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Libra Esoterica

The picatrix : the goal of the wise (in sorcery)

by Pseudo-Maǧrīṭī, H Ritter & Steven Ashe

  • First published:
  • 21st century
  • Language: English

Complete Rendering of The Picatrix or Gayat al-?akim [fi l-si?r] 'The Goal of the Wise [in sorcery]'. This is a grimoire (grammar) of the Art of Magic & Astrological Lore written around 1200 A.D. offering talismanic and astrological guidance. The Picatrix was a primary source for 'alchemic scholars' such as Michael Scot. The book had a major influence on later West European magical thinking from Marsilio Ficino in the 1400s, Cornelius Agrippa, Thomas Campanella, Dr John Dee and Paracelsus in addition to the anonymous authors of magical grammars such as the Key of Solomon. The edition in the British Library passed through several hands: Simon Forman, Richard Napier, Elias Ashmole and William Lilly. Presented in the original Arabic, the talismanic property of this work will be of interest to specialist collectors of seminal grimoires & Golden Dawn source works. Reproduced in the original authentic Arabic.

Provenance

Why this book is in the catalog

Included because retained bibliographic metadata links this work to Astrology, Initiatory orders and secret societies, and Ritual magic and grimoires.

  • Ritual magic and grimoires

    Controlled discovery queries from openalex matched “grimoires”. Retained metadata contains “grimoire” in the description, “Grimoires” in the description, “Magic” in the description, and 1 additional metadata match(es).

    • grimoires· via OpenAlex
    • grimoire· in description
    • Grimoires· in description
    • Magic· in description
    • Magic· in subject
  • Astrology

    Retained metadata contains “astrological” in the description and “Astrology” in the subject metadata.

    • astrological· in description
    • Astrology· in subject
  • Retained metadata contains “golden dawn” in the description.

    • golden dawn· in description

Membership records how this book met the catalog’s discovery criteria — relevance to a tradition, not a judgment of the book’s claims.

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Editions

One edition cataloged here.

OpenAlex scholarly book record

2007-01-01Japan Society of Medical Entomology and Zoology; Medical Entomology and ZoologyEnglishUnknown

Subjects

19 subject headings

Identifiers & provenance

How this record was assembled, and the authority identifiers it carries.

Cataloged from

Catalog id
openalex:W633802842
Edition coverage
Openalex source record
Retrieved