Renaissance Studies Vol. 25 No.

DOI: 10.1111/j.1477-4658.2011.00742.x

The Arabic theory of astral influences in early

modern medicine
Liana Saif
Between the years of 1426 and 1428, a debate took place in the medical faculty
of Montpellier University regarding the use of an astrological talisman called
the Lion Seal, which supposedly relieved kidney pain.1 In 1428, the French
reformer Jean Gerson condemned the use of the talisman. He was criticizing
a long tradition that accepted the integration of the occult into the practice of
medicine. For example, in the fourteenth century, the philosopher Nicole
Oresme (c. 132382) writes in his Marvels of Nature: Medicine is a kind of
astrology since it enables us to judge as to the humours of the body and taking
of medicines.2 The occultist Giambattista della Porta (15371615), in his
Natural Magic, also writes: a magician must be a physician for both sciences
are very like and near together.3
These claims stem from the fact that medicine and occult philosophy were
conceptually related.4 For example, they shared the notion of the occult which
in medicine referred to latent causes and hidden diseases, whereas, in magical
thought, it referred to mysterious hidden phenomena. The spirit was
another notion shared by medicine and occult thought (medical spirits and
the Neoplatonic notion of spiritus that was popular in occult thought).5 In
order to justify the symbiotic relationship of the legitimate science of medicine with astrology and astral magic there needs to be a rational and naturalistic explanation of the astral powers that are at work in both.

1
Ralph Drayton, Medicine and Religion in Late Medieval Culture: The Case of Astrological Talismans at the University
of Montpellier (Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin, 2001), 12.
2
Nicole Oresme, The Marvels of Nature: A Study of his De causis mirabilium, trans. Bert Hansen (Toronto:
Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, 1985), Ch. 1, 535.
3
Giambattista della Porta, Natural Magic (New York: Basic Books, 1957), Ch. 3, 3.
4
Paul Oskar Kristeller, Philosophy and Medicine in Medieval and Renaissance Italy, in Organism, Medicine
and Metaphysics: Essays in Honor of Hans Jonas, 7 (1978), 2940, at 30; Ian Mclean, Logic, Signs and Nature in the
Renaissance: The Case of Learned Medicine (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002), 8082;
Nancy G. Siraisi, Medieval and Early Renaissance Medicine: An Introduction to Knowledge and Practice (Chicago:
University of Chicago, 1990), 12; Charles Schmidt, Aristotle Amongst the Physicians, in A. Wear, R. K. French,
and I. M. Lonie (eds.), The Medical Renaissance of the Sixteenth Century (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge
University Press, 1985), 13.
5
Drayton, Medicine and Religion, 879; Mclean, Logic, Signs and Nature, 26, 178, 3045; Siraisi, Medieval and
Early Renaissance Medicine, 68, 149; Schmidt, Aristotle, 34.

2011 The Author

Renaissance Studies 2011 The Society for Renaissance Studies, Blackwell Publishing Ltd

610

Liana Saif

In the context of medicine, Galen writes in his Commentary on Hippocrates On

Air, Waters, and Places that Hippocrates believed if a man thinks that the
thoughts we have mentioned belong to meteorology [. . .] he will find that
astronomy is not a small part of the science of medicine.6 Even though Galen
and Hippocrates acknowledged the relevance of astrology to medicine, they
did not provide a scientific explanation for this acknowledgment. The nature
of astral agency is generally vague in Greek philosophy; Hellenic astrology did
not necessarily conform to one particular theoretical model vacillating
between semiological (celestial locations as mere signs without causal roles)
and divine interpretations. Ptolemy, in his major and influential astrological
works, namely the Tetrabiblos and Almagest, does not introduce a theory of
astrology. He is content to attribute sublunary change to the motions and
locations of the planets, without explaining the natural process, whereby stars
influence the world below.7 This semiological approach is also apparent in the
thought of Plotinus. We read in the Enneads, if the stars announce the future
as we hold of many other things also what explanation of the cause have we
to offer? What explains the purposeful arrangement thus implied?8 So Plotinus excludes any causative role being played by the planets and stars. The
divine interpretation, on the other hand, is exemplified by the attitude of
Proclus who, in The Elements of Theology, points out that the influence of the
stars stems from their divine souls.9 This view is shared by the Neoplatonist
philosopher Iamblichus10 and the astrologer Julius Firmicus Maternus.11 Generally, attributing celestial influences to the divinity of the celestial bodies is
prevalent in Greek astrology.12 Therefore, classical sources do not contain a
rational theory of astrology.
Research on the nature of astral agency in the Renaissance has focused on
the influence of Neoplatonic metaphysics on the early modern occult
thought. The semiological and mystical Neoplatonic readings led to the emergence of terms like the Neoplatonic magus who attempts to ascend through
that language towards the One beyond being, 13 and the magic of signs and

6
Galens commentary on the Hippocratic treatise Airs, Waters, Places, trans. into English from Hebrew by Abraham
Wasserstein (Jerusalem: The Israel Academy of Science and Humanities, 1985), 21.
7
Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos or Quadripartite: Being Four Books of the Influence of the Stars trans. J. M. Ashmand (London:
W. Foulsham, 1917), Bk. I, Ch. II, 24.
8
Plotinus, The Enneads, trans. Stephen Mackenna (London: Penguin Books, 1991), Bk. II. 3, 76.
9
Proclus, The Elements of Theology, trans. E. R. Dodds (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1933), Ch. L, Line 7, prop.
165, commentary, 284.
10
Iamblichus, De mysteriis, trans. Emma C. Clarke, John M. Dillon and Jackson P. Hershbell (Atlanta: Society
of Biblical Literature, c.2003), Bk. I, 17, 65, Bk. I, 18, 67, 18.
11
Firmicus Maternus, Ancient Astrology, Theory and Practice: Matheseos Libri VIII, trans. Jean Rhyes Bram
(Abingdon: Astrology Classics, 2005), Bk. I, Ch. IV, 17. Bk. I, Ch. V, 19.
12
Derek Collins, Nature, Cause, and Agency in Greek Magic, in Transactions of the American Philological
Association, Vol. 133, No. 1 (Spring, 2003), 2930.
13
Richard C. Marback, Daemons, Idols, Phantasms: The Rhetoric of Marsilio Ficino (unpublished doctoral thesis,
Ann Arbor: University Microfilms International, 1994), 35.

