The city of
Harran presently lies in the nation of Turkey, near the Syrian border. It is of
ancient lineage, receiving its first mention in recorded history around 1850 BCE
as home to E-hul-hul, the Temple of Rejoicing, dedicated to the Moon-god Sin and
his family, indicating it was already a well-established spiritual (pneumatic)
center at that time. During the last several centuries of the first millennium
of the Common Era, Harran, situated at the interface between the Christian and
Islamic hegemonies, was host to a flourishing Hermetic/Pagan culture. Its
inhabitants, known to the Islamic rulers as Sabians (see the Qur'an 2: 62, 5:
69, 22: 17) and tolerated as people of the Book (their 'Book' was the Corpus
Hermeticum), were respected as people of learning and knowledge. Many served at
the court of the Caliph as mathematicians and astrologers, and generally and
directly furthered the development of Arabic sciences. A little after the turn
of the millennium the Sabian teachings were scattered and dispersed in the
fractious interplay between the Christian and Islamic hegemonies, thus ending a
three thousand year old run of pagan self-reverential culture in the city of
Harran.
What has
particularly preoccupied your present author for the last quarter century of
this second millennium of the Common Era has been the magical practices of the
Sabians, as recorded in a manuscript titled Ghayat-al-Hakim (Aim of the
Sage) that first appeared in Moorish Spain a little after the turn of the first
(1051CE). I have relied primarily on a German translation of the Arabic text
published in 1962 in London by the Warburg institute: PICATRIX Das Ziel des
Weisen von Pseudo-Magriti, translated by Ritter and Plessner. Ritter's
earlier edition of the original Arabic text relied on ten extant Arabic
manuscripts, a Hebrew translation, and the Latin translation which led such a
shadowy life in the European Renaissance under the name Picatrix (actually given
as the author's name). In the seventh chapter of Book III these magical
practices of the Sabians are described, in an account related to the author of
the Ghayat by one Tabari, otherwise unknown.
All this
creates difficulties in reconstructing the original Sabian practices.
Structural analysis of the invocations themselves (often more than one version
is given for the planet in question) shows many to be lacking certain basic
elements. The copious recipes for incenses have to be dismissed, if not for
their powdered skulls of black cats, then at least for their lead monoxide. The
talking head taken from a red-haired youth left overnight in a cistern of olive
oil every eight years, while a marvelous story in its own right and perhaps of
great symbolic import, cannot itself be taken as literally representing Sabian
practice. My general suspicion is that the author of the Ghayat had serious
sympathies with the Sabians which he felt constrained to conceal; I was able to
find all of the elements missing from the invocations scattered in other parts
of the text and in other contexts than the Sabian.
In any
case, my intention here is not so much to trace their history or restore the
original Sabian rituals for museum display as to re-create them for re-newed
use, in the light of further development of the Hermetic tradition. I have
remained relatively faithful to the invocations as reported by Tabari, in some
cases combing the several versions given to create one whole, in others adding
the missing elements found elsewhere in the Ghayat, occasionally editing
or deleting phrases and rearranging text to maintain a similar flow and
continuity in each of the invocations.
The
eight-fold name of each planetary sphere occurs only in two of the invocations
in Book III Chapter 7: the long fourth version of the Jupiter invocation given
below, and the third 'kill your enemies & pluck out their eyes' version of the
Mars invocation (omitted :). It can be found in full, and more fully described
in III: 9, taken from a book said to have been written by Aristotle for
Alexander, al-Istamatis. The particular use of this naming
(below) to frame the invocation with the projection and subsequent introjection
of the pneumatic sphere emerged out of years of practice here at Adocentyn
Temple/Hermitage, and is highly recommended.
Let us
begin with a word that occurs with regularity in all the invocation as well as
in the title above, and has perhaps already occasioned a bit of perplexity.
That word is pneuma, or in the plural pneumata. (In the Arabic
ruhanija, plus endings.) It comes from an ancient Greek word for breath,
air, ka, spirit. It is used in the invocations to refer to the particular
energy/essence the planetary divinity in question has to bestow. It is at one
and the same time the divinity's power and its means of communication. It is
the magical focus of the invocations, and is worth some thought.
