Book Two, chapter 6

1Chapter 6

2So what is intended, may God strengthen you, by mentioning the occult properties is that you know that a thing that acts by nature may perhaps change, and its action diminish. But when the thing possessed of a nature is acting in such a way that the action from it is by an occult property, then its action in this case is more complete and stronger, and what appears from it is clearer and more fully present. That is like the case with scammony's drawing of yellow bile, for it draws it by likeness and by occult property; and the cause of that is that scammony is hot and dry, and it is, along with that, alike to the nature of yellow bile.

3And know that when the acting drug possessed of a nature is specific to the matter, then the action proceeding from it is stronger, and the talisman more dazzling. That is evident from the form of the giving of the planets, and from the side of reception also; and that is because the giving is more complete.

4And an example of that, may God honour you, is that at the beginning of the making of the talisman you deliberately aim at the pattern of reception and its form, so that the giving from the planets may befall it upon a complete reception; then what is intended from the talisman is accomplished, its action endures, and its spiritual power (rūḥāniyya) spreads.

5And the example of that, so that you may see it clearly in the planets' giving of the thing sought and the form of reception from them: people at every time make talismans while they do not know [it]. That is, when you wish to bring into being a thing among the animals, or the composition of a thing among the plants, or the making of a thing among the stones, you set about first the parts of that thing and gather them according to the kinds of its parts first, then you pound them or grind them or mix them, or other kinds of operations besides, until your action upon them is finished; and nature, along with that, and the planets continue to govern that and complete it, until the thing reaches the final end that was aimed at from it: such as the making of many dyes, and the generation of animals, and the making of bees in particular, and of snakes and scorpions, and all that is of this kind.

6And so is the case in cooking and mixtures, and in the composition of medicines. And after the pattern of that is the case in the wombs' ripening of the kinds of semen, until they bring it to the ends in which nature and the stars perform their actions by gradation.

7And so is the case with the mine and with water in the generation of stones: for they are at the beginning of the matter only water, like semen; then the winds continue to beat it in the interior of the mine until it becomes foam; then the cooking of the mine, and what adjoins it of the kinds of natures, continues to work steadily upon it until it congeals according to that pattern and the completion that belongs to it.

8And after the like of that is the case also in plants and their coming-to-be: it is this same [case] exactly. And that is the pattern in the first putrefaction and its return to the pattern of moist matter, which is the substrate of generation and of the reception of likenesses and forms. Then, when it has come to that state, the generation of the pattern and the forms begins in it; and that is through the renewed receptivity that comes to it, which is other than the first receptivity; and this receptivity comes to it only through the dampness and moisture that it has acquired at this time.

9And after the like of that is the case of everything that is generated by craft: it must come round to these kinds in transformations and generation; and whatever has no generation does not receive the form aimed at in it at all.

10That is because every maker and worker of a thing by way of generation and coming-to-be, and the like of that among operations, intends first only to work the parts from which that thing coming to be is made, until those parts become a first underlying matter, so as to receive a second form. Thus you find the maker of starch from food, and of noodles from starch, and of the things prepared from the kinds of sweets; and after the pattern of that the maker of kāmakh, cheese and clarified butter from milk; and likewise the maker of yarn from cotton, and all that is made of the class of these operations.

11And the cause of that is that no matter among the matters that has a form receives another form unless that first matter is corrupted and a second receptivity comes to it, and then it receives another form; for when it has received any form whatever, it is devoid of all the remaining forms. And this is said only of the flowing matter that is in this world. As for the higher world, it is either matter in actuality and an everlasting form, or a single form that has no matter.