The Arabic theory of astral influences in early modern medicine

611

symbols,14 which denote the non-operative semiological links that Neoplatonism provides between everything in the world below and above. These
terms do not successfully describe the scientific vindication of Early Modern
astrology and magic.
A naturalistic and scientific explanation of astral agency is found in the
medieval Arabic works of medicine, astrology and magic, which were first
translated in twelfth-century Europe.15 The philosophical and scientific basis
for the relationship between the occult and medicine was first formulated in
these Arabic works, forming what may be described as the Arabic theory of
astral influences, which posits that medicine is an etiological science that not
only investigates lower causes of illness but also studies the celestial ones that
determine all sublunary conditions. Early modern thinkers were introduced
to the Arabic theory of astral influences through a trilogy of occult works from
which the theory can be synthesized: Kitab al-Madkhal al-kabir ila ilm ahkam
al-nujum (The Great Introduction) by the influential astrologer Abu Mashar
al-Balkhi (787886), De radiis stellicis (On the Stellar Rays) by Yaqub ibn Ishaq
al-Kindi (c. 801873), and Ghayat al-Hakim (The Picatrix) by pseudo-Majriti,
composed in the eleventh century. These texts became available to the West in
translation at a relatively early date: The Great Introduction was translated into
Latin first by John of Seville in 1133, again by Herman of Carinthia in 1140
whose translation was then published in 1489 by Ratdolt in Augsburg.16 De
radiis is preserved only in a Latin translation, which influenced many early
modern occultists from Marsilio Ficino to John Dee. Ghayat al-Hakim, known
to the West as the Picatrix, was translated from Arabic into Castilian under the
patronage of Alfonso the Wise at some time between 1256 and 1258, and
shortly afterwards was rendered into Latin. By the fifteenth century, there was
a rise of interest in astrology and magic, supported by the reception and wide
availability of these Arabic works. A comprehensive discourse of magic was
then created and was expanded by print and represented by canonical
authorities on magic influenced by these works, such as Marsilio Ficino, Pico
della Mirandola, and Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa.
In this article, I argue that this theory was adopted by occultists and physicians of the fifteenth and sixteenth century to explain the occult elements of
medical philosophy. I discuss two complementary points of views: the first is
the occultists view of medicine as exemplified by Marsilio Ficino; and the
second is the view of the physician on the relevance of the occult to medicine
as exemplified by Jean Fernel. I will show how the Arabic theory of astral
14

Ibid., 1.
Mclean, Logic, Signs and Nature, 201; Kristeller, Philosophy and Medicine, 31; Siraisi, Medieval and Early
Renaissance Medicine, 156. Charles Burnett, Magic and Divination in the Middle Ages: Texts and Techniques in the
Islamic and Christian Worlds (Aldershot: Variorum, 1996), Ch. IV, 1038; Donald Campbell, Arabian Medicine and
Its Influence on the Middle Ages, (London: K. Paul, Trench, Trubner and Co., Ltd., 1926), 6.
16
Richard Lemay, Abu Mashar and Latin Aristotelianism in the Twelfth Century: The Recovery of Aristotles Natural
Philosophy through Arabic Astrology (Beirut: American University of Beirut, 1962), Pt. 1, Ch. 1, 40.
15

612

Liana Saif

influences permeates their works and attribute Ficinos and Fernels rational
justifications of the occult-medical link to this theory, thus establishing the
Arabic influence on a significant, yet sometimes overlooked, aspect of Renaissance medicine. In order to examine this aspect, I first explore the formulation of the Arabic theory itself.
THE ARABIC THEORY OF ASTRAL INFLUENCES

Abu Mashars Great Introduction is a comprehensive guide to astrology. In the

first part, we find the theoretical/philosophical foundations of astrology
based on Aristotelian principles of generation and corruption. Abu Mashar
illustrates the common foundations that astrology shares with medicine: they
are both etiological pursuits. Physicians, he argues, search for the natural or
terrestrial causes of illnesses, such as the change of seasons and its effects on
the bodily humours; they also recognize the properties and natures of cures
and medicines and the nature of illness, then give a prognosis and prescribe
treatments. In a similar way, astrologers examine the celestial causes for
human ailments by observing the stellar and planetary motions and associating them with changing sublunary conditions that affect the well-being of
humans.17 Medicine and astrology, then, respectively investigate the lower and
higher causes in order to identify a source of a medical problem and suggest
a course of action to solve it.18 In fact, astrology perfects medicine since it
extends the etiological enquiries into the higher causes, that is, the stars, and
therefore, as Abu Mashar writes, astrology is nobler and higher than medicine.19 Thus every physician must be an astrologer. In response to a group of
thinkers who refuse to see the parallels between medicine and astrology, Abu
Mashar repeats the notions mentioned above and refers this group to Hippocrates work, On Airs, Waters, and Places, and supports Hippocrates assertion
that the science of the stars is not a small part of the science of medicine.20
After establishing parallels between the two sciences, Abu Mashar provides
an exposition of their theoretical common ground. He explains the nature of
astral causation by uniquely assigning to the planets a generative role that is
responsible for the perpetual link between the heavens and the world below.
He writes that the terrestrial world is connected to the celestial world and its
motions by necessity. Therefore, due to the power of the celestial world and its
motions, terrestrial things, generated and corruptible, are affected.21 The
17
Abu Mashar al-Balkhi, Kitab al-madkhal al-kab r il ilm ahkam al-nujum (The Great Introduction), ed. Richard
Lemay (Napoli: Istituto Universitario Orientale, 199596, 9 vols.), Vol. II, Qawl 1, Ch. 2, 145. All quotes from
The Great Introduction are my own translations.
18
Abu Mashar, Kitab al-madkhal, Ch. 2, 135.
19
Abu Mashar, Kitab al-madkhal, Ch. 2, 1415.
20
Abu Mashar, Kitab al-madkhal, Ch. 5, 4445.
21
Abu Mashar, Kitab al-madkhal, Ch. 3, 1920; Aristotle, On Generation and Corruption, in The Complete
Works of Aristotle, ed. by Jonathan Barnes (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1984), Bk. II, Ch. 11, 554,
(338a19338b1), Physics, Bk. III, Ch. 1, 342, (200b12), Meteorology, Bk. I, 5567, (339a1524), (340a2021).

