Book Four, chapter 6

1Chapter 6

2So I say that a sage from among the sages of India, he being the overseer and the one in charge, among them, of the Budd, had compounded for them fumigations composed of earthly powers, bound, their powers attached to the celestial world. And they used to employ them in all works generally, and the spiritual powers (rūḥāniyyāt) of the planets would pour their powers upon them, and would bind for them whatever works they wished, and loosen [them]. And they are not specific to one work, but [serve] for whatever holds some benefit for the planet to which the fumigation has been bound.

3The first of them is the fumigation of the Sun. There is taken of spikenard its 'aṣāfīrī [kind], and of sandalwood its yellow and its red, of each one five mithqāls; and of su'd and the bark of red salīkha, of each one three mithqāls; and of costus two mithqāls; and of the brains of sparrows and of vultures and their blood, of each one ten mithqāls; and the blood and the brain shall be in equal measure. The whole is combined after grinding, and is kneaded with honey whose foam has been removed by something other than it [sense uncertain], and pastilles are made, each pastille of them of the weight of half a dirham. Then it is dried in the sun. And at the time of making them you call upon and seek the help of the spiritual power (rūḥāniyya) of the Sun that is appointed over the six directions, so that its powers become bound in the mixtures. Then you put them away for the time of need for that.

4The fumigation of the Moon: there is taken of peach leaves and cinnamon, of each one fifty mithqāls; of husked sesame, ten mithqāls, dried; of cumin, five mithqāls; and the fat of a white snake, two mithqāls; of the brain of white hares and cats, of each one ten mithqāls, dried; and twenty mithqāls of the dried blood of a fox. The whole is likewise combined after grinding the drugs and sifting them, and is kneaded with honey whose foam has been removed, and pastilles are made as we defined before in the fumigation of the Sun. And you bind the spiritual power of the Moon with the six directions to the spiritual power of the mixtures, as we mentioned, by persisting in the invocation of the Moon and the mention of the spiritual power of its directions at the time of your work; and you put them away for the time of need for them.

5The fumigation of Jupiter: there is taken of marjoram flowers and myrtle flowers, of each one five mithqāls, dried; of frankincense, seven mithqāls; of the kernel of walnuts and hazelnuts, both dried, of each one two mithqāls; of the brains of cocks, pigeons and ducks, of each one twenty mithqāls, dried; of the blood of the peacock and of camels, of each one ten mithqāls, dried; and of musk and camphor, of each one three dāniqs. And let one take care with these bloods that they be of the blood connected with the heart of the animal from which it is taken. It is combined after grinding and sifting, as we mentioned, and one proceeds with it along the lines of that preceding craft, and it is put away for the time of need for it.

6The fumigation of Venus: there is taken of laurel berries, maḥlab seeds and frankincense grains, that which is extracted from it, of each one four mithqāls; of mastic and 'ūd al-bahnaj [word uncertain], of each one ten mithqāls; of the fruit of the service tree, two mithqāls; of storax, two mithqāls; of borax, one mithqāl; of the brains of sparrows and sparrowhawks, of each one eight mithqāls, dried; and of the blood of the horse, twenty mithqāls, dried. The whole is combined after grinding and drying, as we mentioned, and pastilles are made as we stipulated, with kneading and the binding of the powers, and they are put away for the time of need for them.

7The fumigation of Saturn: there is taken of the fruit of the mandrake and olive leaves, both dried, of each one fifty mithqāls; of the fruit of the castor plant, two mithqāls; of black myrobalan grains and black chickpeas, both dried, of each one five mithqāls; of the brains of black crows, cranes and black cats, of each one fifteen mithqāls, dried; and of the blood of pigs and monkeys, of each one twenty mithqāls, dried. These, then, are the mixtures of the fumigation of the spiritual power of Saturn, and its working is like what has gone before.

8Fumigation of Mars. As for the ingredients of the mixture of the spiritual power (rūḥāniyya) of Mars, the higher with the lower, it is thus:

10And let these fumigations be guarded from the eyes of men and from the light of the Sun or the Moon falling on them, and let them be stored in a well-kept, concealed place, and that in boxes made from the metals of the planet to which that fumigation belongs. And let the work be linked, one part of it with another. And beware of neglecting anything of the fine points of these matters, lest you fail in what you attempt; and perhaps its harm will return upon you. And I shall mention later that by which the hostility of these works is repelled.

11Fumigation of Mercury. As for the ingredients of the fumigation of Mercury, there is taken of the flowers of idhkhir, leaves of sādaj and asārūn, of each one ten mithqāls; of ambergris and castoreum (jund bādastar), two mithqāls of each one; of blue kūr [word uncertain], one mithqāl; of the brains of magpies, hoopoes and the tortoise, of each one ten mithqāls; and of the blood of domestic donkeys, thirty mithqāls. The ingredients are combined after grinding and sifting and drying the brains and the blood, and made into pastilles as we stipulated before.

12And the wisdom in them is that the speech binding the spiritual powers (rūḥāniyyāt) by their invocations should not slacken for you at the time of making them, and [that there be] solitude and seclusion at the time of making them, and that no one besides you share in them with you.

