Jupiter- Seal Against Tertian & Quartian Fever - Book of the Treasure of Alexander
- Description
Jupiter Seal Against Tertian & Quartian Fever (Tin)
(Book of the Treasure of Alexander)
“When the Moon and Jupiter conjoin at the fourteenth or fifteenth degree of Cancer, make a seal of silver and engrave on the signet the figure, which is a crab, and on its shoulders write the following letters... This is the talisman of the quartian fever, and you can stamp its seal on clay and give it to drink and whomever suffers from fever will be cured, if God wills."
(Book of the Treasure of Alexander, The Seventh Art)
(Above: Images from Persian manuscripts of Book of the Treasure of Alexander)
For Promoting Health Against Strong Fevers
NOT INTENDED TO SUBSTITUTE FOR LICENSED MEDICAL CARE. USE AS A COMPLIMENTARY THERAPY ONLY.
This talisman’s purported effects are specifically stated to help protect its owner against “tertian and quartian fevers”. When we consider that this text was written at least 1,100 years ago when physicians used astrology to affect health via the elements or Humors, it reveals fascinating information. Every organic lifeform had specific elemental properties, the same as humans with astral bodies, and this was one of the underlying theories for herbal medicines. If a person had an excess of the water element (phlegmatic) then spicy plants like cinnamon or ginger could be helpful because those had an abundance of fiery astral light. Dangerous fevers were considered a symptom of excess fire (choleric temperament) and an influx of watery astral light was the countermeasure.
Book of the Treasure of Alexander is very short and most manuscripts are approximately 100 pages. It was written long before the Abbasids discovered how to mass produce paper. Parchment was prohibitively expensive and only the most important information was written down. Writers were highly economical with the words and with this in mind, we can see some valuable information in an otherwise difficult text.
All of the talismans made for their healing properties emphasize the elements, and in this case, water is the crucial factor along with mutual reception between Jupiter and the Moon.
The author does not state it outright, but this talisman will presumably have some of the other benefits of Jupiter with an extra specialty in promoting health where the watery humors are lacking. This is the case with the Seal of Jupiter, which promotes stomach health in addition to many of the more widely recognized effects of Jupiter.
SOURCE
Book of the Treasure of Alexander (BTOA) or Kitab Thakhirat al-Iksander in Arabic, is something of an exotic grimoire. Picatrix and Agrippa’s Three Books of Occult Philosophy are the most popular and well known today, but BTOA is unfortunately overlooked and underutilized, partially due to the unusually stringent astrological configurations it requires and its limited circulation. Many of its astrological talismans can only be made once or twice in a lifetime, and some are difficult to find once in a century. I’ve found that they are often extremely effective if the instructions are followed carefully.
The history of this grimoire is fascinating. A bit older than Picatrix, the oldest known manuscripts originate in Arabic around 900 CE. The text itself claims to have been discovered hidden in a Byzantine monastery vault by the Abbasid Caliph Al-Mu’tasim during a military expedition against the Eastern Roman Empire. The story says that the original was engraved on sheets of gold leaf in Greek letters by Alexander the Great, containing secret teachings from his tutor Aristotle passed down from Hermes Trismegistus. In the ancient world it was common to attribute occult writings to a revered historical figure, and Greek philosophy was highly prized by Arab thinkers. Academics largely attribute the book’s authorship to the Sabeans of Harran, who had been an intellectual hub of the region for millennia. A copy of this grimoire was kept in the private library of the Ottoman royalty, possibly even utilized by the seemingly invincible Sultan Mehmet II in his legendary battles.
For an excellent study on the history of the text, this article is highly recommended:
Election
“When the Moon and Jupiter conjoin at the fourteenth or fifteenth degree of Cancer, make a seal of silver and engrave on the signet the figure, which is a crab, and on its shoulders write the following letters... This is the talisman of the quartian fever, and you can stamp its seal on clay and give it to drink and whomever suffers from fever will be cured, if God wills."
Cancer, the Moon’s rulership, is rising in the hour of Jupiter, and the Moon is applying to conjoin Jupiter in 21 Cancer. This was a very narrow window of time but an excellent election.
How They Were Made
All of these talismans were engraved by hand on silver and pewter (tin), using a diamond tipped electric powered stylus. Every talisman was engraved to closely replicate the unique drawings provided in the manuscripts. After they were engraved, I suffumigated each with Jupiter incense made according to the instructions in Sefer Raziel (Liber Razielis), a 16th century grimoire.
The Chart
20 May 2026, 09:00 am, Aiken SC