The Arabic theory of astral influences in early modern medicine

613

terrestrial world is affected by the heat produced by the motions of planets,

and this heat is an agent of generation as it is responsible for the union of
matter and forms.22 Abu Mashar follows the Aristotelian principles of generation and corruption.23 Aristotle posits that the motion of the spheres is
responsible for generation. However, Abu Mashar departs from Aristotles
philosophy by explicitly attributing a generative virtue to the stars and planets
themselves, which unites forms and matter. The different forms of each genus
and species are the consequence, he argues, of the diversity of the virtues and
qualities of the planets and stars; the heavenly bodies, equally, are responsible
for the mixing and harmony between the body of the generated being and its
animal soul.24 In medicine, the physician must understand that the natural
causes of illnesses result from the higher celestial causes due to the link
between generated things and the stars which is why celestial motions induce
changes in seasons and humours.
Furthermore, in concocting medicines, a physician must recognize the
properties of natural things that are celestial qualities of forms acting in
those natural things.25 Abu Mashar distinguishes between three properties
(khawass) of substances: material, formal, and astral. The properties of the
four elements (matter) are always manifest, whereas the properties of the
forms are hidden. Focusing specifically on the astral property, Abu Mashar
shows how it is manifest in species, genus, individuals, and in their
appearances:
The single ruby has a nature, size, shape, colour and clarity. Some rubies are
clearer and softer than others of the same genus. And a ruby has a property of
effect [act]. One planet has significations on the genus of the precious stone,
another on the species of the ruby and another planet has significance in
another thing among the things that are completed [in the single ruby] by the
participation of different planets in it. Without the participation of all the
different planetary significations in the single entity, it would not have parts,
functions, and different states.26

But also, Abu Mashar attributes the occult properties to astral properties as
they stem from the celestial forms. He states that the properties of those forms
are hidden or occult, but that the planets make them active.27 To illustrate
this, he refers to medicine, asserting that physicians cannot create cures

22

Abu Mashar, Kitab al-madkhal, Ch. 4, 254.

Aristotle, Physics, Bk. II, Ch. 1, 315, (192b356); Lemay, Abu Mashar and Latin Aristotelianism, 649, 705,
77, 99.
24
Abu Mashar, Kitab al-madkhal, Ch. 4, 2425.
25
Abu Mashar, Kitab al-madkhal, Ch. 2, 14
26
Abu Mashar, Kitab al-madkhal, Ch. 4, 28.
27
Abu Mashar, Kitab al-madkhal, Ch. 4, 25.
23

614

Liana Saif

without knowing the virtues of the planets that participated in the generation
of planets, animals and minerals used in the concoction of these cures.28
Thus, the astral property combined with the hidden properties of the forms
leads to generated things having occult properties. The sympathies and
antipathies between different substances are the result of the affinities
between the virtues and attributes of the planets themselves with which the
forms of things correspond. For instance, Saturn opposes Jupiter; therefore, a
substance generated by Saturn would be antipathetic to one generated by
Jupiter. If that substance were a medicine, then it would not be used for
healing the liver (ruled by Jupiter) but would be used to treat the spleen
(ruled by Saturn).
Astrology and medicine are homocentric sciences concerned with man and
his circumstances. According to Abu Mashar, the planets instil the human
form in the body, participate in bringing together all mans parts and traits,
and establish the bond between the animal and the rational spirit. They also
determine all aspects of appearance, gender, and personality traits.29 Also,
each organ is governed by a different planet, due to the planets participation
in the generation of the organ itself. Accordingly, the Moon governs the
stomach, Venus the kidneys, Mars the blood and so on.30 Moreover, the
celestial conditions at the time of birth determine propensity to illnesses, as
illustrated in a humans natal chart. The motions of the planets since birth
may either work against or with these inclinations. In addition, the medicinal
qualities of different plants, stones, and animals are determined by the astral
forms and the planets with which they correspond due to their generation
from the world above.31 Accordingly, when someone falls ill, their birth chart
should be consulted to gauge their inclinations, then elections may be used to
determine the most propitious time for administering medicine or performing medical procedures.
From the exposition of the theory thus far, we see that Abu Mashar illustrates three common concerns between astrology and medicine. First, the
stars and planets infuse forms into matter in generation, which means that a
formal link is sustained between generated things and the world above; therefore, the motions of the stars impact the conditions of the sublunary world,
and these conditions affect the well-being of human beings. Second, the
properties of natural things are determined by the qualities of the planets and
stars that generated them; therefore, the physician must be aware of the astral
affinities of the ingredients of his medicines. Finally, as the planets unite
human forms with their bodies, then the health of humans, their inclination
to illness and recovery are determined by the planets; and therefore, their
28
29
30
31

Abu
Abu
Abu
Abu

Mashar,
Mashar,
Mashar,
Mashar,

Kitab
Kitab
Kitab
Kitab

al-madkhal,
al-madkhal,
al-madkhal,
al-madkhal,

Ch.
Ch.
Ch.
Ch.

5,
4,
4,
4,

39.
27.
28.
289.

The Arabic theory of astral influences in early modern medicine

615

astrological charts must be consulted by the physicians. These three points

constitute the first and primarily astrological part of the Arabic theory of astral
influences.
The second part of the theory, which is more magical, considers the possibility of harnessing astral influences for the benefit of mankind. This was set
out by the physician and philosopher, Yaqub ibn Ishaq al-Kindi, Abu
Mashars contemporary, in his De radiis stellicis. This is a unique work that
establishes the theory of magic in a pure philosophical and scientific framework primarily based on the Aristotelian theory of generation and corruption.
Like Abu Mashar, al-Kindi attributes to the stars a generative role in the
process of generation, but departs from him by introducing the active power
of celestial rays. Al-Kindi states that generation and corruption, and elemental
transformation take place through the actions of these rays.32 He adds,
All things arise and exist through rays. But this ought to be especially attended
to: that since everything in this world is continuously moved by some species of
motion, the form which it received through this motion has a form on account
of the matter sowing in advance [. . .] Indeed every form presently existing, is in
the matter of a thing closely imitating it and the form passes into it [the matter]
through the operation of the dominating rays of the stars.33

Furthermore, al-Kindi explains that varied occult properties of natural things

are the result of diversity in the quality of stellar rays due to the various natures
of the planets and stars from which they projected. Al-Kindi writes, every star
has its own nature and condition in which the projection of its rays with others
is comprehended. [. . .] so those rays are diverse in nature, just as the stars are
diverse in nature.34 The diversity of the rays is responsible, then, for the
diversity of species and genus due to the different forms that are governed by
the different planets and stars.35 Al-Kindi adds that elemental diversities are
also partly responsible for variation of effects. Matter itself projects redirected
rays, whose virtue is conditioned by the elementary host.36 He writes that the
diversity of matter receiving the rays of elemental things causes the diversity of
the effects of their rays.37
So far, al-Kindi has established the role of the rays in primary generation
and occult qualities; however, he goes on to render the theory of astral
influences magical by giving man a generative ability. He explains:
32
Yakub ibn Ishaq ibn Sabbah Al-Kindi, De Radiis Stellicis (On the Stellar Rays), trans. Robert Zoller (London:
A New Library Publication, 2004), 3rd Electronic publication, Ch. 1, 30: <http://www.new-library.com/zoller>
(accessed January, 2009).
33
Al-Kindi, De Radiis Stellicis, Ch. 2, 33; Abu Mashar, Kitab al-madkhal, Vol. II, Qawl I, Ch. 4, 2425.
34
Al-Kindi, De Radiis Stellicis, Ch. 2, 31.
35
Al-Kindi, De Radiis Stellicis, Ch. 2, 35.
36
Pinella Travaglia, Magic, Causality and Intentionality: The Doctrine of Rays in al-Kindi (Firenze: SISMEL, 1999),
23.
37
Al-Kindi, De Radiis Stellicis, Ch. 3, 39.

