|
De Operationibus occultis naturae of Aquinas, his idea of occult properties
incorporated the specific form.
185
He explains:
Who does not know that the occult virtues of things which are
called ‘specific virtues’ by natural philosophers, are made not by the
elemental nature, but by the celestial? As so the rays can (as they
say) imprint in images forces occult and wonderful beyond these we
know, just as they introduce them to all things.
186
So the mage must know the occult properties of things and arrange
them in the work according to their astral correspondences; and so if
solar gifts are required then solar things are needed and through the
seminal reasons placed in the material of the talisman’s body deposited
by the stars, it will resonate with celestial power; ‘if in the proper manner
you bring to bear on species [precious stones for example], or on some
individual in it, many things which are dispersed but which conform
to the same Idea, into this material thus suitably adapted you will soon
draw a particular gift from the Idea, through the seminal reason of the
Soul’.
187
As a result of this process, ‘this material is violently agitated by
art under a similar celestial influence and begins to get warm from the
agitation. And so art arouses inchoate power there’.
188
Thus, Ficino refers
to correspondences and magically activated seminal reasons as ‘magi-
cal baits’ and ‘divine lures’ as Synesius and Zoroaster did before him.
189
To capture celestial gifts with these lures astrological timing and the
right location are essential.
190
‘For just as the body is disposed according
to the place and time, so motion and action are disposed according to
the time. Therefore, just as in various places, certain bodies and their
forms coalesce at certain places and times and are preserved; so also
certain actions properly achieve efficacy in their own certain seasons.’
‘Timeliness’ as Ficino writes, is ‘the principle of all things’.
191
As we have
Early Modern Astral Magic
119
seen, in all the Arabic and medieval Latin texts there is no natural magic
without astrology.
In Ficino’s magic, the Platonic and Neoplatonic metaphysics in which
the soul takes centre stage is reconciled with Arabic astrological hylo-
morphism and the theory of the specific form.
192
This syncretism is
expressed concisely in a statement that brings together all the cos-
mological foundations aforementioned and the principles of astral
magic:
Through such seminal reasons the Anima Mundi can easily apply
herself to materials since she has formed them to begin with through
these same seminal reasons, when a Magus or a priest brings to bear
at the right time rightly grouped forms of things – forms which prop-
erly aim towards one reason or another, as the lodestone toward iron
[
. . . ] Sometimes it can happen that when you bring seminal rea-
sons to bear on forms, higher gifts too may descend, since reason
in the Anima Mundi are conjoined to the Intellectual forms in her
and through these to the Ideas of the Divine Mind.
193
So exactly what kind of magical practices does Ficino’s theory justify?
He mentions amulets, talismans (astrological images), figures, rings and
statues. Amulets are natural objects that are worn, carried or hung that
exert influence only by their natural inherent properties. These are rec-
ommended by Ficino. He writes: ‘if you have acquired the gems which
we listed as Phoebean a little while ago, there will be no need to imprint
images on them. Accordingly hang them set in gold from your neck on
threads of yellow silk, when the Sun is in Aries or Leo and is ascending
or else occupies the mid-heaven and aspects the Moon.’
194
As shown in
the previous chapter, Albertus Magnus and Roger Bacon distinguished
between objects that are magical ‘by nature’ or ‘by art’. Magnus con-
doned amulets and astrological images.
195
Bacon approved of amulets
but was cautious about talismans, claiming that their deficiency lies in
the limitation of our understanding of astral influences.
196
As Ficino
notes, Aquinas approved amulets but rejected talismans.
197
A talisman
is a magical object that is made up of one or more materials that are
artificially brought together, sometimes imprinted with inscriptions and
images. Referring to the pseudo-Ptolomaic Centiloquium, Porphyry and
Iamblichus, Ficino explains that talismans manufactured from terrestrial
things are subject to the celestial forms.
198
Figures are talismans whose
shapes signify an external recipient or represent a celestial figure. Their
power lies in their mathematical forms and as such they acquire the
120
Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: |
