Book One, chapter 5

1Chapter 5: On examples of the relations of the sphere at the making of talismans

2Among them: (1) A talisman for the coming together of a lover with his beloved and the permanence of their affection. You make the likeness of the two of them in the hour of Jupiter, with the ascendant having the Head in it, and the Moon with Venus, applying to her or in conjunction with her, and the significator of the seventh applying to the significator of the ascendant by trine or sextile, an application of reception. Join the two of them embracing, and bury them in the place of the lover. This may also be made for a man who has been turned away from his family, when you want his return to them.

3(2) A talisman for the destruction of an enemy whom you wish to drive from his place: You make his likeness in the hour of Mars, with the Moon in Scorpio; and you make the ascendant unfortunate as far as you are able, and make its lord unfortunate also, and make the house of death unfortunate; and you put the lord of the ascendant in application to the lord of the house of death; and you make the lord of the ascendant unfortunate in the house of death, or it is in application to a malefic in the fourth or the seventh; and bury it upside down outside the city.

4(3) A talisman for the ruin of a land among the lands: You form an image at the ascendant of that city, and make unfortunate the house of its life and the house of its death, and the lord of the ascendant, and the Moon, and the lord of the house of the Moon, and the lord of the house of the lord of the ascendant; and you make the tenth and its lord unfortunate; and bury it in the middle of the city.

5(4) A talisman for the improvement of a city or a place: You make a talisman with a fortunate ascendant; and make fortunate the tenth and its lord, and the second and the eighth; and make fortunate the lord of the ascendant and the lord of the house of the lord of the ascendant; and make fortunate the Moon and the lord of the house of the Moon; and bury it in the middle of the city: you will see a wonder.

6(5) A talisman for the ruin of a city or a place among places: Its making is in the hour of Saturn, it being malefic; and you make unfortunate the ascendant of the land and its lord and the lord of the house of the lord of the ascendant; and you make the benefics absent from the ascendant and from the lord of the ascendant, and make the benefics fall away from the trines of the ascendant and from the angles; and it is buried in the middle of the city.

7(6) A talisman for the increase of wealth and trade: You make an image after you have made fortunate the ascendant and the tenth, and their lord and the lord of their house, and the Moon and its lord, and the lord of the ascendant; and you make fortunate the second and its lord; and you put the significator of the second in application to the significator of the ascendant from trine or sextile, with reception between them; and you make fortunate the second, and put the Lot of Fortune in the ascendant or the tenth, in application to the lord of the Lot, and the lord of the Lot of Wealth aspecting the Lot of Wealth; and you make fortunate the eleventh and its lord. For the one who holds this image will be the richest of God's creation, and everything he attempts, of trade or otherwise, will be made easy for him, and he will gain wealth in all his movements.

8(7) A talisman for appointment to a high office: You make a talisman after you have made fortunate the ascendant and the tenth and its lord, and made the malefics absent from the ascendant and its lord; and you make the lord of the eleventh a fortunate planet aspecting the ascendant and the lord of the ascendant; and you put the lord of the tenth in application to the lord of the ascendant with an application of affection, it receiving it with complete reception. And the one for whom it is made keeps this image with him, and sets out to meet the one from whom the office is sought; for he will put no one before his [the bearer's] prominence and his independence in his judgment [sense uncertain].

9(8) A talisman for the inclination of the ruler towards whomever you wish, and the raising of his rank: You make an image in his name; and make the ascendant fortunate with a strong benefic, and let the benefic be neither retrograde nor cadent nor combust; and let the lord of the ascendant be strong, in good condition, direct in motion, in its dignities; and let the lord of the tenth be in application to the lord of the ascendant from trine or sextile, it making it fortunate; and let the lord of the tenth be the one applying to the lord of the ascendant with an application of reception, and the lord of the ascendant be in the commanding signs and the lord of the tenth in the obeying signs. The one who holds this image on his person will not meet a man of authority whom he has in mind without his inclining to him and raising his rank.

