The Texts
Picatrix
The Ghayat al-Hakim ("The Goal of the Sage"), Latinized as Picatrix: a 10th-century compendium of astral magic written in al-Andalus, translated at the court of Alfonso X, and the single most influential magic manual in Western history.
The Picatrix is what happened to the Hermetic current after antiquity: not a dialogue on mind and rebirth like the Corpus Hermeticum, but a working compendium — the most influential manual of astral magic ever written. Its Arabic original, the Ghayat al-Hakim (“The Goal of the Sage”), was composed in al-Andalus; its author states he finished it around 348 AH (c. 959 CE), after completing its companion volume, the Rutbat al-Hakim.
Who wrote it
For centuries the book was misattributed to the mathematician Maslama al-Majriti. In 1996 Maribel Fierro identified the real author as Maslama al-Qurtubi (d. 964), a scholar from Córdoba — an identification confirmed and extended by Godefroid de Callataÿ, which also settled the dating: 10th century, not the mid-11th as older scholarship held. Even the Latin name remains a puzzle: whether “Picatrix” is a corruption of “Buqratis” (Hippocrates) or a nickname of the author is unresolved.
What’s inside
Talismans, planetary invocations, elections of astrologically favourable moments, suffumigations — but embedded in a theory: rays, spiritus, a cosmic hierarchy through which celestial influence descends into matter. The book cites Hermes and Sabian rites extensively, synthesizing Hermetic, Sabian and Neoplatonic material. It is a compilation rather than a doctrinal Hermetic treatise — the practical cousin of the statue-animating passages in the Asclepius, and of the technical tradition that also produced the Emerald Tablet.
The road to the Renaissance
Between 1256 and 1258, Alfonso X of Castile ordered the Arabic translated into Castilian; a Latin version followed in the 13th century, and with it the name Picatrix. Through that Latin text the book reached the Renaissance: Ficino’s and Agrippa’s astral magic stand demonstrably downstream of it. The route runs through the translation workshops of Iberia — Córdoba to Toledo — mapped in our Atlas, a later chapter of the story that began in Alexandria.
How to read it
The scholarly landmarks are David Pingree’s edition of the Latin version (Warburg Institute, 1986) and the Attrell & Porreca English translation of that Latin (Penn State UP, 2019) — the standard way into the text in English; work on translating directly from the Arabic continues. Both are modern and in copyright; there is no public-domain English Picatrix, so treat free PDFs online accordingly. Modern occult publishing markets the book as a plug-and-play grimoire; historically it is a learned philosophical-magical compendium in which the theory matters as much as the recipes.
| Composed | al-Andalus, finished c. 959 CE (348 AH) |
|---|---|
| Author | Maslama al-Qurtubi (d. 964) — identified by Maribel Fierro, 1996 |
| Arabic title | Ghayat al-Hakim — 'The Goal of the Sage' |
| Translation chain | Arabic → Castilian (Alfonso X, 1256–58) → Latin (13th c.), as 'Picatrix' |
| Influence | Ficino's and Agrippa's Renaissance astral magic stand downstream of it |
| Standard English | Attrell & Porreca (Penn State UP, 2019), from Pingree's 1986 Latin edition |
Fair questions
Is the Picatrix dangerous?
It is a 10th-century historical document, and we treat it as one. Its 'danger' in medieval and early modern eyes was real — astral magic sat at the edge of licit knowledge — but for a modern reader the risks are prosaic: bad translations, credulous framing, and occult marketing that sells a learned compendium as a spellbook. Read it with a historian's questions, not a shopping list.
Why is it called Picatrix?
Nobody is sure. The name appears with the Latin translation; proposals include a corruption of 'Buqratis' (the Arabic form of Hippocrates) or a nickname of the author. The question is genuinely unresolved.
Is the Picatrix a Hermetic text?
It cites Hermes and Sabian rites extensively and carries Hermetic material, but it is a compilation of astral magic, not a doctrinal treatise like the Corpus Hermeticum. It belongs to the technical, practical side of the tradition.
Sources & further reading
- Maribel Fierro, 'Batinism in al-Andalus', Studia Islamica 84 (1996) — authorship.
- David Pingree (ed.), Picatrix: The Latin Version (Warburg Institute, 1986).
- Dan Attrell & David Porreca (trans.), Picatrix (Penn State UP, 2019).
- Research dossier: emerald-tablet-arabic.md §3.3.
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