13These, then, are the general fumigations on which the sages of India relied in general interests and shared aims; and by their like the wonders issued from them, of the celestial judgements and the spiritual works.

14And it is established in the "Torah of Moses", peace be upon him, in these words: "And the Lord spoke to Moses and said to him: O Moses, set about it and take an excellent perfume which you shall make; that is, that you take of pure, fine myrrh five hundred mithqāls, and fine cinnamon, fragrant and diffusing its scent, half the amount of the myrrh, that is two hundred and fifty mithqāls, and of sweet cane the like of the cinnamon, and fine costus the like of that;

15and let that be by the mithqāl of holiness, its amount twenty dirhams; and a measure of the fine new oil, the myrrh [reading uncertain]; and make it an oil for the holy anointing; and let the purification of the anointing be in the Dome of Time and the Ark of the Testimony and the table and all its equipment and the lampstand and its vessels and all the places."

16This is the text of the Torah of Moses, peace be upon him, and we have brought it to you only so that you may know the secret of the people.

17And in it also is what follows, in these words: "And the Lord said to Moses also: Set about it, O Moses, and take an excellent perfume which you shall make; that is, of storax and onycha and storax honey and pure frankincense, of each one a part; and make of it an incense of perfume, a perfumed work; and let it be ground, kneaded, well made, pure for holiness; and fumigate with it in the Dome of Time and before the Ark

19two mithqāls; and of the brains of peacocks and chickens, of each four mithqāls; and of the brains of sparrows two mithqāls; and of the brains of vultures one mithqāl; and of the blood of the male hedgehog three mithqāls; and of the brains of domestic asses and of hoopoes, of each ten mithqāls. These brains are gathered together and dried; then there are added to them in the mortar, after thorough pounding and sifting: the two sandalwoods, cinnamon and spikenard, of each two mithqāls; sagapenum half a mithqāl; ambergris ten mithqāls; kūr three mithqāls; frankincense five mithqāls; musk two mithqāls; camphor one mithqāl; kayya eight mithqāls; mandrake two mithqāls.

20And the whole is kneaded thoroughly with olibanum of well-made preparation, and seven beads are made of it and dried in the shade. And at the time of making them and drying them do not neglect speaking the invocations of the wandering [planets] and the binding of their spiritual powers (rūḥāniyyāt) at the intended aim. When they are dry, they are put away in a box made of the seven, mixtures of their substances [sense uncertain]. For their spiritual powers keep to one another and do not oppose one another, and do not turn back with harm upon one who seeks their aid in any one of the matters of the spiritual, when he holds one bead of them on his person at the time of doing what he attempts of the sīmiyā' works. So understand that.

21And of their works also, I mean the Indians', is this talisman, and it is a solar oil, and it is among the wonders with them for [gaining] the awe of kings, nobles and chiefs. Its making is that you take a glass bottle and put in it pure oil of roses, and stand facing the Sun when it rises on Tuesday (so it stands in the copy), and you take care that the Sun be in Aries or Leo and the Moon aspecting it with an aspect of affection. Then you hold the bottle in your right hand while you face the Sun, then you say:

22"Peace be upon you, O shining star! How beautiful you are, and how beautiful is your rising! O spiritual one of the gilded Sun, you are the giver of life to the world, the illuminator of all, and the lamp of the sphere. You are the agent; you are the one who created the course of the Sun with the four corners of the world and four faces, and gave the light of the Sun in summer and winter, and governed the Moon to its fullness without veil. Give me in this oil love and acceptance, so that love of me runs in the hearts of the common people, all of them, and [so that] I overcome by it chiefs, kings and rulers. I am so-and-so.

23I adjure you, my lord, by their hearts and their tongues and the assemblies of their sitting in which they sit in their ease and rejoice in them: so let them likewise rejoice in me and honour me. And I adjure you, my lord Anṭūr, who sits upon the sphere of Yāharṭīyūn Aqṭāriyā A'ūdāyāmūrā, that you give this oil which is in my hand love in the hearts of chiefs, kings and nobles, so that I have no enemy, and they love me and hasten to obey me and hurry to please me.

24And I adjure you, my lord Salyūbārūn, who sits in the fifth heaven, that you stop up their hearts and bind their tongues from evil deeds and from strivings with evil speech after my words, for ever and ever, so that they are not able to utter anything hateful against me, ever, ever. And I adjure you, O my lord Sūsab, who sits in the sixth heaven, to stop up the mouths of my enemies and of those who hate me, and to bind their tongues and their speech and their thought, and to cast love of me into their hearts.

25I, so-and-so, adjure you, O my lord Barhāwut, who sits in the seventh heaven, to give me love and fair speech and beautiful, good praise upon me, and to give me in this oil acceptance and love, a great acceptance, binding upon every person, by day and by night, by the living, beloved Name by which the hearts of lovers are joined together with the overpowering passion that is not airy, with a strong love in the hearts of the world, lasting, enduring, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever. Amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen.

26Then you put that oil away, kept safe with you, and when meeting kings and nobles you rub yourself with it and anoint your face with it and meet them, and you will see from them a wondrous wonder. Thus it was translated from them, and it is handed down among them, common and not special [sense uncertain]. So know that.