De Radiis (On the Stellar Rays)
A Theory of the Magical Art
by Abū Yaʿqūb ibn Ishāq al-Kindī
translated by Scott Gosnell
Abū Yaʿqūb ibn Ishāq al-Kindī (c. 800-870 CE) De Radiis (On The Stellar Rays) proposes that all things emit rays that operate on all other things, producing an interplay of causes and effects from the stars down to material objects. The rays pouring down from the celestial harmony of the stars, constellations, and planets, he thought, accounted for the efficacy of astrology. Living beings, likewise, were the source and destination of rays, and humans out of all creatures were a “small world” or microcosm unto themselves, and therefore humans are able to cause things (whether themselves or others) to move and change. Sound “rays”, emitted through speech, song, and music could effect magical change by the same principle.
De Radiis provides a concise, comprehensive physical and magical theory using the philosophy of the Greeks, which Al-Kindi had a hand in translating into Arabic at the start of the Islamic Golden Age. This edition of De Radiis comes from a back translation into Latin from a lost Arabic original. Together with practical manuals of Arab magic, such as Picatrix, the theoretical treatise De Radiis had a profound impact on the Western esoteric tradition during the ensuing thousand years.
This new translation, by Scott Gosnell, translator of The Collected Works of Giordano Bruno and writer on the history and future of science and magic, rendered into clear, fresh language; it is an essential part of any complete esoteric library.
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Hardcover Edition
93 pages. Printed and bound in Italy. Hardcover bound in Green Fedrigoni Imitlin. 160 gram black Endpapers. Printed on 115 gsm wood-free, age-resistant Cream paper. Sewn book block, black ribbon bookmark, and black Headbands. Blind debossing on front cover and gilded on front cover and spine.
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About the Author
The late Abū Yaʿqūb ibn Ishāq al-Kindī (c. 800-870 CE) was an Arab Muslim polymath, philosopher, mathematician, physician, and music theorist. Al-Kindī was the first of the Islamic peripatetic philosophers, and is hailed as the "father of Arab philosophy".
Al-Kindī was born in the Mesopotamian city of Basra and later held a distinguished position at the caliph's court in Baghdad. He became a prominent figure in the House of Wisdom, and several Abbasid Caliphs appointed him to oversee the translation of Greek scientific and philosophical texts into the Arabic language. This contact with "the philosophy of the ancients" (as Hellenistic philosophy was often referred to by Muslim scholars) had a profound effect on him, as he synthesised, adapted and promoted Hellenistic and Peripatetic philosophy in the Muslim world. Al-Kindī subsequently wrote hundreds of original treatises on a range of subjects ranging from metaphysics, ethics, logic and psychology, to medicine, pharmacology, mathematics, astronomy, astrology and optics, and further afield to more practical topics like perfumes, swords, jewels, glass, dyes, zoology, tides, mirrors, meteorology and earthquakes.
The central theme underpinning Al-Kindī's philosophical writings is the compatibility between philosophy and other "orthodox" Islamic sciences, particularly theology, and many of his works deal with subjects that theology had an immediate interest in. These include the nature of God, the soul and prophetic knowledge.
