Book Two, chapter 2

1Chapter 2

2And speaking, may God strengthen you, about the images is among the things that are very difficult, because the people [of this art] expressed it in symbols to the utmost of their ability. But I will allude for you to what they concealed. So whoever wishes to penetrate deeply into this subject, let him take up the "Great Book of Images" of Zosimos, for he exhausted this matter.

3As for what rises of the images in the signs, O my brother, it is of two kinds. One of them is what rises in the signs of the images and their parts, the forty-eight that are in the sphere; these are the imagined images by tracings among the fixed stars, and this is what you see appearing to the imagination through the gathering of the fixed stars and their separation, such as the images of the signs and the other images, like the Dog, the Bear, the Eagle, the Hen, and other than that.

4And these images shift and move from sign to sign, so this attribute is not natural in the sphere, especially in the belt of the signs, because they move on from the face in a thousand years. As for those of them that are near the two poles, no movement is apparent in them over thousands of years, since it is near the axis, because the course of its circle becomes very narrow. This is one kind.

5And as for the second kind, it is the imagined images which the Indians mentioned, and they said: There rises in the first face of Aries a man red of eyes, great of body, stout of heart, magnifying himself in his own estimation; upon him is a large white cloak which he has fastened at his middle with a rope, and he is angry, standing on one foot, and he is a guard, a keeper. And there rises in the second face a woman, and upon her are a cloak and red garments; she has one leg; her image resembles the image of a horse; it is in herself to go and seek garments, ornaments and a child. And there rises in the third face a man reddish-fair in colour, red of hair, angry, obstinate; in his hand are a wooden sword and a rod; upon him are red garments; [he is] skilled in the working of iron; he wants to do good and is not able to. And likewise the account [goes] to the end of the signs.

6Know then that they only imagined these things from the natures of the planets and the signs. And they said of the first face 'a man red of eyes, stout of heart' only because it is the house of Mars and his face, and he is the indicator of redness, valour and boldness; and the large white cloak is on account of the exaltation of the Sun and its rays; and his anger is on account of the mixing of Mars with it in this place with anger; and his standing on one foot and his guarding is of the doing of the servants of domineering tyrants.

7And they said of the second face 'a woman' in place of the man because it is a term of Mercury, and Mercury is for most of his time feminine, and in it are two degrees of the term of Venus; and the red garments are of the natures of Mars; and her being in the image of a horse is of the natures of Mars the horseman, who signifies riding beasts through his strength in the sixth, and among riding beasts are the beasts of war; and her seeking ornaments is on account of the portion of the Sun, and the garments on account of the rays of the Sun that veil her, and the child because the midheaven is the house of brightness and the indicator of the beginning of the coming-to-be of the child.

8‹And they said of the third face 'a man reddish-fair in colour'› because ‹in the l›ast face of it are two terms, of Mars and Saturn, and they are both masculine and reddish-fair, and that is a colour between the redness of Mars and leaden Saturn; 'red of hair' for Mars; 'angry' from the natures of Mars; 'obstinate' from his natures also; 'in his hand a sword' because the sword is among the works of Mars, and the wood is of the nature of Saturn, and likewise the iron; 'he wants to do good and righteousness' on account of the face of Venus, and Mars prevents him by the house and Saturn by the term. And after this pattern you will understand all that they have expressed in symbols of this second way, and to this they were going. So I have given you, O seeker, a standard by which you may measure and on which you may work.

9And to this Abū Bakr ibn Waḥshiyya went in his book translated from the Nabataean, which he named Ṭabqānā, when he spoke of the triplicities and mentioned, in the watery triplicity, what he mentioned in it of the northern and southern images; then he said: 'Wherever you see mention of water, a river, a sea, a well, an irrigation channel and a place for drawing water, and mention of water of whatever kind of mention, know that it is effective in water and watery things; and likewise the rest of the images of the remaining triplicities, by mention of fire, earth and air: know that.' And this path is the path of Ṭumṭum and others of those who mentioned the images of the degrees of the sphere.

