Book Three, chapter 9

1Chapter 9

2As for the sage Aristotle, he mentioned in his book for Alexander called al-Isṭamāṭīs the manner of drawing down the powers of the planets, and he mentioned the names of their spiritual powers (rūḥāniyyāt), and he said:

3The spiritual power of Saturn, which is called Barīmās, calls and gathers to itself [pronoun ambiguous: or to him, Saturn] what has separated of its members in the six directions, which are the upper and the lower and the rest of them. The upper of its spiritual power is called Ṭūs, the lower Khurūs, the right Qayūs, the left Daryūs, the front Ṭāmis and the back Durūs. And its moving in its sphere, its division in its gates, its course and its spiritual power are gathered by one name, which is called Ṭāhīṭūs. All of that divides and gathers to Barīmās, who is the root and the genus.

4And the spiritual power of Jupiter is called Damāhūs, and the spiritual power of the upper is called Darmās, and the lower Maṭīs, and the right Mughīs, and the left Darīs, and the front Ṭamīs, and the back Farūs; and the spiritual power of its motion in its spheres, and of its course in its sphere, and of its division in its course, is called Dahīdās; and the sum of that, its root and its ordering, is Damāhūs.

5And the spiritual power of Mars is called Daghdiyūs; and the upper of it Hāghīdīs, and the lower Ghīdiyūs, and the right Mighrās, and the left Ardaghūs, and the front Handaghiyūs, and the back Muhandās; and the spiritual power of its motion in its gates, and of its course and its division in its sphere, is called Dahīdmās; and the sum of all that, its ordering and its root, is Daghdiyūs.

6And the spiritual power of the Sun is called Bandalūs; and the upper Dahīmās, and the lower Abdūlās, and the right Dahīfās, and the left Iṭī'afās, and the front Maghnamūs, and the back Ghādīs; and its mover in its sphere and the division of its spiritual power is called Ṭahīmārīs; and the sum of that and its ordering is Bandalūs.

7And the spiritual power of Venus is called Dīdās; and the upper Ghīlūs, and the lower Hīlūs, and the right Damāyis, and the left Ablīmās, and the front Bāslamūs, and the back Arhūs; and its mover in its sphere, and its division in its gates, and the course of its spiritual power, is called Dahṭārīs; and the sum of all that and its ordering is Dīdās.

8And the spiritual power of Mercury is called Barhūyās; and the upper of it Amīrās, and the lower Hīṭīs, and the right Sāhīs, and the left Dārīs, and the front Hīlīs, and the back Dahdīs; and its mover in its spheres, and its division in its gates, and the course of its spiritual power, is called Mahūdīs; and the sum of all that and its ordering is Barhūyās.

9And the spiritual power of the Moon is called Gharnūs; and the upper Hādīs, and the lower Marānūs, and the right Malṭās, and the left Ṭīmās, and the front Rāyis, and the back Mīnālūs; and its mover in its gates and its course in its sphere is called Dughāyūs [reading uncertain: Dughābūs]; and the sum of all that and its root is Gharnūs.

10This is what the sage mentioned of the names of these spiritual powers (rūḥāniyyāt), and he claimed that these are the spiritual powers of the six directions of the world, all of them, within the whole of the climes of the seven planets. And know, O reader, that the names of these spiritual powers are those which the people of the standings (qiyāmāt) for the planets use in their invocations; so understand that clearly. Then the sage said:

11From these spiritual powers every spiritual power that falls in all the climes emanates upon creatures, and from them proceeded the invocations, the marvel-workings (nīranjāt) and the wondrous works; and they are what give wealth and strip away blessings, and they are the takers and the givers, the withholders and the repellers; and they have bodies which they put on and in which they become embodied, and they have in their climes men over whom they gain mastery so that its spiritual power pours forth upon them, and guides them to knowledge of it, and its efficacy reaches them in accordance with its substance.

12Then he said: If you wish to draw down whichever of these spiritual powers (rūḥāniyyāt) you want in its clime — for the action of each planet appears only in its own clime — then rely on what I describe to you:

13As for Jupiter, you set about it on Thursday, when the Sun has entered Sagittarius or Pisces and the Moon has alighted at the head of Aries, the exaltation of the Sun. You build a clean house and furnish it with the finest you can, and be alone in it — for it is the temple — and prepare with your own hand food of the kinds of sweetmeats, with honey, clarified butter, walnut oil and sugar, dry and moist; and shape small, delicate cakes of fine white flour with clarified butter, milk, sugar and saffron, many, as much as you are able.