10(9) A talisman for a slave who wishes to win the affection of his master: You make two talismans, one of them in the hour of a superior planet, with the ascendant superior, the Moon increasing in light and brightness, and the Head with the ascendant or in one of the angles; and the second in the hour of an inferior planet, with the ascendant the tenth from the first ascendant, and the Tail in the ascendant or in one of the angles. Then make the two embrace and bury them in the place of the one whose affection is sought, for he will turn to him wholly and fulfil all his needs.

11(10) A talisman for one who desired a marriage and was refused [pronoun ambiguous: 'it' or 'by him/her']: You make two figures, one of them in the hour of Jupiter with the ascendant Virgo, the Moon increasing in light, in one of the angles; and the second in the hour of Venus, Venus aspecting Jupiter, and Saturn and Bahrām cadent from the ascendant. And let the ascendant be the seventh from the first figure, and its significator applying to the significator of the first ascendant from the position of its triplicity. Then make the two embrace and bury them in the place of the seeker.

12(11) A talisman to hinder a man who seeks to take a wife over a woman: You make a talisman with the ascendant Leo and in the hour of the Sun, and another with the ascendant Cancer and in the hour of the Moon, the Moon increasing in light, swift in course, applying. Then join the two and bury them in the hour of Venus, for he will never take a wife over her.

13(12) A talisman to bring out the prisoner: You make it in the hour of the Moon, she being increasing in light, free of the malefics, void of course, and you bury it in the tenth of the ascendant of the city, with the face of the image toward the house of the imām.

14(13) A talisman for victory over an enemy whose destruction you desire: You make two images, one of them with the ascendant Leo and in the hour of the Sun, the Moon being cadent; and the other with the ascendant Cancer and in the hour of Bahrām, he being cadent, and the Moon likewise. And make the first image take vengeance on the second with whatever kinds of vengeance you wish, and bury them in the hour of Mars, with the ascendant Aries in its first face. Then seek his destruction by every means you wish, and you will destroy him within the hour.

15(14) A talisman for the governor of a town whose subjects have rebelled against him, so that they become content with him: You make two talismans, one of them in the hour of Jupiter, the Moon applying to the Sun from a praiseworthy figure, sound, free of the malefics; and put the Head of the Jawzahar in the ascendant, or [let it] aspect the ascendant. And the second with the ascendant the fifth from the first and in the hour of Venus, and let her be with the Jawzahar or aspect it, the Moon free of the malefics. Then bury the two with a fixed ascendant and in the hour of Saturn, for the subjects will return to him all together and love him with the utmost love.

16(15) A talisman to keep whomever you wish in his town: You make a talisman with the ascendant of his question, Saturn and the Head being in one of the angles of the ascendant in it, and you bury it in the middle of the city upside down, the ascendant being fixed; for he will not leave that city so long as the talisman is buried.

17(16) A talisman to banish a man from his town that very day: You make an image with the ascendant movable [sign], with its significator cadent from the angles and the Moon cadent from the angles; and bury it in the section of the combust way, and turn the face of the statue towards the place to which you wish to exile him.

18(17) A talisman for the coming together of two persons and their affection

19You make two talismans, one of them with the ascendant of his question; and you make the ascendant and the tenth fortunate, and remove the malefics from the ascendant, and make the lord of the eleventh a fortunate planet applying to the lord of the ascendant from trine or sextile, receiving it.

20And I remind you here of what you must know, namely that the cause of the aspect of sextile and trine ‹being› an aspect of affection and an aspect of agreement and likeness is that the aspect of trine is from a fiery sign to a fiery sign, and earthy to earthy, and airy to airy, and watery to watery; therefore it became an aspect of friendship and affection.