616

Liana Saif

When, however, from some species of matter some species of thing is generated;
made by the motion in that same matter, as frequently happens, it is called
natural generation by men; but when such species of things are generated apart
from the usual manner from such species of matter, such a generation is called
preternatural. But the same celestial harmony works in both.38

By preternatural generation, al-Kindi means mans power of a secondary type

of generation. Abu Mashar argues that since the stars are involved in the
generation of the human body and are responsible for the bond between the
spirit and the body, their motions exert direct influence on human life.
Al-Kindi accepts this and proposes that the status of man as a microcosm
enables him to invite the virtues of the stars by the power of intention, which
he asserts produces its own rays;39 a magus seeking to use the virtues of the
stars in magical actions or for their medicinal qualities may unite their forms
with an object by means of the celestial rays. This object would then have
celestial qualities, and be known as a talisman.40 The rays, al-Kindi adds, have
a nature that is life-giving.41 So, by preternatural generation, the magus is
giving life and invites celestial forms into the body of his talisman, thus
asserting mans position as a generator.42 The talisman created by the magus
act on other bodies via stellar and elementary rays; as al-Kindi explains with
reference to medicine: curative medicine taken internally or applied externally seems to pour the rays of its virtue through the body of the one using it
[. . .] This is also more subtly known in many other things.43
Al-Kindis doctrine of rays and Abu Mashars notion of generative planets
were adopted by the author of the Picatrix. 44 This work is described as the
standard work of the Middle Ages on astrological magic.45 It contains instructions for creating all kinds of talismans including medicinal ones.46 PseudoMajriti realizes the role of the planets in the process of generation as
explained by Abu Mashar. He writes that the knowledge of the occult properties of things that strengthen the power of the talisman entails deliberation
on the three generated beings [plants, animals, minerals] and the powers
of the moving planets that reside in them which are manifest in their

38

Al-Kindi, De Radiis Stellicis, Ch. 2, 36.

Al-Kindi, De Radiis Stellicis, Ch. 4, 44; Ch. 5, 44, 467.
40
Al-Kindi, De Radiis Stellicis, Ch. 2, 33.
41
Al-Kindi, De Radiis Stellicis, Ch. 3, 33.
42
Al-Kindi, De Radiis Stellicis, Ch. 5, 4849.
43
Al-Kindi, De Radiis Stellicis, Ch, 3, 38.
44
The author of the Picatrix was acquainted with the works of Abu Mashar because he mentioned the
astrologer in an earlier work on alchemy called Rutbat al-Hakim. See Maribel Fierro, Batinism in Al-Andalus,
in Studia Islamica, No. 84 (1996), 87112, 97.
45
Henry and Rene Kahane and Angelina Pietrangeli, Picatrix and the Talismans, in Romance Philology, 19
(1966), 574.
46
Pseudo-Majriti, Das Ziel des Weisen (Picatrix), ed. Helmut Ritter (London: Warburg Institute, University of
London, 1933), Maqal I, Ch. 4, 2122; Ch. 5, 35. All quotes from the Picatrix are my translations.
39

The Arabic theory of astral influences in early modern medicine

617

properties.47 Without knowledge of the generation of animals, plants, and

minerals, the magus cannot recognize the affinities amongst materials used in
the construction of talismans.48 Pseudo-Majriti was also acquainted with
al-Kindis theory of rays. He affirms that the virtues of the stars, which are
invited into the talisman, are the result of planetary motions that produce heat
and project rays. The heat and the rays excite and actualize the magical
properties of the talisman.49 The planets bestow forms through their motions
by the agency of heat and the action of their rays, and they instil these forms
in elementary compounds. The motions of the planets and their connection
via the forms with generated things are responsible for changes and transformations that take place in the sublunary world, including magical and medical
transformations.50
Furthermore, planetary influences and their generative powers are the
causes of the occult properties and they also determine the sympathies and
antipathies amongst them. Therefore, according to pseudo-Majriti, the
magus needs to understand the potentiality in matter for accepting celestial
forms in order to ensoul a talisman; he also needs to know the sympathies
or antipathies between the materials used.51 The author uses medicine as an
analogy to illustrate the sympathies in the occult virtues of talismans. For
instance, he states that scammony (a plant of the morning glory family)
attracts yellow bile because their natures are similar; they are both hot and
dry and therefore the sympathy between them causes them to act upon one
another. Each has the potential to be moved by the other. This sympathy
exists for scammony and yellow bile because the same planets contributed to
their generation.52 Magic, therefore, requires the knowledge of astral affinities which cause occult sympathies and antipathies that are required in creating natural cures.
Pseudo-Majriti asserts that the magus prepares a talisman according to the
rules of astral correspondences and affinities. But to make the talisman active
he needs to attract astral forms into its body. He explains that the magus is
capable of achieving secondary generation due to his microcosmic nature. He
writes that man is a small world analogous to the big world, as in truth he is
a complete part [of the universe] with a rational, vegetable and animal spirit
unique by [having] these three and is distinct from the rest of the animals by
the rational spirit.53 In addition to his microcosmic nature, his unique

47

Pseudo-Majriti, Das Ziel des Weisen, Maqal I, Ch. 2, 9.

