Difference between revisions of "Picatrix"

'''''Picatrix''''' is the Latin name used today for a 400-page book of [[ritual magic|magic]] and [[astrology]] originally written in Arabic under the title ''Ghāyat al-Ḥakīm'' (Arabic: غاية الحكيم), 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 Arabic work was translated into Spanish and then into Latin during the 13th century, at which time it got the Latin title ''Picatrix''.

Eugenio Garin declares, "In reality the Latin version of the ''Picatrix'' is as indispensable as the ''[[Corpus Hermeticum]]'' or the writings of Albumasar for understanding a conspicuous part of the production of the Renaissance, including the figurative arts." It has significantly influenced West European esotericism from Marsilio Ficino in the 15th century, to Thomas Campanella in the 17th century. The manuscript in the British Library passed through several hands: Simon Forman, Richard Napier, Elias Ashmole and William Lilly.