21And the aspect of sextile is from fiery to airy and from earthy to watery; so since they agreed in the active [qualities] and not the passive, that was an aspect of friendship short of affection. And the aspect of square is watery to fiery and airy to earthy; so since they differed entirely in nature, the aspect of square became an aspect of distance and mutual hatred, because of the contrariety of their two natures. And we return to our discussion, and I say:

22And you make the second talisman, if he is a friend, with the ascendant of the eleventh, and if a husband or wife, with the ascendant of the seventh; and you make the significator of the ascendant of the one whose sympathy you wish to win applying to the lord of the first, with reception between them; and bury the two together in the place of the one seeking affection, for they will be joined in affection and will not separate.

23(18) A talisman for separation and enmity

24You make an image with the ascendant Libra, and you make the ascendant unfortunate with a strong malefic, and make the tenth unfortunate with a strong malefic also, and make the lord of the ascendant and the lord of the tenth unfortunate from opposition or square, and let there be no reception between them; and you make the benefics fall away from it and from the ascendant and from the tenth; and bury the two [images] in the dwelling of one of the two [persons] with a fixed ascendant made unfortunate by the Tail or by a strong malefic; for they will separate and not come together, because of a great loathing that will be between them.

25(19) A talisman for the sultan's destroying the one who serves him

26You make an image according to the relation that preceded this talisman, and make the lord of the ascendant separating from the lord of the tenth, while it is made unfortunate by it, and applying to the lord of the house of death, which also makes it unfortunate, from opposition or square; and bury it likewise with a fixed ascendant made unfortunate; for he will kill his servant in every case and by every means.

27(20) A talisman for affection and submission

28You make two talismans with the ascendant of Venus in the first face of Cancer and of the Moon in the first face of Taurus; and let Venus be in the ascendant and the Moon in the eleventh; then they are made embracing each other and are buried in the place of one of the two; for this is lasting love and intense affection. This relation is known as the relation of exchange; Ptolemy alluded to it in the Book of the Fruit, in the thirty-third saying; so look at it, and I shall explain it to you in Book Four.

29(21) A talisman for lasting love also

30You make two talismans with a fortunate ascendant, and the Moon in Taurus, and likewise Venus in it also; and you draw on the first image two hundred and twenty in number alifs or zeros, and on the second two hundred and eighty-four, likewise alifs or zeros. Then you make the two embrace and bury them in the place of one of the two; so there is lasting love, and mutual affection grows strong between the two. This talisman is known as the talisman of the amicable numbers.

31(22) A talisman for catching fish

32You make an image of a fish, in the image of whatever kind of fish there is in that river, with the ascendant Pisces and Jupiter in it, and the hour belonging to Venus. The first thing you make of it is its head, then its body, then its tail; then you assemble them at the [same] time.

33And you make for it a thin rod of silver, at whose end the fish is held, and you make a vessel of lead in which you set the rod upright with the fish at its end. You fill the vessel with water and close [the lid] upon the vessel, with the water and the talisman inside it, and seal the mouth of the vessel with a firm sealing so that nothing of the water comes out; and you throw the vessel to the bottom of that river. For the fish will come from every direction to that talisman.

34(23) A talisman for banishing scorpions

35You make an image of a scorpion of gold, with ⟨the Moon in⟩ the ascendant ⟨or⟩ one of the angles, such as Taurus or Aquarius or Leo, and the best of them is Leo, because of the contrariety of its nature to the nature of scorpions. The Sun is to be in Leo, the hour belonging to the Sun, and Saturn retrograde. You make first the tail, then the two legs, then the two hands, then the head last; understand this reversal in banishing.

36When you have finished, you fit the left hand and the left leg in the place of the right, and the right in the place of the left, and you fit the head in its place, and likewise the tail. And you make the sting; then you set it turned over on its back, with the sting stuck into its back, having stung itself in its head. Then bury it inside a pierced mineral stone, and bury that in the highest place in the city; for the scorpions will flee from that talisman forty-five miles.