Pseudo-Majriti, Das Ziel des Weisen, Maqal 1, Ch. 2, 9.
49
Pseudo-Majriti, Das Ziel des Weisen, Maqala 1, Ch. 3, 12.
50
Pseudo-Majriti, Das Ziel des Weisen, Maqala 2, Ch. 3, 63, 66.
51
Pseudo-Majriti, Das Ziel des Weisen, Maqala 1, Ch. 4, 24.
52
Pseudo-Majriti, Das Ziel des Weisen, 86, 967; Abu Mashar, Kitab al-madkhal, Ch. 3, 212. Using the example
of the magnet Abu Mashar explains that the attraction of iron is due to a certain potentiality in the magnet and
the receiving virtue of iron.
53
Pseudo-Majriti, Das Ziel des Weisen, Maqala 1, Ch. 4, 24.
48

618

Liana Saif

rational spirit is called the distinguisher because it causes [magical] practices and brings the absent [form] in the mind [of the magus] and attaches
the forms [to matter] thus achieving secondary generation.54 Al-Kindi also
writes on the powerful microcosmic nature of Man and explains that Man can
magically affect the world and inform talismans by the power of imagination
and intention which stem from the spirit: The imagination and intention of
man have the power over matter for the purpose of moving and informing it
with an external operation because they arise in man who is a little world and
[. . .] he is similar to the whole world in virtue and effect.55 Therefore, in the
Picatrix and De radiis, primary generation, in which the planets and stars
participate, can be imitated through astral magic whereby a magus, with his
microcosmic generating ability, invites astral virtues and forms in the talisman
rendering it efficacious.
The works discussed above form what can be regarded as a trilogy representing Arabic occult thought, in which we find a theory of astral influences
that gives a natural non-superstitious explanation for the influences of the
stars. Abu Mashar based his theory on the Aristotelian principles of generation and corruption, but furthermore gave the stars a causative role to the stars
to explain astral/occult properties and the influence of the stars on the
human body. Occultists like al-Kindi and the author of the Picatrix added
another element to the theory to render it magical; they attributed to man a
generative quality enabling him to invite celestial forms into the matter of a
talisman. In the medical context, this is reflected in three ways: first, the
physician/astrologer can make a diagnosis, relating the infirmities of the
organ to celestial conditions, because every terrestrial form is connected to a
celestial form. Second, the physician/astrologer can predict unhealthy earthly
conditions and, accordingly, prescribe precautionary actions to avert illness.
Finally, the physician/astrologer/magus can distinguish the astral/occult
properties of plants, stones and other earthly things, and from them create
medicines that target both the physical and the astral causes. The works from
which this theory of astral influences can be synthesized were eagerly appropriated by practitioners of astrological medicine in fifteenth- and sixteenthcentury Europe because of the rational and scientific legitimatization they
gave to occult practices, as we shall see in the case of Marsilio Ficino and Jean
Fernel.

THE CASES OF MARSILIO FICINO AND JEAN FERNEL

Marsilio Ficino was a significant player in the shaping of occult thought in the
Renaissance. Michael J. B. Allen asserts, Ficino was able to exert a formative
54
55

Pseudo-Majriti, Das Ziel des Weisen, Maqala 1, Ch. 6, 42.

Al-Kind, De Radiis Stellicis, Ch. 9, 78.

The Arabic theory of astral influences in early modern medicine

619

influence in his and two subsequent centuries.56 He influenced Pico, Agrippa

and many other occultists of the Renaissance.57 His most influential work is
The Three Books on Life (1486), in which he discusses astral means of prolonging
the life and maintaining the health of scholars who are under the invariable
threat of suffering from melancholy. This work is intended to serve as a guide
for concocting medicines and making talismans to relieve illnesses.58
In respect of illnesses, Ficino explains that there are celestial as well as
natural and physical factors involved. For example, he states that scholars
become melancholic because both Mercury, who invites us to investigate
doctrines, and Saturn, who makes us persevere in investigating doctrines and
retain them when discovered, are said by astronomers to be somewhat cold
and dry and these two planets have the strongest influence on those afflicted
with melancholy. The natural cause is the propensity of scholars and thinkers
to draw their souls within themselves to the centre of their being, the mind,
which has the property of Earth itself to which black bile is most analogous.
The physical cause of melancholy is the drying up of the mind due to its
agitation by speculation, and, because the moisture being the support of
natural heat the heat also is usually extinguished [. . .] the brain becomes
dry and cold.59 As a preventative measure, Ficino suggests ingestion of cinnamon, saffron, sandal, and milky foods. As a cure he refers to Galen and
recommends that the head be damped with moist foods and baths. Finally, to
determine the astral cause of infirmity, he suggests casting a talisman that will
respond to Jupiters influence and thus counteract Saturns malefic effect.60
Ficino, addressing his apprehensive readers, asserts, if you do not approve of
astronomical images, albeit invented for the health of mortals which I do not
so much approve of as report dismiss them with my complete permission, if
you will, by my advice. At least do not neglect medicines which have been
strengthened by some sort of heavenly aid, unless perhaps you would neglect
life itself.61
So, we can see that the medicine of Ficino responds to Abu Mashars call
for a physician who investigates not only physical symptoms and causes, but
also devises a diagnosis and a course of treatment based on his knowledge of
astral causes that determine the physical inclinations in a patient. Ficino was

56
Michael J. B. Allen, Introduction, in Michael J. B. Allen, Valery Rees and Martin Davies (eds.), Marsilio
Ficino: His Theology, His Philosophy, His Legacy (Leiden: Brill, 2002), xv.
57
Brian Copenhaver, Magic, in The Cambridge History of Science: Early Modern Science (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2006), 518. Charles Nauert, Agrippa and the Crisis of Renaissance Thought (Urbana: University of
Illinois Press, 1965), 121.
58
Marsilio Ficino, Three Books on Life, trans. Carol V. Kaske and John R. Clark (NY: Medieval and Renaissance
Texts and Studies, 1989), Bk. I, Ch. 1, 109.
59
Ficino, Three Books on Life, Bk. I, Ch. IV, 1135.
60
Ficino, Three Books on Life, Bk. I, Ch. X, 1335; Bk. I, Ch. XVIII, 147; Bk. III, Ch. XXII, 367.
61
Ficino, Three Books on Life, Bk. III, 139141.

