Book Two, chapter 12

1Chapter 12

2As for a group of the people of India, the mainstay of their operations in talismans rests on the darījāns. That is, every ascendant is divided into three equal thirds, each part ten degrees; each part of them is called a darījān, and it is attributed to one of the seven planets, and [that planet] is called the lord of the darījān. This is that the first part of the rising sign is assigned to the lord of the ascendant, the second part to the lord of the fifth, and the third part to the lord of the ninth; and the ascendant, the fifth and the ninth, these three, are always one triplicity.

3The first darījān of Aries belongs to Mars. In it talismans of wars are made, so that their possessor is victorious, not vanquished; and in it the milk of sheep is bound, and its butter and its fat are spoiled. The second darījān of Aries belongs to the Sun. In it talismans are made for emirs and sultans, to make them well-disposed and to ward off their harm. The third darījān of Aries belongs to Jupiter. In it talismans are made for dealing with judges and jurists, for setting right what is between them, and for uniting their word when they are divided.

4The first darījān of Taurus belongs to Venus. In it talismans are made for reconciliation between men and women. The second darījān of it belongs to Mercury. In it talismans are made of enmities, of the binding of desires, and of casting evil among women in particular.

5And the third decan of it belongs to Saturn; in it are made talismans by which women are bound from the desires of men, and likewise men from women, and their illnesses, and the separating of some of them from others. And the first decan of Gemini belongs to Mercury; in it is made a talisman for the corruption of the intellect and its derangement. And the second decan of it belongs to Venus; in it is made a talisman for drawing back the absent and returning the runaway slave. And the third decan of it belongs to Saturn; in it is made a talisman for spreading ugly report and tearing the veil.

6And the first decan of Cancer belongs to the Moon; in it are made talismans for drawing down rains and drawing back travellers on land and sea. And the second decan of it belongs to Mars; in it are made talismans of warding off rains, snows and clouds, and what is guarded against from the direction of vapour, and by it the whale and all harmful animals of the sea are bound. And the third decan of it belongs to Jupiter; in it is made a talisman for safety at sea.

7And the first decan of Leo belongs to the Sun; in it are made talismans of raising rank with the sovereign, and by this decan beasts of prey are drawn to whatever place one intends. And the second decan of it belongs to Jupiter; in it is made a talisman for driving wild animals and beasts of prey away from livestock and cattle. And the third decan of it belongs to Mars; in it are made talismans for setting wild animals and beasts of prey upon whatever town you wish.

8And the first decan of Virgo belongs to Mercury; in it is made a talisman for scribes, so that their condition is set right and what is in their hands increases. And the second decan of it belongs to Saturn; in it is made a talisman for the corruption of the condition of scribes. And the third decan of it belongs to Venus; in it are made talismans for setting right the conditions of women with their husbands, and their affections.

9And the first decan of Libra belongs to Venus; in it are made talismans of arousal, love and inclination. And the second decan of it belongs to Saturn; in it are made talismans of inclination likewise. And the third decan of it belongs to Mercury; in it is made a talisman for bringing back the runaway slave from whatever place he may be.

10And the first decan of Scorpio belongs to Mars; in it are made talismans for setting loose scorpions and all vermin. And the second decan of it belongs to Jupiter; in it are made talismans of warding off scorpions and all vermin. And the third decan of it belongs to the Moon; in it is made a talisman for warding off rains and warding off the assault of the corruption of vapour.

11And the first decan of Sagittarius belongs to Jupiter; in it are made talismans of love and affection. And the second decan of it belongs to Mars; in it are made talismans of arousal, and tearing the veil by it.

12The third decan of it, belonging to the Sun: in it are made talismans that incline kings with favour toward judges, jurists and the elite. The first decan of Capricorn, belonging to Saturn: in it is made a talisman for hunting on land and for the soundness of goats' milk. The second decan of it, belonging to Venus: in it is made a talisman for the soundness of all milks and for gathering bees and birds and their multiplying. The third decan of it, belonging to Mercury: in it are made talismans for corrupting everything that the planet of the [preceding] decan has set right.