37(24) A talisman for the sting of scorpions

38You engrave the image of a scorpion on a bezel of bezoar in the hour of the Moon, with the Moon in Scorpio at the beginning of its ⟨second⟩ face, and the ascendant Leo or Taurus or Aquarius. It is set in a ring of gold, and with it one stamps chewed frankincense at the prescribed hour, with the Moon in Scorpio; and you give the stung person a stamp of it to drink, and he is cured of his pain.

39(25) A talisman for the concord of men with women

40You make a talisman in the image of a slave-girl, of a cold, dry metal, with the ascendant Virgo and Mercury in it, ascending to the summit of its apogee, having mastery of its governance; and you begin in the hour of Mercury [and continue] until it passes. Seek the help of craftsmen. And make another in the shape of a man, with Mercury in Virgo, having returned to it, or [in] Gemini.

41And beware of the ascendants differing, lest Mercury be in Virgo and the ascendant Gemini, or in Gemini and the ascendant Virgo. Make the two images embrace, and put the hands of each image on the back of its companion; and the whole work is in the hour of Mercury. And beware of the two ascendants Gemini or Virgo. Bind the two with something of their kind and bury them in the most frequented road in the city; for the women and the men will come into concord. And likewise you make one figure with another figure and bury it in a place to which the two [persons] come.

42(26) A talisman for catching fish, also

43I found it [belonging] to Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī, in an epistle of his; he had mentioned it and claimed that he had tested it. You cast the image of a fish at the ascendant of the first face of Pisces, with the Moon and Mercury in it, and the hour belonging to the Moon; and it is held at the time of fishing, for it aids the act with a great aid.

44(27) A talisman for drawing the world to the place of treatment

45This talisman physicians ought to make. You engrave on a plate of tin the image of a man seated, with the instruments of medicine before him, and people standing with flasks of water, consulting him; and the whole engraving is done with the ascendant one of the two domiciles of Venus, with Mars in it, and the Head of the Jawzahr in midheaven. And this plate is placed, nailed, in the place that is kept to, and you will see a wonder.

46(28) A talisman for plantings and tillage

47You depict on a plate of silver a man seated among crops and plantings, the ascendant being Taurus and the Moon in the ascendant, in separation from the Sun and in application to Saturn; and bury it in the place you wish, for everything that is sown in it will thrive and its benefit will come quickly, and nothing will come near it of vermin, cold, birds and other such things that harm it.

48(29) A talisman for trade

49Depict the image of a man with a balance in his hand on a plate of brass, the ascendant being one of the two domiciles of Mars, with the Moon in it; whoever holds it will see great good in his trade.

50(30) A talisman for stones

51You engrave on a plate of gold the image of a lion with a stone before him, as though he were playing with it, the hour belonging to the Sun and the ascendant the first of the middle face of Leo, with the Sun in that degree; for the one suffering from stones, when he holds it, the pain of the stones leaves him. And this is tested.

52(31) A talisman for repelling melancholic diseases and for making firm the health of whomever you wish to be healthy, so that it comes to the utmost excellence and firmness; and it repels the assault of operations

53It is made in the hour of Venus, with the Moon in one of the angles of the ascendant, in application to Venus, and the lord of the sixth in trine of a benefic or opposition of a benefic, and the lord of the eighth in square of Mercury, and Mercury not retrograde or combust or aspecting a malefic; and it is worked in the last hour of Sunday, with the lord of the hour in the tenth from the ascendant; and let it be of pure silver, for it repels what we have mentioned, altogether.