14And set a large table in a corner of the house, upon the lower part of a sturdy table [sense uncertain], and set before you a censer of its substance; and put on the table, first of all, musk, camphor, aloeswood, the fragrant muthallatha and the ghāliya, and a handful of mastic; then arrange the cakes in their order, and put on that table the moist and the dry. Then you set in the middle of that a lit candle, and beside it four open baskets filled with thin bread and cold meat, roasted and cooked, of lambs, hens and chicks, and kinds of herbs; and beside each basket a jug filled with drink and a clean cup, and fragrant sweet basil between them.

15Then fumigate with aloeswood at the table and with mastic in another corner; then you say, while you are alone, these words: Dahāmūs Armās Hīlīs Mighas Idrīs Ṭamīs Farūs Dahīdās Afrāwus Kayʿaqīrus. For this is the spiritual power of Jupiter in his six directions from his sphere.

16And the meaning of [the words from] Afrāwus and what follows is: 'Come all together, united, and breathe in these scents, and eat of this food and partake of it.' You repeat these words seven times; then you go out of the house and stay a short while; then you return at the sixth time and call, and they come in the finest form and attire. Then ask them for everything you wish, and desire whatever you want of the gates of wisdom and knowledge, for you will be given that and will be clothed with his spiritual power.

17Then gather your companions, and eat that food, and perfume yourselves with that perfume, and drink the drink, and fumigate yourselves with the fumigation. This is the invocation of the sages of the Rūm, the secret of their secrets, and their feast and their worship every year.

18As for the invocation of the spiritual power of Mars, set about it on Tuesday, when the Sun has alighted in Aries, which is the house of Mars, and the Moon is in Saʿd Bulaʿ (the Luck of the Swallower), the exaltation of Mars. Go out to a desert in which there is a fruit-bearing tree, having with you an offering of a sheep or a cow, and a censer in which there are many live coals, and having with you a fumigation made of myrrh, harmal and sarcocolla, and a basket in which food and sweetmeats have been prepared as finely as you can, and a jug in which there is drink. Then rise and go beneath the tree

19And release the offering from your hand, and fumigate with the fumigation, and speak his words, which are: Daghīdūs Hāghīdīs Ghīdiyūs Maghdās Ardaghūs Haydaghīdīs Mahandās Dahīdmās. Then you say: This offering is for you, so accept it and place it wherever you wish.

20Then the offering is led to a place beneath the tree, and it is fumigated, and slaughtered, and flayed, and cleaned; then its liver is roasted. When you have roasted it in its entirety and prepared it, bring out that food and spread it on a hide like a dining-cloth, and place the offering on it, and you call and say: This is your offering and your food, so be present, and inhale it, and partake of it. Then a red spiritual power (rūḥāniyya) like a flame of fire comes and passes over that food, and inhales it, and burns some of it. When you see that, ask your need and seek its help in your affair.

21When that flame has vanished, hasten to the food and make use of as much of it as you are able, and ask for what you wish; perhaps he will grant you or refuse you, and that is because he is a star in whose substance are variability and greed. When you have partaken of that food and drink, return to your dwelling.

22As for the invocation of the spiritual power of the Sun: proceed when it alights in Leo, with the Moon in fifteen degrees of Aries or in nineteen of it, and that on Sunday. Prepare a clean house, furnished with the finest you are able, and place in it seven statues of gold, and if you are not able to do that, then of wood. If they are of gold, crown them with red rubies and jewels; and if they are of wood, clothe them in precious red silk and adorn them with red rubies and gold. Place them in the middle of the house in a row, and before each one of them a table bearing loaves of thin bread, and moist sweetmeats and dry ones.

23And place in the middle of each table a cup of drink, and a platter bearing aromatic spices: musk, camphor and ambergris. Spread the house with sweet-smelling herbs, then light a large candle, then sit facing the statues on a raised couch and say: Bandalūs Dahīmās Abdūlās Dahīfās Aṭī'fās Maghnūs Ghādīs Ṭahīmārīs. Then wish for whatever you like, and eat the food, you and your companions, and drink the drink, and go out, for he will give you what you like.

