Sabrina Moncini

In the history of magic, there is a medieval, cryptic grimoire that consists of a collection of some 224 sources and contains magical traditions from different cultures: Persian, Greek, Egyptian, Babylonian and Indian. The Picatrix, the Latin name of the original Arabic text, The Ghayat al Hakim (The Goal of the Sage), is the most famous text on astral magic and bases its rituals on an in-depth knowledge of both Hermetic and Neo-Platonic philosophy and traditional astrology, in particular electional astrology; which allows the reader to choose the appropriate moments for the preparation of rituals and talismans. Originally written between 954 and 959 A.D. in Islamic Spain, the Picatrix, was then translated into Spanish in 1256 and later in Latin. It became one of the most famous texts of the Renaissance period and has strongly influenced Western magical culture ever since. Its magic is based on Aristotelian, Platonic, Neo-Platonic and Hermetic philosophy, and is strongly linked to the Rays theory of Al-Kindi. According to Al-Kindi, each star possesses its own essential nature that is communicated to the entire cosmos through the emission of light rays that convey its specific qualities. The sidereal radiations, when they reach the sublunar world (the terrestrial world), produce persistent changes in the structure of the matter of which the elemental realities are composed. The Astro Magician’s ability to intercept these rays through the discipline of electional astrology and to alter their ‘trajectories’ allows for the creation of different events and things on the material plane. The Anima Mundi, the intermediate Platonic hypostasis, which animates the cosmos and moves the celestial spheres, is in turn another fundamental tenet of this type of magic. The Magic of the Picatrix is a cultured and elitist magic, which presupposes a profound preliminary knowledge. It is a magic with which the wise man; he who is astrologically predisposed and capable of living according to right principles, can obtain a perfect operative capacity and true esoteric knowledge. One of the fundamental hermetic concepts running through the text is that of Perfect Nature, that is, the ability, by aligning oneself with the genius or daimon of one’s nativity, to be guided by it. This superior intellect, capable of drawing power both from understanding the fluctuations of cosmic forces and from drawing on the rays emanating from the celestial spheres, makes the sage capable of effective magic. We will explore the structure of this text, its magical practices, in order to have a starting point for approaching such a labyrinthine text, full of pitfalls designed to discourage superficial study. The ingredients described for suffumigation are sometimes toxic and can be very dangerous for the inexperienced practitioner. Sometimes the metal prescriptions for Talismans are reversed, and here and there we find traps, artfully arranged.  Only the experienced magician will know when these ingredients are actually given as true and when they are a trap for the novice. This is one of the reasons why the text has been called cursed and kept secret for centuries.

Professional astrologer, practitioner and teacher of Astrological Magic, Body-oriented Psychotherapist. Interested in multidisciplinary contaminations that broaden our worldview, she combines Astrology, Astrological magic, Shamanism and Psychology. She graduated from the Faculty of Astrological Studies (London) and later devoted herself to the study of Traditional Astrology where she studied Medieval and Renaissance Astrological Magic with Christopher Warnock, becoming a passionate practitioner of the discipline and a link in the Hermetic lineage of Robert Zoller. She complements her practice with academic studies and philosophical research on the sources, which she shares in lectures and courses, collaborating with several astrology schools in Europe. She holds a degree in Psychology and specialises in Corenergetic Psychotherapy, NLP and archetypal Psychology. She has worked for many years with individuals and groups wishing to expand personal knowledge and solve individual problems, with a special attention for the dimension of the Soul and subtle realities. From a very young age, she has passionately followed various spiritual paths, in particular she was an apprentice on the shamanic red path for 12 years. The knowledge gained on these paths also provides an important reference in her Astrological and Astromagical practice. From her first encounter with astrological magic, she began to study and experiment with the different Talismanic prescriptions of the Picatrix, in a constant process of passionate research into this incredible source.

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