13The first decan of Aquarius, belonging to Saturn: in it are made talismans of love and familiarity on the part of old men, slaves and agents, and in it is made a talisman for the management of treasures and bringing them to light. The second decan of it, belonging to Mercury: in it are made talismans of loves between young men and boys in particular. The third decan of it, belonging to Venus: in it are made talismans of love and inclination for women in particular, of one toward another.

14The first decan of Pisces, belonging to Jupiter: in it is made a talisman for the soundness of the sea for travelling on it, and talismans for hunting at sea as well. The second decan of it, belonging to the Moon: in it are made talismans for the soundness of fruits, the bringing of rains and the bringing of fish. The third decan of it, belonging to Mars: in it are made talismans for the soundness of the conditions of the land for travelling on it, and talismans for drawing game on land.

15These, then, are the decans, which are the mainstay of their works. And they claim besides that the root and the mainstay in the completion of their works is only through truthfulness of thought and soundness of intention. And their chief claimed that the drawing of the powers of the planets comes about only through truthfulness of thought; for the upper powers are the forms of the lower powers, and the lower forms are to them like materials, and they are joined to them, one attracting another, because their bodily substance is one substance, and their spiritual substance too is one substance.

16And a group of their Brahmans claimed that the powers are subtle things which the Creator brought into being in His creation and made as lessons for them and a mercy among them; and they made for this finite circles which indicate the reality of thought, its limit and its soundness. And when they wished to attain to the ranks of the founders of the great laws, and to be statesmen, and of those named holy, and to attain to loftiness, they refined their souls and purified themselves of all defilements whatsoever,

17and they began the work of this sanctification at the first hour of Sunday, which is the hour of the Sun and its day. Then they fasted forty days, avoiding meats in these days and contenting themselves with what the earth brings forth of plants, herbage and grains, because they do not hold with the destruction of any of the animals; and they washed every day in the hour of the Sun and of the Moon.

18And among them are those who wash seven times in the daytime, in the hours of the planets, watching for the entry of the hours and washing at their beginnings; and they take care to begin this work at the times in which the planets are made fortunate. And if that purification of theirs was with the good fortune of the Sun and the Moon and their freedom from the malefics, then—well done, well done!—that matter was, in their view, an increase in sanctification. And with that, they reduce their food each day, until their eating on the last day is a quarter of a tenth of [that of] the first day. And during that time, and upon finishing, they use the medicines which they are accustomed to make, so that by taking them [one] may hold back from food and drink, and they do not need it. When they have done that, they find in themselves the signs of quick-wittedness and of retention of what they wish to retain and understand; acuity rises, the mind is kindled, earthiness lessens in them, heaviness departs, lightness rises, longing appears for ascent to the world of light, and the soul turns away from desires and the foulnesses of pleasures.

19Then it becomes possible for them to draw down the celestial powers; they bring about wonders, attain what is desired, and know the cycles and the realities of their being in them, and what has been decreed for them and what remains for them of them. This, then, is the root of the light. Their proof of that is what they found set down at the beginning of the Book of al-Budd, which is the secret of their secrets, which they disclose to no one.

20And the opening of the Book is that there were placed at its beginning the forms of the numbers of the motions of the sphere, composed of the lights of the souls devoted to the worship of the Highest Light; and for that they made figures from the four simple natures, nothing of which diminishes so long as the motions of the sphere are joined to the world.

21For this cause al-Budd was a messenger to them; the light hastens for them its branches joined to the lower powers, and that is with the Highest Light, by which the whole is completed. Then they knew the quality of the mixture, took shape in whatever forms they liked, performed all the laws (nawāmīs), and the spirits of the planets obeyed them.

22And besides that they have in this book secrets by which they know the realities of things; and with that they know the Creator and know that He is the cause of all, and they make what they do of these matters a means and a ladder for reaching Him and union with His light. We have mentioned this as a pointer to their principles, the first of their works, and what the masters of their laws hold fast to. This is the text of the words of this man.

23They have wondrous things which, were I to bring them in, the book would grow long. Among them is the head in which the soothsayers of a people among them believe; that is, they set it up facing the Head of the Dragon.

