins Wherein Stands a General Discussion on the 
Heavens’ Signs, the Motion of the Eighth Sphere, and Their Effects in 
This World 


Chapter 1 
How One Can Grasp This Knowledge 


§1 Sages naturally endowed with sense perception always seek to know and 
understand the secrets of the wise. These they hid in their books written with 
occult words. They discovered such things by means of diligent [32] inquiry to 
the extent that they achieved their desire. Fools, however, and those lacking in 
intelligence are unable to achieve or reach these things. The motion of my will 
advanced to the exploration of magic and the occult at the time of my youth. I 
studied the Centiloquium of Ptolomy, wherein he states that everything in this 
world obeys the celestial forms. It is obvious that all sages agree on this: the 
planets have influences and powers in this world, through which everything in 
it exists and is altered by the motions of the planets through the zodiacal signs. 
‘Thus, they believed that the root of magic is the motion of the planets. I wish to 
put forward this example I learned from one sage who worked in these realms 
of knowledge. While he was sojourning in Egypt in the household of the king, 
he met a certain young man who had come from India, who also had been very 
interested in these realms. 

§2 He said to me that while he and that youth were talking they heard the 
voice of a man crying as ifhe were about to die from the sting of a poisonous 
scorpion.’ When the youth heard this, out of his bag he took a cloth wherein 
a great many sigils were wrapped, which were similar to incense in smell. He 
ordered one of these sigils to be given to that man to drink, and at once that 
man would be healed, as he said. I, desiring to learn and for curiosity’s sake, 
stood up and took the sigil from his hands and gave it to him as a drink as 


7O PICATRIX 


he had ordered. Immediately, the shouts and pains were calmed, and the 
man became healthy. Now, I myself had inspected the sigil; on it was the 
figure of a scorpion. I asked the visitor what he had inscribed it with, and 
he showed me a golden ring with a bezoar stone on it, bearing the figure of 
a scorpion. I asked him what that figure was and by what secret influences 
that healing occurred. The young man answered that the figure had been 
made with the Moon in the second face of Scorpio, and this was that ring’s 
secret power. Thus the sage spoke to me. I myself have made an image of that 
figure in this hour. I impressed some incense and some other imprintable 
things and with those I have accomplished miracles at which everyone has 
marveled. 

§3 For this reason, know and understand that nobody can know or compre- 
hend the powers and works of the heavens upon this world below unless they 
have been instructed in the natural quadrivium and mathematics.” Whoever 
has disregarded these things will have an imperfect knowledge regarding the 
movements of the heavens; they will be incapable of understanding them or 
attaining their desires since their structure and foundations are drawn from 
these things. Whoever disregards arithmetic and geometry will be unable to 
calculate the motions of the celestial bodies, to retrace their trajectories, or to 
observe their movements since their understanding emerges from arithmetic 
and geometry. Similarly, it is fitting to have music for understanding the pro- 
portion and number of things, how celestial affairs are harmonized in love and 
hatred with earthbound actions, and how the works of the celestial bodies are 
more apparent on Earth in one thing [33] than in others. Indeed, whoever 
neglects those proportions cannot understand the operations and their types, 
nor is he able to discern their similarities to each other. Likewise, whoever 
overlooks the natural sciences cannot comprehend the processes of generation 
and corruption nor their causes. If one did not know these things, one would 
be unable to apprehend or discern the works of the celestial bodies or their 
powers upon terrestrial bodies. Similarly, one who ignores metaphysics cannot 
know or understand into which terrestrial locations the power of the celestial 
bodies flows and into which ones it does not. For this reason, one necessarily 
concludes that one cannot understand or know that science perfectly unless 
one knows its proper order and foundation, which none but a philosopher can 
comprehend, for all this was extracted from the branches of philosophy, as 
discussed. Therefore, none can grasp that science perfectly except the perfect 
philosopher. 


BOOK 2 71 


Chapter 2 
On the Figures of the Heavens and Their Secrets 


§1 Itis very difficult and burdensome to speak about the figures of the heav- 
ens because all the sages occulted and concealed their work as much as possible. 
I shall relate the cause of this concealment. Anyone who seeks and desires 
greatly to study this body of knowledge and who desires to reach an under- 
standing ofall the forms and figures should study the great book of figures that 
the wise Rozuz wrote.’ He wrote well and thoroughly about all the figures and 
forms in that book. The ascensions of the celestial signs are of two kinds, one 
of which concerns the forty-eight forms taken from the constellations.‘ This is 
what we see changing according to the rising and falling of the fixed stars, just 
as the signs and other heavenly figures, such as the Dog, the Bear, the Cock, 
and the like, are changing. All those figures change from sign to sign and place 
to place, and they do not move merely according to the nature of the heavens. 
‘The shapes of signs in the Zodiac change much more than other figures since 
they move from one decan to another over a thousand years. In the constella- 
tions that are around the poles, however, no noticeable motion can be discerned 
in them during those thousand years since they move together in a small circle. 
Thus, even through many thousands of years, no observable motion can be 
discerned in them. Such are the ways of the signs. 

§2 The second motion of the celestial signs is according to the opinion of the 
Indians, who spoke about them in the following way. What ascends in the first 
face of Aries is a man with red eyes and a great beard, wrapped up in a white 
linen garment, making great gestures in his gait, covered with a great white 
cloak belted with rope, and standing on one foot as if he were looking at some- 
thing he held in front of him. What ascends in the second face of Aries is a 
woman covered in a linen cloak, dressed in red garments, having only one foot; 
her face is similar to that of an angry horse, [34] and she is seeking clothes, 
jewelry, and a son. In the third face of Aries ascends a red and white man with 
red hair, angry and worried, with a sword in his right hand and a staff in the 
left, dressed in red clothes; he is learned, a perfect master of iron work, desiring 
to do good, yet unable to do so. In this way, one may proceed all the way to the 
last decan of the signs. 

§3 Know that the Indians did not determine those figures except from the 
nature of the stars and signs. Thus, you may understand what was said above 
concerning the second face of Aries. All their writings are of that kind. What I 
have said up to now, one might apprehend by the senses and the faculty of 
imagination; everything you desire, you shall achieve. 


72 PICATRIX 


§4  Abenoaxie? in his book translated from Nabataean, which he called Tim- 
achanin, spoke on the triplicity of signs. One of these he named the triplicity of 
water, when he discussed the northern signs. He says this: “When someone 
wishes to invoke a body of water, a river, a well, or some other similar thing, 
know that their work belongs to water. Through this method, know that other 
figures of triplicities are assigned to fire, earth, or air, when you seek to invoke 
them.” Along that path went Tymtym and all the sages who discussed the 
celestial figures and degrees.® 

§5 ‘This is what they said concerning the names of the degrees and also what 
they said in the examples of their forms in their places, since all those things 
are signs by which you may understand the powers and the effects of the 
degrees. Thus, understand the following in the same way. As an example, when 
one says “mutilated head” or “severed hands,” one means to symbolize death, 
weakness, and the paths of one planet among the others since all those things 
are means for understanding the effects of the planets and how they empower 
other bodies such that miracles and their effects manifest. This is how you 
should understand the entire art of magic. 

§6 Know that the effects of the planets are numerous and diverse. Their 
effects change in each degree of the heavens when a particular planet stands 
alone in a particular degree or when it is conjoined with another planet. If you 
wish to know the sum of their effects, namely those of every planet in every 
degree of the heavens, multiply 360 seven times, and the sum will be 2,520. 
Each of these aspects has diverse effects by itself. If you were then to multiply 
360 six times, the result will be, from the conjunctions of any two planets in a 
single degree: 2,160. These aspects have potency and wondrous effects in this 
world. If you were to multiply 360 five times, the result would be the number of 
conjunctions of any three planets in a single degree: 1,800. If you multiply 360 
four times, the result is the number [35] of conjunctions of any four planets in 
a single degree, or 1,440. Likewise, these aspects have power and wondrous 
effects in this world. If you were to multiply 360 three times, the result is the 
number of conjunction of any five planets in a single degree, or 1,080, and these 
aspects similarly have wondrous effects in this world. If you were to multiply 
360 twice, the result would be the number of conjunction of any six planets in 
one single degree: 720; these aspects, as above, have wondrous effects in this 
world. If you were to multiply 360 once, then the result is the number of con- 
junctions of all seven of the planets in one degree: 360; similarly, these aspects 
have powers and wondrous effects in this world. This is the method that the 
First Teacher’ accepted when he spoke on the figures of the heavens, their judg- 
ments, their significance, and also the motions of the seven planets and the 


BOOK 2 73 


degrees of the signs. Indeed, the total sum of those aspects is 10,080, which has 
powers and wondrous effects. 

§7 After this, moreover, the First Teacher himself said that when you want 
to make those figures, do this: when you place one of the seven planets in one 
degree and another in a second degree, divide it over the seven planets, then 
place them two degrees apart; do it in this way for every degree of the heavens, 
of which there are 360. While this task is longer than the first we have described, 
nevertheless, it is more precise; through this method you will be able to under- 
stand the powers and effects of the figures on this world. Once you have done 
this, return to the conjunctions of the seven planets moving through the 
degrees of the fixed stars; and return to the application of the fixed stars, the 
separation of those moving by themselves, and the separation of the fixed stars 
by themselves. Then memorize all this, and understand it well for the sake of 
learning the decans.® Beware lest you disclose the special character of those 
figures to anyone except one who recognizes their importance. 


Chapter 3 
All the Works of the Planets, the Sun, and the Moon 


§1 Some sages, discussing these matters, said that the heavens’ effects and 
powers upon this world do not exist except through the waxing and waning of 
heat. They said this because they did not understand the heavens’ wondrous 
occult properties. Accordingly, the sages said that the effects of the Sun, the 
Moon, and the other five planets operating in this world support and empower 
the heavens’ effects. They also said that we ascertain all other motion from the 
heavens’ motions (namely, those of the seven planets together). Likewise, all 
the qualities of things being born are collectively demonstrated by the qualities 
of the Sun. They said that the Moon has qualities that demonstrate and reveal 
all her qualities and effects. The first of her qualities is her distance from the 
Sun (ie., she is separated from conjunction with the Sun until after her first 
square aspect). Then her power [36] is in augmenting humidity and heat, but 
she affects humidity more than heat. During that time, her effect appears upon 
the growth of trees and plants. The effect of her augmentation, however, appears 
more in the herbs creeping on the ground than in the trees that rise above the 
Earth. The second of her qualities runs from the end of the first quarter until 
her opposition with the Sun. At that moment, her influence has been well 
established to augment heat and humidity equally. During this time, her effect 


74 PICATRIX 


has been demonstrated well to increase the humidity and heat in vegetables 
and minerals. Once she recedes from opposition to the second quarter, her 
strength is in augmenting humidity and heat (though she augments heat more 
than humidity). Her effect is more manifest in augmenting the bodies of ani- 
mals, vegetables, and minerals that growin all their parts; thus she works more 
with heat than humidity. From that second quarter until her combustion by 
the Sun, her effects, motions, and works seem considerably reduced in heat, so 
much less than all three abovementioned periods, so that her effects are oppo- 
site to those other operations, drying moderately and becoming very cold. 
They say this on account ofher state that is then moderate in humidity; as such 
we can say that that the fourth quarter is moderately dry and very cold. 

§2 When she is conjoined to the Sun, within one minute, the Moon then has 
a fifth quality, which the Chaldean sages say is better than all the Moon’s other 
qualities and more powerful than all her other figures. The sages from Persia, 
however, say that the power and weakness, growth and diminution, of the 
effects of the fifth quality depend on the nature of the sign wherein they are 
conjoined. The Greek and Egyptian sages, however, are in agreement about this 
for they say, as we have said before, that the conjunction of the Sun is stronger 
while denying what we have said, namely that the quality of the conjunction is 
better. That is, they place that before the opposition of the Sun and the Moon 
(i.e, when the Moon is full). Nevertheless, all our sages agree that the best 
quality of the Moon is her aspect when conjoined to the Sun within one min- 
ute. They believe that this fifth quality belongs to the Sun and should have 
other interpretations from the other four qualities since itis better and stronger 
in all its effects. The reason is such: when the Moon is conjoined to the Sun, she 
rejoices and is gladdened, just as a traveler returning home from a journey. 
Thus, the operator will be more experienced toward the making of all things, 
most of all when premeditating their effects. When the Moon is conjoined to 
the Sun, she completes her works, which are to diminish what is in excess and 
to augment what is lacking. The sages said that she then has the power of gen- 
erating effects similar to those of the Sun. ‘This is a great thing and an excellent 
quality. Then they said all composite bodies [37] receive the powers that they 
ought to receive. And it should not be concluded from the foregoing that the 
Moon generates power and effects other than what comes from the Sun. Rather, 
the Moon generates those results and draws upon the effects produced by the 
Sun. They do not appear until the Moon reveals what was previously concealed 
and illuminates what had been in darkness. 

§3 These five qualities of the Moon, which she owes to the Sun, exist accord- 
ing to the qualities of all living things in their lifespans. In the same way, there 
are five ages: infancy, childhood, youth, old age, and decrepitude. Similarly, 


BOOK 2 75 


there are four times of the year—spring, summer, autumn, and winter—just as 
there are four parts of the world—east, west, south, and north, and each of 
those parts has a predominantly appropriate wind. Correspondingly, there are 
four humors in the body: blood, yellow bile, phlegm, and black bile. 

§4 Understand these perspectives and opinions, especially since all the 
foundations of magical operations arise out of the powers of the planets, the 
Sun, and the Moon, and out of their motions according to the qualities of 
the degrees of the signs that receive the strength and power of the planets in 
their own course because the power crosses over to those planets from the 
planets sitting in their respective signs. Therefore, the planets will have other 
qualities with the meanings of the other figures distinct from their own figures 
(which they had from their own dispositions). When those aspects are thus, it 
is obvious that all composite bodies are changed and altered in all their change- 
able qualities for a period in whatever time and in whatever hour, relative to the 
interaction of planetary motions and mutual aspects. Those changes are dis- 
tinctly called mutations. The other fundamentals discussed, the foundations 
and properties of all things, are called common and permanent mutations. 
These are not changed or altered for if they were to receive some alteration or 
mutation, all the universal forms of things in the cosmos would be corrupted 
and destroyed; for this reason, there are permanent and common ones. 

§5 The conclusion we ought to accept from everything discussed is that all 
things in the world, in all their qualities, orders, and boundaries, arise from the 
aspects of the Moon with the Sun since whatever constitutes vegetation and 
composite bodies exists thanks to the stars and the Moon. ‘This is the greater 
power they receive and the harm they suffer because of an eclipse of the Moon 
or other eclipsed planets <...> from the Sun, the Moon, and the fixed stars 
come the permanent mutations, being altered and receiving benefit from good 
qualities and harm from bad ones. An eclipse affects the Sun and the Moon 
and the other planets, and it is likened to the harm done to other composite 
bodies. Disregard the idea that the Sun or the Moon can suffer any loss by 
nature or accident. Know that we call those “the impediments of the heavens” 
because they are the causes [38] of harm to animals, trees, and other bodies 
composed of the four elements. These are altered, changed, and harmed by the 
eclipse of the Sun and Moon and of the other planets. 

§6 Next, find an appropriate place suitable to your rituals and relevant to 
your work. Do this by taking account of the signs’ truthful and deceitful influ- 
ences (as much with respect to generation as to corruption). Doing so is the 
greatest power in this world and in all its qualities. Similarly, seek freedom 
from the impediments and unfortunate influences, and do not be in a combust 
path since every operation set up while the Moon is in a favorable condition 


76 PICATRIX 


and on a direct path will be fulfilled and brought to a favorable end. Whatever 
you desire will effectively appear, and its duration will be relative to the motion 
of the Moon (slow or swift). This duration will be relative to what the signs 
reveal when joined to unfortunate planets descending from mid-heaven or 
being in the end of signs (the last or second last degree) since all these things 
harm and weaken the Moon. This is likewise when the Moon is descending to 
her descendant, falling’ from the lord of her house and not facing him, falling 
from the ascendant or any other angle, or is with the Head (of the Dragon) 
since anything begun under these circumstances will not be completed nor last 
long. The house of the Moon must not be a planet from which she is separating 
nor one to which the Moon travels in angles or successions of angles since she 
is unsuitable for any operation in that state. If the location of the Moon’s 
descent is in opposition to the house from the ascendant on account of the 
circle of houses with the Moon herself in the ninth house and with the lord of 
the same house falling from the ascendant, the result will be similar to the 
aforesaid. If you found the lord of the Moon’s house in the ascendant, in mid- 
heaven, the eleventh or fifth houses, easterly and direct, everything will be 
suited and compatible to the things you have set out to do. An example: just as 
the benevolence of Venus is present for all rituals pertaining to the action of 
youths, to pleasures, and to women with painted faces, so too the benevolence 
of Jupiter is appropriate to the works of clergymen, kings, and lords. Similarly, 
as the benevolence of Mercury is appropriate to messengers and scribes and the 
benevolence of the Sun is appropriate to great royal achievements and kings, so 
too is the benevolence of the Moon attributed to students and messengers. As 
such, pay heed to all the works and dispositions that you wish to enact effec- 
tively. Consider the Sun, the Moon, the lords of their exaltations, and also the 
lords of their own boundaries. Then watch the ascendant and mid-heaven 
because you will find them calm and free from unfortunate planets with their 
lords situated in favorable positions. This will be a good ritual; it will go well, 
come to fruition, and the result will ensue; this will occur all the more if the 
fortunate planets are shining, appearing out of the right, and with the lord of 
the ascendant from the east because when the planets are [39] easterly, they 
signify victory and the fulfillment of things with no difficulty nor hindrance. 
When they are westerly, especially in one of the four angles, they signify slug- 
gishness, tardiness, and the delay of things. If you find the Moon in a favorable 
position with her lord descending, it indicates that the disposition of this affair 
will start well but end poorly. If you find the Moon and the lord of her house in 
a favorable position, that operation will be good all around and completed in 
its entirety; you shall obtain your desire within it, and it will come to fruition. 
This effect will be greater if the lord of the ascendant is fortunate and in the 


BOOK 2 77 


ascendant or in another of the angles of the ascendant, or if it is unfortunate 
and situated in a favorable position. Therefore, what can be better and more 
useful than Jupiter or Venus being in the ascendant or facing the ascendant 
with a favorable aspect? That affair will be easily fulfilled and reach a good 
end—your intent will be effortlessly and quickly completed (all the more so if 
the Moon is conjoined with fortunate planets, and those fortunes are neither 
waning in light nor retrograde since such conditions are appropriate for all 
operations except for those done on the behalf of prisoners struggling to escape 
their masters or for those wishing to steal things that are not theirs). 

§7 Heed the Moon in all your works since she is more important than all the 
other planets. The Moon has more noticeable effects and authority over every- 
thing in this world. Hers is the power of generation and corruption, and she is 
mediatrix in those processes. She receives influences and impressions from the 
stars and planets, and she pours them into the lower things of this world. There- 
fore, heed what we have said regarding her fortunate and unfortunate influences 
and regarding the augmentation and diminution of light because after she is 
separated from the Sun, her powers are balanced; thereafter, they change when 
she is in sextile, square, trine, and opposite aspects. Her strength will exist 
according to the nature of the planets and stars with which she is conjoined 
(while she herself sits in the aspects discussed). If you find the Moon waxing in 
light, then her strength and power will be enhanced and more useful toward 
everything that you wish to perform regarding augmentation. If you find her 
waning in light, then she will be apt and congruent in all the tasks you want to 
perform regarding diminution. After the Moon is separated from a conjunction 
with the Sun all the way to the left square until it reaches opposition, she will 
always be favorable and beneficial for purchases and sales, for seeking opinions 
and duties, for disputes, and for seeking advice. After she is separated from 
opposition, crossing from the right-hand square all the way to her conjunction 
with the Sun, she will be favorable and beneficial for seeking those debts we 
ought to pursue, for those who borrow things from others and return them, for 
philosophers, and for those searching and probing for truth. 

§8 Know that a better and stronger fortune of the ascendant is one that has 
a fortunate planet in an ascendant sign and also in the second house. Moreover, 
do not [40] conceal from yourself the fact that the mobile signs, especially 
Aries and Capricorn, are favorable and appropriate for everything you wish to 
overcome and acquire.” The common signs are apt for magic and miracles.” 
‘The fixed signs are effective toward and apt for binding, attracting, and per- 
forming magical effects.’* Everything you wish to be long-lasting, and in even 
greater works, should be suited to attracting spirits inwards and binding them. 
In these affairs, ensure that the ascendant be in a common sign and the Moon 


78 PICATRIX 


be in a mobile sign, facing the ascendant. Similarly, in all long-lasting opera- 
tions, place the ascendant toward a fixed or common sign, the Moon being in a 
fixed sign, facing the lord of her own house in a trine or sextile aspect, being 
free from unfortunate influences, combustion, and retrogradation. If all those 
conditions cannot be met, see to it rather that the Moon be facing a fortunate 
planet and the lord of the ascendant be in a trine or sextile aspect. In every- 
thing, be aware of the square and opposite aspects since the trine and sextile 
are better aspects (the worst, however, are square and opposite). Similarly, 
when the lord of the Moon’s house is facing her with an amicable aspect and 
with an unfortunate planet in it, it will be useful in your request and in every- 
thing you have done for the operation. In all rituals, beware lest the Moon be 
conjoined with the Tail of the Dragon or facing away from the unfortunate 
planets by a square or opposite aspect. Likewise, pay very close attention in all 
your works to the waning of the Moon since when she wanes, she reveals and 
shows harm, detriment, delay, and impediment, upon all the affairs of this 
world. These are the wanings of the Moon, that is, when she is diminished in 
light and reckoning and delayed in her motion. A superior state and condition 
for the Moon is when she is waxing in light and reckoning and swift in her 
course. She should not be facing Mars by any aspect since when she faces Mars 
while waxing in her light, she is considered a misfortune. When the Moon is 
faced by Saturn and waning in light, she becomes a serious misfortune. Never- 
theless, at night, she stands alone among all others in her strength and powers 
over the Earth. Know then that it is evidently better and more useful in every- 
thing we do whenever the Moon and the ascendant are in directly ascending 
signs. When they are thus, those tasks will be easily and quickly completed 
with effect, especially when they are in common or fixed signs. 

§9 Among the mobile signs, the most mobile is Aries, then Cancer, and then 
Libra, which is the most powerful of the inimical signs. In the same way, know 
that the angles are quicker in all operations followed by those that follow; the 
descending ones, however, are the slowest. The quickest of all is when a fortu- 
nate planet is ascending and the Moon is waxing in light and reckoning. Note 
that the boundaries of things cannot be known except through the triplicity of 
the Moon and the lord of the ascendant (through the calculation of their loca- 
tions and qualities and through their mutual aspects [41] with their planets in 
their respective times). Thus, the boundaries of things can be determined. 

§10 In his writings, Dorothius teaches us this.” In considering judgments 
and the arrangement of things, heed the ascendant and its lord, the Moon, and 
the lord of the Moon’s house. Beware in these dispositions, and heed the ten 
judgments of the Moon. As much as possible, ensure the Moon is not falling 


BOOK 2 79 


from the ascendant. Even more so, ensure that the lord of the ascendant and 
the lord of the Moon’s house are not two unfortunate planets facing the Moon 
from the ascendant or from their own houses. In all works and dispositions, 
make sure that the Part of Fortune not be falling away from aspect or conjunc- 
tion with the Moon. Let neither the lord of the Part of Fortune’s house nor the 
Part itself be falling from the ascendant after facing the ascendant and the 
Moon. Nevertheless, if a lord of the ascendant is conjoined with the Part, it will 
be better for all your works and dispositions. In everything you do, see to it dili- 
gently that the Moon not be in the third, sixth, eighth or twelfth houses from 
the Part of Fortune for then she will be ineffective and ill-suited in all affairs. 
In all your works, always make sure the Moon and the ascendant are in the 
signs ascending directly. Know and understand that the ascendant and the 
fourth house collectively signify and demonstrate all the dispositions. If you 
find the Moon poorly positioned, and it happens that your work is urgent, and 
you can in no way delay it, make sure the Moon is falling from the ascendant 
with no part in it. Then place a fortunate planet in the ascendant, and make 
fortunate this same ascendant and its lord. Thus spoke Dorothius. 

§11 Know that the strength and effectiveness of the ascendant consists of two 
things, namely the configuration and the fortunate planet. The same applies to 
the lord of the ascendant. The configuration is what you put ascending, akin to 
nature’s designs and the qualities of the intended request. The similarity of 
quality is of this kind: if you needed to perform your work quickly, easily, 
through the power of motion, and in the halls of kings and nobles—in all these 
affairs—place the ascendant outside the fiery signs. Likewise, if your operation 
were related to war and martial affairs, place one sign from the houses of Mars 
in the ascendant. Make fortunate the house of the request and the lord of that 
house because the place or house of the request reveals and demonstrates what 
will happen at the beginning and in the successive steps. The lord of the request 
signifies and demonstrates what will happen in effect in the middle of the 
request. The lord of the lord of the request’s house signifies the end and out- 
come of the affair. In the same way, the ascendant demonstrates what will 
happen in the beginning of the affair, and the lord of the house of the lord of 
the ascendant signifies the end of the affair.'* Heed the part of the request for it 
reveals the nature of the request itself, its lord, and the lord of the house wherein 
the lord of the part stands. Consider diligently how you should direct the loca- 
tions as we have described them [42] above, and place fortunate planets in 
them from among the fortunes that grant strength when standing together in 
that house and facing these things with a favorable aspect. Make sure the 
unfortunate planets are falling from those places. Never place a retrograde 


80 PICATRIX 


planet as the lord of the ascendant or as the lord of the request; if either of them 
is retrograde, that request will be delayed, prolonged, and incomplete. This is 
what it reveals and demonstrates. Similarly, all other positions are safe in all 
their qualities. If any of them were retrograde, their effect would be ruined 
from the start and would not be completed except by means of effort and risk. 
Again, pay attention lest any of these be in conjunction with the Sun or the 
Moon or in their opposition. Rather, they should be in the ascendant, in the 
position of the request, or with the part of the request itself. A fortunate planet 
should be in the ascendant, in any of the ascendant’s angles, or in the place of 
the request itself. Know that the Greater Fortune has greater strength and 
power in all requests concerning the high sciences and laws.’* The Lesser For- 
tune operates and is concerned with all requests pertaining to women’s dis- 
putes, adornments, womanly pleasures, their vices, and similar things.'© Never 
place the Moon in the ascendant for anything you intend to do because she is 
an enemy of the ascendant. The Sun himself, however, is not an enemy of the 
ascendant because he reveals entities and melts apart frozen things. 

§12 Similarly, do not place any unfortunate planet in the ascendant nor in any 
of its angles, especially not if the unfortunate planet itself has power in any of 
the malign places” as if it were the lord in the eighth house (which signifies loss 
in trade-related matters, in change, and in great kingdoms). If that unfortunate 
planet holds dominion in the sixth house, it signifies a detriment to requests 
concerning enemies, slaves, illnesses, prisoners, or beasts. If, however, the 
unfortunate planet governs in the twelfth house, it signifies hindrance and loss 
in affairs concerning misery, conflict, enemies, or prisoners. If the unfortunate 
planet has dominion in the second house, it signifies improvement in affairs 
concerning riches, subservience, eating, or drinking. In all this, see to it that you 
not forget these instructions—hold them as foundational to the entire magical 
art. In all daytime operations, place a diurnal sign in direct ascent in the ascen- 
dant; in nighttime operations, place a nocturnal sign in direct ascent in the 
ascendant. Heed the Sun and the Moon if you can, and see that their hours and 
lords are in strong and fortified places. Do this so that these powers and quali- 
ties may be unified and joined together. Wherefore, inspect and direct the status 
of what the planets reveal and their significance to your works, then aggregate 
them before you begin to work. In all works [43] for love and benevolence toward 
a man or woman, see to it that the Moon be received by Venus in a trine or 
sextile aspect. This is more effective if she is in her own house or exaltation. 

$13 Note that the trine aspect is the one that is joined as an equilateral tri- 
angle such that each side has 120° of the circumference of the heavens. The 
sextile aspect is the one that is joined in the shape of an equilateral hexagon, 


BOOK 2 81 


and each side has 60° of the circumference of the heavens. The square aspect is 
the one that is joined in an equilateral square, and each side has 90° of the circle 
of heaven. Opposition is when the planets are at opposite ends of the heavens’ 
diameter. 

§14 Now, however, I return to the explanation I was putting off. If some task 
came your way that you were unable to delay until the time when the Moon is 
received by Venus, make sure she is received by Jupiter in a trine or sextile 
aspect or the lord of his house in a trine or sextile aspect. If you cannot do this, 
let the Moon be on the boundary of Venus, fortunate from Jupiter, and free 
from unfortunate influences. If your work were for love and goodwill, place as 
the ascending degree one from the boundary of Venus. If your work were for 
acquiring the shares of an inheritance, let the boundary of Venus be on the 
cusp of the fourth house. If your work were for acquiring profit from the law, 
let her be in the ninth house. If your work were regarding finances—for which 
you think and toil—let her be in the eleventh house, and in that strong place, 
make sure the Part of Fortune is fortunate, and its lord is received by a fortu- 
nate planet. If your work were more oriented toward profiting from a lawsuit, 
battles, and similar things, ensure that Mars is also received by the Moon with 
an amiable aspect. If your work were for sorting out debts, make Saturn the 
receiver instead of Mars. If your work were on account of numbers, writing, or 
study, let Mercury be the receiver. If your work were for pleasing or battling 
with kings and nobles, let Jupiter be received as above. If your request were for 
other reasons, namely the remaining reasons, let the lord of the ascendant be 
the receiver. This reception belongs to the Moon, the ascendant, the Part of 
Fortune, and the part of substance. Direct the lord of the Moon’s house, the 
lord of the ascendant, and also the lord of the fourth house (as said above); 
make sure all their positions are free from the unfortunate planets, at rest, and 
made fortunate by the fortunate planets inasmuch as possible since these loca- 
tions demarcate the boundary of things. 

§15 If you are trying to have goods allotted and granted to you, let the lord 
of the ascendant and the Moon be received by the almuten and the lord of the 
request.'* Let the Moon be with the lord of the ascendant in the location of 
the request. If your request concerned the elderly or those working the earth, 
let Saturn be the lord [44] of the request. If your request concerned officials, 
judges, prelates, or rich and honest individuals, the lord of your request 
should be Jupiter. If your petition were about soldiers, men-at-arms, and 
chiefs, tested by iron or fire, let the lord of your request be Mars. If your 
request concerned kings or noblemen, let the Sun be the lord of your request. 
If your request were about women or people having fun together, decorators, 


82 PICATRIX 


painters, decorations, pantomimes, and those who work on embroideries of 
silk cloth, gold, or similar things, let Venus be the lord of your request. If you 
request were concerning merchants, scribes, officials, and clever geometri- 
cians, let Mercury be the lord of your request. If your petition were about 
cold things, things of an aquatic nature, messengers, cases to be brought 
before a king, fishermen, and so forth, let the Moon be the lord of the request. 
Similarly, in all your requests, let the lord of the ascendant and the Moon be 
equally fortunate. If your request were on account of a question of wealth and 
sustenance, direct the Part of Fortune so that it is received by the fortunate 
planets. Beware lest the unfortunate planets cut off the Moon’s light from the 
lord of the ascendant or the contrary. Do not allow any of the unfortunate 
planets to be conjoined with the lord of the request nor the Moon nor the lord 
of the ascendant—nor should any unfortunate planet be in conjunction with 
or have anything to do with the lord of the request. Let that reception we 
mentioned be from a trine or sextile aspect with the planets, whether fortu- 
nate or unfortunate. Let there be a conjunction with the fortunate planets. 
Beware that the lord of the request, the Sun, the Moon, and the lord of the 
ascendant not be falling from any of the angles. If unable to heed all of this, 
pay attention to the movement of one of the five lords of the request. It should 
have an aspect and reception according to the request, as mentioned. Let 
those two locations be well received by the fortunate planets. Beware lest any 
of the unfortunate planets be with the lord of the Moon’s house, with the lord 
of the fourth house, or with the lord of the ascendant. If any of the unfortu- 
nate planets were to be in these houses, this would damn, destroy, and impede 
the purpose of your request. 

§16 If you wish to operate toward something concerning professions and 
bureaucracy, let the Moon and the ascendant be in common signs, free from 
unfortunate influences. If your task were for gold, fortify the Sun, and let him 
be with the fortunate planets at the beginning of your work. Observe the same 
in all qualities. 

$17 Until now, we have spoken generally on the judgments of the stars. If 
you heed and understand them as you should, you will have their assistance 
in whatever works you will perform through this science. Through generali- 
ties, you will be capable of comprehending and discerning particulars. Be 
very cautious not to reveal or show the things discussed here to anyone, 
except to those who understand and study these matters. Know [45] that 
these are the roots and foundations of the images, and those are the things by 
which one’s own secrets are plainly manifest. It is for this reason that the 
profound study of the art of astronomy was prohibited by the Law, since a 


BOOK 2 83 


profound knowledge of it overlaps with the study of the magical art. On this 
account, Aristotle said to King Alexander: “O Alexander, be wary in every 
momentand action you perform! Do them according to the motions, aspects, 
and qualities of the celestial bodies. If you have done your research, your 
request will be fulfilled effectively, and you will have whatever you had reck- 
oned in your will.” This example is very good and useful because it demon- 
strates the difference between the motives of the wise and those of fools who 
can understand nothing beyond their mundane thoughts (and thus are cut 
off from the contemplations of another world).’? These contemplations of 
another world are nothing less than the hidden secrets of the wise encom- 
passed by knowledge and wisdom. 


Chapter 4 


On the Motion of the Eighth Sphere and the Fixed Stars 


§1 The ancient sages who were learned in the magical sciences perceived 
how the four quarters of heaven moved from west to east by eight degrees, then 
returned from east to west by another eight degrees.” They called this motion 
the movement of the eighth sphere. Many of those who write astronomical 
charts have forgotten that sphere’s movement, making no mention of it. This 
motion has great advantages in the magical arts. Some of those who make 
charts write that motion into them, in addition to the numbers and calcula- 
tions by which its movement can always be found at will. Do not forget this 
because it is an utmost fundamental to magical science (since the figures of 
heaven are changed by this motion, which is one of the secrets of that science). 
That eight degrees motion is completed in 640 years, whereupon it returns to 
its original position. It has already been said, and you have seen how fitting it is 
to heed this motion in the science of magic as well as in the science of the 
heavens’ effects. This movement is the motion of the constellational sphere’s 
poles, moving from east to west and back again, and it cannot move otherwise 
except in those two ways. When that motion proceeds from east to west, it 
reveals and signifies some things coming about in this world, and when it 
proceeds from west to east, it reveals and signifies other effects that occur in 
this world. This motion is the movement of the eighth sphere, the sphere of the 
signs and the fixed stars, a motion that, however, is not the movement of the 
whole heavens. It is fitting that you understand this motion and diligently 
review it in all your undertakings.” [46] 


84 PICATRIX 


Chapter 5 


‘The Division of This Science Among the Nations and Which Part 
Is Allotted to Each Nation 


§1 Isayto youthat I have heard from a certain sage of olda very great miracle 
pertaining to that science that I have decided to discuss here. He said that this 
science is divided into three parts. The first of these is the science of magic; 
those who study it in detail and operate in it are those whom we have named 
“the Sabeans”—the captured slaves of the Chaldeans. The second is the science 
of the stars (praying to them with suffumigations, sacrifices, prayers, and 
scripture). Those who studied this science are the Greeks, who are very skilled, 
knowledgeable, and understanding of it (ie., astrology). They possess true 
knowledge since the science of astrology is presumed to be the foundation of 
all magical knowledge. The third part, however, is the science that operates 
through suffumigations, incantations, and words particularly appropriate 
to those things. It is likewise a science of binding spirits together and loosen- 
ing them with these words. The Indians are well-versed in this science. Some 
people from Yemen and the Nabataeans from Egypt have also worked most 
successfully in this manner. Each of these parts has a foundation and an 
essence that are both theoretical and practical. 

§2 It is noted and clear that the Indians have strength and power through 
words with which they can treat and cure themselves from deadly venoms 
without medicine. Similarly, they have incantations and words by which, 
whenever they desire, they can cause a man to be horribly vexed by demons. 
Solely by hearing those words, it is also possible to alter the senses. By virtue of 
these words, they provoke desired motions. Similarly, they have an instrument 
for the composition of music they call alquelquella, with a single chord of har- 
monies.” With this they produce sounds and perform all sorts of subtleties 
according to their wills. Similar miracles are wrought upon women whom they 
cause to conceive without having had sex, through gestures, rituals, and medi- 
cines. Some Indians make a kind of drinkable wine that they consume; by its 
virtue, it both prevents them from growing old and keeps them from being 
racked by the feebleness of old age (such that they never die lest by natural 
causes).”* In all these things, the Indians are the most powerful because they 
were granted these abilities by nature, whereas others achieved them through 
toil and diligence alone. The Indians possess greater power in the arts of magic 
and the other mysteries of this world.” Some Indians claim and assert in com- 
mon parlance that there exists a group south of the equinoctial line whom they 
call devils. They are most subtle beings as they neither reproduce nor die, a fact 


BOOK 2 85 


in accordance with scripture.” The dominant planet and celestial body in 
strength and power over these devils are Saturn and the Tail of the Dragon. 
One sage I mentioned says that all the forms and figures of generation and 
corruption in this [47] world exist by the powers and influences of the fixed 
stars. They are laid out and organized according to the aspects and dispositions 
of the fixed stars within those signs. He says that the other figures and forms 
are in the heavens and not upon Earth. These are neither known nor under- 
stood except by the wise (who have been educated in the science of the art of 
magic and the spirits), and they are demarcated by defined proportions. Sages 
gave them the names by which they are now known but not because those 
names reveal any quality nor anything about those figures. Those names are 
figures and seals like this:”° 


Then they are joined together with lines. Those lines that connect one point 
to another are to be thought ofas rays that extend from one to the next, through 
which the figures and images are then calculated. These dwell in the eighth 
sphere and the fixed stars. 

§3 This same sage said that there are other imagined figures in the heavens 
that are not seen except in the mind, in the same way that the degrees of heaven 
have bodies.” The wonders that this sage spoke about cannot be comprehended 
nor grasped except through the books of the Indians, who themselves brought 
much to this science. They say that those figures must be made in the appropri- 
ate and opportune hours, times, and constellations with the due and appropri- 
ate ascendants. The Indians similarly sought oracles through severed heads 
and birds or interpreted dreams by gazing into mirrors and swords. They did 
these things to aid themselves in their requests or to discover subtleties and 
secrets. With such things the Indians benefit themselves just as astrologers 
benefit themselves with the circles made around the planets and the Moon, the 
rainbow or celestial arc appearing in the heavens, the apparent twinkling in 
the stars, and the storms in the Sun.” The astrologer assists himself using all of 
these in judging and discerning the heavens’ effects. They said that there exist 
in the heavens lovely and beautiful forms; likewise there exist others that lack 
beauty, emerging from the fixed stars’ dispositions and aspects. Those indi- 
viduals born under the ascensions of lovely and beautiful signs (while the Sun 
and Moon also stand in such magnificent signs)—are shown to be fortunate in 
their deeds and activities. If, however, during the hour of someone’s nativity, 
there were a negative and deformed figure on the ascendant (while the Sun and 


86 PICATRIX 


the Moon also stand in such negative ones), it would reveal that a person born 
in this condition will be unlucky in all their endeavors, business ventures, and 
activities. So, heed the revolutions of nativities and every conjunction; do the 
same for works of magic. Moreover, the sages say that among the constellations 
and their motions, there exist things that reveal nothing in any judgment, just 
like pointless dreams that have neither meaning nor significance. Regarding 
these constellations, pay them no heed; [48] rather, seek your request from any 
other constellation. It is appropriate to look for these in nativities, conjunc- 
tions, and revolutions. Similarly, the wise have said that the knowledge of 
dreams is a kind of power residing in the soul by which it becomes bound up 
with the spirits of heaven. The forms and figures of things corresponding to 
potential scenarios on Earth are seen through the soul, and through them the 
power of the spirit is informed. These are the truthful dreams from which we 
obtain information. This knowledge of dreams is compatible with the science 
of astronomy and similar to it because it draws upon the science of astrology. 
This power and influence arises out of the powers of Mercury because when 
Mercury is strong in the root of a nativity, he allows for the divination of 
dreams. Some dreams are produced during rest, others by the humors, and yet 
others by vapors rising into the brain, as the physicians assert and confirm; 
such dreams signify nothing. 

§4 Know that dreams are actually demonstrations of things that are simple, 
discrete, and dissimilar from material bodies. Dreams arise when the soul cuts 
itself off from sensory impressions and receives no input from the senses. 
Indeed, dreams are formed according to the cognition of the mind and the 
shaping powers of entities (those that hold power over the perceivable). Fur- 
thermore, dreams have a third property: they are like a memory of things after 
they have occurred—while the rational spirit exists in a perfected state, it envi- 
sions entities that the individual has seen before. The entities enter the dream, 
appearing no different than how they were seen beforehand. If the power by 
which the entities are formed is stronger than the rational spirit, however, that 
individual will envision an image of what he had previously seen with his eyes 
but not the exact same thing. Here is an example for one of these two types: one 
individual who has a perfected rational soul will envision some sort of bear or 
dog hounding and approaching him in a dream, and this will actually happen. 
For the other type: in that same dream, another individual will envision a 
bandit or a diseased person running alongside him; and similarly, this will also 
happen. If one’s nature were strong and powerful—that is, strong in regards to 
such natural things as eating, drinking, dressing, and having sex—then the 
spirit would be impeded by that nature. In dreams, this individual will only 
envision things pertaining to the body and disproportionately so. If one’s body 


BOOK 2 87 


were predisposed to sex (that is, full of semen), that man would envision him- 
self having sex with a woman. This is because nature wishes to expel the full- 
ness of that matter from itself.”? If the body were full of wet humors, one would 
envision rivers and waters in dreams. If it were full of yellow bile, then fire, 
burning, and similar things would appear in the dreams. If it were full of black 
bile, one would envision frightful and terrifying things in dreams and so forth. 
Diviners are similarly confirmed; they are right when the accuracy of their 
predictions is supplemented by those things that the diviner has understood by 
seeing, hearing, dwelling upon, [49] and contemplating what is perceived in the 
augury. If the power of those things in which entities are formed were strong 
and pure for individually shaping those entities that have being—in the same 
way that a sage beholds entities in a mirror, guiding himself according to what 
he saw and heard—then by all those things, one may attain the power of knowl- 
edge and an understanding of things that have being. All of this exists by the 
power and fortitude of spirit. Thus, one produces the power or strength that 
forms entities when they are separated from the perceptible and relinquish the 
sensible realm. The spirit is made into a medium between the sensible realm 
and the visible act at hand. They are united by the powers of the spirit. From 
this proceed dreams and divination; that is: if the body were purged of bad 
humors and balanced in its complexion, whatever one envisions will be certain 
and true. If one were in the opposite state, whatever one envisioned would be 
pointless and deceiving. 

§5 Clearly, divination is a power of the quintessence and is what we call 
“prophecy.” It is one of the faculties of the spirit, wherein things formed out of 
discrete objects are seen. One perceives and understands this while sleeping or 
waking. When that faculty in which entities are formed is perfect and pure 
from all dross and impurity, one will envision discrete objects just as images in 
a mirror. Thus, images are revealed in the spirit when it is unpolluted and 
perfected. On this account, none who predict the future from purely abstract 
things or things purely perceptible to the senses can be a diviner. One is hardly 
“wise” if one has merely mastered perceptible things while lacking the other 
requirements discussed. If one mastered both of these, one would be a prophet. 
This does not happen, however, except to unique individuals into whom flow 
perfectly prophetic spirits from the first creator of entities, God Himself. He 
transmits those prophetic spirits and pours them down using consciousness as 
a medium.”’ Thus, God Himself naturally places such a virtue into a prophet, 
and from that consciousness, the strength and power of humanity’s perception 
or intellect emerge. The senses themselves are bound to the powers from which 
entities are formed; then, on account of the binding of that power, human sense 
perception is adorned with wisdom. On account of being engaged with the 


88 PICATRIX 


powers that form entities, such men are called prophets. Whoever is so dis- 
posed is more excellent, perfect, and fortunate than any other. This is the good 
we seek that through it we may reach such a state for we do not desire blessed- 
ness unless we have a better fate through it. Thus, we should be versed in good 
morals and habits lest our character turn evil. The prophets teach humanity 
laws and beliefs about the future so that they may unite them to one mind in 
blessedness. This is how to attain that greater fortune and to understand the 
things of the world, their qualities, and how they are united and divided. We 
call this part prophecy, [50] whose path proceeds from the perceptible up to 
higher things by wandering until reaching a metaphysical knowledge wherein 
humanity’s power is fulfilled; through theoretical knowledge, a human is per- 
fected. This is the good that humans seek, and one can find no greater thing 
since there is nothing better than a perfect lot. Albunasar Alfarabi says in his 
book on the work of the craft that the proper order and layout of universals will 
be the way of understanding splendor and the sublime.” He says that those 
things by which we attain a better lot are good character and virtuous deeds 
that beget blessings. One who has reached those things has a solid start devoid 
of misfortune. They will have joy, delight, and durable wisdom forever and 
without end. Alfarabi upholds the Founder of the Law,* saying that his is not a 
life worth remembering lest there be some future life in another world (since, 
in his view, the present life is worthless). 

§6 Now, however, let us return to the proposed topic. I say that according to 
the Indians, spirits reveal themselves as bodies that speak and make demon- 
strations such that they cause kings to love and hate whomever they wish or to 
produce and withdraw whatever they desire through their effects. This was 
done according to the procedures of the ancient sages who made images of 
various figures, including prayers at the correct hours relative to whatever they 
sought. They say that images are the spirits of the chosen time because the 
works done through them are like miracles (or things that seem miraculous). 
This is because their works are established by natural powers for the natural 
powers produce wondrous effects just as the red stone jacinth (that is, the ruby), 
by its innate virtue, supports and reinforces bearers against evil, sickness, epi- 
demics, and many other ills. Thus, an image with two united powers (i.e., the 
strength and power of celestial bodies that the image received from occult 
bodies) makes other impressions from natural powers, as happens with the 
expulsion of fleas, bugs, and flies. This comes about from the mastery and the 
magical works of the constellations and celestial bodies. The images must be 
fashioned out of the materials at the hours and minutes naturally appropriate 
to the desired effect. Know and understand the property of the natural virtues 
of the materials used to craft images, and build them according to the power 


BOOK 2 89 


and effect you desire. Know also that everything we do in this world is for the 
sake of understanding something or knowing some fact or piece of informa- 
tion—all have their respective types of images. If you have looked diligently 
into everything discussed so far, you will go far in reaching perfection in this 
science. [51] 


Chapter 6 


On the Powers of Images; How They May Be Harnessed; How Images 
Can Receive Planetary Power; How Images Produce Effects; and How 
This Is Fundamental to the Knowledge of Magic and Images 


§1 Know that the thing that is called “a virtue” is that which is evidenced by 
nature and experiment. If an agent acts according to its own power, its nature 
will be manifest in its work—especially when such an action exists with power 
over those things, not over the manifest nature it has within them. Then that 
work will be stronger and more visible, and what actually appears from it will 
be truer and more clearly perceived. For example, the virtue of scammony, 
which attracts cholera by its special power, exists on account of the harmony 
that cholera has in and of itself with hotness and dryness, through which it is 
assimilated to the nature of cholera. It is also clear in simple medicines that 
when they do something by the power and similitude of the nature existing 
within them, then that process will be more visible, effective, and apparent. 
‘Thus, the images operate by the power of similitude because an image is noth- 
ing more than the power of the celestial bodies flowing into matter. So when 
the matter of that body is disposed to receiving the influence of those celestial 
bodies or planets, and likewise the body is disposed to influencing the mate- 
rial bodies of the images, then that image will be stronger and more disposed 
to effect everything sought and desired; similarly, the gift of the planet will be 
more perfect and complete. For example: when you wish to begin crafting an 
image, consider the shape and the reason for which you wish to fashion the 
image as well as the material. Let all these things be harmonious with one 
another in similitude. Similarly, let them be in the powers and influences of 
the planets governing that work. When things are ordered thus, the image will 
be strong and complete, and its effects will follow and be visible. The spirit 
that has been placed in the image will manifest with effect. Then the effects of 
that planet will be clear to you as is, and its mode of reception (namely, to what 
house it belongs) will be manifest and apparent. Indeed, practitioners of any 
era who make images and ignore these things do wrong. Moreover, when you 


90 PICATRIX 


wish to craft an animal from animals or something from plants or something 
from stone, take the first parts of that composition and join them with other 
parts of a similar nature. Mix and combine them into an appropriate blend. 
Carry on like this until your objective is reached. While doing this, nature 
does not stop operating in this effect. The stars augment and increase the 
effect until an appropriate end is reached (just as beings come about in many 
ways and can be created as much through paints as through animal parts that 
humans [52] can bring to life through effort; these include reptiles, serpents, 
scorpions, and many similar things fabricated according to the dispositions of 
nature and the planetary powers). Works that are done through decoctions and 
mixtures of species, from which come medicines with the necessary and 
appropriate ingredients, are like a decoction of live sperm cooked in a womb 
until it reverts to a state suitable to the essence of that creature. Thus, nature 
accomplishes its work through the respective planetary powers until the work 
is perfected in its own proper order. Thus, stones are also composed of miner- 
als and water. At first, water is fresh; then winds race down upon it, striking 
and beating it until it is curdled like milk; then it is cooked by the nature of the 
mineral and by the natures existing within it; finally, it is solidified by cooking 
and rendered similar to the appropriate stone; then it receives the form and 
shape of that mineral. This is how plant material is made (all things born 
beneath the earth are ordered in such a fashion). It happens like this: at first, 
the material rots until returning to the state that is needed for a plant to be 
generated. It receives the form and shape suited for the fulfilling of its own 
form. It receives this form and fulfillment from the nutrients of humidity 
received from that material acquired at the time of rotting. All artificial things 
are made in this way: at first, we must remove the form and shape that first 
existed in that matter. With its initial form stripped, it will be disposed to 
receiving another form and shape. No material can receive another form and 
shape except by being stripped of the form and shape that it had before. 
Through this method, all artificers who intend to do anything proceed by act- 
ing in this way. First, they collect the components for their operation, and then 
they work on these things until the latter return to that composite material that 
is disposed to receiving another form. In this way, we see how the brewmaster 
works by means of fermentation; the same is done by makers of cheese, butter, 
and other things made from milk or honey. The same applies to craftsmen who 
make silk by spinning and all the other specialized craftsmen who convert one 
thing into another and transform them. This happens because any material 
with form and shape cannot receive another form unless it loses or gives up the 
first one. Thus, matter disposed to receiving a second form receives it. When 
matter receives a form and is shaped, it is free and unrestricted by all other 


BOOK 2 91 


forms besides that one. We say this only concerning the matter existing here 
below since in the superior world, matter is formed by eternal forms that can 
never be separated from matter nor can that matter take [53] other forms.*? 
Understand that rituals with images are of that sort because the creators of 
images look first to collecting the things from which the image itself is made. 
These materials should be disposed and suited to receiving the form in ques- 
tion. Some examples: laurel berries, which heal and assuage adder venom; saf- 
fron, which causes scorpions to flee; and wasps, which flee from sour and bitter 
things. Wasps love and seek rosewater and are attracted to the odor of the herb 
called thyme. Many other things like this exist, such as eating chickpeas, and 
other appropriate things causing growth in the volume of sperm and increase 
in virility for a man having sex with a woman. Thus, the body of an image is a 
composite of many things joined together. By putting these things together, its 
form comes about disposed to receiving the powers and qualities of the things 
for which that image itselfis fashioned and created. 

§2 Physicians workin this same way when they combine medicines with the 
intention of healing pain and disease. The medicinal work of physicians con- 
sists of two types. The first of these is work with simple medicines. According 
to what Johannitius says in his Physics, a good and perfect physician should 
always be able to heal with simple medicines and not with the use of composite 
ones.** The second type, however, involves combining many medicines pre- 
scribed as a single medicine. This is how the electuaries and theriacs of the 
elder Galen come about, which are composed of many medicines.” 

§3 I sayto you that a single planet produces various effects distinct from one 
another, just as fire makes honey take ona good flavor when properly cooked— 
indeed, better than the original. If cooked too much, it might burn and taste 
unpleasant. This happens with the planets when they stand in light and dark 
degrees. The heavens have two effects: the first is motion and natural effect, and 
the other is the accidental heat (which is generated by motion). Heat ensues 
consequently from motion, and motion ensues from the heavens. This teaching 
is true and obvious. What appears to the senses, however, is caused by the 
movement that comes from the motion and spirit of the eighth sphere (the 
sphere of the constellations). This occurs on account of the power of the fixed 
stars since it certainly appears that heat ensues from motion and that motion 
ensues from the power and strength of the fixed stars. The power of the fixed 
stars was the first thing ever created with nothing preceding it in primacy. 

§4 Understand that the same applies to all the parts and motions of the 
heavens and the heat generated by them. Accordingly, the stars’ effects follow 
the effects of the heavens because the heavens produce their own effects along 
with the stars themselves. The stars do not produce their own effects except 


92 PICATRIX 


through or from the heavens since the stars have no [54] motion in and of 
themselves but have works and wondrous effects according to the heavens’ 
motions. Prima Materia is the first nature and is itself the author of truth— 
thus, the garments and tinctures we make are in accordance with the works of 
the stars. Consequently, Prima Materia is more excellent and splendid than 
any other thing. The degrees of heaven are nothing more than imagined place 
markers for there is no distinction between active and inert parts in the heavens. 
It is one whole in form, power, effect, and sense, with no variability or distinc- 
tion in its own parts. Since the whole is of a single type, it therefore cannot at 
any time have diversity in any of its qualities. 

§5 No degree of the heavens or the firmament can lack the quality and 
essence of the fixed stars because the entire sphere of fixed stars is filled with 
them. Those who say that some degree of the heavens is devoid of stars at any 
given time only do so because those stars cannot be perceived by sight or sense. 
Only the greater among them can be seen while the rest are invisible. Further- 
more, it can happen that a star stands in another place where it produces no 
manifest effects, namely, when it is not in its boundary or exaltation, not ascend- 
ing nor in opposition to ascent, not retrograde nor direct (unless going to any of 
the abovementioned locations); neither should it have any aid nor aspect from 
any of the planets suited to the same nature nor its contraries. This is because 
those places, especially those that are active and have effects contrary to the 
fixed stars’ active places, are similar to inert places because the planets never 
lack motion and therefore cannot lack effects. What we said here is very obscure 
and profound. So pay attention, and study it diligently until you understand 
how it is linked with the effect because once strengthened in their effects, the 
planets operate in two ways: the general and the particular. The general effect 
does not pertain to one distinct part, whereas the particular effect does. Thus, 
they say such a planet is a giver, or it has an aspect, connection, or reception, 
and so on. 

§6 Another example: when food is in the stomach and is drawn by the liver 
through the mesentery, it is converted into blood. When the blood is sent by 
the liver to the other organs, it is formed in the likeness of other organs accord- 
ing to their differences. Thus, in every organ blood loses and gives up its form 
as ifit never had it; then it becomes the bone in bones, the nerve in nerves, and 
so on in the other organs. In their motions, the planetary effects are similar: 
when they travel toward some aspect, conjunction, or any place from those 
mentioned, they proceed by converting themselves in accordance to the nature 
and effect of that place toward which they are traveling. Similarly, the planets 
have other excellent effects as they are conjoined. When a planet is ascending, 
it works according to the action of the fixed stars standing directly above it and 


BOOK 2 93 


is associated with them in their effects—and then it makes wonders. Similarly, 
[55] when it is in opposition to the ascendant, it works according to the planet 
standing beneath it. Pay good and very close attention to what we have said 
here. We say this for this reason: the sphere of fixed stars operates according to 
the operations and effects of the First Mobile.** The sphere of the Moon influ- 
ences and works through the nature of fire and air (on account of their subtlety) 
more than through the other elements. Thus, we say that when ascending, 
Saturn produces the effects of the fixed stars above him. When Saturn is in 
opposition to an ascendant, he produces the effects of Jupiter. Likewise for the 
other planets, namely when a planet is ascending, its effects and its works will 
be according to the actions of the planet existing ahead of it in order. Were the 
planet opposite to ascending, it would operate according to the actions of the 
planet existing behind it in order. This principle is of great value in the magical 
art. Sages of old hid these things with all their might. Were we not to convey 
them, it would be totally unacceptable. Know well that a planet that moves 
more slowly in its motion is more powerful in its effects, and on the other hand, 
a planet swifter in its motion will be weaker in its effect. One that is moderate 
in motion is moderate in its effect. On this the sages of old are not in agree- 
ment. Some have said diverse and contrary things, stating that a planet slowin 
its motion is weaker in its effect, and one swifter in its motion is stronger in its 
effect. Here is the explanation of these things: those who accept the latter theory 
do so according to the order and disposition of the First Moved toward the 
sphere of fixed stars. The former theory is according to the dispositions of the 
motions of generation on the Earth, according to which the slower planet is 
stronger in its effect while the swifter is weaker. According to another opinion 
now touched upon regarding the disposition of the First Moved toward the 
sphere of fixed stars: a swifter planet will be stronger in effect and a slower one 
weaker, because it is a similar analogy. On this the wise disagree to the extent 
that one party of ancient sages held a contrary position, suggesting this anal- 
ogy and attributing it to the First Moved and the sphere of fixed stars. Accord- 
ing to this the slower planet is closer and more analogous in its similitude to 
the First Moved and to the sphere of fixed stars in its slowness because the latter 
is slowin motion. Thus, the slow motion will be similar to the slow motion, and 
the swift to the swift. Many ancient sages have spoken in their books secretly 
and covertly concerning these things. Now we intend to state the secrets of the 
ancient sages on the magical art here. Know that when the Moon is conjoined 
with Saturn, her effects will be in accordance with the effects of Saturn. This 
happens because the effects of Saturn are more powerful than the effects of the 
Moon. Similarly, when any of the planets are conjoined with Saturn, their 
effects will be in accordance with the dispositions and effects of Saturn. This is 


94 PICATRIX 


because the power of Saturn is the strongest of all the planetary powers. [56] 
This arises from the reasons and causes given above, which are on account of 
Saturn’s uppermost altitude and proximity to the highest heavens (namely, the 
First Moved and the sphere of fixed stars). Saturn is very slow because his 
motion is likened to that of the First Moved and to the other qualities discussed 
above. Everything that is said on these conjunctions of Jupiter, the Sun, and 
Venus is changed or altered by great transformations or modifications when 
they are mixed with the effects of Saturn. It happens in the same way for Jupiter 
with the fixed stars and generally to all the planets all the way down to the 
Moon. Next, the effect of those fixed stars appears in fire and air, and the effect 
of fire and air upon water and earth is clear. The effects of these four elements 
are clearly visible upon the processes of generation that they generate. 

§7 ‘The conjunction of any two planets can have three qualities in their union: 
augmentation, diminution, and balance between one another. For example, 
when the Moon is conjoined to Saturn, the effect of the Moon will be weak and 
shrouded. This is because the power of Saturn exceeds the power of the Moon— 
that is, when she has been conjoined to Saturn in the same degree of longitude 
and latitude, in their hayz, in their exaltations, or in similar qualities such that 
the Moon and Saturn proceed in one path and are in one of those places, not 
otherwise.” This quality of Saturn among the other planets appears in other 
places. It could well occur that the effect of the Moon and her power be greater 
and stronger than the power of Saturn. This occurs when the Moon is in one of 
the dignities discussed, and Saturn is in opposition thereto. However, if the 
Moon were conjoined to Saturn in opposition to the dignities mentioned above, 
then the effects of the Moon will be according to the effects of Saturn as in the 
other abovementioned conditions. If Saturn were in those dignities and the 
Moon were in its contrary, the effect of the Moon would be very weak and 
suppressed. If the Moon were equal in motion or slowness to Saturn and in 
other places similar to Saturn’s, then the power of the Moon and of Saturn 
would be equal and similar in quality—more so when the Moon is soon to be 
ascending, which is the greatest possible dignity for the Moon (although such 
a dignity is unequal to the greater descent of Saturn) and even more so if Saturn 
were about to proceed directly. The quality of Saturn with Jupiter, however, is 
unlike the quality of Saturn with the Moon, being always equals in a great 
many things. This occurs when Saturn and Jupiter are both dignified. At that 
point, the effects of Jupiter will be stronger than the effects of Saturn. If Jupiter 
were dignified and Saturn were equal in motion, direct, and in exaltation, then 
the effects of Jupiter will not be greater than Saturn’s. When the opposite is the 
case, then the power of Saturn will be above Jupiter’s, and the power of Jupiter 
himself will be weak and diminished. This does not appear in the conditions of 


BOOK 2 95 


Saturn with Mars when they are conjoined for the effects of Mars would appear 
more clearly unless, perchance, he were in the conditions and dispositions 
discussed above. Venus and Mercury, however, have dispositions and similari- 
ties with every planet, and the Moon has no similitude or correspondence since 
she [57] shares neither similitude nor correspondence with any planet. That is 
some sort of great fundamental to be guarded carefully since it is highly essen- 
tial in magical procedures. 

§8 Know that the effects of the planets are effects in and of themselves; this 
is because planets are simple bodies.*® Those things that are simple suffer nei- 
ther accident nor any corruption for if they did, they would be unrecognizable. 
Harm and corruption can only befall bodies made out of diverse things. Know 
that the effect of the First Moved is a perfect effect and the foundation ofall the 
processes of the heavens, planets, and fixed stars. This is on account of the 
power and fortitude that moves the other heavens. It is said that the First 
Moved is the mover of everything, and there is nothing that moves within it. 
Those who claim it moves oppose the truth. The sphere of fixed stars, however, 
is distinguished from the motion of the First Moved, particularly because its 
motion is general. Thus, it moves all the other spheres. Know that the motion 
of each of the heavens, the motion of the spheres, and that of the fixed stars is 
an equal motion in each case, and the motion of the planets exists in accor- 
dance with the essential motion of their own spheres by which they are moved. 
‘The stars have no motion in and of themselves except by accident. The effect of 
heaven is twofold, as we have discussed. There is the motion that a planet has 
in and of itself, and the heat that it possesses by accident. After heat proceeds 
motion, and motion is natural to the heavens themselves as we have said. Then 
proceed the gift and the pouring in of the planets, which are harnessed by 
magical images, to move things and powers and redirect them so that they 
may be manifest. This is because the similitude of things resides in form, and 
matter has the capacity of receiving powers. Each substance has a form for 
every complexion, and each form has a substance for every complexion. For 
example: a fire, although small, grows until it becomes great; thus it grows and 
is increased since a small flame draws out the fire from the matter upon which 
it is burning since fire lays hidden in matter until one manifests it; thus, it is 
increased and grows. 