12And since the purpose of what we intend by these examples has become clear, let it be known that the case is likewise in the talisman and the pattern of its coming-to-be. For the maker of the talisman aims, with the substrate from which he makes it, only that it be a single substrate that has perfection in the reception of the form, after the like of the case evident in bay-laurel berries, which are useful against the venoms of snakes by themselves alone; and like saffron's driving away geckos by itself alone; and like the wasp's fleeing from sour and bitter things, and its seeking rose-water, and its fondness for the smell of thyme, and its being drawn by its fumigation, and the like of these things; and like the increase of semen by chickpeas, and what is of the same order; or the idol of the talisman, which is the substrate, is made up of things compounded of more than one, so that through their gathering together, when they are gathered, the reception of that thing which is aimed at in them may be completed for them.

13And in this condition are the medicines that physicians give to drink in the treatment of ailments and pains; that is, they are either simple, and they use them simple, and that is the practice of the philosopher and the perfect physician; and it was in this direction that «Yaḥyā ibn Māsawayh» went with his saying: 'As long as you are able to treat with a simple drug, do not treat with a compound drug';

14or they are compounded from a number of a group of drugs, so that by them is aimed at that action and manifest effect which is aimed at from the actions of the simple drugs; and that is as is the case with the electuaries; and in the manner of this condition was the compounding of the Great Theriac. And so too is the case with foods: for among them are simple things, such as fruits, and among them compound ones, as is the case with sweets and the kinds of what is made from them.

15And know that a single planet may perform differing actions; and that is as is the case with the fire that is kindled over honey: if it is moderate in it, it clothes it with a pleasant taste, and if it exceeds upon it, it scorches it and burns it, and makes its taste bitter, and it becomes loathsome. So too is the case with the actions of the planets through their being in the bright and the dark degrees.

16And the sphere has two actions, and they are motion essentially and heat accidentally, since heat is a thing that arises following upon motion; so heat is the generation of motion, and motion is the generation of the sphere. And this is a statement that pertains to sense. As for that which is in the manner of the intellect: motion is the generation of the ether in the sphere of the fixed stars, from the sphere of the fixed stars, through the longing which is the seeking of virtue and the complete good. So by necessity heat has become a follower of motion, and motion a follower of the first completion, which nothing whatever precedes.

17And know that in the like of this condition are all the parts of the sphere, and the totality of their motions, and the totality of the heat arising from them. And after the actions of the sphere [come] the actions of the stars; and that is because the sphere acts by means of the stars, and the stars do not act by means of the sphere, since the stars in themselves are at rest, having no motion. And in the stars, with this, there is, of dazzling actions and wondrous gifts, what is not in the sphere at all.

18And the ether is the first nature, the agent in reality; and the gift of the stars, with this, is only a dye and a clothing, as is the case with things possessing dyes and clothings among us, even if that is more excellent and more splendid.

19And the degrees in the sphere have no reality at all; they are only by way of positing, convention and supposition, because there is not in the sphere an acting part and a non-acting part; rather, all of it, in ruling and in nature, is one thing; there is no difference between its part and its whole in any state of the states, nor at any time of the times at all.

20And a degree is not empty of the states of the fixed stars and their relations, because the sphere of the fixed stars is full of the fixed stars; it is only said that a degree is empty of that in relation to our observations of the fixed stars that can be observed, because it is not within [our] capacity to encompass the stars of heaven, all of them, owing to their remoteness from perception and sense entirely, because there is no reaching them.

21And on the like of this it has been supposed [reading uncertain: qaddara bi-mā] that the planet, being in the place, does nothing; and that is that it is said that the planet is not in its degree, nor in its exaltation, nor in its apogee, nor in its fall, nor in its retrogradation, nor in its direct motion, but is on the way to each one of these matters, and nor does it have a compositional relation from the aspects of the planets, neither the discordant nor the concordant. For these too, I mean these positions, even if they are active, are, relative to the positions of the actions of the fixed stars, as though they were not active; for the planet does not settle in the heaven so as to be inactive. This is a hidden, obscure point, so reflect on it.

22That is, even if they are active in essence, they perform only two actions, a general and a particular. As for the general action, it is the action that is not toward a direction; and as for the particular action, it is the action that is toward a direction, and on the pattern of what is called a giver, and one possessing relation and composition, and one possessing a single reception, and from it [sense uncertain], and the like of that.