Breath is a
figure for animal life; when it stops, we die. What does this figure mean when
applied to the divine and deathless, the planetary immortals? Those whose lives
we die, and who live our deaths, to paraphrase Heraclitos? Transcarnational
breath perhaps, that spans many multiples of human breath, past, present, and
future? Powers that breathe their life through and across generations,
providing a continuance to spite our mortality? The Sabians seem to recognize
the Pneumata as such when they say to each of the Seven: "We call you by all
your names" followed with the names used to address the planet/deity in question
by the various peoples of their world, bringing Arabic, Old Greek, Romaic (New
Greek), Persian, Iranian and Indian deities together under the single planetary
heading. (Prechronic to Jung.) All actions and activities having to do with
the planet in question, wherever they occur in human space and time, are seen as
manifestations of its pneuma, its breath. It is the breath we use when we
perform the planet's functions, cool and moist for the work of the Moon and
Venus, hot and dry for Mars and the Sun, cold and dry for Saturn, and any of the
above for Mercury.
Thus it is
writ in the Sabian's 'Book': "As above, so below."
Each divine
pneuma has a particular basis in the human body/nervous system. Focused use of
these bases contributes greatly to the effectiveness of the invocations, and
this too is worth consideration and meditation. For a fuller exposition of the
relationship between the planets and 'chakras', I refer the reader to the
chapter on the Hermetic Caduceus in The Book of Solomon's Magick, by Carroll
Runyon. I will here briefly indicate the planet's spheres of influence in the
body as segments moving up the torso to the head. This is meant to serve as a
rough guideline only. One's own path into the spheres is often best revealed by
practice.
First and
last of all things, as the Sabians say, the Moon circles the pelvic floor and
thighs with the Pneuma of Desire, forming the basis on which life reproduces
itself in the world. Next Mercury circles the stomach with the Pneuma of
Hunger, forming the basis on which life transmutes the world into itself. Then
Venus circles the diaphragm with the Pneuma of Emotion, forming the basis on
which life relates to itself and the world. The Sun circles the heart and lungs
with the Pneuma of Pneuma, energy and source of the other Six, forming the basis
on which life identifies itself. Mars circles neck, shoulders and lower jaw
with the Pneuma of Force, forming the basis on which life overcomes itself and
the world. Wide-browed Jupiter circles the eyes and skull with the Pneuma of
Forethought, forming the basis on which life rules itself. Saturn circles the
top-center of the skull (the soft spot in babies) with the Pneuma of Time,
forming the basis on which life judges itself.
Invoking
the planetary pneumata thus means to bring a part of our self into the awareness
of the transhuman entity of which it partakes. Certain safeguards are necessary
here, since many things not at all negative from the perspective of these
entities are extremely so from certain human perspectives. These safeguards
have been embedded in the invocations themselves, but let us take a closer look
at them here.
Each
invocation commands the planet by the name of the Angel who is set over that
planet's sphere and by the "Lord of the Highest Edifice", whom the angels serve.
In the microcosmic Temple of the Sun that is the human body, the Lord of the
Highest Edifice is the Self. We gain the right to make demand of the divine
pneumata by the fact that it is the repeated sacrifice of our mortal selves, in
their deaths and multiplicities, that makes their "immortal" existence possible.
(This understood, we do stand to gain even more by tact and diplomacy, with
which the invocations abound.)
What we
stand to gain brings us to another important safeguard. In asking for favour
one should follow the paradigm that it is better to ask for wealth than money,
health than an end to the particular ache that presently troubles one, and so
on. I should say here that our informant Tabari seems to think differently on
this point. He seems to focus in large part on getting the girl/boy, the gold,
the good food, or just getting even. Lacking any emphasis on longer term
positive benefits, such specificities run the risk of severe disappointment even
in their fulfillment, so that we get: 50,000 in an insurance settlement for the
accident that cripples us from the waist down, the girl/boy that kills us for
our money, an end to our pain and we die. (Et cetera.)