§9 Know that corruption does not enter visible things for the sake of destroy- 
ing them; rather, it enters into invisible things and corrupts them without 
appearing to do so. Everything that exists according to nature is balanced, and 
everything unbalanced exists contrary to nature. On this account visible heat 
naturally provokes hidden heat, and likewise, hidden heat provokes visible 
heat. This is because hidden heat is disposed to the effects of heat, thus it is the 


96 PICATRIX 


generation of itself. Study these explanations diligently since you shall draw 
support from them. [58] 


Chapter 7 


On How to Work Dialectically in the Science of Images, and Which 
Part of It Is Fitting to That Science 


§1 From what we have said so far, it should be obvious that the reception of 
form is by matter, that the gift of planetary influence is in magical images and 
the reception of their powers, and also that the forms of similarity and dissimi- 
larity appear evidently enough (since similarity emerges from a kind of union 
within the images’ effects). This is because rituals with a magical image require 
similarity to the stars’ effects, similarity in the property of the metal from 
which the image is composed, similarity in the time when it is crafted, and 
similarity in the place where such an image is cast and prepared. From all these 
things conjoined in their appropriate similarities, the effect of the image itself 
will ensue. If these things were dissimilar in some way, the image itself would 
be deficient in effect. From this, it appears that unification is some great foun- 
dation toward the effects to be acquired by magical art. 

§2 Similarly, “quantity” is a foundation of that science because it operates in 
the quadrivium. According to its own first division, “quantity” is divided into 


2 


two parts, which are “continuous quantity” and “discrete quantity.” “Continu- 
ous quantity” is divided into five parts, which are lines, surfaces, volume, time, 
and space. “Discrete quantity” is divided into two parts, namely number and 
word.” All parts of “quantity” are very important to magical works, just as a 
line is necessary to a magical image on account of the aspects and the symbol- 
ism that we demand from an image insofar as we seek to receive the image’s 
effects by similitude or dissimilitude. These two parts wherein we divide the 
line according to aspect and suitability is discussed in the quadrivium (in the 
chapter on the straight line). Therein it is said: “A straight line directly connects 
two points placed at a distance from one another.” This definition is better than 
any other definition for the images because the straight line upon which some- 
thing is set travels on a single path from the beginning of the first point of the 
line passing through the remaining others until it reaches the other point 
placed directly opposite to it. For this reason, we say that such a thing is “fac- 
ing” a thing in a straight line; this happens when it encounters something that, 
on its own path, pours down and proceeds through the straight line. For 
example, the projection of planetary rays from a single point flows directly 


BOOK 2 97 


upon a point on the surface of a body disposed to receiving the projections of 
such rays. The reason why that is better for magical images is on account of the 
influence of the stars that is sought in the effect of the image. This projection of 
rays is also suited for entering the metal or whatever the image is made of in 
order to fulfill that effect for which the image was fashioned and assembled by 
contrariety or similarity. Thus, it appears that a line coming directly out of a 
planet into an image’s form must be straight so that what is contributed maybe 
whole and complete, for it would not be called a straight line were it oblique— 
that indeed would be weak and diminished. [59] 

§3 A surface is forcibly the “figure” of the influence because a surface is an 
extension of an image’s effect on that location. Then, when it is extended, it 
necessarily becomes a surface; for everything that extends, even the most 
subtle thing, is a surface. Thus, water, in and of itself, is effectively transmuted 
and altered just as it is changed by heat, cold, light, odor, colors, and other simi- 
lar things. The lines poured in by the planets proceed from above into images. 
These lines poured into the images by the planets and those lines arising from 
the magical image itself make a surface. For this reason, learn and understand 
those secrets. Nevertheless, the ancient sages have not yet revealed their rea- 
sons for operating in this way. 

§4 ‘Time is certainly relevant and necessary to the work of magical images 
because it follows the motions of bodies. As such, I shall categorize and 
explain the effect of the image itself. Time is divided into parts by the effects 
of images; then the time of the aspects is divided according to the location 
and influence of that effect, whether or not you wish it to be completed out of 
the parts of the planetary declinations. What we mean is to observe the time 
of the planets in the proper and suitable hour and to know the conjunctions 
that this planet has with the other planets when sharing in a single degree, or 
possibly in some other aspect, whether opposite, square, trine, and otherwise. 
Other important things to consider regarding the locations of the planets are 
the production of effects, both complete and incomplete, which must be dis- 
cerned according to the mode and form of the ritual: that is, whether a planet 
be direct, descending, or in its exaltation; where the planet’s influence will be 
found; where this influence is cut off by the fortunate or unfortunate planets; 
and also when the planet is in light, pitted, and dark degrees, or others 
described in astrology.”° This is, by far, the greatest secret in magical teaching 
(that is, this kind of diversity, as they say, in similarity and contrariness). The 
latter is the time for examining what the specific given effect will be, and the 
former is the time in which we must consider the preparation of magical 
images, the place where they should be prepared, and what things are akin to 
each other at that time. 


98 PICATRIX 


§5 Location, however, is the final component of our division of “continuous 
quantity.” Location is an aspect toward the goal that the ease of the ritual 
endure all the way until one reaches the desired end at the opportune time. The 
location of the image, its materials, whether it is in the air or on land, whether 
hidden or in the open, and other such factors (such as the places where the 
images are constructed and where practitioners lay out and work the material 
from which their image must be made)—all these things are worthy of consid- 
eration among the works of magic since it is on account of such factors that the 
planetary influences and effects arise. Greater and more wondrous effects will 
arise that are hard to believe in the opinions of those who behold them. Amen. 
Iam telling to you the truth about the nature of miracles and wondrous effects 
(since those are the effects of magical images). This is especially the case since 
their effects are not similar to those of animals. Rather, they are like [60] 
removing sands; polishing jewels; holding back plague, floods, and clouds; 
changing winds; and other such things that we will not cite here on account of 
the inconvenience of a prolix discourse. 

§6 Words and numbers, which are from the category of “discrete quantity,” 
are necessary in predictions, divinations, dream interpretations, speeches for 
the masses, and the like; these things also pertain to one branch of the art of 
magic. “Quantity” per se is necessary and essential to those procedures because 
it delineates time, which indeed does not exist except through the calculation 
of the heavens’ movements. This is what we mean when we say “from such a 
time until sucha time,” that is, some number for calculation; when the heavens’ 
movements reach this given position, then the calculation is complete. The 
same applies when we say “such an operation will be from this hour for the 
next forty-two days.” This statement clarifies that we wish to express some 
calculation of number. 

§7 Proportion pertains to the method of that science since it constitutes the 
image’s form. ‘The location of the effect itself receives the strength and power 
that the sages claim is a determining factor in an image. For the most part, 
these factors pertain to the measure of proportion and the configuration for 
preparing images in a place where that quality must be present. This whole 
thing pertains to the category of proportion, and others of other qualities simi- 
lar to these pertain to this category of proportion. 

§8 “Quality” per se is the cause of a magical image’s effects because what is 
done through an image’s effects should have virtue and complete power similar 
to its own effect and to that “quality” that should be included in the image itself 
for the manifestation of that power and effect sought in the image. This is the 
capacity and composition it should have: impressions upon the nature of lower 
things from the nature of higher things, such that the resulting image is 


BOOK 2 99 


adjusted for the planets’ endowment and complements their effects on your 
requests, which we have often discussed in this book. This is because planets 
participate more in some things than in others, just as some planets govern a 
particular city, certain types of plants, animals, stones, and other similar 
things. When, for example, a stone is arranged into another image—composite 
and disposed for receiving that planet’s effects—or likewise something similar 
to it for the reception ofa planet’s effects and nature contained within, it should 
be similar to the effect and reception of that planet operating therein. Thus, 
that stone or substance from which an image is made should be composite 
since ifthe nature ofthe stone (or the other substance from which the image is 
made) is strong and enduring such that it is entirely fortified in itself until 
achieving victory over nature, then the effect manifests and is extended. Those 
laboring faithfully in this science never managed to discover how they could 
do this except the one who would grasp the nature of a stone (or something of 
the same or a similar quality) until his nature was strengthened such that it 
overcame and vanquished all other natures (for example, in electuaries and 
theriacs, which by their own virtue find and conquer illness). Such [61] a vic- 
tory arises from the power of many medicines combined together since many 
wondrous things occur by combining medicines, as in physiology, the Great 
Work, and the other works employing nature, such as fashioning images, 
repelling plague, and using the effects of stones upon one another. Always 
remember the sayings of the sage who claimed that—in all your works and 
effects—look to sympathy and mutual love; avoid differences and mutual dis- 
sonances by which natures resist one another. 


Chapter 8 
On the Orderly Arrangement of Nature and How It Affects This Science 


§1 ‘The ancient sages believed that ranks exist among the degrees of nature; 
they pursued these beliefs until they knew the rank and nature of species and 
how everything else was governed. Thereafter, they related species to each 
other until the use of medicines and the effects that they produced by their 
combinations were understood. Here we cannot omit one necessary thing, 
which is the disagreement among the ancient sages concerning simple natures 
(of what sort, and how many there are). One party, which I believe to be the 
correct one, says that the simple natures are the mothers of and beginnings to 
all other things. There are four of these natures: coldness, wetness, dryness, 
and hotness, which are appropriately named the first and simple qualities. 


100 PICATRIX 


Second, other composite natures follow the simple ones, which are these: the 
hot, the cold, the wet, and the dry. That which we call “hot” expresses when 
matter is joined with hotness, and the same is to be understood regarding the 
others. It is very clear from this opinion, namely, when we say “hot” or “cold,” 
it is not similar to what we mean when we say “hotness” and “coldness.” Then 
that composite material follows according to another composite, which we call 
“hot” and “dry,” “hot” and “wet,” “cold” and “dry,” or “cold” and “moist,” 
which are pairs of composite natures. Clearly, the latter are not equal to the 
former (that is, the “hot” without the “dry” and the “wet,” and the “cold” with- 
out the “dry” and the “ 
fire, air, water, and earth, which are the third composite natures produced from 


wet”). Third, other composite natures follow, namely 


the union of the first and second qualities. Other composite natures situated in 
the fourth rank follow those natures, which exist in bodies that are divided 
into many parts—that is to say, the four seasons of the year (namely, winter, 
spring, autumn, and summer) or the four humors found in humans as in other 
animals (namely, blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and [62] black bile). The material 
of humankind is more delicate and more subtle than all the other materials of 
animals because the nature of those animals is grosser and much more chaotic 
than the nature of humankind. Third in order behind humans and animals are 
the natures of trees and plants born from soil, such as oil, tinctures, seeds, 
roots, and similar things; the qualities of stones are in natures of this kind. One 
must understand what we have spoken about thus far: what we have said 
regarding plants and stones is equally true concerning humans and animals. In 
the subtlety of nature, plants follow after the other animals. These composite 
matters ensue from craft. They are the ones that we say are composed out of 
composites and are the final composites (for example, medicines and other 
amalgamated things). Nevertheless, all things wherein the natures of simple 
and composite things stand together are divided into seven parts, which then 
by extension make twenty-eight parts.’ I wish here to give a second example of 
the same so that we may clarify what is divided in the first explanation. 

§2 ‘The simple natures are hotness, coldness, wetness, and dryness; the first 
composite natures are the hot, the cold, the wet, and the dry; the second com- 
posite natures are hot and dry, hot and wet, cold and dry, cold and wet; the 
third composite natures are the elements themselves, namely, fire, air, water, 
earth; and the fourth composite natures are the seasons of the year, namely 
spring, winter, summer, and autumn; and the fifth composite natures are the 
four humors, namely blood, yellow bile, phlegm, and black bile; and the sixth 
composite natures are tinctures, oils, roots, seeds, and such things. 

§3 ‘Thus, I say that hotness, coldness, wetness, and dryness are similar to 
fire, air, water, and earth when they are divided into many parts by sense per- 


BOOK 2 101 


ception and their perceptibility. For they say that fire is hot because it is hot and 
dry; they do not say that hotness itself is fire nor that it is composed with fire 
and another thing because every composite thing is joined together out of the 
things preceding them and named in them (it is composed in such a way that 
heat precedes fire, humidity precedes air, coldness precedes water, and dryness 
precedes earth). The example we gave in the foregoing applies also to the liver, 
the lung, the gallbladder, the heart, the head, the legs, the hands, and all the 
other organs. Hotness, as we said above, ensues from the motion of the heav- 
ens, coldness is generated from its center (i.e., the Earth, which is called the 
center of the First Mobile) from which terrestrial materials produce all the 
generation in all types of matter; thus, coldness is opposed to hotness in all of 
its fundamental qualities, in rest and in motion, because hotness is a quality 
that joins similar things and divides opposites. Thus, we say that contrary 
things are joined by coldness, and similar things are divided by the same. It 
must be so in those things that are opposed in all their qualities; were this not 
the case, their definition would be harmed and lost. [63] 

§4 Therefore I say to you, if you wish to apply your intellect to those splen- 
did, excellent, and important realms of knowledge, then spare no zeal, and do 
not neglect studying the books and words of the wise for it is by that path that 
you shall reach your desire. The other things that I discussed thus far on mix- 
ing and joining things were taken from the sayings of the wise and from all the 
sciences. I used them only as an explanation and in order to dispose your spirit 
and intellect such that you be benevolent, easily taught, and attentive. 


Chapter 9 


On Examples of Figures and Forms of Images Made for Planetary 
Assistance 


§1 Now propose to return to the previous topic we were discussing on the 
figures of the heavens and on the effects they produce with the stars’ help and 
influence. There are six images that we shall discuss directly below; they have 
virtues, powers, and effects upon the world. Here, I intend to discuss and 
describe these figures, namely that which is tested from its results and its 
effects, about which the ancient sages working upon this were in agreement 
with one another. 

§2 The first of these figures is for driving off mice from wherever you desire. 
Write the figures below on a thin sheet of red bronze, with the first face of Leo 
ascending. These figures were bound to the fixed stars within the sign of Leo. 


102 PICATRIX 


When this is done, place the thin sheet where the mice are, and they shall all 
flee from that area. These are the figures: 


§3 For repelling insects. Make the following figures ona sulfurous stone with 
the second face of Taurus ascending. Place this stone wherever you desire. No 
insects shall ever be able to come there for as long as the stone shall remain. 
These are the figures: 


§4 For repelling flies from wherever you want. Inscribe the figures below ona 
thin sheet of tin with the third face of Scorpio ascending. Place that thin sheet 
wherever you desire, and the flies shall recede from there. These are the figures 
of the stars that drive them off: 


§5 So that a person you desire comes running to you or to a specific place. 
Make these figures on a linen rag in the day and hour of Venus when the second 
face of Taurus is rising with Venus standing in it. On that very hour, [64] write 
the name of the one whom you wish to come to you. Then set the head of the 
linen rag on fire. At once, the person who you suggested will come to you. 
These are the figures: 


§6  Forcreating enmity. When you wish to separate two individuals such that 
they never love one another again, draw the figures inscribed below with the 
tooth of a black dog on a thin sheet of black lead in the day and hour of Saturn 
with the third face of Capricorn ascending and Saturn standing in it. Put the 
thin sheet in the place of either of them or in a place where they are accustomed 
to get together. Their friendship will dissolve, and they will never again love 
one another. These are the figures: 


BOOK 2 103 


§7 For cursing a place you never wish to be inhabited. Make these figures on 
a thin lead sheet with the brain ofa pig on the day and hour of Saturn with the 
second face of Capricorn ascending with Saturn standing in it. Place the thin 
sheet in the place that you desire to be depopulated. The harmful power of 
Saturn will flow into it, and it will never be populated for as long as the thin 
sheet shall stand there. These are the figures: 


§8 All six of these work through the power of the planet or planets when 
they have been physically joined to the aforesaid constellations. Know that 
there are no figures that invoke the help of the fixed stars other than those six 
nor have any of the sages said more.” This is why I have decided to completely 
lay this science out in this book. 


Chapter 10 
On the Stones Suited to Each Planet and on the Formation of Figures 


§1 Here, Iintend to clarify what each planet governs, as much in metals and 
stones as in the figures of the planets and their wondrous operations. 

§2 First regarding Saturn: out of the metals, Saturn governs iron and part of 
gold; out of the stones, he governs diamond, onyx, cameo, jet (which is black 
and clear), iron, and magnesium. He governs partly over red stones, golden 
marcasite and also hematite. 

$3 Out of the metals, Jupiter governs lead and out of the precious stones, 
those that are white and yellow. He governs partly over carnelian, emerald, 
beryl, crystal, and all white and clear shining stones, as well as gold. [65] 

§4 Out of the metals, Mars governs red bronze and all types of sulfur and 
has a part in glass. Out of the stones, he governs premonada* and the blood- 
stone, and partly over carnelian and onyx, as well as all red and speckled 
stones. 

§5 Out of the metals, the Sun governs Egyptian glass and arsenic.*® Out of 
the stones, he governs garnet, diamond, red pearls, and all shining and clear 


104 PICATRIX 


stones. He governs partly over hematite, azumbedich,”’ Balas ruby, and yellow 
marcasite. 

§6 Out of the metals, Venus governs red bronze and has a part in silver and 
glass. Out of the stones, she governs azure, coral, and malachite, and partly over 
beryl and magnesium. 

§7 Out ofthe metals, Mercury governs quicksilver and has a part in tin and 
glass. Out of the stones, he governs emerald with all its types, and partly over 
azumbedich. 

§8 Out of the metals, the Moon governs silver, and out of the stones, she 
governs silver marcasite and minute pearl, and partly over crystal, azure, onyx, 
and beryl. 

§9 ‘These are the figures of the seven planets: 


Saturn Jupiter Mars Sun Venus Mercury Moon 


$10 ‘These are the figures of the planets as we found them translated in the 
Lapidary of Mercurius, the Book of Apollonius,'® and in the Book of Spirits and 
Images, which the wise Picatrix translated. 

§11 ‘The image of Saturn, according to the opinion of the wise Picatrix, is the 
shape of a man with a crow-like face and the feet of a camel, sitting upon a 
throne, with a spear in his right hand and a lance or dart in his left. This is his 
shape. 

§12 The image of Saturn, according to the wise Apollonius, is the shape ofan 
old man sitting erect on a tall throne. This is his shape. 

§13 ‘The image of Saturn, according to the opinion of the wise Mercurius, is 
the shape of a man standing, raising his hands above his head and holding a 
fish in them. Below his feet is a lizard. This is his shape. 

§14 The image of Saturn, according to the opinion of other sages, is the shape 
of a man standing upon a dragon, holding a scythe in his right hand and a 
spear in his left, dressed in black and tawny clothes. This is his shape. 

[The ring of Saturn. Saturn governs turquoise among the minerals and lead 
among the metals. Therefore, on Sunday during his hour, with the Moon in 
Capricorn, inscribe on turquoise set in a lead ring a man riding upright upon a 
dragon, holding a sickle in his right hand, with an egg-like stone in the middle 
of his hand. The one wearing this ring must avoid eating dilled meats and 
entering dark places. The spirits that dwell in dark and obscure places will be 
well-disposed to the wearer; bulls will assist the wearer. Even profound secrets, 


BOOK 2 105 


humans, scorpions, serpents, mice, all the reptiles upon the earth, and all the 
operations of Saturn will be revealed to the wearer.]”” 

§15 ‘The image of Jupiter, according to the opinion of Apollonius, is the 
shape of a man sitting on an eagle, wrapped in a cloth, with his feet on the 
eagle’s back, and a head, covered by a cloth, held in his right hand. This is his 
shape. [66] 

§16 ‘The image of Jupiter, according to the opinion of Picatrix, is the shape of 
aman with a leonine face and the feet of a bird; beneath his feet he is holding a 
dragon that has seven heads, and in his right hand he holds a dart as if he 
wished to throw it at the head of the dragon. This is his shape. 

§17_ The image of Jupiter, according to the opinion of Mercurius, is the shape 
of a man covered in a single linen cloth, riding upon a dragon, holding a lance 
or a dart in his hand. This is his shape. 

§18 The image of Jupiter, according to the opinion of other sages, is the shape 
of a man riding an eagle, holding a cloth in his right hand and nuts in his left; 
all his clothing is yellow. This is his shape. 

[The ring of Jupiter. Jupiter governs tin among the metals and chalcedony 
among the minerals. Therefore, ona Thursday, during his hour, with the Moon 
being in Sagittarius, inscribe on chalcedony set in a tin ring a man sitting atop 
an eagle with noble or high-class clothes, holding his mouth with his right 
hand. Whoever wears it will see the sons of men, eagles, vultures, lions, and all 
the operations of Jupiter be favorable to them.)° 

§i9 ‘The image of Mars, according to the opinion of the wise Apollonius, is 
the shape of a crowned man holding an inscribed sword in his right hand. This 
is his shape. 

§20 ‘The image of Mars, according to the opinion of Mercurius, is the shape of 
a naked man standing erect on his feet, holding on his right a beautiful virgin 
standing on her feet, which is an image of Venus with her hair fastened back. 
Mars is placing his right hand on his own neck and his left hand extending 
above her chest; he is facing her and admiring her. The sage says that this figure 
has great powers and, indeed, great effects. God willing, we shall speak about it 
later.*! This is his shape. 

§21 The image of Mars, according to the opinion of other sages, is the shape 
of a man riding a lion, holding a sword in his right hand and brandishing the 
head of a man in his left; his clothes are of iron and mail. This is his shape. 
[The ring of Mars. Mars governs iron among the minerals. On Tuesday in his 
hour, inscribe on iron a man dressed in a breastplate, equipped with arms, 
grasping an unsheathed sword in his right hand, and holding in his left the 
head of a man. Anyone wearing this ring will subdue in battle and triumph 


106 PICATRIX 


over enemies. Elephants, lions, and vultures will be well-disposed to the wearer, 
and all the works of Mars will favor them.]° 

§22 ‘The image of the Sun, according to the opinion of the wise Apollonius, is 
the shape of a standing woman, placed ona chariot drawn by four horses, hold- 
ing a mirror in her right hand and a staff bound above her breast in her left 
hand; above her head she has the likeness of a flame. This is her shape. 

§23 The image of the Sun, according to the opinion of Mercurius, is the shape 
of a man standing on his feet as though wanting to salute those around him, 
and he is holding in his left hand a round shield; beneath his feet he has the 
image of a dragon. This is his shape. 

§24 ‘The image ofthe Sun, according to the opinion of Picatrix, is the shape of 
a king sitting on a throne with a crown on his head, with the image of a crow 
in front of him, and beneath his feet is the figure of the Sun that we depicted 
above. This is his shape. 

§25 ‘The image of the Sun, according to the opinion of other sages, is the 
shape of a baron standing in a chariot that is drawn by four horses; in his right 
hand he is holding a mirror, and in his left a shield; all his clothes are yellow. 
This is his shape. 

[The ring of the Sun. The Sun governs gold and adamant among the minerals. 
On Sunday, at the first hour of the day with the Moon in Aries, inscribe in 
adamant set in a gold ring the Sun riding a chariot led by four horses, holding 
in his right hand a marcha (which is an Arabic name), that is, a mirror or a 
gallbladder, and in his left hand a stick knotted with pelts, with a wax seal 
above his head. Anyone wearing the ring should not eat a white dove, nor 
should they have sex with a white woman. While wearing this ring, the sons of 
men and magnates will be well-disposed to you, and whatever you say will be 
obeyed reverently, and all the operations of the Sun will be favorable to you.]}** 
§26 ‘The image of Venus, according to the opinion of the wise Apollonius, is 
the shape of a woman standing on her feet and holding an apple in her right 
hand. This is her shape. [67] 

§27 ‘The image of Venus, according to the opinion of the wise Picatrix, is the 
shape of a woman holding up an apple in her right hand and, in her left, a 
comb similar to a tablet with these characters written on it: OAOIOA. This is 
her shape. 

§28 ‘The image of Venus, according to the opinion of the wise Mercurius, is a 
shape with the body ofa man, the face and head of a bird, and the feet of an 
eagle. This is its shape. 

§29 The image of Venus, according to Ptolomy, is the shape of a naked 
woman, and in front of her neck she has the shape of Mars with a single chain. 
This is her shape. 


BOOK 2 107 


$30 The image of Venus, according to the opinion of other sages, is the shape 
of a woman riding a stag with her hair down, and in her right hand she has an 
apple, and in her left she has flowers; her clothes are of white colors. This is her 
shape. 

[The ring of Venus. Venus governs bronze and copper among the minerals. 
Therefore, on a Friday, in her hour, with the Moon in Libra, inscribe on acuty 
set in a red bronze ring a woman standing upright with a comb in her right 
hand. Anyone wearing the ring should avoid having sex with an old woman. 
Women, kings, flying animals, forest creatures, cocks, locusts, all birds with 
pretty feathers, and all the works of Venus will be well-disposed to the wearer. ]°° 
§31 ‘The image of Mercury, according to the opinion of the wise Apollonius, is 
the shape ofa bearded youth holding a dart in his right hand. ‘This is his shape. 
§32 ‘The image of Mercury, according to the wise Mercurius, is the shape of a 
man with a cock on his head, standing on a throne; his feet are similar to the 
feet of an eagle; he is holding fire in the palm of his left hand and under his feet 
are the figures that are reproduced below.* This is his shape. 

§33 The image of Mercury, according to the opinion of Picatrix, is the shape 
of a man standing with wings extended to his right side, and a small cock on 
his left. He holds a dart in his right hand and a round seashell in his left; in the 
middle of his head is a cock’s crest. This is his shape. 

§34 ‘The image of Mercury, according to the opinion of other sages, is the 
shape ofa crowned baron riding on a peacock; in his right hand he holds a pen 
and in his left a sheet of paper; his clothes are a mixture of every color. This is 
his shape. 

[The ring of Mercury. Mercury governs quicksilver among metals and magne- 
tite among the minerals. Therefore, on Wednesday, in his hour, with the Moon 
in Virgo, inscribe in magnetite a man seated upon a throne, with a round tray 
covered in books placed before him, at his feet men are seated and students are 
listening attentively. Anyone wearing the ring must avoid eating fish. The 
wearer will understand more profoundly and speculate more loftily. Rivers, 
seas, all things living within them, all nations, and all the works of Mercury 
will be well-disposed to the wearer.]*’ 

§35 The image of the Moon, according to the opinion of Mercurius, is the 
shape of a woman with a beautiful face, encircled by a dragon, with horns on 
her head, encircled by two snakes (on her head there are two snakes and on 
each arm a snake is entwined); above her head there is one dragon and another 
beneath her feet; each of these dragons has seven heads. ‘This is her shape. 

§36 ‘The image of the Moon, according to the opinion of Apollonius, is the 
shape of a woman standing upon two bulls; the head of one is next to the tail of 
the other. This is her shape. 


108 PICATRIX 


§37 ‘The image of the Moon, according to the opinion of the wise Picatrix, is 
the shape of aman with a bird upon his head, balancing himself on a cane, with 
a tree in front of him. This is his shape. [68] 

§38 ‘The image of the Moon, according to the opinion of other sages, is the 
shape of a crowned youth, standing on a chariot drawn by four horses; in his 
right hand is a crook and in his left a mirror, and all his clothes are green and 
white. This is his shape. 

§39 Any of these figures, whether of the Sun or of other planets, have won- 
drous powers and effects in magical operations that, God willing, we shall 
explain in this book. 

§40 ‘These are the images just as the ancient sages, that is, those who delved 
into this knowledge, set them out in their books. Each of those figures has 
wondrous effects and the greatest possible powers. Now I intend to speak about 
their effects and powers. 

§41 Image of Saturn for excessive drinking. From the works of Saturn, engrave 
into a turquoise*® stone the shape of a man elevated on a tall throne, with a 
muddy linen cloth on his head, and a scythe in his hand (in the hour of Saturn 
while he is in the ascendant). The power of this image is such that whoever 
carries it will be able to drink excessively but not die except in old age. 

§42 If, from the works of Saturn, you wish to place discord between anyone, 
make these figures on a diamond (with Saturn in the ascendant, in his hour): 


If you were to impress pitch with that image and place this seal in the dwelling 
of the two friends or in that of one of them, they will hate each other. Beware 
not to carry this image with you at all. 

§43 The image of Jupiter. From the works of Jupiter, make the shape of a man 
crowned and sitting on a throne with four feet, each of the feet should be on a 
man’s neck, and all those four men should have wings; the man who sits on the 
throne should raise his hand just as those giving a speech do. Do this in the 
hour of Jupiter while he is in the ascendant and in his own exaltation. Engrave 
this on a clear and white stone. Whoever carries this image will be raised into 
riches and honor. He will live out the best life and have many sons; he will 
accomplish what he desires; all endeavors wherein his effort is spent will end 
well; and no enemy will be able to harm him. 

§44 Ifyou want to be esteemed by officials and judges, engrave on a stone of 
crystal from the works of Jupiter the shape of a handsome man with ample 
clothes riding an eagle; do this in the hour of Jupiter when he is in the ascen- 


BOOK 2 109 


dant and in his exaltation. Whoever carries this image will be esteemed by 
officials and judges. 

§45 If you desire to prevent a woman from conceiving or if you wish to catch 
birds, engrave on a stone that is called <...> from the works of Jupiter the 
image ofa vulture; do this in the hour of Jupiter with the first face of Sagittarius 
[69] rising and Jupiter ascending in it. If a bird hunter were to carry this stone, 
birds would gather around, and he could catch as many of them as he wished. 
The practitioner will also be loved by people and well received. This stone that 
we have mentioned leans toward red in color; when it is shaken in the hands, 
inside it another stone rattles; when it is polished, a white water comes out of it. 
If you were to place this stone on a woman, she would never conceive so long as 
it remains upon her. 

§46 Hermes said: “Whoever makes the image ofa fox on this stone (in the day 
and hour of Venus, with Jupiter ascending in Pisces facing the Moon) and 
holds it will be feared by humans and devils.” 

§47 If one makes on this stone the shape of a crane (in the hour of Jupiter in 
exaltation) and soaks it in any liquid and gives it as a drink to anyone, the 
drinker will behold spirits and from these they will accomplish their desires. 
Hermes mentioned these two powers. 

§48 An image of Mars to do what you will, whether for good or ill. Engrave 
upon a diamond the shape of a man from the figures of Mars riding a lion and 
holding an unsheathed sword in his right hand, brandishing the head ofa man 
in his left. Do this in the hour of Mars with the second face of Aries ascending, 
with Mars ascending therein. Whoever carries this stone will be potent in both 
good and evil but particularly more potent in evil. 

§49 Ifyou wish to make your appearance terrifying, engrave upon stones of 
Mars the shape of a man covered in mail and holding two swords, one on his 
neck and the other unsheathed in his right hand while holding the head of a 
man in his left. Do this while Mars is in his own house. Whoever carries the 
stone will be feared by all those who see them, nor will anyone approach them. 
§50 The image for diverting blood from whichever body part you desire. From 
the works of Mars, engrave upon onyx the image of a lion, and in front of it 
these figures or signs: 


Do this in the hour of Mars with the second face of Scorpio ascending. Who- 
ever carries this image, the blood flowing out of any part of their body will at 
once be staunched. 


110 PICATRIX 


§51 ‘The image of the Sun. If you wish that a king overcome and conquer all 
other kings, engrave in a ruby or a balas ruby the shape of a king sitting ona 
throne made out of the shape of the Sun, having a crown upon his head and a 
crow before him; beneath his feet are these figures: 


Do this when the Sun is in his exaltation. The king who carries this stone will 
conquer all other kings opposed to him. [70] 

§52 If you wish that someone not be vanquished but that they achieve what 
they set out to do and not see pointless dreams, engrave upon a ruby a lion 
from the figures of the Sun and above it the four abovementioned figures when 
the Sun is rising in Leo with the unfortunate planets descending and not facing 
the Sun. Whoever carries this image will never be overcome by anyone, and 
what they begin they will bring to a close. 

§53 From the figures of the Sun, engrave upon a stone of adamant a woman 
sitting upon a chariot drawn by four horses with a mirror in her right hand, a 
rod in her left hand, and seven candelabra above her head. Do this with the Sun 
in exaltation. Whoever carries this image will be feared by everyone who sees 
or encounters them. 

§54 Engrave the figures of the Sun written below upon a stone of hematite 
when the Sun is standing in the first face of Leo ascending. Whoever carries 
this image will be safe from all lunar illnesses that come from the combustion 
of the Moon. 


§55 The image of Venus. Make from the figures of Venus the shape of a woman 
with a human body but with the head of a bird and the feet of an eagle, holding 
an apple in her right hand and a wooden comb similar to a tablet in her left, 
which has these figures written upon it: OAOIOA. Whoever carries this image 
will be well received and esteemed by all. 

§56 From the forms of Venus, inscribe upon a white stone the figure of a 
woman holding an apple in her right hand and a comb in her left, with the first 
face of Libra ascending. Whoever holds or carries this image will always be 
laughing and cheerful. 

$57. From the forms of Venus, inscribe upon a stone of lapis lazuli the figure 
of a naked girl holding a chain around her neck with a man next to her and 


BOOK 2 111 


the form of a small boy raising a sword behind her, in the hour of Venus. 
Whoever carries this image will be loved by women and will achieve their 
desire. 

§58 From the forms of Venus, inscribe on a stone of crystal or beryl the figure 
of a snake, above which is a tarantula, and before which is rising water (with 
Jupiter in his exaltation). Whoever carries this stone will not be bitten by 
snakes, and whoever bathes this image in a liquid and gives it to drink to a 
bitten individual, at once that person will be cured. [71] 

§59 From the forms of Venus, inscribe the figures written below in the hour 
of Venus; all the children will love and follow you. In some other book I found 
this second set of figures; you may write whichever you desire. 


§60 From the forms of Venus, inscribe on beryl the shape of a woman with 
wings sitting, her hair drawn back in two tresses, and two children in her left 
hand (in the hour of Venus in her exaltation). Whoever carries this stone will 
travel easily and without harm. 

§61 From the forms of Venus, inscribe ona stone of crystal the figure of three 
people joined to one another. Whoever carries this figure will be fortunate in 
commerce and make great profit from it. 

§62 From the figures of Venus, inscribe on a stone of coral the figures of two 
male cats and one mouse (in the hour of Venus with her ascending). No mouse 
will remain where you place the figure. 

§63 From the figures of Venus, inscribe on a carnelian the figure of a fly flying 
(in the hour of Venus with herself ascending). No fly will remain where you 
place the figure. 

§64 From the figures of Venus, inscribe the figure of a leech on part of a stone 
of malachite, and on the other part inscribe two leeches, the head of one hold- 
ing the tail of the other (in the hour of Venus with herself in the ascendant). 
Make a wax seal or something else with this image and throw that seal in the 
place of those leeches, and none of them will remain there. 

§65 From the figures of Venus, inscribe on a stone of crystal the figure of a 
woman standing with the figure of an idol standing in front of her. Do this in 
the hour of Venus, herself in the ascendant. Whoever carries this image will be 
loved by women. 


112 PICATRIX 


§66 From the figures of Venus, inscribe on a carnelian stone the figure of a 
woman standing on her feet with the likeness of hair on her thigh, with a folded 
sheet of paper in one hand and an apple in the other (in the hour of Venus, 
herself in the ascendant). Make a seal from this image with wax and give it to 
children in food, they will be freed from colic. 

§67 From the figures of Venus, inscribe upon a carnelian stone the head of a 
wild ass with a fly above its head and atop that a little something (that is, what 
could be a small head covering), in the hour of Venus with Venus herself in the 
ascendant. Make a wax seal with this image and you will overcome all gastric 
ailments. [72] 

§68 The image of Mercury. From the figures of Mercury, inscribe upon an 
emerald the shape of a baron sitting on a stool with a cock above his head, with 
his feet like those of an eagle, with the likeness of fire in his left hand, and with 
these signs under his feet: 


OPO] 


Do this in the hour of Mercury when he is ascending and in exaltation. If a 
prisoner were to carry this stone, he would be freed from prison. 

§69 From the works of Mercury, inscribe the signs below on an emerald (in 
his hour, Mercury himself in the ascendant). Whoever carries this stone will be 
served by scribes, notaries, and all those of mercurial nature. 


§70 From the works of Mercury, inscribe the figure of a frog on an emerald 
(in the hour of Mercury, himself in the ascendant). Whoever carries this stone 
will be offended by none; nay, people will speak well of them, and they will say 
good things about all their works. 

§71 From the works of Mercury, make the figure ofa lion on an emerald and 
another figure in the shape of a lion’s head (in the hour of Mercury, with the 
sign of Gemini ascending, with Mercury standing there). Above its head, write 
an ‘A’ and below its head a‘D.’ Whoever holds this image will avoid sickness, be 
feared, and good things will be spoken about them. 

§72 From the works of Mercury, inscribe on an emerald the figure of a scor- 
pion (in the hour of Mercury, with himself ascending). A pregnant woman 


BOOK 2 113 


carrying this stone will give birth easily and without danger, neither for her 
nor the child. 

§73 From the works of Mercury, inscribe on a marble stone the figure of the 
hand of a man holding scales (in the hour of Mercury, with himself in the 
ascendant). By imprinting a wax seal with this image (or by inscribing another 
suitable object) and giving it to a sick man, he will be cured quickly from any 
kind of fever; this is proven against fevers. 

§74 ‘The image of the Moon. From the forms of the Moon, inscribe the figure 
of a man with the head of a bird holding himself up on a cane and holding in 
his hand the image of a flowering plant (in the hour of the Moon with her 
ascending in her exaltation). Whoever carries this image will never tire on a 
journey, wherever they may go. 

§75 From the forms of the Moon, inscribe these signs on a lapis lazuli (in the 
hour of the Moon, with herself in the ascendant). If you soak this image in any 
liquid and give it to drink to two or [73] more people, then they will love each 
other greatly, and will not be able to be separated from one another: 


§76 From the works of the Moon, inscribe on a stone of crystal the figure ofa 
woman with scattered hair drawn back, standing upon two bulls, holding one 
of her feet on the head of one and the other foot on the other. On another part 
of the stone, inscribe the figure of a woman standing with the likeness of a 
crown on her head and a cane in her right hand. Write these signs around her: 


Do this in the hour of the Moon with her in the ascendant. Imprint a wax seal 
with this image, and then place it in a dovecote. Many doves will gather there. 
§77_ From the works of the Moon, inscribe on lapis lazuli the figure of a lion 
with the head of a man, and this sign above his back: 


Do this in the hour of the Moon with her in the ascendant. You will cure children 
from all their illnesses with this image. 


114 PICATRIX 


§78 From the works of the Moon, inscribe the figure of an adder on bezoar 
stone or green malachite, with these signs on its head: 


Do this in the hour of the Moon with herself in the ascendant. Neither adder 
nor snake will ever come wherever these figures are. 

§79 From the works of the Moon, inscribe these signs on an emerald stone in 
the hour of the Moon with herself in the ascendant. Imprint incense with this 
stone and give that seal to a man, and he will have a good retentive memory: 


§80 ‘These are the images suited to each planet: 

§81 First regarding Saturn. In the hour of Saturn with Saturn ascending in 
the third face of Aquarius, make an image for a healing stone that heals the 
pangs of a virgin and holds back a woman’s blood or menstrual fluids. [74] 

§82 Regarding Jupiter. In the hour of Jupiter with Jupiter rising in the second 
face of Sagittarius with an aspect from the Sun, make an image for preventing 
excessive rain and diverting the losses thereof. 

§83 Regarding Mars. In the hour of Mars with Mars ascending in the first face 
of Scorpio, make an image for strengthening the timid, humbling the wrath of 
a king, and diverting damages caused by thieves, wolves, wild beasts, and all 
wicked folk. 

§84 Regarding the Sun. In the hour of the Sun with the Sun rising in the first 
face of Leo, make an image for banishing wicked thoughts and healing stom- 
ach and liver problems. This image will be effective for these things and even 
for healing old ailments. 

§85 Regarding Venus. In the hour of Venus with Venus ascending in the 
first face of Pisces, make an image for healing women’s gynecological ill- 
nesses, cheering up an unhappy individual, curing melancholy, eliminating 
wicked thoughts, and having more and better sex. In the first face of Taurus 
are made images of great and wondrous effects regarding love and human 
goodwill. 

§86 Regarding Mercury. In the hour of Mercury with Mercury ascending in the 
first face of Gemini, make images for sharpening the memory and the intellect 
regarding knowledge and wisdom or for acquiring mercy from individuals. 


BOOK 2 115 


§87 Regarding the Moon. In the hour of the Moon with the Moon ascending 
in the first face of Cancer, make an image for improving harvests, vegetation, 
and all things that are born in the earth. 


Chapter 11 
On the Images of the Constellations’ Faces and Their Effects 


§1 ‘The ancient sages who discussed this knowledge related so many things 
(and proved them through so many arguments) that if we wished to relate 
everything, it would be excessively prolix and verbose, thus causing us to devi- 
ate from our proposed topic. Nevertheless, we must discuss those explanations 
that are necessary—those without which we would be unable to pursue our 
topic. I myself will teach you what you must study for your advantage, you who 
intends to study this knowledge and draw from its benefits. Reveal this to no 
one. The sages had no intrinsic knowledge about the spirits, nor did they come 
to any except through great difficulty, study, and toil. They achieved what they 
could from this effort, first in quietude, removed from all anxiety or concern 
for this world, and they studied with continued zeal and the good minds and 
memories they possessed. Indeed, the spirit and the senses are strengthened 
through intelligence and memory. A profound knowledge is attained by the 
individual who has a better capacity for discerning and verifying matters that 
not everyone understands. [75] Discerning the veracity of a speaker hinges 
upon good memory and intellect; for this reason, the wise have said that there 
is a type of conviction that is made totally clear by the rational spirit, given for 
improving our capacity to prove things with certainty. What illuminates the 
rational spirit is its ability for and disposition toward receiving the things it 
seeks to receive, thus easily fulfilling pursuits. On that account, intellect is 
vigorous, efficient, and strong, as opposed to opinion, which is feeble. Here is 
an example ofa strong intellect versus a feeble one: the strong one acts without 
difficulty, without great effort; the weak one is subject to change, easily and 
suddenly. In the same way, an individual with a good intellect and memory 
effortlessly understands the sciences and learns in a short time by natural 
perception, study, and insight what must be understood. Good learning and 
comprehension of this kind arises from an acuity of the spirit until, in a small 
amount of time, the individual obtains what he seeks. Indeed, this intellect and 
agility, or disposition, is drawn from the acuity of fire, which acts swiftly in its 
effects. Likewise, it is drawn from the Sun’s acuity, which scatters parts of the 


116 PICATRIX 


atmosphere and illuminates and grows brighter in his own hour. This kind of 
acuity belongs to the intellect, which, on account of its sharpness and clarity, 
subdivides the thing sought, searching within all its parts until it leans toward 
certitude and, in a brief time, understands the thing sought as is. Therefore, 
the sharper the intellect, the more easily does it comprehend a thing sought 
or whatever is brought before it. All this is necessary for understanding the 
following. 

§2 Note that each of the twelve signs is divided into three equal parts, and 
each division is called a “face.” As proclaimed by the sages of India, each of 
these faces has images, forms, and figures; is allocated to one of the seven plan- 
ets; and these faces are divided and distributed according to the position and 
order of the planets, beginning from the highest, proceeding in order down to 
the lowest, then returning to the highest. 

First regarding Aries, whose first face is attributed to Mars, the second to 
the Sun (who follows him in the order), and the third to Venus (who comes 
after the Sun). The first face of Taurus is to Mercury, and thus it proceeds 
through the order of the planets unto the end of the signs. These faces have 
natures and forms suited to the natures and forms of their lords. Here we 
propose to relate the ascending forms in each of these faces as follows. 

§3 The first face of Aries is Mars, and in it (according to the opinion of a 
great sage in that science) there ascends the image of a black man, anxious, 
with a large body, red eyes, holding a chopping axe in his hand, and girded in 
a white cloth. There is great worth in him. This is the face of strength, nobility, 
and worth without modesty. This is its form. [76] 

§4 In the second face of Aries ascends a woman dressed in green clothes 
and missing a leg. This is the face of splendor, excellence, value, and rule. This 
is its form. 

§5 In the third face of Aries ascends an unsettled man, holding a golden 
bracelet in his hands and dressed in red clothes, desiring to do good yet inca- 
pable. This is the face of subtlety, subtle crafts, novelties, instruments, and the 
like. This is its form. 

§6 In the first face of Taurus ascends a woman with curly hair, with a single 
son wearing clothes similar to fire, and she also is dressed in similar clothes. 
This is the face for plowing and working the land, science and geometry, sow- 
ing and crafting. This is its form. 

§7 In the second face of Taurus ascends a man looking like a camel, with 
hooves in place of his fingers like cattle. He himself is wholly covered with a 
torn linen cloth. He wishes to work the earth, sow, and craft. This is the face of 
nobility, political power, and rewarding the people. This is its form. 


BOOK 2 117 


§8 In the third face of Taurus ascends a red-colored man with very large, 
white teeth visible outside his mouth and with a body similar to an elephant 
with long legs. With him ascends one horse, one dog, and one calf. This is the 
face of wickedness, poverty, misery, and fear. This is its form. 

§9 In the first face of Gemini ascends a beautiful woman, the mistress of 
stitching, and with her ascend two calves and two horses. This is the face for 
scribal work, computation and number, giving and receiving, and science. This 
is its form. 

§10 In the second face of Gemini ascends a man whose face is similar to an 
eagle, and his head is covered by a linen cloth. He is covered and equipped with 
lead chainmail and on his head is an iron helmet, above which is a silken 
crown, with a bow and arrows in his hand. This is the face of oppression, evils, 
and subtleties. This is its form. 

§11. In the third face of Gemini ascends a man covered in chainmail with a 
bow, arrows, and a quiver. This is the face of daring, honesty, the division of 
labor, and encouragement. This is its form. 

$12 In the first face of Cancer ascends a man with crooked fingers and a bent 
over head. His body is like a horse. He has white feet, and fig leaves cover his 
body. This is the face of instruction, knowledge, love, subtlety, and craft. This is 
its form. 

§13 In the second face of Cancer ascends a woman with a beautiful face with 
a crown of green myrtle on her head and the stem ofa plant that is called the 
water lily in her hand, singing songs of love and joy. This is the face of games, 
riches, rejoicing, and abundance. This is its form. [77] 

§14 In the third face of Cancer ascends a turtle® with a serpent in his hand 
and golden chains before him. This is the face of running, riding, and acquir- 
ing profit in war, disputes, and conflict. This is its form. 

§15 In the first face of Leo ascends a man dressed in dirty clothes. With him 
ascends the figure of a master of the horse looking northward. His figure is that 
of a bear and of a dog. ‘This is the face of strength, largesse, and victory. This is 
its form. 

§16 In the second face of Leo ascends a man with a crown of white myrtle on 
his head and a bowin his hand. This is a face of beauty, of riding, and of the rise 
of ignorant and rude men. It is the face of war and unsheathed swords. This is 
its form. 

§17_ Inthe third face of Leo ascends an old man, black and filthy, holding fruit 
and meats in his mouth and a bronze pitcher in his hand. This is the face of 
love, delight, feast platters, and health. This is its form. 


118 PICATRIX 


§18 In the first face of Virgo ascends a virgin girl covered in an old, soft linen 
cloth, holding a pomegranate in her hand. This is the face for sowing, plowing, 
germinating trees, collecting grapes, and a good life. This is its form. 

§ig9 In the second face of Virgo ascends a man of handsome complexion 
dressed in hide; above the clothes of hide is another covering of steel. This is the 
face of petitions, desires, loot, tribute, and denying fair things. This is its form. 
§20 In the third face of Virgo ascends a white man with a large body dressed 
in a white linen garment. With him there is a woman holding black oil in her 
hand. This is the face of weakness, old age, sickness, laziness, the cursing of 
body parts, and the destruction of people. This is its form. 

§21 In the first face of Libra ascends a man holding a lance in his right hand 
and a bird hanging by its feet in his left. This is the face of justice, truth, good 
judgments, perfect justice for the people and weak persons, and doing well to 
those in need. This is its form. 

§22 In the second face of Libra ascends a black man with a fiancée and a 
joyful path ahead. This is the face of quietude, rejoicing, abundance, and good 
life. This is its form. 

§23 In the third face of Libra ascends a man riding upon an ass, and a wolf is 
before him. This is the face of evil works, sodomites, adultery, songs, rejoicing, 
and flavors. This is its form. 

§24 In the first face of Scorpio ascends a man holding a lance in his right 
hand, the head of a man in his left. This is the face of power, sadness, ill will, 
and enmity. This is its form. [78] 

§25 In the second face of Scorpio ascends a man riding a camel, holding a 
scorpion in his hand. This is the face of knowledge, modesty, power, and of one 
speaking ill of another. This is its form. 

§26 In the third face of Scorpio ascends a horse and a hare. This is the face of 
evil works, flavors, and joining oneself by force with unwilling women. This is 
its form. 

§27 In the first face of Sagittarius ascends three bodies of men of whom one is 
yellow, another white, and the third red. This is the face of heat, manumission, 
bearing fruit in fields or gardens, sustaining, and separating. This is its form. 
§28 In the second face of Sagittarius ascends a man leading two cows with a 
monkey and a bear before him. This is the face of fear, lamentation, sorrow, 
pain, misery, and restlessness. This is its form. 

§29 In the third face of Sagittarius ascends a man with a hat on his head 
killing another man. This is the face of swiftness in ill wills, inimical and evil 
effects, wicked wishes of enmity, dispersion, and poor conduct. This is its form. 
$30 In the first face of Capricorn ascends a man holding a reed in his right 
hand and a hoopoe in his left. This is the face of joyfulness, rejoicing, and 


BOOK 2 119 


dissolving businesses, as well as laziness, weakness, and poor process. ‘This is 
its form. 

§31 In the second face of Capricorn ascends a man with a typical monkey 
before him. This is the face for seeking impossibilities or things that nobody 
has prevailed in achieving. This is its form. 

§32 In the third face of Capricorn ascends a man holding a book for himself 
to open and close; before him, he has the tail of a fish. This is the face for riches, 
the accumulation of money, and for gathering and growing businesses inclined 
toward a positive end. This is its form. 

$33 Inthe first face of Aquarius ascends a man with a mutilated head, holding 
a peacock in his hand. This is the face of misery, poverty, and crumb cleaners. 
This is its form. 

§34 In the second face of Aquarius ascends a man similar to a king who 
permits himself much and abhors those he sees. This is the face of beauty and 
position, the achievement of desires, fulfillment, detriment, and weakness. 
This is its form. 

§35 Inthe third face of Aquarius ascends a man with a mutilated head and an 
old woman with him. This is the face of abundance, the fulfillment of the will, 
and affronts. This is its form. 

§36 In the first face of Pisces ascends a man with two bodies, appearing as if 
he were greeting with his hands. This is the face of peace, humility, weakness, 
long journeys, misery, the search for riches, and the taking of pity on other 
ways of life. This is its form. 

$37 In the second face of Pisces ascends a man with a second upside-down 
head, [79] his feet raised on high, and a platter in his hand for eating. This is the 
face of great value, strong will, seriousness, worthiness, and contemplation 
regarding splendid matters. This is its form. 

§38 In the third face of Pisces ascends a gloomy man with evil thoughts, 
considering deceits and betrayals. In front of him there is a woman with an 
ass climbing atop her, and a bird in her hand. This is the face for mounting 
and having sex with yearning women, or for seeking quietude and rest. This 
is its form. 

§39 Know that in the signs’ faces is the greatest secret and a great profit that 
cannot be grasped except by those most studious in the art of astrology and 
who have a good comprehension of it—sharp and subtle in extracting funda- 
mentals and profound subtleties. This is because one planet can impede the 
effects of another. The power of a boundary is stronger than the power of a 
face, and the power of a face is stronger than the power of a house. Through 
their natures, one encroaches upon the other just as water extinguishes the 
heat of fire, and fire carries away the coldness of water, or as water softens and 


120 PICATRIX 


moistens the dryness of earth, and earth dries up the wetness of water. When 
pure natural things are joined together, the stronger overcomes and prevails. 
Even if many weak natural things were conjoined, the stronger ones would 
overcome them all. If they were equal in their powers and effects, that process 
and its effects would have a mixed nature. If there were one very strong nature 
removed from its appropriate place, it would lessen and damage its purity. In 
the same way, when health is at its height, then illness is generated; or when 
the fruit is ripe and ready for harvesting, it falls from the tree by itself; or 
when a small snake overcomes and kills large snakes; or how tiny worms kill 
a snake when working together; and this is especially so when the stronger 
things are weakened and more hampered in their natures. Pay diligent atten- 
tion to the things discussed. The properties of those faces are such that you 
might observe what is important regarding the effects and bodies of each 
planet. When you craft any of the images with the faces mentioned above, do 
it with the material suited to the planet that rules in that face. Then, if the 
image was made with that face’s planet, that process will be complete and 
manifest in the world. If perchance the Sun were in the ascendant in the hour 
of that planet or it had another desirable combination with him, then its effect 
would be more stable and stronger. In all the above, beware that a planet’s 
nature not be overcome by the Sun. Nevertheless, if you have understood 
everything discussed, you should be able to craft and perfect the faces’ images 
with the stated effects. [80] 


Chapter 12 


On the Figures and Degrees of the Signs and Their Effects According to the 
Indians; How One Contemplates This Knowledge; and How, According to 
Their Opinion, the Powers of Superior Bodies Are Drawn Down (with 
Notable Secrets) 


§1 Some sages from India claim that the foundation of the magical art 
regarding effects is a dignity called adorugen, which they assign and distribute 
among the seven planets; they also call the planet that governs each part an 
adorugen.* The adorugen are found in this way: an ascending sign is divided 
into three equal parts, and its first part is attributed to the lord of the ascendant, 
the second to the lord of the fifth house, and the third to the lord of the ninth 
house. This is because the ascendant, the fifth, and the ninth belong to the same 
triplicity. Works of magical art must be brought about through the faces of the 
signs according to the sages of India, as it will be told below in sequence. 


BOOK 2 121 


§2 At first letus begin from Aries. We say that its first face belongs to Mars, 
wherein images are made so that those individuals for whom the images are 
cast may always overcome and succeed in battles, litigations, and controversies 
and that they might never ever be overcome. Furthermore, images are made in 
it for preventing the milk of beasts and cursing their butter. 

§3 The second face of Aries belongs to the Sun, and in it make images for 
kings and lords, for acquiring their love, and for diverting their nuisances. 

§4 ‘The third face of Aries belongs to Jupiter; in it make images for officials, 
vicars, city judges, prelates, and for fostering peace and benevolence between 
them and also for reconciling them when they are in disagreement. 

§5 The first face of Taurus belongs to Venus; in it make images for fostering 
love between a man and his wife. 

§6 ‘The second face of Taurus belongs to Mercury; in it make an image for 
causing enmity, binding wills, and introducing discord among women. 

§7 The third face of Taurus belongs to Saturn; in it make an image for bind- 
ing men so that they cannot copulate with women and, on the other hand, for 
making women ill and separating men from women. 

§8 The first face of Gemini belongs to Mercury; in it make images for curs- 
ing the senses and the intellect. 

§9 The second face of Gemini belongs to Venus; in it make images so that 
the absent may come, and the fugitive may be returned to his place. 

$10 The third face of Gemini belongs to Saturn; in it make images so that evil 
things may be said about whomever you desire and that they may be laid low in 
infamy. 

§11 The first face of Cancer belongs to the Moon; in it make images for invok- 
ing clouds and [81] rains at a time of necessity or so that the absent may return 
by land or sea. 

§12 The second face of Cancer belongs to Mars; in it make an image for pre- 
venting destructive rains and snows and diverting harmful snakes and wild 
beasts on land or sea. 

§13. ‘The third face of Cancer belongs to Jupiter; in it make an image for evad- 
ing nautical dangers. 

§14 The first face of Leo belongs to the Sun; in it make an image for acquiring 
the love and benevolence of lords and for gathering wolves, bears, and wild 
beasts in a place you desire. 

§15 ‘The second face of Leo belongs to Jupiter; in it make an image for divert- 
ing wolves and bears so that they may not do harm to the beasts of the herds. 
§16 ‘The third face of Leo belongs to Mars; in it make an image for bringing 
together bears, wolves, and wild beasts into whatever city, village, or place 
you desire. 


122 PICATRIX 


§17_ ‘The first face of Virgo belongs to Mercury; in it make an image so that 
scribes may do well and profit in their business dealings. 

§18 ‘The second face of Virgo belongs to Saturn; in it make an image for curs- 
ing instruments and scribes’ tools. 

§i9 ‘The third face of Virgo belongs to Venus; in it make an image for foster- 
ing the peace and love of women and their husbands. 

§20 ‘The first face of Libra belongs to Venus; in it make an image so that 
whomever you desire be afflicted with love for a woman, or vice versa. 

§21 The second face of Libra belongs to Saturn; in it make an image for love 
in all things according to the above. 

§22 ‘The third face of Libra belongs to Mercury; in it make an image so that a 
fugitive may return from wherever he was. 

§23 ‘The first face of Scorpio belongs to Mars; in it make an image for gather- 
ing tarantulas, snakes, and vipers to whichever place you desire. 

§24 ‘The second face of Scorpio belongs to Jupiter; in it make an image for 
expelling tarantulas and snakes from whichever place you desire. 

§25 ‘The third face of Scorpio belongs to the Moon; in it make an image 
for diverting and preventing rains and damages from the rain itself or from 
the sea. 

§26 ‘The first face of Sagittarius belongs to Jupiter; in it make an image for 
love, benevolence, and community. 

§27 ‘The second face of Sagittarius belongs to Mars; in it make an image for 
afflicting and infecting whomever you desire. [82] 

§28 ‘The third face of Sagittarius belongs to the Sun; in it make an image for 
acquiring the love and grace of kings and social superiors. 

§29 ‘The first face of Capricorn belongs to Saturn; in it make an image for 
hunting birds and beasts and so that the milk of the herds may be improved 
and increased. 

§30 ‘The second face of Capricorn belongs to Venus; in it make an image for 
increasing the milk of goats, improving bees and multiplying them in their 
dwellings, and calling birds to the place you desire. 

§31 ‘The third face of Capricorn belongs to Mercury; in it make an image for 
cursing everything contained in the previous face. 

§32 ‘The first face of Aquarius belongs to Saturn; in it make an image for love 
and friendship; for gathering the elderly, the upper class, and servants; or for 
discovering and seizing treasures. 

§33 ‘The second face of Aquarius belongs to Mercury; in it make an image for 
the love and company of boys. 

§34 ‘The third face of Aquarius belongs to Venus; in it make an image for the 
friendship and benevolence of women. 


BOOK 2 123 


§35 ‘The first face of Pisces belongs to Jupiter; in it make an image for fishing 
in the sea and for having safe journeys in doing so. 

§36 ‘The second face of Pisces belongs to the Moon; in it make an image for 
promoting vegetation and fruits, for provoking rain at a time of need, and for 
gathering fish wherever you desire, whether in rivers or seas. 

§37_ ‘The third face of Pisces belongs to Mars; in it make an image for having 
safe journeys in military affairs and in hunting birds and beasts. 

§38 The Indians call these faces adorugen.® 

$39 Hermes Trismegistus wrote the book On Images for Renal Stones, wherein 
he posits that one by one each image is connected to an organ of the human 
body and formed under the faces of the signs. Take pure gold, and make a seal 
on which you should inscribe the figure of a lion with the Sun being in Leo in 
the first or second face and in the ascendant or mid-heaven, with the Moon not 
in her house, and the lord of the ascendant neither facing Saturn nor Mars nor 
receding from them. This seal should be bound on the back or around the 
kidneys. I have tested that whoever carries it never suffers. I even saw some 
doctor imprint frankincense with that seal as if it were wax. He gave that seal 
to a patient in a drink, and at once he was cured. I myself have made imprinted 
pills from the blood of a goat according to those instructions, and they worked 
miraculously. This same thing occurs regarding pain in other limbs relative to 
their function and shape and their connection with the planets. 

§40 Aries. Its image is a standing ram without a tongue. Its properties are for 
all the illnesses of the head. To whomever was born with the Sun in the first, 
third, or fifth degree of Aries, this figure is not profitable unless it is made in 
the waxing or the fullness of the Moon. [83] These are the conditions of the 
figure: Saturn and Mars must be direct, Jupiter must not be in Aquarius, and 
Venus must not bein Virgo because it is the house of her descent, and Mercury 
should not be in Taurus; this figure should be made between the first degree of 
Aries all the way to the fifth degree of the first face, and it should not be made 
in the second face (for some say that the second face pertains to the eyes and 
the third to the ears, whence it must be examined in succession) and when the 
Sun or Jupiter are entirely above the Earth. Make it in the hour of the Sun. 
Others say that it is good on the day and hour of Jupiter. The seal should be 
made of gold or silver to the weight of seven grains of ordinary wheat. This has 
been verified. 

§41 Taurus. Its image is placed on the liver and on all its infirmities. Make it 
in the first face from the first degree to the ninth. Saturn should notbe in Pisces 
nor the Moon in Scorpio, and Mars should be direct; it is indeed subject to 
change a lot. The seal should be made the day and hour of the Sun; the Sun 
should not be beneath the Earth. It should not be made in the second face of 


124 PICATRIX 


Taurus (for some say that the second face is for illness of the gallbladder, and 
the third face is for illness of the windpipe). Its image should be made in the 
shape of an ox with a large tail, a small mouth, and large eyes. Make the seal out 
of red bronze. 

