The Arabic Influences on Early Modern Occult Philosophy

Liana Saif is British Academy postdoctoral fellow at the Oriental Institute in the University of Oxford (St. Cross College), UK. She is interested in Western and Islamic occult thought and the exchange of esoteric ideas between the two worlds. As part of her current project entitled 'On the Margins of Orthodoxy: Magic in Medieval Islam,' Saif is preparing an English translation of the Arabic magic compendium Ghayat al-hakim known as the Picatrix.

Introduction 1. Arabic Theories of Astral Influences: Abu Ma'shar al-Balkhi 2. Arabic Theories of Astral Magic: The De radiis and the Picatrix 3. Textual and Intellectual Reception of Arabic Astral Theories in the Twelfth Century 4. Magic in the Thirteenth Century: Albertus Magnus, Thomas Aquinas and Roger Bacon 5. Early Modern Astral Magic: Marsilio Ficino 6. True Magic and Astrology of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola 7. The Magic and Astrology of John Dee 8. Celestial Souls and Cosmic Daemons Conclusion