On a more
serious level, what the Sabian practices offer is initiation into the spheres of
the planets: a way to purify and strengthen our physical and psychic bodies,
along a path that leads to transcarnational states of awareness and modes of
action. For a number of different reasons (psychic, psychological and physical)
it is generally best to start with the Moon and work one's way up through the
spheres progressively to Saturn. The spheres themselves are each given an
eightfold naming of their pneuma. "And know, O reader," says the author of the
Ghayat in III.9, "it is the names of these pneumata which they use who are
accustomed to going before the planets with their invocations: let that be
clear to you!" To reinforce this importance I would like to suggest a
theoretical relation between the naming of the sphere and the planetary schema
itself.
The naming
of the six directions (above, below, right left, before, behind) is readily
comprehensible as rays emanating from a central point or sphere along three
axes. The seventh name, for the "mover and partitioner in the sphere, the
partition into the realms, and the path of the pneuma" is less obvious in its
reference at first, especially since the eighth name is reserved for the
totality of the sphere. But if we ask what divides the sphere into its realms
and determines its movement and the path of its pneuma, there is one simple
answer: the center. It divides the sphere. It determines the division of the
sphere in six directions, its realms, and determines the movement and path of
its emanation.
This center
suggests a further planetary identification/analogue: it is the six-rayed star,
the Sun, the central sphere in the planetary sequence. Above, at the furthest
end of the sequence, is Saturn, and below, at the beginning of the sequence, is
the Moon, microcosmically putting the top of the skull (time) above and the base
of the spine (desire) below. Before, leading, is Mercury; behind, guiding, is
Jupiter; at our right, overcoming, is Mars; at our left, embracing, is Venus;
in the center, shining in the column, the Sun.
This brings
us to the eighth name, the totality, the octave of the sphere, and to the last
and greatest theoretical danger, a danger automatically deferred until we reach
the final planetary sphere of Saturn. At this point the naming of the totality,
bringing us to the outermost edge of Saturn's sphere, brings us to the outermost
edge of all the planetary spheres, and into potential contact with the
interstellar void, the abyss of stars. Here our primal fear, the dragon of
chaos, awaits us, in the sum total of all our time, the octave of the octaves in
the music of the spheres.
Let me use
a brief historical allegory to illustrate some of the ramifications of this
danger. A flaw in the strategy of the Hermetic high magicians around the time
of the Roman Empire, eager in that aeon to manifest once more the City of the
Sun and the divinity of Self, was to rely too heavily on the Saturnian gnosis.
Many were insufficiently prepared for the fear of the dragon in the void, and,
not ready to cross the abyss and unable to find a way back to themselves, became
dispersed and confused in their parts, and took hold of excessive and
self-contradictory beliefs in their fear. Some triedtotake refuge in worship of
the void, and called it God, and the One, and Perfection, wanting it to shield
them from their fear. Thus did the neo-Platonists feed the Christian religion.
Others tried to take refuge in worship of the dragon, and called it God, and
the Demiurge, and Fate, wanting it to release them from their fear. Thus did
Gnostics feed the Islamic religion. There were those few who managed to
overcome their fear and cross the abyss. They lived openly at Harran for a
while, at the eastern edge of the two rising religious hegemonies, then later,
as things got worse, in greater secrecy in Spain at the western edge. From
these two centers they secretly disseminated their teachings throughout the
Islamic and Christian realms, preserving the pure Hermetic tradition, in which
neither the Dragon nor the Abyss, but rather the Self, is God, and work, not
worship, the goal. The rest, as they say, is history.
How does
one deal with the Dragon, you ask? The answer lies with the Moon. first and
last of all things. It was the pneuma of the Moon that first prevailed in the
face of the primal chaos and gave rise to life, before the higher spheres had
become manifest in what is now known as humanity. The Moon can teach you to
dance with the Dragon, after Saturn has introduced you.
What
follows below are suggestions -- regular practitioners will adapt & alter
as they see fit, or not.