10As for the statement of the ancients concerning the names of the degrees and the representation of their figures in their places, all of that is a symbol for the placing of the actions; so understand that. And an example of that is that their saying 'a severed head speaking' and "a withered or severed hand", and the like of that, such as death and its image, and smiling and weeping, and the pointings of some of the stars towards others: these are only symbols for knowing their actions and what there is in the bestowal of the stars of wondrous actions and marvellous effects. And in this manner they expressed in symbols the science of talismans.

11As for sleep, it is the reporting of the absent state that is concealed at the time. As for death, it is the reporting of remote absent things that have already been, and the bringing of them out. But when it is accompanied by the pointing of the one who points towards the dead man, it is the reporting of what will be afterwards, over a length of time.

12And the like of that is among what "Jābir ibn Ḥayyān al-Ṣūfī" has mentioned in "the Book of the Explanation of the Images of the Signs and Their Actions". In this book he enumerated all the perceptible stars of the sphere and the action of each one of them. He composed it as a substitute for what "Aristotle" taught on that in his book which he named "Sarūlūghiyā", for this book is among what was burned, and no copy of it is found; and likewise is its state with the "Book of Plants".

13And "Hermes" mentioned, in his book which he named "the Book of the Composition of the Moving Spatial Images by Those Possessed of Translational Motion", that the actions of the planets are abundant and cannot be reckoned, since he said: The way of every planet is that it has an action in every degree of the sphere when it comes over against it or is in it; and the sum of that in actions comes from multiplying three hundred and sixty by seven, and that is two thousand five hundred and twenty. These are images that produce effects and manifold actions.

14Then from multiplying three hundred and sixty by six, which is the coming together of every two planets of them in one degree; and that comes to six because the division required that, since Saturn and Jupiter may come together in one degree, and that is one; and Saturn and Mars may come together in one degree, and that is two; and Saturn and the Sun may come together in one degree, and that is three; and Saturn and Venus may come together in one degree, and that is four; and Saturn and Mercury may come together in one degree, and that is five; and Saturn and the Moon may come together in one degree, and that is six.

15And the sum of that comes from multiplying six by three hundred and sixty, which are the degrees of the circle, and its sum is two thousand one hundred and sixty. These too are images that produce effects and marvellous actions in this world. Then you multiply three hundred and sixty by five, which is the coming together of every three of the planets in one degree, and the sum of that is one thousand eight hundred. These too are images that produce strange actions.

16Then you multiply three hundred and sixty by four, which is the coming together of every four planets of them in one degree, and the sum of that is one thousand four hundred and forty; and these images too have effects and actions. Then you multiply that by three, which is the coming together of every five planets of them in one degree, and the sum of that is one thousand and eighty; and these images too have effects and actions. Then you multiply that by two, which is the coming together of every six planets of them in one degree, and the sum of that is seven hundred and twenty; and these images too have actions and effects.

17Then you multiply that by one, which is the coming together of the seven planets in the one degree. This is a way which "the First Sage" mentioned concerning the images that indicate the judgements of the degrees; and the sum of their number is ten thousand and eighty, possessing wondrous actions and effects.

18Then "the First Sage" said: You need, may God grant you well-being, to do likewise when you place one of the planets in the degree and the other planet in the second degree, and you distribute that over the seven planets; then you place that between every two degrees of them, also all of them, and you do not cease doing that in all the degrees of the sphere, the three hundred and sixty. And this is longer than the first and more varied. So what do you think, O observer, of encompassing the essence of the actions of these images and their effects in the world? Then when you have finished with all of that, you return to the conjunction of the seven wandering [planets] in the degrees with the fixed stars, singly and in combination. I mean by combination: the combination of the wandering [planets] and the singleness of the fixed [star]; and the reverse of that: the combination of the fixed [stars] and the singleness of the wandering [planet]. And I mean by singleness: the singleness of the wandering [planet] and the singleness of the fixed [star]. So know that and make it clear to yourself, and be sparing with it, and do not make these secrets known to one who is not worthy of them, lest you wrong yourself and him.