§42 Gemini. Its image is placed upon the spleen and all its illnesses. Make it 
between the first degree and the tenth. The Sun should be above the Earth; if 
Jupiter is in Gemini, it will be more effective because he diminishes the spleen. 
The Gemini are two twisted bodies in the shape of two men down to the navel 
and one body from the navel downward; and in one hand it holds a staff. The 
seal should be made out of silver on the day and hour of the Sun in the first face 
of Gemini; in the second or third faces you will find damage to other organs. 
§43 Cancer. Its shape is placed over all illnesses of the abdomen. Make it in 
the first face between the first degree and the fifth; the second face does not 
apply to that illness for it governs every illness of the large intestine. Make sure 
Saturn and Jupiter are not retrograde, that Mars is in Taurus, and the Moon is 
waxing in her light. The Sun should be in descent (that is, after midday), and 
Leo should be above the Earth. It should not be made except on Sunday nor 
should it be made except between or in the first and eighth hour. Make it out of 
gold or silver. Its image is the form of a crab. Make sure Capricorn is not in the 
middle house (according to the opinion of the teachers of doctrine, the middle 
house is the sixth or eighth house). Taurus should not be in the fourth house; 
pay attention to these conditions because they are all necessary. It is placed 
over one suffering from colic. Ifthe seal is made in the night of the Sun and its 
hour, it will be very good. 

§44 Leo. Its image is placed over the right kidney and above every illness of 
the kidneys. Make its image in the shape of a lion without a tongue, straight 
and upright. It should be made in the day and hour of the Sun, and it should be 
made between the first degree and the tenth of the first face. Mars should be 
direct; and if Saturn and Jupiter are in the same sign, there can be nothing 
better. If the Moon were in Leo, she should be waxing; if she were in the other 
signs, we should not fear her, though she should not be in the fourth, fifth, or 
sixth houses. Saturn should not be in the eighth house. The seal should be 
made out of gold or silver, and it should be made [84] by engraving or impress- 
ing it in a single strike. The weather should not be cloudy nor should the seal be 
made between the middle of the fifth degree or higher; the Sun should be above 
the Earth. The second face is used for carrying away every illness of Mercury 
and the Moon, and the third face is placed over the ribs, which are in front of 
the kidneys; and it is tested. Some say that if the seal is impressed into mastic 
gum with the Sun in Leo and re-softened in wine for ten days and drank whole 
at the time of need, it cures every disease of the right kidney for that entire year. 


BOOK 2 125 


§45 Virgo. Its image is of a woman covered and riding on a lion, holding in 
her hand a staff or a sword. It is placed over all the illnesses of the left kidney 
for an individual over five years old. There are many other conditions that are 
posited in the Book of Images,® but here I shall relate those that are most essen- 
tial. Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars should be retrograde; the Moon should not be in 
the fifth house nor the Sun in the eighth house nor Jupiter in Aquarius nor 
Saturn in Leo nor Aldebaran under the Earth; nor should Algamidirus be with 
the Moon nor in her aspect; nor should Saturn and Mars be contrary (that is, 
opposite); nor should Jupiter be in mid-heaven. The seal should be made with 
the Sun between the first and fifth degree of the first face of Virgo. Make the 
shape of a man riding a lion. In this it will have great power: the Indian sages 
who are experienced in this agree on it. The seal should be made from gold or 
silver on the day and hour of the Sun. Do not change anything written here, 
and be cautious in the number. 

§46 Libra. Its image is placed over all illnesses of the stomach. Make it in the 
first face between the first degree and the tenth. Venus should not be retrograde 
nor should Jupiter be in Libra, and let the Sun be above the Earth. Craft it on 
the day of Jupiter between the first and fifth hour. The seal should be made out 
of gold or silver to the weight of seven ordinary grains of wheat. Indian sages 
never varied the custom; on the contrary, they made it on the day and the hour 
of the Sun, and they have demonstrated that it should not be made on a cloudy 
day. If you can have the Sun shine upon the image, there can be nothing better, 
just as Enoch wrote; and it was verified. It is said that the form of Libra must be 
a man climbing or walking upright, holding accurate scales in his hand, and 
with a bird upon his head, half-white and half-black. The men from the south 
wrote that the Moon should not be waning in her light. If she were in Libra, be 
very cautious in number and form; this is verified. Whoever tested it discov- 
ered that it is better in the first degree. According to them, it was because 
Jupiter was above the Earth and the work was during daytime. The seal was 
improved because it was wrought by engraving rather than stamping. 

§47 Scorpio. Some posit that its image is the shape of a crow, and some that it 
is the image of a man holding a crow in his hand; both have been verified to be 
the case. It is placed over illnesses of the upper intestine. The Moon should be 
waxing in her light on the day and hour of the Sun; the Sun should be above the 
Earth; it should be made in the first face; and it should not be cloudy. The 
Indians posit that Saturn should be above the Earth. Make it in the first face of 
Scorpio between the first degree and the eleventh. [85] 

§48 Sagittarius. Its image is that of a man firing arrows with a bow. Enoch 
says that it ascends tortuously such that its head is bent, and in his left hand is 
a bird. It is placed over all infirmities of the right hand. He greatly recommends 


126 PICATRIX 


it against amnesia because it is useful for expelling all the illnesses of Saturn, 
Mars, and Venus. Saturn should not be retrograde nor should Mars be in the 
twelfth house nor Jupiter in the fourth house; the Sun should be above the 
Earth; and the weather should not be cloudy. The seal should be made from 
gold or silver in the first face between the first degree and the fifth in the day 
and hour of the Sun. 

§49 Capricorn. Its image is of a single white goat, and the middle of its belly 
is black. It is placed over all illnesses of the left hand and used for expelling 
illnesses of Mercury and the Moon. Mercury should be above the Earth and 
not retrograde; Saturn should be beneath the Earth and Venus ascending above 
in the East, as Enoch says. The Indians say that it should be made in the day and 
hour of the Sun or on Wednesday in the hour of the Sun; but the latter is not as 
good as the former. The seal should be made in the first face between the first 
degree and the tenth. Some propose that its property is for laughter and tears 
(that is, for use against laughter and tears); some posit that it calms an angry 
individual, reducing them to graciousness. 

§50 Aquarius. Its image is that of a man holding two pitchers. It is placed 
upon all infirmities of the right foot. Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars should not be 
retrograde; the Moon should be above the Earth and Venus beneath the Earth. 
Some have posited this figure for all illnesses of the feet. It should be made in 
the first face between the first degree and the fourth. It is for carrying away all 
wicked feelings of the heart. Others have posited that it is for making one joy- 
ful. Make it in the day and hour of the Sun; Jupiter should not be combusted by 
the Sun, and the Sun should not be higher than Jupiter; and let Saturn be in the 
degree of the ascendant. 

§51 Pisces. Its image is placed upon all infirmities of the left foot. Make it 
while the Moon is in mid-heaven; Mars should not be in mid-heaven, Jupiter 
should not be retrograde, and the Sun should be above the Earth. The weather 
should not be cloudy. Make it entirely in the first face; the second face is posited 
for the shins, and the third for the hips. Some have posited that this third is 
against human cruelty, as the Indians have verified. The seal should be made 
out of gold and not out of any other metal. Others say that tin is good for this 
or mastic gum. Do this during daytime. Hermes laid out these figures in his 
book on renal stones. 

§52 One great Indian sage says that the pouring down of the fixed stars’ 
power is not brought to effect except by the ordering, purification, inquiry, and 
evaluation of the will. The powers of the bodies above are the forms and forces 
of those below; the forms below are like matter disposed to the powers of the 
forms above; they are bound to one another as one draws upon the other. This 


BOOK 2 127 


happens because physical matter is one substance alone and spiritual matter is 
also one substance. [86] 

§53 Other Indian sages claim that these powers are subtle things that God 
created and placed in the world above His creatures in mercy and piety. Those 
sages who wrote much on these topics also discussed a subtlety and sharpness 
of the mind. When they sought to achieve the level of the higher ones who 
established the laws, they first had to punish their bodies and purify themselves 
of all uncleanliness. This they began in the first hour of Sunday, which day and 
hour are properly attributed to the Sun. They fasted for forty days without meat 
and were nourished by the things grown in the earth, seeds, and herbs. They 
would diminish their food intake each day unto the fortieth day; then, on the 
last of the forty days, they ate one fortieth part of what they had eaten on the 
first day. Throughout the whole fast and afterward, drugs were employed by 
which the desire for eating and drinking was removed (the opportunity for 
which they never lacked). After they did this, they discovered a subtlety and 
sharpness of mind in their spirit. They understood everything they wished 
while strengthening and enhancing their spirit and senses. Within them the 
earthly and gross parts were diminished; then subtlety and insight manifested 
clearly within them. The taste or longing for ascending to the higher world and 
the place from which the spirit comes became evident. They abhorred the 
tastes, comforts, and delights of the world. Once they did this, it was fitting 
that they draw upon the powers of the heavens for they would say and do won- 
drous things. They realized their desires in past and future things by knowing 
the periods of their lives. Thus, they had the power of establishing laws as they 
pleased, and the spirits of the stars were obedient unto them. In this book are 
contained the great secrets that they call the truth of things through which to 
understand God on high and recognize Him as maker and creator of all. They 
assert that everyone using this work did so only to come to an understanding 
of God Himself and His unity, that they be illuminated by His light. As much 
as we have said above, we have said nothing other than to reveal the sages’ 
origins and the aggregate of their effects and organizations, which they enacted 
in their laws. 

§54 So great were their wonders that if we wanted to relate them, it would be 
as difficult for the listeners as for the narrators, and this work of ours would 
become too prolix and verbose, deviating from our proposed topic. Therefore, 
let us return to our proposed topic by profitably leaving behind the things 
discussed. 

§55 I say that the wise al-Razi®* wrote a book on magic, and in it he posited 
one set of astrological conditions that he had tested: in all works of magic made 


128 PICATRIX 


for love, friendship, and fellowship or anything similar to these, see to it that 
the Moon be conjoined to Venus or facing her [87] in the sign of Pisces or that 
the Moon in Pisces be facing Venus in the sign of Taurus. When we will have 
observed that set of astrological conditions in such things, we shall obtain our 
intent wondrously and achieve what we desired. When wishing to perform 
some kind of harm, see to it that the Moon be in Cancer or Libra, facing Mars 
or conjoined to him in the ascendant or seventh house, and what we sought 
will be wrought in evil. In all the rituals for bloodshed from any source, place 
the Moon in an aquatic sign. In all rituals for discord and enmity, place the 
Moon in Aries or Cancer facing Saturn from a square aspect or conjoined with 
him. In the rituals to bind tongues, place the Moon under the rays of the Sun, 
and operate at night. In every ritual for kings, elders, and noblemen, place the 
Moon in aspect with the Sun in his house or exaltation, also in mid-heaven; 
and when it is like this, our request will be fulfilled. In all rituals for prelates, 
judges, and rectors and of those dealing with laws, place the Moon facing Jupi- 
ter in Pisces or Sagittarius and in mid-heaven, by which their business is 
strengthened and fulfilled. In all rituals for laws, scribes, and kings’ servants 
and of the debts of kings’ tenants, place the Moon facing Mercury in Gemini or 
Virgo; let the Moon be in her full light; then you will be able to complete the 
transaction. 

§56 Understand that the square aspect of the Moon with any of the planets is 
more apparent according to nature. This is when she is in any of the four angles, 
the stronger of which is the angle of mid-heaven. Thus, in all beneficial works, 
see that there is an aspect to the fortunate planets, but for evil works she should 
have an aspect with the unfortunate planets alone. If you wish to perform some 
sort of evil ritual, see to it that the unfortunate planets are in aspect with her 
because the aforesaid effects are fulfilled by the powers of Saturn and Mars for 
they are stronger in these kinds of operations. 

§57 Likewise, know that the aspect of the Moon with the planets is stronger 
when the Moon is east of the Sun or before him, not when she is behind him. 
When the aspect of the Moon with the Sun is trine or sextile, it is favorable in 
all noble works such as seeking treasure, great riches, rule, honor, and victory. 
However, if in all these works the Moon were in the tenth house, the execution 
would be better and far stronger in implementing the effect itself, which can- 
not occur with the Moon in the fourth or seventh houses. The Moon herself is 
good for nothing mentioned here if deprived of light or combusted by the Sun. 
The trine or sextile, square, or opposite aspects of the Moon toward Venus are 
compatible with all [88] effects. However, it is not as useful as the aspect of 
Jupiter, which is indeed better and stronger in all rituals, except in those of 
crafting, love, long-lasting friendship with women, and in all similar things 


BOOK 2 129 


where the aspect of Venus is better and stronger than Jupiter since all these 
things are properly attributed to Venus (particularly when her aspect is trine 
and the Moon is in a terrestrial or aquatic sign). If per chance the Moon was in 
a fiery or an airy sign, she should be ascending in them. 

§58 ‘The sage who voiced the things above, al-Razi, was a man worthy of cre- 
dence regarding all those sciences since he was a sage, an inquirer into the 
sciences, and a tester of things, taking a great interest in the books of the 
ancients. Geber Abnehayen was also a great sage who wrote many books on 
this body of knowledge.® He wrote a book called the Book of the Secrets of 
Magic; another, Great Book, divided into eighty chapters; and another that he 
named the Book of Keys, with the figures of the degrees and their effects and 
astrological judgments; then another, On the Astrolabe, which he divided into 
a thousand chapters wherein he explains the many rituals and wondrous effects 
that none other has discussed. He also wrote this great book he entitled the 
Complete Book of Magic, wherein he compiled the sayings of sages concerning 
all the knowledge and other wonders that the wise keep hidden. Geber observed 
all the sciences of images, the effects of the figures of the heavens, the planetary 
powers, and the works of nature. In fact, this sage wrote all the above material, 
having drawn out the Sun’s motion and effect, which he discovered by means 
of the arithmeticians’ calculations. For these things I have deservingly titled 
him “wise,” accepted him into my teaching, and made myself his disciple 
(though there exists a great gap of time between us). I pray God that He grant 
him eternal life and place him loftily among the souls of the blessed. 

§59 Plato, the great sage, made two books of magic, namely the Greater and 
the Lesser. In the Greater, Plato discussed the effects of the heavens’ figures, 
from which arose great wonders, he said, such as walking on water; transform- 
ing into the form of any animal (or some composite shape unheard of through- 
out the ages); provoking rain at a time when it ought not to rain; holding back 
rain at a time when rain is expected; making stars run and cast their rays outside 
of their appropriate hours; burning down enemy cities, seaborne ships, and far 
off regions you wish to be consumed with fire; ascending into the air; causing 
the stars to appear at an awkward time such that they seem to be falling from 
heaven; speaking with the dead; making the Sun and Moon appear divided into 
many parts; causing ropes and spears to seem like snakes or serpents, eating 
everything set before them; and crossing distances, great or small, in the blink 
of an eye. All these things ensue from the figures’ powers and from the attrac- 
tion of the spirits’ fortitudes such that they may be obedient to us. These ensue 
from [89] the composition of their fortitudes with the bodies’ figures composed 
from the matter of this inferior world. From these things follow the spiritual 
motions that move all bodies, through which motions arise wondrous effects 


130 PICATRIX 


(and works from the category of miracles usually not appearing among human- 
kind).°° In fact, for this reason, all the books composed by Plato are full of fig- 
ures’ descriptions and exhortations for us to identify them and learn their 
properties and effects and how we might be able to achieve their effects and 
describe them intimately in every way. This is what Pythagoras said speaking 
about the figures of the heavens: they are examples signifying other figures of 
the world. He also said that there exists in the upper world a durable and spiri- 
tual matter that sense perception cannot perceive. Geber Abnehayen composed 
one book on this science that he called the Complete Book. In it he spoke of what 
comprises a rational and an irrational animal. Concerning natural reason, he 
said that it conforms to the effects of nature. What Plato said about the reason 
of heaven, however, he said about the powers and effects of the spirits’ figures, 
which are composed of natural matter. In our book, God willing, we will discuss 
all these things with explanations of the effects of the heavenly figures. These we 
will discuss in an appropriate place according to our own judgment, according 
to what we have discovered in the books of sages, and according to what I have 
tested recently regarding the effects of the figures, signs, and planets. 


The second book of Picatrix ends. [90] 


BOOK 3 


Here Begins the Third Book of Picatrix Concerning the Properties of the 
Planets and Signs; Their Forms and Figures Shown in Their Respective 
Colors; How One Can Speak with the Spirits of the Planets; and Many 
More Magical Matters [91] 


Chapter 1 
On the Roles of the Planets in Plants, Animals, and Metals 


§1 After having spoken in the preceding book on the images and figures of 
the heavens and the other matters therein, now let us discuss how the figures or 
faces of this world are likened to those celestial figures similar to them. Know 
that according to the fact that the Sun crosses from place to place in the circle of 
signs, his effects are diversified. They are also diversified on account of the 
variety of planets and fixed stars. When you wish to make preparations, see to 
it that the timing be compatible with the necessary rituals by paying attention 
to the celestial figures, then the works should transpire with the intended effect 
by the nature and similarity of terrestrial to celestial things and the congru- 
ence of the two natures to each other (namely, the celestial and the terrestrial). 
The celestial power is poured into the terrestrial, and in it the spiritual motion 
and alteration is greatest according to what is desired. Thus, the works of images 
are of two kinds, namely, by the power of the heavens and by the natural power 
of the Earth. In this third book, we will relate the entire picture concerning 
magical images. Here follows the knowledge of images and its high nobility. 

§2 Here I shall tell in fuller detail the effects and powers that each of the 
planets has individually within itself vis-a-vis the effects and properties of 
magic. 

§3 First I shall speak about Saturn. Saturn is the source of retentive power. 
He governs an aspect toward profound knowledge; the science of law; the 
search for causes, effects, and the origins of things; the utterance of magical 
words; and the knowledge of deep and occult properties. From the languages, 


132 PICATRIX 


he governs Hebrew and Chaldean. From the external appendages, he governs 
the right ear. From the internal organs, he governs the spleen, which is the 
source of melancholy conjoining all organs. From the religions, he governs 
Judaism. From cloth types, he governs all black cloth. From the crafts, he rules 
working the soil, plowing, digging, extracting and working minerals, and the 
building trades. From the tastes, he governs the bitter. Among locations, he 
governs black mountains, murky rivers, deep wells, ditches, and desert places. 
From the stones, he governs onyx and all black stones. From the metals, he 
governs lead, iron, and all black musty metals. From the trees, he governs elder- 
berries, oaks, carobs, palms, and vines. From the herbs, he governs cumin, rue, 
onions, and all the plants that have deep leaves. From the kinds of aloe, myrrh, 
and similar things, he governs white lead and colocynth. From the incenses, he 
strongly governs cinnamon and storax gum. From the animals, he governs 
black camels, pigs, monkeys, bears, dogs, and cats. From the birds, he governs 
all those with a long neck [92] and a powerful cry, like cranes, ostriches, duga,' 
and crows. He governs all the animals that live beneath the earth, all the tiny, 
juicy, and foul-smelling creatures. From the colors, he governs every black and 
tawny color. 

§4 Jupiter is the source of growing power. He governs an aspect toward law, 
legality, jurisprudence, and the ease of acquiring requests, reparations, and 
restraints. He guards against mortal illnesses. He governs wisdom, philosophy, 
and the interpretation of dreams. From the languages, he governs Greek. From 
the external appendages, he governs the left ear. From the internal organs, he 
governs the liver, by which combinations and humors are regulated. From the 
religions, he governs the faith of the One. From cloth types, he governs expen- 
sive white garments. Among the crafts, he governs ruling, jurisprudence, and 
selling pristine merchandise. From the tastes, he rules the sweet. Among loca- 
tions, he governs places of prayer and all famed and distinguished holy sites. 
From the stones, he governs the emerald, all white and yellow stones such as 
crystal, and every shining and all precious white stones. From the metals, he 
governs tin and calamine. From the trees, he governs nut and hazelnut trees, 
pines, and all pistachio and fruit-bearing trees, as well as those whose fruits 
have shells. From the herbs, he governs white mint, all fruitful herbs, and those 
with a smell. From the spices, he governs saffron, yellow sandalwood, musk, 
camphor, amber, and mace. From the animals, he governs all beautiful animals 
used for their beauty, from which people tended to make sacrifices, and all the 
harmless animals that are clean and not speckled, such as camels, beavers, 
stags, and gazelles. From the birds, he governs all the beautiful and colorful 
ones, such as peacocks, cocks, mountain doves, and quails. From the insects, 


BOOK 3 133 


he governs those that are profitable, such as silkworms and similar things. 
From the colors, he governs red fading to white. 

§5 Mars is the source of attractive power. He governs an aspect toward 
knowledge of nature. He rules surgery and the taming of wild beasts, extract- 
ing teeth, bloodletting, and circumcision. From the languages, he governs 
Persian. From the external appendages, he governs the right nostril. From the 
internal organs, he governs the gallbladder whence comes yellow bile and heat. 
From the instincts, he governs those that cause anger and war. From the reli- 
gions, he governs heretical sects and those people who switch from one religion 
to another. From cloth types, he governs linen, the pelts of rabbits and dogs, 
and other various pelts. From the crafts, he governs ironworking with fire, 
warfare, and banditry. From the tastes, he governs the hot, the dry, and the 
bitter. Among locations, he governs army camps; forts; defensible places; bat- 
tlefields; places where fires are lit; where animals are beheaded; where wolves, 
bears, and wild beasts gather; and places of judgment. From the stones, he 
governs carnelian and all dark and red stones. From the metals, he governs 
arsenic (ie., a red pigment of gold), sulfur, naphtha, glass, and red bronze. 
From the plants, he governs every hot plant, such as pepper, pine, scammony, 
cumin, caraway, laurel, euphorbia, hemlock, and [93] trees that are good for 
burning. From the spices, he governs all those with a poor balance of humors 
which kill all those who eat them due to an excessive heat within. From the 
incenses, he governs red sandalwood. From the animals, he governs red cam- 
els, all animals with large red teeth, and dangerous wild animals. From the 
small animals, he governs those doing harm such as vipers, scorpions, mice, 
and similar things. From the colors, he governs bright red. 

§6 ‘The Sun is the light of the world by which the universe is governed and 
the source of generative power. He governs an aspect toward philosophy, divi- 
nation, and the exposition of jurisprudence. From languages, he governs the 
Gallic tongue and is a participant with Mercury in the language of the Greeks.” 
From the external appendages, he governs the eyes. From the internal organs, 
he governs the heart, which is the lord of the bodily limbs and the source of 
heat, granting life to the entire body. From the religions, he rules the faith of 
the gentiles and those who pray to the spirits of the planets.’ From cloth types, 
he governs the precious and noble into which gold is woven. From the tastes, he 
governs the thick and the sweet. Among locations, he governs great, regal, and 
beautiful cities wherein kings reside (elevated and valuable places). From the 
stones, he governs the ruby and the jacinth. From the metals, he governs gold. 
From the plants, he governs the distinguished and beautiful ones, such as 
palms placed on high. From the herbs, he governs saffron and the rose. He is a 


134 PICATRIX 


participant with Saturn in wheat, grain, and olives. From the spices, he governs 
aloewood, sandalwood, lac tree resin, and all those that are hot and sharp in 
their composition. From the incenses, he governs the best aloewood. Among 
the beasts, he governs the valuable and powerful, such as humans, bulls, horses, 
camels, rams, cows, and all large animals with strength and power. From the 
birds, he governs those that kings tend to hold, such as hawks, falcons, and 
eagles. He participates with Mars in peacocks and bears and also governs large 
snakes. From the colors, he governs ruby red and yellow gold. 

§7 Venus is the source of the power of taste. She governs an aspect toward 
grammar, the art of poetic meter, sounds, and songs. From the languages, she 
governs Arabic. From the external appendages, she governs the right nostril. 
From the internal organs, she governs the vagina, the projection of sperm, and 
the stomach whence emerges the ability and taste for eating and drinking. 
From the religions, she governs the faith of the Saracens. From cloth types, she 
governs all those with decoration. From the crafts, she governs all the skills of 
painting, illustrating, selling perfumes, playing instruments pleasantly, singing, 
dancing, and producing harmonies with instruments. From the tastes, she rules 
all the sweet ones that taste delicious. Among locations, she rules places of vice 
where men tend to relax, where men do ritual dances, in places of merriment 
where singing and music arise, in places of beautiful ladies and women, as well 
as in places of eating and drinking. [94] From the stones, she governs pearls. 
From the minerals, she governs lapis lazuli and litharge.* From the plants, she 
rules all those with a pleasant smell, like the crocus, the arhenda, roses, and all 
the flowers with a good odor, taste, and beautiful appearance.° From the spices, 
she governs balsam and good grains of very fragrant julep mint, nutmeg, and 
amber. From the animals, she governs women, camels, beautiful things, all the 
handsome animals, and those balanced in their bodies, like gazelles, sheep, 
deer, and rabbits. From the birds, she governs all the beautiful and famous ones 
and those with beautiful singing voices, like partridges, calandra, larks, and 
similar ones. From the insects, she governs the decorated and beautiful ones. 
From the colors, she rules sky blue and gold lightly fading to green. 

§8 Mercury is the source of intellectual power. He governs an aspect toward 
learning knowledge and wisdom, dialectic, grammar, philosophy, geometry, 
astronomy with its processes, geomancy, notarial science, the augury of birds 
according to tradition, and the interpretation of Turkish and other languages. 
From the outward appendages of humankind, he governs the tongue. From the 
inner organs, he governs the brain and the heart from which emanate the intel- 
lect, the powers by which beings are organized, and the sensory memory. From 
the religions, he rules all forbidden faiths, speculations on religion, those who 
love the philosophers’ faiths, and those faiths that exist according to sense per- 


BOOK 3 135 


ception’ From cloth types, he governs linen. From the crafts, he governs 
preaching, writing in verse, carpentry, geometry, dream interpretation, flute 
playing, illustrating, and all the realms of knowledge that are discovered by 
means of subtle, innate talent. From the tastes, he governs the bitter. Among the 
locations, he governs the house of preaching, the places where subtle craftsmen 
work, and springs, rivers, lakes, and wells. From the stones, he governs all 
those shaped and engraved. From the minerals, he governs quicksilver and all 
the minerals that are sublimated and worked into nobler substances. From the 
plants, he rules the reed, the cotton tree, flax, pepper, all bitter plants like the 
clove, and all those with fruits having shells on the outside. From the spices, 
he governs all the gums. From the incenses, he governs those that are useful as 
medicines and setting the mind straight, such as ginger, spikenard, and the like. 
From the animals, he governs men, small camels, wild asses,’ ruminants, mon- 
keys, wolves, all animals swift in leap and gait, and all those that eat by means 
of deception. From the birds, he governs those that are nimble in flight, looking 
like everything they do is done consciously and intelligently, and those with 
beautiful voices. From the insects, he governs those that move easily, such as 
ants and the like. From the colors, he rules the blue and the multicolored. 

§9 The Moon is the one that receives the powers of the planets and pours 
them into the world, and she is the source of natural power. She governs an 
aspect toward geometry and arithmetic; the concourses of waters, weights and 
measures; the noble sciences; magic; physiology and the research thereof; and 
ancient things. From the languages, she governs Alemannic.* From the exter- 
nal appendages of humankind, she governs the left eye. [95] From the internal 
organs, she governs the lungs out of which emanates the breath. From the 
religions, she governs those who worship idols and images. From cloth types, 
she governs pelts and canvases. From the crafts, she governs polishing, tan- 
ning, coin minting, and sailing. From the flavors, she governs those things 
lacking taste, such as water. From the stones, she governs tiny pearls. From the 
metals, she rules silver and those with white bodies. From the plants, she 
governs iris, reeds, all white plants, those with a pleasant smell, all those born 
in the ground that do not rise up above their roots, all tiny plants, all cab- 
bages, and all pastures. Among the locations, she governs springs, lakes, 
swamps, snowy places, and wherever water might flow. From the spices that 
are medicinal and for managing the body, she governs those like cinnamon, 
ginger, pepper, and such. From the animals, she governs red rounceys,’ mules, 
asses, cows, and rabbits. From the birds, she governs all the birds that are 
agile, all animals born in the air and living therein, all the water birds, and 
white birds. She governs white snakes. From the colors, she governs the mix- 
ture of yellow and red. 


136 PICATRIX 


$10 Know that the nature of the Head of the Dragon is to augment. When it 
is with fortunate planets, they are augmented in their honors and powers. If it 
were with the unfortunate planets, their damage and misfortune are aug- 
mented. Likewise, the Tail of the Dragon concerns the nature of diminution. If 
it were with fortunate planets, it would diminish their benefits, but if it were 
with the unfortunate planets, it would diminish their damages and misfor- 
tunes. I urge you to understand these things diligently. 


Chapter 2 


On the Roles of the Signs in These Three Categories: Plants, Animals, 
and Metals 


§1 Just as each of the planets governs their own properties in things, thus 
each of the signs also governs their own properties in things. Let us begin first 
from Aries. 

§2 From among the limbs of the body, Aries governs the head, the face, the 
pupil of the eye, and the ears. From the colors, it governs yellow mixed with 
red; from the flavors, bitter things. Among the locations, it governs sandy 
places, fiery places, and thieves’ dens. From the metals and minerals, it governs 
those worked by fire. From the animals, it governs those whose feet are hooved. 
$3 From the parts of the body, Taurus governs the neck and the passages of 
the voice. Among the locations, it governs all populated lands, gardens, and 
plowed areas. From the plants, it governs all the tall trees, those bearing edible 
fruit, those not requiring water, and all those with pleasant smells and tastes. 
From the animals, it governs all the quadrupeds and those with hooves. 

§4 From the parts of the body, Gemini governs the shoulder blades, the 
arms, and the hands. From the colors, it governs green fading to yellow. From 
the tastes, it governs the sweet. Among the locations, [96] it governs the home 
and plowed areas in high mountains. From the plants, it governs the tall ones. 
From the animals, it governs humans and monkeys. From the birds, it governs 
water birds and all those with good voices making pleasant songs. 

§5 From the parts of the body, Cancer governs the chest, breasts, stomach, 
lungs, ribs, and the hidden places of the torso. From the colors, it governs the 
tawny and smoky colors. From the tastes, it governs the salty. Among the loca- 
tions, it governs lakes, swamps, and places where waters meet, the seashore, 
and rivers. From the stones, it governs those in water. From the plants, it gov- 
erns the tall, aquatic ones. From the animals, it governs those emerging in 
water, tiny fish, snakes, scorpions, vipers, and the reptiles of the earth. 


BOOK 3 137 


§6 From the parts of the body, Leo governs the upper part, the heart, the 
chest, and the thin and back ribs. From the colors, it governs red, yellow, and 
brown. Among the locations, it governs defensible places and forts, royal cities, 
strongholds, and holy sites. From the tastes, it governs the bitter. From the 
stones, it governs ruby, diamond, and jacinth. From the metals, it governs gold. 
From the animals, it governs those with long teeth. From the birds, it governs 
raptors. 

§7 From the parts of the body, Virgo governs the belly and the hidden places, 
which are the intestines, the pelvic bones, and the viscera. From the colors, it 
governs white and tawny. From the tastes, it governs the astringent. Among the 
locations, it governs those where women gather and places of joking and sing- 
ing. From the plants, it governs those bearing seeds. From the animals, it gov- 
erns humans. From the birds, it governs those born in water. 

§8 From the parts of the body, Libra governs the hips, the buttocks, the 
sexual organs, and the upper stomach. From the colors, it governs green, violet, 
and tawny. From the tastes, it governs the sweet. Among the locations, it gov- 
erns desert wastes, sandy places, hunting grounds, and all elevated places (from 
which much can be seen all around). From the plants, it governs tall and 
straight ones. From the animals, it governs humans. From the birds, it governs 
those with large heads. 

§9 From the parts of the body, Scorpio governs all the genital organs of men 
and women. From the colors, it governs green, red, and tawny. From the tastes, 
it governs the salty. Among the locations, it governs wetlands, prisons, places 
of mourning, and the rocks where scorpions gather. From the stones, it governs 
coral and water pearl. From the plants, it governs the tall and straight ones. 
From the animals, it governs scorpions, vipers, snakes, tiny moist creatures in 
the earth, and aquatic beasts. 

§io From the parts of the body, Sagittarius governs the buttocks, the shins, 
and the superfluous, extra marks on the body. From the colors, it governs pink 
fading to reddish and every tawny and mixed color. From the tastes, it governs 
the bitter. Among the locations, it governs gardens, places of kings, and fire 
places. From the stones, it governs the emerald. From the minerals, it governs 
lead. From the animals, it governs humans, birds, snakes, and small worms. 
§11_ From the parts of the body, Capricorn governs the knees, tendons, and 
below the knees (under the kneecap and under the calves). From the colors, it 
governs peacock blue, cardinal red, and every tawny color tending toward black. 
From the tastes, it governs the astringent. Among the locations, it governs the 
palaces of kings, gardens, irrigation ditches, riverbanks, kennels, hospices, inns, 
places where captives are assembled, [97] places of great beauty, and forts. From 
the plants, it governs all strong trees, such as the olive, nut-bearing trees, oaks 


138 PICATRIX 


and all aquatic plants, such as the reed, sweet flag, and all thorny plants. It gov- 
erns some aquatic beasts, reptiles of the earth, and snakes. 

§12 From the parts of the body, Aquarius governs the part under the calves 
and the heels and their tendons and joints. From the colors, it governs green, 
grey, and yellow. From the tastes, it governs the sweet. Among the locations, it 
governs the places of running water, seas, and places where wine is sold. From 
the stones, it governs glass and similar things. From the plants, it governs the 
tall ones. From the animals, it governs humans and every animal whose appear- 
ance and form is as repulsive as the Devil’s. 

$13 From the parts of the body, Pisces governs the feet, the nails, and the 
tendons. From the colors, it governs green, white, and every good color. From 
the tastes, it governs the bitter. Among the locations, it governs hermitages, 
riverbanks, seashores, lakes, and irrigation ditches. From the stones, it gov- 
erns pearls, white and transparent stones (such as crystal), and pearls grown 
in whatever kind of water. From the plants, it governs those of middling height 
and all the aquatic ones. From the animals, it governs the aquatic and the 
slow-moving. 

§14 These are the properties of things that the planets and signs govern 
and that are suited to them. Take heed because this is the groundwork for 
magic. 


Chapter 3 


On the Figures, Colors, Clothes, and Suffumigations of the Planets; 
Also the Tinctures of the Signs’ Faces 


§1 Let us now speak about the colors of the planets. 

§2 The color of Saturn is like burnt wool; that of Jupiter is green; that of 
Mars is red; that of the Sun is like yellow orpiment; that of Venus is saffron- 
colored; that of Mercury like lac tree resin and the color of orpiment mixed 
with green; and that of the Moon is white. 

§3 Here are the images of the planets according to Mercurius in the book 
that he sent to King Alexander and named The Book of the Seven Planets. They 
are described below and are very essential in this science. 

§4 ‘The image of Saturn is the shape of a black man wrapped in a green cloak 
with a dog-like head and a sickle in his hand. 

§5 ‘The image of Jupiter is the shape of man dressed in the finest clothes, 
sitting upon a throne. 


BOOK 3 139 


§6 ‘The image of Mars is the shape of a man riding upon a lion and holding 
a huge lance in his hand. 

§7 ‘The image of the Sun is the shape of a clean-shaven man, handsome, with 
a crown on his head and a lance in his hand, with an image before him that has 
a human head and [98] hands, with the rest of the body like a horse with four 
feet, lying upside down (that is, with hands and feet elevated). 

§8 ‘The image of Venus is the shape of a beautiful, young girl with her hair 
untied, with a comb in one hand and an apple in the other. 

§9 ‘The image of Mercury is the shape of a naked man writing while riding 
on an eagle. 

§10 ‘The image of the Moon is the shape of a man riding on a rabbit. 

§11 Mercurius warned Alexander that when he wished to do something with 
any of the planets, he should work with a body congruent in nature to the planet 
itself. If you wish to accomplish anything, consider the nature of the ascendant 
at the time you wish to operate, and dress yourself in clothes suited to the rising 
sign. Make the ascendant itself fortunate by the fortunate planets, and make the 
seventh house unfortunate by the unfortunate planets since the ascendant per- 
tains to the querent (therefore, it must deservingly be fortunate so that it may 
progress more forcefully); the seventh house, however, is attributed to the thing 
desired (therefore, it must appropriately be unfortunate so that—by its weak- 
ness—it may be set out more gently toward the effect). Here follow the colors of 
the clothes or vestments of the planets. The color of Saturn’s vestments is all 
black, and they are best made of wool. The color of Jupiter is green and is best 
made of silk. The color of Mars is like the flame ofa fire and is best made of silk. 
The color of the Sun is golden yellow and is best made of silk or golden yellow. 
The color of Venus is like pink and is best made of silk. The color of Mercury is 
a mixture of many colors and it is best made of silk. The color of the Moon’s 
garments is shining white, and silk or linen is most preferable. Now, let us dis- 
cuss the suffumigations of the planets. The suffumigation of Saturn comprises 
all foul-smelling things, like asafoetida, gum, bdellium, hemlock, and the like."” 
‘The suffumigation of Jupiter comprises all good and balanced scents, such as 
amber, aloewood, and the like. The suffumigation of Mars comprises everything 
hot, like pepper and ginger. The suffumigation of the Sun comprises all things 
with a balanced and good scent, like musk, amber, and similar things. The suf- 
fumigation of Venus comprises everything that smells balanced, like the rose, 
the violet, the green myrtle, and the likes. The suffumigation of Mercury com- 
prises everything with composite odors, such as narcissus, violets, myrtle, and 
similar things. The suffumigation of the Moon comprises all the cold scents, like 
camphor, lily, and so on. Heed all these things in your rituals. 


140 PICATRIX 


§12 Here followin order the colors of the signs’ faces: 

$13 The color of the first face of Aries is red and is made thus: take one part 
each of green gall, gum, and orpiment." Grind them up separately, then mix 
them together. When you desire to write or paint anything with it, combine it 
with egg whites. The color of the second face is yellow ofa golden hue, and it is 
made thus: take equal parts of blue vitriol’? and talc. Grind them up separately, 
and mix them with [99] honey. Distill this into a little gum, and set it aside for 
the ritual. The tincture of the third face is white and is made thus: take equal 
parts of white lead and talc. 

$14 The first face of Taurus is a tawny and smoky color, and it is made thus: 
take soot, and mix it with gum, and keep it for use. The second face is white, 
which is composed thus: take equal parts of white lead and talc, and keep it for 
use. The third face is black and is made from burnt wool. 

§15 ‘The first face of Gemini is a yellow color similar to gold in hue, and it is 
composed thus: crush up gall,’ and take the black parts that are inside. Soften 
these in water but only in enough to cover them. In another container of water, 
do the same thing with lac resin. Then mix these liquids with a little gum, and 
keep the mixture for use. The second face of Gemini is red, and it is made thus: 
take some arsenic and cinnabar; mix them together. Distill them, and add a 
sufficient amount of gum, then set it aside for use. The third face is red, and it 
is made as we have said above. 

§16 The first face of Cancer is the color yellow, and it is made as we have said 
above. The second face is yellow, and it is made as we have said above. The third 
face is black, and it is made from orpiment and gall in equal parts with a little 
bit of gum. 

$17 The first face of Leo is tawny, and it is made as we have said before. The 
second face of Leo is yellow similar to gold, and it is made as we have said 
above. The third face of Leo is red akin to the color of pomegranates, and it is 
made thus: take cinnabar, and wash it many times. Then soften the powders, 
and mix them with green gall in water, then add asmall amount of gum and lac 
tree resin, and set it aside for use. 

§18 ‘The first face of Virgo is a red color fading to gold, and it is made thus: 
take very well pulverized saffron, and dilute it with the water of green gall, mix 
well, and put it aside for some time undisturbed; then add a small amount of 
gum. From this you will be able to write at a time suitable for the operation of 
the abovementioned face. The second face is tawny, whose composition is as we 
have described above. The third face is yellow fading toward red, and it is made 
thus: take orpiment, and pulverize it very well into saffron water with a small 
amount of gum, and set it aside for use. 


BOOK 3 141 


$19 The first face of Libra is tawny and should be made as we have described 
above. The second face is black and is made as we have said above. The third 
face is white and is made as we have described above. 

§20 ‘The first face of Scorpio is black, the second is yellow, and the third is 
tawny; all made as we have said above. 

§21 The first face of Sagittarius is red and is made as we have said above. The 
second face is yellow made thus: take yellow orpiment, and leave it over a fire 
overnight. Then mix it with a small [100] amount of very well-pulverized white 
lead. Add a small amount of gum afterward, then write with it. The third face 
is tawny and is made as we have said above. 

§22 ‘The first face of Capricorn governs the color green, which is made out of 
green with gum. The second face is red and is made with cinnabar and gum. 
The third face is black and is made as we have said above. 

§23 ‘The first face of Aquarius governs a red color fading to indigo, which is 
made from the blood of a snake with a small amount of gum. The second face 
is black and is made thus: take one dram of gall, gum, and arsenic, and a half 
dram of parchment. Grind them up separately, then mix them together, and 
dilute with egg white. Make pills, and let them dry. When you want to write, 
dilute one of these with water, and write with it. The third face is green and is 
made with the gall of any animal and with a small amount of gum. 

§24 The first face of Pisces has a muted red color, made from powdered white 
lead with a small amount of cinnabar and gum. The second face is tawny and is 
made from the bark of burned tamarisk with a small amount of gum. The third 
face is red, and is made as we have said above. 

§25 The colors of the faces discussed are those most necessary in magical pro- 
cedures. We have also related much concerning the effect of the planets upon 
things, all of which are most necessary to those procedures. Everything men- 
tioned was related according to the view of the wise Mercurius."* He willed the 
spirit of each planet to befriend him in order that they might serve him, and that 
he might use the ordering and positioning of all the things that are of the same 
nature as a planet. These are things suitable to the spirit of that planet in eating, 
drinking, dressing, suffumigating, teaching, timing, tinctures, prayers, sacrifices, 
stones, figures, images, and constellations. When all these things flow together in 
the ritual, celestial power descends upon these worldly operations. They are 
united as one, and the effect is brought about perfectly and completely. If some- 
thing were missing from any of these, the desired outcome would be impeded. 
§26 One must know the cities and their latitudes since the planetary powers 
are different among them. We see this in things produced at one latitude that 
are not found in another, such as minerals, stones, metals, trees, and plants. 


142 PICATRIX 


Even characteristics of people are found in one particular place but not in oth- 
ers. For example, it appears in a certain land called Thebith that those who 
travel there are possessed by constant laughter without seeing anything funny; 
there, laughter is caused by the place’s own nature Similarly, those from a 
land called Burgum do not live according to seasons unless they leave their 
country and spend some time elsewhere.’* This results from the property of the 
place itself. The same is true of the Western sea, where silk, storax, and mastic 
gum are made, or in the land of Yemen, where absinth is found. There, a moun- 
tain stands from whose peak water flows down through the parts of the moun- 
tain itself [101] before it reaches the surrounding plain where it coagulates and 
is converted into white alum. 

§27 Aloewood is found on a single island in India called Cabria, which is next 
toa certain island called Camer, five days’ journey away.” On the island Camer 
there is a high quality type of aloewood called cameri. Close to it (by about 
three days) is another island called Azanif, and the aloewood found there is 
called azanifi.’* It is much better than the cameri wood because it does not sink 
in water due to its quality and lightness. Aloewood is not found anywhere else 
in the world except on these three islands. 

§28 In the city called Mecca and in Tripoli, nobody dies, and there are no 
lepers. In the city Haybar, fevers often erupt.” In a place called the Two Seas, 
ailments of the spleen are frequent, and abscesses erupt in the anus.”° One finds 
plague in Jerusalem. 

§29 Onyx is found in Yemen and China, the best of which is found in Yemen. 
Whoever carries this stone on a ring will always be gloomy in his gait, melan- 
choly, and contemplative. They will envision wicked and deceitful dreams and 
have quarrels and discord with others. If you place it over a boy, froth will flow 
from his mouth. This arises only by magical effect, on account of which the 
qualities of things are altered by the powers of the celestial bodies, and the 
effects of evil are shattered and destroyed. 

§30 In parts of India and in the land of Tin is found calamine; sometimes it 
is found in parts of Spain. It is a leaden stone, weighty and white, which—if 
cooked with red bronze—becomes yellow. 

§31 Next to Armenia and Lorca, one finds lapis lazuli. On a mountain close 
to Lisbon is found the garnet. Next to Malaga in a field called Montemayor is 
found the red jacinth. In parts of Tadmir diamonds are found. In parts of 
Cérdoba hematite is found. In the mountains of Ubede is found the Jewish 
stone that shatters kidney stones. The gold marcasite there is better than all 
the rest in the world. In parts of Barcelona there are pearls. In the Grenada 
river gold is collected. Quicksilver is collected on the mountain of Hermes. In 


BOOK 3 143 


Bathea (namely in the town named Piterna) is found better calamine than all 
other places for making brass. On the mountains of Cérdoba is found the 
source of alcohol. In parts of Nebila is found the best agate. In the city of 
Alahavez, there was found some man without color, but he had constant 
fevers.” Over this city stands a mountain upon which dwells an infinity of 
vipers. In the homes of this city are many spiders, worms, and murderous 
beasts. In Sedauran, which is in a part of Africa, there is a stone produced 
[102] in the holes of mastic tree wood, which, when rain falls on it, is coagu- 
lated and made black and light, similar in taste to gall. Many other wonders 
are found in one place and not in others. This happens on account of planetary 
powers and the images of the heavens which are more dominant there than 
elsewhere. 

§32 According to Hippocrates, the forms of human bodies are shaped accord- 
ing to the qualities and properties of the places where they were born and raised. 
§33 From this, the necessity of knowing the qualities of cities, their latitudes, 
and the planetary influences upon them is quite clear. Now let us move on to 
the planetary properties upon the lesser things of the world. First regarding 
the Moon, whose property is growth: she grows and withers plants and crops. 
She is the cause of eggs and precious stones, and the ebbing and flowing of 
rivers and seas. On the one hand, the Moon gathers and binds the planetary 
powers and the heavenly spirits to the lesser things of this world. Thus, she 
appears atop every tree, which grows and is strengthened by her power, then 
is destroyed by the power of the other planets. On the other hand, the Moon 
plays a role in some things (such as figs) that the Sun’s power generates and 
strengthens but that the Moon destroys. While the Moon plays a role in mari- 
time animals and plants that grow by her power, she harms terrestrial animals 
by her cold gaze, when they go uncovered at night. Jupiter is the author of life 
and the sciences. Laws, treaties, and judgments proceed from him. Venus, 
however, is the author of games, instruments, sounds, and songs; in all her 
desires and knowledge, there are no rules as there ought to be; it is she who 
governs power and discretion. Mercury is the author of eloquence, rational 
intellect, and sense perception; from him proceeds the understanding of subtle 
and profound things. Saturn is the author of deceptions, plowing the soil, and 
workhouses; from him proceeds the understanding of deep time and of 
ancient laws. The Sun gives light to all the other planets since every darkness 
flees from him. The spirit rejoices and expands thanks to him, and through 
him the fruit of every tree is ripened and dried. The generation of all vegeta- 
tion proceeds from him. Commonly, we say that he is the light and candle of 
the universe. 


144 PICATRIX 


Chapter 4 


On Why Only Those Trained in This Knowledge Can Understand 
Its Secrets 


§1 ‘The ancient sages who wrote in their books about mystical knowledge 
and magic did so as obscurely as possible such that few or none [103] might 
benefit from them except for the wise and those who study and work with them 
assiduously. This part is placed here more or less frivolously since it does little 
to advance our purpose. 


Chapter 5 


On the Intrinsic Qualities of Animals and the Notable Necessities to 
This Science, and How the Planetary Spirits Are Attracted by Figures 
and Suffumigations 


§1 After the properties of each planet were described in three lower catego- 
ries (namely, animals, plants, and minerals), it follows that we should say 
something about these. Among them, the animals are the most excellent, and 
from these, humankind is recognized as the noblest because it exists with a 
more elevated self-awareness. There are animals with a single sense, like sea- 
shells, mollusks, and the like; others have two, three, four, five, and ten senses. 
Humans have ten manifest senses and five hidden ones, which we will discuss 
now. The forms of animals are diverse, as is apparent by running down through 
all the animals. As a human is an animal intermediate between discrete celes- 
tial spirits and beasts, thus fish are in the middle between birds and beasts. 
Conches are intermediate between animals with and without senses since they 
have only two senses—this is because their terrestrial nature overtakes them 
and makes them similar in nature to plants. Thus, it is clear that the more 
animals participate in any element, by that much more do they share in the 
nature of that element. Humans are the most excellent of the animals on 
account of the mutual balance of elements in their bodies (as they ought to be); 
because of this, humans are the most balanced in complexion among the other 
animals. Each and every element governs its own animal, which can never be 
separated from it: birds are never separate from air nor fish from water nor the 
diabolical spirits called “infernal” from perpetual flame. The fire that is felt and 
perceived by the senses is appropriately assigned to an animal called the sala- 
mander, a creature in the shape of a mouse made of fire. Weighty animals, on 


BOOK 3 145 


account of their heaviness, are never separate from earth. (Let us now respond 
toa certain implicit question, namely how devils exist in fire. I say that humans 
are called microcosms, reflections of the macrocosm, since everything con- 
tained in the greater is essentially contained in the lesser. Therefore, if the 
devils exist in the macrocosm, it is fitting that they be found by their effect in 
some way in the microcosm. This is what happens: when a wrathful intent is set 
alight in humankind, it is immoderately inflamed, and they become furious 
and enraged in the utmost. At that moment, a devil is produced in every action. 
Wecan say through a certain analogy that [104] devils exist in fire—that is, in 
the ignition of the fire of human wrath from which devils bring about their 
effects. Vice versa, when the human will is one’s own in due temperament, 
virtue, and reason, it is as if angels are produced. Therefore, we can very well 
say that devils exist in the microcosm, as in the macrocosm.) 

§2 Now, however, I return to the proposed topic. The aforesaid division of 
three categories in these sciences concerning the planets and their effects 
exists—according to the Copts, the Nabataeans, the Egyptians, the Greeks, the 
Turks, and the Indians—by mixing parts of those categories together and 
working them into suffumigations, clothing, foods, and incenses. This is how 
they produce very great miracles, as we surely learn in their books. They make 
compounds that, when conjoined to the power of the stars, are released into the 
air and then mingle with the powers of fire until reaching this world. Then the 
effect or request is fulfilled. Air is a body without which other bodies are inca- 
pable of life since it is the medium for receiving bodies, influences, or the 
planetary effects, by the agent’s will arranged through a combination of his 
own air with the air in general. It takes effect through suffumigations placed 
according to the limbs of the human body, and these suffumigations are com- 
posed from plants and other kinds of things. These suffumigations move the 
spirits of men toward their desires. The works of magic have many wonders 
and manifest effects. 

§3 I myself have seen a book entitled The Division of Sciences and Revealer 
of Secrets, wherein one particular sage wrote this:” 


A certain trustworthy man said to me that he had run into another man 
from the land of Khorasan who had just visited the land of the Indians 
and was initiated into this knowledge. When the first man debated with 
himself regarding certain points, he had his doubts about this knowledge. 
‘The traveler said that he proved it clearly. There was in that country a 
certain young woman believed by everyone to be the most beautiful.” The 
man said that he would make her come to my abode. I asked him myself 
if he would fulfill this promise to me, and this I did for two reasons: one, 


146 


PICATRIX 


certainly, for the love of knowledge; the other, for the use of the girl. He 
did this work in my sight; by immediately lifting up an astrolabe and find- 
ing the altitude of the Sun, he determined the ascendant and also set out 
the twelve houses. He found Aries in the ascendant, whose ruler Mars was 
rising, and Libra, whose ruler Venus was in the seventh house. I asked 
what these things meant. He responded: “The ascendant and seventh 
house are fundamental to the petition that you seek.” Mars and Venus 
calculated thus, he placed them on a chart just as they were, saying: “When 
they face each other in a trine aspect, which is the aspect of love and 
friendship, the intent will be accomplished.” He discovered [105] that this 
aspect would be perfected in forty days. He claimed that on the fortieth 
day from the day when the petition was done, he would reach his intent. 
Then picking up a small piece of diamond stone, he pulverized it very 
thoroughly and combined it with an equal amount of ammoniac gum. 
From the compound, he shaped an image in my likeness. Afterward, he 
took dried mulberries and pulverized them very well and then mixed 
them with wax. Next, he shaped an image out of this compound in the 
likeness of that young woman and dressed her with clothes similar to her 
own. Then he took one new jug into which he placed seven staves or sticks 
(namely, sticks of myrtle, willow, pomegranate, apple, cotton, mulberry, 
and laurel), and he placed these in the shape of across in the middle of the 
jug—four on the bottom and three on top. Then he placed the image made 
in my name into this jug. Next, he placed the image of the girl into the 
same jug. Before doing this, he waited for Venus to be in opposition to 
Mars and Mars to be strengthened by the fortunate planets. He shut the 
jug and opened it every day on the hour in which he had placed the things 
in it. At the end of those forty days, when the lord of the ascendant was 
facing the lord of the seventh house in a trine aspect, he opened the jug 
and placed those images facing one another, that is, face to face. Then he 
sealed the jug and ordered me to bury it under a hearth wherein a small 
fire was lit. While burying it in a little bit of gravel, he told me to say one 
word from India, which he translated and showed me (and I shall state 
later). When the task was completed as above, he dug up and opened the 
container and removed the images from it. Right then and there, we saw 
the abovementioned young woman entering my house through the door; 
she stayed there continually for ten days. At the end of those ten days, 
however, the operator said to me: “Since I have fulfilled my promises to 
you, I think it best that we release the young woman that she be restored 
to her prior freedom.” I agreed that this was for the good. Taking the 
aforesaid two images, he placed them back where he had buried them. 


BOOK 3 147 


After taking ground chastetree and combining it with wax, he made a 
candle out ofit and burnedit in the fireplace. Once burned up, he extracted 
the images from their burial, dividing them from each other, throwing 
one this way and the other that way, speaking other words that he revealed 
to me afterwards. He did this whole thing to make manifest to me his 
entire body of knowledge. When this was done, we at once saw that young 
woman sighing as if surprised from sleep, and she stood up. She spoke 
this: “State what you want from me!” Then she left the house in flight. 


This was one of the great wonders that I have seen in this science during my 
life. 1 have only reported these things so that you may heed the wonders of this 
knowledge and the magnitude of its effects. This work is wrought while observ- 
ing the planets and their positions, aspects, ascensions, departures from 
houses, the materials for assembling images, suffumigations, and everything 
else suited to these tasks. [106] You could do the same in your own rituals so 
long as you seek out all the required, suitable, and congruent things to your 
conclusion. Thus, you will be able to attain the desired end just as the wise men 
have written. 

§4 Now let us discuss those things promised in regard to the operations of 
the planetary spirits, the commingling of the stars, and the fulfillment of 
necessities for image-making to receive the planetary powers (e.g., from which 
suffumigations and foods one must abstain during a ritual such that the effect 
may be brought about easily). I say to you, dearest friend, that I have composed 
this book with great effort and study, encompassing as large a number of books 
of ancient sages as possible, observing and contemplating the opinions of cer- 
tain men, and writing down true conclusions and proven effects, to the extent 
that I had studied 224 books of wise ancient predecessors word by word. With 
all these, Icomposed this book like a flower or a lily of sorts, working on every- 
thing tirelessly for six years. 

§5 Before we make a statement about the above, I shall put forward a notable 
aphorism that one should observe very well. The reception of the planetary 
spirits according to the opinion of the ancients, however, is as related below. 
First, it behooves you to know about the planet’s nature you desire to use for the 
reception of its powers and spirits and to gather their powers into the chosen 
figure or image, as well as the natures of things connected to a specific planet, 
as was touched upon above (namely, on colors, foods, incenses, and suffumiga- 
tions). Then ensure that the color of the surface of the image’s body bea similar 
color to that of the chosen planet; the incense to the incenses; and the color of 
the image’s clothes—and those of the operator—must also be suited to the 
color of the chosen planet; so too should the suffumigations belong to the 


148 PICATRIX 


incenses suited to that planet. The inner body of the operator should belong to 
the nature of that planet, that is, one should eat foods assigned to the chosen 
planet as much as one should for that operator’s body to sustain a complexion 
of humors suited to the chosen planet. If by chance such food was contrary to 
your own nature, eat only a little and moderately at first. Eating little by little, 
you temper the stomach until it is used to such things. As you eat these foods, 
you increase your appetite for them until the body is mastered and nourished. 
When the body is thus mastered, observe where the planet stands in the Zodiac 
of signs and that its rays be projected in straight lines toward the Earth and not 
intersected by the rays of other contrary planets. Let the rays be poured down 
into the Earth directly with every obstacle removed. Then take some metals 
suited to the chosen planet from which you should smelt a cross; do this in the 
appropriate constellation, and make it two feet high. Combine it with one of 
the aforementioned figures or images matching with your petition and that 
planet’s spirit. For example: if you wish to create [107] an image for fighting and 
crushing or terrifying enemies, place the cross over an image ofa lion or snake. 
If you wish to operate for fleeing and evading, place the cross over the image of 
a bird. If your work involved increasing wealth, power, honor, and social stand- 
ing, place the cross over an image of a man sitting on a throne. Make all your 
petitions according to these kinds of examples by placing the cross over a figure 
suited to your petition. If you desire for anyone to obey you and not transgress 
your orders, make an image of the person on a stone appropriate to the planet’s 
nature that has the greatest power in the root of their nativity and ascendant. 
Make the image in that planet’s hour, and the planet ruling their nativity 
should be neither in opposition nor in the same sign nor in any aspect with any 
planet contrary to it. Once you have done these things perfectly, place the 
image such that it may be the one propping up the other principal figure.** The 
reason this figure is made in the shape of a cross has been explained (i.e., 
because everything gathers its own powers from the figures relative to their 
respective qualities, and everything avoids its contraries). We seek the powers 
of the planetary spirits so that they might join their own figures, but we do not 
comprehend the form of spirit, nor could we understand it by experience except 
in the form ofa human, animal, or another thing. We thus conclude that every 
power of the planets manifests most powerfully in images. We see that all the 
figures and forms of trees and plants are diverse in their shapes, as are likewise 
the forms of animals and minerals. Since we could never fully comprehend the 
forms of the planetary spirits, the ancient sages of this art chose the cross as a 
universal figure. This is because all bodies have a surface, and the surface ofan 
image has a longitude and latitude (and the cross is the appropriate image for 
longitude and latitude). Therefore we have said that this image is the universal 


BOOK 3 149 


tool in these rituals and the receptacle of the planetary spirits’ powers because 
they work well with other images. This is one of the secrets of this art. Further- 
more, all humans have a place beneath the seven circles of the planets. When 
the power of a planetary spirit is joined with the shape ofa cross, then the ritual 
has strength and power over whatever other image is with it. Were it made in 
the image of a human, its power would pour out onto humankind, and it is 
likewise with the images of other animals. When you will have made these 
images thus, make a censer out of the same material as the cross such that it is 
completely enclosed except at the top where a hole should allow smoke [108] to 
exit. The smoke of burning substances should not escape elsewhere. Moreover, 
have a building set aside into which only those involved in your ritual may 
enter (if at all possible) and only at the time of performance. This building 
should have a place exposed to the heavens. It should be decked in the herbs of 
that ritual’s ruling planet alone—there ought to be nothing in it other than 
those herbs. Then inhale the suffumigations according to the chosen planet’s 
nature—burn it in the fire of that censer. Place the cross above the censer in 
such a way that the smoke exiting from the censer may enter through the lower 
parts of the cross and flow to the upper parts. All these things should occur in 
an appropriately selected hour with the ritual’s ruling planet being as men- 
tioned. These orders having been fulfilled carefully, the smoke of this suffumi- 
gation ought to reach the sphere of the signs in a straight line. It should not be 
intersected by the rays of other planets contrary to the elected planet. If your 
ritual involved those things of the lesser world, the planetary spirit should be 
harnessed, and its power should descend through its own rays down to the 
Earth into the ritual. Then the thing sought will be fulfilled. 

§6 Whoever intends to work with this knowledge should first recognize and 
understand that each of the planets have powers (with both general and par- 
ticular implications, with one power overcoming another). So in this matter, 
the nature of the ritual is that you should observe the planet with general power 
and not conjoin it to another planet with a particular power. You should oper- 
ate with the spirit and influence of a planet with general power. Furthermore, 
if that planet with general power were perchance the ruler of the operator’s 
nativity or the almuten ruling therein, then the ritual would be more effective. 
One sage said this is the only method to unite incorporeal spirits to corporeal 
ones; this is a secret of this art. Whoever performs this without error will be 
able to achieve their desire. The wise Aaron said that when one works accord- 
ing to this knowledge with one’s own nativity in mind, one can discern the 
hour when the conjunction of one’s own spirit and body came together and 
consequently the ruling planet in one’s nativity. By understanding this, one 
knows the planet that effected the union of spirit and body during one’s own 


150 PICATRIX 


birth. If that planet were unfortunate, however, that individual would be 
made unfortunate. On the contrary, if it were fortunate, they would be made 
fortunate. 


