Book review: The Sun of Knowledge

I had heard about The Sun of Knowledge as being one of the most used magical sources in the Arab world during the middle ages. I latter came across at least one talisman depicted within this book and found it interesting. This made me consider it as a possible acquisition and at some point it came into my possession through a series of fortunate coincidences.

As usual, I haven't read it cover to cover and instead read through it while focusing on the areas that attracted my attention the most. The table of contents was very helpful in that regard and I quickly came across the information I sought.

I like the fact the book focuses a great deal on the lunar mansions, to such an extent it offers more than a few astronomical details about each respective mansion. Luckily for us, we have technology on our side when it comes to astrological calculations, but I see how people would've benefited a great deal from those astronomical details up until modern times.

I also like the extensive focus on the Arabic alphabet and its magical uses, alongside the appendix at the end depicting each Arabic letter in distinguishable form. What I don't like is that the images of the talismans within the book appear as being copy-pasted from the old manuscript, something that makes the Arabic letters highly unclear in many cases, especially to someone like me who would need the book for practical uses and not to post pictures of it sitting comfortably in my book case alongside other books of the occult genre. 

I understand the authors (translators of the original work) would've had to replicate each image in great detail so the letters and symbols would've been more clear, something which requires a lot of time, energy and attention. But I think a practicing occultist would appreciate the clarity of an image they would want to use in their magical work instead of a few colored symbols here and there. 

Which reminds me, I think the book's price is as high as it is because the people who published it opted for colored pages instead of the simple black and white format. The problem with this is the publishing price skyrockets when selecting colored interior, which requires the authors to set a higher price for the book in order to make some profit themselves. But I for one don't need a few lines colored in yellow or red star symbols here and there and a little color on the page before the Foreword in a magical book, especially when the magical script I'm supposed to work with in regards to talismans is often indistinguishable... Asteria is cheaper even though it has more pages.

I'm not a fan of working with Hebrew letters either, but at least I can come across talismanic images containing Hebrew letters in which I can make out the letters themselves (regardless of how many self proclaimed scholars say those images are wrong). Compare this rendition of a KoS pentacle, for instance,

with this image of a talisman from The Sun.

See what I mean?

There are cases where the authors took the time to render the Arabic letters and the difference is striking, as in the following image (and I apologize for the fact the blog has uploaded the two photos I took from the book sideways).

Moving on, I love the concept of working with the spirits of the seasons and quarters as presented in this book! I really think this has great potential in any magical operation. The book does present the assignment of seasons to quarters and the spirits assigned to each, but here too I found a problem. 

Each quarter is assigned an angel and is said to rule over a season. Each season also has three angelic assistants. The authors do mention the fact the assistant angels are switched between South and North between various versions of the original manuscript. But that's not necessarily the problem even if they themselves have switched them in the the evocations for their respective seasons.

The problem lies in the fact there are also the names of the winds, alongside those for the Sun and Moon. They are to be included in the respective evocations.

When the evocations for each season are presented, more than a few names of the winds assigned to each season differ from the respective list of winds for that season. This makes no sense to me and I'm having trouble figuring out why this is, unless editing mistakes had occurred. Otherwise, I could go ahead and perform such and such ritual with those spirits and see whether anything happens, but right now I'm in doubt in this regard and so I feel no pull towards experimenting (as I usually do).

Speaking of talismans, I expected more of them to be astrological, as those depicted in the Picatrix. Instead, I came across workings that are more in line with what I came across in The Grimoire of Arthur Gauntlet, even the PGM. This does not mean I don't see or understand their value, but I was expecting something else altogether. While they do employ magical squares, Quran verses and Arabic letters, I found the astrological elements surrounding them limited. 

I was pleasantly surprised, though, to see one of these employ the spirits of the seasonal quarter the working is being performed in. The book says it "will make your working stronger, firmer, and quicker". I imagine that is the case since additional spiritual forces is being called upon to manifest one's desire. Alas, the same issues regarding differences in names come into play.

In conclusion, even though this book has left me undersatisfied and I consider it a disjointed grimoire (which has bits of information I could use), I consider it a good source for those who want to begin and expand their work in Arabic magical workings, especially those that rely on holy texts. Again, I have certain doubts when it comes to performing certain works from the book, but keep in mind I'm stupid and there's a chance I may very well have misunderstood things...