26And they do not shave their hair, nor eat nor drink, except in its name. They had been exposed in the days of al-Muqtadir, and he ordered that a temple of theirs be entered, and the head was found in it after they had been driven out of the temple, and he ordered it to be buried.

27A group of them assigned colours to the spheres of the planets, and that by way of symbols for the materials of the things receptive of actions. They said that the sphere of Saturn is dusty red, like the colour of the ruby; the sphere of Jupiter dusty white; the sphere of Mars yellow, green, red, of the colour of red gold; the sphere of the Sun dusty, gilded; the sphere of Venus red, gilded; the sphere of Mercury mixed of all the colours; and the sphere of the Moon green, white, speckled.

28And they assigned to the planets faces that have significations for what one seeks to make, and they assigned to those faces talismans by which they exert influence. So they gave each planet three faces, for each face two talismans. And along with that they assigned colours to these faces. They said that the red among the faces is suitable for a weighty matter, and for every matter taken in hand [sense uncertain], and every talisman made for one appealed to for help [sense uncertain].

29And the black face is for illnesses, exemplary punishments, causing death, and all calamities and the like. And the white face is radiance, light and joy; in it are suitable the talismans of all good, such as concord and love and the like. And the yellow face is for attracting the non-rational animals and repelling them, and for works of evil as well.

30And they said that the first face of Saturn is black, the second white, and the third the colour of the smoke of lead; the first face of Jupiter yellow, the second white, and the third the colour of the smoke of ānuk; the first face of Mars red, the second yellow, and the third rose-coloured; the first face of the Sun yellow, the second rose-coloured, and the third red; the first face of Venus red, the second yellow, and the third gilded; the first face of Mercury yellow, the second the colour of ashes, and the third rose-coloured; the first face of the Moon white, the second red, and the third dusty.

31So the first face of Saturn: in the first of it a talisman is made for bringing darkness upon whomever you wish, so that he sees nothing; and in the second of the first face a talisman is made for entering upon whomever you wish and walking among people, and they do not see you except [as] a great darkness, intensely black.

32And the second face of Saturn: in the first of it a talisman is made for uniting two persons who have hated and shunned each other, and likewise for two persons of whom neither knows the other; and in the second of the second face a talisman is made for drawing whomever you want from a far distance. And the third face of Saturn: in the first of it a talisman is made for driving away the destructive wild beasts that do much harm; and in the second of the third face a talisman is made for driving away flies and bugs from whatever place you wish, a house or a city, so that none appears in it at all.

33And the first face of Jupiter: in it two talismans are made, the first of them for gathering bees from whatever place you wish; and in the second of the first face an image of a spider is made of lead, for driving away bees specifically. And the second face of Jupiter: the first of it, in it is made a talisman for catching fish in the seas and rivers; and the second of the second face, in it is made a talisman for bringing to a halt the catching of fish (ḥūt) and fish (samak), and binding the seas and rivers so that nothing is caught in them and no one is able to take a fish in them.

34And the third face of Jupiter: the first of it, in it is made a talisman for banishing whomever you wish from his house and his child; and the second of the third face, in it is made a talisman for driving away mice, so that they do not enter a place in which it is.

35And the first face of Mars: in it two talismans are made, the first of them for victory in wars and in single combat; and the second of the first face, in it is made a talisman for killing your enemy, whatever enemy you wish, in the worst way there is. And the second face of Mars: in it is made a talisman by which you make ill whomever you wish of the enemies; and the second, that you seize whomever you wish with fevers and madness.

36And the third face of Mars: the first of it, in it is made a talisman for binding the desires of men so that they do not lie with a woman, and for rendering them impotent, and likewise women from men as well; and the second of it, in it is made a talisman for separating two who love each other, so that they do not meet.

37And the first face of the Sun: in it two talismans are made, one of them for winning over the hearts of emirs and chiefs, and gaining their favour, and drawing near to them; and the second of the first, in it is made a talisman for warding off the hostility of kings, tyrants and chiefs, and binding their tongues.