24As for the invocation of the spiritual power of Venus: proceed when the Sun alights at the head of Pisces and the Moon is in Cancer, and that on Friday. Purify yourself and perfume yourself, and enter a bath, and go to a palm tree or a tree, whichever it be, and take your place beneath it, having with you a ram and a blade, and say: Dīdās Ghaylūs Hamīlūs Damārīs Ṭīmās Samlūs Arhūs Haṭārīs. And ask what you wanted and wish for what you will, for she may clothe [you] in the garment of magic, stratagems and cunning, if you seek that from her. And do not ask of a planet anything but what is in its nature.

25As for the invocation of the spiritual power of Mercury: proceed when the Sun alights in Capricorn, and that is the first of the year of Persia, and set a chair of gold, upon it a brazier of gold, in an empty, clean house and fumigate with aloeswood, myrrh, frankincense, wild rue and elecampane, and set a table of gold before you. Then offer seven she-goats and speak these words; then strike them with a piece of wood that you have made ready for that, a single blow, so that it dies on the spot. Do that to them one after another, and fumigate, and say: Barhawiyās Amīrās Haṭīs Sāhīs Darāyis Hatīs Dahrīs Maghūdīs.

26Then you flay those sheep that you have offered, and you place all their fat around the table after cleaning it, and you speak while you are veiled up to your eyes, and you fumigate. And you bring out those flayed carcasses and order them to be cooked in a single pot with vinegar, and you prepare of food of fine white flour what suffices you, and put it in the baskets, and be ample in the salutation, and ask what you will: you will be given it, of what it is in its nature to give [pronoun ambiguous: the spiritual power].

27As for the invocation of the spiritual power (rūḥāniyya) of the Moon: set about it when the Sun is at the head of Cancer and the Moon in the exaltation of the Sun, which is Aries. Go out on Sunday at sunset, cleansed and perfumed, to a desert, you and those who are with you, and with each one a ram and a blade and a mixed fumigation made of frankincense, almond, wild rue, elecampane, myrrh and perfumed aloeswood.

28And you will have prepared much food in baskets. Then kindle a great fire of firewood, and set down the baskets of food uncovered, and sit around that. And let the one who makes the invocation go to a place in which there is a spring of flowing water with a tree beside it, and with him a ram; let him cut it with the blade, and throw the fumigation on the fire, and speak and say: Ghadnūs Hādīs Marānūs Malṭās Ṭīmās Rāyis Mīnālūs Daghāyūs Gharnūs.

29Then slaughter the sheep. Then each one lets go his offering, and the spiritual power drives them to you, and you slaughter them all, and speak over each one those words, and repeat the fumigation for them. Then set down the offering and go to the place of the fire, and throw on the fumigation, and invoke the spiritual power; then be silent for a while.

30Then go, you and your companions, to the offerings and flay them, and fumigate [reading uncertain: perhaps 'bury'] all their discarded parts, such as the skins, the heads and the trotters, in a clean place; nothing of that is eaten. Then roast their flesh and their bellies with it, and when they are roasted, leave them until they are done. Then, when morning comes to you, set the baskets and the roast meat around the tree, and hang on the tree garments coloured in various colours. Then stand alone and fumigate with the fumigation and invoke the spiritual power three times; then ask, you and your companions, whatever you like: you will be given it.

31As for the invocation of the spiritual power of Saturn: set about it when the Sun alights in Capricorn and the Moon in Sagittarius, in al-Na'ā'im (the Ostriches). Make an idol whose feet are of iron, and dress it in coloured garments, green, black and red, and go out to a desert, beneath a tree that bears no fruit, with your offering with you, either a cow or a calf, and a fumigation made of the brain of a black cat, [word uncertain: āna], wild rue, myrrh and juniper.

32And you say: Barīmās Ṭūs Khurūs Qiyūs Ghardiyūs Ṭāmūs Wariyūs Ṭāhīṭ wa-Sīrāḥ wa-Mandūl, meaning: "Come, O spiritual powers (rūḥāniyyūn), this is your offering." Then invoke with what …[you] wished. So this is what Aristotle mentioned of the invocations of the planets in the book al-Isṭamāṭīs.