Book Three, chapter 1

1Chapter 1

2We have mentioned to you, O you who study [this], in the Book that preceded, of the actions of talismans and images and their influences, and of the relations and their concomitants, as much as we were able, and we have bestowed it upon you; and [we have mentioned] that everything that comes into being in the belly of the earth and on its face, and in what is above it of the air and higher, has in the sphere an image that resembles its image, and a shape that matches it, and a counterpart that is like it.

3For the Sun, whenever it reaches a place in the sphere by its perpetual course, produces an action other than the preceding one; so its actions are varied and perpetual. And that is because the wandering planets and the fixed stars change their abodes. So whenever there is need to set in motion something its time has been watched for it. Then, when its figure runs in the sphere and is aligned with the place in which the intended act is meant to be brought about, we set in motion the nature of that by the participation of an earthly or airy thing that resembles the two natures, so that from that there comes about in the earthly thing a great spiritual motion in accordance with the intended matter. So talismans act only through two aspects, one of them heavenly and the other earthly. And this which I deposit in this treatise, of the kinds of magic, [leads] up to the science of talismans in loftiness and nobility [sense uncertain].

4The planets, in what is attempted of magical operations, have matters that are proper to them and in which they stand alone, to the exclusion of others.

5So Saturn is the source of the retentive power. To him belongs the study of the abstruse sciences of the sphere, the seeking of the causes of things and acquaintance with their ends, speaking of marvels, the knowledge of secrets and the obscurities of affairs. His, of the languages, are Coptic and Hebrew; and of the members, the right ear on the outside of the body, and on its inside the spleen, from whose body the power of the black-bile humour spreads into all the parts of the body and its joints, and through it comes the cohesion of its parts.

6And his, of garments, is every rough garment; and his, of the crafts, are the working of hides, agriculture, the extraction of minerals, and building; and his, of tastes, are the repulsive ones, like myrobalan; and of places, the black mountains, the dark valleys, the underground vaults, the wells, the graves and the wastelands;

7and of gems, onyx, the black stones and the magnet stone; and of minerals, lead and iron and everything whose colour is black and whose smell is foul; and of plants, the oak, al-'aṣf, the carob, the date palm, the vines, the boxthorn, cumin, rue, the onion, and everything whose leaves are thick, and every tree that has harmful thorns;

8and of drugs, aloes and myrrh and their like, wild castor and wild colocynth; and of perfumes, cassia and storax; and of animals, those whose colour is black and whose form is ugly, like the black among camels and sheep, pigs, wolves, apes, dogs and cats, and every bird with a long neck and a wild voice, like the ostrich, the bustard, the owl, the hāma, the raven, the bat and the crane, and every beast that shelters beneath the earth, and every vermin that is stinking and filthy; and of colours, black and lead-colour; and of the drawn characters, [a drawn character is printed here].

9And Jupiter is the source of the power of growth. To him belongs the study of religions and of the sciences of the religious law; to him belongs the easing of the attainment of things sought and protection from deadly ailments; and to him belong wisdom and philosophy and the interpretation of dreams. His, of the languages, is Greek; and of the members, the left ear on the outside of the body, and of its inside the liver, through which comes the soundness of the temperament, the balance of the humours and the flowing of the blood in the members, and through it the body grows. His, of the religions, is the profession of [God's] unity (al-tawḥīd);

10and his, of garments, the fine white ones, like garments of cotton and the like; and his, of the crafts, commanding and forbidding, and his are the observances of religion and trades free of fraud; and of tastes, sweetness and everything soft and sweet; and of places, places of worship and purified, clean places; and his, of gems, zabarjad, yellow and white yāqūt, crystal, and every stone white in colour and shining from which benefit is had;

11and his, of minerals, tin and tutty; and his, of plants, the walnut, the almond, the pistachio, the hazelnut and the pine, and everything whose outside is peeled and whose inside is eaten; and his are the myrtle and the bahār, and everything that is in the utmost degree of balance and benefit; and of drugs, everything of good quality with a fragrant smell; and of perfumes, saffron, yellow sandalwood, musk, camphor, mace and ambergris; and of animals, the beautiful forms slaughtered in sacrifices, alms and alms-taxes, and every beast clean, of little harm, like camels and sheep; and every bird of fine form, beautiful, like peacocks, cocks, wild pigeons and francolins; and every small creature from which benefit is drawn, like the silkworm and the like. And of colours, green inclining to white. And to it belong, of drawn figures, [figure].