Optimal
requirements: a temple with an adjoining room, the temple furnished with a
magick circle with double-cube altar at the center with a covered crystal ball
on top, incense rising from beneath, candles at the quarters and on the altar
about the crystal. Talismans may be laid for charging on the altar. (For a
handy guide to the construction of various temple furnishings, as well as a full
description of the pentagram and septagram rituals mentioned below, I again
refer you to The Book of Solomon's Magick.) Minimal requirements: the
same or equivalent on the astral. For the rest, the more that is geared by
attribution to the planet to be invoked the better. This includes vestment,
incense, sound, colours, etc. Care should also be taken in choosing the proper
time of the invocation -- usually best is consultation of astrological aspects,
though doing it by planetary days and hours is another possibility, or educated
intuition.
Begin by
performing a preliminary meditation in the room adjoining the temple, seated
about a candle. Read the description of the power of the planet that heads each
of the Rituals in Part II. Focusing on the point of the candle flame, imagine
the pneuma of the planet emanating outward from it to fill the room.
Concentrate on regulating you breath, after clearing it of any residual
tensions, until you are breathing the pure pneuma of the planet. Working in a
group, hands should be joined and the energy encouraged to circle deosil,
building with each breath, raising the hands up, so that you rise, break, and
take the energy into the temple with you.
Within the
temple, circle once deosil about the circle and then proceed to ritually light
the candles at the quarters and upon the altar, opening your temple in a form
you deem fitting. Let the Magus/Maga (the one who will perform the invocation)
lead the group deosil about the circle for the number of circumambulations
appropriate to the sphere of the planet, the Moon being the first and Saturn the
seventh.
Perform a
pentagram ritual, quartering the circle, your astral compass, and drawing down
spirit (pneuma).
Have the
group be seated about the altar within the circle and perform a septagram
ritual, opening each of the quarters to the sphere of your working, drawing down
the planetary pneuma. Be seated in the circle about the crystal and uncover it.
Gazing at
the orb in the center recite the eight-fold name of the sphere thrice, and in
the following manner. With the first naming, the Magus/a giving the cue,
encourage the microcosmic sphere of the planet within you to begin to expand.
With the second naming let it expand out past your body, towards the edge of
the sphere that contains the magick circle. With the third naming, let it fill
that sphere. At his point, and especially in group working, with the
overlapping rights and lefts of each individual's six directions, you may notice
a curious spinning sensation, as the deosil rotation of each individual sphere
expands to fill the magick circle and the centers coincide at the crystal orb.
Now let the
Magus address the planet with the words of the invocation proper, speaking
alone, using vibration of voice, and bringing all the power of memory and
expectation into astral play, to fully draw down and manifest in the magical
sphere the pneuma of the planet. At the list of the various deity-names given
the planet, let all join in vibrating the name in unison after the Magus. (This
listing may be added to or emended as you see fit. I have left the original
list as it appears in the Ghayat, even when it is a bit confused as to
attribution of language and god or goddess form.) When the presence descends
into the crystal, let all raise palms toward it to better sense and take in the
astral energies. Let the Magus speak words of welcome, and then make request
for communion and communication.
Let a
period of silence, focused on the crystal and its concentration of pneuma,
ensue. At this point, if you will and dare, you may project yourself into the
crystal and bathe your astral body in the purifying and invigorating cosmic
pneuma. After suitable period of time the Magus may ask each individual in
turn, moving deosil about the circle, if they have words from the oracle. There
follows a thanks and farewell to the spirit.
Repeat the
eight-fold naming of the sphere, but reversing the direction of the spin. This
time you are drawing the sphere back from the edge of the magick circle with the
first naming, back about your body with the second naming, and back into its
proper psychic sphere with the third. (Here it is good to remember that excess
psychic energy is best stored in the cauldron of the belly (Mercury ;), and
generally not in its own psychic center.) When this is done, the crystal should
be covered again.
Perform the
septagram ritual, this time returning the macrocosmic pneuma to its domain and
closing the quarters to the sphere of your working.
Perform the
pentagram ritual, returning spirit and clearing the space of your working.