Chapter 6 


On the Craft of Attracting the Planetary Spirits with Natural Things; 
On What an Image Is, and How It Can Have Power 


§1 None can be perfected in this science unless they are so inclined by their 
own nature, and by the power and disposition of the planets. This is what Aris- 
totle says in [109] his Book of Aztimehec,» wherein he says this: “A Perfect 
Nature fortifies the philosopher and strengthens both his wisdom and under- 
standing so that he may accomplish all his works with greater ease.” The sages 
concealed everything belonging to this science as much as possible according 
to their achievements, and never did they wish to clarify it to anyone but phi- 
losophers. They themselves taught all knowledge and philosophical subtleties 
to their disciples in addition to the works of the spirits of nature. They would 
call those spirits of “Perfect Nature” with these four names: MEEGIUS, BETZA- 
HUECH, VACDEZ, and NUFENEGUEDIZ. These are the names of the four parts of 
that spirit of “Perfect Nature.” When those sages were defective in that “Perfect 
Nature,” they invoked them by those four names, which signify the power of a 
“Perfect Nature.” Hermes, however, said: 


When I myself desired to understand and extract the secret workings of 
the world and its quality, I positioned myself above a certain pit, a very 
deep and dark one, out of which blew a furious wind; I was unable to see 
anything within it on account of the darkness. When I dropped a burn- 
ing candle into it, at once it was extinguished by the wind. In my dreams 
appeared a handsome man with an imperious authority, who said: “Take 
a burning candle, and place it in a glass lantern so that it is not extin- 
guished by the fury of the wind, and thus you will be able to hold the light 
there. Drop it into the pit, in the middle of which you should dig. There, 
you should pull out an image that, when it is extracted, will extinguish 
the wind of that pit. Thus you will be able to hold a light there. Then dig 
in the four corners of the pit, from which you should extract the secrets 
of the world, a Perfect Nature, its qualities, and the origins of all things.” 
I asked him who he was. He then responded to me: “I am Perfect Nature; 
and when you desire to speak with me, call me by my appropriate name, 


BOOK 3 151 


and I shall respond to you.” I asked him what his name was, then he 
responded: “I am named and called by the four names, MEEGIUS, 
BETZAHUECH, VACDEZ, and NUFENEGUEDIZ, by which I shall respond 
when you call.” I asked him again when I should invoke him and how I 
should act while invoking. He then said: “When the Moon is in the first 
degree of Aries, by night or day, whenever you desire, enter a clean and 
resplendent house in the corner of which you should place a table raised 
from the ground on its eastern side. Take four containers (each of them 
should have one pound of capacity), one of which you should fill with 
cow’s butter, another with nut oil, another with almond oil, and the 
fourth with sesame oil. Afterward, take four other containers made the 
same size, and fill them with wine. Make a blend from the nut oil, butter, 
honey, and sugar. Take those eight containers, this mixture you have 
made, and one glass vase. Place the vase in the middle of the table and 
atop it the mixture that you have made. Place those four containers filled 
with wine on the four corners of the table distributed in this way: the first 
container in the eastern part, the second in [110] the western, the third in 
the southern, and the fourth in the northern part. Take the other four 
containers, and first place the one filled with almond oil eastward next to 
the container of wine; place the one filled with nut oil westward; the one 
filled with butter southward; and the one filled with the oil of this mix- 
ture northward. Take a burning wax candle, and place it in the middle of 
the table. Take two censers filled with burning coals, in one of which you 
should place incense and mastic gum, in the other you should place 
aloewood. After doing these things, stand on your feet facing east, and 
invoke the four aforementioned names seven times. After invoking them 
seven times, say this: ‘I call you out—O strong spirits, high and powerful, 
since the knowledge of the wise and the understanding of those who 
understand proceed from you, and by your power also are fulfilled the 
requests of philosophers—that you may respond to me and be with me; 
that you may unite me with yourselves, your potencies, and powers; that 
you may strengthen me with your knowledge so that I may comprehend 
those things that I do not fathom; that I may recognize the things I over- 
look, that I might see the things I do not see; that you may remove blind- 
ness, disgrace, forgetfulness, and disease from me; that you may make 
me climb to the level of the ancient sages (those with hearts filled with 
knowledge, wisdom, and understanding); and that you may imprint these 
things upon my heart that it may become like the hearts of the ancient 
sages.” Afterward, he said: “Once you have accomplished this task in this 
way, you shall see me.” 


152 PICATRIX 


This ritual is taught in a book called Astimequem.”* The ancient sages would 
perform this ritual once a year to benefit their own spirits such that they might 
set their Perfect Natures in order. After this was done, they ate whatever was set 
on the table together with their friends. 

§2 Aristotle said that each and every sage has a personal virtue poured into 
him by the lofty spirits, by whose powers the enclosed senses and mind were 
opened up and the sciences made clear. This virtue was bound with the virtue of 
the planet governing the root of the nativity such that the virtue thus cocreated 
in him strengthened him and gave him intelligence. Ancient sages and kings 
would do this ritual, and with the four aforementioned names, they would utter 
this prayer by which they empowered themselves in their knowledge and rea- 
soning and in the advancement of their businesses and affairs. With these they 
protected themselves from the plots of enemies and did many other wonders. 
§3 Aristotle claimed that the first man who worked with images and the one 
to whom the spirits first appeared was Caraphzebiz.” He was the first to dis- 
cover the magical art. The spirits were first manifest to him performing won- 
drous things. They unveiled a “Perfect Nature” in regard to science, causing 
him to understand the secrets of nature and knowledge. Thus spoke the famil- 
iar spirit: “Hold me with you, but reveal me to no one except to those who 
invoke me and sacrifice in my name.” [111] This sage, who was made wise work- 
ing through the spirits, benefited himself by their powers and actions in magi- 
cal rituals. Between this wise Caraphzebiz and another sage named Amenus 
(this Amenus was the second one to work on spirits and magical operations), 
1,260 years passed. In Amenus’s teaching, he warned that any sage who wishes 
to perform a magical ritual and protect himself from the power of the spirits 
must cut himself off from all inner anxieties and every body of knowledge 
other than this one. All the senses, the mind, and the thoughts that are turned 
toward something exclusively are capable of acquiring it more easily. Although 
contemplation is most regularly suited to this magical science, it is appropriate 
that the one occupied by it not be involved in any other affairs. 

§4  Tintinz the Greek claimed the same thing in the beginning of his book, 
that whoever desires to perform this ritual must prune their thoughts and 
desires toward other matters since the source and foundation of all this work 
consists in thought. Aristotle claimed that an image is called an image because 
the powers of spirits are joined to it. Thought is enclosed in the thing wherein 
the spirit’s hidden virtue rests. The powers of the spirits are fourfold: sense 
perception, which exists as a composite in the world; the spirit of an object, by 
which a spirit is attracted; the spirit of thought, which is perfect, pure, and 
inviolate; and the spirit of operations wrought by hand. These three spirits 
existing in matter, in will, andin ritual are united to the perception of perfected 


BOOK 3 153 


thought, which we have said is a composite in the world. A magical image 
attracts rays and brings them together in the things that it intends to bring 
together (like a mirror that, when raised to the light of the Sun, reflect his rays 
into a nearby shadow). The image receives the rays of the Sun by his light and 
projects them to a shaded place. The shaded place is illuminated and made 
shining without ever diminishing the Sun’s light. This is how the three above- 
mentioned spirits function. When the spirits of motion and rest are joined to 
the perception of the upper world, the powers of the spirit are attracted and 
poured into matter. This is the origin of the image and its designation. 

§5 Socrates claimed that a “Perfect Nature” is the sage’s very Sun and the 
source of his light. Some questioned the wise Hermes, asking: “What do sci- 
ence and philosophy have in common?” He answered: “Perfect Nature.” Then 
they asked him more directly: “What is the key to both science and philoso- 
phy?” He answered: “Perfect Nature.” Then they inquired: “What is a Perfect 
Nature?” He answered: “A Perfect Nature is the spirit of the philosopher or sage 
in harmony with the planet governing him. Itis that which unlocks the knowl- 
edge that is otherwise impenetrable and from which the effects of nature [112] 
proceed directly, in both sleeping and waking.” Thus, a “Perfect Nature,” con- 
sidered as such in the sage or philosopher, is just as the teacher is to his pupil, 
instructing him principally in fundamentals and easy things, then gradually 
proceeding to greater and more difficult things until the pupil is perfected in 
his knowledge. Therefore, a “Perfect Nature” is appropriately put into effect by 
its own power and influence by disposing the mind of the philosopher accord- 
ing to his natural inclination. Understand that these things are necessary to 
commit to memory. Hence, it should be concluded that it is impossible for 
anyone to be interested in this science unless they were naturally inclined to it, 
as much by their own virtue as by the disposition of the planets ruling their 
nativity. 


Chapter 7 


On the Attraction of Planetary Powers; How We May Speak with Them; 
How an Effect Is Divided Between the Planets, Images, Sacrifices, Prayers, 
Suffumigations, and Words; and the Conditions of Heaven Necessary to 
Each of the Planets 


§1  Accertain sage named al-Tabari claimed this concerning the rituals of 
sages for receiving the planetary powers according to observations from 
ancient books of magical rituals: 


154 PICATRIX 


When you wish to speak with any of the planets or to request something 
necessary to you, first and foremost, purify your will and your belief in 
God. Take particular care lest you believe in anything else. Rid your 
body and your clothes ofall impurity. Observe the nature of the planet 
to which your petition corresponds. When you wish to invoke the right 
planet for your petition, dress yourself in clothes dyed with the colors of 
that planet, suffumigate yourself with its suffumigations, and pray with 
its prayer. Do all this when the chosen planet is positioned in its own 
dignities and the aforementioned dispositions—after these are observed, 
what you desire will ensue. 


§2 Now let us briefly recite the requests suited to each of the planets. Seek 
Saturn in petitions concerning the elderly, generous men, elders, kings of cities, 
hermits, those who work the lands, returns to cities, inheritances, exceptional 
men, farmers, builders of buildings, slaves, thieves, fathers, grandfathers, and 
great-grandfathers. If you were caught up in deep thought and grief, in melan- 
choly or grievous illness, in all these things or affairs, seek petitions from Sat- 
urn, and request things assigned to his nature. Seek those things from him as 
we say below, and aid yourself with Jupiter in your request. Fundamental to all 
these requests is that you never seek anything from a planet unless it is attrib- 
uted to its dominion. [113] 

§3 Seek from Jupiter all that belongs to his division, such as requests con- 
cerning noblemen, individuals with power, prelates, sages, speakers of the law, 
judges, good men, interpreters of dreams, hermits, philosophers, kings and 
their sons and the children of their sons, soldiers, first cousins, and petitions of 
peace and goods. Everything similar to this, seek from Jupiter. 

§4 Seek from Mars those things that rest upon his nature, such as requests 
against soldiers, officials, fighters, and those getting themselves involved in 
armed conflict; also on account of kings’ alliances, those destroying homes and 
cities, those doing evil to men, murderers, executioners, those who work with 
fire or in stables, litigators, shepherds, thieves, guardians of roads, the deceit- 
ful, traitors, and brothers. Similarly, seek him concerning illnesses in the body 
below the groin and also on account of bloodletting, bloating, and similar 
things. In these petitions you may aid yourself with Venus because the nature 
of Venus dissolves what is suited to Mars and restores what he damages. 

§5 Seek from the Sun those petitions suited to him, such as petitions against 
kings, the sons of soldiers and kings, high-class men who delight in justice 
and truth, abhor deceit and violence, desire a good reputation, and aspire to be 
praised by men, officials, clerics, physicians, philosophers, humble noblemen, 


BOOK 3 155 


individuals with good sense, the magnanimous, great brothers, fathers, and 
similar things. 

§6 Seek from Venus things pertaining to her, as are the petitions of women, 
boys, girls, sons, things pertaining universally to the love of women and carnal 
sex with them, paintings, singing and playing instruments, making jokes, all 
individuals devoted to worldly delights, individuals indulging vices, slaves, 
and maidservants, husbands, mothers, friends, sisters, and all things similar to 
these. In such petitions you will aid yourself with Mars. 

§7 Seek from Mercury petitions appropriate to notaries, scribes, arithmeti- 
cians, geometricians, astrologers, grammarians, public speakers, philosophers, 
rhetoricians, poets, sons of kings and their secretaries, toll keepers, merchants, 
ministers, lawyers, slaves, boys, girls, younger brothers, painters, designers, 
and the like. 

§8 Seek from the Moon all the things pertaining to her and attributed to 
her nature, such as petitions toward kings, tenants of cities or villages, toll 
keepers, messengers undertaking journeys over land and sea, individuals who 
work and plow the land, geometricians, mayors, portrait painters, mariners 
and all those working by means of maritime skills, the peoples of nations, 
geomancers, divorced women, wives of kings, mothers, beardless boys, and 
similar things. [114] 

$9 Next I decided to write down the natures of each and every one of the 
planets, the things appropriate to each of them, and what each of them signi- 
fies. This begins with Saturn, as before. Saturn is cold and dry, an unfortunate 
planet, damaging, author of bad and foul odors, proud and treacherous—when 
he promises anything, he brings about treachery. His symbols are farmers, 
streams, those working the land, controversies, great and long journeys, great 
and persistent enemies, evil deeds, battles, things done unwillingly and by 
force, and physical labor. Truthful words, hope, blackness, old age, buildings, 
fear, great contemplation, worry, fits of anger, treachery, pain, difficulty, death, 
inheritances, orphans, ancient places, estimates, keen elocution, the knowledge 
of secrets, and the secret and profound perceptions of science: he signifies all 
these things as long as he is direct in his motion. While retrograde, he signifies 
unfortunate things, weakness or illness, prisons, and a long-lasting evil in all 
things. Ifhe were in the aspect of any other planet, he weakens and damages it 
in its qualities. If he were retrograde and you were about to seek something 
from him, the thing sought will be fulfilled through trouble, misery, and great 
toil. If he were retrograde in any of his own dignities, his curses are augmented 
and grow; but if he has potency or dignity on the ascendant, then he will be 
more harmonious and kindly disposed. 


156 PICATRIX 


$10 Jupiter is hot and humid, temperate, and a fortunate planet (he is called 
the “Great Fortune”) and follows Saturn in the order of the planets. He symbol- 
izes things done with subtlety, the bodies of animals, inceptions, the growth of 
animals, correct judgments, courtesy and fairness in all things, sense percep- 
tion, clemency, truthful statements, truth, good belief, faithfulness, chastity, 
honor, gratitude, skill, the sustenance of good words, good perception and 
intellect, knowledge, philosophy, teaching, things obtained from well-directed 
reasoning and peace, honor from men, improving all business endeavors, the 
completion of petitions, the will of kings, a lover of riches and their accumula- 
tion, gentleness, liberality, sacrifices, a help to humankind in all things and all 
their works, delighting in crowds and all populated places, benefactors of men, 
piety, following and upholding the law in all things, delighting in places of 
faith, men of honest words, decent decorations, beauty, joy, laughter and many 
discussions, speaking well and with joy, benign aspects, also lovers of good and 
individuals abhorring evils, individuals preaching good words, and individu- 
als who perform all good acts and avoid evil ones. [115] 

§11 Mars is hotand dry, an unfortunate planet, destructive, and the author of 
evil things. He symbolizes doom, evil deeds, the depopulation of homes and 
cities, dryness and the inhibition of rain, fire, combustion, differences, blood, 
spontaneous violent mental urges, bad and biased judgments, oppression, pain, 
the deaths of men and the damnation of all things, destruction, quarrels, war, 
battle, terror, disagreement between men, anxiety or misery, penalties, wounds, 
prisons, depression, flight, litigation, stupidity, treasonous acts, and all things 
cursed without rhyme or reason—quasi-happiness, lies, ungratefulness, a 
mediocre life, shame, interruptions on roads, burial, the lack of comforts, dis- 
cord, sharpness and wrath, doing things prohibited by laws, fear, quasi-legality, 
acts of treason, false oaths and assessments in all works, evil deeds during sex 
with women in a prohibited fashion (such as do those who desire beasts, other 
animals, and foreign women), killing sons and condemning creatures, killing 
fetuses in a mother’s womb, depredations, acts of treason and deception, all 
manner of fraud, having misery, plots, thefts of clothes and shoes, attacks on 
the road, nighttime break-and-entry, opening doors, all manner of wicked 
deeds, and all things remote from truth and lawfulness. 

§12 The Sun is hot and dry, mixed with good and evil in his makeup. He 
rectifies and condemns, doing both good and evil—a fortunate and an unfor- 
tunate planet. He symbolizes and provides the senses and the mind, exaltations 
and high honors, yet without fear, and even easily he makes one gain at the 
expense of enemies and easily inflicts violent deaths. He illuminates those who 
give gifts to friends (to those appropriate and deserving of it). He condemns 
those who plead many things and those who attack collectively. He grants 


BOOK 3 157 


goods and sometimes does both good and evil. He governs those who observe 
the law and who keep their promises. For all humankind he provides benefit 
and delight, great eloquence, and quick answers in all things. He increases the 
appetite for accumulating riches, seeking the good, speaking well of individu- 
als, having heights and honors above mankind, and doing all things lawfully 
and well. The Sun’s quality is especially necessary for kings and nobles in the 
land and the ways of life they require, as well as the works of noble and ornate 
minerals for making the crowns of kings and noblemen and those who do great 
deeds with honesty. 

§13 Venus is cold, humid, and a fortunate planet. She signifies cleanliness, 
neatness, reward, puns, delight in song, joy, illustrations, laughter, pictures, 
beauty, shapeliness, the beat of wind and string instruments, loving one’s bride, 
[116] and seeking spices and things that smell good. She delivers dreams and 
provokes games of chess and dice. She desires to sleep with women, to strengthen 
love with them, and she longs for faithfulness from them. She governs the desire 
to appear beautiful, to love freedom, nobility of heart, and joy. She abhors anger, 
quarrels, vengeance, and lawsuits. She wishes to guard the desire for friends and 
hasa focus on the opinions of the world. She welcomes false oaths and is inclined 
toward desire. She desires to drink excessively. She incessantly desires abun- 
dant sex in filthy ways and to do it ininappropriate places, such as some women 
are accustomed to doing with others. She governs loving in animals and chil- 
dren and making good things for them, exerting fairness in things, delighting 
in merchants and living with them, being loved by women, being loved by men, 
being a good host, involving oneself in the manufacture of crowns, making 
stable things, operating from stones, having a sweet skill, looking down on the 
world with no fear of it, holding back humankind from anger, quarrel, or dis- 
cord; she demonstrates a soft heart and will toward litigation, and she denotes 
weakness in battles. She signifies the desire for all beautiful well arranged 
things that conform to her will. She governs making tinctures and working 
diligently in the skills pertaining to them, selling merchandise, shows, and 
speeches, observers of law, and being bound to the desires that inhibit science 
and philosophy. 

§14 Mercury is changeable, permuting himself from one nature to another. 
He receives the nature of the other planets—the good from the good, the bad 
from the bad. He signifies sense perception and the rational mind, good elo- 
quence, a strong and profound understanding of matters, good intellect, good 
memory, good apprehension, the quick mind suited to acquiring knowledge, 
scientists and philosophers, an understanding of history, arithmetic, geometry, 
astrology, geomancy, ceremonial magic, auguries, scribes, grammar, smooth 
rhetoricians, an effortless understanding of the questions of sages, individuals 


158 PICATRIX 


working through the sciences who seek exaltation from that knowledge, books, 
poetry, individuals desiring to make rhythms, writers of books, charts, and the 
sciences, individuals desiring to know the secrets of sages, expounders of 
philosophy, the mercy of men, clemency, individuals who love sensation and 
pleasure, spendthrifts, squanderers of riches, merchandise, individuals who 
buy and sell things, those who partake in judgment and reasoning, the astute 
and deceptive, individuals who contemplate evil in their wills and keep it hid- 
den, liars, individuals who assemble false documents, the cowardly before 
enemies, the lighthearted in all endeavors, the unstable in matters relating to 
diverse skills, individuals who get involved in everything, individuals who are 
daring in everything that comes about through subtlety, individuals who work 
with great appetite, profiteers, supporters of friends and individuals, and their 
guide away from all illicit things. [117] 

§15 The Moon is cold and humid. She symbolizes the beginning of works, 
great contemplations of things, good sense and motives, the best wording in 
advice, boasting of speaking well, daring in all things, necessities in life that the 
fortunate desire, and good manners in society. She is gracious, quick, and neat 
in all acts, moving lightly toward what she desires, with a healthy and clear will 
among humankind, a great appetite for eating, and a small one for sex and 
womanly delights. She signifies the forsaking of evil, a desire for a good reputa- 
tion, a love of joy and beautiful things, an investigator of noble sciences and 
those worth the cost like astrology, magic, and other arcana, one who desires 
marriage, to generate sons and grandsons, and to make a home for a group of 
them, and good things for their relatives. She symbolizes love and honor from 
humankind, abhors iniquity, and is fair in all her works. On account of one of 
her own qualities, she signifies forgetfulness and necessity. 

§16 How one can speak with Saturn.”* When you desire to speak with Saturn 
and you want to ask something from him, it is proper that you wait until he 
enters a favorable position. The best of these is in Libra (his exaltation), then 
in Aquarius, which is the house of his joy, and last in Capricorn, which is his 
second house. If you cannot have him in any of these three locations, place 
him eastward on any of his boundaries, triplicities, or in any of his angles 
(among these, the best is mid-heaven) or subsequent locations, direct in his 
course, and in the masculine quadrant east of mid-heaven. Beware of the 
harm he causes and his unfortunate aspects, the worst of which is his fourth 
aspect toward Mars. Do not have him descending. A fundamental (which you 
should heed carefully) is to ensure that the planet himself be in a favorable 
position and quality, removed from unfortunate aspects. Positioned thus, 
Saturn is like a well-meaning individual with a courageous heart and a great 
mighty will, who can hardly deny whatever is sought from him. When this 


BOOK 3 159 


planet is retrograde in motion or falling from the angles, he is like a man filled 
with anger and ill will, who quickly denies everything sought from him. When 
Saturn is in a favorable position, as touched upon above, and you wish to speak 
with him and pray to him, dress yourself in black clothes—that is, let all the 
clothes on your body be black—with a black cape tailored in the manner of a 
professor. Wear black shoes. Go to a place assigned to such a task, remote from 
mankind and humbly chosen. Walk there with a humble will, in the fashion of 
a Jew, for Saturn was the lord of their Sabbath. Hold an iron ring in your hand 
and carry an iron censer. In it, place burning charcoal upon which you should 
set the suffumigating mixture whose [118] recipe is this: take equal parts of 
opium, storax (which is an herb), saffron, seed of laurel, carob, wormwood, 
lanolin, colocynth, and the head ofa black cat. Grind them up, and mix every- 
thing together with the urine of a black she-goat in equal parts. Make tablets 
out of it. When you want to operate, place one of these on the burning coals of 
the censer. Keep the others aside. Then turn your face toward the part wherever 
Saturn stands at that time. While smoke rises from the censer, say this prayer: 


O lord on high whose name is great and stands firm in a place above all 
the heavens’ planets, he whom God placed sublime and lofty! You are 
lord Saturn, cold and dry, dark, author of good, honest in your friend- 
ship, true in your promises, enduring and persevering in your amity 
and hatred. Your perception is far and deep; honest in your words and 
promises, alone, lonely, removed from others in your works, with sad- 
ness and pain, removed from rejoicing and festivities. You are old, 
ancient, wise, and the despoiler of good intellect. You are a doer of good 
and of evil. Wretched and sad is he who is cursed by your misfortunes. 
The man who attains your fortunes is blessed indeed. In you God placed 
power and strength and a spirit that does both good and evil. I ask you, 
father and lord, by your splendid names and wondrous acts, that you 
should do such-and-such a thing for me. 


Then speak the request you desire, and throw yourself to the ground with your 
face always toward Saturn with humility, sadness, and gentleness. Your will 
should be pure and firm. Repeat these words many times. Do these things on 
Saturday in his hour. Know that your request will be fulfilled with effect. 

§17_ ‘There are other sages who used to pray to Saturn with other prayers and 
suffumigations, whose recipe is this: Take equal parts of southern wormwood, 
bericus seed,” juniper root, nut, old dates, and thistle. Grind them up, and mix 
them with a good wine aged for many years. Fashion pills, and set them aside 
for use. When you wish to operate, do as we have said above: place some of this 


160 PICATRIX 


suffumigation in a censer while having your face toward Saturn. While the 
smoke is rising, say: 


In the name of God and HEYLIL, who is the angel to whom God assigned 
the strength and power of Saturn for perfecting actions toward the 
cold! Indeed, you stand in the seventh heaven. I invoke you by all your 
names, which are in Arabic, Zohal; in Latin, Saturnus; in the Phoeni- 
cian language, Keyhven; in Roman, Koronez; in Greek, Hacoronoz; in 
Indian, Sacas.*° I invoke and call out to you by all those names. I con- 
jure you by the name of God on high, who gives you potency and spirit 
so that you may accept me and take up my prayer through the obedi- 
ence with which you obey God and His dominion so that you may do 
such-and-such for me. 


State your request, the suffumigation always sitting atop the censer’s coals. 
After you have said these things once, throw yourself onto the ground toward 
him, just where he stands in his nature. Reiterate these words many times, then 
make this [119] sacrifice to him: decapitate a black goat. Gather and keep its 
blood. Take out its liver, and burn it whole. Store the blood. By doing this, what 
you seek will come to pass. 

§18 When you wish to speak with Jupiter. If you wish to speak with Jupiter, 
place him in a favorable position just as we have said regarding Saturn. Then 
dress yourself in yellow and white clothes. Go to a place set aside for these 
works, humbly and gently, as in the fashion of hermits and Christians. Have a 
ring of crystal on your finger, upon which is a cross, and a belt around your 
waist. Dress yourself in a white cape. Take a censer made out of the metal of 
Jupiter.” In it light a fire. Add the suffumigation. Take equal parts of classe,” 
storax gum, columbine, peony, aromatic calamus, pine resin, and hellebore 
seeds. Grind them up, and mix them with pure, old wine aged for many years. 
Make pills from these. When you wish to operate, do as we have said, and 
throw one of these pills in the censer’s fire. After turning toward the part of the 
heavens where Jupiter resides, say: 


God salutes you, O blessed lord, the Greater Fortune, hot and humid, fair 
in all your works, courteous, comely, wise, truthful, lord of truth and 
fairness, removed from all evil, righteous, a lover of those who uphold 
divine laws, contemptuous of worldly affairs and their vices, a lover of 
divine law and its servants, noble in your will, a doer of good, free in your 
nature, exalted and honored in your sphere, lawful in your promises, and 
honest in all your friendships. I conjure you, first through the names of 


BOOK 3 161 


God on high, who gives you power and spirit, then through your good- 
will and beautiful effects and through your excellent and precious nature 
that you may do such-and-such for me (here name your request). You 
belong to the Good and the source of goodness. You are the maker of all 
good things. You perceive all requests that are formed in the Good. 


§ig9 ‘There are similarly other sages who pray to Jupiter with other prayers and 
suffumigations, whose recipe is this: Take equal parts of fleabane, incense, and 
hackberry; three parts of myrrh; and two parts of skinned grapes. Grind these 
things up, and mix them with a wine aged for many years. Make pills, and set 
them aside for use. When it is time to operate, place one of these in the censer 
as said above regarding Saturn. Dress yourself in the fashion of a friar or a 
monk. Place around your neck one of the books of the law. Go humbly and 
gently to the place where you will be operating. Turn your face toward the 


heavens, toward Jupiter, and say: 


O angel RAUCAYEHIL, whom God set beside Jupiter! You, O Jupiter, are 
the Greater Fortune, perfect, the maker of good and all completed things. 
You are indeed discerning, wise, and intelligent, remote from evil works, 
from all malice and [120] sin. linvoke you and call you by all your names, 
which are in Arabic, Misteri; in Latin, Iupiter; in Phoenician, Bargis; in 
Roman, Dermiz; in Greek, Raus; and in Indian Huazfat.1 conjure you by 
the spirit and the powers that God has placed in you, by the obedience 
with which you obey God, and through your goodness and wondrous 
effects and through your good nature, shining and pure, that you may do 
such-and-such for me. 


Speak your request. Then take a white lamb, decapitate it, burn it whole, and 
eat its liver. Then what you asked shall be. 

§20 ‘There are, however, others who pray to Jupiter without suffumigation so 
that by his power they might be saved from a storm at sea. Rasis*® said in his 
book of metaphysics: 


For evading danger at sea, turn yourself toward Jupiter sitting in mid- 
heaven, and speak: “God hails you, O noble planet, splendid, precious, 
and honored star! In you God placed power and spirits for doing good, 
giving form to the bodies of the universe that themselves enter into 
divine law and life, helping those who sail at sea and saving their lives. I 
ask you through the strength that God has placed in you that you grant 
me your light and spirit by which I will be saved. Wash and purify the 


162 PICATRIX 


sins of my nature such that my senses and my spirit be enlightened that I 
may know and understand.” 


If your work is done accordingly, you should see the appearance of a burning 
candle before you. Ifyou do not see it, know that your work was done incorrectly. 
Repeat it until you see this burning candle, and then what you seek shall be. 
§21 Most sages agree that you should turn yourself toward Jupiter and say: 


God hails you, O Jupiter, planet of complete and noble nature, splendid, 
honored, appreciated and benign lord, hot and humid, likened to air in 
your nature, fair in your works, wise, truthful, a lover of divine law and 
those who believe and guard it, wise and learned, a truthful lord of truth 
and law, the Greater Fortune, shining, complete, direct, fair, just in your 
judgments, righteous, splendid, honored, a disdainer of the knowledge of 
this world, lofty in your will! You are, by your nature and power, a real 
lover of the sublime, lawful in your speech and promises, truthful in your 
friendships, complete in your goodness, and removed from all malice 
and obscenity. You are shining and God-fearing, a giver of spiritual for- 
titude anda lord of good and true laws, far from all evil works and speech 
(since your thought and opinion is to sustain the law with sense, mercy, 
intellect, and acuity); a lover of the wise and of wisdom, an interpreter of 
dreams; a lover of those upholding divine laws; a supporter of friends and 
those who adhere to Him; a steadfast victor for truth; [121] a lover of 
kings, noblemen, soldiers, and rulers; a collector and accumulator of 
riches that might be granted to the people and to the services of God and 
to those who please him well; a benefactor for individuals who do good 
and observe God’s laws and mandates; an official observer of promises 
and statements, <... > peoples, populated countries, and places; a lover 
of humankind, righteous; a helper of population; a guardian of oaths; a 
lover of ritual dances, words, beautiful affections, jokes, laughter, speak- 
ing assiduously, good sensible manners, sex with women in a good way 
(and according to the law); a hater of all evil works and of those opposed 
to the law; a subscriber to good deeds so that we may be capable of attain- 
ing them. You order that one abhor evil deeds and stay away from them. 
God hails you, O planet helped by God. God has given you goodness and 
righteousness. To the pure spirits who operate with God and live for His 
service, you grant good things and guard them from all evil and worldly 
worries. You are potent in the waves of the sea, a helper of those who pray 
to God. Task you by these virtues that you enlighten us, our sons, and our 
friends, whom you deign to help by your brightness and your splendid 


BOOK 3 163 


powers and honored spirit that God placed within you. We ask that with 
this spirit, we be able to save our bodies, our business, and grow our 
riches, and remove from ourselves evil thoughts, sadness, and misery, 
lest we have melancholy or anxiety in this world; that we should live a 
good life with great and perfect abundance; that we should do works 
pleasing to the Lord our God; that by your powers and spirit you should 
fortify our bodies in such a way that they be healthy and free of any ill- 
ness or pain, just as our life should be protected; and that all sickness and 
bad circumstances be removed from us. Pour down upon us the power of 
your sublime, excellent, and splendid spirit through which we should 
gain honor from everyone such that they should fear, respect, and please 
us, and so that we are able to take land back from them and also from 
those who seek to harm us so that neither their words nor actions might 
harm us. Let us be removed from every evil affair of man or beast. Let us 
have your divine grace and love, which opens us up with your spirit and 
power and defends us with a good and beautiful shelter. He looks upon 
us with a positive aspect, and with him we are defended from all worldly 
things. Let those cursing and speaking wickedness be far removed from 
us, and let their eyes be darkened such that they cannot see our plots and 
deceptions nor speak evil of us nor seek evil things for us nor be able to 
blame us for any evil word or deed. May we be defended and revealed by 
the excellent power and splendor of your spirit. Look upon humanity’s 
heart and will so that all those seeing us be terrified by our appearance 
and be ashamed, whereas we be illuminated and honored by them like 
solar rays on high, sublime and honored above all things of this world. 
Grant us the assistance [122] of your strength and spirit, from which we 
may have the perception and intellect to understand divine law and be 
able to keep it and be saved by it and so that we follow the things that are 
pleasing to God and urged in His service, as we ought to. Cover us with 
the strength of your spirit so that we may be saved and secured by it; that 
we may reach the divine knowledge of the Lord our God; that we may 
enter into His grace; and may He protect and defend us from this land of 
malediction and spare us from worldly desires. May our senses be puri- 
fied from the superfluities of nature so that they might be joined to the 
natural senses and that we may be able to reach the knowledge and grace 
of that sublime and splendid God. Direct us with your spirit to good and 
straight paths. Lead us this way until our spirits are purified and purged 
from all vain and sinful impurities; may they become illuminated. May 
their hearts remain unharmed from every worldly evil desire, sin, and 
impurity. May they be covered by your power and spirit so that the spirit 


164 


PICATRIX 


and the senses may reach the lofty source. May they remain with the 
spirits of angels into eternity in divine grace in His service. Through you 
our acts of will are withdrawn from all corruptible things, and we reach 
eternal things. God pardons and remits our sins, deeds, and curses 
through His mercy until our spirit is united with things similar to Him 
and divided from His contraries such that we can understand our own 
nature and our shapes and figures and also our own true names without 
any changes until we may rest our spirit from all miseries. Cleanse our 
spirits from every distraction in nature, and may you demonstrate by 
what means we can attain the good things of this world and of the other! 
Amen. I invoke you by all your names: namely, in Arabic, Misteri; in 
Phoenician, Bargis; in Latin, Jupiter;in Roman, Harmiz; in Greek, Biuz; 
so that you may recall my prayer and recall my statements and that you 
may deem my requests completely worthy. I conjure you by the name 
RAUBEIL, who is the angel whom God placed with you for carrying out 
the powers and potencies of the spirit, and your effects; and by the names 
DERYES, AHATYZ, MAHATY, DARQUIZ, THEMIZ, CARUEYIZ, DEHEDEYZ, 
CARNADUYZ, DEME; and by the oldest rituals in the world, ancient and 
splendid above all things, which lack beginning and end, the principle of 
all things. I conjure you by all these names so that you may hear the 
spoken prayer and my entreaties and that you may fulfill my petition that 
I have made to you and that you may purify my will toward you. Iask you 
with small and modest capability and with the fragility of my nature and 
actions. I myself run back to you and to your spirit in all my dealings, you 
who purifies and purges my will toward you and disposes me toward 
asking you with humility and good will, toward serving your name and 
spirit. I myself know and recognize your dominion and power and am 
obedient to it. Hear my prayer, my words, and all my requests with kind- 
ness, as they were made by me without fault! May you deign also to fulfill 
those things that have been forgotten in the request! In your goodness 
and [123] excellence, may you concede your part, and may you cover us 
with the spirit and light of your sublime and honored will so that we may 
have power from it, by which we may be able to rectify our dealings and 
attain riches. May we draw away the human desires from ourselves and 
our abilities from which we may acquire the love of humankind until our 
business is well received and that all might obey our judgments and 
mandates! May we acquire the favor and esteem of kings and that of 
exceptional and inimical men! May we be thought of as upright and 
truthful in all our acts and words! May we secure our hearts from worldly 
pleasures and vices! May it be pleasing to fulfill all these requests for us 


BOOK 3 165 


through your strength and invoked spirit, excellent and splendid, which 
God placed in you for doing good, respecting creatures, and granting life 
to the people of the world. I beseech you by your righteousness, your 
great honored excellence, your noble and precious deeds, and the light 
that you receive from our God, who is Lord of the universe, so that you 
may heed my prayer and that you may turn toward it. May you pay atten- 
tion to what I conceal in my heart and will, although I do not express it 
with my mouth! May you grant me power and intellect by your powers 
and spirit, by which I might secure my petition that you have benevo- 
lently taken up! May you set out to help us with your piety and cut off 
from us worries and sadness! May you grant us a durable fortune from 
your fortune that may last with us through all time! I conjure you by your 
names and your piety, goodness, and excellence so that you may be an 
advocate for me before our Lord God, precious, and Lord of the entire 
universe so that He may fulfill my request with effect. May] easily, effort- 
lessly, and joyfully reach what I seek! May I have the favor of kings and 
lords of the land, of the powerful, and of all rational and irrational crea- 
tures! I conjure you through our Lord God, who is the only God in the 
world as much in past as in future, so that I may beseech you and your 
noble powers. I seek in my prayer that you may have complete salutations 
always from the Lord of the universe and His piety and grace through the 
infinity of time. Amen! 


Toa pure and redeemed will toward our Lord God, amen. 

§22 ‘The sages who operate with this knowledge have claimed that whoever 
performs this ritual—by saying all these things to Jupiter—all their requests in 
the world will be fulfilled on account of Jupiter’s spirit’s power reaching out to 
them. They will be safe and sound in body through the entire cycle of the year, 
without detriment and illness. Everyone will obey them. Everything they pro- 
pose will be completed easily, with effect, and diligently. They will be well 
received by everyone, especially if Jupiter has power in their nativity. Know 
that the more humbly and gently you act while you perform this ritual, the 
better it will be so long as you have a pure and clear will, [124] removed from all 
worldly things. Do not think about or occupy yourself with worldly things 
except for the proposed ritual. Throw yourself onto the ground, speak your 
prayer humbly while dragging your forehead on the ground, since you will 
have a great helper for completing your request in everything. 

§23 When you wish to pray to Mars. When you wish to beseech Mars, to 
speak with and honor him, place him in a favorable position as above concern- 
ing Saturn. Dress yourself in red clothes, place on your head a red linen or silk 


166 PICATRIX 


cloth anda red ceremonial hat. Carry a sword on your neck, and equip yourself 
with all the weaponry that you can bear. Tuck up your clothes in the fashion of 
aman going to court or of a soldier, and upon your finger place a bronze ring. 
Take a bronze censer with burning coals, and place this suffumigation upon it. 
Take equal parts of wormwood, aloe, squinancywort, spurge, large pepper, and 
watercress. Grind them all up, and mix them with human blood. Make pills 
out of this, and set them aside for use. When you wish to begin the ritual, place 
one of these in the censer, which you will carry with you to a remote place 
chosen especially for this operation. Once you have reached it, stand upright 
and say secretly, daringly, and without fear, facing south when Mars is fortu- 
nate and in a favorable position (as we discussed concerning the other planets), 


looking toward him continuously while the smoke rises: 


O Mars, you who are honored lord, hot and dry, capable, weighty, robust 
at heart, the spiller of blood and giver of infirmity itself! You are strong, 
powerful, sharp, daring, shining, agile, and the lord of battle, punish- 
ment, misery, wounds, prison, sorrow, and mixed and discrete things. 
You who have neither fear nor concern for anything! You are sole helper 
in investigating your effects, strong in your judgments and willful acts 
toward conquering and making petitioners fortunate, an actor of law- 
suits and battle, a performer of evils on the weak and the strong, a lover 
of the children of battles, an avenger of wicked and harmful people in the 
world. I conjure and ask you by your names and qualities present in the 
heavens, by your conquests, and by your requests to the Lord God who 
placed in you power and strength, gathering them for you and separating 
them from the other planets so that you might have strength and power, 
victory above all, and great vigor. 

§24 I beseech you by all your names: in Arabic, Marech; in Latin, 
Mars; in Phoenician, Baharam; in Roman, Bariz; in Greek, Hahuez; and 
in Indian, Bahaze. I conjure you by the high God of the universe that you 
hear my prayer, heed my request, see my humility, and fulfill my petition. 
I ask that you do such-and-such for me. 


Here state your request, whatever it may be; then say: “I conjure you by [125] 
RAUCAHEHIL, who is the angel whom God placed with you for fulfilling your 
affairs and effects.” While you say these things, smoke should always rise from 
the censer. Repeat these things many times, and ask what you desire. Then if 
you can get a male leopard—if not, a mouse—decapitate it, burn it, and eat its 
liver as we have said regarding the others. Your wish will be fulfilled. 


BOOK 3 167 


§25 When you wish to locate things stolen by an enemy or if someone did you 
harm and you want revenge, equip yourself with weapons, and dress yourself 
as above. Come to the place above carrying a censer and a suffumigation. 
While the smoke rises, say: 


O Mars, you who are of the nature of blazing fire; an author of wars and 
toils; a crusher of noblemen and deposer of their offices and ranks; an 
igniter of fury, ire, and wicked will in the hearts of evil men; a bringer of 
death, people killing one another, bloodshed, and the rape of women; a 
cause of class division, the elevation of one over another, and of attacking 
and defending! Now I seek from you that you protect and defend me, 
who is joined with you in all this. You are strong, hot, and potent in your 
works and do not withdraw from whoever seeks and entreats you. I beg 
you by all your names, manners, works, motions, and the paths present 
in your sphere, by your light and by the power of your domination and 
rule that you pay attention to me and heed my petition. I come to you 
with bitter complaints about someone who acts to seek me out with pride 
and a bigoted ill will. You are commander of those with recourse to you. 
You act and fulfill the request of those asking. I beseech you by the light, 
fortitude, and potency that God, Lord of the whole world, has placed in 
you that you might send over one of your furies onto such an enemy of 
mine that they be kept away from me, may not remember me, nor think 
about me. Send them some kind of penalty and misery so that they might 
receive a heavier and worse retribution than the damages they did to me. 
May I sever their hands and feet! May you bring every evil and misery to 
them through me, as well as the ire and fury of a king. Through me, may 
both thieves and bandits be poured out upon that person and their 
riches! May they endure ulcers on their body, fevers, blindness of the 
eyes, and deafness of the ears. May all their senses be damned until they 
are blinded, deafened, muted, and paralyzed in every limb! Have them 
pay the penalty, and give them prolonged misery, spoil all their food, 
drink, and flavor. May they be deprived of life! Bring them all manner of 
misery and punishments. Bring vengeance upon their body, riches, com- 
munity, and sons. Pour the ire and the fury of a king and the hatred of 
their neighbors and kin onto them. Send thieves to their property and 
lands or wherever they may go by land or sea. May these things be imple- 
mented at once with effect! May you carry them away from honor and 
status! You are the famous mighty one, performer of fury and evil works. 
I conjure you by your strength, [126] evil, and powerful effects through 


168 


PICATRIX 


the things that alter, change, and corrupt generation, that act against 
travelers at sea, that do evil things to people, and that put effort into your 
works. I conjure you so that you may heed my request, and I ask that you 
be capable of fulfilling it and that you take pity on me and the evil works 
that that person does to me, on account of which Iam pouring out prayers 
to you. I conjure you by RAUBEYL, who is the angel whom the God of the 
universe has placed with you for executing all your effects and powers. I 
conjure you by your spirit, namely the one that condemns those sailing 
by sea, and by the power that you pour into the hearts of the furious, the 
warmongers, and the murderers since they involve themselves in ardu- 
ous affairs and the most difficult conflicts. With all this, I conjure you 
that you might hear my prayer. Take note of my affairs, and grant me the 
fortitude of your spirit, by which I may distinguish my prayer that you 
have heard. May you receive full honor from God, the universal Lord of 
the world. You are a commander of the excellent and of things happening 
to excellent people. You are a giver and distributor of penalties and mis- 
eries for those who commit evil, just as they deserve. Amen, amen. Again 
I conjure you by the names DAYADEBUZ, HEYAYDEZ, HANDABUZ, MAHA- 
RAZ, ARDAUZ, BEYDEHYDIZ, MAHYDEBYZ, and DEHEYDEMIZz! With all 
these I conjure you so that you may fulfill my request, take note of my 
petitions, have pity in my lamentations and tears, heal my burdens, and 
protect and defend me from the evils and plots of that individual and 
others who seek evil. I conjure you by the high God of the entire firma- 
ment, of great power and dominion, the Lord of names that are prayed to, 
and the Lord of good things, giver of life to the entire world, who created 
life and death, boundaries and durations. He is the one who remains and 
lasts through the infinite cycles of ages, without a beginning or end; by 
this God, I conjure you so that you may fulfill my request at this hour and 
moment. Amen, amen. 


While always speaking these things over the smoke of the censer, repeat these 


words many times, and you shall fulfill the intent. If you decapitate one of 


Mars’s animals, burn it on a fire, and do with it as you did with the others. 


Thus, you shall be more certain that your request will be fulfilled. 


§26 For avenging yourself against an enemy. Ancient sages would do things 


suited to a kind of vengeance with the stars present next to the pole, namely 


Benethnays, a star that stands in the constellation of Ursa Major. The sages 


established the prayers in this way. When an enemy is harming you or quar- 


relling with you and you wish to send them punishment and misery such that 


they may have no thought against you in order to avenge yourself from that 


BOOK 3 169 


deed, enter the house that you will have built for this task, and turn your face 
toward where Benethnays will be at that time. Throw onto the lit coals of 
the censer some of that suffumigation that is described below. While smoke 
rises, say: 


May God bless thee, O greater BENETHNAYS, you who are splendid and 
beautiful in your position in the firmament! Iask and conjure you by the 
power that God, founder of all things, has placed in you [127] that you 
might send such an individual a spirit to enter his body to bind and tie it 
in knots such that all his limbs be cursed and all his senses be reduced to 
nothing (sight, hearing, and the other senses, the ability to walk, speak, 
eat, drink, and delight in anything, and that he be overall devoid of life). 
I pray that you, stars of Benethnays, might strew him out to die and pour 
into him every kind of misery from every direction. May his eyes behold 
toil and sadness, anger, the fury of kings, the victory of enemies and that 
of wild, savage beasts! May you command him to come into the ill will of 
neighbors and kin! May you hastily make bitter and manifest vindication 
over him throughout the universe! Ruin his body and his household, and 
cast him down headlong from high places. Make his eyes pop out, shatter 
his hands and feet, and curse all his limbs. Bring him as strong and 
extreme a misery and as potent a punishment as is possible to befall 
anyone. Divert him from the mercy and piety of God. Do not receive any 
piety from him, nor cure his impediments. I ask that you act swiftly 
against him. My will acts and seeks you openly on account of the great 
misery that I endure through him and the evils done to me without any 
reasonable cause. You are the stars that accomplish with effect the 
requests and supplications done toward you. You defend and equip the 
one who has recourse to you. I ask you that you pour into this individual 
your power and spirit with great fury and anger, that you swiftly transmit 
to him all these penalties because he deserves loss, misery, great pain, to 
be treated poorly by everyone around, that he be despised, that you 
shower great infirmities and pains upon all his limbs. Inflict these upon 
him, the penalties and miseries that I am saying. I conjure you by your 
power and spirit that you may remember my request. Take pity upon my 
tears, and grant me the power and intellect of your spirit that I may per- 
ceive your fulfillment of my request. I conjure you by the God of the great 
firmament and exalted power, and by Him, namely the One who has 
dominion and power over all the creatures of heaven and the world, who 
indeed is God Himself, so that you may fulfill my request. Now I ask that 
you act punctually through the names of that exalted Lord who is God to 


170 PICATRIX 


fulfill this request of mine through His power and His virtue. Look upon 
my prayers and words closely. 


Once you have spoken all these words thus, prostrate yourself on the ground. 
While saying these things, repeat them many times with the smoke always 
rising from a suffumigation created this way: take 1 0z. each of storax 
gum, incense of nutmeg, holly, and aloewood with 3 oz. each of spikenard 
and mastic. Grind them all up, and mix them with the best wine, and make 
pills. Set them aside for use when you want to operate through those polar 
stars. [128] 

§27. When you wish to pray to the Sun. When you wish to pray to the Sun and 
request something from him, such as a petition of grace from a king, the love 
of lords, lordship, and how to acquire it, let the Sun be fortunate and in the 
ascendant, both in his day and in his hour. Dress yourself in regal clothes, 
yellow silk mixed with gold, place upon your head a golden crown, and wear a 
gold ring on your finger. Prepare yourself in the appearance of noble Chaldean 
men because the Sun is lord to their ascendant. Enter a sequestered house 
chosen for the task. Place your right hand above your left, and look at the Sun 
with a respectful and humble gaze like that of a fearful and modest person. 
Take a golden censer and a good-looking cock with a handsome neck. On top 
of the censer, place a small burning wax candle on a piece of wood the size of 
your palm. Place the suffumigation described below in the fire of the censer. 
While the Sun is rising, turn the cock toward him; indeed, with the smoke 
ascending continuously from the censer, say: 


You who are the root of heaven and are above all the stars and planets, 
holy and honored, I ask that you heed my request and grant me the grace 
and love of such-and-such a king and other kings too. I conjure you by 
the one who granted you light and life. You are the light of the world. I 
invoke you by all your names: in Arabic, Yazemiz; in Latin, Sol; in Phoe- 
nician, Maher; in Roman, Lehuz; in Indian, Araz. You are the light of the 
world and its brightness; you exist in the middle of the planets. You are 
the cause of generation in the world, by your power and heat made sub- 
lime in your position. I ask by your splendor and power that you deign to 
help me in such a way that such-and-such a king and the rest of the earth 
place me in a noble and sublime position so that I may have dominion 
and nobility in the same way that you are lord of the other planets and 
stars, since they receive their light and brightness from you. I ask you, 
who are the root of the entire firmament, that you have pity on me and 
note my prayers and requests. 


BOOK 3 171 


While the smoke is rising, speak these words. The suffumigation necessary for 
this task is one we call “the suffumigation of hermits,” and just as the ancient 
sages have claimed, it has great and wondrous effects. It is composed of thirty- 
one species, and this is its recipe: take 7 oz. each of common fleabane, bdellium, 
myrrh, labdanum, elecampane, and cicely; 3 oz. each of nettle tree, poley ger- 
mander, and cleaned pine nuts; 5 oz. each of lily root, sonchus, cardamom, 
aromatic reed, incense, and nutmeg shell; 4 oz. each of dried roses, saffron, 
spikenard, root of caper, cinquefoil; 9 oz. each of clove, balsam seed, cuscuta; 
1 0z. of squinancywort; 2 lbs. each of cucumber seed, amomum, terebinth, date 
powder, skinned grapes; and 5 lbs. of skimmed honey. Grind everything up, and 
mix it with the best wine. Make pills, and set them aside for the rituals of the 
Sun, with which you will suffumigate while uttering the Sun’s prayer. When it is 
finished, decapitate the cock, and eat its liver. [129] Do everything as above 
regarding the other planets, and you will attain your objective. 

§28 The suffumigation of the Sun and its prayer, however, are better done in 
this way. Dress yourself in the clothes mentioned above, prepare yourself in the 
fashion we described, and place this suffumigation on the fire in the censer. 
Take equal parts of saffron, storax gum, incense, nutmeg, litharge, pomegran- 
ate flower, aloewood, and saxifrage. Grind and mix them up. Make pills that 
you will set aside for use. When the ritual begins, place some of those on the lit 
coals of the censer. While the smoke is rising, speak: 


May God preserve you, O Sun, you who are lucky and the Greater For- 
tune, hot and dry, bright, resplendent, excellent, beautiful, splendid and 
honored king above all the stars and planets. The quality of beauty, sub- 
tlety, good disposition, truth, wisdom, knowledge, riches, which are 
acquired by means of your power, are strengthened in you. You are the 
lord of the six planets, who are steered by your motion, and you rule 
above them, and you have authority and dominion over them. They exist 
obedient to you, and they debase themselves in your aspect such that 
when they are conjoined with you by their motions, at once they are more 
obedient to you and overflow with your light. When conjoined to you 
physically, they are burned up by your rays and are altogether concealed 
from our sights. They all shine by your light, power, and splendor. You 
have powers over all. Youare the king, and they the vassals. You give light 
and power to them all; from you they receive fortune and become fortu- 
nate when you favor them in good aspect. When you face them in a bad 
aspect, they lose their fortune and are rendered unfortunate. There is no 
one who can perceive all your blessings and noble characteristics, which 
are infinite to our intellects. 


172 PICATRIX 


While speaking these things, throw yourself to the ground, and turn your face 
toward the Sun repeating these words many times. Make a sacrifice from some 
solar animal according to what was said above on the other planets, and you 
will attain your objective. 

§29 Now another prayer of the Sun that sages claim is for kings, potentates, 
and high-class nobles who, when their powers and kingdoms have been dis- 
solved, want to return to their former states. When you wish to operate for 
these or similar reasons, first place Scorpio in the ascendant with the Sun 
aspecting Mars. Take a golden censer, and place a fire from the coals of holm 
oak in it. Hold in your hand grains of amber the size of chickpeas, which you 
should throw on the censer’s fire one after another in sequence. While smoke is 
rising toward the Sun (that is, while he is in mid-heaven), turn yourself toward 
him, and speak: 


O Sun, you who are the source of riches, the increase of strength, the 
honor of life, the source of splendor, and the beginning of all goodness! I 
entrust my entire will upon you, and with it place myself wholly in your 
hands. I entreat you on account of my depression, loss, the lessening of my 
power, and because others gloat over me and do not respect me according 
to my status. I conjure you by the Lord on high, who [130] is the mover of 
your motions and the giver of your power, through whom you accomplish 
your actions; by the obedience with which you obey that Lord; by the 
reason you have for helping and saving those who throw themselves at you 
and your will (that is, those who pray to you and supplicate you with a 
clear and pure intent); and by the dominion and capability that God 
granted you over the planets, turn yourself onto me and liberate my will! 
Carry it away from worried and sad contemplations, and lead me back 
into my power, station, and fortifications. Grant that that particular indi- 
vidual of this world comes to my obedience and dominion. May you deign 
to grant me the power and strength of your splendor and excellence, by 
which I may have fortune and influence in working upon everyone such 
that they obey me. I conjure you by your hidden and concealed noble 
qualities; by the influence you have in the order of motion; by the influ- 
ence, power, strength, and the works you govern upon the generation of 
things in this world; by your piety, which reaches the meek; by your for- 
tune, which reaches the great; by your fidelity and legality, which you have 
toward the Lord God, who granted competence to you; by the debt of 
assistance that you have for those fleeing to you and beseeching you; by 
the ways and paths of the heavens, which have no parallel upon the Earth 


BOOK 3 173 


so that you may heed my prayer, understand my request, pay attention to 
my words, and complete my petitions with effect. All those with a pure 
and untarnished will toward you should have complete salvation. 


While you are saying those things, you should be dressed in the clothes we 
have mentioned above and be standing toward the Sun. Observe the rest of the 
things discussed here, and you will attain the objective. 

§30 When you wish to pray to Venus. When you wish to pray to Venus and 
request something from the matters pertinent to her, let her be free from 
unfortunate planets, direct, not retrograde, and in a favorable position. After- 
ward, dress and adorn yourself with one of her two ornaments, the best of 
which is the clothing and ornaments of Arab noblemen. Dress yourself in 
white clothes, and on your head wear a white headdress, because it is her sym- 
bol. The other is an ornament like a woman’s veil. Dress yourself in ample, 
precious, and beautiful silk clothes interwoven with gold. Place a crown on 
your head adorned with precious pearls and stones. Wear a gold ring on your 
hand decorated with a stone of pearl and golden bracelets on your arms. Take 
up a mirror in your right hand, and in the left carry a comb. Place a pitcher of 
wine before yourself and put aromatic powder, good-smelling spices, and nut- 
meg on your clothes, like women do. Take a censer made of gold and silver, 
then place lit coals in it. Throw upon them the suffumigation described below. 
While the smoke is rising, speak: 


May God preserve you, O Venus, who are mistress and fortune, cold and 
humid, fair in your effects and complexion, pure, beautiful, [131] pleasant- 
smelling, pretty, and decorated! You are the mistress of gold and silver 
jewelry; fond of love, joy, decorations, parties, elegance, songs, and 
instruments that resound with the voice and are sung from the heart, 
songs sung with a beat and pipe music, games and comforts, rest and 
love. You have stood firm in your effects. You love wines, rest, joy, and sex 
with women since all these stand as your natural effects. I myself invoke 
you by all your names: in Arabic, Zohara; in Latin, Venus; in Persian, 
Anyhyt;* in Roman, Affludita; in Greek, Admenita; in Indian, Sarca. I 
conjure you by the Lord God, Lord of the high firmament, and by the 
obedience that you render unto God, and by the power and dominion 
that He holds above you so that you may heed my prayer, remember my 
request, and do such-and-such for me (state your request here). I conjure 
you by BEYTEYL, who is that angel whom God placed with you for bring- 
ing about all your powers and effects. 


174 PICATRIX 


While speaking these things, throw yourself to the ground while facing Venus, 
and say these things while prostrate, motionless on the ground. Get up, and 
repeat these things. When this is done, decapitate a dove and a turtledove, and 
eat their livers. Burn their bodies on the censer’s fire. While doing this, the 
suffumigation should be constantly burning in the censer, the composition of 
which is this: Take equal parts of aloewood, sukk, costus, saffron, labdanum, 
mastic gum, poppy husks, willow leaves, and lily root. Grind everything up, 
and mix it in rosewater. Make tablets the size of chickpeas. Throw them in the 
censer’s fire until your ritual is complete. 

§31 The prayer of Venus for love. Perform the prayer of Venus for love between 
two individuals or between a husband and a wife in this way. Dress and adorn 
yourself as we described above, and observe the position of Venus and those 
things related above. Place this suffumigation in the fire. Take 5 oz. of sukk and 
peppered thistle; and 2% oz. each of grapes, frankincense, and mastic gum. 
Grind everything up, and mix it with rain water. Make tablets the size of chick- 
peas. Throw them into the fire one after another until the end of the ritual lest 
the smoke be lacking at any time during the operation. While the smoke is 
rising, speak: 


O Venus, you who are the spirit of love, builder of friendships, and the 
jewel of intimacy! From you proceeds the power of taste and love. From 
you flow good friendship and enjoyment between individuals. Through 
you the spirits seeking evil are clumped up and those seeking good over- 
flow. You are the source of love’s intimacy between men and women. You 
are the root of procreation. You attract the spirit of one toward the other, 
and through you, they are conjoined. Spirits are disposed toward loving 
one another by your power. O Venus, you who are beautiful, you who 
give the power [132] of love’s intimacy to those calling upon you by your 
will! I beseech you by your names, by the name of God, sublime and on 
high, who created you and moves you in your sphere; by your light and 
by the firmament of your reign and potency so that you may heed my 
prayer and request on account of such-and-such an individual’s ill will 
toward me and by the misery, toil, and sadness that exist because that 
person’s enmity and will divert good things away from me—for that 
reason I am making a request. I ask and beg that you turn these things 
around for me regarding their love and friendship and that, out of all 
your spirits and powers, you pass over them, their spirit, the spirit of 
their essence and of their prayer. May all their spirits and acts of will 
toward me be rectified through you. By your motion and robust potency, 
may you move toward me like fire and violent wind. I conjure you and 


BOOK 3 175 


your spirits—you who are truthful in your friendships and loves, beauti- 
ful and steadfast in your social interactions—your spirits, who create 
loving relationships and sexual intercourse and move the power of 
delight and vice in the mind and bring about love—by all those things, I 
conjure you so that you heed and take note of my request and prayer. I 
conjure you by BEYTEYL, who is the angel whom the Lord our God placed 
with you for bringing about your powers and effects. I conjure you by 
your spirit, by whom you have powers and potencies in your works. I 
conjure you by your brightness and light, that you may pour the yearning 
for luxury, vice, and friendship into my heart and will. Heed my dealings 
so that you receive my request, fulfill my desire in what I seek, and trans- 
mit to me by your light, power, and love what I need to perceive how you 
receive my request regarding these things. You are the one who joins 
hearts together, who conjoins and unites love and acts of good will. May 
you bring about joy, comfort, and delight! May you receive complete and 
whole salutations forever! Amen. 


Once you have spoken and done these things thus, sacrifice a white dove. Eat 
its liver. Burn up the remains, and set aside the ash. Give it to whoever you wish 
in food. This will delight you. 

§32 When you wish to pray to Mercury. When you wish to pray to Mercury 
and seek something pertaining to him like the things relevant to scribes and 
kings’ regents, dress like a notary or a scribe when the Moon is conjoined with 
Mercury. Behave like a scribe in all your actions, and place on your finger a 
ring of solidified mercury, since the wise Hermes had worked with such a ring. 
Sit on a throne similar to a magistrate’s, and turn your face toward Mercury, 
holding a sheet in your hands pretending as if you wished to write upon it. Use 
the suffumigation appropriate to him in a censer of solidified mercury filled 
with fire; place it therein. While the smoke is rising, say: 


May God preserve you, [133] O good lord Mercury, you who are truthful, 
sensible, intelligent, and wise in all manner of writing, arithmetic, com- 
putation, and knowledge of the heavens and Earth, and the infuser of all 
these! You are the noble lord of modest enjoyment, riches, business deal- 
ings, and wealth. You are lord, sustainer, and subtle interpreter of deep 
perception. You govern the prophecies of prophets and their perceptions, 
reason, teaching, apprehending diverse sciences, subtlety, intellect, phi- 
losophy, geometry, knowledge of the heavens and Earth, divinations, 
geomancy, poetics, writing, eloquence, the sense of agility, depth in all 
crafts and skills, quickness, changing from one business deal to another, 


176 


PICATRIX 


lying, preparing yourself and maintaining purity and cleanliness, being 
helpful to others and behaving yourself well with them, piety, sense per- 
ception, tranquility, and the diversion of evils. You are the disposer and 
expounder of law to humankind and of the good law toward God. You 
have concealed yourself by means of your subtlety such that none can 
ever know your nature nor determine your effects. You are fortunate 
with the fortunate planets and unfortunate with the unfortunate planets. 
You are male with male planets but female with female ones; diurnal 
with diurnal planets and nocturnal with nocturnal ones. You harmonize 
with the planets in all their natures, conform with them in all their 
forms, transmuting yourself into all their qualities. Now I beseech and 
invoke you by all your names: in Arabic, Hotarit; in Latin, Mercurius; in 
Roman, Haruz; in Phoenician, Tyr; in Indian, Meda. I conjure you first 
by the Lord God on high, who is Lord of the firmament and ofthe elevated 
and great kingdom. I conjure you by Him so that you may receive my 
request and accomplish what I ask from you. May you pour onto me the 
powers of your spirit, by which I may be strengthened, that I may assist 
myself in accomplishing my request and that I may be suited and well- 
disposed for learning knowledge and wisdom. Make me beloved and 
well-received by kings and nobles. Make me exalted and honored by 
humankind. Give me the intimacy of kings so that they may grant me 
permission and effectively take up my words such that they need me and 
seek my knowledge and wisdom in accounting, arithmetic, astrology, 
and divination. Work in me, and dispose me such that I may profit and 
become rich. May I receive honors and excellence before kings, noble- 
men, and everyone. On account of this I conjure you by ARQUYL, who is 
the angel whom God placed with you for bringing about your acts and 
works, so that you may accomplish my request, heed my prayer, and ful- 
fill my petition. I ask that you help and fortify me with your spirit and 
join me in love with kings by your spirit and power. May I reach knowl- 
edge and wisdom by your power. Thus, by your assistance, you will help 
me so that I may know those things I do not know and that I may under- 
stand the things I do not understand and that I may see the things that I 
do not see and that you may remove from me want, sickness, and what 
weakens the mind and increases forgetfulness. Do this until I may attain 
the level of the wise sublime ancients (those who had knowledge and [134] 
understanding by means of their spirits and acts of will). May you trans- 
mit to my spirit your potency and spirit, which elevates me and makes 
me reach the abovementioned state. Direct me in knowledge and wisdom 
and in all my acts so that I may have grace and power by serving kings 


BOOK 3 177 


and noblemen. Thus, may I acquire wealth and treasure! Fulfill this 
request for me quickly. I myself conjure you by the Lord God, Lord of the 
firmament on high and the kingdom of power, that you remember my 
request and effectively fulfill all the petitions Ihave made. 