12And Mars is the wellspring of the attractive faculty. To it belongs the study of the science of natures, veterinary medicine, surgery, the pulling of teeth, bloodletting and circumcision. And to it belong, of languages, Persian. And to it belong, of members, the right nostril on the outside of the body, and on the inside of it the gall bladder and what spreads from it of actions in the body, of flame and heat, the two that stir up anger, rancour and fury.

13And to it belong, of religions, denial (ta'ṭīl) and swiftness in shifting among them. And to it belong, of garments, khazz and the furs of hares, cheetahs and dogs. And to it belong, of crafts, work with iron and with fire, the affairs of war, and robbery. And to it belong, of tastes, the bitter, hot and dry. And to it belong, of places, fortresses, castles, the sites of wars, the hearths of fires, the slaughtering-places of animals, the lairs of beasts of prey and the seats of disputes.

14And to it belong, of gems, carnelian and every red stone in which there is duskiness. And to it belong, of minerals, arsenic, sulphur, naphtha, glass and red copper. And to it belong, of plants, everything hot of nature, like pepper, māzaryūn, euphorbium, scammony, wild rue, cumin, rocket, brazilwood and the lote-tree, and every tree that has thorns, like the lote-fruit and the hawthorn, and safflower, and what is fit for kindling fires.

15And of drugs, every drug of bad quality that kills by its sharpness and its heat. And of perfumes, red sandalwood. And of animals, the red among camels, and every harmful one of the beasts of prey possessing fang and claw, and every red harmful small creature, and vipers, scorpions and lizards. And of colours, red and duskiness. And of drawn figures, [figure].

16And the Sun, the lamp of the world, is the wellspring of the nutritive faculty. To it belongs the study of philosophy, soothsaying, and the setting forth of laws. And to it belong, of languages, Frankish, and it shares with Mercury in the Greek language. And to it belong, of members, the right eye by day and the left eye by night for men, and for women the contrary of that, on the outside of the body; and on the inside of it the heart, which is the noblest of the principal members, from whose body there spreads the innate heat that pervades all the members of the body.

17And to it belong, of religions, the religion of the Magians and the religion of the Brahmins, because of the veneration of the spiritual spirits. And to it belong, of garments, ṭayālisa and fine garments. And to it belong, of crafts, rulership, shooting with arrows, and hunting. And to it belong, of tastes, rich sweetness. And to it belong, of places, great capitals, the places of chiefs, and venerated, luminous places.

18And of gems, the red ruby, the bazādī stone, golden marcasite, shādhanaj, and every red, gleaming, lofty, splendid stone. And of minerals, pure gold. And of plants, what is tall and beautiful, like date palms and vines; and to it belong saffron, narcissus and the rose; and it shares with Saturn in wheat, kermes and the olive.

19And to it belong, of drugs, aloeswood, sandalwood, cassia and lac, and everything in which there is pungency and in whose temperament there is heat. And to it belong, of perfumes, good aloeswood. And to it belong, of animals, what has valour, strength and violence of assault, like man, the spirited among camels, the noble steed, mountain rams, and every bird that kings keep, like falcons and eagles; and to it belong great serpents, and it has a share in peacocks, and to it belong sheep and cattle, and it shares with Mars in the leopard. And to it belong, of colours, moderate red and golden yellow. And of drawn figures, [figure].

20And Venus is the wellspring of the appetitive faculty. To it belongs the study of the science of grammar, poetry, letters and the composition of melodies. And to it belong, of languages, Arabic. And to it belong, of members, the left nostril on the outside of the body, and on the inside of it the channels of semen, and the stomach, which spreads from her body, the desire for pleasures into all the channels of the body by which foods are enjoyed, drinks are found sweet and pleasures are deemed fair. To her belong, of the religions, the religion of Islam and every religion in which there is much eating, drinking and marriage; to her belongs, of garments, embroidered cloth (washy); to her belong, of the crafts, the delicate ones among them, pictures, the selling of perfume, the playing of lutes, the moving of strings, and every craft in which there is delicacy;

21to her belongs, of tastes, everything good of taste, sweet of flavour, rich; to her belong, of places, places of pleasures, gardens, parks, places of joy, places of amusements and of singing-girls, and drinking gatherings; to her belong, of gems, pearls and large pearls (durr); and of minerals, lapis lazuli, borax (tinkār), litharge (murtak), and everything from which it is fit that women's ornaments be wrought;

22to her belong, of plants, sweet herbs (rayāḥīn), henna, saffron, the rose, flowers and blossoms, and everything whose taste is good, whose scent is fragrant and whose appearance is fair; to her belong, of drugs, balsam, ben nut (ḥabb al-bān), mahaleb seed (ḥabb al-maḥlab), and everything whose scent is fragrant; and of perfume, musk and ambergris; and of animals, the camel, and whatever is fair of form and well-proportioned of stature, like the antelope and gazelles, sheep and hares, and every beautiful bird, fair of note and of appearance, wondrous in song, like the partridge, the turtle-dove, sparrows, chickens and the like, and every small creeping creature in which there is colouring and beauty; to her belong, of colours, blue and the golden inclining to green; and of the figures, [figure].

