The Picatrix, like the writings of Jabir, could be an important connection between Hermetic philosophy in the West and the esoteric traditions of the Middle East. It is unfortunate if not surprising that there is little information available in English about the Ikhwan al-Safa. Clearly, this sort of synthesizing reflects the tendencies of later Hermetic philosophers who were trying to unify all spiritual and philosophic traditions. There are even passages within the Picatrix taken directly from the Rasa'il, implying that the author shared some of the views expounded by the Ikhwan.
Plato, Pythagoras, the Greeks, Persians, Indians and the Arabs. Known as the Brethren of Purity, the Ikhwan al-Safa drew their p h i l o s o p h y from m a n y d i v e r s e s o u r c e s A r i s t o t l e , The style in which the author of the Picatrix presents information resembles that of the Ikhwan al-Safa whose encyclopaedia, the Rasa'il, influenced Hermetic philosophy during the 10th and 11th centuries. Although attributed to Pseudo-al-Majriti the question of exact authorship remains unanswered. The author has compiled information derived from 224 books by "ancient sages" with the intention of uniting all these diverse arts into a practical system. Long regarded as source material the text of this Medieval work consists of four books covering the art and practice of Astrological, Talismanic and Astral Magic. However, the continued increase in popularity of Hermetic studies as well as the growing number of English readers desiring to refer to this book, has made the publication of this English edition necessary. The Warburg Institute, which published excellent scholarly editions in Arabic, German and Latin, decided not to do an English translation with the idea that only Medievalists would be interested in reading it, along with the prohibitive cost of a new translation.
PICATRIX ^!)** This first English translation of The Picatrix, or Ghayat AlHakim as it is titled in classical Arabic, represents a major contribution the corpus of Hermetic literature.
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