While you are saying all these things, throw yourself to the ground toward 
him, humbly and devoutly, repeating the above once. Afterward, raise your 
head, and behead a cock with a large crest, burn it up in the aforementioned 
way, and eat its liver. Suffumigate a suffumigation made this way: take equal 
parts of nutmeg, holm oak, cumin, dried cloves, myrtle branches, bitter almond 
husks, acacia, seeds of tamarisk, grapevine branches, and squinancywort. 
Grind them up, and incorporate them with pure and delicate wine. Make tab- 
lets, and set them aside for use. 

§33 When you wish to pray to the Moon. When you wish to pray to the Moon 
and seek something pertaining to her, prepare yourself in the appearance of a 
boy. Have with you some good smelling things, and hold a silver ring in your 
hand. Be lighthearted in your gestures and actions, and speak lavishly, well, 
and pointedly. Have asilver censer in front of you. On the fourteenth day of the 
lunar month when the Moon is above the Earth and in aspect with the fortu- 
nate planets with favorable aspects, wash yourself, turn your face toward her, 
and speak: 


May God preserve you, O Moon, blessed lady, fortunate, cold and humid, 
proportional and beautiful. You are chief and key ofall the other planets, 
swift in your movements with a shining brightness, lady of merriment 
and joy, of good words, good reputation, and a lucky kingdom. You are a 
lover of the law, contemplative of the matters of the world, subtle in your 
musings. You appreciate and love enjoyment, songs, and parties. You are 
the mistress of ambassadors, messengers, and revealer of secrets. You are 
free and precious, closer to us than the rest of the planets, larger and 
more luminous than them all. You are the connector of good and evil, 
you bring the planets together and carry down their brightness. By your 
goodness you reconcile whatever they might be. All are adorned by your 
decoration and condemned by your cursing. You are the beginning ofall 
things; you are their end. You have excellence and honor above all plan- 
ets. Through things of this kind I beseech you. I conjure you by CELAN, 
who is the angel whom God has placed with you for realizing all your 
effects, so that you may take pity on me and receive my request by the 
humility you have toward our Lord on high and toward His kingdom, so 
that you may hear me in the things sought and asked. I invoke you by all 


178 PICATRIX 


your names: in Arabic, Camar; in Latin, Luna; in Phoenician, Mehe; in 
Greek, Zamahyl; in Indian, Cerim; in Roman, Celez, that you may receive 
my petitions in this place. 


Afterward, [135] throw yourself on the ground toward the Moon while repeat- 
ing the above. While saying these words and doing these things, use the “suf- 
fumigation of hermits” composed of twenty-eight ingredients in this way. Take 
1 oz. each of mastic gum, cardamom, savin, storax gum, and peppered thistle; 
2 oz. each of elecampane, myrrh, squinancywort, dar sessahal,* spikenard, cos- 
tus, frankincense, and saffron; 4 oz. each of cucumber and its seeds and henna 
root; 3 oz. each of lily root, Celtic nard,*” Indian poley-germander, and shelled 
cleaned pine nuts; 2 lbs. each of St. John’s Wort, labdanum, apple leaves, dried 
roses, and jelly; 2 lbs. of cleaned grapes; and 5 lbs. of dates. Mix them into as 
much of the subtlest wine as is sufficient to combine those things. Make tablets 
the size of chickpeas. When the task is at hand, take with you a bovine calf, 
decapitate it, and burn it in a large fire, as we have said above, such that its 
smoke rises in the air as discussed regarding the other sacrifices. If you have 
made your sacrifice from a sheep, burn it, and eat its liver (as said above regard- 
ing the other sacrifices). You will fulfill your request. 

§34 The opinion of sages about the prayers and petitions suited to the plan- 
ets is that each of the planets act on matters corresponding to its own nature 
(the fortunate to the good and the unfortunate to evil). When you wish to ask 
something from the planets, see to it that the chosen planet be aspected by 
the lord of the ascendant, that the almuten of the figure be in the east and also 
high in its epicycle in the fourth altitude in the east. Then the sages would 
make their petitions. The powers and effects of the planets are stronger and 
of greater influence at night. Beware lest you seek anything from any planet 
that is not from its own proper nature since it would be the downfall of such 
a request. 

§35 ‘The sages who made prayers and sacrifices to the planets in mosques did 
the abovementioned things. When the heavens moved by eight degrees, they 
made the sacrifice of one animal, and while it was setting by eight degrees, they 
made another sacrifice. They say that Hermes ordered them to do this in 
mosques or in their churches. Those sages have claimed regarding Hermes that 
he was the lord of three thriving roles, namely a king, a prophet, and a sage. 
They mandated that no sacrifices of any animal that is bicolored, black, with a 
broken bone, with a broken horn, with a sick eye, or with a blemish on its body 
be made in their mosques. While they were decapitating that animal, they 
would take out its liver right away. They examined it, and if they found any 


BOOK 3 179 


defect or stain on it, then they would claim that the lord of that place had a 
notable impediment. Then they would hash up this liver and give it to everyone 
present so that they might eat it. 

§36 ‘They would call Mars in their language Mara Smyt,** which means lord 
of malefactors. They say he is a malefactor because he is swift in his malign 
effects. According to their opinion, his form is the shape of a man holding a 
sword in his right hand and a burning flame in his left [136] while threatening 
in turn with blade and fire. For this reason, he was honored among them, and 
they made sacrifices out of fear of him and for preventing his evil. The sacrifices 
that they made to him they performed when the Sun is entering Aries because 
it is the house of Mars, and similarly when the Sun is entering Scorpio, they 
make another sacrifice of this kind. 

§37 ‘They have one experiment on children, which is in the month when the 
Sun is dwelling in Scorpio. They take a boy, lead him to a secret house prepared 
for this operation, and stand him on his feet. They bring up one handful of 
tamarisk and set it on fire in a tin censer. They speak words relevant to Mars 
over the boy and dress him in the clothes of Mars. If fire were to touch the boy’s 
backside, they would judge him incapable, unsuitable, and untrained for this 
ritual. If the fire were to touch him in the front, they claim that he is suitable 
and apt for this operation. Then they lead him to the house of their prayers and 
inspect him to see whether his limbs are healthy. Then they lead him to another 
dark house with his eyes covered. A priest is prepared ahead of time and places 
one stick of red tamarisk upon the boy. They dress him in a hide, and the priest 
places a burning censer next to the boy’s feet on the right-hand side. He places 
another censer with water on the left. The mother of the boy then comes with a 
cockin her hands and sits in the door of that house. Next, the priest takes up a 
bronze cooking pot full of burning coals in his hands. The priest summons the 
boy and binds him with the fetters of an oath that he never reveal his secrets. 
The boy is greatly terrified so as not to reveal this to anyone. They tell him that 
if he were to reveal anything to anyone about these things, he would die imme- 
diately. When the priest has finished these things, he should uncover and open 
the boy’s eyes. His mother comes with the abovementioned cock, and the priest 
takes it with his hands and decapitates it above the boy’s head. At once, the 
mother throws a red cloth on him and takes him out of the house. When the 
boy leaves the house, he immediately puts a ring on his finger with the image 
of a monkey on it. 

§38 ‘These men say that the first sacrifice pertaining to Saturn is made while 
he is in Taurus, and they sacrifice a single cow to him. They claim that its horns 
are set as a crown, that it is more beautiful and more suited for sacrifice than 


180 PICATRIX 


the other animals. They used to make this sacrifice once they had fattened up 
the cow by feeding it herbs gathered by virgin girls at sunrise. They would 
return home by paths other than the ones they used when they left home. Those 
men hold all the above as the greatest secret in their works. They would be 
attentive that this cow be totally unblemished, entirely [137] lacking white 
spots, no matter how insignificant. Over its eyes was placed a golden chain 
twirled around its horns. They say that the wise Hermes taught a ritual of this 
kind. When they wanted to decapitate it, however, they would prepare it for 
funerary rites and suffumigate it with the suffumigations of Saturn. They spoke 
in the manner of the Greeks. The priest decapitated it with a sharp sword on 
which there was to be found no tarnish or diminution; then he collected its 
blood in a dish. He then retrieved its tongue, ears, snout, and eyes; and the rest 
took their share. Afterward they would inspect the blood sitting in the saucer, 
and the froth rising from the blood. From that froth, they understood the 
dominion and motion of Saturn, which according to them is the first motion 
because in him motion begins and ends. They used to make this kind of sacri- 
fice when Saturn entered the sign of Taurus. 

§39 Those men used to wash their faces and bodies with wine and ground salt 
so that their skin or flesh would dry out and their blood would circulate 
throughout their bodies. They maintained that their operations were accom- 
plished through these things. 

§40 They had a locked house, which none entered, wherein there was a deep 
pit. When the Sun entered the first degree of Leo, they made a red ram enter 
from the land of Canuiz® and covered it with precious cloth. They led it to 
gardens and places filled with trees and flowers. Making great celebrations 
there, they gave it as much wine to drink as it could take. They led it to that 
house at night and threw it into the pit and there they washed it with sesame 
oil. Next, they took it out of the pit, and they gave it dried roses to eat, mustard, 
lentils, chickpeas, rice, honey, and wheat, all mixed together. At the end of the 
twenty-eight days after the entrance of the Sun into Leo (namely, that night), 
they led it out of the city or out of the populated area into the woods, and there 
they decapitated it. There, they made a hole and buried the ram in it. The head, 
however, they carried back to the house of the ritual and set it in front of their 
images. They claimed they could hear a feeble voice from it from which, alleg- 
edly, they learned their king’s lifespan and the waxing and waning of their 
peoples. The man who discovered this operation or the one who taught us this 
secret was Barnac Elbarameny, who ended his final days in the land of the 
Indians; a certain class in India were called Brahmin after his own name.” 
Among those peoples, certain sages have many diverse operations of this kind 


BOOK 3 181 


that, if we wanted to cite them all, would prolong our book inordinately. There- 
fore, let us here return to our proposed topic. [138] 


Chapter 8 


On How the Nabataeans Used to Pray to the Sun and Saturn, and How 
They Would Speak with Them and Draw Down Their Spirits and Effects 


§1 The Nabataean sages claimed that the powers and effects of the heavens 
and stars are simply from the Sun because they see and understand that the 
Moon helps him (that is, with respect to his effects), while the Sun does not 
require her nor the other planets.” Similarly, the other five planets follow the 
Sun in their effects and are obedient and subservient to him, and they persist 
in their effects according to the dispositions of the Sun. Likewise, the fixed 
stars are his handmaidens: they serve, obey, and are submissive to him. They 
help him in his effects, without him needing them. The Nabataean people are 
accustomed to make this prayer to the Sun: 


We pray, honor, and praise you, high lord Sun! For you give life to every- 
thing living in the world, and the world as a whole is illuminated by your 
light and governed by your power. You are seated in an exalted place. 
You have a great kingdom filled with light, perception, understanding, 
power, honor, and good. All things that can be generated are generated 
by your power. Through you the things that should be governed are 
governed. All plants live through you. All things persist in their strength 
through you. You stand excellent and honored in your effects, and pow- 
erful while remaining in your heaven. We salute, praise, honor, and pray 
to you in obedience and humility. We reveal all our intentions to you, 
and we ask and request all our necessities from you. You are our lord, 
and we beg you day and night that we obtain life and governance from 
your power. We disclose our intentions to you that you may both free us 
and defend us from our enemies and from all those seeking to do us 
harm. Let this also be done by the Moon, who is your handmaiden and 
is obedient to you—her light and brightness proceed from you and your 
power. You give power. You are the chosen lord in your heaven. The 
Moon and the rest of the planets are always servants to you. They obey 
you and never recede from your order. Thus, we praise you forever 
through the infinite ages of time. Amen. 


182 PICATRIX 


§2 The sages of the Chaldean Agriculture claim that they used to pray to 
Saturn with this prayer, but they would first see to it that this lord not be 
descending in the circle nor west of the Sun nor under his rays nor in the midst 
of retrograde motion. When they found him free from all impediments and 
unaffected, they made the prayer written out below to him and made a suffu- 
migation of old hides, fat, sweat, dead bats, and mice. Of these, fourteen bats 
are burned up and fourteen mice are likewise burned. They would take their 
ashes and place them on the head of their image. They threw themselves down 
around the image on a black stone or sandy floor. [139] From these efforts, they 
were defended from his Saturn’s malice and evil, since every evil, cursed thing, 
and grief proceed from him. He is lord of all poverty, misery, pain, imprison- 
ment, turpitude, and lamentation. He signifies these things while descending 
and unfortunate. When he is in a good disposition and in his exaltation, how- 
ever, he signifies purity, lifespan, social standing, rejoicing, honor, riches, 
inheritance, and the durability of inheritance in sons and grandsons. His 
benevolence is when he is east of the Sun, in mid-heaven, direct in his move- 
ment, swift in motion, elevated in his circle, and in increase. 

$3 Zeherit, the first of the three sages in the Chaldean Agriculture, said that 
because he made this prayer to Saturn and sought from him what he wished, a 
good disposition immediately overcame the magical image from which he 
wished to receive a response in these matters. The course of this prayer is as 
follows: 


We stand on our feet, we pray and honor you through obedience and 
humility. We stand on our feet before that splendid lord, alive and endur- 
ing, fixed in his potency and dominion, who is Saturn. He endures in his 
heaven, potent in his dominion, and united in his effects, heights, and 
magnificence. He encircles all things and has power in all visible and 
invisible things and in all things existing upon the Earth. Everything 
living on the Earth lives and persists by his power and durability. He 
begins them and causes them to endure by his power and ability, and by 
his permanence, everlastingness, and his resilience, he causes the Earth 
to abide. By his power, he makes the waters and rivers move down and 
flow. By living, he causes living things to move in order to live. He is cold 
just like his nature. The trees grow and rise up into loftiness by his reign, 
and the Earth is made weighty by the weight of his motions. If he so 
wished, he could transform beings into another type. He is wise, the 
power of things, and the maker of perception. His knowledge is manifest 
in all things. May you be blessed, you who are the lord of your heaven. 


BOOK 3 183 


May your name be blessed, pure, and honored. We are obedient to you, 
we beg at your feet, and by your honor, we beseech you by your names, 
will, excellence, and honor that you may sharpen our senses, that they 
might endure within us throughout our life, that they might persist as 
they are at present. When they are severed from the life of our bodies, we 
beseech that you might have pity so that the worms and reptiles be with- 
drawn from our flesh. You are a precious and ancient lord, and none but 
you are able to repair what you have damaged. You are permanent in 
your statements and works and do not repent for your actions. You are 
slow and profound in your powers. You are so great a lord since there are 
none who can carry away that which you concede, and none can grant 
what you prohibit. You are lord, decorated in your works and unique in 
your reign. You are lord of the other planets, and the other stars moving 
in their circles fear the sound of your motion and [140] panic in terror 
from you. We ask and seek that you deign to remove your evil effects 
from us. By your purity, have pity on our people—through your good 
and excellent names and those who attain your pity, we pray that we may 
remove all your evil effects from ourselves by your power and that, by 
your power, you may have pity on us and our people. We beg and seek by 
all your names, by your exalted and excellent name—this name—that is, 
the one you prefer to all other names, that you might pour your piety 
toward us. 


§4  Abenrasia wrote these words in the Chaldean Agriculture, which he 
translated from the Chaldean tongue.*” We have included this prayer here 
solely for demonstrating the common agreement between the ancient sages 
concerning the planetary operations and the constant protection of their bod- 
ies by means of planetary natures. We include that prayer in this book such 
that nothing intelligible in this work of ancient sages be lacking. We pass 
along our book complete with what we promised when we began to write. 
Now, since this prayer is forbidden in our law, we included it here merely for 
uncovering the ancient sages’ secrets, since they performed this ritual in 
ancient times before the law was given. For this reason, no one must reveal 
these things since, despite everything I have said about this and other rituals, 
I amand shall always be a teacher with good intentions. Ultimately, I ask that 
all those who see and hear this book never reveal it to fools. If it were neces- 
sary to reveal it to someone, do not do so except to good sages enlightened by 
intellect and leading their lives according to the laws of good conduct. I pray 
to God omnipotent: May He defend our work from the hands of fools and 


184 PICATRIX 


forgive me for everything mentioned here, for I have spoken everything above 
with good intentions. 


Chapter 9 


On How to Attract the Powers of Each Planet Separately and the Spirits of 
Their Powers, Naming Them According to Their Roles, and How to 
Operate These Names 


§1 The spirit of Saturn called REDIMEz is the one binding all his compound 
names and separate names and his parts below, above, and elsewhere. All this 
is according to the opinion of Aristotle in the book he wrote for Alexander 
called Antimaquis, wherein he discussed how the powers of the planets and 
their spirits ought to be attracted.” Their names, divided according to the 
opinion of Aristotle himself, are these. His spirit of above is called Toz, the 
spirit below is CoREz, to the right DEyTyz, to the left DERIUz, to the front 
TALYZ, and to the rear DARUZ. His motion in his sphere, his progression in the 
signs, and his motion [141] in the spirits—all the above are joined together in 
this name: TAHAYTUC. All these names are contained in this first name, REDI- 
MEZ, and this name is the root and source of all the names mentioned. 

§2 ‘The name binding Jupiter’s spirits is DEMEHUZ; the spirit of above is 
called DERMEZ, below MATIZ, to the right MAz, to the left DERiz, in front TAMIZz, 
and behind is Foruz. The spirit of motion through his own heaven and the 
division of his signs is DEHYDEZ. The name by which all these names are joined 
together, the name that is the root and source of all names, is the first name 
touched upon above, that is, DEMEHUZ. 

§3 The name by which Mars’s spirits are bound is DEHARAYUzZ; the spirit of 
above is HEHEYDIZ, below HEYDEYUZ, to the right MAHARAZ, to the left 
ARDAUZ, in the front HONDEHOYUZ, and the rear MEHEYEDIZ. The spirit of his 
motion in the heavens, his advancement through signs, and the motion of his 
spirit is called DEHYDEMEZ. The name including all these names that is their 
root and source is named above, that is DEHARAYUZ. 

§4 ‘The name binding the Sun’s spirits is BEYDELUz. The name of his spirit 
above is DEHYMEZ, below EYDULEZ, to the right DEHEYFEZ, to the left azu- 
HAFEZ, in front MAHABEYUZ, and at the rear HADYZ. The spirit of his motion in 
the heavens, through the signs and his spirit, is called LETAHAYMERIZ. The 
name including and joining all these names, the root and source of them all, is 
the one mentioned above, that is BEYDELUZ. 


BOOK 3 185 


§5 ‘The name binding Venus’s spirits is DEYDEz. The spirit above is HEYLUZ, 
below CAHYLUZ, to the right DIRUEZ, to the left ABLEYMEZz, in front TEYLUZ, 
and in the rear ARzUz. The spirit of her motions in the heavens, through the 
signs, is DEHATARYZ. The name including all these, the root and source of them 
all, is DEYDEZ mentioned above. 

§6 ‘The name binding Mercury’s spirits is MERHUYEZ. His spirit above is 
AMIREZ, below is HYTYZ, to the right CEHUZ, to the left DERIZz, in front MAYLEZ, 
and at the rear DEHEDYz. The spirit of his motions in the heavens, through the 
signs, is MEHENDIZ. The name including all the names mentioned above, the 
root and source of them all, is MERHUYEZ. 

§7 ‘The name including the Moon’s spirits is HARNUZz. Her spirit above is 
HEDIZ, below is MARAYUZ, to the right MELETAZ, to the left Timez, in front 
HUEYZ, and at the rear MEYNELUZ. The name of her spirit of motion in the 
heavens and her advancement through the signs is DAHANUZ. What joins and 
brings together all the names stated above, the root and source of them all, is 
HARNUZ. 

§8 Aristotle talks about these things in the aforesaid book assigning these 
names to these spirits by asserting that they are the spirits of the parts of the 
world, which are the six parts in all the regions of the seven planets. The names 
of these spirits are those that individuals who pray to the planets are accus- 
tomed to using [142] and being intimate with in prayer to the planets. Heed 
these things diligently. 

§9 The philosopher said that for this reason all the spirits’ powers affecting 
the climes and generative things descend from those spirits. From these things, 
wondrous effects ensue through prayers—from these emanate wealth and pov- 
erty since they give, take away, and divert. They have bodies by which they are 
covered and made physical. In their own climes, each of them governs individu- 
als into whom flow their powers and spirits. They grant these to be arranged in 
their systems of knowledge and to be used in affairs of their natures. 

§10 Later, the same philosopher said: “When you want to draw forth some of 
the abovementioned planetary spirits in any clime, heed these fundamentals 
since each of the planetary effects works more strongly in its own clime.” 

$11 A ritual of Saturn. When you want to operate through Saturn, do this. 
With the Sun in Capricorn and the Moon in Sagittarius, make an image whose 
feet are made of iron, and dress it in green, black, and red-colored clothes. 
Afterward, go to a field, and step under a tree with no scent at all. Bring along 
with you your sacrifice (a cow or a calf) with a suffumigation made from the 
brain of a black cat, euphorbia, hemlock, myrrh, and St. John’s Wort. You 
should say: “BEDIZEZ, TOZ, EDUZ, HAYZ, DERNIZ, TAYUZ, HUARUYZ, TALHIT, 


186 PICATRIX 


NAYCAHUA, HUENADUL! Come, O spirits, be at hand for your sacrifice!” Say the 
prayer again and again while continually suffumigating. State your request, 
and it will be fulfilled. All these things Aristotle posited in his book. 

§12__ A ritual of Jupiter. When you wish to operate through Jupiter, perform on 
Thursday when the Sun is in Pisces or Sagittarius and the Moon is in the head 
of Aries (which is the exaltation of the Sun). Prepare a house suited to this ritual, 
clean and tidy, decorated with drapery, curtains, and the best textiles. In your 
hand hold a dish with this kind of mix or blend: honey, butter, oil of nuts, and 
sugar; make it liquid and moist. Then create one pie (that is, a tart) made most 
deliciously with flour, butter, milk, sugar, and saffron, and make as much as 
you can out of these. Place a large table on top ofa robust tripod on that house’s 
roof. Place a censer made of Jupiter’s metal** in front of you. Place on the table 
nutmeg, camphor, aloewood, and other fragrant things (civet, and the like). 
Add one dose of mastic gum to the pie and the mixture you made with the wet 
and dry things. In the middle of the table, place a huge lit candle. Behind the 
candle, assemble four open baskets filled with pomegranates, cooked meats, 
and ram, chicken, and dove roasts with platters of cabbage. Place a jug and a 
clear vessel filled with wine on top of each basket. [143] On the table, place 
branches of myrtle. Once you have done this, suffumigate mastic gum and 
aloewood at the head of the table, and place another suffumigation of mastic in 
another partof the house. No one but you should be in the house. Say: “DEMEUz, 
ARMEZ, CEYLEZ, MAHAZ, ERDAZ, TAMYZ, FERUZ, DYNDEZ, AFRAYUZ, TAYHA- 
CIEDEZ!” These are the names of Jupiter’s spirits in all six parts of his heaven. 
‘The meaning of that name AFRIDUz and the others is: “Come and step in, all 
you spirits of Jupiter, and smell those fragrances, eat these foods, and from 


1? 


them do what you please!” Repeat these things seven times. Afterward leave the 
house while uttering the prayer stated above. If you have done the work five 
times, while you are returning to the house a sixth time, utter the prayer stated 
above, and the spirits will come in beautiful forms, dressed in ornate clothes. 
They will undertake your petition, whatever it was. They will help you in 
knowledge and understanding. The power of the spirits will shield and cover 
you. After these things have been accomplished in this proper order, gather 
friends and associates, and eat these foods together, and drink the wine, smell 
those fragrances, and suffumigate everyone with those suffumigations. Roman 
sages used to make this prayer to the planets each year, especially to Jupiter. 

§13. A ritual of Mars. When you wish to operate through Mars, do this on 
Tuesday with the Sunin Aries (which is the house of Mars) and with the Moon 
in the mansion Cahadabula (which is the exaltation of Mars).* Do this at the 
end of winter when the trees bear fruit. Take a cow or a sheep sacrifice; a censer 
filled with charcoals; a suffumigation made of myrrh, mustard, and sarcocolla; 


BOOK 3 187 


a woven basket full of offerings (namely, the best you can make); and a pitcher 
filled with wine. Carrying all of the above with you, go to a field, and climb up 
atree. Drop the sacrifice from your hands, and light a fire wherein you should 
place the suffumigation. Speak these words: “DAHAYDANUZ, HAHAYDIZ, HAY- 
DAYUZ, MIHYRAZ, ARDAHUZ, HEYDAHEYDEZ, MEHENEDIZ, DEHYDEMEZ. This 
is the prayer to Mars. Once you have spoken these things, say: “This sacrifice is 
for you, spirits of Mars! Take and eat from it, and do what you will!” Afterward, 
bring that same sacrifice to some place away from the tree, and suffumigate 
yourself with the abovementioned suffumigation. Decapitate your sacrifice, 
flay it, and roast its liver. Take the offerings that you have brought with you, 
and lay them all out on the hide. Lay this sacrifice uponit, and speak the prayer. 
Then speak this: “O spirits of Mars, this is your sacrifice! Come, and smell this 
suffumigation, and make what you will from that sacrifice and those offerings.” 
At that moment, a red spirit will descend like a tongue of flame. While passing 
over those offerings, it will consume some of them. Once you have seen it, ask 
what you wish. [144] It will assist you in all your operations. When that flame 
dies down, go to the offerings, and eat as much as possible. Likewise, drink as 
much wine as possible, then ask a request relevant to Mars. Know that Mars is 
a diverse planet, powerful in his nature and inconsistent in his reception and 
hearing. Therefore, once you have performed the ritual of Mars, even ifhe has 
not come at the abovementioned conjunction, do not lose hope. Return home 
once you have carefully completed these tasks. 

§14_ A ritual of the Sun. When you wish to operate through the Sun, do this 
on Sunday with the Sun in Leo and the Moon in the fifteenth or nineteenth 
degree of Aries. Prepare a suitable house, which is clean and tidy, and decorate 
it with the priciest cloth that you can get. Place seven golden images in it. If 
you cannot have them made of gold, at least have them made of wood. If you 
manage to get them made of gold, place assortments of jacinth stones, rubies, 
and pearls on them. If the images, however, were made of wood, cover them 
with red silk garments, and on these place assortments of gold, jacinth, and 
rubies.** Place those images in the middle of the house. Prepare a table in front 
of each of the images. On each of the tables, place pies made from refined 
flour, dry, and moist ingredients. In the middle of each of them place a pitcher 
of wine and near it a vessel filled with spices and fragrant things like musk, 
camphor, and amber. Place myrtle throughout the house. Light a large wax 
candle, position yourself seated upon something elevated facing the images, 
and say: “TEBDELUZ, DIHYMEZ, ANDULEZ, DEHYCAYZ, AGINAFEZ, MAHAGNUZ, 


AHADYZ, TUYMERYZ!” Once you have spoken this, state the request that you 
set out to ask. When this is done, gather some of your friends and associates, 


and eat with them this food, and drink the wine. Afterward, leave the house 


188 PICATRIX 


because the spirits of the Sun will grant you what you have sought and heed 
your request. 

§15 A ritual of Venus. When you wish to operate through Venus, do it on 
Friday when the Sun is entering Pisces and the Moon is sitting in Cancer. 
Purify yourself, and enter a bath. Once you are clean and bathed, find and 
climb a fig or palm tree. Bring a ram with you. Say: “HUEYDEZ, HELYUZ, HEM- 
YLUZ, DENERIZ, TEMEYZ, CEMLUZ, ARHUZ, MEYTARYZ!” Once you have spoken 
the above, ask what you wish. Beware not to ask any of the planets anything 
other than what is attributed to their respective natures. 

§16 A ritual of Mercury. When you wish to operate through Mercury, do it on 
Wednesday with the Sun in Capricorn, because the Chaldean year begins at 
that time. [145] Sit on a golden throne in an empty house. Suffumigate yourself 
with aloewood, incense, myrrh, hemlock, and elecampane. Put a golden table 
before you. Place seven goats in a circle, which you will strike with a wooden 
stick to make them yelp. While the smoke of the suffumigation is rising, say: 
“BARHUREZ, EMIREZ, HAYTIZ, COCIZ, DERIZ, HENIZ, DEHERIZ, ZAHUDAZ!” 
Once you have said these things, decapitate the goats, and flay them. Cut them 
up into pieces in a circle around the table, continually suffumigating the suf- 
fumigation. While doing the above, cover your whole face completely except 
the eyes, suffumigating continually. Afterward, exit the house. Carry out all 
the meat cut in the manner described above. Cook it in a pot with vinegar. Find 
bread made from refined flour. While suitable, place all these things in a woven 
basket, and set it aside with preservation in mind. Ask your petition from the 
questions pertinent to Mercury. 

§17_ A ritual of the Moon. When you wish to operate through the Moon, do 
it when the Sun is in Cancer and the Moon is sitting in Aries (which is the 
exaltation of the Sun). Do this ritual on Monday night (namely, on Sunday, 
when the day is over).’” Once the Sun sets, go to a field. After you have washed 
yourself and become well cleansed, bring a ram and a suffumigation made of 
frankincense, hemlock, elecampane, myrrh, and aloewood. Bring some of 
your friends and associates with you, and make each of them lead a ram and 
carry the suffumigation. Make them carry offerings in woven baskets. When 
this is done, they should light a large fire with wood. Place the woven baskets 
of food around the fire. The one to whom the request is of interest should rise 
up and sit on some source of water facing a fig tree around which he had led 
the ram. He should place the suffumigation that he carried in the fire. He 
should say: “HEDYUZ, DENEDIZ, MUBRYNAYZ, MILTAZ, TYMEZ, RABYZ, CELUZ, 


DEHENIZ, MERNIZ!” Once he has said the above, decapitate the ram. Each of 
the associates should let go of the ram that he led. Since all the rams will come 


to you, cut all their throats while speaking the words above during the decapi- 


BOOK 3 189 


tation of each one as you suffumigate the suffumigation. At this point, leave 
that place, and return to the place of the lit fire. Next, you yourself and all your 
associates should go to the place of the slaughtered rams. Skin them and bury 
their pelts, heads, feet, and all their inner organs in a pure place where no 
animal might eat them. Roast the rams. Once well roasted, put them back in 
the baskets of offerings around the fire. When sunrise is near, place cloths of 
different colors under that fig tree. While you are doing these things, suffumi- 
gate with the abovementioned suffumigation. Speak the prayer of the spirits 
three times, and state your requests. All will be fulfilled. [146] 


Chapter 10 


On the Demonstration of the Planetary Spirits’ Compounds; Reducing 
Damage from Rituals and Effects; the Wonders of Magic and Foods, 
Suffumigations, Ointments, and Fragrances That the Operator of the 
Planetary Spirits Must Use; the Effects Proper to the Planets and the 
Effects That Operate Unseen 


§1 In the aforesaid Book of Antimaquis, which he put together for King 
Alexander, Aristotle related the makeup of four stones that have powers and 
wondrous effects upon spirits. The first stone he named Rayetanz. Whoever 
carries this stone encrusted in a ring will be humbly obeyed by any human or 
animal with a spirit. If one were to use this stone to imprint the seal of a letter 
and send it to a king (or any other person), when that king (or another) sees it, 
they will at once tremble and obey it. Through the spirit, what is sought will 
be endlessly accomplished. Wicked men would do likewise if the letter were 
transmitted as above. This stone is red in color, andits composition is this: 2 02. 
of ground rubies mixed in with a half dram of ground diamond with 1 oz. each 
of ground lead and magnesium; % oz. of sulfur; and 2 0z. of gold. Mix all these 
things in a crucible, and place them on a low fire, increasing it gradually until 
they fuse. The ruby is melted by the power of the diamond; the diamond is 
melted by the power of the magnesium; the magnesium is melted by the power 
of the sulfur; and the gold also fuses with them. When they have been well 
mixed, remove the crucible from the fire, and allow it to cool down. You will 
find one completely mixed body with a muddy color. Remove it. Take the brain 
of a lion, the fat of a leopard, and the blood of a wolf—equal parts of each. 
Liquefy the fat, and mix it with the brain. Throw the blood on it, and it will 
turn tawny in color. Beware not to touch it with your hands nor should you go 
near it with your clothing. Avoid its smell entirely because this is a deadly 


190 PICATRIX 


poison in all of its qualities on account of its particular shape (according to 
Cetras regarding dreams). When it has settled down, remove it. Take 10 oz. 
each of arsenic, saffron, and yellow and red sulfur. Pulverize and purify them, 
and throw them on top of this poison. At once, its toxicity is subdued and 
wholly dissolved. Once everything is liquefied and mixed together, place it in a 
small urn or vase that should be plugged with goldsmith’s luting and put over 
alow fire. When the whole thing is liquefied like wax, lift it from the fire, and 
allow it to cool. Liquefy the first substance, gradually add the spirit until every- 
thing is blended and homogenous. Once this is done, take it out of the fire, and 
allow it to cool. From this make small, suitably sized, round pebbles [147] on a 
lathe, since Aristotle said this to Alexander: “O Alexander, know that this is a 
body that surpasses all wonders.” 

§2  Thesecond stone is named Helemetiz. This stone is recommended against 
rain, hail, and snow. When any of these happen, raise this stone with your right 
hand toward the heavens, and you will be safe. This stone is tawny in color. Its 
composition is this: take 4 oz. of hellebore, and liquefy it in the fire with white 
wolfsbane. When it is liquefied, add 4 oz. of silver and 4 oz. of lead. When all 
things have been liquefied together, lift it from the fire, and work it with the 
powers of the spirits. Take bones from the hands and feet of a pig, which are 
well-cleaned from flesh and nerves, then cook them well in brine. Once suffi- 
ciently cooked, lift them from the fire, and let them dry. Pulverize and liquefy 
them with mandrake and chalk in an earthenware vase, well-sealed with gold- 
smith’s luting—that is, place first in that vase one part of chalk and mandrake, 
then on top of it another portion of bone dust in turn until the vase is filled. 
Liquefy these over a dung fire for one night. Afterward, remove the vase from 
the fire, and allow it to cool. Grind these things into a powder. Toss a small 
amount of red and clear arsenic on top of it. Grind them up again with human 
blood sprinkled from a vein. Grind them up for an entire day, then set them 
aside for use. Once these things have been accomplished, melt the first sub- 
stance upon which, little by little, should be thrown this latter substance until 
they are well-blended. When this is done, remove it from the fire, and allow 
it to cool because you will find it tawny in color. Work this stone into an 
appropriately-sized, spherical shape on a lathe. Subsequently, work with the 
words and operations that we have stated above on the works of “Perfect 
Nature.”’ If you see rain, snow, hail, and thunder anywhere and if you want to 
remove them from your area, speak those words that we have stated before, and 
raise your right hand holding the stone toward the heavens. Everything will 
settle. This is the stone composed from immaterial powers and spirits. 

§3 The third stone is called Astamatis. Aristotle says that this stone is one of 
the wonders of the world because whoever carries it into a quarrel or battle will 


BOOK 3 191 


stand secure against harm, enemies, and deadly weapons (both themselves and 
their associates). The composition of this stone is this: take 10 oz. of iron lique- 
fied in sulfur. Melt it over a fire, and place on it the white stone of magnesium 
and borax, all well-pulverized until fully blended. At first it will appear yellow, 
then white like silver but even more beautiful (and the substance will be 
smooth). Then take a measure of pig fat and brains. Liquefy [148] and mix them 
with the blood of a black crow. Allow the mixture to cool, and it will harden 
like a coagulate. Then take 4 oz. of magnesium; % oz. of burnt diamond; 2 oz. 
of red and clear arsenic; and 4 oz. of yellow sulfur. Grind and pulverize every- 
thing together. Throw the resulting powder over the coagulated substance. 
Place everything into a suitably sized earthenware vase. Its opening should be 
sealed in the best possible way with goldsmith’s luting. Thus prepared, place it 
over a fire, and the entire thing should melt like wax. Then remove it from the 
fire, and allow it to cool. It will coagulate and take the shape ofa stone. Put it 
aside. Next take 10 oz. of iron processed as above and 1 oz. each of gold, silver, 
and bronze. Place them on the fire, and melt them until they are very well 
mixed. When this is done, throw that substance that you have just made into it 
gradually until mixed. Let the mixture be purified over the fire. The substances’ 
dross will be purged, and these things will fuse and become very sleek. Once 
this is done, remove them from the fire, and allow them to cool. You will find 
those substances combined into one and be somewhat smooth. From this, 
work small, round stones of a suitable size on a lathe for three days with the 
words that we discussed. Save this stone, and carry it with you into war. You 
will be safe from all your enemies’ iron weapons—you and all those present 
with you, so long as you have this stone. 

§4 The fourth stone is called Handemotuz. Aristotle said that this stone exists 
for removing the desire for women. For example, it is made for soldiers and 
warriors before battle, since if they were to have sex with women, their bodies 
would become weaker, and consequently they would be more easily vanquished. 
This stone is white in color. Its composition is this: take 10 oz. of lead; 1 oz. each 
of bronze and iron melted with white sulfur; and % oz. of silver. Melt the bronze, 
iron, and silver together, then add the lead on top. When everything has been 
mixed together, take % oz. each of magnesium, diamond, and yellow sulfur; and 
20z. of red arsenic. Pulverize everything, and throw the powder on the mixed 
substances until everything is absorbed. Next, lift it from the fire, and set it 
aside. Then make a spirit in this way: take equal portions of gazelle fat with the 
marrow and brain of a horse. Melt the fat, and mix it with the brain or with the 
marrow. Throw sparrow blood on it until it is congealed. After, take 1 oz. of pig 
bone, and pulverize it thoroughly with a little bit of borax, % oz. of magnesium, 
1 oz. of yellow sulfur, and 1% oz. of red arsenic. Throw everything together in a 


192 PICATRIX 


heap atop the marrow and fat we already referred to. Place it over the fire until 
the whole thing melts. Next, lift it from the fire, and allow it to cool. After it has 
cooled, take the substances that you have made before, and liquefy them over 
the fire. Add to them gradually the said medicine until they absorb it all. Every- 
thing will become slippery. Next, lift the mixture from the fire, and [149] allow 
it to cool. A stone ensues, which you should make spherical and even upon a 
lathe. Afterward, work for three days using the words that we have mentioned. 
Next, make two images of bronze, one in the shape of a man and the other of a 
woman. Place the stone in the image of the man. Have those images placed with 
their shoulders touching. Take an iron needle, and speak over it three times the 
words that we have said. When this is done, press it into the chest of the woman’s 
image until the whole image is pierced through the shoulder. Push the needle 
into the image of the man such that both images are stuck together. Place those 
images thus prepared into a well-shut iron chest. Speak over it the words that 
we have spoken above day and night. Hold it, and you, all your associates, and 
soldiers will be wholly liberated from the desire for women. 

§5 Aristotle narrates all these things in the aforesaid Book of Antimaquis. 
The makeup of these stones is a deadly poison. Whoever performs these opera- 
tions should take due care to avoid their touch and smell. Here is an antidote 
for this poison with which these operations can be performed without fear. 
Take 2 oz. each of aloewood, seeds of myrtle, mandrake seeds, seeds of mor- 
inga;” % oz. of nutmeg; and 1 oz. each of chastetree, skinless grapes, and white 
sandalwood. Mix everything together, grind them up thoroughly, and combine 
with myrtle sap. Make pills, and allow them to dry. Whoever wishes to fashion 
the aforesaid stones, which are deadly poisons, should take some of those tab- 
lets and place them in their nostrils, ears, and mouth. He should cover his 
entire face with a cloth while these things are being pulverized and worked. 
Next the operators require some remedy for protecting the hands, which is 
this: take equal parts of laurel seeds and the kernels of basil seeds, with four 
measures of balsam and hare’s blood. Grind the things that can be ground up, 
and mix them with the balsam and the hare’s blood. Always have this medicine 
with you in all operations of these stones, and wash the hands of the operator, 
and it will be worked safely and without hazard. 

§6 Aristotle says in the abovementioned book that the spirits sometimes 
attack those working on the aforesaid stones by cursing their natures. When 
you wish to free the operators from this infirmity so that their natures may be 
returned to their normal states, give them to drink the medicine written out 
below. Take % oz. of human blood, and mix it with 4 oz. of sweet almond oil 
and 2 oz. of rabbit’s marrow or brain, and mix them with 1 oz. of donkey urine. 
Combine these things, and give them to drink to the ones suffering (every day 


BOOK 3 193 


for nine days on an empty stomach). By this medicine they will be cured, and 
their natures will be made right. The seven evil planetary spirits, whatever kind 
they were, will be driven from them with their natural complexion remaining 
strong. [150] 

§7 Aristotle said this in the book named Malatiz.°° When Alexander 
inquired about Caynez, an Indian sage and master of this wondrous art, Aris- 
totle wrote this book Malatiz based on Caynez’s knowledge, wherein he 
recounted the miracles done by that Caynez, who was thought to be a spiritual 
man who had lived for 840 years. He existed at the time of King Aydeneruz, 
who was a powerful murderer. This sage performed great miracles by mixing 
the macrocosm and the microcosm. His words are made of the spirits that exist 
in the composite world. He attracted the will of the aforementioned king and 
of other kings whom he wanted. Moreover, he would perform miracles and 
various prayers, which I have decided to relate at present. 

§8 For acquiring the love of women. He called this mixture Deytuz, whose 
composition is this: take % oz. each of gazelle marrow and cow fat. Melt them 
both together, and add % oz. portion of camphor and the brain ofa hare. Place 
all these things in an iron vase over a fire until liquefied. Lastly, add powdered 
camphor to this. When everything has been mixed together, it should be pulled 
from the fire. Then make an image of fresh wax, which has never been used, 
and keep in mind that woman whom you desire. In the mouth of that image, 
make a hole leading all the way into its belly, through which the aforesaid liq- 
uid medicine should be poured. While pouring say: “DAHYELIZ, HANIMIDIZ, 
NAFFAYZ, DABRAYLEZ!” Next, place 2 oz. of white sugar into its mouth. Take a 
thin silver needle, and stick it into the chest of the image until it emerges 
between the shoulder blades. Once you have positioned the needle in this way, 
say: “HEDUREZ, TAMERUZ, HETAYTOZ, FEMUREZ!” After this is done, wrap the 
image in a white cloth and on top of it another silk cloth also white. Tie it with 
a silk thread. Fix it well under the chest, and let the two heads of string be 
joined together, which you will tie with seven knots. Upon each and every one 
of the knots, speak these words: “HAYRANUZ, HEDEFIUZ, FAYTAMUREZ, ARMI- 
nEz!” Afterward, place the image into a small earthenware jar, which you will 
plug with goldsmith’s luting. Dig a hole in the person’s house on behalf of 
whom this operation is being conducted (in whatever house or place he would 
prefer). Bury the image there, head up, and cover it with soil. Afterward, take 2 
oz. each of incense and galbanum, and throw them into the fire. While the 
smoke is rising, say: “BEHEYMEREZ, AUMAULIZ, MENEMEYDUZ, CAYNAUREZ! I 
move the spirit of this woman N. and her will toward this man through the 
power of these spirits and through the virtue and power of the spirits BEHEY- 
DRAZ, METLUREZ, AULEYUZ, NANITAYNUZ!” Once you have done these things, 


194 PICATRIX 


return home. Know that all the spirits and the intentions of that woman for 
whom the operation was performed will be turned toward that [151] man for 
whom it was conducted. She will not be able to rest nor sleep nor do anything 
until she is obedient to the man on behalf of whom such toil is poured out—all 
this by the power of the abovementioned image’s spirits. By the power of these 
things, that woman will be led to the house where this image lies buried. 

$9 Another mixture for the same purpose taken as food. Take 2 oz. each of 
dried hare’s blood and wolf's brain; three grains’ worth of melted cattle fat; two 
grains each of amber and nutmeg; three grains of camphor; and 2 oz. of the 
blood of the person doing the ritual (that is, the person on whose behalf it is 
done). Place this blood in an iron container over the fire until heated. Once 
heated, toss the other medicines on top. Mix everything. Remove them from 
the fire, and mix with wine or honey, a dish of meat or fowl, or with whatever 
dish you please. While doing the above, keep your mind firmly on the woman 
who is the target of this ritual. Afterward, take a small amount of incense and 
an equal amount of galbanum gum, and throw them into the fire. While the 
smoke is rising, say: “YE DEYLUZ, MENYDEZ, CATRUDIZ, MEBDULIZ, HUENEHE- 
NILEZ! I move the spirit and desire of this woman N. by the power of those 
spirits and this mixture. I move her spirit and desire with a feeling of anxiety 
as much in her waking and sleeping as in her walking, standing, and sitting. 
May she have no rest until she obeys those spirits that we will name: HUE- 
HEYULEZ, HEYEDIZ, CAYIMUZ, HENDELIZ!” Once you have done the above, give 
to eat the entire mixture to whomever you desire until nothing is left. While 
this medicine sits in the stomach of the consumer, she will be unable to rest— 
rather, she will be moved by a powerful emotion. Obeying it, she will go to the 
place you desire. If perchance, on account of difficulty, it happened that you 
could not get this chosen woman to eat or drink the mixture described above, 
use it, but instead of the adept’s blood, use the blood of the one against whom 
the ritual is performed. Mix everything very well into one mass, stir it into 
food or drink, and place it in the cup of your hand. Take 2 oz. each of incense 
and galbanum, and suffumigate with them. While the smoke is rising, say: 
“ADYERUZ, METAYRUZ, BERYUDEZ, FARDARUZ! I move the spirit and desire of 
such a person toward such a person, and I move her by all her spirits, desires, 
and heart such that she may neither rest nor be calm while waking, sleeping, 
speaking, sitting, nor standing until she submits to such a person and fulfills 
his desire. I draw the spirits of her heart and move them toward such a man 
through the power of those spirits: VEMEDEYZ, AUDUREZ, MEYURNEYZ, SANDA- 


Ruz!” Then give this mixture to eat to that person (the one for whom the ritual 
is performed). When the man will have eaten and swallowed this mixture, 


order him to take 2 oz. each of incense and galbanum in his hand, and throw 


BOOK 3 195 


them into the fire. Let him be suffumigated. While the smoke is rising, say 
these names: “HAMUREZ, HEYDUREHIZ, HELDEMIZ, HERMENIZ!” When this has 
been spoken, have him say: “By these names, the desires of that woman for 
whom you have performed the ritual are attracted.” She will come to you with 
great love and obedience [152] in order to fulfill your desire and command. 
Furthermore, the same sage said that if you are unable to obtain that woman’s 
blood, find 2 0z. each of wolf and cow blood. Mix them in an iron vase over a 
fire as above. Throw upon them two grains of rabbit marrow; three grains of 
wolf marrow; and four grains of cow fat, all melted and mixed together. Add 
two grains each of nutmeg, camphor, and rabbit cheese. When all this is well 
mixed and melted, remove it from the fire. Give that mixture in drink or food, 
and suffumigate with incense and galbanum. While the smoke is rising, say 
these words: “ANIMUREZ, MAPHUELUZ, FENIZ, FADRULEZ! I move the heart, 
spirits, and desires of such-and-such toward such-and-such, and I move her 
spirit by preventing her sleep such that she may have no peace in waking, sleep- 
ing, standing, walking, or rising. I move her spirit and desire and lead her 
toward such-and-such a man by the power of the spirits written here: HUEY- 
TAYROZ, BERYENUZ, AUNUHIZ, ANDULEZ!” Once you have spoken this and 
made the mixture above, give it to the man in food. While it sits in his stomach, 
take 2 oz. each ofincense, galbanum, and the hairs ofa wolf tail. Then suffumi- 
gate him with it. Teach him these names that are to be spoken just as they are: 
“HEYUDEZ, MAHERIMEYZ, TAYDUREZ, UMEYRUZ!” Once this is done, know that 
the spirit and nature of the woman for whom this ritual was performed will feel 
a great love and desire for that man. She will be unable to rest in any activity 
until she goes to that man humbly inclined. 

$10 Another mixture, that is, a suffumigation for love. Take 2 oz. each of a 
wolf's vulva and rabbit’s penis; 1 oz. of male white cat’s eyes; 2 oz. each of white 
dog’s fat, incense, and galbanum. Melt a quantity of cow fat equal to the weight 
of all these in an iron vessel. Throw all these things on top. When everything 
is mixed together, take % oz. of camphor; 1 0z. each of white sandalwood and 
aloewood; % oz. of amber; and % oz. of nutmeg. Grind them up, throw them 
onto the aforesaid mixture, and mix them very well. When this is done, the 
result should be divided into seven equal parts. Find seven censers filled with 
lit charcoals. Place them before you in a single straight line, and place a por- 
tion of the mixture in each of them. While the smoke of these censers is rising, 
say: “AHAYUARAZ, YETAYDEZ, AHARIZ, AHARYULEZ! I move the heart, spirit, 
and nature of such-and-such a woman toward such-and-such a man. I move 
the spirits of her own heart with love and desire toward that man by prevent- 
ing her any sleep or rest. May she have no calm in sleeping, walking, sitting, 
orin any other activity until she submits to him, well performing his pleasures 


196 PICATRIX 


and commands. I myself attract and draw her spirits toward him by the power 
of those spiritual spirits: ALHUERIZ, HEYEMIZ, HUETUDIZ, TAUEDUZ!” Once 
this is done, return to your house. That woman will come to him and submit 
thoroughly to his pleasures and commands. [153] 

§11 Another suffumigation for the same purpose, to be inhaled. Find two 
grains of rabbit cheese and one grain of goat liver. Throw powdered incense 
over them. Place it all on the fire, and roast it until all its moisture escapes. 
Afterward, take it with iron tongs, and divide it into many parts with a knife. 
Compress it into a jar until all the water escapes, and set this water aside in a 
glass vessel. When you wish to perform the ritual, take two grains of this water, 
three grains of nutmeg, and four grains of amber. Place all these over a fire of 
coals in an iron vase until they are liquefied and mix. Remove them from the 
fire, and transfer them into a glass vessel. When you wish to operate with it, 
take 1 0z. of the finest pure oil of amber, and place in an iron vessel over a fire. 
Place upon it a single grain of the mixture from the glass vessel, which you 
should liquefy so that they are mixed and homogenous. When this is done, 
take 2 oz. each of incense and galbanum, and suffumigate with them. While 
the smoke is rising, say: “YETAYROZ, MAHARAHETYM, FAYTOLIZ, ANDARARUZ! 
I move the heart of such-and-such a woman, her spirits, and her desires toward 
such-and-such a man, and I move the spirits of her heart toward this man with 
love and desire by preventing her sleep, rest, and tranquility. May she have 
peace neither in sleep, nor waking, sitting, nor standing! I attract and draw her 
spirits and desires toward that man by the power of those spiritual spirits: 
HUEYQUITAROZ, HEDILEZ, MENHUERIZ, MEYEFUREZ!” Once you have said 
these things, take some of the abovementioned oil, and with it anoint the 
woman for whom the ritual is being performed (if you can). If you cannot, 
place it on something people smell from, and make the woman for whom the 
ritual was done smell it. Once she is anointed with it or smells it, her spirits and 
desires will be moved immediately by a powerful feeling, a great love and desire 
toward the man for whom the ritual has been performed. She will have peace 
neither in sleep nor in waking, nor any rest whatsoever until she goes to him, 
obedient and tame. If perhaps you were unable to give it to her to smell, make 
a wax image in her likeness. Send it to her that she might hold it in her hands. 
Suffumigate it with incense and galbanum for three days continually. Do this 
at the rising of the Sun while speaking the words above, suffumigating with the 
suffumigation, and anointing yourself with the oil. Once this is done, her spir- 
its and desires will be moved toward him with affection. 

§12 If you want to work the image in another way, take a branch of myrtle or 
some other fragrant plant, good or bad, and anoint it with two grains’ worth of 


BOOK 3 197 


the abovementioned medicine. Then suffumigate the image with incense and 
galbanum. While the suffumigation is rising, say this: “NEFORUZ, HEMIRULIZ, 
ARMULEZ, FEYMERIZ! I myself move the heart of such-and-such a woman and 
her spirits and desires toward such-and-such a man. I move [154] her spirit and 
nature toward him with affection and desire. I remove from her sleep, wakeful- 
ness, and peace in sleeping, waking, getting up, and sitting down. I attract her 
and draw her forth with the power of those spiritual spirits: VENEHULEZ, MAN- 


1” 


TAYRIZ, FEYMELUZ, BERHUNEZ!” Then make the woman you want (namely the 
woman for whom it was done) smell it. When she has smelled it, at once her 
spirits and desires will be moved by a powerful feeling and a great love and 
desire. Thus, she will be able neither to sit still nor to rest in any way until she 
goes obediently to the place of that man to fulfill all his wishes. If you cannot 
give her the aroma, make the wax image we mentioned above. The agent 
(namely, that man who ordered this work to be done) should hold it in his 
hands, and he should take 2 0z. each of incense and galbanum, which he should 
throw into a fire with his own hands. Teach him to say these words: “HEYDINEZ, 
BEYDURIZ, AFFIHUZ, DERIYENUZ!” Then make that man on whose behalf this 
ritual is done smell these things. At once, the spirits and desires of the target 
woman and her heart will be moved with great affection and desire. She will be 
unable to rest in any kind of peacefulness or tranquility until she goes obedi- 
ently, prepared for the will of the querent, so that she may fulfill his every wish. 
$13. Thus, Decaytus named these four composite images that we have men- 
tioned (the ones that the sage Caynez cited for the joining of men and women). 
§14 For acquiring the love of a king. When you wish the love of a king and to 
attract his benevolence toward the people, take fresh wax, and make an image 
in the name of that king whom you have selected to influence. Find % oz. of 
gazelle brain; 1 oz. of rabbit brain; and 2 oz. of human blood. Mix everything 
together in an iron vessel, and place it over a fire until everything is blended. 
Then throw upon that mixture 1 0z. each of powdered camphor and amber 
with % oz. of nutmeg. This should be thrown atop the first medicine. Distribute 
these things until everything melts and is mixed together. Next, make a hole in 
the head of the image through which the medicine should be poured into its 
belly. Plug that hole very well with wax. Afterward, take 4 oz. each of human 
blood, the blood ofa white cock, and the brain of a horse; % oz. each of nutmeg 
and camphor; and 2 oz. of liquefied cow fat. Add all these, and keep them all 
over the fire. Make a hole in the throat of the image through which you should 
pour those things, and allow them to cool down. Then shut that hole with wax. 
Next take a thin silver needle, a new one that has never been used, and stick it 
into the chest of the image in such a way that it does not go through to the other 


198 PICATRIX 


side. While you are sticking it in, say: “ACRIUZ, FENDEYUZ, NEPHALEZ, FEYE- 
puz!” Then place the image into an earthenware vessel, the outside [155] sealed 
with luting. Then take 1 oz. each of incense, powdered galbanum, and the eyes 
of a white cock, and mix them all together. Afterward, take the image, this 
suffumigation, and a single censer, and climb up a tall mountain from which 
you can see a city. There, make a hole the size of the image, and bury it head or 
face downward. Place a stone or a brick upon the mouth of the container or 
vessel, and throw soil upon it until everything is covered. When this is done, 
throw the suffumigation into the fire. While the smoke is rising, say: “ACDERUZ, 
MADUREZ, FEYLEUZ, HUERYRELIZ!” Then say: “I turn the heart of such-and- 
such a king with love, friendship, goodwill, and mercy toward such-and-sucha 
man or such-and-such a people by the strength and power of those spiritual 
spirits: HUEYFEDUEZ, AFFIMUZ, BEEFINEZ, MEDARIUZ!” Know that this king will 
esteem that man or people, extending them his grace. 

§15 For generating enmities. He says: a mixture for generating enmity, which 
is given to eat, is the following. 

§16 Take % oz. each of black cat’s gallbladder and pig brain; 2 oz. of black 
dog’s fat; and two grains of sweet myrrh. This mixture, once eaten, attracts the 
spirits of enmity and malevolence. 

$17. For the same. Take 2 oz. of black cat’s brain; 1 oz. each of pig gallbladder 
and brain; % oz. each of black dog’s penis, sweet myrrh, and ammoniac. Make 
a suffumigation with all these things mixed together, and it will be as above. 
§18 For the same. Take three grains of black dog’s gallbladder; 2 oz. each of 
pig brain, black cat’s gallbladder, pig grease, sulfur, sweet myrrh, black cat’s 
eyes, and oil of caubac”); two grains of arsenic; 4 0z. of black cat’s brain; and 1 
oz. of hairs from its tail. If a suffumigation is made from all these mixed 
together, it will generate malevolence and enmity. A certain sage has worked 
these confections, and he claimed to have found them to work. 

$19 So that a man may have no desire for a woman. When you want to do this, 
take % oz. each of black cat’s brain and mandrake seeds. Mix those two things 
together, and blend them very well. Next make a wax image with a hole on top 
of its head through which you should throw the abovementioned mixture. 
Next make an iron needle, and press that needle into the image (that is, in the 
place where the delight of a woman is). 

§20 Next, take 4 oz. of pig blood; 2 oz. each of rabbit cheese and swallow’s 
brain; and1 Ib. each of cowmilk and myrtle sap. Mix all of these things together, 
and serve it in a drink to that man from whom you wish to strip the desire for 
a woman. Suffumigate him with 2 oz. each of mixed incense and galbanum. 
What you wish shall ensue. [156] 


BOOK 3 199 


Chapter 11 


On the Effects of an Image upon Various Things; On the Alterations of 
Sight, to See Things Other Than How They Are; Also, on How to Sleep 
and Wake, Make Poisons, and Their Remedies 


§1 I have discovered these compounds in books of this art’s sages, none of 
which are found in the words of Caynez. 

To bind tongues lest they speak evil of you. When you want to bind tongues 
lest they speak evil, put together this mixture. Take the tongues of everything 
listed here: a crow, an eagle, a toad, a water snake, a white dove, a white cock, 
and a hoopoe. Grind up all these tongues, and gather them together as one. 
Afterward, take one grain of pearl; % oz. each of gold, silver, camphor, borax, 
and aloe. Pulverize everything, and mix them together. Then add them with 
the powder mentioned above, and mix the whole thing with honey. Next, put 
them in a white silk cloth. Then take two eyelashes from a hawk, two eyelashes 
from a peacock, the liver of a hoopoe, the liver of a cock, two wing bones of a 
dove, and two wing bones of a hoopoe. Pulverize all those things, mix them 
with milk, and place them in the white silk cloth mentioned above with the 
mixture. Afterward, make a white wax image, which you will name after your- 
self. Write your name and the symbol of the Sun on its head. On its chest, write 
your name and the symbol of the Moon. Next, wrap the image in another white 
silk cloth, and put it wrapped up in the middle of the abovementioned mixture. 
Then bind the whole thing with silk thread. Whoever carries an image thus 
prepared will behold wonders nor will anyone speak evil of them. They will be 
loved and esteemed by all. 

§2 For love. Take 5 oz. of gazelle brain; 1 oz. of leopard blood; and 2 oz. of 
rabbit cheese. Mix everything together, and blend them very well. Give this mix- 
ture to whomever you desire in food or drink, and they will fallin love with you. 
§3 For the same. Take 2 oz. of white dog’s blood and just as much of its brain; 
and 4 oz. each of gazelle brain and human blood. Suffumigate whomever you 
wish with those things blended and mixed together. That person’s spirit will 
feel love toward you. 

§4 For the same. Take 4 oz. each of chicken blood and brains, rabbit blood, 
gazelle blood, and human blood. Mix and blend everything together. To these 
add 2 oz. of mandrake seeds. If you have suffumigated someone with these 
things, you will see great wonders. 

§5 For the same. Take 2 oz. each of a white dove’s brain and blood and 
eagle blood; 1 oz. of rabbit cheese; and % oz. of hawk brain. Mix everything 


200 PICATRIX 


into one mass, and blend it well. Give this mixture to whomever you desire as 
food, and you will be loved by him. 

§6 For the same. Take 1 oz. each of cock blood, leopard blood, rabbit cheese; 
and 2 oz. of human blood. Mix everything together, and add 1 oz. of euphorbia. 
[157] Whoever you suffumigate with that compound will esteem you. Their spirit 
and desires will be moved toward you. 

§7 For the same. Take 2 oz. each of sparrow blood and brain; 1 oz. each of 
female cat blood and brain; 4 0z. of human blood; and % oz. of euphorbia. Mix 
them, and give the mixture in a drink to whomever you wish. 

§8 For the same. Take a measure of black cat’s brain and human urine. Mix 
them, and give it as food to whomever you wish. Their spirits and desires will 
be moved in love toward you. 

$9 For the same. Take 4 oz. each of a red dog’s blood and brain; 2 oz. each of 
rabbit cheese, dove blood, cock blood; and 1 oz. of euphorbia. Mix everything, 
and suffumigate whoever you wish with it. 

$10 For the same. Take 8 oz. of donkey blood and 1 oz. each of fox blood and 
hedgehog blood. Mix everything, and add 2 oz. of euphorbia to the mixture. 
With this you will suffumigate whomever you desire. 

$11 For generating discord and enmity. These compounds are put together for 
enmity and malevolence. 

§12 Take 4 0z. of black cat’s blood; 2 oz. each of pig blood and brain; and 1 oz. 
of donkey brain. Mix everything together, and blend it well. Whoever you have 
given this medicine to in food or drink will hate you. 

§13. For the same. Take 4 oz. each of black cat’s blood and of chastetree; 2 02. 
each of kite brain and blood and fox blood; and 4 oz. of chastetree. Pulverize 
the chastetree, then mix everything together. If you suffumigate someone 
with this, their love will be purged, and their desire and spirit will fall away 
from love. 

§14 For the same. Take 2 oz. each of fox blood and monkey blood; and 1 oz. 
each of cat blood, wolf blood, monkey brain, and pig brain. Once everything is 
mixed and blended together, if you give it to someone as food, the same as 
above will happen. 

§15 For the same. Take 2 oz. each of toad and crane brain; 4 oz. each of a red 
dog and black cat’s blood; and 1 oz. of pig grease and the brain of ared dog. Mix 
everything together, and add 4 oz. of cinquefoil. With this, suffumigate that 
individual by whom you wish to be hated. 

§16 For the same. Take 4 oz. each of human and donkey blood; and 1 oz. of 
leopard blood. Mix everything together, and give it to whomever you want in 
food. The same as above will happen. 


BOOK 3 201 


$17. For the same. Take 4 oz. each of black cat’s blood and eagle blood; and 1 
oz. of donkey blood. Warm those things up, and with them mix 3 oz. of chaste- 
tree. Make a suffumigation from this mixture for that man in whom you wish 
to elicit hatred. 