Ritually
put out the candles at the quarters and upon the altar, close the temple and
file out softly deosil into the adjoining room.
Let the
words of the oracle and impressions be entered by each participant in a magical
log and briefly considered and discussed. Then break and turn to other matters.
Description
The power
of Increase and Decrease. Invoking the Moon will enable you to override the
sequence of Waxing and Waning in your life, rather than being overridden by it.
Power over the Moon is power over Exaltation and Depression.
Eightfold
naming
Above us
HADIS, below us MARANUS, at our right hand MALTAS, at our left hand TIMAS,
before us RABIS, behind us MINALUS. DAGAJUS moves and GARNUS names.
Invocation
Hail unto
you, O Moon, O fortunate Lord, blessed, cool, moist, constant, beautiful, you
key and head of the stars, moving easily, you wanderer, you possessor of the far
reaching light, of the brilliant shining, of joy, of praise and reward, you
fortunate king, learned in religion, who think much about things, knowing,
governing with subtlety, you who love music, jest, and play, lord of messengers,
of messages, and of the giving away of secrets, generous, noble, mild, forceful!
You it is whose sphere among the planets is closest to us and who can most
powerfully bring weal or woe, you it is who establish bonds between the planets,
you who transmit their light and turn to good that which is unfavourable to us;
through your good disposition every thing becomes good, and through your bad
disposition every thing becomes bad, you are the first and last of every thing,
and to you belongs nobility and preeminence over all other planets. Thus you
are: We ask you by Silija'il, the angel who is set over your realm, Lord of the
First Sphere, may you take pity on our humble request and our prayer to you, and
obey with obedience to God and his rulership and grant to us that which we ask
of you and that which we desire of you. Behold, we call you by all your names:
in Arabic O QAMAR, in Persian O MAH, in Greek O SAMA'IL, in Romaic O SELENE and
in Hindi O SOMA: by the Lord of the Highest Edifice, listen to us! Come, grant
us a sign of thy presence!
Description
The power
of Combination and Dispersion. Invoking Mercury will enable you to override the
sequence of Coming Together and Breaking Apart in your life, rather than being
overridden by it. Power over Mercury if power over Synthesis and Analysis.
Eightfold
Naming
Above us
AMIRAS, below us HITIS, at our right hand SAHIS, at our left hand DARIS, before
us HILIS, behind us DAHDIS. MAHUDIS moves and BARHUJAS names.
Invocation
Hail unto
you, O Mercury, P Lord, excellent, trustworthy, full of understanding, speaker,
understandable, who dispute, who know every science, you calculator, writer, of
beautiful custom, who know what happens on heaven and on earth, you lord, noble,
you who care little for joy, who are useful to goods and trade, lord of cunning,
of perjury and of cleverness, you helper, patient, smart, of skillful hand, lord
of revelation and of prophets, of the proof of divinity, of belief, of
understanding, of speech, of messages, of good teaching, of various sciences, of
discernment, of insight, of good education, of philosophy, of prognostics, of
the mathematics of heavenly and earthly bodies, of surveying, of the science of
the stars, of augury, of the art of casting lots, of rhetoric, of versifying, of
the book, of the affairs of state, of eloquence, of sweet, quick and fine
speech, of impenetrability, of quickness in trade, of much self-wandering, of
lies, of elegance, of firmness, of helpfulness, of adaptability, of patience, of
well-wishing, of goodness, of mercy, of quiet, of dignity, of self-control, of
proper veneration of divinity, of consideration of rights and of beautiful
voice. You are hidden, so that no nature knows of you, and fine, so that you can
be defined by no definition; thus you are a bringer of fortune with the
fortunate stars, masculine with the masculine, feminine with the feminine, daily
with the day stars, nightly with the night stars, you make yourself like unto
their nature and approximate them in all their circumstances. Thus you are: We
call you by all your names: in Arabic O UTARID, in Persian, O TIR, in Romaic O
HARUS, in Greek O HERMES, in Hindi O BUDDHA: we ask you by the Lord of the
Highest Edifice and the most powerful rulership, may you hear us and obey us in
that for which we pray you. So send the power of your pneuma to us, that our
arms may thereby be strengthened, that we may be properly guided and granted
success in the study of all sciences, that we achieve thereby a high and certain
position from the kings, that we may be listened to and become indispensable as
regards all sciences and questions, in service and in movement and in philosophy
and in state affairs, finance records and household management, and that by all
these means we might win great and beautiful property, rank, reputation and
position from kings and all humans. By Harqil, the angel who is set over your
realm, Lord of the Second Sphere, may you hear our prayer and listen to our
call, grant our desire, stand by us, bring us close to kings by your guidance,
guide us with your wisdom, support us with your power, teach us to understand
that which we do not understand, to know what we do not know, to see what we do
not see, and to ward off from us the harms enclosed in ignorance, forgetfulness,
crudity, and weakness, so that you permit us to reach the rungs of the earlier
wise ones, in whose hearts wisdom, intelligence, wakefulness, discernment and
understanding dwell. Also let dwell in our heart a power of your noble pneuma
which never leaves us, and a light by which we may be properly guided in all our
affairs. Favor us with service with kinds, counselors, and rulers and with the
winning of much property in this manner, and let this quickly come to be ours.
