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Brisighella: 21 May 1536. An anonymous alchemist, who pursued the basic law of Hermes
Trismegistus "As in heaven on earth" transcribed the following words: There are sacred

places that could attract heavenly spirits to the territory. This assertion was taken from an

Egyptian-Babylonian manuscript of celestial magic: Ghayat al-hakim in Arabic - he

becomes Latin in the essay's meta (how to go further), later

titled Picatrix from the name of his author / composer.

During the Middle Ages the teachings of this Arabic text

became very important for certain religious currents, for
example that of the Cathars whose movement disappeared

from history to the end of the 15th century because

dismembered by the Catholic armies and by the processes of

the Roman Church. Despite the papacy repudiating certain readings, the Picatrix was also

studied in detail by numerous philosophers and artists such as Pico of Mirandola, Botticceli

and Leonardo da Vinci and by the greatest Resurrection of the magi, among which we

remember Marsilio Ficino, Giordano Bruno and Agrippa.

The Picatrix was a compendium of twenty manuscript volumes

containing notions of alchemy, Arithmosophy, sacred science,
necromancy, cabala, mathematics, astrology, astronomy and

hermeticism, the science that studies the secrets of nature.

Dario Spada, speaking of the Picatrix, states: He was primarily

concerned with trying to vitalise the talismans, infusing them

with the virtues of certain planetary spirits. The arcane

knowledge of the Egyptians on the animation of the statues was

no stranger. The ancient origins of this text are traced back to
the Middle East, to ancient Mesopotamia, to the city of

Harran, where towards the year 1000, the occult study of

natural magic flourished, together with the philosophical

thought of secret societies like the Sabini (or Sabia).

The Sabini were great mathematicians, astronomers,

astrologers. The researcher Selim Hassan declares that the Sabini worshiped the god Sin, a

lunar deity, and practiced a stellar cult. For this reason, they took the name of Saba'ia,

precisely the People of the Stars. Beyond that, it is said that they deposited their secrets in

the Egyptian pyramids. However, it was only around 1256 that one of their manuscripts (the
Picatrix) landed at the Spanish court. The relations between the Templars and the Spanish

Royal House were excellent, so let me think that the Knights were not unaware of the

magical and astral work which was the Picatrix.

It is probable that some of the Templars have consulted and tried to put into practice the

precepts contained in the written archaic. Having learned that within the Order alchemy

was practiced, magic, astrology and hermeticism deepened, I nurture the presumption that

it was the Knights themselves who resorted to their "portfolio" so that the Arab work of the
Picatrix was translated into Spanish with the king's high wish, Alfonso X of Castile

(nicknamed the Sage), whose interest in magic and astrology is well known and documented.

At that time the Spanish ruler owned several Large Estates also in today's south-western

France. Among these, an ancient fief in the Aude valley. An ancestor of the king, Alfonso II,

despite its apparently mild character, set the city of Rennes le Château on fire, without an

apparently plausible reason.

In addition, another of her family members, Queen Bianca of Castile (mother of St. Louis of

France), found refuge in her castle to hide, it is said, a treasure of inestimable value

composed of documents of the utmost secrecy concerning the throne and the clergy. It is my
belief that one of the sacred places mentioned by the anonymous alchemist of Brisighella is