620

Liana Saif

familiar with The Great Introduction, al-Kindis De radiis, and the Picatrix.62 He
admits that he composed his theory in imitation of the Arabs.63 He utilizes
the fundamental principles of generation adopted by Abu Mashar, explaining that with the aid of celestial forms and by the location of the individual
stars and the relation of the motions and aspects of the planets primary
generation takes place.64
Ficino asks, from the beginning of anything that is to be generated, do not
celestial influences bestow wonderful gifts in the concoction of the matter and
its final coming together [. . .]?65 Here, however, he is referring to two types
of generation: primary generation of species, and secondary generation of
astral magic that takes place in the world below. According to Abu Mashar, in
primary generation, the stars are responsible for the union of forms and
matter and also the union of spirit and body.66 Ficino agrees and writes that
celestial power is responsible for proper composition.67 Constructing talismans and images is an act of secondary generation undertaken by the magus
who is capable of inviting celestial forms into the body of the talisman and
thus rendering it efficacious. According to Ficino, a magus performs secondary generation (astral magic) by re-forming. He writes that if every single
species degenerates from its proper form, it can be formed again with the
[seminal] reason [i.e. forms] as the proximate intermediary.68 Ontologically,
this means that degeneration and corruption does not imply the destruction
of the form and its Idea; the forms can be re-united with matter and preserve
species. Magically, however, this entails that the magus is capable of receiving
celestial forms and rendering his talisman powerful. Ficino explains,
No one should doubt that we ourselves and all things which are around us can,
by way of certain preparations, lay claim to celestial things. For these lower things
were made by the heavens, are ruled continually by them, and were prepared
from up there for celestial things in the first place [. . .] For the more powerful
62
Ficino, Three Books on Life, Bk. II, Ch. VI, 269. Referring to the Great Introduction, . . . you hear Albumasar
saying: there is no life for the living, aside from God, except through the Sun and the Moon. And in Ch.
XVIII, 333, . . . for example: in the first face of Virgo, a beautiful girl, seated, holding two ears of grain in her
hand and nursing a child, as Albumasar and some others describe. He also refers to the Arabic astrologer in
The Platonic Theology and counts him amongst the distinguished authorities on astronomy who assert that the
planets are endowed with rational minds; an opinion expressed by Abu Mashar in the Great Introduction. Marsilio
Ficino, The Platonic Theology, trans. Michael J. B. Allen and John Warden, ed. James Hankins and William Bowen
(Cambridge, MA & London: Harvard University Press, 20012006), Bk. XV, Ch. V, 73. Abu Mashar, Kitab
al-madkhal, Ch. 5, 36. Ficino refers to al-Kindis rays in Bk. III, Ch. XVIII, 335 and in Ch. XIX, 35153.
63
Ficino, Three Books on Life, Bk. I, Ch. XX, 149. He also read the Picatrix as in a letter discovered by Daniella
Delcorno Branca, written to Michele Acciari in response to Filippo Valoris request to borrow the Picatrix, he
expresses caution against the work and claims to have only transferred all that is good in it regarding medicine
and healing in The Three Books on Life, leaving out anything illicit; see Daniella Delcorno Branca, Un discepulo
de Poliziano: Michele Acciari, in Lettere Italiane, 28 (1976), 46481.
64
Ficino, Three Books on Life, Bk. III, Ch. I, 247.
65
Ficino, Three Books on Life, Bk. 3, Ch. XVI, 325.
66
Abu Mashar, Kitab al-madkhal, Ch. 4, 245.
67
Ficino, Three Books on Life, Bk. 3, Ch. XII, 303.
68
Ficino, Three Books on Life, Bk. 3, Ch. I, 244.

The Arabic theory of astral influences in early modern medicine

621

the cause, the more ready it is to act and therefore the more inclined to give. A
little additional preparation, therefore, on our part suffices to capture the gifts
of the celestials, provided each accommodates himself to that gift in particular to
which he is particularly subject.69

So, the magus is capable of laying claim to astral influences by preparing a

talisman in accordance with the rule of correspondences between natural
things and their celestial causes.
Ficino also accepts al-Kindis theory of magic; he attributes this union of
spirit and body to the operation of celestial rays.70 He explains that in addition
to composing talismans and images from things that correspond to certain
stars, magical efficacy is achieved by attracting stellar rays under specific
astrological conditions, and by the application of ones spirit, the nature of
which is astral and also produces rays: The Arabic writers also prove that by an
application of our spirit with the spirit of the cosmos, achieved by physical
science and our affect, celestial goods pass to our soul and body [. . .] by way
of the rays of the stars acting favourable on our spirit, which is not only similar
to the rays by nature but also then makes itself more like celestial things.71
The spirit of the magus is capable of attracting the life-giving virtues of the
stars; he does so by rules of physical science, which is the rational scientific
exposition of the theory of astral influences in astrology and medicine.72 The
active role of the stars in the generation of sublunary things and their sustaining power produces in animals, plants, and minerals occult properties that are
used in concocting cures. He writes: herbs and stones have certain wondrous
powers from heaven beyond their elemental nature [. . .] It would satisfy me,
if the celestials were able somehow or other, as if through medicines internal
or external, to contribute to good health.73 The magus knows what things on
earth correspond causally with the stellar forms, and with astrological considerations he is able to inform and fortify his talisman, as we have seen al-Kindi
and pseudo-Majriti assert.
When Ficino discusses the construction of talismans, he is definitely referring to medical talismans since this is the focus of his work. In a chapter on
pills in the first book of The Three Books, Ficino prescribes a pill in imitation of
the magi and of the Greeks, Latins, and Arabs. He writes:
Under the influence of Jupiter and Venus [. . .] Take, therefore, twelve grains of
gold, especially its leaves if they are pure; one-half dram apiece of frankincense,
myrrh, saffron, aloe-wood, cinnamon, citron-peel, Melissa, raw scarlet silk, white
bean and red; one dram apiece of purple roses, or red sandal, of red coral, and
of the three sorts of Myrobalans (Emblic, Chebule, and Indic), with an amount
69
70
71
72
73

Ficino,
Ficino,
Ficino,
Ficino,
Ficino,

Three
Three
Three
Three
Three

Books
Books
Books
Books
Books

on
on
on
on
on

Life,
Life,
Life,
Life,
Life,

Bk.
Bk.
Bk.
Bk.
Bk.

3, Ch. II, 24951.

III, Ch. IV, 25961, 265.
3, Ch. II, 255.
3, Ch. II, 255.
III, Ch. VIII, 281.