By the Lord of the Highest Edifice, may you listen to us and obey in all for
which we have prayed to you. Come, grant us a sign of thy presence!
Description
The power
of Love and Hate. Invoking Venus will enable you to override the sequence of
Attraction and Repulsion in your life, rather than being overridden by it.
Power over Venus is power over Desire and Fear.
Eightfold
Naming
Above us
GILUS, below us HILUS, at our right hand DAMAJAS, at our left hand ABLIMAS,
before us BASALMUS, behind us ARHUS. DAHTARIS moves and DIDAS names.
Invocation
Hail unto
you, O Venus Anahid, happy mistress, cool, moist, constant, clean, beautiful,
sweet-smelling, generous, joyful, mistress of ornament, of gold, of gaiety, of
dance, of joyful arousal, of finery, of song and of listening to songs, of flute
playing, of beautiful melody from the movement of strings, of play, of jest, of
companionship and leisure, you who are friendly and receptive, awakener of
affection, just, you who love wines, comforts, joys, and physical union. We
call upon you, O spirit of love, law of friendship, you who arouse the pneuma of
desire, who stimulate the powers of pleasure, who gift creatures with growth and
combine the wishes of antagonistic spirits, from whom comes coition and the
preservation of descent. O you who preserve beautiful friendship, by your
friendly pneuma and your favour-granting powers, which arouse desire in souls
and plant love in hearts, heed our call and kindly accept our striving for your
favour, and let flow over and into us a portion of thy pneuma that never leaves
us and lends us grace in all our actions! By Bita'il, the angel who is set over
your realm, Lord of the Third Sphere, come fill us for ever and ever again with
the sweet breath of your life! We call on you by all your name: in Arabic O
ZUHARA, in Persian O ANAHID, in Greek O APHRODITE, in Iranian O TIJANIJA, in
Hindi O SURFA! By the Lord of the Highest Edifice, may you listen to us and
inform us with all the joy of your wandering dance. Come, give us a sign of thy
presence!
Description
The power
of Fame and Infamy. Invoking the Sun will enable you to override the sequence
of Glorification and Vilification in your life, rather than being overridden by
it. Power over the Sun is power over Reputation.
Eightfold
Naming
Above us
DAHIMAS, below us ABADULAS, at our right hand DAHIFAS, at our left hand ATI'AFAS,
before us MAGANAMUS, behind us GADIS. TAHIMARIS moves and BANDALUS names.