38And the second face of the Sun: the first of it, in it is made a talisman for warding off great, destructive hail from any place you wish; and the second of it, in it is made a talisman for warding off rain from any place you wish. And the third face of the Sun: the first of it, in it is made a talisman for releasing the blood of the woman and the man, so that whichever of them you want perishes within a short time; and the second of the third, in it is made a talisman for binding the mill so that it does not grind.

39And the first face of Venus: the first of it, in it is made a talisman for drawing any woman you wish; and the second of the first, in it is made a talisman for marrying any woman you wish of the great.

40And the second face of Venus: the first of it, in it is made a talisman for taking hold of the hearts of tyrants and chiefs and gaining their favour for whomever you wish, so that they are not able to bear being apart from him; and the second, by which you bind the tongue of whomever you wish of kings and chiefs, so that they do not speak ill of the one for whom it is made, as long as the talisman is kept guarded.

41And the third face of Venus: the first of it, in it is made a talisman for making women follow men; and the second of the third, in it is made a talisman for making men follow women.

42And the first face of Mercury: in it two talismans are made, one of them aiding in learning wisdom and philosophy and every subtle science, and in poetry and singing; and the second of the first, for understanding the science of the stars specifically.

43And the second face of Mercury: the first of it, in it is made a talisman for drawing boys specifically to any place you wish; and the second of the second, [for] inclining the hearts of boys and their becoming attached to one whose company they disliked. And the third face of Mercury: the first of it, in it a talisman is made so that a beard never comes out on anyone's face; and the second of it, in it a talisman is made for drawing rivers to whatever place you wish.

44And the first face of the Moon: in it two talismans are made; the first of them for attracting whomever you wish of the emirs and chiefs, and the second of them for uniting the hearts of kings in love of whomever you want, so that they cannot bear to be without meeting him and being together with him.

45And the second face: the first of it, in it a talisman is made for binding whomever you want of men so that he does not lie with a woman; and the second of the second, in it a talisman is made for loosing every man whose desire is bound from women.

46And the third face of the Moon: the first of it, in it a talisman is made for dispersing people from their lands and banishing them from their homelands; and the second of the third, so that no harmful beast of prey settles in whatever place you wish. These, then, are the rulings of the talismans of the planets according to their arrangement.

47I had seen a treatise on the craft of talismans by Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Zakariyyā al-Rāzī, the philosopher of the Arabs — and his standing in study is the standing it is, and [so is] what I set down of that in my book called "The History of the Philosophers of the Arabs"; and I mentioned this treatise of his there among what I mentioned of the wondrous things he composed. And he set down in this treatise relations which he claimed he had tested.

48Of that is his saying: In making talismans of affection, love and familiarity let one aim for the Moon's being in Taurus and its application to Venus in the sign of Pisces, or the Moon's being in the sign of Pisces and its application to Venus in the sign of Taurus, or the Moon's being in Cancer and its application to Venus in the sign of Taurus; for it is the wonder of wonders in that aim, in efficacy in the work.

49And in making talismans for evil, all of them, one aims for the Moon's being in Cancer or Libra and its application to Mars, or its being in conjunction with it, while it is in a rising or a setting sign. And in making talismans for shedding blood one aims for the Moon's being in the airy signs, for it is stronger in that; and likewise in making talismans of enmities, the Moon's being in Aries or Cancer while it is in square to Saturn or in conjunction with it.

50And in making talismans for binding tongues one aims for the Moon's being under the rays of the Sun, and let them be made by night. And the talismans of chiefs, kings and grandees: the Moon applying to the Sun while it [the Sun] is in its exaltation or in Leo, while it is in midheaven; for in this relation you obtain from them what is desired. And the talismans of judges and jurists: the Moon applying to Jupiter in the sign of Pisces or the sign of Sagittarius, and Jupiter in midheaven. And the talismans of scribes, viziers and officials: the Moon applying to Mercury, and Mercury in the sign of Gemini or Virgo, and the Moon full of light.

51And know that the square of the Moon may be, for every planet, the most manifest for its nature; and that is on condition that it be in one of the angles, the strongest of which is the tenth. And that is in fortunate works with the benefics; but in unfortunate ones it is blameworthy; and with the malefics when the corruption of a thing or making it unfortunate is intended. Saturn and Mars answer for that, and they are the strongest of the causes aiding that kind, together with the disposition of the relation.