622

Liana Saif

of properly washed Aloe equal to the weight of all the rest. Make pills with pure
wine of the best possible quality.74

Influenced by the Arabs, Ficino confirms that pills, like talismans, have to be
made by applying astrological considerations and by identifying the virtues of
the celestials that determine occult properties. The pill and talismans are both
efficacious due to the astral sources of their occult qualities that reside in the
astral forms of the materials used in their making.75
Ficinos appropriation of the theory of astral influences had a strong
influence on the thought of early modern physicians, such as the Frenchman Jean Fernel (14971558), who was a lecturer and practising physician.76
Fernel departed from the conventional medical theory of temperaments by
asserting that it had limitations in explaining diseases that occur through
other causes, that is, occult causes, in contrast to those diseases that occur
through nature, that is, manifest and physical causes.77 He refers to the
former as diseases of total substance.78 To explain the occult and divine
causes of such diseases, Fernel adopts the theory of astral influences, which
gives the stars a role in the coming to be of the substances of generated
things. In De abditis rerum causis (On the Hidden Causes of Things), published
in 1548, Fernel asks, who could fail to understand that there is much in
philosophy beyond the arrangement of the elements, much that is quite
concealed and enclosed in the secret places of nature, beyond the grasp of
eye, ear, or any sense?79 Referring to Aristotle, he relates the origin of
occult qualities to generation and corruption:
Each natural thing is produced from two principles: matter and form. But as you
look at its procreation, a third principle is added to these, which is called the
efficient cause and the cause of coming into being, and he [Aristotle] recorded
that it is heaven, in beginning his consideration of nature. For it is the first of all
movement.80

However, following Abu Mashar and Ficino, Fernel asserts that the third
principle, the astral, is responsible for instilling forms in matter:

74

Ficino, Three Books on Life, Bk. I, Ch. XX, 149.

Ficino, Three Books on Life, Bk. III, Ch. II, 255.
L. Deer Richardson, The Generation of Disease: Occult Causes and Diseases of the Total Substance, in
A. Wear, R. K. French and I. M. Lonie (eds.), The Medical Renaissance of the Sixteenth Century (Cambridge and New
York: Cambridge University Press, 1985), 175; Hiro Hirai, Prisca Theologia and Neoplatonic Reading of
Hippocrates in Fernel, Cardano and Gemma, in Hiro Hirai (ed.), Cornelius Gemma: Cosmology, Medicine, and
Natural Philosophy in Renaissance Louvain (Pisa: Fabrizio Serra, 2008), 94.
77
Deer Richardson, Medical Renaissance, 176.
78
Jean Fernel, On the Hidden Causes of Things: Forms, Souls, and Occult Diseases in Renaissance Medicine, trans.
John M. Forrester, (Leiden: Brill, 2005), Bk. II, Ch. 17, 64950.
79
Fernel, Hidden Causes of Things, Ch. 3, 113.
80
Fernel, Hidden Causes of Things, Ch. 8, 307.
75
76

The Arabic theory of astral influences in early modern medicine

623

Those lofty powers of the heavens carried hither by motion, illumination and
spirit as their conveyances, and shed around us, introduce themselves into a
substrate prepared by potentiality, and instil into the freshly generated thing the
power and nature of the substances from which they emanated, and insert a
form.81

Furthermore, adopting al-Kindis theory, Fernel explains that the stars achieve
this by the operation of their rays that transform things from a state of
potentiality into actuality.82
This theorization is the basis for Fernels understanding of the nature of the
spirit, which is first revealed in his Physiologia (1542). Fernel explains that the
medical spirit fine hot vapours derived from blood and breathed air
cannot make its way through the body without vital heat. He adds that this
heat is of a surpassing origin, that is, astral.83 However, the medical spirit
itself is thought to be a microcosmic derivative of the Spirit of the World. In
De abditis rerum causis, Fernel explains that:
The spirit that carries the world along, dispersed by heaven and throughout the
universe, endows everything with these [powers], and at the same time with a
form and an innate and vital heat, suited for their generation and preservation.
This [spirit] sustains and cherishes all things with its heat and life, so that
nothing exists anywhere not abounding in its richness.84

Ficino, from whom Fernel received the Arabic theory of astral influences,
accepts that the spirit is the vehicle of celestial forms that transports their
virtues into elementary things. Following the Arabs, he explains that this
happens from down here through our spirit within us which is a mediator,
strengthened then by the spirit of the cosmos, and from above by way of the
rays of the stars acting favourable on our spirits, which is not only is similar
to the rays by nature but also then makes itself more like celestial
things.85According to the Arabs, the spirit is a simple essence that accepts the
forms of things.86 The individual spirits and the forms within originate from
the stars, and that is why the terrestrial world is similar to the celestial:
everything on earth is a microcosm of the universe in body and spirit.87 Man
himself is a microcosm with his spirit and body corresponding to the spirit and
body of the world. The stars are considered by Abu Mashar and al-Kindi to be
responsible for the harmonious union between body and spirit. Al-Kindi
81

Fernel, Hidden Causes of Things, Ch. 8, 311.

Fernel, Hidden Causes of Things, Ch. 8, 311.
Fernel, The Physiologia (1567), trans. John M. Forrester (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society,
2003), Ch. 2, 261.
84
Fernel, Hidden Causes of Things, Ch. 10, 359.
85
Ficino, Three Books on Life, Ch. II, 255.
86
Pseudo-Majriti, Das Ziel des Weisen, Maqala 4, Ch. 1, 2913.
87
Pseudo-Majriti, Das Ziel des Weisen, Maqala 2, Ch. 1, 54.
82
83

624

Liana Saif

writes that the rays have a nature that is life-giving, adding that the spirits of
things are fortified by the rays as well.88
According to Fernel, diseases of total substance stem from the medical spirit
and its celestial forms, which means that the medical spirit is susceptible to
astrological influences. If the stars are moving in disadvantageous locations,
their influences will negatively affect the body through its medical/astral
spirit.89 Fernel writes: not even that power itself is always constant or always
displays itself in things in a single fashion; it behaves differently in different
circumstances in response to the manifold condition of the stars, whose
assortment and interrelation is generally altering.90 So, a physician ought to
be aware of the astrological causes of diseases in order to be able to give a
prognosis/prediction.
We can see, then, that Fernel adopts the Arabic theory of astral influences,
which he received from the works of Ficino. He confirms the generative virtue
of the planets and stars and believes in the formal and causative link between
the world above and below, and between the medical spirit and astral influences. He attributes occult diseases, which afflicts the medical spirit, to astrological conditions. Hence, Fernels medical theory is supported by the Arabic
theory of astral influence via the influential works of Ficino.
D. P. Walker addresses the theoretical bases for astrological medicine of
Ficino and Fernel. In an article entitled, The Astral Body in Renaissance
Medicine, Walker sees Fernels medical spirit as a Neoplatonic emanation of
the Spirit of the World. Descending from the world above, the spirit gets
imprinted by the stars and therefore, upon its union with the body it constitutes the astral element of the body. However, this is not a scientific interpretation of Fernels medical/astral spirit; therefore it does not justify the
existence of astral causes of diseases. Considering the occultism of Ficino and
Fernel, Walker asserts that the spirit for the Neoplatonists [was] primarily a
religious conception an explanation, or justification, of theurgic practices.91
However, Ficino himself asserts that astral medicine is to be presented not as
sacred mysteries, when we are presently about to bring help to the sick by
natural means,92 since to justify practices often considered demonic and
superstitious; as a Christian occultist and physician, he needed to give rational
explanations that presented astrology and astral magic as legitimate sciences.
Studying Ficinos medical magic, Walker explains that the spirit of the magus
is able to connect with the Spirit of the World the third hypostasis which
is manifest in the stars, by strong will and imagination, rendering his spirit
88