§18 ‘These are the four suffumigations made for enmity, division, and 
massacres. 

$19 The first of these. Take equal parts of black cat’s blood, a red dog’s brain, 
and fox blood. Mix everything, and add 2 oz. each of St. John’s Wort and 
chastetree. Suffumigate whomever you wish with this. [158] 

§20 The second for the same. Take 4 oz. each of pig cheese and fat and female 
cat’s blood; and 1 oz. of Egyptian vulture brain.” Mix everything, and add to it 
St. John’s Wort and cinquefoil, each in equal portion to everything mentioned 
above. Pulverize everything together. Suffumigate whomever you wish with it. 
§21 A third one for the same. Take 8 oz. each of crane brain and kite blood; 1 
oz. each of rabbit cheese and blood; 1 0z. of donkey fat. Mix everything, and 
add chastetree in a portion equal to all the rest in weight. For whomever you 
suffumigate with these things, it will happen as above. 

§22 A fourth one for the same. Take1 oz. each of crow and vulture blood; and 
4 0z. each of donkey fat and blood. Mix everything, and add chastetree to it in 
an amount equal to the weight of it all. Whomever you suffumigate with these 
things, the same as above will happen. 

§23 For the same. Take 4 oz. of black cat’s brains. Grind them up, and mix 
them with an equal amount of dried and ground human excrement. Give it as 
food to whomever you wish. To be sure, that individual will hate. 

§24 Aristotle said: “A learned individual is one who understands the spirits’ 
separations, unions, and natures—the layout of the macrocosm and micro- 
cosm. They know and understand the mutual separation and union of all 
things, both spiritual and material.” 

§25 ‘These are the seven mixtures that are given as food to men to prevent sex 
with women. 

§26 ‘The first of these. Take 2 oz. each of horse brain, pig fat, and black cat’s 
blood. Mix everything with 1 oz. of pulverized colocynth, give a little of this 
mixture to whomever you wish as food. 

§27 A second for the same. Take equal parts of horse brain, pig fat, and wolf 
blood. Mix everything, and give half a dram as food to whomever you wish, 
and it will be as above. 

§28 A third for the same. Take equal parts of monkey blood and brain; ostrich 
fat; and the eyes, hooves, and horn of a deer. Grind everything up, and mix it 
together. Give % 0z. as food to whomever you wish. 


202 PICATRIX 


§29 A fourth for the same. Take 4 oz. of donkey brain; 1 oz. of pig grease; 
and 2 oz. of horse blood. Mix everything, and give 8 oz. as food to whomever 
you want. 

§30 A fifth for the same. Take 4 oz. of powdered pig bones; 2 oz. of peach 
leaves; 2 oz. each of burnt wolf fur, black cat’s eyes, and donkey brain. Mix 
everything together. Give 8 oz. as food to whomever you wish. 

§31 A sixth for the same. Take equal parts of black cat’s blood and water buf- 
falo brain. Mix them, and give 8 oz. as food to whomever you wish. [159] 

§32 Here are seven soporific mixtures that put all the spirits of the body to 
sleep—they are thought to be deadly. 

§33 The first of these is this. Take equal parts of pig brain and chami brain (an 
animal similar to a deer); add mandrake seed to a weight equal to the above- 
mentioned things. Give % oz. in a drink or as food to whomever you wish. 
§34 A second for the same. Take 4 oz. of woodland black poppy seeds; and 
1 oz. each of fox brain, human brain, and pig gallbladder. Mix them. Give a 
little to whomever you wish as food. 

§35 A third for the same. Take equal parts of human sweat and black cat’s 
blood; add mandrake seed of an equal weight to the mixture. Mix everything, 
and give 8 oz. to whomever you wish as food. 

§36 A fourth for the same. Take 8 oz. each of pig brain and black cat’s blood. 
Mix them, and give some to whomever you wish as food. 

§37_ A fifth for the same. Take equal parts of dove brain, pig blood, and the fat 
of a snake called the “deaf asp.” Mix them, and give 8 oz. to whomever you wish 
as food. 

§38 A sixth for the same. Take 4 oz. of cat urine; 2 oz. of horse sweat; and 1 oz. 
of colocynth. Mix everything, and give %4 oz. to whomever you wish as food. 
$39 A seventh for the same. Take equal parts of forest rue sap, human sweat, 
and pig brain. Mix everything together, and give 8 oz. to whomever you wish 
as food. This mixture kills through the power of its own spirits. 

§40 ‘These are the ten mixtures that cause sleep and death. 

§41 In the [Met]hedeytoz Book are found ten mixtures that cause sleep and 
death.°? 

§42 ‘The first is this. Take 2 oz. of coagulated black cat’s urine; and 1 0z. each 
of mouse and chami brain.** Give 8 oz. to whomever you wish as food. 

§43 A second for the same. Take equal parts of pig brain and sweat® and the 
salt of human urine. Mix them together, and give it to whomever you wish as 
food. 

§44 A third for the same. Take 2 0z. each of monkey grease, dog brain, and the 
blood of racanus or lagarius (that is, any large green lizard). Mix them together, 
and give % oz. to whomever you wish as food. 


BOOK 3 203 


§45 A fourth for the same. Take equal parts of donkey brain and human sweat. 
Mix them together, and give % oz. to whomever you wish as food, and the 
above will come about. 

§46 A fifth for the same. Take equal parts of human semen and gazelle brain, 
and add animal sweat to the weight of these things. Mix them together, and 
give % oz. to whomever you wish as food. 

§47 A sixth for the same. Take equal parts of human semen and gazelle brain. 
Mix them together, and give % dram to whomever you wish as food. [160] 

§48 A seventh for the same. Take equal parts of black cat’s brain, bat brain, 
and wolf fat. Mix everything, and give 10z. to whomever you wish as food. 
§49 An eighth for the same. Take equal parts of mouse brain and black crow’s 
blood; add % the weight of these things of colocynth. Mix everything, and give 
10z. to whomever you want as food. 

§50 A ninth for the same. Take 2 0z. of bear gallbladder and brain; 1 0z. each 
of mouse blood and black cat’s grease. Mix everything together, and give 1 oz. 
to whomever you wish as food. 

§51 A tenth for the same. Take equal parts of monkey and human brain. Mix 
them together, and give 1 oz. to whomever you wish as food. 

§52 ‘These ten mixtures have qualities and powers from the planets and the 
fixed stars along with the qualities of the things from which they were com- 
posed. Out from this mixture emerges a single spiritual power. The above- 
mentioned things are found in a book that is called Hedeytoz, compiled by the 
wise Hermes. 

§53 In this book, he tells of a kind of mixture for performing miracles, and it 
is for lifting all curses from people (namely, those carrying this mixture on 
themselves). 

Against the curses or enchantments of men. Take a frog’s head and spine, and 
grind them together. Next, place in a silk cloth 1 oz. each of Berber’s aloaxac,”° 
donkey brain, and peony—all dried. Whoever fears curses should carry it on 
their person, and they will be safe from these things. Galen made this mixture 
for a certain king who ruled during his lifetime. 

§54 Miracles that arise from the properties of humankind. In the book just 
discussed, Hermes said that the human body possesses many marvels per- 
taining to magical operations when one performs rituals with them (as did 
the sages who discovered this knowledge). From among these Hermes wrote 
of a wondrous mixture that produces many miracles, and it was made as 
follows. He took the whole head of a man who recently died and placed it in 
a large container. He added 8 oz. each of fresh opium, human blood, and 
sesame oil until the head was covered by them. He then shut the opening of 
the container very well with luting and placed it over a tame charcoal fire for 


204 PICATRIX 


a whole twenty-four hours. Then he removed it from the fire and let it cool 
down. He covered his face and strained these things, having found every- 
thing liquefied like oil. Then he put it aside. He said that there are many 
wonders in this oil. First of these is that it permits one to see those things one 
wishes to see. If you light a light with the oil or anoint something with it, or 
if you give a little of it to someone in food, you will see whatever you wish. 
§55 For appearing in the form of any animal you wish. Take the head and fat 
of any animal you wish with datura seeds, using as much as necessary.*” Cover 
them in a container with oil, and place them over a low fire, day and night, 
until all its oils run. Once cooled, strain the mixture very well. If you light a 
lamp with it and [161] anoint someone’s face with it, that person will appear in 
the shape of that animal to witnesses. This mixture can be made from the 
heads of various animals, and thus that person would have the appearance of 
various animals. 

§56 For ruining the senses and thoughts. Take a recently severed human head, 
and place it in a large container. Place with it that person’s spleen, heart, and 
liver. Next, place in the same container the heads of the following animals: a 
cat, a fox, a monkey, a cock, a hoopoe, a crow, a kite, a bat, a gander, a swallow, 
a turtle, and an owl. Cover everything in oil in a container whose mouth should 
be very well shut with luting. Place it over a low fire where it should sit for three 
days and nights. Then remove it from the fire, and allow it to cool. Strain these 
things with a covered face. Set it aside in a container. Take the bones of these 
heads, and burn them in some other container until reduced to a powder. Mix 
this powder with seeds of black henbane and datura. Set it aside for use. When 
you wish to operate the aforesaid things, give some of that powder to whom 
you wish in food or drink, and light three lamps with that oil. You will see the 
things you have strived after. [For making wonders appear on your figure.] Take 
some of the oil mentioned above, and anoint your face with it. Enter the house 
lit with the said lamps, and you will appear monstrous in nature to witnesses. 
§57_ For erasing the senses and memory. Take 2 oz. each of hawk, mouse, and 
black cat’s brain; and % oz. each of sulfur and myrrh. Mix everything, and set 
it aside until it rots. When you wish to operate, take 8 oz. of it and an equal 
amount of crane excrement. Blend them together, and place it over a fire until 
smoke rises up. Whoever breathes in that smoke through the nostrils will be 
turned into a demon. They will lose both perception and memory and be 
unable to recognize where they are. 

§58 ‘There are many other wonders arising from the human body. In one 
book published by the wise Geber, I found many wonders arising from the 
human body. He said this:°* “I, Geber, observed that the elements do what they 
do when combined. Alone they can do nothing because they are self-contained. 


BOOK 3 205 


When joined together such that all four are united, I saw how they create and 
cause generation, growth, and life. When one of these four is lacking, I saw how 
they cause death, withering, and corruption. Here I begin with humankind, 
starting with the head. 

§59 The brain is good to eat for those who have lost their memory. 

§60 Burnt skull drunk with squill extract for nine days cures epileptics. [162] 
§61 Whoever carries a human eye bound with a wolf eye cannot be hindered 
by an evil eye nor a wicked tongue. 

§62 Burnt and powdered human hair mixed with labdanum warms the brain. 
§63 A fasting person’s saliva heals scabies ifthe area is moistened often. 

§64 If the saliva of a fasting man or woman is placed on a snake’s head or 
mouth, it will die quickly. 

§65 A woman’s tongue helps those who wish to utter falsehoods or incan- 
tations. 

§66 Ifone wishes to steal or carry off something, one should carry the tongues 
of both a human and a kite. 

§67 Blood water absorbed into sublimated arsenic allows it to penetrate 
bronze melted over a fire. 

§68 Ear wax causes the Moon or the Sun to melt or solidify. With it one can 
solidify as quickly as with borax. 

§69 Ear wax mixed with opium isa strong soporific. 

§70 Brain fluid drunk with a mixture of brain heals the insane. 

§71_ Clip fingernails and toenails with a red bronze knife when the Moon is in 
conjunction with Jupiter, then burn them when she is conjoined with the Sun. 
Give that powder in a drink to whomever you wish, sprinkle the powder on 
their clothes, and they will fall in love with you. 

§72 Give the patient burnt and powdered human foreskin to eat so that new 
leprosy or scabies (which is a kind of leprosy) may not grow. It shall spread 
no more. 

§73 Human urine burns everything in its path. If someone has scabies, they 
should wash themselves in it, and they will quickly be cured. 

§74 Human excrement dried in the Sun, powdered, and thrown onto a gold- 
iron alloy will corrode the iron, destroy it, and refine the gold. 

§75 ‘The oil in excrement softens the Sun and the Moon and increases their 
color.®° 

§76 Whoever has a deadly illness on the legs should wash them with excre- 
ment water distilled three times and on top should sprinkle the powder of that 
same burnt excrement. They will be cured quickly. 

§77 One suffering from an acute fever should wash their head with human 
blood water. They will be cured. 


206 PICATRIX 


§78 Wash a wound with blood water, and sprinkle the lime of the same blood 
onto the wound. It will be healed. 

§79 Any burn, whether from fire or boiling water, if first cleaned with excre- 
ment water and then covered with its burnt powder will be healed. 

§80_ If you seea sick person who cannot recover through any medicine, wash 
them with blood water, and they will improve. 

§81 Whoever has a great dryness within their body, give them blood water to 
drink, and he will be healed. [163] 

§82 If someone is suffering from diarrhea, give them morsels of any blood 
you want, and they will be healed. 

§83 If someone has quartan fever, take some human arm bone and some 
bone from the tip ofa hawk’s wing. People with fever should carry it with them, 
and they will be cured. 

§84 Anyone with nightmares during sleep should be washed with excrement 
water, and they will be cured. 

§85 ‘The oil from excrement distilled three times and imbibed with an amal- 
gam of the Sun and green silver water with dissolved cinnabar water tints the 
Moon and other metals. 

§86 An eye salve made from human gallbladder heals tearing and cloudy 
eyes. 

§87 Whoever has a canker sore or a fistula should burn blood, make lime 
from it, and throw it up in the air. First, however, wash the area with water 
distilled from blood. 

§88 All human excrement dried in the Sun is very strong and sharp. It cured 
rheumatism and diseases from horses and other animals. It helps the eyes and 
removes cloudiness from the eyes of animals. 

§89 A woman’s menstrual fluid given to anyone will cause leprosy. If anyone 
bathes in it, they will die quickly. 

§90 The cure. Take human sperm, and give it to them to drink. They will be 
cured. Similarly, they will be cured if they were given some evil amreps herbs.” 
§91 Make a pouch with a human heart, and fill it with the blood of three 
other people, and warm it over a fire. Call the demons, and they shall respond. 
§92 Collect your own sweat in a well-cleaned and beautiful bowl, then place 
itin a glass vessel. Place some shavings from your feet with a little bit of your 
own sun-dried excrement and the root of an herb called fu in Arabic but vale- 
rian in Latin. Give it to whomever you want to drink. They will fall in love 
with you. 

§93 I, Geber, have tried this out, and it is most effective. Women, however, add 
the water with which they washed their behinds while pointing them eastward. 
§94 All burned human meat and bones generate and provoke goodwill. 


BOOK 3 207 


$95 Three measures of dead humans—that is, measure out a human corpse 
three times: measure out the length of the arm from the elbow to the middle 
finger, from the shoulder to the same finger, and finally from the head to the 
feet. There will be ruin and retrogradation. 

§96 Blood extracted from a left-hand finger provokes enjoyment when the 
Moon is conjoined with the Sun or when the Moon is with Venus and given 
when the Moon is in opposition to the Sun. This is an experiment of the Egyp- 
tians. I myself have seen many men test and discover its power. 

§97 Excrement water and snail water dissolve tartar. Quench bronze lamellae 
in it, and they will whiten. Throw into feather alum some dissolved glass, and 
it will improve. [164] 

§98 Take the skin from a woman’s vulva in a ring such that it retains its hole 
shape. Whatever you look at through it will be a sign of death. This is a matter 
requiring great purity. Likewise, it causes illness. This was taken from those 
Greeks called the Ephesians. 

$99 Skin aman’s penis, then tan and soften it like leather with salt and flour. 
Know that with it you can bind and release. 

§100 The testicles of a man, dried, pulverized, and eaten with incense, mastic 
gum, cinnamon, and cloves, makes a man truly younger and gives him an excep- 
tionally good color. 

§101 A person’s eyes bound up in a snakeskin cause whoever sees you to 
admire you and get out of your way. Rather, they will be good to you. 

§102 Whoever is feverish or suffering from a headache should anoint their 
head with the milk of a woman, and it will remove the pain. 

§103 The milk of a woman with opium causes the feverish and insomniacs to 
fall asleep. 

§104 If you wish to go on a safe journey, make a pill from your semen and ear 
wax, and hang it from your neck. You will go safely. Certain sages would carry 
it around, saying there were a great many properties in it. Some of them 
believed there were seventy-two, to each of which they assigned a cause that 
none could deny. 

§105 The umbilical cord ofa newborn boy wrapped in a red silk cloth with the 
tongue of a green frog from a fig tree—whoever carries these will be honored 
by their lord (and others too). 

§106 Whoever has bad pustules or bad scabies should anoint themselves in the 
hot Sun with blood oil distilled three times, then apply the dregs of the blood 
to the wounds. They will be cured. They should do this seven times or more. 
This we have demonstrated already in the book On Properties. 

§107 A human right arm with the head of a greyhound in anyone’s house is 
effective against lies. 


208 PICATRIX 


§108 The distillate of human gall with a cat’s eye helps and sharpens light. 
Whoever makes this does so in order to see wonders that seem to be demons. 
§109 Take human blood, and mix it with magnetite and deadly nightshade, 
which is called the “herb of light.”© From this make a clump, and carry it in a 
small gold or silver vessel. You will have power over all incantations, tricks, and 
illusions, especially if you collect the plant with your own hands and the blood 
is from your own body. 

§110 Someone from Baldach told me that the herb that is called fu in Arabic 
(valerian in Latin; amantilla in Greek) has a similar power. He also told me that 
this mixture caused goodwill when eaten or given as a drink.® 

§111 Take the vulva ofa woman (that is, the skin), and carry itin a yellow cloth 
with the tongue ofa snake bound to it. You will be powerful in making factions 
and friendships. A woman’s pubic hair does the same. [If you wish to destroy a 
horse, take the herb that is called tarsia, crush it with the grease of a hog, and 
add some powdered human excrement. Anoint the horse between the armpits. 
Then its testicles will become swollen to the size of plates. When you want to 
cure that horse, take strong vinegar and smear its testicles. It will be healed. If 
you wish that those around you might appear to have the heads of beasts to one 
another, take the semen of any given beast while it is having sex, and mix it 
with wax. Set it on fire. They will appear with the head of that beast. The saliva 
of a fasting woman sprinkled onto plants dries them out, but the menstrual 
fluid of a woman does this more.]®* [165] 

§112 I foundall these things in a certain book published by the wise Geber.® 
The experiments written out below, however, I found in the [Met]hedeytoz 
book. 

§113 For blinding by suffumigation. Take the blood of a dog, an ass, a cat, a 
goat, and a cow in equal parts. Mix all these bloods, and place them over a low 
fire until they are blended. Afterwards, add ground arsenic and an equal part 
of sublimated mercury. Then mix them all, and throw them into a single con- 
tainer. Seal it very well with luting, and place it in dung until it rots. Next, take 
it out and beware of its odor. If you place % oz. of this mixture in a fire, who- 
ever ingests the smoke will have their vision blotted out by darkness such that 
they will never see light again. The cure: Take fennel sap and green coriander. 
Mix them, and place them over the eyes. From that moment they will be cured 
of blindness. 

§114 For rendering mute. Take 2 oz. each of cock and bear gall; 4 oz. of bat 
blood; % oz. each of lettuce seed, black poppy seed, and mandrake root. Liq- 
uefy the blood, and mix it with the other things. Mix them very well, and let 
them dry. Afterward, grind them up with a well-aged, old wine, and make pills 
to the weight of % lb. If you give one of these to anyone in food or drink, they 


BOOK 3 209 


will swallow their tongues and be unable to speak at all. The cure: Fill the 
mouth of the afflicted person with oil or butter while holding it closed. 

§115 For rendering deaf. Take equal parts of mandrake, cow gallbladder, and 
goat gallbladder. Mix and grind everything together. Allow the mixture to 
putrefy. Give % oz. of it in food to whomever you wish, and they will totally 
lose their sense of hearing. The cure: Put the sap of rue into the afflicted person’s 
ears, and they will be cured. 

§116 For generating discord and enmity. Take the heads of a lizard and a snake 
with equal parts of dog and black cat’s hair. Mix them together, and burn them 
in a container until they can be ground up. If you were to throw some of this 
anywhere between people, enmity and conflict would arise between them until 
they killed each other. The cure: take 4 0z. of mallow seed and 2 0z. each of the 
blood of a white dove and a cat. Grind everything up, and mix it with the blood 
over a fire. Make tablets of % oz. in weight. When you want to remove such a 
discord, grind up one of these tablets, and throw the dust in that place (namely, 
where you threw the other powder). At once, the spirit of discord and enmity 
will depart. 

§117_ A soporific mixture. Take % oz. each of opium and black henbane seed; 
then 1/, oz. of nutmeg, sukk,® and fresh aloewood. Grind them up, and blend 
them into a single mixture with the sap of green coriander; allow this to putrefy 
in a jar such that its complexions and spirits are mixed with each other. Next 
take it out of the jar, and give % oz. in a drink to whomever you wish. They will 
sleep for a great span of time, unable to be awoken. [166] 

§118 For the same. Take 4 oz. each of datura, red arsenic, mandrake seed or 
husk, and black poppy; 6 oz. of saffron; and 2 oz. of henbane seed. Mix every- 
thing together, and put it away for three days to rot. Once this time has passed, 
remove it, and give % oz. mixed with wine to drink to whomever you wish. 
§119 For the same. Take equal parts of opium, mandrake husk, lettuce seed, 
branches of datura, sap of arcole,®” black hellebore, and black poppy seeds. 
Grind everything up, mix together, and blend with a quantity of well-aged 
wine to the weight of all of the above combined. Put this aside to rot for seven 
days. Afterward, remove it, and give % oz. in food to whomever you wish. 
§120 For the same. Take equal parts of sap from henbane, mandrake, green 
coriander, lettuce, datura, and white henbane; and a tenth part ofall the said 
ingredients of opium. Mix everything together. Next, take jelly made from figs 
milled four times in a wine press where grapes are crushed. Take as much jelly 
as of the other ingredients combined. Mix everything together. Put it aside to 
rot until all its complexions and spirits are blended into one. Do not give any 
more than % oz. of this mixture as a dose on account of its excessive strength 
from the spirits in its ingredients. 


210 PICATRIX 


[A deadly spiritual poison. Take one toad. Stretch it out on its stomach over 
a post. Affix each foot with a nail. Then hit it with a long stick. Little by little, it 
will swell up while getting angry, and it will spew forth a triple venom with a 
triple color. Place a dish under it and catch it. Finally, get rid of the toad. Let- 
ters, food, and other such things are deadly when anointed with this. When 
you set the venom to ferment in a lead vase, it becomes stronger. If you distill 
the fermented venom, it will penetrate more. If you extract the essence from it, 
it will be suited to your work. If someone puts a drop in hot water, it will work 
wondrously. After all the venom from innumerable animals and plants has 
been fermented and you give a drop in hot water or in simple poisons, then it 
will activate quickly. The most powerful poisons are made from toad. Through 
this, a famous monk killed Pope Julius through the Sun’s rays. Poisons can be 
made to ferment with hot water, and afterward, one drop can be given in a glass 
of wine. ]® 
§121 A deadly poison. Take equal parts of dried scorpion, datura, black poppy, 
and colocynth. Blend them into one, ground up, and put it aside to rot. Beware 
of that stuff for your own sake, because % oz. of it is lethal. 

[If you trap an owl with a viper in a glass container during summertime, 
they will fight and sweat. A drop of this sweat given in wine kills within an 
hour.]°° 
§122 For the same. Take equal parts of wolfsbane,”° ariole,” and fresh euphor- 
bia. Blend them together, and set the mixture to rot with adder gall equal in 
weight to all the above in a container suited to this. Leave it aside until it rots. 
Afterward, remove it. Be careful since it damages and destroys the blood of the 
heart on account of its excessive heat and abundant sharpness, and it can 
quickly kill a man. [Similarly, there was that venom with which that woman 
from Florence pricked an ox with a needle. It died that night.]”” 

§123 For the same. Take as many frogs as you can catch, and place them ona 
spit divided as you wish (that is, as many on their own spit as you wish) by 
piercing them through the mouth and out the anus. Then place them standing 
with their mouths toward the ground. Afterward, take a lead vase, and collect 
the oil leaking from their mouths. Know that the oil that comes out last is 
much more effective than the oil that comes out first. Set it aside for use. Oil of 
this kind harms and kills most powerfully on account of the damage it causes 
to the organs. The first man who discovered this deadly poison was Rufus. He 
tested it and discovered in it great wonders.” 

§124 A wondrous stone fashioned against poisons. Kings of India used to have 
this stone made as described below on account of its miracles. The stone stood 
among all those splendid things they had at their disposal for defending against 
and warding off the dangers of poisons. The composition of this stone is this: 


BOOK 3 211 


take ten deer eyes [167] and ten eyes of vipers or venomous snakes. If you are 
unable to obtain the vipers, determine a weight equivalent to the weight of 
those ten. As much as the weight of one of those eyes, take that much of toad 
face. Dry and clean everything very thoroughly, and grind it all up very finely. 
Then sift it as well as you can with a fine clean cloth. Next, mix them together, 
and grind thoroughly again. Then, place them in a glass container with a very 
narrow opening. Afterward, take % oz. each of wine made bitter with cedar 
and radish sap; and 1 0z. each of white, clean spider webs and mastic. Spin these 
spider webs most finely, and put them with the mastic into the two abovemen- 
tioned saps. Allow them to remain there for two days and nights. Next, strain 
it gently and evenly, and combine it with the abovementioned powders in the 
container. When this is done, plug the opening of the container very thor- 
oughly, and bury it in burning straw, leaving it there until everything is dis- 
solved and reduced to a sort of oil. Afterward, mix the oil with water, and put 
it back again into the same burning straw until all the water has been evapo- 
rated. Then turn it over in such a way that it becomes blended. When this is 
done, remove it, and empty it into an eggshell so that it is made round. Place 
another eggshell on top, and seal it very well, then place it again in the same 
burnt straw. Leave it aside until it solidifies a little. Afterward, draw it out 
through a hole, wrap it in a silk cloth, and place it in dough to cook in an oven. 
When this is done, remove it, and put it into the stomach of some bird. Once 
inside, roast the bird. Next, take it out of the bird’s stomach. If you find it to be 
well solidified in the form of a stone, that is good. Otherwise, put it back into 
the stomach of another bird. Roast as above, and proceed in so doing until it 
becomes a stone, which you should thread with a string and attach around the 
loins. Kings of India used to make this stone and carried it around their loins 
at all times. Its effect is that if anything poisonous is placed before the stone in 
food or drink or in any other thing, it will shake and sweat greatly. This is very 
well-known among them and is one of the great wonders they possessed. 

§125 The first to fashion this stone on his own was King Behentater, one of the 
kings of India, a great sage.” He himself built the city of Memphis, in which he 
erected great buildings and set up in those buildings images that could speak. 
This was the man who discovered the calculations of love through number, 
which is a very wondrous thing among his people. When these numbers are 
given to two individuals in food or drink (or in any other manner), they become 
united by the best friendship and greatly delight in each other. If these numbers 
were carved into a piece of wood and with it you were to inscribe bread or 
something edible and then give it to someone to eat, they would fall deeply in 
love with you. If you inscribed those numbers on your clothes, they could not 
be [168] stolen from you. If you wrote them on clothes that were to be brought 


212 PICATRIX 


to market for sale, the same effect would happen. The lesser number of these is 
220, but the greater is 284.”° The operation with these numbers is this: write the 
lesser and the greater number in the symbols of al-Khwarizmi.” Give the lesser 
in food to whomever you wish while you yourself eat the greater. That person 
will become obedient to you just as the lesser is obedient to the greater. They 
will esteem you on account of the wondrous property and power of those num- 
bers. In fact, these calculations can be done similarly with grape seeds, pome- 
granate seeds, or with whatever edible fruit you wish. This occurs through the 
number and not through the symbols. I myself have tested these calculations 
many times, and I have found truth in them just as written above. 

§126 King Behentater made twelve pastures for the people of Egypt in twelve 
months—that is, one per month. Furthermore, he made a house wholly sur- 
rounded by images that in fact cured every illness. On each image’s head he 
illustrated the illness assigned to each. For a long time, the people of that land 
were often cured from illness by those images in the following way. They would 
come to those images demanding health from them. They would show their 
illness to the image assigned to their infirmity, and at once, they were cured. 
Afterward, King Behentater made an image in the form of a laughing man, and 
it had this power. Whoever was sad or depressed by melancholy would stare at 
the image, and at once, he would be cheerful and laughing, his worries carried 
off to oblivion. The effect of this image was so great among the Egyptians that 
they came to worship it like a god. This same king fashioned a bronze image in 
his city with two outstretched wings, which he gilded entirely. Then he erected 
it somewhere in the city. The image’s power was such that whoever passed by 
it—whether man or woman—if they had committed adultery, it would reveal 
their nature. They would be unable to avoid that image without bringing atten- 
tion to themselves. The king built this image so that his people could be alerted 
to fornication. Whoever this image exposed as a fornicator or a fornicatrix was 
brought before the king. For his or her crime, the culprit was fully exposed and 
punished deservingly in accordance with the Egyptians’ laws. For this reason, 
the king’s subjects, both men and women, avoided that ungodly practice. 

§127 Furthermore, King Behentater made an earthenware vase that he filled 
with water. His whole army could drink from it, and its contents never dimin- 
ished. That king lived in the time of Alexander the Great, and it is said that 
King Behentater presented this container to Alexander with some other won- 
drous things. This vase had been fashioned with the disciplinary techniques of 
science, the properties of nature, and the knowledge of planetary spirits’ 
strengths and of the fixed stars. Likewise, [169] Acaym, a king of India, fash- 
ioned a pillar atop the gate of a Nubian city.” It was made of black marble and 
completely filled with water. No matter how much was carried away from it, it 


BOOK 3 213 


never lacked water. This happened because it would attract the humidity of the 
air thanks to the skill of its fabrication. He built this work for the restoration of 
the people on account of that city’s distance from the Nile and its proximity to 
saltwater. The Sun’s rays caused thick and humid vapors to arise from the sea- 
water; the subtler parts were purified of their saltiness in the air. Drop by drop, 
by means of the most clever geometric skill and the science of magic, the water 
would drip into that pillar from the air. Thus, the city was never lacking water 
on account of attraction, which arises just like when a bloodstone attracts 
whatever is placed around it. 

§128 These Indians have other great wonders aside from these, some of which 
I will relate at present. 

For preventing any bodily motion. Take the penis ofa man, slice it into pieces, 
and mix in the powder of opium, datura, and a little bit of arsenic. Put it into a 
lead container to ferment, and be careful with it. Once you have extracted it 
from the dross, you will find it liquefied and reduced to a sort of oil. If you were 
to give a little bit of that oil in drink or food to whomever you wish, all their 
senses, movements, and spirits would be shut down and stupefied. They would 
be unable to use any limb. The Indians would make many miracles with this 
oil (with other things mixed in), and by giving it in food, they would reveal the 
extraordinary things they desired. They would give it in food to whomever 
they wanted, and by this they would reveal what they desired from among 
untold things. They would even change a person into whichever shape or form 
they wished. 

§129 To appear in the shape of any animal you wish. Take the sperm of a man in 
possession of all his limbs, place it in an egg (that is, in an earthenware con- 
tainer), and mix it together with the sperm of the animal you wish. Afterward, 
close the container well, and put it to rot in warm excrement for three days. 
When this is finished, remove it and you will find the likeness of the animal in 
the container. Take it out, and put it into sesame oil, which you will leave aside 
for three days. That animal will absorb this oil for three days. While it is still 
alive, grind it up into that oil. If you light a lamp and anoint someone’s face with 
it, they will appear in the shape of the animal whose semen you used. This is 
held as a noble secret among the Indians since they revealed it to none but those 
disposed to these things. 

§130 To prevent a person from leaving a city. Take the sperm of a man and a 
little of his blood, which should be cooked up with twice as much honey until 
all the sperm has dissolved in it. Next, cook this honey until it is [170] good and 
black. Give some of it in food to whomever you wish (namely, whoever intends 
to undertake the long trip). Whoever eats it will be unable to leave the city on 
that day; rather, he or she will remain there, ravaged and senseless. 


214 PICATRIX 


§131 The great wonders of magic. The Indians used to make another mixture 
with which they performed great wonders of magic. Its composition is this. 
They would take one sow and shut it in an empty house. In one corner, they 
would firmly fit the house with iron bars such that the sow could not leave the 
house. Inside, next to the sow, they would place a male pig prepared in the 
same way as she was. Thus prepared, they would leave them there for twenty- 
four days. They began this work when the Sun was entering the first degree of 
Capricorn. Every day they would give them a piece of wheat bread softened in 
milk to eat, as much as they wanted. At the end of those twenty-four days, the 
sow would be moved by an extremely powerful urge to mate with the male pig. 
Through such great excitement, the male pig projected a great amount of sperm 
that looked like pieces of coagulated blood. Those Indians had great techniques 
to collect this sperm. They would store it in a lead container, seal the opening 
very well, then put it to rot in dung for twenty-four days. Subsequently, they 
would remove it, open the container in a cold place, and discover an animal 
that was moving therein. They would feed it for three days with nuts and milk 
as we have said above regarding the sow. After three days, they plunged it to its 
death in oil, which they used to accomplish great miracles of magic by giving it 
in food, by lighting a lamp with it, by anointing faces and bodies with it, and 
many other wonders unworthy of mentioning on account of length. We request 
that performers of these rituals hold them as utmost secrets and not reveal 
them except to a person experienced in these things. 


Chapter 12 
On the Rules Necessary to This Science 


§1 Whoever intends to be involved in this science must know that it is 
through works and experiments in this world that the depths and secrets of 
science become known. Through works and experiments, doubts are resolved. 
This is because doubt is dissolved when one achieves one’s desire. You yourself, 
however, should be hungry for everything we have taught so far. Have faith in 
those works, the ways of the wise, and do not cease to observe the manners of 
the ancients who worked in this body of knowledge. Withdraw, as much as you 
can, from illicit foods and delights. Seriously consider, as much as you can, the 
salvation of your soul and the love of God since desire and love attract the spirit 
and move it to [171] pursue spiritual effects and to carry out and reveal all its 
properties toward a desired outcome. If one’s inclination were toward God, 
who is the beginning and end ofall, the perpetual and eternal Lord of lords, 


BOOK 3 215 


then such a love would be durable and complete. If such a love and desire were 
focused on material things, it would be unstable, corruptible, and terminal. 
Desire is divided into parts since the love that accompanies health and honor 
is a love fixed in God, sublime and splendid, like the love of a father, a teacher, 
or a holy man. It is a love of piety and a love of sons. It is the love of the benefi- 
cial and the helpful, of men who esteem one another for the sake of free mutual 
advantage. When desire is very acute, it is called love. So as long as we place 
anything ahead of God, it must rightly be called a corruptible love. We pour 
out our prayers to God so that He Himself may illuminate your heart and spirit 
such that His profound knowledge may be revealed to you, so that He may 
protect you from treachery or harmful individuals, and that He may guard you 
from revealing your secrets to the ignorant since they would become the mur- 
derers of holy men and prophets. 

§2 ‘The properties and examples written in the books of this science of the 
prophets would seem fraudulent were you to apply them to a ritual half- 
heartedly; moreover, you would never achieve their application toward the 
promised effect. Were you to understand them as they were meant (that is, by 
understanding the credible things and the causes of their effects with a true 
and steady inclination), then they would seem excellent, splendid, and pre- 
cious, unattainable by their nature to brutish folk. If we must rightfully repay 
the debt owed to our fathers who gave us life and being, by how much more 
must we hold fast to the prophets and holy men who gave us models such as the 
rules by which our souls might be saved and led to an eternal life? In our bodies 
there are reasons for the perfection of material elements: a durable power is 
found for a time that guards and governs bodies in their figures and effects; 
this is not separate from a body’s own particular duration. This is what the 
prophets called nature. They call it “nature” since a power of the sort is the 
cause of the governing of bodies through a defined period of time for each and 
every being relative to their own natural lifespan. Thus, it is called “nature,” 
and nature is the first natural principle of all plants and animals. For example: 
no matter how a stone is thrown, it naturally falls back down. This is not inas- 
much as it is a body, since other bodies (inasmuch as they are bodies) are not 
similar to it, but rather they produce its effects through an opposite, like fire 
that naturally rises is still a body; this is understood to be the origin of that 
kind of motion, and it is called “nature.” Moreover, they call that motion 
“nature,” saying that the nature of an element is its form and [172] natural 
appearance. Physicians, however, use this word “nature” in referring to com- 
plexion through natural heat, to the forms and appearances of bodies, and to 
the motions and the spirit; according to each, a sense is given. In truth, this 
word “nature” is ambiguous because it applies to every body, to each particular 


216 PICATRIX 


thing, to the elements of the heavens, to the power God provided that causes 
generation and corruption, motion and rest in everything that can move or 
rest. For this reason, the earliest sages thus defined the word “nature” as the 
beginning and end of motion and rest. Plato defined it thus: nature is a body, 
perfect for creating beings. Galen, however, said: nature is an innate heat that 
helps bodies and removes damage and corruption from them as much as pos- 
sible. When the power of the body works in tandem with it, it makes the body 
apt for government, order, and other things. Empedocles said: it is a simple 
body with a single form and shape; in it dwell power and life, though it itself is 
the form of life (as it appears in children whom nature gave certain life skills, 
like nursing, sleeping, and so on; once they are taught the crafts, they then 
become masters). I have not written these things except to brighten the light of 
your intellect since everything you have been instructed and taught regarding 
origins and considerations of all kinds has proven manifest in the universe. 
Thus you will possess a well-prepared intellect through the union of the poten- 
tial intellect with the agent. Thus it is finished. 


‘The third book of Picatrix ends; the fourth book follows. [173] 


BOOK 4 


‘The Fourth Book Begins Here. In It Are Revealed the Properties of the 
Spirits, the Necessities of This Art, and How the Spirits Are Empowered 
by Images, Suffumigations, and Other Things [174] 


Chapter 1 


Through What Strength and Power the Spirits Appear, and on the 
Properties of Sense Perception, Mind, Spirit, Body, and Soul (and the 
Differences Between Them) 


§1 Truly, the ancient sages agreed on this: that God laid out and ordered five 
things into degrees, placing the noblest at the top—that is, the Prima Materia 
and the First Form, which is the principal source of everything, so to speak; the 
second thing is sense perception or mind, the third is spirit, the fourth is the 
nature of the heavens, and the fifth is the elements and their compounds. The 
First Form, however, He placed in the height of His own heaven where no other 
god nor lord but Him could endure. He ordained that the First Form should 
emanate light outward. That virtue emanates the knowledge and the excellence 
of power upon the things disposed to them; to other things, it bestows these 
by force. He then placed sense perception and mind in the first circle stretch- 
ing downward from there like light. Next, the knowledge and the excellence of 
power that are suited to Him emanated from Him forcefully. He then placed the 
spirit circle below, which likewise emanated from the first light above. He 
poured forth His knowledge and excellence to the things disposed to them 
(namely, that which emanated from the circle of spirit and the circles above). 
Beneath spirit, He then placed nature, which likewise emanated from the First 
Form. By His power the excellence disposed to it was generated within it. There- 
fore, it is clear that the First Form is greater and subtler than the senses in 
every way; the senses more than spirit; and spirit more than nature; and 
nature more than the elements. He arranged each and every one of these circles 
one above another in suitable degrees, ordered as if He meant the first to be 


218 PICATRIX 


absolute, pure in itself, and cleansed from all gross nature; while the second has 
within itself still a little more gross nature or matter than the preceding but less 
than the third circle; and thus descending by degrees to the elements or elemen- 
tal compounds. This is such that the primal essence shines more radiantly 
within itself, and the others lacking in purity cascade to their proper endpoint 
(just as species do, namely by running down through more specific types to the 
most general types since each receives excellence from those above it and pours 
its power forth unto those below it). He then created the heavens and the forms 
and placed the circle of the spirits in the midst of four heavens: the two above, 
those of primal essence and intellect, are luminous and clear; and the two below, 
those of nature and the elements, are dark and obscure. The circle of the spirit, 
as a subordinate circle, receives the knowledge and excellence suitable to it 
from its superiors and pours it down upon its inferiors. According to this, it is 
the spirit that finally binds and illuminates the two heavens above, receiving 
from them its light, knowledge, and excellence. The spirit itself was well- 
formed since it stretches up on high and dwells in the region where it was made 
and created, whence it receives fortune, goodness, and light; this place is called 
paradise. The spirit governing the two heavens below, however, is a dark 
spirit—wretched and unfortunate; he descends to the lowest circle and dwells 
in the region where he was captured and where [175] he may find no rest; this 
place is called hell. God Himself created the spirits of the animals, the plants, 
and the solid bodies. Those things, however, do not receive sense perception 
and knowledge from the First Form. He pours forth very little into those things 
because they were not predisposed to Him. Rather, they overtake the two lower 
heavens (namely, nature and the elements) and dwell upon the Earth where they 
exist, endure, and where they were created. Nevertheless, all these things appear 
by means of divine power and strength. 

§2 Here follows an example: trees growing in the ground—their foundation 
is their roots, but their ends are the branches, leaves, and fruit growing upon 
them. Their roots attract their vegetative power from the humors of the earth 
while the branches attract it from the air. Therefore, when terrestrial matter 
overcomes the air in their nature, their roots become longer than their branches; 
and on the contrary, if air prevails over the earth, their branches will be made 
longer than the roots. Hence, to confirm the above, we see with the senses that 
trees and other plants growing in the earth have longer roots than branches 
and vice versa. Furthermore, we see the same thing in birds, wherein the more 
a terrestrial nature they possess, by that much more will they have difficulty 
flying, and when they are more similar in nature to air, they fly that much more 
easily. It is the same for humans, who the more their nature is composed of 
subtle elements (the more they are purified from the gross and fed on subtle 


BOOK 4 219 


foods), the more they will become subtle, spiritual, and skilled at understand- 
ing the spiritual. On the contrary, it occurs that such humans composed of 
terrestrial and gross elements and nourished on gross foods are unable to 
attain the subtleties of spirits since they are naturally inclined toward perceiv- 
ing gross and corporeal things. From this, it is clear that evil proceeds from 
matter, while good proceeds from spirit. 

§3 Matter is divided into two parts, namely, spiritual and corporeal. In fact, 
the spiritual is Prima Materia, which is the higher realm and the First Form— 
the first spiritual element (namely, sense, soul, nature, element, and all princi- 
ples of the first genus stripped of matter) and the first unity, which remains 
indivisible like a unit, a point and the like that cannot be divided in time (like 
the beginning of a line, which is a point). Corporeal matter, however, is what 
exists composed out of the elements, like animals, trees, and the like. More- 
over, matter is both simple and composite. Simple matter is everything above 
the heavens, while composite matter is everything below the heavens and thus 
may be perceived by sight and by experiment. The wise Empedocles said that 
all matter perceived by the five bodily senses is corporeal matter, entirely com- 
posite, and when it is in this condition, it is corrupted and altered—placed, 
though lacking place. All matter that cannot be perceived by the five bodily 
senses is called simple, pure, spiritual, luminous, [176] durable, and noble. All 
matter discerned by only one of the five senses is intermediary between simple 
and spiritual matter and between composite and corporeal matter. Thus, the 
corporeal matter pertains to the corporeal things, and with these it passes 
through changes of season and color. Spiritual matter remains with light and 
the lofty spirits, and it endures with these through infinite eras. You who pro- 
pose to study this book, however, consider how you might lead your soul back 
to the degree and perception of blessed spirits. Indeed, you will succeed at this 
if you try to follow the spiritual part in everything you do. By understanding it, 
you will distinguish yourself from beasts. 

§4 The wise are in disagreement concerning the properties of sense percep- 
tion and its divisions. They express this word—“sense” or “mind”—as four 
separate things. The first of these is called “reason,” by which humankind is 
distinguished from the other animals that lack sense and discretion. Reason is 
disposed toward receiving knowledge and the secret pursuits of the masters. 
The property of this sense is that it is disposed toward the acquisition of knowl- 
edge. Clearly, reason is a divine light poured into the heart by God, by which it 
will be disposed toward seeing and understanding beings as they are. This is 
the opinion of one faction of sages who discuss such matters. This is why Sesu- 
dalis said this word “human” is ambiguous, because it refers to both humans 
who thrive by intellect and humans who lack it. 


220 PICATRIX 


§5 The second opinion. “Sense” is that which is discerned by knowledge and 
evident to sense perception, just as in children who can perceive very few of 
nature’s secrets but who are granted perception by nature as if they innately 
understood (as is the case with numbers through which they determine what 
two plus one is; that two bodies cannot exist together in the same place; or that 
it is impossible for one body to exist in different places at the same time). The 
one faction of sages who spoke about these things asserted that this opinion 
was obvious to those who denied it. 

§6 A third opinion. “Sense,” according to another faction of ancient sages, 
consists of what is proven through extensive experience. Those lacking such 
perception or sense should deservingly be called imbeciles, idiots, blind men, 
and fools. 

§7__ A fourth opinion. “Sense,” according to others, consists of an innate con- 
templation through which the depth of eternal things is understood in the 
rejection of worldly corruptible things. When this is discovered in anyone, we 
call such a person “sensible” because they overcame and conquered their bes- 
tial nature and were assimilated to the spiritual and the eternal. This is the 
property by which humans are distinguished from other animals. Therefore, 
the two former opinions are natural, and the two latter are acquired by study 
and science. A wise man said this: “I perceive that sense is twofold: the innate 
and the acquired. The acquired cannot be possessed [177] except by means of 
something innate, just as solar light is of little use for one with a naturally 
defective eye.” 

§8 Let us now move on to another higher distinction of “sense.” The 
ancient sages divided “sense” into six parts, which can indeed be understood 
by two words—namely, in a “general sense” and a “universal sense,” as we 
have said regarding the natural and the universal spirit. Those who hold this 
opinion do so because all things are divided into three parts—that is, the 
body, natural sense perception, and the spirits of intelligences (or the angels 
who move the heavens). Of these, the body occupies a baser place than the 
other two; the second we judge the noblest of all; and the third we reckon to 
be in the middle between them. The reason we say the second is the noblest is 
because it is free from all material dependencies. Those distinct intelligences 
(or angels who move the spheres), however, are intermediates between these 
since itis they who move the heavens. The “active senses” apply themselves to 
the heavens’ movements. The “general sense,” however, is as we have said 
above concerning the divisions of “sense” abstracted from form and matter 
because when we speak of humankind in general, it is understood we mean 
the reason of a rational human (or the reason that is fitting to all humans), by 


BOOK 4 221 


which humans are distinguished from all other animals. This the sages have 
called the “general sense.” 

$9 “Universal sense,” however, is expressed with two definitions, one of 
which is more consistent with the term since the genus of the entire universe is 
understood through it. The idea that is understood because of the explanation 
of this term is itself a type of property removed from matter and all its parts, 
possessing movement neither naturally nor by accident. The highest degree of 
this genus is the active sense perception that is delegated to the human spirit 
and to higher knowledge. This genus is the beginning of all things after the 
First Principle; and the First Principle initiates all things. The whole, according 
to the second definition, is the ninth sphere that circles around everything 
once per day and night while enveloping the other spheres. On account of its 
size and capacity—which encapsulates all other bodies—it is called the body of 
the universe. Sensation of the universe, according to this opinion, is a homog- 
enous substance, isolated from matter. It is the source of its own motion, desir- 
ing to assimilate motion to itself. Its motion was discovered to be the beginning 
of all things. The Founder of the Law spoke thus: sense perception was first 
created by God who exalted motion with a divine aspiration. Spirit in general, 
however, is called many different things, and each term exists according to that 
thing’s purpose. Each and every one of the terms is a spirit delegated to its own 
individual body. The sense perception of the universe is its spirit. Therefore, all 
completely embodied substances overflow in moving celestial bodies, and this 
is on account of the stillness of sense perception. Thus, the proper relation of 
the spirit of all to the sense perception ofall governs itself [178] in the same way 
that our spirits do in relation to active sense perception. The spirit or intellect 
of the universe is the principle around which occurs the perception of natural 
bodies. Its degrees in receiving perception follow the degrees of sense percep- 
tion in all things; sense perception discovers itself. These are the laws that have 
been discovered concerning sense perception. 

$10 Aristotle said that the senses of a sensible spirit are received from the 
thing being sensed. If anyone were to ask what kind of spirit has understand- 
ing, the response would be that a rational spirit discerns sensory perceptions 
through light when it desires to know something. When it receives that light, it 
rejoices in itand achieves its objective. Its light pours onto all perceptible things 
as evidenced in sleep (during which the spirits are cut off from the intellect), 
when all the spirits that provide sensation are stunned and in remission. If 
someone were to object, saying “who knows what the spirit perceives while 
sleeping?,” the response to this is that some trace remains in the spirit just as 
some heat remains in a hearth after it was extinguished. On account of its unity 


222 PICATRIX 


with the body, the spirit can be determined (contrary to the opinion of one 
faction of sages). 

§11 Empedocles said that sense perception cannot be determined since it is a 
simple substance. A simple substance has neither classification nor differentia- 
tion because it is not divided into parts. Definitions cannot be established except 
through classifications and divisions. Empedocles said that sense perception 
has two parts. The first, a “general sense,” contains all things within its power 
and is inexhaustible (it has all things within itself by its own substance and 
exists with time, which does not precede it even by a mere instant). The other, 
however, is noble and elect; it suffers and is refined—it is found in the human 
body alone and only when this sense perception is refined by its purity and 
tested by its pain. It is the light of the “general sense’s” light. 

§12 ‘The soul is the spirit of divine intelligence. Divine intelligence created it 
and placed it within the body without any intermediary. It planted the soul in 
those bodies that exist according to the Sun’s light, itself existing through the 
one who touches those bodies through his rays. Bodies are organized in natural 
forms according to their effects; through the Sun come perception, judgment 
or thought, imagination, meditation, memory, and similar things. 

§13 One faction of ancient sages reckoned this: nature is an enduring motion 
with which exists the perfection or completion of an acting body in living 
potency. 


Chapter 2 


How the Strength of the Moon’s Spirit Is Attracted to the Things Below, 
and Out of Which Substances the Suffumigations of the Seven Planets 
Must Be Made 


§1 Know that one faction of the Chaldean and Egyptian sages said that the 
Moon pours and transmits the influences of the planets into this composite 
world. For this reason, they created rituals, sacrifices, and prayers to the Moon 
herself on [179] each and every sign’s entrance. I have already explained to you 
the works of other nations concerning these things. Everything we have said 
about this was translated from the Arabic language.' 

§2 How one can speak with the spirits of the Moon, first, when she is in Aries. 
When you wish to draw upon the strength and power of the Moon while she is 
sitting in the sign of Aries at the hour when she ascends full and complete 
(since she is better and more useful for your request at that time); in that hour, 
crown yourself, and go to a green and boggy place, flat and close to a river or to 


BOOK 4 223 


running water. Take with you a cock with its crest cut off. Decapitate it with a 
bone since you should never touch it with iron. Turn your face toward the 
Moon because this is truly a great secret among the Chaldeans and Egyptians. 
Place in front of you two iron censers filled with burning coals. One after 
another, throw grains of incense until smoke rises from them. Then raise your- 
self up between the censers while looking at the Moon herself, and say: “You, O 
Moon, luminous, honored, beautiful, who break the darkness by your light, 
you rise in your ascent and fill all horizons with your light and beauty. I humbly 
come to you seeking recompense, seeking from you such-and-such a thing in 
humility.” State your request here. Then walk ahead ten paces, always looking 
at the Moon while again saying the words above. Place one of the censers in 
front of you in which you should throw 4 oz. of storax gum. Next, burn your 
sacrifice, and inscribe on a page made of cannabis with the ash of the sacrifice 
and alittle bit of saffron the figures written out below: 


Burn this page in the fire. As soon as the smoke rises, you will see on the other 
side the shape of a handsome man dressed in the best clothes standing next to 
the censer. State your request to him, and it will be fulfilled. Anytime after this, 
when you wish to ask something of this man, repeat this ritual, and the shape 
will appear to you ready to answer your questions. 

§3 When the Moon is in Taurus. When the Moon is in Taurus and you wish 
to draw upon her strength and power, know first that the Moon has diverse 
effects and powers in each and every sign. When you wish to perform this ritual, 
go to the same place we mentioned concerning the previous sign, and bring a 
cock and a censer with fire. Dress yourself in linen garments dyed with dyer’s 
weed or pomegranate husks, and wear a hood on your head. Have one cooking 
pot full of water. Boil nut wood in it. Then take the water with your right hand, 
and sprinkle it over the left one. Then wash your hands, arms, and face. Be 
cautious that the hood not lift from your head. Lastly, wash your feet with that 
water. Take with you a mat or new carpet upon which no foot [180] has trod. 
Surround the entire carpet in a green linen cloth with a red decor. Jump over 
the carpet from where you were standing or from the linen cloth, throw your- 
self onto the carpet with your feet, and say: “RIBHARIM RIBHARIM CAYPHARIM 
CAYPHARIM DYAFORIM DYAFORIM!” Say these names twenty times. Afterward, 
get up, go back to the pot of water, and wash your hands. Then decapitate your 
sacrifice, and burn it while speaking the words mentioned above. Continually, 
while you are doing this ritual, suffumigate with frankincense and mastic 


224 PICATRIX 


gum. You will then see the shape of a man to whom you should state your 
request. What you desire will be fulfilled. Someone who was involved in this 
work told me that he had had a friend who lost everything and was reduced to 
great poverty. He said that the lord of the ascendant was Saturn. It was this very 
Saturn who brought about his misfortune and poverty. He showed his friend 
the prayer of the Moon while she sits in Taurus. He performed the whole ritual, 
and it revealed to him the aforesaid shape of a man to whom he stated his 
request and told him about his poverty. Then it seemed to him that that man 
took him by the hand, led him to a certain ditch, and told him to dig there. He 
did, and there he found a treasure that made him rich. 

§4 | When the Moon is in Gemini. When the Moon is in Gemini and you wish 
to draw upon her strength and power, go to an elevated place where it is windy. 
Bring a cock, the aforesaid suffumigation, a yellow tin pipe three cubits long, 
and a censer of the same tin. In it, light a fire by kindling it with the pipe. Then, 
in the center of the fire, place a pound of storax gum. Place one end of the pipe 
over the fire (namely, where the smoke is rising) and place the other end toward 
the Moon in such a way that the smoke may rise directly toward the Moon. 
Afterward, throw % oz. of incense and a little bit of amber into the fire, and 
make smoke with the pipe as we have said. ‘Then sit by the censer’s fire, take the 
pipe in your hands, and make a circle with it such that you yourself are the 
center of that circle. Next, take seven handfuls of bean straw, and place them in 
seven spots around the circumference of the circle. Then set out seven pieces of 
your sacrifice, and place each of them on one of the seven parts of straw. When 
this is done, kindle a fire with the pipe in the straw until the sacrifice is burned 
up. Then stand up in the middle of the circle, and say: “You, O Moon, resplen- 
dent and luminous, honored in your reign, placed and positioned in the degree 
of your exaltation because you govern this world by your power and spirit—I 
ask and I beseech from your spiritual powers that you do such-and-such a 


1” 


thing for me!” Then explain your request. When supplicating and praying, 
prostrate yourself on the ground, and say: “ABRUTIM ABRUTIM GEBRUTIM 
GEBRUTIM” twenty times. Next, lift your head from the ground, and you will 
see the shape mentioned above to whom you will relate your request. It will be 
fulfilled with effect. [181] 

§5 | When the Moon is in Cancer. When the Moon is in Cancer and you wish 
to draw upon her strength and power, climb to an elevated place above a wide 
plain. Look to your right and to your left, listening in front and behind with a 
turtledove in your hand. Decapitate it, and take four feathers from its right 
wing and the same number from its left. Amputate its beak, which you will 
burn completely. Next, take these feathers, and add to them 2 oz. of colocynth 
and 4 oz. of storax gum. Put everything in a cloth. Afterward, take 2 oz. of 


BOOK 4 225 


white iris,” which are to be mixed with the ash of the sacrifice and blended with 
the sap of birthwort, out of which you should make the shape of a man riding 
upon a lion. Once this is done, stand up with the image before you. Light a fire 
in which you should place your suffumigation, and say: “You, O Moon, who are 
filled with light, goodwill, and replete with beauty and well-proportioned in 
your altitude, I pour out my prayers to you, and I send my request.” Once this 
is done, make a circle on the ground. In its center, place the image you made, 
then write the name of the man you wish to avoid in it. Next, return to speak- 
ing those words, and prostrate yourself on the ground. Afterward, get up, take 
6 oz. of vinegar, and dissolve that whole image in it. Add to it one grain of 
nutmeg, a %4 oz. of amber, 4 0z. of sukk,’ and % lb. of storax gum; put them over 
a fire until they are boiling well. Then make 1 oz. tablets from this, and suffu- 
migate the Moon with them for seven nights (that is, one tablet for each night). 
Set the others aside. The sages who worked on this ritual said, however, that if 
you suffumigate anyone you wish with this suffumigation and they inhale it, 
whether a man or a woman, the person will in no way be able to contradict 
your orders. Many who practiced this knowledge while setting out on journeys 
in which there were lions, bears, snakes, scorpions, and other harmful animals 
were spared from harm by using this suffumigation. 

§6 When the Moon is in Leo. When the Moon is in Leo and you wish to draw 
upon her strength and power, go to an uninhabited place. Take with you seven 
censers and place them on the ground in a circle with one cubit of distance 
between each ofthem. Always have your face turned toward the Moon. Between 
each censer, place a goose egg on which is inscribed these figures: 


Then take a thick yellow tin needle three palms long. Hold it in your right 
hand. Always keep a woolen yellow cloth on your head in the Arab fashion, and 
dress in a woolen yellow shirt. In the middle of the circle of censers, as we have 
said regarding the sign of Aries, decapitate a cock with a cut-off crest. Next, 
burn the pieces of that cock in the censers. Take some ofits blood with the head 
of the needle, and drip it on all the censers and eggs. Once this is done, by 
counting two censers [182] from the censer in front of you, distance yourself by 
that much, and take the egg after the second censer, and place in front of you. 
Pierce through it completely with the needle while suffumigating with frank- 
incense and yellow sandalwood, and saying “HENDEB HENDEB” fifteen times. 
Then the shape of aman mentioned above will come. State your request to him, 
and at once it will be fulfilled with effect. 


226 PICATRIX 


§7. When the Moon is in Virgo. When the Moon is in Virgo and you wish to 
draw upon her strength and power, take thirty thrushes, decapitate them, and 
cook them until well done. Afterward, remove them once their feathers fall off, 
and salt them a little bit. Set them aside for use. Do this for thirty days before 
the Moon enters Virgo. Then, on each day, eat one of them after it has been 
suffumigated with four drams of saffron. After you have consumed one, eat 
nothing else for six hours. Do this every day until the thirtieth day, during 
which time you will abstain from wine completely. At the end of this period, 
wash yourself in the water of an eastward-flowing spring, and put a pound of 
that spring water into a medium-sized container (which should be made while 
the Sun is crossing the fourth degree and the Moon is sitting in the seventh 
degree of Aquarius). Plug the mouth of that container well with wax never 
touched by fire. Once this is done, go to an open location, put before you a 
censer with % oz. each of incense and saffron. Say: “You, O Moon, who are 
beautiful, positioned in an aspect, copious in giving, great, and splendid. By 
your light, the darkness shines and the spirits go forth; hearts are rejoiced by 
your beauty. I beseech you and confide such a matter in you.” Afterward, take 
up the container in your left hand and say: “HapHoT HAPHOT.” Then dig the 
ground with your right hand. Always while digging, repeat this word continu- 
ally. Do this until the hole is one cubit deep. Place the container into the hole 
with the opening facing south. Next, fill the hole with dirt until leveled. While 
doing this, repeat the word continually. Inscribe the figure that you wish on a 
thin sheet of lead with a golden needle, and bury it atop the hole just men- 
tioned. Once all of this is done, your request will be fulfilled immediately. 

§8 | When the Moon is in Libra. When the Moon is in Libra and you wish to 
draw upon her strength and power, gird yourself with a thong made from 
aquatic reeds. Go to the eastern bank of a river, and burn your sacrifice while 
running upstream along the bank, looking continually at the Moon while 
holding in your hand a bronze bow (which should be made while Venus is 
retrograde in Taurus, and Mercury is in Aries). Do these things five times, 
coming and going on the riverbank. Once this is done, hit the water of the river 
with the bow. Once the sacrifice has been burned, say: “You, O Moon, excellent 
and honored! To you I pour out and send this sacrifice. I have done this for 
obtaining your grace since you have the power to grant my request and fulfill 
my desire.” Afterward, light a fire with wild olive wood, and [183] throw storax 
gum on it. Then run in acircle around the fire, maintaining as much speed as 
you can. Next, prepare yourself where you have made the fire. There, make a 
line on the ground from your feet to the fire, and write this name on it: “GANEY- 
TANIA GANEYTANIA.” Take the soil on which this name was written, and mix it 
with undisturbed earth and water. Make two images from this mixture, one in 


BOOK 4 227 


your image and another in the form of whoever else you desire. Have the 
images embrace each other, especially if your operation is for love. If it were for 
another purpose, however, do it in the same manner. ‘The ritual of this image 
(or these images) should be performed in the hour of the Moon as quickly as 
possible, and what you desire will be fulfilled. 

§9 When the Moon is in Scorpio. When the Moon is in Scorpio and you wish 
to draw upon her strength and power, rise up when the Moon is in the thir- 
teenth degree of Scorpio, and go to a place where there are many thick trees 
and bodies of water. Make a square figure on the ground, and cover it with the 
leaves of nut, lemon, and pine trees. Moisten the whole thing with rosewater. 
Next, place before you nine silver censers. In each of them, place as much aloe- 
wood, storax gum, and incense as you can. Next, dress yourself in the whitest 
clothes into which no color was mixed. Once this is done, place before you two 
earthenware censers filled with water. Take a small earthenware jar with which 
you will pour the water of one censer into the other, and throw some of that 
water with it onto your ribs. Make your sacrifice out of animals pertinent to it. 
When these things have been completed, raise yourself onto your feet, and 
prostrate yourself onto the ground four times. During each prostration, say: 
“SERAPHIE SERAPHIE. Then sit back down and throw aloewood and incense 
into the fire. Then place storax gum on each of the nine censers. Prostrate 
yourself four more times as before. Then a man will come to you in a perfect 
and pleasing form, to whom you should ask whatever you desire. It will be very 
well fulfilled. 

