Picatrix
459 Followers
Recent papers in Picatrix
This essay aims to introduce and promote, through questions and proposals, another look at the work Gāyat al-hakīm, known in its Spanish and Latin versions as Picatrix, in the context of medieval translatio studiorum and from the... more
A detailed commentary and analysis of the Medieval Islamic philosopher Al-Kindi’s magical treatise ‘On Rays’ (also known as ‘On The Stellar Rays’ and ‘The Theory of The Magical Arts’). In this independent research project, I have... more
A magical gem in the Cabinet des Médailles (Paris) shows, on the obverse side, the divine snake Chnoubis and, on the reverse, a bird flying over a fish. This latter is a sole, which was called psetta in Greek, whereas the bird is a... more
This article analyzes new evidence from the marginalia to Ficino’s Plotinus manuscripts and offers a novel reading of Ficino’s “De Vita” 3. It settles scholarly disagreements concerning Paul O. Kristeller’s manuscript research and Frances... more
This essay considers the relationship between texts and images in magical works produced in the thirteenth-century scriptorium of Alfonso X, El Sabio - The Wise, King of Castile, Léon, and Galicia (1221–1284). With the upsurge of... more
This paper aims at excavating the circulation of the Picatrix, an Andalusian grimoire, as it traveled across the Mediterranean in early modern Europe, stirring up natural magic not only as an alternative program for science, but also... more
This study examines the planetary icons found in East Asian art, arguing that they should be divided into three sets: Indian, zoomorphic and Iranian-Mesopotamian. It is demonstrated that the Indian icons are earlier representations of the... more
Eva LARA y Alberto MONTANER (coords.), Señales, Portentos y Demonios: La magia en la literatura y la cultura españolas del Renacimiento, Salamanca, Sociedad de Estudios Medievales y Renacentistas, 2014, 950 pp., 232 ils.— ISBN... more
Conceiving history as interconnected and intertwined may open our analytical perspectives and help us move away from a compartmentalized writing of history. This paper builds on this premise to consider the phenomenon of transcultural... more
Estudio sobre las variantes de dichos sigilos en los manuscritos del texto enárabe, en hebreo y en latín y su origen "caldeo" (asirio-babilonio), egipcio y griego.
During the medieval period bezoar stones were most wide spread as fancy ingredients of alchemical recipes trying always to achieve the impossible – e.g. cure the pain of scorpion bites with just a few sips, scare snakes away or attract... more
Scientific exchanges between Christian and Islamic civilizations passed through several phases from the Middle Ages onwards, each characterized in its own way. In medieval times, intellectually prosperous Islamic civilization passed works... more
In Matthew Melvin-Koushki and Noah Gardiner, eds., Islamicate Occultism: New Perspectives, special double issue of Arabica, 64/3-4 (2017), 287-693: 287-95
This article studies the presence and role of Hermes Trismegistus, the mythical sage of Antiquity, in thirteenth-century Castilian wisdom literature and its fundamental works: Bocados de Oro, Libro de los buenos proverbios y Poridat de... more
Te pedig, aki ebből a könyvből tanulni szándékozol, fontold meg, miként tudnád lelkedet a boldog szellemek szintjére és ismeretére visszavezetni; amit akkor fogsz megtenni, ha minden cselekedetedben a szellemi részt igyekszel követni –... more
An academic discussion with Maoz Kahana, Friday April 17
at 11.am in 513 fayerweather hall, Columbia university main campus
at 11.am in 513 fayerweather hall, Columbia university main campus
Paper session presented to the 53rd International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, Michigan (May 2018)
Del manual de magia astral intitulado Ġāyat al-ḥakīm (غاية الحكيم) y de sus traducciones: la Taklīt he-ḥakam (תכלית החכם), el Picatriz, y el Picatrix se conservan copias manuscritas en diversas bibliotecas del mundo, siendo cuando menos... more
Перевод магического трактата ибн аль-Хатима на русский язык. Манускрипт рассказывает о талисманах 28 стоянок луны, именах духов-управителей, благовониях и соответствующих ингредиентах.
Marsilio Ficino’s De vita coelitus comparanda and e Picatrix Previous research (by Eugenio Garin and Vittoria Perrone Compagni) claimed that Picatrix played an important role as a source or inspiration for the third book of Ficino’s On... more
This work addresses the question about the intended audience or readers of the Ghāyat al-Ḥakīm, the famous Andalusi treatise on magic, which is better known by its Latin translation, Picatrix. I propose that a substantial portion of the... more
Axis Mundi (http://www.axismundi.biz/) ha rappresentato per anni un punto di riferimento sapienziale di rara profondità. Gli invisibili autori, completato il ciclo di sviluppo, hanno silenziosamente chiuso il sito. Accettando... more
This essay presents an analysis of the interpretations that the Iberian kings Afonso X of Castile (1221-1284) and Jaime I of Aragon (1208- 1276) made about their names in the works Setenario and Livros dos Feitos respectively. Our aim is... more
The purpose of this article is to present a historical analysis, the fundamentals of which are found in the concepts of temporality and historicity developed by Martin Heidegger. For this, some aspects of the work Being and Time (Sein und... more
This article is focused on the manuscript tradition of the Rutbat al-.ak.m, an alchemical treatise written in al-Andalus by Maslama b. Q.sim al-Qur.ub. in 339/950-342/953. The authors also describe new manuscripts of the work, including... more
My contribution to this conversation proposes an alternative approach to formulas thought to exemplify Morisco magical practices that focuses on the ecology of their manuscript context. That is, to consider the ways in which written... more
Pese a que es bien sabido que la Ġāyat al-ḥakīm o Picatrix es un "manual árabe de magia helenística", como dice Martin Plessner, hasta la fecha no ha sido señalado que en dicho texto aparece el nombre que le dieron algunos autores a este... more
"Abstract The extension of magical practices in modern Spain is the result of a heterogeneous process. The coexistence of the three main faiths in Spain (Christianity, Judaism and Islam) favored a climate of exchanges in the area of the... more