54The meaning of talismans is that they be built upon the celestial bodies; when that is so, no one can undo them. And among their conditions is that you make none of the talismans of love and affection except with the Moon with the benefics and on the full days, and that you make none of them with the Moon with the malefics, nor when it is empty. An example of that is that you make [the works of] affection and love and meeting kings on the day of the Moon, and [the Moon] be full, and it is in Sagittarius or in Taurus or in Cancer or in Pisces; and if the Jawzahr is with it, its action is strong. And always watch for the Moon's lodging in the fortunate mansion, and avoid it [pronoun ambiguous: the operation, or the Moon] when it is in the unfortunate [one]. And make love also when the Moon is with Venus, and also in the hour of Jupiter while it is in Pisces or Sagittarius or Cancer and the Moon is with it. And make evil when the Moon is in an unfortunate mansion with unfortunate planets, or square to them, or in opposition, and it is with the Tail: then you will succeed. And the actions of the night are better than the actions of the day.

55And among their conditions, without which nothing of them is completed, is that the operator gather his aspiration in his work and make his resolve sound, so that the powers of the soul may be bound for him to the powers of the sphere. And Plato spoke well in his saying in the Book of Sections: When speech agrees with the intention of the speaker, it moves the intention of the hearer, and conversely. And this is the principle on which [the matter] is built in the joining of intention with prayer and humility before the First Principle, in seeking something hoped for, among the masters of prayer.

56And among its conditions is that he conceal himself from human beings and from their sight, and from the rising of the disc of the Sun and its light, and that no one look upon it except one sound of resolve, trustworthy in companionship, neither negligent nor contemptuous of all the works that issue from the spiritual powers (rūḥāniyyāt) of the sphere … dazzling, overpowering this world. So know that, and verify what Thābit ibn Qurra set down in his Treatise on Talismans: The most exalted [part] of the science of the stars is the science of talismans.

57And he claimed that there is no life for a body in which there is no spirit; and by that he meant only the talismans made outside their proportions intended for them, so that they are not receptive of the spreading of the spiritual powers of the planets; and they are therefore like dead bodies that have no spirit. And when they receive the spiritual powers of the sphere through their placing and their making according to the true celestial proportions agreeing with the thing sought, they are like living bodies that perform wondrous actions.

58And Aristotle also said, in a treatise of his, that the best thing on which a talisman is impressed is the action of the seven wandering [planets], and the highest and most lasting of them is that which, when a benefic is in opposition to it, helps in bringing down its spiritual power to the earth from the sphere. Then he said: And perhaps there is among the divine names that which, when the spiritual powers are drawn by it, they sink downward and fall descending; and perhaps they kill the one who draws them down, if he is not knowing of the nature of the spiritual power of the planets drawn down.

59And of this kind is the allusion of the masters of Sufism to the Greatest Name, which, according to them, changes things from what they are, and by uttering it they produce marvellous effects in the world; and the majority of the Sufis, I mean their common people, hold a belief contrary to this. And we had composed an epistle on it, in which we brought together all their sayings.

60And I return to the words of Aristotle: Then he said: And in magical incantations, though they do not go beyond the circle of the earth, there is what approaches this matter in drawing down what is drawn down; but incantations do not reach that in their action unless the hope is attached to the Greatest God, for He moves them, commanded, returning to matter, and directs them to the point of the earth. This is the text of his words, and it will come to you in its entirety in the fourth ‹Book› of this book of ours.

61The people of this matter have all agreed that speech over the talismans that are made for some specific purpose, together with the invocation, [works] towards the reception of the influence. Of this is what Timaeus the sage said: that speech over talismans stands in the place of the spirit for the body, and that it is a mover of the powers of the spiritual power (rūḥāniyya), above all when the one who speaks over them is collected and speaks with soundness of his intention; for that is the noble element by which all talismans are completed. And the meaning of speech here is that one speak what accords with the meaning employed, and according to the measure of what has been prepared for the maker in his soul of a power that is particular to him in his mind and runs through his thought.

62An example of that is that this be said over talismans of love and affection: "I have joined So-and-so and So-and-so together as fire, air, water and earth are joined together; and I have moved the spiritual power of So-and-so as the ray of the Sun moves the light of the world and its powers; and I have adorned So-and-so in the eye of So-and-so as the sky is adorned with its stars and the plants with their blossoms; and I have made his spiritual power high above the spiritual power of So-and-so, as fire rises above air and water above earth; and So-and-so shall not eat, nor drink, nor take pleasure, nor be merry except in the presence of So-and-so."

