PICATRIX - Treatise on Medieval Magic

The Picatrix is the emblematic work of an era when Arab, Jewish, and Christian cultures converged in the Spain of Alfonso X the Wise.

An exceptional testament to the "four-handed translations" in this cultural area, the work explicitly presents itself as a translation of an Arabic original – the Ghâyat Al-Hakîm – but it cannot, however, be reduced to this sole dimension: the translator – or even translators, as the mystery surrounding the identity of the authors remains – subtracts from or adds to his model.

Furthermore, magic was one of the preferred domains of translators of the era. Here, it has a character that is at once scientific, philosophical, and religious: generalities on the prerequisite knowledge indispensable for anyone who wishes to act upon the world and men, the making of talismans, the exploitation of all kingdoms – mineral, animal, and vegetable –, prayers to the planets, astrological, physical, and philosophical data.

The importance of philosophy is established from the very beginning of the treatise, as are the astronomically-based prolegomena, and magical practice is embedded within a very specific philosophical-religious framework: Hermeticism and Neoplatonism seek to gain a certain legitimacy that does not endanger religious orthodoxy. Finally, the echoes of the Picatrix in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance bear witness to the interest of the intellectuals of the time in the work.

If the present edition offers some appeal to a modern reader, it is because it allows us to verify Claude Lévi-Strauss's idea that magic is not only a reflection of science but also presents itself as a complete system, a method of thought, belief, and knowledge.