$10 When the Moon is in Sagittarius. While the Moon is in Sagittarius and you 
wish to draw upon her strength and power (since great sages once judged this 
work to be a powerful and perfect ritual and in many instances, performed 
the ritual of Sagittarius for finding treasures)—when you wish to carry out these 
things, do this ritual while Mercury is in the fourth degree of Cancer. Then pour 
10 lbs. of tin from which you will make five images in the shape of dragons. Make 
these while Mercury sits in the degrees of the same sign. When the images have 
been completed, go to a clear flowing river, and divert some of the water from 
that river through five small channels. Make each run down in its own path sepa- 
rately. Place into each of those channels one of the five dragon-shaped images 
made above such that water enters through their tails and exits through their 
mouths. Next, take five jugs, and affix them to the mouth ofevery dragon such 
that the water enter these jugs. [184] Leave them there for an hour. Next, the 
jugs should be taken away from the mouths of the dragons. Let the water run 
from those dragons onto the ground for the following hour. Return the said 
jugs to the original place (that is, each one placed to its image as before), and let 
the water flowing through the mouths of the dragons fall into them for another 


228 PICATRIX 


hour. At the end of that hour, carry them off as before. Proceed with the same 
order until they are filled. Once filled, back up twenty palms from the river 
while holding them. Once this path has been traced, place those jugs on the 
ground there. Pierce each of them with a needle. Dig a trench in a circle around 
them into which the water emerging can enter, and place beside each of them 
one of the dragons. Once this is done, get up, and come running to the shore of 
the river while continually looking at the Moon. Take some water from the 
river in your mouth, as much as you can hold. Then, holding that water, turn 
back to the location of the aforementioned jugs, and spit that water onto the 
jugs and the dragons. Place a silver censer filled with lit coals next to each 
dragon into which you should throw amber and aloewood. Their smoke should 
not be extinguished while the water is coming out of the jugs. When all the 
water has come out, put the dragons back into the jugs, and bury them in the 
aforesaid hole. Cover them up in the ground. When these things have been 
accomplished, stand over that place, and decapitate your sacrifice in front of a 
straight line of fifteen trees. Raise your head toward each of those trees, and 
each time, say: “HARMUM HARMUM.. Say these words five times for each tree. 
Then your request will be fulfilled such that a well-disposed man of comely 
appearance will appear to you immediately and lead you back to any place you 
desire from the four corners of the Earth. 

§11 Truly I say to you that I once had a friend who performed the ritual 
above. When he completed it, a man appeared to him asking about his request. 
He responded that his request was to give him an image for finding hidden 
treasures. It seemed to him that the man had taken him by the hand and led 
him to some place where he handed over the image of a bronze elephant. In its 
hands and feet, it held an iron key. It seemed to him that the man said: “Take 
the elephant. Wherever you go, he will take you with him. Wherever the key 
falls from his feet, know that there is treasure there.” He took the elephant in 
his hands. Moving with it the distance of four cubits, the key dropped from the 
hands of the elephant. At once, he stopped there and dug a hole wherein he 
discovered stairs. Going down them, he found a large dwelling filled with gold 
and silver and precious stones. He took as muchas he could and led the elephant 
back with him while carrying treasure of this kind. [185] 

§12 When the Moon is in Capricorn. When the Moon is in Capricorn and you 
wish to draw upon her strength and power—when the Sun is sitting in the sign 
of Cancer, enter a house that can only fit two individuals, and cover it for seven 
days with odoriferous branches (that is, on each day, renew the covering with 
fresh branches). On each and every one of those seven days, suffumigate the 
house with aloewood and incense. After these seven days, enter the house 
dressed in the most beautiful red clothes. See to it that the house be covered 


BOOK 4 229 


with a board or something similar. Whenever you wish, uncover it and say: 
“HEYERIM HEYERIM FALSARI FALSARI TIFRAT TIFRAT. Afterward, leave the 
house, and walk around it seventy times. Then suffumigate the house for one 
hour with 2 oz. of aloewood in a silver censer. Next, go outside, and go around 
the house again seventy times as before. Once finished, make your sacrifice 
with the cock that we have often mentioned above, then enter the house again. 
There, you will find a seated man to whom you should say: “I conjure you by the 
beautiful and luminous Moon, ornate and honored, so that you may speak to 
me.” Once that man addresses you, state to him your desire, and it will be 
accomplished with effect. 

$13. All rituals described in this chapter are, for the most part, designed for 
acquiring love. Some close friend of mine told me that he himself had had a 
certain servant girl whom he sold. After selling her, he realized he loved her. He 
asked the man to whom he had sold her that he give her back; the man refused 
to make this restitution. Seeing that he was not able to have her in this way, he 
performed the aforesaid ritual as above. Immediately, the man who owned her 
started to hate her. He sent asking that my friend purchase her back for the 
same established price as he wanted. Seeing that he hated her, my friend got her 
back for a modest price. Fundamental to this ritual and others ofits kind is that 
the operator be inherently inclined toward good works and effects and unin- 
volved in evil works. The operator must be holy, pure, and as removed from 
temptation as possible. 

§14 Here I propose to relate a story that happened recently to someone who 
wished to draw upon the power of the Moon. He performed this ritual urged 
by necessity and so did it on some night totally irrelevant to the ritual. Then 
one night, while he was actually operating, a man appeared to him with some- 
thing in his hand that he placed in the practitioner’s mouth. He closed his 
mouth immediately, and it appeared as if he never even had a mouth. He 
remained filled with the greatest terror for forty hours, at the end of which he 
was completely ruined. 

§15 When the Moon is in Aquarius. When the Moon is in Aquarius and you 
wish to draw upon her strength and power—know first that all the ancient sages 
agreed on this: that the rules of those rituals are found to be more useful than 
the rituals themselves. For that reason, the theoretical and the practical together 
[186] have the most effective results in reaching the desiredend. When the theory 
is not joined to the practical, the utmost danger to spirit and body arises. Those 
who do not know how to properly perform rituals bring about the greatest perils 
and utmost terrors, which for my part are too awful to tell. I say this to you to 
teach and chastise since none should dare to familiarize themselves with this 
work except those who possess good memory and good character. 


230 PICATRIX 


§16 When you wish to operate with the Moon in that sign, take three heads 
of male geese. Put them over a fire in the oldest wine possible until they are 
cooked very well. Afterward, reduce all of them, and grind them well in an iron 
or lead mortar until they become a single mass. This must occur when the 
Moon is in Cancer. Next, take % lb. of cinnamon, 2 0z. of sandalwood, % lb. of 
dried storax gum, 4 oz. of incense, and an equal amount of goat’s-thorn. Mix 
everything together with the wine in which the heads were cooked, and out of 
this make forty tablets. Place these over a fire in an iron frying pan until desic- 
cated. Once you have done these things at night, go to a field when the full 
Moon is in Aquarius. In front of you, place fifteen censers made partly of 
bronze, partly of silver (they are reckoned to be better if they are golden), and 
full of burning coals. Into each of them, throw one of these tablets. Sacrifice the 
cock. While smoke is rising, a man will appear to you who will often waver 
between visibility and invisibility. Next, take three of the tablets, throw them 
on the fire, and say: “HANTARACERET HANTARACERET.” Repeat these words ten 
times. Then you will see that man completely to whom you should state your 
petition. It will be fulfilled with effect. 

§17_ When the Moon is in Pisces. When the Moon is in Pisces and you wish to 
draw upon her strength and power, take 1’/; lbs. of cannabis resin and the same 
amount of plane tree resin, and mix them together. Extract these resins while 
the Sun is in Virgo and Mercury is luminous and advancing directly. Grind 
them up in a marble mortar. When this is done, add 4 oz. of mastic gum; 2 oz. 
each of amber and camphor; 1 oz. of sukk;* and 10 oz. of sarcocolla. Blend 
everything very well, to which you should add % lb. of the blood of a stag 
decapitated with a bronze knife. When everything has been blended together, 
place it in a glass container. Go toa running spring, and position the glass vessel 
on its outer lip. Next, take a censer, and set it on a stone in the middle of the 
spring’s waters such that the censer be entirely surrounded by water. Then light 
a fire in it. Once it is lit, open the mouth of the glass container, and empty out 
the container into the fire little by little [187] until the whole thing has poured 
out into the fire. Next, make your sacrifice. The servant of the Moon will appear 
to you, to whom you should state your request. It will be led to its effect. 

§18 Great wonders and great effects exist among the Indians in suffumiga- 
tions that they call calcitarat. With these, the Indians work the effects on the 
seven planets. These suffumigations must correspond to the nature of the 
planet to which the request is made. 

§ig_ First, regarding Saturn. When you wish to operate through Saturn, fast 
for seven days beginning on Sunday. On the seventh day, namely the day of the 
Sabbath, decapitate a black crow, and say: “In the name of ANzIL who is posi- 
tioned with Saturn. You, O ANZzIL, who are the angel of Saturn! I conjure you 


BOOK 4 231 


by the lord of the high firmament so that you may fulfill my request and my 
desire.” Then operate with calcitarat toward the things you wish. The figures of 
Saturn are these: 


> &KEC CGC < Ay 


§20 When you wish to operate through Jupiter, fast for seven days as above, 
beginning on Friday. At the end of those days, that is on Thursday, decapitate a 
lamb, eat its liver, and say: “You, O ROQUIEL, angel who is placed with fortunate 
and good Jupiter and in the Greater Fortune, perfect and beautiful! By the lord 
of the high firmament, I conjure you so that you may receive my prayer and my 
request and that you deign to bring about what I ask.” Then operate with calci- 
tarat toward the things you wish. The figures of Jupiter are these: 


§21 When you wish to operate through Mars, fast for seven days beginning 
on Wednesday. At the end of those seven days, that is on Tuesday, decapitate a 
tawny cat, and say: “You, O ZEMEYEL, angel of Mars, are mighty and strong in 
arms-bearing and quarrels, a lord of burning fire! I conjure you by the lord of 
the high firmament so that you may receive my request and that you make 
such-and-such a thing have effect for me.” Here state your request, and operate 
with calcitarat toward the things you seek. These are his figures: 


§22 When you wish to operate through the Sun, fast for seven days as above, 
beginning on Monday. On the last day, namely on Sunday, decapitate a small 
bovine calf, eat its liver, and say: “You, O YEBIL, angel of the Sun, of that lumi- 
nous one who is the goodness of the world, lord of light and luminosity; O 
perfect fortune and author of misfortune and harm! I conjure you by the lord 
of the high firmament so that you may do such-and-such for me and [188] 
accomplish this request of mine.” Ask what you want, and operate with calcita- 
rat toward the things you seek. These are his figures: 


232 PICATRIX 


§23 When you wish to operate through Venus, fast beginning on the day of 
the Sabbath all the way to Friday. On Friday, decapitate a white dove; however, 
you must eat its liver on the fourth day, and say: “You, O ANBETAYL, angel of 
Venus, fortunate and beautiful! I conjure you by the lord of the high firmament 
so that you may do for me such-and-such a thing and fulfill this request.” Ask 
what you wish, and operate with calcitarat toward those things you seek. These 
are her figures: 


§24 When you wish to operate through Mercury, as above, fast for seven days 
beginning on Thursday. On the last day, namely Wednesday, decapitate a black 
and white cock, eat its liver and say: “You, O ARQUIL, angel of Mercury, noble 
lord and of a good sort! I conjure you by the lord of the high firmament so that 
you may do and fulfill such-and-such a thing for me.” Here state your request, 
and operate with calicarat. These are his figures: 


§25 When you want to operate with the Moon, fast for seven days beginning 
on Tuesday. On the last day, namely Monday, decapitate an ox, eat its liver, and 
say: “You, O CAHIL, angel of the Moon who is the key of goodness whose prin- 
ciple is speed! I conjure you by the lord of the high firmament so that you may 
do such-and-such a thing for me and fulfill such a request for me.” State your 
request, and operate with calcitarat toward the things that you seek. These are 
her figures: 


§26 All the above about this ritual was discovered by ancient sages. In these 
rituals, there are many effects emerging from magical works, that is, from 
wondrous suffumigations and images. The Chaldeans, who dwelt in the Prom- 
ised Land and who were at one time called the Capti, were very skilled in these 
works. Much is found concerning their works in the book On Chaldean Agri- 
culture. Abenvasia, who translated the book, named all their works. We our- 
selves intend to discuss some of these things in our book. 


BOOK 4 233 


Chapter 3 


In Which Are Discussed the Chaldeans’ Beliefs Concerning the Depths 
and Secrets of This Science, and What They Have Said About These Things 


§1 The Chaldeans who initiated themselves into this work and science are 
magi. These men are considered most competent in this science. The magi 
claim that Hermes [189] was the first to build a kind of house of statues. With 
these statues, he would measure the length of the Nile all the way to the Moun- 
tain of the Moon.” Here, he built the house of the Sun.° Moreover, he occulted 
himself from humankind such that none in his presence could see him. It was 
Hermes indeed who built the eastern city of Egypt twelve miles long, wherein 
he erected a tower with four gates on its four sides. At the eastern gate, he 
placed the statue of an eagle, on the western gate that of a bull, on the southern 
gate that of a lion, and on the northern one that of a dog.’ Hermes caused 
loud-voiced spiritual entities to enter them.’ Nobody could enter that tower’s 
gates without the entities’ permission. There, he also planted certain kinds of 
trees, in the middle of which stood a great tree that bore every type of fruit. At 
the summit of that tower, he built a kind of turret thirty cubits in height, on the 
top of which he placed a round orb whose color would change according to 
each of the seven days. At the end of the seven days, however, the cycle began 
anew. Every day, that city was covered by the color of that orb, and thus it 
glowed differently each day.’ Around the turret, there was abundant water 
where plenty of fish dwelled. He set up various statues of every kind around the 
city, and by their power the inhabitants were made virtuous, free from sin and 
wicked idleness. This city was called Adocentyn.”” These people had been 
taught in the knowledge of the ancients, their depths, and secrets, along with 
the science of astronomy. 

§2 I myself have seen a kind of mixture for invisibility made in this way. 
When you want to make it, take a rabbit on the twenty-fourth night of the 
month of the Arabs, which you will decapitate while continually looking 
toward the Moon. Suffumigate with the suffumigations of the Moon while 
speaking the words of the Moon, and say: “I ask you, angel of the spirit of magic 
and the arcane, you who were called sALNAQUIL! Through she who grants you 
the power, potency, and fortitude in this ritual, I beseech you so that you may 
deign to grant me what I ask from those things attributed to your powers.” 
Once you have said these things, take the blood of the rabbit, and mix it with 
its bile. Bury its body such that no one sees it. If you bury it and it is discovered 
the next day (that is, when the Sun has risen above it), the spirit of the Moon 


234 PICATRIX 


will kill you. Carry it with you, and set the blood that you have mixed with bile 
aside for use. When [190] you want to conceal yourself and be seen by none, 
take some of its blood mixed with bile in the hour of the Moon and anoint your 
face with it. Speak these words of the Moon loudly because while reciting them, 
you will be made completely invisible and thus accomplish your goal. When 
you wish to become visible, cease reciting the words, wash your face, then 
anoint it with the brain of the rabbit, and say: “You, O spirit of the Moon, 
uncover me, and make me appear to all.” Then all will see you. This stands as 
one ritual of the Moon and is considered to be among the great secrets and 
complexities of this science. 


Chapter 4 
On Images and Theories That Greatly Improve This Science 


§1 Everything recited so far in our book was extracted from the sayings of 
the ancient sages and their books concerning that science and craft. Whoever 
reads this book, examines it perfectly, and understands the things we have said 
so far will understand and thoroughly recognize the effort we invested in com- 
piling sayings from a variety of books on that body of knowledge that are the 
bases of these rituals. We have discovered one complete volume of those books 
composed by Mercurius, the sage of Babylon. In it there was a book of apho- 
risms called The Secret of Secrets. From it we have selected forty-five aphorisms 
reckoned to be quite useful in this science and craft. 

§2 (i) If you work from things pertinent to a planet (and use these things 
liberally) and the nature of your ritual is also pertinent to the nature of that 
planet, then truly you will have the greatest assistance in attracting the forti- 
tude, power, and potency of that planet. 

§3 (ii) Entreat the Sun that you may be feared and have glory, the leadership 
of armies, a splendid heart, the rule of nobles, the destruction of kings, the 
lighting of fire, and the power to bring light into the darkness. 

§4 (iii) Entreat the Moon for agility of movement, the flow of waters, the 
power of revealing secrets, the extinguishing of fire, the lessening of burdens to 
be overcome, and the separating of united opinions. 

§5 (iv) Entreat Saturn for delaying movement, concealing purity, destroying 
cities, humbling hearts, and calming waters. 

§6  (v) Entreat Jupiter for the accumulation of wealth, the enhancement of 
dreams, the pleasure of escaping sadness, the leaving behind of toil and quar- 
rel, and safe journeys by land or sea. [191] 


BOOK 4 235 


§7 (vi) Entreat Mars for conquering of enemies, emboldening of hearts, 
tracking and hunting harmful animals, setting fires, war planning, and con- 
quest over enemies. 

§8 (vii) Entreat Venus for the union of desires, the power of causing joy and 
friendship, driving out idleness and grief, for invigorating the appetite, augment- 
ing procreation, multiplying sons, extinguishing fires, and remaining secure 
from animals. 

§9 (viii) Make many suffumigations, maintain perfect belief, fast frequently, 
utter many prayers, pick worthy places for the ritual, look to the aspects of the 
planets. These are the fundamentals of magic works. 

$10 (ix) Your request will be easily fulfilled ifthe planet to which the request 
is made is the lord of your nativity; if not, it will be difficult to bring your 
request to its deserved end. 

§11 (x) The power of the planets lies in the spirits that strengthen effects, that 
modulate qualities (improving them or lessening and weakening them), and 
that spread out their powers. 

$12 (xi) If the ascendant differs from the nature of the request, the petition 
will never be fulfilled nor will the prayer ever achieve what is sought. 

$13 (xii) Images of fixed stars are thought to be more enduring than images 
of planets with retrograde motions. 

§14 (xiii) If you perform your ritual with a planet assisted by some fixed stars 
of the same nature, it will be more complete and perfect since it will have the 
strength of the planet and the durability of the fixed stars. 

§15 (xiv) When the ascendant, the petition, and the planet stand in a single 
nature and you serve yourself with the fixed stars therein (and you have belief 
and firm will), your request will be fulfilled easily and be strengthened by the 
power of the planet. 

§16 (xv) Know that you will be helped in setting things in motion when the 
stars of Aquila are rising, and when these stars are falling, you will likewise be 
aided in effects for putting an end to motion. 

§17_ (xvi) Inspect the conjunctions of the planets diligently since this ritual is 
suitably augmented by them. 

§18 (xvii) Fundamental to the images are their aspects and conjunctions with 
the planets. 

$19 (xviii) Place the signifier in mid-heaven, in its own house and exaltation, 
and make sure it is strong in the ascendant. 

§20 (xix) Use the Sun when you wish to conquer and overcome someone 
since then your request will be fulfilled and flourish more easily. [192] 

§21 (xx) Use the Moon when you wish to keep something; then your request 
will be fulfilled and flourish more easily. 


236 PICATRIX 


§22 (xxi) Use Saturn when you wish to ruin someone and bring about evil; 
then your request will be fulfilled and flourish more easily. 

§23 (xxii) Use Jupiter when you wish to ascend to the good; then your peti- 
tion will flourish and be fulfilled more easily. 

§24 (xxiii) Use Mars when you wish to win in peace and in war; then your 
request will be fulfilled and flourish more easily. 

§25 (xxiv) Use Venus when you wish to seek love and friendship; then your 
request will be fulfilled and flourish more easily. 

§26 (xxv) Use Mercury when you wish to know, understand, and expel dis- 
traction; then your request will be fulfilled and flourish more easily. 

§27 (xxvi) Delays in the results of your request come from an error made in 
your ritual, your inadequate belief, or a poor setup for the ritual. 

§28 (xxvii) Rituals performed with suffumigations and prayers are more 
effective than those in which suffumigations are lacking or the will is divided. 
§29 (xxviii) The light of the Sun and the projection of rays hide the spirits of 
the nocturnal planets. 

§30 (xxix) The darkness of night and the stillness of motion hide the spirits of 
the diurnal planets. Thus, serve each planet according to its appropriate hour. 
§31 (xxx) A weighty planet with its slowness has more powerful effects than 
a lighter planet, although it is quicker in its effects. 

§32 (xxxi) Do not seek union from Mars nor separation from Venus. Do not 
seek to make any planet deviate from its nature and path. 

$33 (xxxii) Work with comets in the things pertinent to them, as you would 
with the fixed stars. 

§34 (xxxiii) Seek Mercury when he is in a pure sign; work with the Moon 
along with it. These produce two qualities. 

$35 (xxxiv) Work with Mercury for infirmities of the head according to their 
diverse qualities. 

§36 (xxxv) Among the works of Mercury, seek swiftness of tongue when he 
sits in his own house. 

$37 (xxxvi) Sometimes it occurs that the things pertaining to Mars are 
received by the Sun, and inversely, the things pertaining to the Sun are received 
by Mars. 

§38 (xxxvii) Sometimes it occurs that the things pertaining to the Moon are 
received by Venus, and the things pertaining to Venus are received by the 
Moon. 

§39 (xxxviii) The Sun abhors the things pertaining to Saturn, and Saturn 
abhors the things pertaining to Venus. 

§40 (xxxix) Venus receives the things pertaining to Jupiter, and Jupiter 
receives the things pertaining to Venus. 


BOOK 4 237 


§41 (xl) The Moon abhors the things pertaining to Mars, and Mars abhors 
the things pertaining to the Moon. [193] 

§42 (xli) Jupiter abhors the things pertaining to Mars, and Mars abhors the 
things pertaining to Jupiter. 

§43  (xlii) Mars abhors the things pertaining to Venus, and Venus abhors the 
things pertaining to Mars. 

§44 (xliii) Mercury abhors the things pertaining to Jupiter, and Jupiter abhors 
the things pertaining to Mercury. 

§45 (xliv) It appears from the opinions of the sages that two unfortunate 
planets are made enemies on account of the diversity and discord they have in 
their respective natural essences. Know and understand all of this perfectly. 
We selected these aphorisms from the words of the aforesaid sage. 

§46 Now we present these ten aphorisms from the book of Ptolomy called The 
Centiloquium. 

§47 (i) The astrologer can withdraw and deflect the many impacts of the 
stars’ effects and natures if he knows them, their works, and their effects. This 
occurs because the effect of the stars reaches the astrologer before it reaches 
the target. 

§48 (ii) The magician’s spirit enhances the celestial effects in the same way 
natural harvests are supported by plowing and land cultivation. 

§49 (iii) The forms of this composite world obey the celestial forms. Thus, 
when the sages of the magical art wished to understand this knowledge, they 
mandated that these shapes be inscribed when the planets are residing in those 
celestial forms. 

§50 (iv) Work with the unfortunate planets, and with them assist yourself in 
your desires, just as physicians are aided by a correct dosage of drugs. 

§51  (v) The combination of two substances into one takes up both of their 
nativities. If there were a similarly in them, they would have a bond between 
them; and whichever one among them remained in a more powerful rank 
would obtain rule and lordship; what is weaker in rank would be subordinate 
and passive. 

§52 (vi) Friendship and enmity arise from movements of the Sun and Moon, 
their origin, and the harmony and dispersal of the ascendant of friendship and 
of enmity. Obeying the sign is stronger in friendship. 

§53 (vii) Make use of the fixed stars in the construction of cities, and work 
with the planets in the construction of homes. Whoever lives in a city built 
when Mars or another star of his nature sits in mid-heaven will violently die by 
the sword. 

§54 (viii) Existence and effects upon this world (namely, what arises from 
generation and corruption) ensue from the 120 conjunctions made by the seven 


238 PICATRIX 


planets. Observe in every effect that being is a form of reception since it pro- 
duces effects from its own form. 

§55 (ix) The Sun is the substance of animal power, the Moon is that of natural 
power, Saturn of retentive power, Jupiter of the power of increase, Mercury the 
power of thought, Mars the power of perception and wrath, and of course 
Venus is the source of desire’s power. [194] 

§56 (x) Mars, Mercury, and Venus in nativities signify the wills and manners 
of that nativity, and they demonstrate its works and realms of knowledge. 

§57 ‘The sayings of Plato. In the philosophical books published by Plato, we 
have found that none but Jupiter reveals truth. Elsewhere, he says that at the 
beginning of generation, just as blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm are 
the elements of the body, correspondingly the powers of those elements pro- 
ceed from the planets (and thus the action of one humor upon another and the 
reception of one by another comes from the planets). Elsewhere, Plato says that 
when the science of astrology seems false or entirely a sham, this arises purely 
from a mistake or error on the astrologer’s behalf. Thus, the claims of astrology 
are different from those of divinations and auguries (since, according to their 
claims, they reveal the future). Thus, things happen and come about whether 
predicted or not. 

§58 ‘The sayings of Hippocrates. In the philosophical books of Hippocrates, we 
found that when Jupiter is the lord of the solar year, there will be little illness, 
great health, and animals will multiply a lot in that year. 

§59 ‘The sayings of Aristotle. We found in the books of Aristotle that rule is 
attributed to Saturn, justice to Jupiter, cheerfulness to Venus, judgment to 
Mercury, accomplishments to the Moon, and pride to Mars. 

§60 Know that I have not recited all this except for you to know and under- 
stand what only these sages studied in observing the depths and secrets of this 
work so that they thus may be reconciled. In this way, they were able to reach a 
desired end. 

§61 Concerning Johannitius." Johannitius, the son of Isaac, translated a cer- 
tain book by Aristotle, the teacher of the Greeks, which I myself have seen. 
Since you can understand the words of the wise, the depth of their intuition, 
and the conclusions of their minds, I propose to convey them here. I have 
already made reference to certain things in a volume from his first book, from 
which I shall quote selections here. Some sages, while speaking therein, said: 
“All works and all realms of knowledge have a door through which one can 
enter for understanding. Each have ladders by which individuals may prevail 
in climbing toward their desire.” And this: “None can attain their desire with- 
out order and rules.” And: “In what is sought, peril is generated.” All wise 
philosophers said this science was given by God and by the celestial powers. 


BOOK 4 239 


What they said, they said such that only those enlightened in this science could 
understand them on account of their complexity and depth. This work and 
knowledge, however, is completely revealed to the wise on the right path who 
delve into it deeply in all respects. The basis of this science is knowing the fig- 
ures of heaven’s ascending stars, which figures are depicted through them, 
which figures are determined to be apart from the others, and which figures 
are not depicted through those stars nor completed without the addition of a 
part from another figure. Once you have learned these figures and their 
natures, you will be able to work according to their natures upon the terrestrial 
things pertaining to these figures’ natures [195] (namely, upon the figures of 
living beings according to their harmony and proportion with the celestial 
figures). If you heed the right harmony and harmoniously join and prepare the 
figures, that will be the building blocks and foundation of this work. With an 
image made thus, its effects willbe lasting and complete because were an image 
not made this way, its effects would be lost according to the damnation of 
earthly matter and the degradation of its composition. Its durability hinges 
upon a fixed star. An image’s nature and effect are better if they come about 
through the planets. The effect is more lasting when a planet is faced by a for- 
tunate planet that assists it in the strength and power for drawing spiritual 
things from the heavens down to Earth. Therefore, there are among the names 
of God some words that cause spirits to descend from the heavens to the Earth. 
Were one who works with those names and words not wise and learned in the 
natures of spiritual matters, the power of the descending spirit would kill them. 
None but the wise may have the grace of working with those names. Among 
magical rituals are found words that also work in this manner. These, however, 
are not accomplished by words and magical names unless they are joined with 
the power, command, and grace of God. ‘Then, celestial things above will be 
joined with terrestrial matter, descending all the way to the center of the Earth. 
§62 An image is first ordered to be made according to the natural substance 
for which it was made; it cannot be made without powerful, magical words. 
Whenever you can, be diligent lest there be antagonism and discord between 
the natures and figures in the components of the ritual. For example: A master 
who makes the image of a lion must be strong and have a brave heart. They 
should fear no animal of that nature. Indeed, one must have once seen a lion, 
know and understand its nature and the things that anger it, and acknowledge 
its malicious will. On this the ancient sages are in great agreement. When these 
things have been done as outlined, they will produce a desired end. 

§63 Likewise, when you wish to craft some image, make it at a time when the 
animal is active, and its nature is strengthened. Thus, the power of that image 
is reinforced. In the same way, beware lest you make it at a time when some 


240 PICATRIX 


accident arises. For example, concerning the lion: Do not make the image of a 
lion at a time when fevers are about since the image’s ritual would be weakened 
in its power. All heavenly motions are moved in that earthly image by the 
power of God. Therefore, observe the motion of that star from which you want 
a lasting power for the image so that it is not impeded until the final product of 
the image is assembled. Observe two figures, that is, the degree of the planet’s 
sign that governs the figure’s ritual and its motion so that it not be hindered by 
anything. When the planets move freely in their heavens, the powers of the 
image are similarly moved by coming, going, ascending, and descending. Simi- 
larly, pay very close attention to the conjunctions, oppositions, and aspects in 
constructing an image for its figure is manifest in the heavens and its [196] 
contraries are hidden. Know that if you have not observed the aforesaid in 
constructing the image, its effects will not be fulfilled. 

§64 Geber Abenhayen,” speaking on this topic, said: 


The work of an image is similar to the effect of nature. This cannot be 
done except by knowing the things pertaining to the stars from among 
the animals, trees, and stones; by understanding the aspects of the plan- 
ets, fixed stars, and signs pertaining to earthly places; the heavens’ 
motions in the science of astronomy; the planets’ houses and exaltations; 
their longitudes and latitudes; the mansions of the Moon; the natures of 
the Earth’s regions and its waters, lands, rains, snows, geography, seas, 
and seasons; how far they are away from the equator; what kinds of ani- 
mals thrive there; when the effects of certain creatures, whether reptiles 
or others, last longer; and the times when these effects are and are not 
generated in such creatures. In the construction of these images, the task 
will be easy for the wise since nothing is difficult for them. In the compo- 
sition of these natures (ie., in the work of the images), the images are 
reckoned more durable in stones than in plants and animals because 
plants burn easily and animals rot. The effects of animals are twofold: 
one is for acquiring and attracting them and the other is for casting them 
out and driving them off. These have two times and two motions— 
namely, a time of acquiring and attracting them and a time for casting 
them out and driving them off. This is described in the chapters on the 
opposition of degrees. A certain great secret lurks in stones: when some 
animal—one you wish to drive off—is hot in nature, the stone must be 
cold; if the animal is moist, the stone should be dry; and vice versa. From 
this it is understood that if you wish to drive off vipers and wasps, it is 
ordered that the work be made of carnelian stone, diamond, or the like. 
If the creatures are cold in their natures like scorpions, bedbugs, flies, 


BOOK 4 241 


lice, and similar things, use a hot stone like the malachite, crystal, bronze, 
gold, or similar things. Do this in rituals to drive off creatures. Perform 
the rituals for acquiring and attracting creatures using those things 
suited and pertaining to them, just like with operations concerning 
vipers where you craft an image of gold or bronze and the like. All this 
occurs on account of the balance of complexions, the directions of 
motions, and the diversity of conjunctions and of motions of conjoined 
things and of the substance’s motions. Fashion the figures and forms in 
the shape of that animal for which it is made (the image of a mouse is 
made in the shape of a mouse, the image ofa snake is in the shape of a 
snake, and the image of a scorpion is in the shape of a scorpion). This I 
say to you, if the amount of stone used to make the image is large (thatis, 
between one ounce and one pound), its strength and power stretches out 
a hundred leagues away. This occurs because a thing composed in [197] 
its natural form has no intrinsic motion or effect other than to demarcate 
its location, but this is not according to substances and natural bodies. 
Spirits inhabit vaster places than bodies with few spirits. 


§65 Plato said this: “Bodies are opposed to spirits since only the life of one 
depends on the sustenance of the other.” He adds: “You yourselves must suffer 
the death of your bodies on account of your spirits’ lives for bodies are the 
handmaidens of the spirit and should serve the spirit in all their works and 
deeds. Never allow your spirits to serve your bodies nor destroy the dead on 
account of the life of the living nor kill the living out of a love for the dead.” 
§66 ‘Then they asked Plato: “How are spirits rejoiced by the vibration of 
strings?” To them he answered: 


Since nature, by its powers, moves the rational and animal spirits on 
account of the obvious similarities of that nature that belongs to the 
body, thus the order of harmony, love, and victory belongs to the spirit. 
Sometimes, nature unites divided parts, and at other times, it divides 
united parts. When nature is moved by a unifying motion (I mean to say, 
one toward the gathering of parts), then two spirits are unified in a spiri- 
tual love of their own. They are united with the rational intellect. The 
spiritual is first because it perceives its world; thus, it is made pure and 
simple. When it is moved by a scattering motion, it attracts to itself the 
animal spirit and acquires a corporeal partnership. Thus, the rational 
spirit rejoices in a victorious end and leads on account ofits similarity to 
the subtle, which arises from a part of the rational order. Similarly, the 
animal spirit rejoices on account of parts and strings divided according 


242 PICATRIX 


to a similarity distinguished from the parts of nature. This is because 
spirit has wondrous forms within itself, which the spirit is unable to 
attract toward nature. Next, the motion of nature assists in the substance 
of its own body (I mean to say, the bodies of the strings and their heavi- 
ness), and at that point, the spirit rejoices by the motion of these forms 
that cannot be attracted by reason. Spirit attracted them through images, 
subtle motions, and visions of the eye and of the body’s other organs. 


You, however, who propose to work in this science should fix your spirit and 
thoughts upon the matters that those men practiced and strive in spirit until 
you achieve what the wise achieved. Ancient sages who taught about the spirit 
in waking and in sleep said this: “Accustom your spirits to visions because 
they may happen to you often, and by them you may attain in sleep what you 
have never been able to attain while waking.” This is understood: at a time 
when the manifest senses are awake, the hidden senses are weakened and are 
incapable of bringing about their effects. When the manifest senses are at rest 
and inactive, however, then the hidden senses [198] function according to the 
power of thought, imagination, memory, and the intuition of the spirit. Then 
the strength of intuition is simple and unhindered by any impediment. Then 
the heat lies hidden. So long as it is hidden, the excesses of the body dissolve. 
You yourself, who are thoroughly researching this knowledge, should know 
that when you accustom your spirit to these things, they will be revealed to 
you at a moment of vision, and in the things sought, you will understand what 
is necessary. 


Chapter 5 


The Ten Sciences Necessary for This Art, How This Science Is Assisted by 
Them, and the Origin of the Science of Magic 


§1 The ancient sages who discovered this knowledge did not reach it except 
while seeking with incessant effort and probing everything, in waking and 
sleeping, toward what they desired. By following this path, they knew and 
understood two conclusions: the first of these is that you must know the ten 
arts, five of which are concerned with the laws, the other five with the philoso- 
phy the sages reckoned to be necessary. 

§2 ‘The first of these arts is agriculture, sea travel, and governing people 
since these are the primary skills in the rule of cities and kingdoms. These 


BOOK 4 243 


cannot be performed except through the ancient knowledge that is found in 
very many books. 

§3 After this is the art of leading soldiers, commanding armies, waging 
skirmishes and battles, calling animals and birds, and deceiving them. Very 
many books are also found on these topics. 

§4 After these are the civilized arts by which humankind is sustained. 
Among these are grammar, the division of languages, legal jurisprudence, 
devising explanations, understanding laws and those who follow them (like 
scribal work with its pertinent affairs), buying and selling, and so on. Very 
many books are found on these things. 

§5 ‘Then follows arithmetic and all the books through which numbers and 
the like are known. After these follows geometry, which consists of the theo- 
retical and the practical; from this comes the art of measuring land, lifting 
heavy weights, making discoveries, directing water flow, and constructing 
aerial instruments and incendiary mirrors (and their reflections). Next follows 
astronomy, through which the paths of the planets and the judgments of the 
stars are known. After this, music must be learned, through which singing, 
playing, and notation are understood. 

§6 After that is dialectic, which is divided into eight books, that the wise 
Aristotle taught us to enter.” 

§7 After this is medicine, which is divided into two parts, namely the theo- 
retical and the practical. [199] 

§8 After that follows natural philosophy, which Aristotle and other wise 
philosophers laid out. On this a great many books are known, which require 
many glosses and explanations. The first of these is called Oydus the Natural; 
the second, On Heaven and Earth; the third, On Generation and Corruption; 
the fourth, On Signs Appearing in the Heavens; the fifth, On Minerals; the sixth, 
On Plants; the seventh, On the Motion of Animals (namely, from one place to 
another). 

§9 Next follows On Metaphysics, which Aristotle wrote in thirteen books. 
Whoever understands and knows these well will bea perfect and complete sage 
and will reach out to touch the fulfillment of his desires. 

§io After all this, the two conclusions we mentioned rightly follow from 
these ten arts. Whoever ignores them will never attain the said conclusions. 
Keep in mind what we have said so far and strive out of necessity to learn all 
these disciplines. When you work, having mastered these disciplines, you will 
achieve what the ancient sages achieved and understand the works of the wise 
and the spiritual sciences. You will perform those things that they themselves 
once did. You will acquire grace from the Highest according to what work you 


244 PICATRIX 


do upon your spirit and your animal drives. This is understood from the secret 
statements of the prophets. 

§11 After this follows love, for the greatest power exists in love. Note, how- 
ever, that love is twofold: namely love acquired by virtue and love steeped in 
vice. The love acquired by virtue is what we speak of here, and you should seek 
to acquire nothing else. The love steeped in vice is a love of bodily lusts and 
material forms.” Therefore, flee as far as possible from this love. It is said in the 
books of the wise that the binding of spirits with harmonies and appropriate 
substances consists primarily in love. The human spirit is divided into three 
parts, namely the animal spirit, the natural spirit, and the rational spirit. When 
the human natural spirit overcomes others, the person will be a lover of things, 
like eating, drinking, and nothing else. Ifthe animal spirit overcomes the oth- 
ers, the person will be a lover of nothing but conquering and overcoming oth- 
ers. If the rational spirit prevails, the person will be a lover of intelligence, 
goodness, and knowledge.”® All this occurs purely because one of the planets 
presided over that person’s nativity, and this planet is called the lord of the 
nativity. Know that if the Moon or Venus were the lord of anyone’s nativity, 
such a person would be a lover of women and of a jolly disposition. If the Sun 
or Mars were lord of the nativity, such a person would be a lover of victory and 
conquest. If it were Jupiter or Mercury, that person would be a lover of knowl- 
edge, learning, understanding values, [200] goodness, and justice. On account 
of this, whatever stands out in a person appears as much in their nature as in 
their passion. A love that dwells upon earthly things is acquired by sight, and 
by using such a sight, it grows continually, just as wheat grows in the ground 
from its seed, as a tree when planted, or as the sperm of an animal when 
received by a womb. In this, sight is like matter since sight stands at the root of 
such a love. Thus, when a thing is loved, that love grows and is augmented by 
using and receiving the object by sight. When that object is united with the 
lover, their spirit is made one. This is a bodily love between two spirits in whom 
love is found through harmonious friendship. If this love exists in the rational 
spirit, however, it will delight in what is from its own kind (that is, wisdom, 
knowledge, goodness, stable virtues, and endless eternal things). This love of 
goodness, excellence, and splendor is deservingly called the rational spirit. The 
other loves that we have mentioned are evil and should rightly be relinquished 
because they contain maliciousness of spirit. The object of sight is corrupted 
and ruined on account of such a friendship and union of spirits and their 
persistence. 

§12 In the book On the Soul, Plato said this: “Dry and melancholic complex- 
ions and dry sources of sickness and corruption are factors worth examining 
and contemplating. When these arise, individuals become like dry animals 


BOOK 4 245 


from hot and dry lands or mountains. Such places harm and corrupt whoever 
approaches or dwells in them, and this occurs very quickly. These places also 
harm and corrupt through the aspect they face. Therefore, whoever examines 
their own complexion and spirit with an ill will harms and corrupts what they 


behold.” 


Chapter 6 


How Suffumigations of the Stars Must Be Made and a Demonstration 
of a Certain Compound Necessary for This Science 


§1 Some Indian sage who had been very well taught in this body of knowl- 
edge combined compound suffumigations and terrestrial natures with celestial 
natures. The Indians used to operate with suffumigations in all their works and 
effects and thereby attract the spirits of the planets and make them enter what- 
ever they wished. Thus, the sages accomplished whatever they desired. This 
work is not designed for one single objective; rather, it is useful in its single 
effect or product to the rituals of each and every planet, as we have often said in 
this book. Thus, rituals are conjoined with suffumigations. 

§2 ‘The suffumigation of Saturn. Take 100 oz. each of mandrake fruits and 
dried olive leaves; 10 oz. each of black myrobalan seeds and dried black chick- 
peas; [201] 30 oz. each of black crow’s brains and dried crane brains; 40 oz. each 
of pig blood and dried monkey blood. Grind, and blend everything well. From 
this, make 8 oz. tablets. In making them, operate with the spiritual power of 
Saturn, namely with the thing that we have discussed in book 3, chapter six of 
this volume.” Next, compress them, and set them aside for use. 

§3 The suffumigation of Jupiter. Take 10 oz. each of balsam and myrtle flow- 
ers, all of them dried; 14 oz. of frankincense; 4 oz. each of shelled nuts and 
shelled, dried hazelnuts; 40 oz. each of cock, dove, and goose brains, all dried; 
20 oz. each of peacock and camel blood, dried; 8 oz. each of nutmeg and cam- 
phor. Ensure the bloods we mention in this suffumigation not be extracted 
from the heart of the animal. Blend everything together after grinding well, as 
described above; do everything as we have said above regarding the suffumiga- 
tion of Saturn. 

§4 ‘The suffumigation of Mars. Take 40 grains each of red asafoetida, mus- 
tard, and terebinth; 4 oz. each of pine resin and red orpiment; 20 oz. each of 
sparrow and dried scorpion brains; 40 oz. of leopard blood; and 10 oz. of red 
snake grease. Blend everything together once well ground. Do everything as 
said above with the other suffumigations. 


246 PICATRIX 


§5 ‘The suffumigation of the Sun. Take 10 oz. each of spikenard flowers and 
yellow and red sandalwood; 6 oz. each of sedge, thyme, and red cinnamon 
bark; 2 oz. of costus; 20 oz. each of eagle brain and blood and cat brain and 
blood. Dry them out. Do everything in the same order as you did above with 
the other suffumigations. 

§6 ‘The suffumigation of Venus. Take 8 oz. of laurel berries, nut kernels, and 
frankincense grains; 20 oz. each of mastic gum and henbane stalks; 4 0z. each 
of poley germander stalks and storax gum; 2 oz. of borax; 16 oz. each of spar- 
row brain and dried hawk brain; and 40 oz. of dried horse blood. Blend every- 
thing together once well ground. Do everything as you have done with the 
other suffumigations. 

§7 The suffumigation of Mercury. Take 20 oz. each of henbane flowers, indigo 
leaves, and hazelwort; 4 oz. each of amber and toad testicles; 2 0z. of red ammo- 
nia; 20 oz. each of crow, hoopoe, and tortoise brains; and 40 oz. of donkey 
blood. Mix and blend everything together once well dried and ground up. Do 
everything as you have done in the other suffumigations. 

§8 ‘The suffumigation of the Moon. Take 100 oz. each of peach tree and cin- 
namon leaves; 20 oz. each ofiris and dried storax gum; 10 oz. of cumin; 4 oz. of 
white snake grease; 20 oz. each of dried white rabbit’s and black cat’s brains; 
and 40 oz. of fox blood. Blend everything together once well ground. Do every- 
thing in the same order as done in the other suffumigations above. Remember 
that the compounds of each planet must be blended with whipped honey. Make 
pills as was described regarding Saturn. 

§9 Whenever doing those things, work with the power of the planet for 
which the compound is made (that is, with the spiritual power just as was 
touched upon in [202] book3, chapter six). While performing this work, do not 
be silent: speak the words and prayers of that planet continuously. Be on guard 
lest anyone see these suffumigations and that neither the Sun’s nor the Moon’s 
rays touch them in any way. Set them aside in a chosen place, and tuck them 
away in a metal container. Make this case from the mineral of the planet to 
which the ritual pertains. If you do not do those things as described, the ritual 
will be ruined—know that destruction will come to the operator. After all 
these things, I will provide you the remedies in order that you not be ruined by 
that ritual. 

$10 This Indian sage discovered a certain wondrous property that I wish to 
report to you from a book of his. It belongs to the works of Mercury and to the 
depths and secrets of the spirit (namely, the spirits of knowing, understanding, 
and learning). Know that this is taken from among the Indians’ wondrous 
knowledge, secrets, and deep understandings. When any one of India’s sages 
wished to preach to the people, he anointed himself and his companions with 


BOOK 4 247 


this mixture, and in doing so, the power of the spirit abounded in him, grant- 
ing him grace, power, and strength above all others. Thereafter, the people were 
obedient to him. Its composition is this: take 40 0z. each of crow grease, sea 
crab fat, sheep grease, and the dried blood of a hoopoe; 20 oz. of amber; 10 oz. 
of each of dried pomegranate leaves and lemon seeds; and 50 oz. of costus. 
Grind and blend everything together very well. While working on these things, 
attract the spirit of Mercury to them by speaking continuously the prayer of the 
angel of Mercury we cited in our book.’® Once finished, set it aside in a box 
made of solidified quicksilver. It is effective for the aforesaid things while 
anointing and suffumigating. These are among the wonders and secrets of this 
work. When the Indian sages wished to preach to the nations, they would 
smear themselves and their associates with this ointment; by this anointing 
they increased their spiritual intellectual power. Their words were devoutly 
received by all, and the people became obedient to their words. 

§11 ‘This confection relevant to the spirit of Saturn is put together in this way: 
take 40 oz. each of pig and bear grease; 20 oz. each of cinnamon and lupine 
seeds; and 10 oz. of myrobalan seeds and dried elephant’s blood. Grind every- 
thing up well, and blend it together. Do everything in the order said above. 
While making it, attract the spiritual and celestial power to it, namely by utter- 
ing the prayer of the angel of Saturn as described in this book.” They used to 
offer up that compound before the spirit such that others not be heeded and 
that the operators be obeyed. I wish to teach you a ritual without which the 
planetary suffumigations and anointments above cannot be completed. Do 
this ritual so that the attraction of the planet’s spiritual power might be com- 
pleted most perfectly. This is held to be the greatest and deepest secret. When 
you wish to gather the blood or brains in these suffumigations and anoint- 
ments, [203] decapitate the animals, and make these a sacrifice because the 
attraction of the spirits occurs more swiftly through sacrifice and suffumiga- 
tion.”? When you wish to make such a sacrifice, place the planet whose spirit 
you wish to attract in its exaltation and free from the unfortunate planets. Let 
no one see this confection, and set it aside in a lead box. 

§12 This compound guards and protects those who make suffumigations 
from the harm caused by the planetary spirits. The strength and power of this 
compound is universal to all the planets’ rituals and communication with their 
spirits. It is also very powerful against poisons since it protects and guards the 
operators so that they might not be harmed by these spirits. Its composition is 
this: take 6 oz. of scorpion brain; 4 oz. of white dog’s brain; 8 oz. each of pea- 
cock and quail brain; 4 oz. of sparrow brain; 2 oz. of hawk brain; 6 oz. of male 
hedgehog’s blood; and 20 oz. each of donkey and hoopoe brain. Mix and allow 
all of these brains to dry. Afterwards, grind them up, and add to them 4 oz. 


248 PICATRIX 


each of white and yellow sandalwood, saffron, cinnamon, and spikenard; 1 oz. 
of pine resin; 20 oz. of amber; 6 oz. of ammoniac; 10 oz. of frankincense; 4 oz. 
of nutmeg; 2 oz. of camphor; 16 oz. of quia (a certain kind of gum); and 4 oz. of 
mandrake. Mix everything together once well ground, and blend with well- 
made moringa oil.” Make seven round pills from these, and dry them in the 
shade. While you are making these planetary compounds, utter their prayers 
and those of their angels continuously. Once the pills are made as described, set 
them aside in a box made from the seven metals of the seven planets so that the 
spirits of the planets abide in them continuously. One who wishes to perform 
one of the rituals of the seven planets or the celestial operations should carry 
one of those capsules, and they will not be harmed by the planetary spirits. The 
ancient sages would protect themselves from the harmful effects of those spir- 
its with this mixture. Know that this is an utmost and very useful secret, so 
guard and hide it most well. 

§13 The ointment that follows was discovered in the books of the wise. It is 
called the ointment of the Sun, and its power is receiving grace, honor, splen- 
dor, and the love of kings, soldiers, and nobles. Take a glass vial, and place in it 
very good, pure, and clean rose oil. On a Tuesday, rise to your feet facing toward 
the Sun in the sign of Aries or Leo in an ascending degree with the Moon fac- 
ing him with a friendly aspect. Then take the vial in your right hand, holding 
your face toward the Sun, say: 


God bless you, O planet, filled by your light and goodness! O how beau- 
tiful and good you are in your origin and honored in your spirit! You are 
the Sun who governs the universe by your light, spirit, and strength. You 
are candle of the heavens, brightness of the universe, maker of all gener- 
able things. [204] This power was poured into you by God. You are the 
Sun who gazes through the four corners of the world while spinning in 
your heavens. Light and beauty have been granted to you by divine 
power. You grant without concealment a luminous life or light to the 
Moon from her beginning unto her end. Therefore, I ask that you grant 
me friendship, benevolence, and an amicable reception through this oil 
such that my friendship and will might overflow into the hearts of 
everyone, through which I might have the love and grace of kings, 
nobles, and lowly men. I myself am such a man. I beseech and conjure 
you by your rule that my friendship and love may be found in their 
hearts, their tongues, their places of delight, and their thrones every- 
where, that they might rejoice at my sight and friendship in the delights 
they are accustomed to enjoying. Noting my presence there, let them 
honor me and be glad. I conjure you, lord, by the angel Ancora, who 


BOOK 4 249 


resides in the fourth heaven, and by ANEHUTYORA, ACTARIE, AHUDE- 
MEMORA, BEHARTYON, ACTARIE, AHUDEMEMORA that in this oil, which 
I hold in my hand, you should place the love and benevolence of kings’, 
lords’, and noblemen’s hearts that they might enthusiastically take a lik- 
ing to me and that I should not have an enemy in the universe. Let all 
men esteem and love me with obedience. Let there be no transgressor of 
my orders but rather seekers of my grace. I conjure you by BEHIBILYON 
and CELYUBERON, who dwell in the fifth heaven, so that you may open 
their hearts and bind their tongues such that they might be unable to 
speak ill of me and incapable of gossip. Ensure this binding for now and 
forevermore. I conjure you, lord, by zauczs, angel of the sixth heaven, 
so that you may stop up the mouths of my enemies; rather, pour the love 
and delight of me into their hearts. I conjure you, lord, by BARHAOT, 
who resides in the seventh heaven, that you may grant to me the love, 
goodwill, good reputation, and good reception before the hearts of 
everyone in the universe and grant me, by your spirit and grace, the 
good reception and complete love of all men by day or night. I conjure 
you by the name that kindles love and friendship and that unites and 
brings together the hearts of lovers so that you may pour my love and 
benevolence into their hearts, enduring now and forever. Amen. 


Utter this prayer twelve times having observed the conditions mentioned 
before. Afterward, guard this oil very carefully. When you wish to enter the 
presence of kings, lords, or noblemen, anoint your face with this oil. You should 
achieve what you desire and see wonders in being amicably received by these 
men. This ritual I found as above in the books of the Indians. It is still in use 
among them in all matters. [205] 


Chapter 7 


On What Is Found Concerning the Art of Magic in the “Chaldean 
Agriculture,” Which Abubaer Abenvaxie Translated from the Chaldean 
Language into Arabic 


§1 In the Chaldean Agriculture, which Abubaer Abenvaxie translated into 
Arabic from the tongue of the Chaldeans, we have found many writings on the 
art of magic and very numerous things of that sort, which we will now relate 
here.” On one page of that book, it is said that a certain gardener, while sleep- 
ing at night in a garden beneath a laurel tree, heard the tree speaking. It said: 


250 PICATRIX 


“O human, look in this garden of yours to see if you find a tree that exceeds my 
beauty and quality; for indeed none can say that they have found a better, more 
beautiful, more honorable, and more precious tree than I.” To this the gardener 
responded: “Why do you say such things? Explain to me what they mean.” The 
tree responded: “I say such things to you so that you may acknowledge and 
honor me above the other trees. Know that Iam honored and appreciated by 
Jupiter, who esteems and respects me. Therefore, I say that you should honor 
me above the other trees and adore me at the appropriate time. I shall reveal to 
you a wondrous ritual that is suitable for the future (wherein you will find the 
greatest uses). Therefore, arise in the middle of the night carrying acorn oil in 
your hands. Anoint your face with it. Next, lift your head up toward the heav- 
ens, look to Jupiter and say: ‘O Jupiter, fortune of fortunes! I ask you, by the 
praise and honor that this laurel tree has toward you, that you may grant me 
life for the following fifteen years to come.’ Once this is done, you will remain 
secure until the allotted lifespan is spent. In truth I say to you that if you have 
done the work, you will find it true, not deficient. Thus, you will benefit your- 
self. With this ritual, you will be able to perceive the honor and love that I share 
with Jupiter and how he esteems and appreciates me.” 

§2 In the aforesaid book concerning the properties of this tree, it said this: 


The prophet Adam said to take fourteen seeds of laurel tree fruits, then 
dry and pulverize them very well. Place the resulting powder with wine 
vinegar in a very clean pot. Strike it with the stick of a fig tree—whoever 
you wish to become demonically possessed, give them some of this pow- 
der in a drink. That person will seem profoundly vexed by a demon that 
nobody else will be able to see. The cure: give the person three medium- 
sized radishes with all their leaves such that not a single leaf remains. 
Once they have entered the stomach and remain there a while, the person 
will be released from the demon. 


§3 In the same section regarding this laurel tree, it is proven that if you take 
some of the leaves of that laurel, throw them up with your hands, and before 
they touch the ground, [206] put them behind your ears, then for as long as 
they remain there, you will never become drunk nor have a hangover no matter 
how much unmixed wine you drank. 

§4 In the same book, regarding this tree, it says: “Take some laurel leaves 
and one pound of either lime or blue vitriol. Pulverize them well, and mix with 
strong vinegar. Anoint your hands thoroughly with this. Once this is done, you 
will be able to hold glowing hot iron in your hands without injury.” 


BOOK 4 251 


§5 Again in the aforesaid book, it says: “If someone takes some of the 
branches of the ash tree and cooks its leaves, all the bedbugs in the area will 
gather to it.” 

§6 Abenvasia also recounts that wise magicians have said how if one works 
with words and rituals, the sap, fat, and oil of trees (all these exist in each and 
every tree) rapidly receive the power of the spirit and its effects. The sap is more 
disposed in reception than anything else. This is why some process the tree sap 
with words and rituals and give that sap, altered by words, to someone in a 
drink so as to destroy and ruin the hearts and bodies of the wise. 

§7 Some sages have claimed that myrtle has the power to augment magical 
works once mixed with other things. Chaldean sages claim that those who 
work with this tree’s roots craft varying images of animals where myrtle trees 
grow. Those sages claim that this is assuredly a magical root since effects and 
the spirit of an individual are manifest while gazing upon this root so similar 
toa human in form, figure, and likeness. Moreover, the sages claimed that they 
take myrtle tree branches on someone’s nativity and fashion the image of a 
man or a woman from them while inscribing the image with the name of the 
target. They craft other figures from these branches (namely of lions, snakes, 
scorpions, or any other kind of venomous animal) combined with or placed 
upon the other image. They do this at a determined and appropriate time (when 
the planets and the fixed stars are properly placed for executing these works). 
‘The target for whom the images were crafted will immediately be struck with 
illness and seem cruelly afflicted by some demon while losing their mind and 
suffering various other ailments. 

§8 In the Chaldean Agriculture, one finds that this tree commends itself 
above other trees, saying: 


I am the golden tree and such is my color—through me, humankind is 
healed and cured from forty-eight illnesses. My oil fortifies the heart and 
cleans the gums. Through it the spirit is gladdened; no other oil does this 
but mine. I am the blessed tree. [207] Whoever takes of my branches, 
leaves, or fruits and places them in their house will never suffer a wicked 
misfortune or sad thoughts. Throughout the whole cycle of that year, 
such people will live high-spirited and cheerful alongside their entire 
community. Iam the tree blessed above all. Whoever gazes upon me in 
the morning with the rising Sun and carries me in their hand, on that day 
they will be gladdened and rejoice. I am the tree of Saturn, the heavy 
planet. Iam a tree of greater fame and great Saturn. Iam the tree through 
whom the troubled rejoice. I am the one who removes misfortune from 


252 PICATRIX 


the unfortunate. Iam the one who populates desert regions. Through me 
the region of Phoenicia and the region of the Blacks are made fertile. 
Mine is the first among days, the highest and most honored among the 
planets, the oldest of cities, the strongest and most durable of forts, the 
greatest and longest of rivers, the coldest of winds, the most famous of 
regions, the highest of heavens, the tallest of trees, and I maintain the 
most excellent qualities and the finest among all the rest. 


§9 Concerning this a certain sage named Zeherith, who was one of the three 
men assembling the Chaldean Agriculture, said: 


On the first day of the lunar month and in the first hour of that day, take 
olive branches with green and not yellow leaves, carry them home, set 
them aside until the beginning of the next Moon. Then, at the beginning 
of the subsequent Moon, take other branches home as before, carrying 
them as before and setting them aside in the place where the first ones 
are. Then take the first ones, and burn them, warming yourself with the 
heat of the embers. That person will be protected and totally free from all 
the evils and impediments of Saturn. They will become continuously 
cheerful in spirit and character. Rejoicing, they will never be sad nor 
mournful. They will profit in their works and stand in good fortune. 
They will be virtuous and not die until old age. 


Moreover, he says: “If someone mixes palm tree branches with these olive tree 
branches while operating as before, all those dwelling in that house will enjoy 
healthy bodies until death. All cold illnesses will recede from them. The bright- 
ness and sight of their eyes will increase every day; all this by gazing upon these 
branches.” 

§10 Whoever takes nine olive pits, cleans them from all flesh, pierces them, 
and by threading them with a strong black silk thread, suspends them from 
the neck of any animal, that animal will fear nothing at night even when 
wandering alone. It will be cheerful and become docile to humans. If anyone 
would be afraid while wearing this around their neck, the fear would recede 
from them. If they would be boisterous, the boisterousness would be carried 
off and replaced by goodwill. If they would have wicked thoughts, these would 
flee from them and be replaced by persistent good thoughts. [208] 

§11 If someone takes nine of these olive pits, cleaned from all extraneous 
juice and oil, and holding these in their hands, they face the Sun when he is 
rising in the morning and throw them one after another at the Sun’s face, and 
while doing this, they say: “O Sun! Behold my piety and free me from this ill- 


BOOK 4 253 


ness that I suffer” —if they do this seven times with forty-nine of these pits, they 
will be completely cured of that illness, even if it were a persistent one. 

§12 If you wish to lift the ire of an angry person toward you, take (1)17” of 
these olive pits, well-cleaned as above, and wash them very well with hot water 
and, after a little while, with cold water. Dry them off completely with a clean 
and elegant cloth. Anoint the pits with olive oil. Next, put them up your left 
sleeve. Set yourself up over a flowing river, observing the water, and say: “O you 
running water that stands contrary to burning fire! Cool the anger of such a 
person toward me. Remove their ill will toward me, and pacify them until they 
love and esteem me unconditionally.” Once this is done, throw one of the pits 
into the middle of the running waters, and speak these words (1)17 times, 
throwing one of the pits with each repetition. Once this is done, that person’s 
anger directed against you will recede. Even if it were the anger of a great king 
or some other great lord, it will be pacified. He will delight in you and receive 
you honorably. 

§13 Ifsomeone ona completely empty stomach takes any crystal container or 
one made of clear white glass and filling it with good clarified olive oil, places 
it in the morning Sun, continuously watching their own shadow and that oil, 
their sight will be sharpened; all the ocular ailments will recede; they will be 
gladdened in heart and mind; they will be loved and very well received by 
everyone around. 

$14 If someone buries the flowering herb mallow while continually circling 
around it and observing its flowers, sadness, ill will, and wicked thoughts will 
be lifted from their heart. They will be very well received. 

§15 If you wish that a source of running water regenerate itself once it dries 
up, do the following. Send a small and pretty virgin girl to this source carrying 
a drum. Standing above the water’s course, she should begin to strike the drum 
gently; let her go on drumming for three hours. In the beginning of the fourth 
hour, however, have another beautiful and lovely virgin come to the same place 
carrying a tambourine that, while drumming, she should go along with the 
first girl making a similar beat as the drum with her tambourine. Make them 
do this for six hours (so nine hours in total), at the end of which the water in 
that source will be increased. Then on that same day or at least three days after, 
that source will be usable. 

§16 Moreover, he adds: 


Pretty virgin girls dressed in clothes of various colors and carrying 
diverse instruments (whatever they have) should go on playing and 
drumming before the mouth of the spring. Afterward, [209] make them 
go on playing similarly two cubits from the mouth of the spring. Then, 


254 PICATRIX 


one after another, make them recede to a distance of twenty-one cubits 
while drumming and return while singing. Then, make them go back 
around the mouth of the spring as before. Make them perform the ritual 
by coming and going to the spring, drumming, and singing as above. 
Once all this is done, the water of that spring will be increased on that 
day or the following one. 


$17. If someone takes well-ground mallow leaves, mixes them with olive oil, 
and anoints their hands and body, when they place their hands amid bees or 
wasps, the insects will neither sting nor harm nor cause any pain. 

§18 If someone wants to exterminate fleas, they should take white lead, 
quicklime, and bitter cucumber roots, grind them well, and add a little 
asafoetida. Blend everything with water, and mix in a little salt. If you 
sprinkle a house with this mixture, all the fleas living in that area will be 
exterminated. 

$19 For making wine drinkable. Take chickpeas, and anoint them with olive 
oil, cook them, then grind them very well, and throw a half pound of them into 
wine turning bitter. That taste will recede in one day from the now normal 
wine. 