63And if you make enmity and separation, say: "I have cut off and separated So-and-so and So-and-so by the power of these spiritual spirits, as light is parted from darkness, and I have set enmity between them like the enmity of water and fire." And if you make the binding of desire and its motions, say: "I have bound the spiritual power of the desire of So-and-so from So-and-so [fem.] or from all women, and I have seized it by the power of these spiritual spirits, as the mountains and their rocks are bound."

64And if you make a loosing, say: "I have released and loosed the knots of the spiritual power of the desire that was bound for So-and-so from So-and-so [fem.] or from all women, by the power of these spiritual spirits, as fire loosens wax and as the shining Sun releases the darkness of the world and its [pronoun ambiguous: the world's or the darkness's] spirits; and I have melted it as snow melts by the Sun." And if you make something by which you cut off people's tongues from you or from another, say: "I have drawn over So-and-so the veil of the shining light, and I have cut off people's tongues from him, and I have let down over their eyes a spiritual veil repelling their evil looks, cutting off their tongues and their harmful intentions."

65And if you make the tearing of a person's veil, say: "I have torn the veil of So-and-so by the power of these spiritual spirits, as the ray of the Sun tears the thickness of the clouds; and I have disgraced him and made him a target for the spiritual power of the tongues, as arrows tear the bodies that the archers return to again and again." And do not speak, at the time of your work, words that go outside the aim sought, but rather words that strengthen the operation and carry it through. This is an example I have mentioned to you to make you understand the intended purpose; so know that.

66We have mentioned to you, may God honour you, wondrous matters concerning the celestial correspondences, and we have deposited in this book such of them that, if you reflect on it, you will reason from it by analogy to the making of every talisman that has been made or is made in the world. And the substances of the talismans that we have mentioned are to be similar to what is needed of the operation sought, whether it is good or evil. And after this I shall bring you what has been allotted to the planets of minerals and animals and plants, and their fumigations, their inks [word uncertain] and their offerings. All these are things whose help is sought, like the physician's seeking help from an abundance of materials, of foods and medicines, and from the sick man's acceptance of the treatment; so his success is complete and he attains by his effort what he hoped for. And the pivot of the matter is the exact determination of the observation.

67The sages of the Greeks used to observe the planet when it was with its node (jawzahr), and they would place it in the degree of mid-heaven; they would fumigate with its fumigation, invoke with its invocation and offer its sacrifice for the thing they wanted and sought, and what they sought would succeed. And likewise, they claimed, they would do when it was with the tail of its node, for it has no latitude then; and especially when the planet has strong testimony in the nativity of the one invoking, for then it is more manifest in effect and greater in acceptance.

68The degree of this science, O my brother, is noble, and the one who seeks it in our time is rare, and those few are blind to seeking it and to the ways of contriving to find and attain it. We had indicated, may God strengthen you, in our book called «The Rank of the Sage», that comprehending the result of the craft is higher and nobler than comprehending this result.

69So know that by that we pointed only to natural knowledge and its attainment, according to what is required by the natures of the sciences in the way of attainment, without putting later what is placed first nor putting first what is placed later. But as for what the matter itself and complete philosophy require: if we suppose two men, one of them knowing and working with this result and the other knowing and working with the other result, and both of them devoid of the sciences, but rather their acquiring of it [being] by way of imitation, then the one who comprehends and knows the magical result is more able and more wondrous in effect in the world than the one who comprehends and knows the result of the craft.

70And this is evident to the immediate perception of the intellect for whoever reflects on it, and it is among the things already settled. But [it is said] so that you may know that our indication in «The Rank» is only because of the pressing need to employ the sciences according to their realities and to assign them their functions.