23And Mercury is the source of the cogitative faculty, and to him belongs the study of deriving the sciences, of dialectic, philosophy, arithmetic, surveying, astronomy (al-hay'a), judgement (al-qaḍā'), augury from birds ('iyāfa), divination by the scaring of birds (zajr), the omen (fa'l), writing and eloquence, and of acquaintance with hidden secrets; to him belong, of languages, Turkish and Khazar;

24to him belong, of the members, the tongue on the outside of the body, and on its inside the brain, from which the estimative faculty spreads, and what follows upon it of thought, imagination, physiognomy, discernment, inspiration and sensation; to him belong, of the religions, heresy (zandaqa) and inquiry into religions and the intellectual laws (nawāmīs); to him belong, of garments, garments of linen;

25to him belong, of the crafts, oratory, poetry, trade, estimation (taqdīr), knowledge of the composition of melodies, pictures, dyes, and the subtle, wondrous crafts that are produced by the riyāḍāt [sense uncertain: exercises, or the mathematical sciences]; to him belongs, of tastes, sourness; to him belong, of places, gatherings for disputation (kalām), places of the debates of scholars, places of the fine crafts, the springs of rivers, waters and channels;

26to him belong, of gems, engraved stones and chrysolite (zabarjad); to him belongs, of minerals, everything on which there is engraving; to him belong quicksilver, the rising spirits, and whatever there is in which the people of the craft have work and wisdom; to him belong, of plants, reed, cotton and flax; to him belong pepper and everything sharp of taste; to him belong the clove, every tree whose fruit has a husk on the outside, and every sweet herb that is eaten; to him belong, of drugs, all the gums; to him belongs, of perfume, whatever has a remedy in it and is also food, like ginger, spikenard and the like; to him belongs everything that is sour of taste and of good temperament; to him belong what resembles herbage, and the aromatic reed (qaṣab al-dharīra);

27to him belong, of animals, humankind, young camels, wild asses, monkeys, jerboas, wolves, wood-pigeons (warāshīn), and everything that is light in its gait and swift in its going, every beast light in leaping, every bird light in flight, fair of song, wondrous of note, and every small creeping creature swift of movement, like ants and cockroaches (banāt wardān); and of colours, the green mixed with white, and variegated colours; and of the figures, [figure].

28And the Moon: it is the conveyor of the lights of the stars to this world, and it is the source of the natural faculty; and to it belongs the study of surveying, the weights of waters, mensuration (taksīr), arithmetic, the higher sciences, and magic and the sciences of the affairs of the sick and their treatments, and the knowledge of reports and narratives. And of languages it has the language of the Slavs and of the Sabians. And of the members it has the left eye by day and the right by night for men, and for women the reverse of that, on the outside of the body; and on its inside the lung, by which breathing comes about, at one time by drawing in the air from outside the body to preserve the innate heat, and at another time by sending it forth to the outside.

29And of religions it has the religion of the Sabians and revelation. And of garments it has furs and kerchiefs. And of the crafts it has the post-riders and couriers, husbandry, planting, irrigation-tenancy and seafaring. And of tastes it has insipidity. And of places it has springs, salt-flats, the places of snows, and waters, all of them. And of gems it has small pearls. And of the minerals it has silver and the white bodies. And of plants it has papyrus, reed, camomile, every plant of sweet smell and white colour, every tree that does not stand on a trunk, grasses, pastures and herbs.

30And of drugs [it has] what is food and medicine, such as cassia bark, long pepper, ginger and cinnamon; and it has whatever is cold and moist in temperament, insipid in taste, and white and green in colour. And of animals it has grey hack-horses, mules, donkeys, cattle, hares, the light bird swift of motion in the air, every animal that is generated in the air and is nourished by it, every white bird, water-birds, white snakes and white worms. And of colours it has that compounded of yellow and sorrel. And of the figures [it has] ☾.

31And know that the nature of the Head is increase: when it is with the benefics it increases their fortune, and when it is with the malefics it increases their misfortune. And the nature of the Tail is decrease: when it is with the benefics it decreases their fortune, and when it is with the malefics it decreases their misfortune. So be knowing of that.