§20 For removing sadness. Take chickpeas, place them in the light of the wax- 
ing Moon at night. The next day before the Sun rises, anoint them with olive 
oil, and put them in water to soften for two hours. Then cook them. Whoever 
you give some of these to eat, they will see sadness, ill will, troubled thoughts, 
and every kind of melancholy recede. Their heart will rejoice in the power of 
the Almighty, and they will always become joyous and cheerful. 

§21 When clouds approach looking like they might carry hail and one wishes 
to defend crops from the hailstorm, assemble many associates, some of whom 
should carry silk in their hands and some should go to the field carrying noth- 
ing. Make them throw the silk bit by bit toward the clouds, and make the others 
who are without silk walk around clapping their hands and palms. Make every- 
one keep shouting in a loud voice like farmers do when they want to drive off 
birds and evil beasts. Make them do this many times. Make sure that those 
associates be even in number; the more numerous they are, the better. This has 
been tested and found to be very true. 

§22 Take some pure steel (which is Andanican iron),”4 and make a very well- 
polished mirror out of it. Go toward the cloud, carrying the mirror in your 
hands, and raising it toward the cloud, shout in a powerful voice. The storm 
will recede from that area. 

§23 Ina book published by the wise Geber, I found this written for producing 
a storm and very many other things.” Make a mirror out of gold or gilded sil- 


BOOK 4 255 


ver, [210] and suffumigate it with hair from a woman’s comb, and anoint it with 
your semen. Next, suffumigate it with hairs from her clothes. After having 
bathed, look into the mirror, and in it have her likeness appear, then yours 
immediately (or yours first, then hers). This was tested by aman called Ptolomy 
of Babylon. Three Indian sages found it in Egypt and proved that such a mirror 
must be made when the Moon is conjoined with Jupiter and gilded or polished 
while the Moon is with Venus. I wish to reveal to you how to make this mirror 
and how to use and guard it (because it affects all humankind). Temper the 
mirror with living and natural blood, suffumigate it, then write the names of 
the seven stars, their seven figures, and the names of the seven angels and the 
seven winds upon it. The names of the seven stars are these: “ZOHAL, MUSTERI, 
MARRECH, XEMZ, ZOHARA, HOTARID, and ALCHAMAR.” These symbols should 
be drawn in a circle around the outer edge: 


These are ina circle. Next, write the names of these seven angels on the inside 
of the polished and gilded circle: “CAPTIEL, SATQUIEL, SAMAEL, RAPHAEL, 
ANAEL, MICHAEL, and GABRIEL.” When this is done, write the names of the 
seven winds on the unpolished part; these are the winds of power, whose names 
are: “BARCHIA, BETHEL ALMODA, HAMAR BENABIS, ZOBAA MARRACH, FIDE 
ARRACH, and SAMORES MAYMON ACZABI.” Then suspend the mirror in silk for 
seven days above water, and suffumigate it. Suspend it from a bramble branch. 
Suffumigate it for three nights with pleasant incenses (better yet with the ones 
found in the book of Moses). If you gaze into that mirror and guard it well, 
know that through it you will bring together men, winds, spirits, demons, the 
living, and the dead. All shall be obedient to you and heed your command. 
Proceed such that there is some of each of man’s seven properties in the suffu- 
migation (namely, blood, semen, saliva, ear wax, tears of the eyes, excrement, 
and urine). Suffumigate with those things, and instruct the winds of your 
desires; they shall enact your will. Guard this, and heed everything I have said. 
You will thereby have power over winds, humans, and demons, and you will do 
what you wish. When you are washed and clean, call them; they will come to 
you obediently. Do this above a basin or any clean vessel full of water. There 
you will behold the fulfillment of what you sought. 

§24 Asage whom we have named elsewhere (namely Zeherith) cites the nine- 
teen experiments written out below. The first is for defending vines from poor 
weather. Take a marble or wooden tablet, and inscribe images of vines and 
grapes upon it—do this between the twenty-second day of October and the 


256 PICATRIX 


fourth of December (that is, any day out of these); place this tablet thus pre- 
pared in the middle of the vines. This image is proven to defend vines from bad 
weather. [211] 

§25 For driving off animals that harm vines. Take equal parts of black dog’s 
and wolf's excrement. Mix them with human urine, and allow them to sit for 
seven days, after which you should sprinkle the vine you want with it. No 
harmful animals (like bears, wolves, foxes, snakes, and the like) will go there. 
Do these things continuously for three successive days. For driving off snakes, 
take euphorbia wood, and suffumigate the place where snakes gather with it; at 
once, they will flee that area. 

§26 For driving off snakes. Take 1 oz. each of ammonia, asafoetida gum, and 
the strongest wine vinegar. Boil them over a fire, and while boiling, liquefy 
these gums until well mixed. Then sprinkle the powder from the horn of a stag 
over it; mix everything very well until blended together. Then take it out, and 
make tablets, which you will set aside for use in a glass container. When you 
wish to drive off snakes, whatever kind they are, suffumigate the place that 
you want to purify with these or any similar tablets. You will achieve your 
intent. 

§27 For driving off reptiles and mice. Take mustard, stag horn, axenus,** and 
the claw of a leopard. Pulverize everything and mix it with the strongest wine 
vinegar. Blend and cook everything together until similar in thickness to oxy- 
mel. Next, mix the powder of pomegranate leaves with it. Make pills from this, 
and set aside for use in a glass container. When needed, suffumigate the area 
with the pills, and it will be rid of those pests. 

§28 For killing mice. Take equal parts of litharge and white lead. Grind every- 
thing up, and add a quarter part of the said powders. Blend everything together 
with a bit of oil. Make pills that you should entirely cover with well-aged, good- 
smelling cheese. Put those in a place where mice gather; all those that eat any 
will die shortly. 

§29 For the same. Take a bronze vessel. In it place the dregs of oil into which 
black hellebore was mixed. Place the container in a house where mice gather. 
‘They will assemble there because of the smell of the oil, and after they consume 
alittle, they will immediately fall down as if intoxicated. 

§30 For killing scorpions. Take radish leaves, and place them on top of scorpi- 
ons. They will sting themselves until they die. 

§31 So that a lover may forget his beloved. Take beans while the Moon is sit- 
ting in any of Saturn’s houses, and soften them in wine for a single day and 
night. Then cook them in the same wine. Once cooked, give them to the lover 
to eat, and he will forget his beloved. [212] 


BOOK 4 257 


§32 So that wasps or bees do not sting you. Take dried and ground asparagus 
roots, and mix them with sesame oil. Anoint your hands and feet with this, and 
you will be safe to enter a place since you will be free from their harm. 

§33 A deadly poison. Take the sap ofa plant that is found in parts of Armenia 
whose leaves are similar to palm leaves, except thinner. If you anoint the tips of 
lances or any other weapon with the sap and then strike someone to wound 
them, they will die on that very day or the next. The cure. Take fresh or dried 
human excrement. If you take it fresh, give the victim 2 oz. in a drink mixed 
with rose oil, violet oil, or both mixed. The only way they can avoid harm is 
with this drink. If you take the excrement dried, however, give them 4 oz. in a 
drink with the same amount of dried roses. As I recall, I believe that this herb 
is wolfsbane because its sap is a deadly poison when used on a sword to shed 
blood by wounding.”’ 

§34 Another deadly poison. If someone takes one grain’s worth of wolfsbane, 
they will die within four hours despite every remedy given afterwards (except 
fresh human excrement taken ina drink). Know that human excrement, fresh 
or dried, is generally good for curing all poisons except for the stings of the 
deaf adder, which it alone cannot heal. Rather, a bandage of very well-crushed 
radishes must be placed on the bite, and the pain will subside. 

§35 A panacea for every venom. Take 3 oz. of laurel wood; 7 oz. of its leaves; 
and 2 oz. ofits fruit. Dry and grind them very well. Add to this 6 oz. of human 
excrement. Mix and blend everything with honey and wax. Avoid having 
more of the latter mixture than the weight of the former. Keep this compound 
in a gold or silver container. It is a universal panacea for all venoms. Further- 
more, it prevents grey hair. Place a laurel bough in a house where an upset 
infant is being nursed; the infant will be calmed when you place the bough 
above its cradle. 

§36 If you planta laurel tree in any house you wish, fear will depart from it, 
and its inhabitants will be happy, cheerful, and well-disposed through the qual- 
ity of this tree. 

$37. Darnel seed damages the brain, darkens the eyes, strips vision, and 
causes sleep. Some wicked men take equal parts of darnel seed, saffron, frank- 
incense, and wine dregs. If anyone drinks that mixture, they will fall asleep, 
their tongues will dry out such that they will be unable to speak or even stand. 
If another four things are added to those [213] (mandrake, wild lettuce seed, 
black poppy, and the seed of henbane), whoever you give some of this blend will 
be intoxicated, senseless, and completely out of their mind. Abenvasia, speak- 
ing of this, recommended that this mixture be kept secret and not revealed to 
any wicked man. 


258 PICATRIX 


§38 In the Chaldean Agriculture while speaking about that herb, Abenvasia 
claimed that there are many wondrous properties in it—that is, if you put a 
handful of it into a bowl and then toss snakes into it, they will rise up on their 
tails as if trying to jump. If you place this herb next to a mirror standing in the 
Sun, it will catch fire. 

§39 For healing leprosy. When the Sun is rising at the beginning of the illness, 
take as many beans as you can in your hand, and say: “I beseech you, Sun, 
precious and high lord, that you carry this leprosy away from me, and make it 
vanish from my body, my chest, or wherever it is.” After you have said this, 
throw the beans over your shoulder. Repeat these things, and throw them as 
above until the beans have all been thrown. Do this seven days in a row while 
the Moon is waning. 

§40 For catching birds. Take beans and darnel, moisten them in wine for a 
single day and night. Then take them out, and put them in the migratory paths 
of cranes, crows, and other birds so that they can eat some of them. While 
eating some of them, they will fall to the ground as if dead. 

§41 For removing leeks. Count the number of leeks, and take that number of 
chickpeas. While the Moon is conjoined to the Sun according to true motion, 
heat those chickpeas a little bit over a fire. Next, place one of them on each and 
every leek, leaving them there a while. Afterward, remove them, and place 
them in a black cloth tied with a string. Stand upon an elevated area, and throw 
those chickpeas behind your back. Return home without turning back or look- 
ing at the chickpeas. 

§42 For separating two from each other. The seeds of some tree called sebes- 
tan’* have many properties in magical rituals. Some of these are performed for 
separating two individuals from one another and sowing discord and enmity 
between them. The seed also has the property of separating friendships and 
altering the will of another toward inflicting evil upon others. This tree is simi- 
lar to the laurel. The wise Zeherith has spoken up to this point. 

§43 Abenvasia recounts how all the Chaldeans (nobles and commoners, men 
and women) used to place this under their [214] pillows on the first night of 
March: one piece of cheese, four dates, seven grape seeds, and a little salt fas- 
tened inside a cloth. They claimed that some old woman called “the hand- 
maiden of Venus” would go looking for everyone in their beds on that night to 
stroke their bellies and look beneath their heads. If she found their bellies 
empty and did not find those things beneath their heads (namely, that portion 
of cheese, dates, and grapes), she would immediately pray to Venus that such a 
person be struck ill for that whole year and that they sustain a setback in all 
their endeavors from that point on to the subsequent year. All the Babylonians 
used to do these things without fail. 


BOOK 4 259 


§44 He also claimed that the powers of Saturn and Mars are united in a cer- 
tain fruit similar to a melon, which is called “watermelon.” Those who work in 
mathematical operations use it. Again, he says: “If someone places some water- 
melon seeds in a human skull, buries it, and covers it very well with earth and 
waters it, from it will grow little melons. Whoever eats these little melons will 
have improved energy, memory, and intellect. If you place this seed in adonkey 
skull, bury it, and moisten it with water as above, little melons will grow there. 
If someone eats them, they will become ignorant, foolish, and lose their 
strength, daring, and intellect.” In the same book, it is held that the Chaldeans 
use the roots of that herb for one purpose, the leaves for another, the twigs for 
another, the seeds for another, and the whole plant all together is used for yet 
another purpose. In these parts reside the magical art’s wondrous and beauti- 
ful effects. This occurs because of the herb’s sudden attraction and swift 
reception of those things placed around it. When mixed with human brain, 
whoever eats it performs wonders. The same book says that if this seed were 
placed in the head and stomach of any animal and either were buried in the 
ground, little melons would grow there that have wondrous effects. The effects 
of these would be similar to those of the animal into whose head or stomach 
the seed had been placed. Whoever eats some of them, causing them to become 
mixed with that person’s nature, those seeds will do wondrous things in that 
person’s body. 

§45 Inthe same book it is held that if someone takes one mandrake root and 
buries it somewhere together with those watermelon seeds, they will perform 
many wonders there, which I omit at present on account of their tedious length; 
nevertheless, the wonders are fully contained in that book. 

§46 One ancient sage, a forerunner in philosophy, recounted twelve miracu- 
lous rituals, which I have decided to describe here. The first one is that if some- 
one places a human skull in a seeded area, seeds watermelon there, and covers 
the area with soil—if the seed were tossed onto ground primed for it and 
watered every day with human blood mixed with warm water, [215] little mel- 
ons would grow there. If anyone eats some, they will behold terrifying things 
and many other wonders. 

§47 And again he said: 


If someone takes an onion stalk in their hand while watching the Moon 
on the night in which she is rising during the first hour of the night, while 
standing upright facing the Moon, speaking the words and prayers of the 
Moon that we have mentioned in this book, and while uttering this sub- 
sequent conjuration: “I swear by you, O Moon, that if you remove from 
me the pain and infection of my teeth, I shall never eat an onion again!” 


260 PICATRIX 


Then, they should heat the onion they hold and eat it. Whoever does this 
every month with the position of the Moon as mentioned above will be 
defended from all dental problems. 


§48 So that a cock may follow you. Take the leaves of a garden onion, and fold 
them one upon the other. Give it to eat to the cock you desire for three days in 
a row—that is, three lumps on each day. Begin this task on a Wednesday. The 
cock will take a liking to you and follow. 
§49 So that all hard bodies be softened. Take 10 lbs. each of alkali salt and 
galbanum. Put them in a container with three times the amount of pure water 
as both of those combined. Let it sit there for seven days, at the end of which 
you must strain the water with a cloth. Afterward, take hot water, and throw as 
much of the alkali and galbanum into it as you did before. Let it sit for another 
seven days, then strain it as above. Take hot water and for each 10 pounds of 
water, put a half pound ofammonia salt and 2 oz. ofink. Next, place everything 
over a gentle fire or in the very hot Sun. Leave it there for ten days, and cook it 
for one whole day. Then strain it, and it is done. If you place bones, horns, 
stones, or any hard metallic substance in it and allow it to stand there warming 
up in the Sun while covered in lead sheets, they will be softened like dough. 

For the same. Take the bitter of cedars, and mix with bitter red wine. Mix 
them thoroughly until blended as one. For each pound of that mix, add 3 oz. 
each of ammonia salt and powdered sea salt. Mix them very well, and place 
them in the Sun for three days, stirring every day. Once this is done, place any 
hard body you want in it, and it will become so soft you can work it as you 
please. 

For the same. This sage also claimed that sulfur softens metallic bodies and 
that its effect on all stones and metals is amazing. 
§50 For inducing copious laughter. Give 10 oz. of powdered saffron in a drink 
to anyone you wish. At once, they will catch a pernicious laughter that will 
ultimately kill them. 
§51 Broomrape harms all the plants and herbs living around it. Neither plant 
nor herb can grow where broomrape grows. [216] Nobody can uproot it except 
in this way: make a virgin girl go to it carrying in her hands a white cock with 
its crest cut off. She must circle the place where this herb is found, then make 
the cock strike the plant with its wings. Such a strike will dry out this herb. 
§52 If some cat approaches an area where there is spikenard, after smelling 
that spice’s odor, it will not leave, but instead it will seek out the spice there as 
often as it can while crying out loudly—this is one of the manifest wonders of 
herbs and their habitats. 


BOOK 4 261 


§53 A good many regions have diverse properties, that is, there are plants and 
animals specifically attributed to them that are hardly found anywhere else, as 
is the case with balsam found only in Egypt; or ebony from the island of Huac 
and nowhere else; or the so-called “Tree of the Blacks” found only in the land 
of the Blacks; or the frankincense tree found in the field of Hamen;” or the tree 
of the muse that is only found in the West; or a great number of other things 
that exist in some places and not others, that is, precisely because they are 
suited to those places. The property of lands and places arises from the balance 
of water and air. The primary cause of all these is the line of heaven that crosses 
over that place and the power of the stars that dwell therein. The production of 
animals and plants there arises from the power and nature of the stars that 
occupy that line, a production that cannot occur elsewhere. 

§54 In the western sea is a certain island called Cadiz where an herb grows in 
the springtime. Herds on that island eat that herb. If anyone drinks the milk of 
those herds, they will be drunk as if the milk were wine. 

§55 In France there is a kind of tree that, if someone stands beneath it for half 
an hour, they will die. If someone touches it or takes some of it, they will die 
immediately. 

§56 In the southern part of France, there is a small plant the size of a cabbage 
with leaves similar to rue leaves. If anyone takes the root, branches, and leaves 
of that plant, places them in cold water, and leaves them there for an hour, that 
water will be heated as if it had sat over a fire. Once lifted from there, it will 
immediately become cold as before. 

§57 A certain tree is found in the lands of India that cannot in any way be 
burned by fire. Another tree is found there that moves like a snake if you take 
a branch from it and put it on the ground.*” 

§58 Another tree is found there around which are heard emanating human 
voices in spring and autumn. Its roots appear in the shape of a human. [217] 
§59 In the land of Bequien, there exists a certain tree that shines at night like 
a candle. 

§60 Moreover, this sage claimed that the costus found in the lands of India 
smells stronger than all other kinds; this is the suffumigation they made to the 
images in their ritual houses. The Chaldeans say that this is the very best suf- 
fumigation to sacrifice and suffumigate before images of Venus; they often use 
it on her images. In the Chaldean Agriculture, the wise Zeherith found this 
plant. He claimed that one group of Chaldeans would mix this herb with nut- 
meg, holm oak, fresh and dried storax gum, rose and myrtle flowers, and frank- 
incense too. They then mixed everything with saffron. On their sacred days, 
they used to suffumigate their clothes, images, and faces with these ingredients, 


262 PICATRIX 


claiming that the odor of this smoke is harmful to all diseases and wards off 
their pains. 

§61 ‘They claimed that a suffumigation of the myrrh tree or its branches 
hinders epidemics. They claimed they used to make a suffumigation from the 
wood of this tree and its gum, which they enhanced by mixing incense, nut- 
meg, holm oak, and storax gum, believing that this suffumigation was gra- 
ciously taken up by Venus. When they burned this suffumigation with the 
sacrifices of Venus—in the presence of her scripture and image, and with her 
prayers and conjurations, as mentioned in this book—they struck instru- 
ments, uttered the conjurations of Venus, and asked whatever they desired 
from her. This ritual would be received by Venus, and she would accomplish 
all their requests. They did not perform this ritual, however, unless Venus 
was free from the other planets and in such power and strength that she 
might not be impeded, especially from the aspects and conjunction of Mer- 
cury, since among the other impediments of Venus, the conjunction or aspect 
of Mercury takes precedence. The wise Zeherith states that adding saffron and 
costus increases the power of the aforesaid suffumigation, and the work is 
concluded easily. 

§62 Moreover, we have here decided to describe the wondrous properties of 
vegetation because plants are one part of this elemental microcosm, subject to 
generation and corruption. Generation and corruption are divided into three 
parts, that is, into animals, plants, and minerals. Plants are in the middle 
between animals and minerals since they correspond with animals in living, 
growing, and reproducing while corresponding with minerals in their corpo- 
real nature and lack of sense perception. Plants are more useful to human life 
than animals or minerals. The parts from plants useful to human life and 
health are the seeds, roots, branches, bark, leaves, flowers, and fruits. Minerals 
are also beneficial for humans who use their salts, alums, stones, and metals. 
Humans use the flesh, fat, bones, blood, and other ingredients from the bodies 
[218] of animals. It is therefore obvious that plants are situated closer to men 
than minerals. Among them are the trees that exceed the others in value, smell, 
quality, yield, or any other thing. The same is clear regarding minerals (that is, 
regarding precious stones reckoned to be more valuable than other ones) and 
the same regarding metals (among which gold prevails). Ultimately, the most 
excellent and valued of all corruptible things is the rational animal, namely 
humankind, to whom by sense and industry all things are made subject as if 
toward a purpose. The elemental world exists through the elements; the ele- 
ments exist through nature; nature exists through spirit; spirit exists through 
mind; and mind exists through God Himself upon whom all heaven and nature 
depend. Let Him be praised through the infinite cycle of ages. Amen. 


BOOK 4 263 


Chapter 8 


On the Qualities of Other Things That Nature Produces by Her Own 
Properties 


§1 Here we shall recount the wondrous properties of simple things, such as 
plants, animals, and minerals. 

§2 First regarding the emerald, which, when seen by weasel-headed adders, 
causes them suddenly to go blind. Ifthe afflicted adders turn their eyes toward 
fennel, they are healed immediately. Eagles carry this hard stone to their off- 
springs’ birthplace so that their chicks may be protected from snakes. If a bear 
sees the eyes of a mouse, it will flee from there suddenly. 

§3 When the bones of a hoopoe are thrown into hot water, some of them 
sink to the bottom and others stay at the surface. 

§4 When an owl dies, one ofits eyes remains open while the other stays shut. 
If you place the closed eye on someone, they will sleep and never be awakened 
while it remains on them. If, however, you place the open eye on someone, they 
will never sleep until it is removed. If arthritics place vulture feet upon them- 
selves, they will be healed from their gout (that is, like this: if the gout is on the 
right side, they should place the right foot of the vulture upon themselves and 
do likewise for the left). 

§5 In the land of Khorasan is found a very white stone named assiffe that 
cannot be filed." When this stone is placed over anyone’s stomach, it heals 
stomach illnesses of any sort. 

§6 Inthe river Algeriche are formed white, grey, black, and mixed stones.” 
If rubbed together, they provoke rain into that river persisting as long as they 
are rubbed together. Consequently, no one can enter that river or walk on sur- 
rounding pebbles at night because of the rubbing of the stones, the [219] fric- 
tion of which causes rain (one cannot see the stones at night). 

§7 The aetite stone rattles on the inside when shaken as if there were another 
stone enclosed within. When it is shattered, however, nothing is found inside 
and each ofits fragments rattles as above. This stone is red in color like the soil 
on Cyprus. Its wondrous power is in giving birth: if a woman about to give 
birth takes it, she will deliver immediately without danger and with little pain. 
§8 ‘There is a certain animal the size ofa fox and similar toa cat in shape and 
appearance. This animal extinguishes fire by its coldness, and fire cannot harm 
nor burn it. The beak of an ostrich cannot be burned by fire nor can its stom- 
ach, into which a hot iron can be placed. Indeed, the iron is digested in its 
stomach, and it receives no harm from it—it is even nourished thereby. If you 
take all the feathers from any bird and make a big pile, then rub that pile on any 


264 PICATRIX 


cloth or hand, any small object you touch will be attracted to it and float above 
the ground. 

§9 ‘There exists a stone named behet whose color is like that of marcasite, but 
it shines beautifully. If anyone sees it once, they will remain in permanent 
laughter until they die. There is no remedy for this laughter. Atop the stone is 
found a bird named alphersit. It is the size of a sparrow and black but has a red 
neck and legs. When this bird climbs atop the stone, the stone loses its power. 
Afterward, if someone sees it, the stone will do no harm. 

$10 ‘The peony plant produces a thick bough, and it is found to be sturdy 
when one tries to break it. If you place this bough on a possessed person, they 
will be freed from the demon. It will depart on account of that bough’s odor. 
§11 If you burn a stag’s horn in front of snakes, they will die from the odor. 
Ants die from the odor of cumin. Scorpions flee from the odor of saffron and 
never stay in a place where it is. Fleas flee the odor of chalk and also from hot 
salt when placed in a house. If you suffumigate with fleabane, bedbugs flee at 
once. 

§12 In pools of water there exists an algae that does not burn. This herb is 
similar to a green plant, but it is not one. It is called the swamp lentil. When a 
branch of jujube tree is burned, it neither glows nor makes a flame. 

§13. The vulture carries the leaves of wormwood* to its nest so that the chicks 
may be guarded from harmful animals. 

§14 The atarac stone is made from inseparable things and is never shattered 
whether large or small. If you place obols of a certain stone called amethyst in 
a container of wine and someone drinks from that container, they will never 
[220] be intoxicated and the wine will not harm them. If you place obols of a 
certain stone called atambari in a vessel,*4 anything that sits in that vessel will 
intoxicate the one drinking it. They will lose their minds and senses and 
become anxious and depressed. The magnet attracts iron. If you anoint it with 
garlic, however, it loses its power. Subsequently, if you place it in ram’s blood, it 
recovers its power. 

§15 In the river Cerich is found a certain species of snake.* If anyone sees 
one, that person will die. Ifthe snake sees itself, it will also die. 

§16 If you put a pig on top of a donkey and the donkey urinates by accident, 
the pig will die immediately. 

§17_ When hail appears, if a menstruating woman throws herself onto the 
ground completely naked, raising her legs toward the cloud, the hail will not 
fall around her on that field or harvest. 

§18 If adog climbs up a mountain or an elevated place and a hyena crosses its 
path and both shadows encounter each other, the dog will die since that animal 
will kill it. 


BOOK 4 265 


$19 If someone afflicted with quartan fever sits on a wolf pelt, they will be 
cured from the fever. 

§20 If you place the “fifteen square” on a woman giving birth, she will deliver 
easily and without danger.** If you place nutmeg on the neck of someone suf- 
fering from quartan fever, they will be healed. 

§21 If you place elephant dung in a tree, that tree will not produce fruit so 
long as the dung remains there. If you place this dung upon a woman, she will 
never be impregnated. 

§22 ‘The stone that draws yellow fluid from a person with edema loses its 
power and is destroyed after it drains a person. 

§23 With the stone called ligia,*’ quicksilver is congealed and becomes a 
solid. 

§24 Ifyou place a spider's web upon one suffering from quartan fever, it heals 
them in in a short time. If you mix beetles with that web, the afflicted will be 
healed completely. 

§25 Snakes and adders flee when they hear the cry of an ostrich. 

§26 When you mix <...> with silver extracted and purified from bronze and 
with these you strike the dwellings of birds, the birds will be paralyzed and 
easily captured. 

§27 If you touch any meat with the forehead of a sea hare, it will be totally 
curdled into small lumps as if it had been ground up. If gold is placed in mouse 
droppings, it will be burned as if with lead. When it is thus burned and ren- 
dered to dust, if you place it in cat excrement, it will retransform and return to 
its pristine state. When gold is mixed with any [221] matter, it is wasted. Only 
melting gold with marcasite and sulfur purifies and refines it. 

§28 Malachite softens gold. If you melt it with gold, it prevents the gold’s 
combustion. If you place borax with it, its effect will be better. If gold is 
quenched in the sap of henna leaves, it will be subject to change many times in 
succession, losing its initial imperfection. Salt increases its redness. When you 
place silver over the smoke of sulfur, it will turn black. When you place it in 
salt, it loses that blackness and becomes white. 

§29 Sal ammoniac has the property of drawing out all the moisture from 
every body, inside and out. Niter cleanses all bodies from their moisture and 
clears their surfaces. If you mix lapis lazuli with gold, the gold is enhanced in its 
beauty and clarity. If you place it over a fire, the lapis lazuli is burned away and 
disappears. It is also given for illnesses of the eyes. When marcasite is burned in 
sulfur, it enters into the Great Work.** From this comes the Great Work’s raw 
material. Magnesium has a mix of lead in its body, and without it, glasswork 
could not be performed. Calamine tints red bronze golden and also draws mois- 
ture away from the eyes and cures them of every moist illness. White calamine 


266 PICATRIX 


is best of all. When you rub your teeth and gums with crystal dust, the teeth are 
strengthened, and the gums are freed from corrosion. 

§30 ‘The ash from burned sea crabs removes eye pain and fortifies sight. If a 
dog eats the spleen of a camel, it will die immediately. If you place the feces of 
a dog that ate bones upon an abscess of the throat, it dissolves the abscess, 
which will be healed at once. If you place the shell of a female tortoise over a 
pot, the pot will never boil. 

$31 There are two kinds of milkvetch plant, that is, male and female. If you 
give 5 oz. to drink of the female plant to a woman, she will have a great appetite 
for sex with a man. A man will do likewise if you give him just as much of 
the male plant in drink or food. He will be highly irritated and unable to 
escape the irritation until you give him 2 oz. of oxide of bronze in a drink. If 
you give the flower of that plant to anyone in wine, they will sleep for three 
days. If you wish to awaken this person, give them hot water with olive oil to 
drink. If the leaves of this plant are ground up and distempered with sulfur 
water, it would heal wounds in a single day if placed upon them. 

§32 Ifa snake or a scorpion is bound with the skin of this plant, it will die 
immediately. [222] 

$33 Salt is good for the stings of scorpions, wasps, or snakes. Purslane eaten 
on consecutive days restricts the blood and immediately heals a sting by chew- 
ing it raw or cooked. 

§34 Ifaram encounters a lion, it will at once die a natural death right there. 
§35 A tarantula dies when it encounters a scorpion, and a snake dies when 
it encounters an owl. 

$36 If someone takes a steel or a carnelian ring on which they write these 
twenty-six figures and wear it on their finger when visiting aking or nobleman, 
they will be well received in the best possible way. Whatever is sought from this 
king or nobleman will be accomplished with effect. Pay very close attention 
that you make no mistake in any way in these figures, for if anything is lacking 
in them, nothing will arise from the effect. This is one among the miracles of 
this art. These are the figures: 


Moreover, these figures have been found in the book of Queen Cleopatra. 
$37 If you put this ring on a tarantula bite and afterward wash it with human 
spit, at once, it will be healed. If you rub a tarantula bite with the leaves of an 


BOOK 4 267 


herb called yembut,” one side after another, it will be healed immediately. Tar 
mixed with salt heals a snake wound. If a man anoints his penis with tar and 
has sex with a woman, she will not conceive. Eating hazelnuts heals the sting of 
a tarantula. As long as someone carries hazelnuts, they will not be harmed by 
a tarantula’s sting. If someone is bitten by a rabid dog and places chewed up 
bitter almonds upon the wound and eats some of them, they will be freed from 
the bite. If you place the herb called southern wormwood upon an adder’s 
sting, it will be healed instantly. If the sap is sprinkled throughout a dwelling, 
fleas will go mad; if they fall into this sap, they will die. 

§38 If you burn up tarantulas, mix their ash with bread, and give it to one 
suffering from a stone-related ailment, the stone will be shattered, and they 
will be healed. Flour of the seed of the herb called vetch mixed with milk heals 
a rabid dog’s bite, if placed upon it. 


Chapter 9 


On the Images with Wondrous Powers That Were Discovered in a Book 
Found in the Church of Cordoba and in the Book of Queen Cleopatra; 
It Mentions Some Necessary Rules in the Use of Images 


§1 Inthe book discovered in Queen Cleopatra’s chamber, we found compos- 
ite images that would produce wondrous effects and miraculous works by 
means of their properties and [223] powers. We here propose to mention these 
images in order that this science may lack nothing. 

For healing reptile bites. Take shade-dried kite gall, mix a little fennel juice 
with it, and place it in a glass container. This powder applied to the eyes cures 
and heals them from the bites of tarantulas, vipers, wasps, snakes, and other 
reptiles. If the bite were on the right, place this powder on the left. If the bite 
were on the left, place the powder on the right. When you wish to do this, add 
alittle water, and repeat three times. 

§2 That snakes may exit from their holes. Take a shard of glass and shavings 
of yellow bronze. Pour them into a crucible, and add to them red arsenic and 
red magnesium. Next, remove them from the fire, and make small pieces. Then 
take the head ofa kite and its bones (find this kite in Egypt), and mix them with 
black galbanum. Melt those things over a fire, and add that second medicine. 
When this is done, remove it from the fire. Make out of it a “sistrum,” which we 
calla rattle, and place in it a grain of diamond found in Egypt. Once you have 
done this, rattle it at the mouths of the holes of adders, serpents, and other 
reptiles. Those among the serpents who hear this rattling sistrum will flee their 


268 PICATRIX 


holes immediately without posing any danger to the individual using the sis- 
trum. One property of this bird (that is, the kite) is that when it calls and snakes 
hear it, they flee their holes and are killed by its voice. 

§3 For gathering mice. Take the sap of white grape leaves, squill sap, borax, 
henbane, and red Indian calamine. The borax and calamine must be powdered 
and mixed with the aforementioned juices. From these, make tablets the size of 
a chickpea, and let them dry in the shade. When you wish gather mice, place 
one of these tablets upon the coals of a fire. When the mice perceive the smoke, 
all will assemble there. Do with them what you wish. 

§4 For gathering fish into one place. Take millet, and set it to rot. Once rot- 
ten, mix it with tallow, pulverized beans, and cattle blood. Mix them well until 
rendered to a single substance. Next, put the substance into a reed, and thread 
the reed with hemp string. Then toss the reed into a place where there are fish. 
All the fish dwelling there will assemble around that reed, and you will be able 
to catch them with nets as you wish. [224] 

§5 For catching birds sleeping in trees. Take equal parts of land tortoise fat, 
lily seeds, sweet myrrh, and gypsophila. Pulverize and grind them together 
well. Make a lump out of them with donkey urine, and make tablets the size of 
a chickpea, which you should let dry in the shade. When it is time to work, take 
a lidded earthenware pot filled with burning coals, and toss in one of these 
tablets to suffumigate the area where the birds are. Plug your nostrils with silk 
lest you inhale the smoke. All birds who ingest this smoke will fall to the 
ground as if dead. Take them as you wish. If you wish to heal them, wash their 
feet with hot water, and they will be free. 

§6 For the same. Take mandrake and ammonia. Blend them with fresh hem- 
lock sap. Then make tablets from this, and allow them to dry. Make a suffumi- 
gation from these under trees where there are birds. Do this while the weather 
is calm and without wind. All birds who inhale the smoke will fall to the 
ground as if dead. 

§7 For sharpening vision. Make a crown out of the branches of a tree named 
catlam, which I reckon is sorbus, and place it on your head. While wearing it, 
your vision will be strengthened such that you will be able to see the smallest 
thing from far away. When you take it off your head, your vision will return to 
its original state. By anointing with the sap of this tree’s leaves mixed with wine 
vinegar, scabies will be healed immediately. 

§8 To prevent intoxication. Make a container out of brass as thin as you can, 
then take equal parts of wine vinegar (distilled through an alembic), cabbage 
juice, and sedge sap. Mix everything together. Once this is done, dip the con- 
tainer into this mixture many times until you have a pound of it. Then raise 
this container. When you wish to drink, however, anoint this container with 


BOOK 4 269 


the oil of bitter almonds, drink as much as you desire, and you will never be 
intoxicated. 

§9 ‘That flies not approach the dinner table. Take fresh wolfsbane, yellow 
orpiment, and basket-dried earth. Grind everything to a fine powder, and mix 
it with squill sap. Cover this in oil, and also anoint your own hands with the oil. 
Make an image in the shape of a fly with the aforesaid mixture, and place it 
upon the table. As long as it stays there, no fly will remain. 

$10 For expelling snakes and reptiles. Take the skin of a leopard, which is 
tanned and softened into a hide. From it make a blanket. No venomous crea- 
ture will abide there. 

$11 For evading adders. Take round birthwort, and mix it with the meat of a 
racanus, which isa large green lizard. [225] Grind these together very thoroughly, 
and add to them lion gall. Make tablets from this. When you wish to use them, 
distemper one of these pills with water from sal ammoniac. With it write what- 
ever you want on paper or parchment. Then wrap itin acloth. Whoever carries 
this cloth will evade all adders. If any adder touches this cloth, it will die 
immediately. 

§12 That vapors may rise like fire. Take the root of an herb called common 
corn-cockle (this herb shines at night as if it were a candle).*° Grind this root 
very thoroughly with stag brain and ox gall. Make capsules out of this. If you 
place one of these into a dung fire, wondrous smoke will arise that will redden 
the entire sky, and vapors will rise that appear like a fire’s flames. All who 
behold this will be afraid. This must not be performed except in cloudy and 
dense weather. 

$13 If this light is before you, you will see nothing; if behind you, you will see 
everything in the house. Take dolphin fat, and anoint a wick thoroughly with 
ground arsenic and verdigris. Then put the fat in a bronze crucible, and place 
that wick in it. Set it alight, and it should make light that if someone holds it in 
their hands, they will see nothing; anyone holding it behind themselves will 
see everything that is in the house. 

§14 That a woman may not conceive. Make the image of a monkey out of 
bronze, perforate its spine, and fill it with scammony. When you want to have sex 
with a woman, bind this image to your legs, and the woman will not conceive. 
§15 That dogs may not bark at you. Take well-ground mandrake root, and 
blend it with the milk ofa female dog. With these, make the image of a dog, and 
carry it with you. Dogs will not bark at you, but rather, they will flee. 

§16 That iron may be turned into water. Take equal parts of the herb called 
camesir,” squill, and the husk of green pomegranates. Grind everything up, 
mix, and temper with white vinegar. Then distill through an alembic. Quench 
the iron many times in the vinegar, and it will be converted into water. Let it 


270 PICATRIX 


stand for an hour and a half, then drain the vinegar. You will find the iron 
shining, flowing, and pooling together. 

§17_ That a cloth may be burned without fire. Take golden marcasite, grind it 
up very thoroughly, and mix it with the strongest wine vinegar. Make it trickle 
down through an alembic into a glass container, and place it under a dung 
heap, leaving it there for fourteen days. Afterward, remove it, and put it in 
wheat chaff for the same number of days. Then take it out, and anoint whatever 
cloth you want with it. That cloth will burn as if on fire. 

§18 Water that burns and appears entirely red. Take Cyprian blue vitriol,” 
roast it in a well-heated oven, and leave it there for one night. [226] The next 
morning, take it out, and you will find it completely red. If you do not, let it 
remain there for another night until it becomes red. Once red, take it out. 
Grind it very well, and sprinkle upon it distilled wine vinegar (five times as 
much as there was of the blue vitriol). Next, place it in a glass container, and 
leave it there for three days, mixing it three times per day. Then put it to boil, 
and froth very well. A reddish water like the color of ruby will emerge. Put this 
water in a crucible with a lit wick. This water will burn. From its light an entire 
house will appear red in color (that is, in the color of ruby). The entire house 
will shine like a ruby. 

§i9 For making green tarantulas whose stings kill. When you want to do this, 
fast for the entire day until nighttime. At night, take some of the herb called 
forest basil, mash it up well, and put that mash in a glass tube whose opening 
you will seal very thoroughly. Place it in a dark house where neither the Sun 
nor any other light shines. There, allow it to sit for forty days. Afterward, 
remove it. In it you will find green tarantulas that if they bite anyone, that 
person will die. These tarantulas have a property: if you place them in olive oil 
in the Sun and let them sit there for twenty-one days (or some such a span of 
time), they die and dissolve in the oil. If you anoint tarantula bites with that oil, 
they will heal. If a drop of it falls upon a tarantula, it will die instantly. 

§20 For making red snakes. Take the web of large spiders, and place it with 
donkey milk into a glass tube. Let them sit there for three days, after which 
have them removed. Add tortoise fat, and grind those things very well until 
they have turned to the consistency of brains. Place everything in a red linen 
cloth, and buryit in manure for seven days. After this, you will find a red snake. 
If you place it around frogs or spiders, the serpent will take the form of a 
dragon, for the tarantulas in the land of Egypt are inimical to the dragon. 
When they see dragons, they bite them and wound them to death. 

§21 For repelling bedbugs. Take one hair from the neck ofa virgin mare—take 
it when a stallion is joined to her for the first time. Next, make images of bed- 
bugs, as many as you can from the hair, laying them out in the shape of grape 


BOOK 4 271 


clusters. Afterward, take these clusters, and put them in a yellow bronze con- 
tainer. Seal its opening very well. Bury this in the middle of the house. Bedbugs 
will never enter that house as long as these things remain there. 

§22 ‘That light may destroy whatever wood you want. Take seadog fat, mix it 
with laurel oil, soap, and a little sulfur until [227] they are blended. If you smear 
the mixture on any wood you wish, a light will set ablaze like a candle. It will 
not be extinguished until the wood is consumed. This operation is among the 
ones done in Antioch. 

§23 For repelling wolves and all harmful animals. Do this ritual with a drum 
specially made for it, crafted thus: take a sea urchin, decapitate it, and remove 
some of its spines. Skin it. Prepare and anoint the skin as done with other 
hides. Afterward, take the hide, and stretch it very well over a drum or a bronze 
naker. Set it aside for use. When you wish to repel the aforementioned beasts, 
strike the drum or naker at night since all harmful beasts will flee at its sound, 
and all reptiles hearing it will die. 

§24 To remove frogs from cisterns. Take crocodile fat, and mix it with wax. 
Make candles from this with a wick. Burn the candle wherever you want. The 
croaking of frogs will be totally muted. 

§25 The capture of tarantulas. Take chastetree and white thistle; shake them 
together thoroughly. Add red galbanum and a very well-ground bezoar stone. 
Blend everything with blackberry juice. Make the image of a tarantula from 
this mass. Make capsules from the residue of the preparations, and dry them 
out in the shade. Afterward, place the image before yourself, and toss some of 
those capsules in a fire for suffumigating. All the tarantulas there will gather 
together before the image. I believe that in this ritual, it is the power of the 
suffumigation that has a greater influence than the image. 

§26 We have taken all the aforesaid images and mixtures from the Chaldean 
Agriculture, which we have decided to put here so that this book of ours maybe 
more complete. You who intend to read this book should hold this as secretly 
as possible. Reveal it to none but the worthy, apt, and predisposed to this art. 
Those people are few in number. May you fail to reveal these secrets to anyone 
but yourself. 

§27 Always remember the rules and lessons that the wise Socrates taught to 
his disciples at the end of his life. 

First: Direct and order your natures that they may be congruent, in and of 
themselves, to a perfect understanding of the things pertaining to this art. 
With these you will gain the greatest benefit in magic. 

Second: Never reveal your secrets and holiness except to your own heart 
when circumstances are grim. Just as evil and tortuous times are set upon you 
through change, so too will change set forthright and good things upon you. 


272 PICATRIX 


Third: Do not ignore the things that happen to you after having been 
exposed to receiving augment and ascension, and do not think those things as 
trifles. [228] 

Fourth: Consult your friends, and build friendships bit-by-bit, in the way a 
child is reared. Do not reveal them your love and benevolence too suddenly but 
little by little. If your friends want something from you and get it all at once, 
their friendship will not last (rather, they will become enemies). 

Fifth: Avoid and flee from twisted and shameful things as much as possible. 
Excellence is degraded, and goodness is corrupted by these things. 

Sixth: Take care of your friends, and do not ask from them everything 
simply because it is justly yours. Heeding this rule, you maintain a good 
friendship. 

Seventh: Do not incessantly criticize your friends’ habits since you yourself 
will be criticized for similar things. 

Eighth: Do not respond to those who seek something from you with con- 
tempt, since in God’s eyes this is a distinct sign of the meager value of the 
goods granted to you by His grace. Fulfill the requests of the needy as much as 
possible while observing the expected customs. In doing so, give incessant 
thanks to God for putting you in such a station that you are able to provide for 
the needy. So long as this is the case, it proves that prosperity and an upright 
and praiseworthy intent belong to God. 

Ninth: Recognize and appreciate the value and nature of things for their 
strengths—in this your own value will be recognized. Others will esteem you 
in some way or another. 

The wise Socrates taught these precepts to his disciples at the end of his life. 
They are the useful fundamentals of magic. 

§28 Here, I shall explain the seven rules that Pythagoras approved. 

First: Balance burdens proportionally, and keep them in due order. 

Second: Rectify your friendships and loves—act so as to keep them healthy. 

Third: Do not set a fire in a green place cut bya blade. 

Fourth: Steer your desires and appetites— measure them correctly according 
to the weight of their consequences. Keep your body in good health. 

Fifth: Always spend time with the honest and fair; thus, the love and friend- 
ship of people toward you will increase. 

Sixth: Observe custom, and act according to the word of lords and judges 
while observing the necessities for maintaining life in the world. 

Seventh: Do not harm nor contaminate your spirit and body. Rather, pay 
respect to due temperance such that you can always act soberly at a time of 
necessity. 


BOOK 4 273 


§29 According to Plinio, these are the twenty-eight mansions of the Moon."* 
The first of these is for destroying and depopulating, and this mansion is called 
Alnath. While the Moon is wandering in this mansion, make the image of a 
black man wrapped and cloaked in a garment of hair, standing on his feet, with 
a spear in his right hand in the manner of a warrior. Make this image on [229] 
an iron ring, and suffumigate it with liquid storax. Make a seal with the ring in 
black wax while saying: “You, O Gertz, kill such-and-such son of such-and- 


1” 


such woman swiftly and soon; destroy them!” Once this process has been 
observed, what you desire shall be. Know that Griz is the name of the lord of 
that mansion. 

§30 ‘The second mansion is Albotayn, and it is for removing anger. When the 
Moon is travelling through this mansion, take white wax and mastic gum, and 
blend them together over a fire. Next, remove this mixture from the fire, and 
make from it the image of a crowned king. Suffumigate it with aloewood, 
and say: “You, O ENEDIL, cast away the anger of such-and-such from me, rec- 
oncile him toward me, and implement my requests toward him.” Keep the 
image with you, and what you desire will ensue. Know that ENEDIL is the name 
of the lord of this mansion. 

§31_ The third mansion is Azoraye (that is, the Pleiades), and it is for acquiring 
every good. When the Moon is in this mansion, make the figure of a seated 
woman holding her right hand above her head and dressed in clothes. Suffumi- 
gate it with musk, camphor, mastic gum, and aromatic hooves. Say: “O ANNUN- 
cia, do such-and-such”; then state whatever request toward the good you 
desire. Make this figure on a silver ring whose flat part should be square. Then 
place it on your finger. Once you have done these things in this manner, what 
you wish will ensue, and your request will be implemented with effect. Know 
that ANNUNCIA is the name of the lord of that mansion. 

§32 The fourth mansion is Aldebaran, and it is for creating enmity. When the 
Moon is crossing this mansion, take red wax, and make from it the image of a 
military man riding upon a horse, holding a snake in his right hand. Suffumi- 
gate this with red myrrh and storax. Say: “You, O AssAREZ, make it so for me, 
and fulfill my request,” then ask for animosity, division, and ill will from the 
pertinent people. Everything you have requested will happen. Know that 
ASSAREZ is the name of the lord of that mansion. 

§33 The fifth mansion is Almizen, and it allows you to be well received by 
kings and officials. When the Moon is crossing this mansion, make a silver sigil 
on which should be sculpted the head of a man without a body. Write on this 
head the name of the lord of this mansion, and write your request on the sigil— 
whatever it is. Then suffumigate it with sandalwood, and say: “You, O CABIL, 


274 PICATRIX 


make it so for me, and fulfill my request—namely, that kings and nobles should 
receive me well and in the best possible manner.” Once you have done this, 
carry that sigil around with you and your request will be fulfilled. When you 
wish to see something in your sleep at night, place this sigil under your head 
when you go to sleep, always contemplating your desire in mind. You will 
receive the answer you sought. Know that casit is the name of the lord of that 
mansion. 

§34 The sixth mansion is Achaya, and it is for creating love between two 
people. When the Moon is in this mansion, make two white wax images [230] 
embracing each other, and wrap them in a white silk cloth. Suffumigate them 
with aloewood and amber, and say: “You, O NEDEYRAHE, join such-and-such 
and such-and-such, and place between them friendship and love.” From this 
your desire will be accomplished. Know that NEDEYRAHE is the name of the 
lord of that mansion. 

§35 ‘The seventh mansion is Aldira, and it is for acquiring every good. When 
the Moon is crossing this mansion, make a silver sigil onto which you will 
sculpt the image of a man dressed in his clothes, stretching his hands toward 
the heavens in the manner of a man praying and supplicating. Write on his 
chest the name of this mansion’s lord. Suffumigate it with good-smelling 
things, and say: “You, O sieLy, do such-and-such a thing, and fulfill my 
request.” Request what you wish from among the things pertaining to the 
good. Carry the sigil around with you, and what you seek will ensue. Know 
that SELEHE is the name of the lord of that mansion. 

§36 ‘The eighth mansion is Annathra, and it is for acquiring victory. When 
the Moon is wandering through that mansion, make a tin image of a man with 
the face of an eagle. Write on his chest the name of this mansion’s lord. Suffu- 
migate it with sulfur, and say: “You, O ANNEDIEX, do sucha thing for me, and 
fulfill such a request for me.” Once you have made the image thus, hold it before 
an army. You will conquer and achieve victory. Know that ANNEDIEX is the 
name of the lord of that mansion. 

§37 The ninth mansion is Atarfa, and it is for causing sickness. When the 
Moon is crossing this mansion, make a lead image of a man without a penis, 
holding his hands over his eyes. Write on his neck the name of the lord of this 
mansion. Suffumigate with pine resin, and say: “You, O RAUBEL, make such- 
and-such, daughter of such-and-such, fall ill, or make her blood flow.” Ask for 
the one among these two you wish. What you choose will be fulfilled if you 
have done these things correctly. Know that RAUBEL is the name of the lord of 
this mansion. 

§38 ‘The tenth mansion is Algebha, and it is for healing the sick and making a 
woman give birth easily. When the Moon is travelling in this mansion, make a 


BOOK 4 275 


gold or brass image of a lion head. Write on it the name of this mansion’s lord. 
Suffumigate it with amber and say: “You, O AREDAFIR, lift the pains, sufferings, 
and illnesses from my body and the body of anyone who drinks or consumes 
the liquid in which this sigil has been washed.” Suffumigate it on any day, and 
give the sigil to the sick man to carry with him, or wash it in any liquid you will 
give to drink or ingest to the sick man or the woman feeling the pains of child- 
birth. Know that AREDAFIR is the name of the lord of that mansion. 

§39 The eleventh mansion is Azobra, and it is so that you may be feared and 
well-received. When the Moon is in this mansion, make the image of a man 
riding upon a lion on a golden tablet, holding a spear in his right hand and 
holding his left hand over [231] the ear of the lion. Write the name of this man- 
sion in a straight line on the image. Say: “You, O NECOL, grant me glory so that 
I may be feared by men and that everyone may tremble when beholding me. 
Placate the hearts of kings, lords, and noblemen, that they may receive me well 
and honor me.” Carry this tablet around, and what you have sought will be. 
Know that NEcOL is the name of the lord of that mansion. 

§40 ‘The twelfth mansion is Azarfa, and it is for separating two lovers from 
one another. When the Moon is crossing this mansion, make a black lead 
image of a dragon fighting with a man. Write the name of the lord of this man- 
sion in a straight line on that image. Suffumigate this with lion fur mixed with 
asafoetida, and say: “You, O aBp1zu, disjoin and separate such-and-such from 
such-and-such.” Bury this image in the place you want, and what you desire 
will be. Know that aspizu is the name of the lord of that mansion. 

§41 The thirteenth mansion is Alahue, and it is for relaxing a man who is 
unable to spend time with a woman and for putting love between man and 
woman. When the Moon is crossing this mansion, make a red wax image of a 
man with an erection and a white wax image of a woman. Join both of these 
images embracing one another, and suffumigate them with aloewood and 
amber. Wrap them in a white silk cloth after having bathed them in rosewater. 
Write on either image the name of that man whom you want. If a woman car- 
ries these images, she will appear very attractive to that man named on the 
image (that is, when he sees her). If anyone is under the effect ofa binding spell 
and is unable to spend time with a woman, he should carry these images. Thus, 
he will relax and able be to have sex with the woman. Know that AzERUT is the 
name of the lord of that mansion. 

§42 The fourteenth mansion is Azimech and is for separating man from 
woman. When the Moon is crossing this mansion, make a red bronze image of 
a dog catching its own tail in its mouth. Suffumigate this with dog and cat hair 
and say: “You, O ERDEGEL, disjoin and divide such-and-such a man from such- 
and-such a woman through enmity and ill will.” Name those persons you wish, 


276 PICATRIX 


and bury the image wherever you wish. Know that ERDEGEL is the name of the 
lord of that mansion. 

§43 The fifteenth mansion is Algafra, and it is for gaining friendship and 
goodwill. When the Moon is in that mansion, make an image out of enque* on 
which you should draw the figure of a seated man holding a paper in his hand 
as if he were reading it. Suffumigate it with incense and nutmeg, and say: “You, 
O ACHALICH, do such-and-such a thing for me, and fulfill such-and-such 
request for me.” Ask for those things that pertain to the joining of friendship, 
love, and also goodwill. Carry this image around. Know that ACHALICH is the 
name of the lord of that mansion. [232] 

§44 The sixteenth mansion is Azebene, and it is for profiting in business 
(namely, in buying and selling). When the Moon is wandering through this 
mansion, make the figure of a man sitting upon a throne and holding scales in 
his hands on a silver lamella. Suffumigate this with odorous things, and show 
itto the stars every night until the seventh night while saying: “You, O AZERUCH, 
do such-and-such a thing for me, and fulfill such-and-such a request for me.” 
Ask for things pertaining to the buying and selling of merchandise. Know that 
AZERUCH is the name of the lord of that mansion. 

§45 The seventeenth mansion is Alichil, and it is for preventing a thief from 
breaking into a house in order to steal anything therein. When the Moon is 
sitting in that mansion, make the image of a monkey on an iron sigil with his 
hand above his shoulder. Suffumigate it with the hairs of a monkey and the 
hairs of a female mouse, and wrap it in the monkey’s pelt. Afterward, bury it in 
your house, and say: “You, O aprigB, guard all my things and everything pres- 
ent in that house lest any thief enter it.” Once finished, no thief nor evil will be 
able to enter that house. Know that apriEB is the name of the lord of that 
mansion. 

§46 ‘The eighteenth mansion is Alcab, and it is for removing fever and abdom- 
inal pain. When the Moon is crossing this mansion, make a bronze image ofan 
adder holding its tail above its head. Suffumigate it with the horn ofa stag, and 
say: “You, O EGRIBEL, guard this house of mine so that neither adder nor any 
other harmful beast may enter it.” Place the image in a vase, and bury it under 
your house. Once finished, no serpent or any other harmful creature will be 
able to enter. If someone is suffering from a fever or abdominal pain, they 
should carry this image around. They will be healed immediately. Know that 
EGRIBEL is the name of the lord of this mansion. 

§47 ‘The nineteenth mansion is Axaula, and it is for prompting menstruation. 
When the Moon is crossing this mansion, make a sigil out of zinc (which is a 
kind of bronze) on which you will sculpt the shape of a woman holding her 
hand in front of her face. Suffumigate this with liquid storax, and say: “You, O 


BOOK 4 277 


ANNUCEL, make the blood of such-and-such a woman flow” while naming her 
name. Then what you request will ensue. Ifthe woman holds this image tied to 
her rear, she will give birth easily and without danger. Know that ANNUCEL is 
the name of the lord of that mansion. 

§48 ‘The twentieth mansion is Alnaym, and is for hunting on land. When the 
Moon is in this mansion, make on a tin tablet an image with the head and 
hands of a man, the body of a horse with four feet, having a tail, and holding a 
bow in his hands. Suffumigate this with fox hair, and say: “You, O QUEYHUC, 
grant me all the game of the land and that it comes to me immediately.” Carry- 
ing this image, you will easily catch all the venison of the land. Know that 
QUEYHUC is the name of the lord of that mansion. [233] 

§49 The twenty-first mansion is Albelda, and it is for destroying. When the 
Moon is crossing this mansion, make the image of a man with two faces, that 
is, one in front and the other facing backward. Suffumigate this with sulfur 
and carob, and say: “You, O BECTUE, desolate the place of such-and-such, and 
destroy him.” Place this image in a small bronze container. With it, place 
sulfur and carob and some hairs, and bury it wherever you desire. What you 
have asked for will ensue. Know that BECTUE is the name of the lord of that 
mansion. 

§50 The twenty-second mansion is <...> [Sadahaca, and it is for binding the 
tongues of men lest they curse you. When the Moon is in this mansion, make an 
iron ring on which the shape of a man with winged feet wearing a helmet on his 
head is sculpted. Suffumigate with quicksilver. Inscribe with this image made of 
iron for the safety of those fleeing. Say: “You, O GELIEL, bind the tongue of such- 
and-such lest they curse me, and make that they (named) may escape safely from 
their enemies.” Wear this ring when fleeing, and inscribe black wax with the 
ring when binding tongues. ]*° Know that GELIEL is the name of that mansion. 
§51 The twenty-third mansion is Zaadebola, and it is for destroying and 
devastating. When the Moon is crossing in that mansion, make an iron sigil in 
the image of a cat with a dog’s head. Suffumigate this with dog hair, and say: 
“You, O ZEQUEBIN, desolate such-and-such a place, destroy, and devastate it.” 
Show this sigil to the stars when this mansion is in the ascendant. On the sub- 
sequent night, bury the sigil in the place you wish to destroy. What you seek 
will happen. Know that zEQUEBIN is the name of the lord of that mansion. 

§52 The twenty-fourth mansion is Caadazod, and it is for increasing herds. 
When the Moon is in this mansion, take a well-cleaned and most suitable horn 
of a castrated ram. On it, make a figure of a woman holding and nursing her 
son in her arms. Suffumigate it with the stuff you have taken off the horn while 
cleaning it, and say: “You, O ABRINE, improve and guide the herd of such-and- 
such.” Then affix this image upon the neck of a ram in that herd. If you have 


278 PICATRIX 


done this for a herd of cows, make those things from a bovine horn, and affix it 
upon the neck of a bull. These herds will be increased, and mortality will not 
overcome them. Know that ABRINE is the name of the lord of that mansion. 
§53 The twenty-fifth mansion is Zaadalahbia, and it is for protecting vegeta- 
tion and harvests from unfortunate circumstances. When the Moon is in this 
mansion, make a fig wood sigil. On it, carve the likeness of a man planting 
trees. Suffumigate it with the flowers of these trees, and say: “You, O AZIEL, 
guard my harvests and my trees so that they may not be damaged or suffer any 
unfortunate circumstance.” Place this image with a tree in the place you want 
protected. As long as the image thus prepared remains there, no harm will 
occur there. Know that Aziz is the name of the lord of that mansion. 

§54 ‘The twenty-sixth mansion is the first Alfarg, and it is for generating love. 
When the Moon is sitting in this mansion, take white wax and mastic gum, 
and melt them together. From this make an image of a woman with her hair 
untied, holding before herself a container (as if she wanted to put her hair in it). 
Suffumigate this with odorous things, and say: “You, O TAGRIEL, draw me to 
the love and friendship of such-and-such a woman.” Place this [234] in a small 
container, and place with it some of the things that smell very good, and carry 
it around. What you have sought will be accomplished. Know that TAGRIEL is 
the name of the lord of that mansion. 

§55 ‘The twenty-seventh mansion is the latter Alfarg, and it is for destroying a 
bath. When the Moon is in it, take red soil from which you should make the 
image of a man with wings holding an empty and pierced vessel in his hands 
while raising it to his mouth. Afterward, place the whole thing over a fire until 
it is cooked. Then put into this vessel asafoetida and liquid storax, and say: 
“You, O ABLIEMEL, destroy such-and-such bath of such-and-such man,” and 
name the desired individual. Bury the image in the same bath. Thus, the bath 
will be cursed because none will come to it for bathing. Know that ABLIEMEL is 
the name of the lord of that mansion. 

§56 ‘The twenty-eighth mansion is Arrexe, and it is for gathering fish in one 
place. When the Moon is in this mansion, make a sigil out of zinc (which is a 
kind of bronze) on which you will sculpt the image of a fish with a colored 
spine. On its side, write the name of that mansion. Suffumigate it with the skin 
ofa sea fish, then bind it with string and throw it in water (namely, in the place 
where you want fish to gather). Thus, all the fish will gather in that area, and 
you will catch them at will. Know that ANux1 is the name of the lord of that 
mansion. 

§57 Know that on all these images you should write the name of the lord of 
the mansion and with it your request. In all those rituals toward the good (for 
assembling, uniting, generating friendship, and love), write on the chest of the 


BOOK 4 279 


image. In rituals that occur for disjoining, separating, generating enmities and 
ill will, write behind the shoulder blades (namely, on the spine of the image). 
All the rituals that occur for acquiring glory, honor, and social standing, write 
upon the head of the image. Thus it is finished. 

§58 The prayer of Saturn:*’ “QUERMIEX, TOS, HERUS, QUEMIS, DIUS, TAMINES, 
TAHYTOS, MACADER, QUEHINEN; SATURN! Come quickly with your spirits.” 
§59 ‘The prayer of Jupiter: “BETHNIEHUS, DARMEXIM, MACIEM, MAXAR, DERIX, 
TAHIX, TAYROS, DEHEYDEX, MEBGUEDEX; JUPITER, BARGIS! Come quickly with 
your spirits!” 

§60 ‘The prayer of Mars: “GUEBDEMIS, HEGNEYDIZ, GUEYDENUZ, MAGRAS, 
HERDEHUS, HEBDEGABDIS, MEHYRAS, DEHYDEMES; RED MARS, BAHARAM! 
Come quickly with your spirits!” 

§61 ‘The prayer of the Sun: “BEYDELUZ, DEMEYMES, ADULEX, METNEGAYN, 
ATMEFEX, NAQUIRUS, GADIX; SUN! Come quickly with your spirits.” 

§62 The prayer of Venus: “DEYDEX, GUEYLUS, MEYLUS, DEMERIX, ALBIMEX, 
CENTUS, ANGARAS, DEHETARIX; VENUS, NEYRGAT! Come quickly with your 
spirits.” [235] 

§63 The prayer of Mercury: “BARHUYEX, EMIREX, HAMERIX, SEHIX, DERYX, 
MEYER, DEHERIX, BAIX, FAURIX; scribe MERCURY! Come quickly with your 
spirits!” 

§64 ‘The prayer of the Moon: “GUERNUS, HEDUS, MARANUS, MILTAS, TAYMEX, 
RANIX, MEHYELUS, DEGAYUS; MOON! Come quickly with your spirits!” 

§65 “LEYEQUIN, LEYELGANE, LEYEQUIR, LEYEQUERICH, LEYERIC, LEYERUS, 
LEYEXERIS.” Write these names on a sleeve that you should burn. While it is 
aflame, read these names. From this, love and friendship will arise. 