Invocation
Hail unto
you, O Sun, you happy mistress, hot, dry, shining, spending light, sending rays,
bright, understanding, exalted, noble, you queen, who gather all beauty into
yourself, pure, wise, you who gather together goods, you who hold the reins of
the six, the noble planets, so that they let themselves be guided by you, you
who rule over them, that they submit to you; when they are far from you they
return to you, when they are near you they are burned up by your rays and go
down, and they receive from you light and power and from your shining they
shine. Thus you are above them all, you are the queen and they the servants,
you bring good fortune when you form aspects, and you bring misfortune when you
stand in conjunction; none can recognize your excellence completely, nor
completely understand your nobility. O source of power, foundation of strength,
joy of life, pillar of exaltation, origin of good deeds, we take our refuge with
you in our weakness and in the passing of our shining rule, threatened by enemy
encroachment. By him who moves you while remaining himself, and who strengthens
you by his power, and by your duty to grant beautiful obedience to him who gives
you his keys and brings you his upright offering, and by the reins of the six
planets which are given to you, may you free us and take away our pain, bring
back our shining rulership and give over to us a part of that which one desires
in this world and grant us somewhat of your majesty and your beauty. By the
predestined good fortune and by the hidden good and by the image by which one
permits oneself to be guided and according to whose judgment one moves, and by
your mediation on the path of generation and your kindheartedness towards small
children and the good deeds which you reveal to adults, and by your quality of
establishing firmly those who wish to preserve their high rank and by your
heavenly books against which nothing on earth arises, listen to our prayer and
heed our call. O Cause of Causes, you who are sanctified and made holy with
unending rule from eternity, we ask that you listen to us and grant to us
recognition and kind reception. We ask you in the name of Ba'il, the angel who
is set over your realm, Lord of the Fourth Sphere. We call you by all your
names: in Arabic O SAMS, in Persian O MIHR, in Romaic O HELIOS, in Hindi O ARAS,
O BARA, [O ATEN], O light and shine of the world, you at the center of all, who
give life to the world of coming forth and of passing away and who take care of
its growth, O you, who stand on exalted places, O you, who hold the highest
position: we ask you, that you support us as regards all the kings of the
earth, that we may achieve a high rank, regencies, recognition, and kind
reception, for you are mistress and queen of the planets, they who receive and
let shine their light and shining from you. We ask you, O guide of the all,
take pity on us and our prayer and humble request. Come, grant us a sign of thy
presence!
Description
The power
of Victory and Defeat. Invoking Mars will enable you to override the sequence
of Overcoming and Undergoing in your life, rather than being overridden by it.
Power over Mars is the power over Pleasure and Pain.
Eightfold
Naming
Above us
HAGIDIS, below us GIDIJUS, at our right hand MAGRAS, at our left hand ARDAGUS,
before us HANDAGIJUS, behind us MAHANDAS. DAHIDAMAS moves and DAGIDIJUS names.
Invocation
Hail unto
you, Lord Mars, excellent, dry, hot, brave-hearted, hard-headed, fiery, burning,
spiller of blood, arouser of the masses, powerful and virile, you who force and
overcome, inconstant, violent, lord of ill, of punishment, of blows, of
captivity, of lies, of calumny and unseemly speech, you killer, ruthless,
unique, alien, bearer of weapons, great and frequent fornicator, powerful in
planning attack and domination, you who beget war, who spring to the side of the
weak, strong, you who make good the ills and recompense the doers of ill. We
invoke you by all your names: in Arabic O MIRRIH, in Persian O BAHRAM, in
Romaic O ARES, in Greek O ARES, in Hindi O ANGARA! Let dwell in our limbs a
power of your pneuma, that we be strengthened thereby to hold back the ill. We
ask you by the ways taken by you and by the paths into your sphere, by Rubija'il,
the angel who is set over your realm, Lord of the Fifth Sphere, by your force
and your accountability, by him who distinguished you and made you an avenger,
very fell, of violent power and stormy attack, that you hear and obey and grant
our request and listen to our praying. Hail unto him who grants protection and
holds back the ill! Come, Lord Mars, and give us a sign of thy presence, that
we may sense that thou hast heard us!
Description
The power
of Mastery and Servitude. Invoking Jupiter will enable you to override the
sequence of Domination and Submission in your life, rather than being overridden
by it. Power over Jupiter is power over Gain and Loss.
Eightfold
Naming
Above us
DARMAS, below us MATIS, at our right hand MAGIS, at our left hand DARIS, before
us TAMIS, behind us FARUS. DAHIDAS moves and DAMAHUS names.
