We briefly discussed in an earlier post how Ficino in his De Vita described how he would diminish the influence of the Saturnine melancholy to which he was prone by consuming food associated with the Jupiter, the most sanguine of the planets.
The idea is that one attunes one’s complexion or temperament to the complexion of the planet in a gradual way by fasting and introducing food associated with a particular planet. That is, if, as in the case of Ficino, one is melancholic and thus has a temperament that is Cold and Dry, this is altered by consuming foods that are (in Ficino’s example) of the nature of Jupiter who is Warm and Moist. This diet will gradually change the temperament of the native to match the complexion of the planet – from Saturnine melancholy and misanthropy we become, through regular consumption of eagles and peacocks (or perhaps more easily obtained Jupiterian ingredients), jovial, sanguine, affable and popular.
“The working should be done with a body that is agreeable to the nature of the planet.” (Picatrix, Book III, Chapter 3)
The author of the Picatrix expands on this idea of planetary dieting and recommends a complete sensory attunement to the nature of the planet who is being petitioned for magical results through the use of the corresponding colour, clothing, suffumigation and perfume, as well as the use of the images associated with the planet and tell us that “the body of the magician should also be of the nature of the planet; that is, let it be fed food assigned to the planet , and clothed accordingly, so that the body of the magician himself should thereby be maintained in the complexion of the planet.”
The author explains how this occurs in an earlier chapter (Book I, Chapter 2) when explaining how images take on the powers of the planet and compares it to an alchemical process of transmutation:
“Know then, that is similar to the elixir, which conquers bodies and by transmutation changes them to other, purer bodies… You should know also that the power of purification that is called the elixir is made from earth, air, fire and water. These four powers become one in it, reduced to a common property and nature, because when it enters and penetrates a body it spreads through all its parts so that the body might be altered and more readily obey and be transmuted under the elixir’s power.”
That is, an image is transmuted to a pure form of the planetary power it seeks to express through the elements and the akasha. By analogy, the same process can be applied to the body when a magician diets on animals, plants and herbs associated with a planet.