52And know that the application of the Moon to the planets while [it is] ahead of the Sun is stronger than its application to them while it is behind it. And its application to the Sun by trine or sextile is used in every lofty matter, such as seeking kingship or leadership or victory or prominence; and its being in the tenth is more effective and better than the fourth and the seventh; and there is no good in its waning and its combustion.

53And its application to Venus by trine or sextile or square or opposition is likewise good, but it is not like Jupiter; rather Jupiter is more effective in that. And she is more effective in making women love, in affection and in lasting love, because of what is in her nature of that, especially when the trine is from the watery or earthy signs; and do what you wish with the ascendant of a watery or earthy sign. And if the trine is from fiery or airy signs, then do what you wish with a fiery or windy ascendant.

54And this man, I mean al-Rāzī, is among those from whom knowledge ought to be taken, because of the abundance of his research and his study in the ancient sciences.

55But the one who excels in this art absolutely is the foremost in it, Abū Mūsā Jābir ibn Ḥayyān al-Ṣūfī, may God (the Exalted) have mercy on him and grant us his knowledge: the author of the Book of Inquiry into the Craft of Talismans, and the author of the Great Book of Talismans, which he made fifty treatises, and the author of the Book of the Key on the Images of the Degrees and their Influences in Judgements, and the author of the Comprehensive Book on the Astrolabe in Theory and Practice, which contains a thousand chapters and more, in which he mentioned wondrous works to which no one had preceded him.

56And what do you think of his great book on talismans, in which he gathered, of the sciences, wonders over which people have long been jealously grudging and which they did not freely allow themselves to mention: of the science of talismans and images and occult properties, and the actions of the planets and the actions of the natures and their influences? And he is the founder of the science of the Balance and the one who drew it out after it had fallen into oblivion. So it is rightly that I have made myself a pupil to this man, despite the distance of time between us. May God cool his tomb and sanctify his spirit.

57As for the foremost teacher, Plato, I have seen two books by him: one of them he named the Greater Book of the Laws, and the second he named the Lesser Laws. As for the greater book, he mentioned in it, of the works of images, outrageous things, such as walking on water; and appearing in whatever form you desire of the forms of composite animals not existing in the world; and the falling of rain at other than its time of falling, and holding it back when it falls;

58and the appearance of meteors and shooting stars and columns in the air; and the falling of thunderbolts at other than their time of falling; and the burning of the enemies' ships, and the burning of whomever you wish at a great distance; and walking in the air; and the rising of the stars at other than their time of rising, and seeing them while they are brought down from their heavenly place towards the centre of the earth; and speaking with the dead; and the splitting of the Sun and the Moon into separate pieces; and the appearance of staffs and ropes as snakes and serpents that eat whatever is thrown to them; and the crossing of great distances by the folding of the earth in the shortest time, like the twinkling of an eye.

59And all of that is by the actions of images, and the employing of the spiritual powers, and the diffusion of their powers into the motionless hylic images, so that they become spiritual, moving, working wonders of actions and works that had not been known. And for the like of this his books composed on philosophy were filled with mention of the forms and with urging to know them and to attain to them.

60And to the like of this he referred to Pythagoras, in affirming forms as being exemplars of these; that is, that there are there eternal spiritual substances outside the intellects, having subsistence. And this is the doctrine of Plato.

61And there is not in his small book on the Laws anything that reaches to come near what he deposited in the great one, except a section in which he mentioned the making of the rational and the non-rational animal; and he did not complete the section as he had set it out in the great one. And Jābir had composed a book he named it "The Gathering" (al-Tajmī'); in it he mentioned the making of the rational animal and the non-rational. But Jābir mentioned it in this book in a natural way, by which works resembling the work of nature are aimed at. As for the foremost Plato, he mentioned that by means of celestial works and spiritual images whose subjects are natural materials. Whoever wishes to acquaint himself with what I have mentioned, let him acquaint himself with that. And we shall deposit in this book of ours, when we reach the place suited to it, what is possible of that. And here is the completion of this Second Book.