Al-Kindi, De Radiis Stellicis, Ch. 2, 33; Abu Mashar, Kitab al-madkhal, Vol. II, Qawl. I, Ch. 4, 27.
D. P. Walker, The Astral Body in Renaissance Medicine, in Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes,
21 (1958), 1212.
90
Fernel, Hidden Causes of Things, Bk. I, Ch. 10, 359.
91
D. P. Walker, The Astral Body in Renaissance Medicine, in Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes,
Vol. 21, No.1/2 (Jan.June, 1958), 119133, 1212.
92
Ficino, Three Books on Life, Proem, 103.
89

The Arabic theory of astral influences in early modern medicine

625

capable of drawing stellar virtues and using them in his magic.93 Indeed,
Ficino explains that the Body of the World unites with its Soul via the Spirit of
the World; which in relation to the microcosm means that matter cannot unite
with form without spirit.94 However, the spirit is a vehicle of influence but not
its cause, and a complete theory of stellar influences requires an etiological
exposition that explains why stellar virtues resonate in matter, how the spirit
is able to convey them, and why the world below is similar and analogous to
the world above. I have shown that the Arabic theory of astral influences, and
its utilization of the Aristotelian process of generation and corruption, provides answers to these questions. Things belonging to the world below
respond to the planets because the planets gave them their forms; and since
the planets are the causes of their generation, the astral element is always
sustained in them.
Walkers interpretation of Fernel is echoed by Hiro Hirai, who attributes the
thought of Fernels De abditis rerum causis to the Neoplatonic spirit.95 This view
is also supported by Ian Mclean who relies on Neoplatonic spiritual sympathies which are based on the doctrine of signs in his argument in favour of
a philosophical, non-superstitious foundations of Fernels belief in stellar
influences. He considers medical semiotics as the area where philosophy and
medicine meet rather than etiology as I have shown.96 Nancy Siraisi, corroborating Walkers interpretation, accepts that the astral/medical element of the
thought of Ficino and Fernel is the result of the Neoplatonic notions of the
spirit.97 None of these readings consider the Arabic contribution to the theory
of astral influence on medical occult conditions. Having overlooked the
Arabic scientific rationalization of astrological medicine, Siraisi concedes that
much less explored is the way in which ideas about occult causes and remarkable effects actually functioned in Renaissance medical practice.98
This article has demonstrated that Fernel and Ficino appropriated of the
Arabic theory of astral influences. It also explored how the theory provided a
scientific explanation regarding how occult causes functioned in Renaissance
medical practice by adopting Aristotelian principles and uniquely giving the
stars a causative role in generation and corruption. Consequently, the theory
allowed respectable and influential physicians to safely subscribe to an unorthodox belief in astral influences in medicine.99 So, to conclude, in Ficinos
The Three Books on Life and Fernels De abditis rerum causis and Physiologia, we
find an occultist and a practising physician who both believed that the
93
Walker, Spiritual and Demonic Magic: From Ficino to Campanella, (London: The Warburg Institute, 1958), Pt.
1, Ch. I, 810.
94
Ficino, Three Books on Life, Bk. III, Ch. III, 255.
95
Hiro Hirai, Prisca Theologia , 94.
96
Mclean, Logic, Signs and Nature, 26, 148, 2423, 3056.
97
Nancy G. Siraisi, The Clock and the Mirror: Giordano Bruno and Renaissance Medicine (Princeton NJ: Princeton
University Press, 1997), 15890.
98
Nancy G. Siraisi, Medicine and the Italian Universities: 12501600 (Leiden: Brill, 2001), 228.
99
Walker, Spiritual and Demonic Magic, 119.

626

Liana Saif

well-being of humans depends etiologically on the planets and stars. Without

a rational and scientific explanation of astral influences, they could not have
articulated a defence of astrological medicine. The Great Introduction of Abu
Mashar, al-Kindis De radiis, and the Picatrix, contained a scientific theorization that naturalized astral influences, thus legitimizing the elements of the
occult in early modern medicine. I have shown that classical sources of astrology and astrological medicine explained astral agency in divine and semiological terms. No Arabic astrologer before Abu Mashar composed rational
foundations for the practice of astrology. David Pingree explains that Abu
Mashar formulated the standard expression of Islamic astrological doctrine
in its major field of genethlialogy and astrological history [. . .]. Of particular
importance was his philosophical justification of astrology.100 Abu Mashar,
aware of this gap, sets out to provide a scientific explanation for the influence
of the stars and planets on the sublunary world.101 He does not just accept
them as signs of universal order and divine power, but adopts Aristotelian
notions of generation and efficient causes, and adds a unique generative role
to the stars and planets. John D. North writes, unlike his predecessor [Aristotle], he wrote the planets explicitly into the story [. . .] Albumasar summarized what are essentially Aristotles views on generation and corruption,
adding the extra factor of a receptivity to planetary influences on the part of
terrestrial things.102 In his exposition of astral causes, Abu Mashar provides
scientific and philosophical reasons for the etiological link between medicine
and astrology. Al-Kindi rendered Abu Mashars theory magical by giving man
the ability to inform the body of the talisman, a notion asserted by the author
of the Picatrix. Influenced by these works, Ficino argues that talismans and
pills are both the natural result of mans understanding of occult qualities
and mans capability of secondary generation. Both Ficino and Fernel
accepted the causality of the stars in the generation of the human body and
acknowledged that, due to formal/astral causation, astrological influences
constantly affect the body.
Birkbeck College

100
David Pingree, Astrology, in M. J. L. Young, J. D. Latham and R. B. Serjeant (eds.), Religion, Learning and
Science in the Abbasid Period (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), 297.
101
Abu Mashar, Kitab al-madkhal, Vol II. Qawl I, Ch. 1, 3.
102
John D. North, Celestial Influence the Major Premise of Astrology, in Paola Zambelli (ed.), Astrologi
Hallucinati: Stars and the End of the World in Luthers Time (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1986) 45100, 53.

This document is a scanned copy of a printed document. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy.
Users should refer to the original published version of the material.