The Cyranides is one of the works of the Hermetic corpus, the body
of writings ascribed to Hermes Trismegistos. Hermes Trismegistos
was a Hellenistic incarnation of the ancient Egyptian Thoth, and
the god of all magic, alchemy and astrology. Arabic Hermetic
literature continues the Greek tradition; in Islam Hermes is the
inventor of all arts and sciences, and master of astronomy,
numbers, poisons, chemistry, medicine, &c. This manuscript
contains a translation or adaptation from the Greek of part of Book
1 of the Cyranides. The Cyranides is divided into 24 chapters, one
for each letter of the Greek alphabet. Under each letter are
represented a plant, a bird, a stone and a sea animal, all of whose
names begin with that letter. Their individual occult influences
combine to produce a new composite effect.
Leaf.