23An example of that is the state of food in the stomach: when the liver draws it, it always changes into the likeness of the blood in the veins; and when the liver sends it on to the members, it always changes into the likeness of the members according to their different kinds, so that it is as though what was blood made it blood, and likewise what was bone made it bone and sinew. And on the pattern of that is the state in the passages of the planets: those compositional relations particularise [them] [sense uncertain].

24The planets also have a cause in their performing the noble works, and it is that the planet, when it is in its height, which is what is called the apogee, does the work of the planet that is above it, and shares with it and mixes with it in its actions, and so performs very elegant and strange actions. Likewise, when it is in its lowest nearness, it does the work of the planet that is beneath it. So understand this.

25And thus it is that the sphere of the fixed stars came to perform the action of the sphere of the complete ether, and the sphere of the Moon came to perform the actions of the natures, and especially of fire and air, because of their subtlety. And so too is the state of Saturn: it always performs the actions of the fixed stars when it is with them at the farthest limit of its distance, and it performs the actions of Jupiter when it is at its least distance and where its perigee is. And such is the state of every planet relative to what is above it and what is beneath it.

26This is among the weighty [points] of the science of talismans, and among the doctrines kept hidden by the people of this business, because they did not divulge them; and if we had concealed that from one who seeks this path, that would have been stinginess and withholding of it.

27And know that the planet heavier in course is stronger in action and more wondrous in effects, and the faster planet is a little weaker, and the planet middling in motion is the middlemost of them in action. This statement is not absolute; it is only relative, for this matter may be reversed, so that the heavier is less in action and the faster heavier and stronger in action, in that, by the relation between the sphere of the ether and the fixed stars and the motions of earthly generated things.

28As for the relation to earthly things: whatever is heavier is stronger in action, and whatever is lighter is weaker in action. And as for [the relation] to the sphere of the fixed stars: whatever is lighter is stronger in action, and whatever is heavier is weaker in action, because it is a relation of resemblance.

29Very much disagreement has arisen among them on this point, for among the ancients there are some who say the reverse of this and make the resemblance and the relation [to be] to the sphere of the ether and the sphere of the fixed stars; so for that reason whichever of them is heavier in course is of necessity nearer in likeness to the sphere of the ether in stillness, and [to] the heaviness of the stars, because it is heavy in course.

30That is because simple essences resemble one another only by the slightest of the states in which they share, since in their essences they are one; so the heavy in course is like the heavy in course, and the light in course like the light in course.

31On this point those who came before have much discourse and difficult symbols. And I shall mention to you at this point a secret from the secrets of the ancients devoted to talismans: know that the Moon, when it is with Saturn, the action belongs to Saturn, for the action of Saturn is much stronger than the action of the Moon.

32So it is the way of every planet that is conjoined with Saturn to come under its action; that is because its power is stronger than the powers of all the wandering planets, for the reasons we have stated about it: that is either because of its height, or because of its nearness to the two great spheres of the All, I mean the aether and the sphere of the fixed stars, or because of the slowness of its course and the strength of its resemblance to the sphere of the All, the aether, and the like.

33And all that is said in instances of this and of the conjunctions is that Jupiter or the Sun or Venus, when they mix with the actions of Saturn, change them to the utmost degree of change and amend them with some amendment; and likewise is the state of the fixed stars in their relation to Jupiter. And that matter does not cease to proceed in a single sequence and an order without variation down to the Moon; then its actions come to be in fire and air, and the actions of fire and air come to be in water and earth, and the actions of these four come to be effective in the generation that comes to be from them.

