Picatrix

Uncommon card · No. 178551

Picatrix (Arabic: غاية الحكيم, romanized: Ghāyat al-Ḥakīm or Ghayat al-hakim wa-ahaqq al-natijatayn bi-altaqdim lit. 'The Aim of the Sage' or 'The Goal of The Wise') is a 400-page Arabic book of magic and astrology, which most scholars assume was originally written in the middle of the 11th century, though an argument for composition in the first half of the 10th century has been made. The work was translated into Spanish and then into Latin during the 13th century, at which time it got the Latin title Picatrix. The title Picatrix is also sometimes used to refer to the book's author. Picatrix is a composite work that synthesizes older works on magic and astrology. One of the most influential interpretations suggests it is to be regarded as a "handbook of talismanic magic". Another researcher summarizes it as "the most thorough exposition of celestial magic in Arabic", indicating the sources for the work as "Arabic texts on Hermeticism, Sabianism, Ismailism, astrology, alchemy and magic...

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