Invocation
Hail unto
you, O Lord Jupiter, you blessed one, happy and serene, Lord of Law, Justice,
Fairness and Conscientiousness, you who are wise in religion, ascetic [sic],
mighty, high-minded, bringer of good fortune, noble, elevated, powerful,
subjugator, granting honour, you who keep treaties, who are upright in love and
of noble nature! We ask you, O father, by your noble, beautiful attributes and
your precious deeds, grant us wealth and prosperity, and a portion of that which
one desires in this world, O source of good deeds, fulfiller of wishes. Hail
unto you, you exalted magnificent great star, good-natured, you who take care of
the concerns of the wise and who prepare a way for the spirits of the pure and
who help those drowning in the depths of the sea and calling for help! From
your light, from your spirit, from your pneuma, overflow on us, that thereby our
concern may be furthered, that the completion of our affairs be good and the
impurity of our nature washed from us. O Rufija'il, you angel who are set over
Jupiter, Lord of the Sixth Sphere, joyful and serene, complete, consummate,
pious, lord of beautiful garb, of dignity and of insight, far from all that is
filthy, far from vulgar speech! We invoke you by all your names: in Arabic O
MUSTARI, in Persian O BIRGIS, in Iranian O HURMUZ, in Greek O ZEUS, in Hindi O
WIHASFATI! By the Lord of the Highest Edifice, of good deeds and mercy, let
flow upon us and our children and those who belong to us your peace and the
light of your noble pneuma, which is bound to higher powers, that thereby you
may watch over our affairs, increase our goods and take away from us all care
for our earthly sustenance, that our life be blessed, comfortable, pleasant, and
overflow with fullness. Come, grant us a sign of thy presence!
Description
The power
of Health and Disease. Invoking Saturn will enable you to override the sequence
of Endurance and Dissolution in your life, rather than being overridden by it.
Power over Saturn is power over Life and Death.
Eightfold
Naming
Above us
TUS, below us HARUS, at our right hand QAJUS, atour left hand DARJUS, before us
TAMAS, behind us DARUS. TAHITUS moves and BARIMAS names.
Invocation
O you Lord,
whose name is mighty, whose appearance great and whose pneuma elevated, O you,
Lord Saturn, you, cold, dry, dark, doer of good and ill, upright in love,
oath-keeper, friend, unique, incomparable, rich in understanding, impenetrable,
keeper of promises, tired, indolent, who keep to yourself in trouble and in
sorrow, you who remove yourself from friends and gaiety, old in years, rich in
cunning, experienced, wily, deceitful, clever, understanding, you who bring
increase and who destroy, whose disfavour brings misery and whose favour
happiness: we beg you, primal father, by your great good deeds and noble
attributes, come and let dwell in our bones a portion of your pneuma, that we
may be preserved and strengthened thereby. In the name of God, in the name of
the angel Isbil, who is set over Saturn in all cold and ice, the Lord of the
Seventh Sphere, we invoke you by all your names: in Arabic O ZUHAL, in Persian,
O KEWAN, in Romaic, O KRONOS, in Greek O KRONOS, in Hindi, O SANASARA! BY the
Lord of the Highest Edifice, may you grant our request and listen to our call.
Come, grant us a sign of thy presence!
Bibliography
Green, Tamara
THE CITY OF THE MOON GOD
Religious Traditions in Harran
E.
J. Brill, Leiden, Holland, 1992.
Pingree, David
PICATRIX The Latin Version of the Ghayat Al-Hakim
The Warburg Institute, London 1986.
Ritter, Hellmut
& PICATRIX -- Das Ziel des Weisen von Pseudo-Magriti
Plesser, Martin
(Translated from the Arabic into German.)
The Warburg Institute, London, 1962.
Segal, J. B.
THE SABIAN MYSTERIES
from: Vanished Civilizations,
McGraw-Hill, New York 1963.
"Divine
Pneumata" originally appeared 1999ev in The Seventh Ray, Book I "The Blue
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