34And it is possible that for every two planets that are conjoined there are three states: increasing, decreasing, and intermediate between them. That is, it is possible that the Moon is with Saturn and its action comes under the action of Saturn, I mean its power; and this is when it [pronoun ambiguous: probably Saturn] is in alignment, in exaltation, at the apogee and the like, when the Moon and Saturn are in a single passage in these places, not otherwise; and likewise is the state of Saturn in the remaining places and [with] all the planets.

35And it may be that the action and power of the Moon are much greater than the power of Saturn, when it is in those high places and Saturn in their opposites. And if the Moon is with Saturn in the opposites of those noble places equally, the action of the Moon is also subordinate to the action of Saturn, as in the first state. And if Saturn is in those high places and the Moon in its own essential places, the action of the Moon is weak altogether. And if Saturn is on the path of direct motion and retrogradation and the like, among the changes of the places of the most even course, the two actions are as though equal, especially if that coincides with the state of the Moon's elevation, because the utmost height of the Moon does not match the fall of Saturn, let alone the place of its direct motion; but that is its state.

36As for the state of Saturn and Jupiter, it is not like the state of Saturn and the Moon, but it is nearly equal for the most part. That is, if Saturn is high and Jupiter is also so, the action is stronger for Jupiter, except only if Jupiter is high and Saturn in its middle course and where its exaltation and its direct motion are, for then the action does not belong to Jupiter alone.

37But if that differs, the action is Saturn's and the action of Jupiter is annulled altogether, not less than that. And likewise is the state of Mars and Saturn: when it is with it, the actions are more manifest for Mars, except according to the pattern of those conditions that have gone before in the like of it. As for Venus and Mercury, they have a relation and resemblance to every planet, and the Moon is not like them, because it has no relation or likeness to the high planets. So this is a principle on which [one] builds, and it is among what is needed in these accidental correspondences, and the greatest need for it is pressing in the science of talismans.

38And know that the actions of the stars are by their essences, because they are simple, and what is simple is not subject to corruption; that is because if what is simple were corrupted, it would have no existence. Corruption is only in compound things, which are of different things.

39And know that the action of the eastern sphere of the All is the absolutely general action for all the spheres and for all the stars; and the reason for this is that it is the cause of their motion, and it is in reality the absolutely unmoving, because it is the mover of all the spheres. And therefore it is said that it is the mover of the All, and it is not in itself moved, because of the absurdity that would be in that. As for the sphere of the fixed stars, although it is general in motion, it is particular in relation to the motion of the sphere of the All; and likewise is the state in the rest of the spheres. And it is your way to know that the motion of every sphere, with respect to the spheres and stars within it, is general to those stars and spheres and to all their motions. And the cause, too, of the actions of the stars, and of the action that belongs to them essentially, is the motions of their spheres [carrying them] with them, because the stars do not move of themselves; they move only accidentally. For this reason the action of the sphere was two actions, namely motion essentially and heat accidentally, since [heat] is a thing that comes about following upon motion.

40And motion, as we said, is the being of the sphere [sense uncertain]. And the giving, all of it, and it is what is sought in talismans, is the moving of the receiving thing and its bringing out from potentiality into actuality, because in the form is the likeness of every thing, and in the matter is the receiving of every thing; and every matter has a form of whatever temperament, and every form has a matter of whatever temperament, on which it is borne. An example of that is a little fire, which grows and becomes much, because the little fire brings out the fire that is in matter potentially, until it brings it into existence by itself, and so it increases, because it comes to be in actuality.

41And know that the contrary does not enter upon what is in actuality and corrupt it; it enters only upon what is potentially, and corrupts it, not upon what is in actuality. And everything that is according to the course of nature is balanced, and what is contrary to the course of nature is not balanced. For this reason the actually hot is by nature a mover of what is potentially hot. That is, the hot, when it heats, heats only by the principle and the cause in it in which there is a strengthening [of it] to heat. So just as the actually hot is a mover of what is potentially hot, so the potentially hot is moved by nature by the actually hot, because, just as that is the principle of its acting in its essence, so this is the principle of its being acted upon in its essence. So know that.