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Arabic Magick

To: alt.magick.tyagi,alt.magick
From: haramulla 
Subject: Re: Arabic Magick
Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2003 05:54:07 GMT

50030625 viii om Pisces-Age-Y2006

assalam alaykum, my kin.

Gnomedplume@aol.com (Gnome d Plume):
#># **** Obviously they are not "European" pseudo Arabian versions ala
#># *Vytheck* or *Hadji Baba..* Picatrix (*The Aim of the Sage*) was
#># translated directly from the Arabic into modern German and more
#># recently (half of it) into modern English.****

I have been peering over the contents of the first half of that
text (Picatrix) lately and I notice that the author seems to be
attempting to portray magic for purpose of religious conversion.

that is, he attempts to catalogue the astrological amulet
construct methods merely in order to explain a Neoplatonic
metaphysics with Allah at its pyramidal top shaking his 
head "no" at the practice of magic excepting that it leads 
one to engage piety and attain to wisdom. while it does contain
(some in this first half, apparently much more in the latter
which I have not yet seen) methods for physical influences
toward materialistic ends, these are cast in a shadow of
negativity in comparison to transcending materialism and
getting with the mystical programme. the parallels with 
the tradition of Hermetic magic are very interesting.

Gnomedplume@aol.com (Gnome d Plume):
# ****Picatrix is  the great grandaddy of most European clavicules. It
# is alleged to be 9th century in the original and 13th century in the
# first European versions. See Dame Francis Yates' *Giordano Bruno and
# the Hermetic Tradition.* See also Lynn Thorndike's *History of Magic
# and Experimental Science.*  Medieval Muslim authors did write about
# magick but "carefully." (of course this applies to European writers
# also.) ****

that ('carefully') is something I've been attempting to parse:
did they do so in a kind of disdainful or recommending-against
manner so as to be able to get their material seen at all (quite
possible), or were they really (comparable to some academics of
magic *like Thorndike*!) downplaying magic's efficacy for the
purpose of examining something else they considered much more
important (in the case of the author of Picatrix, the worship
of Allah and attainment of wisdom; in the case of Thorndike,
at least in his less extensive but apparently relatable "The 
Place of Magic in the Intellectual History of Europe", the
apprehension of the history and principles of *science*).

#># **** Idries Shah is an Afghani
#># Sufi and Mamdouh Al Daye is not doing a Lobsang Ramptha act. He was
#># born in the Middle East and puts Arabic on his facing pages.  As for
#># dates I could certainly give them because I have all the books
#># mentioned in my library---but given title and author most people don't
#># demand dates--unless they are in a bad mood or grading term papers.****

Shah's "Oriental Magic" (mentioned elsewhere in this thread methinks)
has an elaborated Sufi theurgy comparable to many other religious
magical systems (overseen by the God and a kind of byproduct of
the mystical path), as well as a partial survey of occultism worldwide.

peace be with you, 

haramulla

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