Fetching
One moment.
Eleven books by a shoemaker of Görlitz who wrote, by his own account, because he could not help it. Ten of them stand here in the seventeenth-century English of John Sparrow, who translated Boehme within a generation of his death and whose prose is itself now four hundred years old; where that English has drifted out of reach, the facing pane carries a modern register — the same text with archaic inflection and spelling normalised by rule, never paraphrased. Nothing is reworded, and where no register appears beside a passage it is because the rules found nothing to change.
The eleventh book is not in English at all, and it is the reason this note exists.
Des trois principes de l'essence divine, printed at Paris in 1802, is the same work as Concerning the Three Principles of the Divine Essence, which stands here as the second book — the same twenty-seven chapters in the same order, opening `Du premier principe de l'essence divine` against Sparrow's `Of the first Principle of the Divine Essence`. Its translator was Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin, who gave the last years of his life to putting Boehme into French, and who has a shelf of his own in this Lycaeum.
That makes a closed circuit inside this archive, and it is worth naming plainly. Saint-Martin translates Boehme. La Iniciación, printed in Montevideo a hundred and forty years later, traces its own descent through Saint-Martin. A reader can therefore follow one thread from a German mystic of 1619, through the French philosopher who carried him into another language, to a Spanish-language monthly of the 1940s that claimed them both — and read every step of it in the original.
The two are shelved as one work rather than two because that is what they are. They are not set as facing panes: an English translation of 1619 and a French translation of 1802 are two independent readings of a lost German original, and pairing them line by line would assert a correspondence neither translator ever claimed.
1quoique la puissance des étoiles l'enflamme par la qualité du soleil , le tout est cependant trop foible , et est comme impuissant. Or , dès que la teinture est impuissante , alors la vertu du sang, qui est la teinture, est aussi impuissante , et se précipite dang un doux repos comme morte et vaincue. 24. Or donc, ce n'est que dans la teinture que se trouve le discernement qui règle la base affective, et fait les sens et les pensées. C'est pourquoi tout est comme mort; et seulement les astres gouvernent encore dans la racine du premier principe, où la divinité, comme une splendeur, ou une vcrlit opère en toutes choses. Alors l'esprit astral voit dans la splendeur du miroir de la puissance divine , dans le fou élémentaire , dans la matrice de l'eau et ouvre sa mâchoire après la teinture; mais cette teinture est débile, alors il prend la puissance de la teinture , ou la base affective , et il inqualifie avec elle. Alors la base affective cherche les élémens , et y travaille entièrement, selon la puissance des étoiles , car , cette base affective est dans l'œuvre et la qualité des étoiles : et ce sont là les rêves nocturnes , et les images ou visions dans le sommeil. La porte de la très haute profondeur de la vie de la teinture, 25. Quoique le docteur sache ce que c'est que la teinture, cependant le simple et l'ignorant ne le savent pas , eux qui ont souvent plus de talent et d'intelligence c^ue le docteur , sans avoir autant Il f 20a) CH. 12, ù^art : c'est pourquoi j'écris pour ceux qui cherchent 5 quoique je pense que ni le docteur , ni l'alchjmiste n'a la hase de Ja teinture, à moins qu'il »e soit régénéré de l'esprit j c'est celui-là qui i:ierce au travers de tout , qu'il soit savant ou ignorant. Devant Dieu le docteur n'est pas évalué plus que le pajsan.
22.6. La teinture est une chose qui sépare et emporte de l'impur ce qui est clair et pur ; elle porte arec elle la vie de tous les esprits ou de toutes les essences dans son plus haut degré. Gui , elle est la raison de l'éclat et de la splendeur ; elle est une cause qui fait que toutes les créatures voient et vivent. Mais sa forme n'est pas d'aune seule espèce : elle n'est pas dans les animaux comme danr l'homme; et aussi elle est différente dans les pierres, les métaux et les plantes. Quoiqu'elle soit véritablement dans toutes choses , elle est cependant foible dans quelques unes ,-et dans quelques autres,, comme impuissante. 27. Mais si nous cherchons ce qu'elle est en essenceet en propriété , et comment elle est engendrée , nous trouvons vraiment une substance précieuse et noble dans sa génération ; car elle dérive de la puissance et de la source de la fontaine de 1^ divinité , qui s'est représentée dans toutes choses ; c'est pourquoi elle est si secrète et si cachée 5 et aucune base affective , fausse ou impie dans ses coniM)issances n* pourra la trouver ni laconnoître ; e^ ffuoiqu'elle soit là , cependant aucune ame légère et fâ.iisse tt'est digne d'elle , c'est pourquoi elle lui es. Il, ( 201 ) reste cachée ; et Dieu gouverne tout en tons , sans que la créature le sente et l'aperçoive. Celte créature cesse d'être et ne sait pas comment cela lui arrive : elle vit , et ne sait dans quoi ; elle périt et ne sait comment ; et l'ombre et la figure de la teinture demeurent éternellement. Car elle est née de l'éternelle volonté 5 mais Tesprit lui est donné par le fiât selon l'espèce de chaque créature. Elle a été aussi implantée et incorporée au commencement de la création dans les diamans y les pierres et les métaux, selon chaque espèce.
328. De toute éternité elle a été en Dieu -, c'est pourquoi elle est aussi en Dieu pour Péternité. Mais lorsque Dieu voulut former une image de sa substance , et que celle image dut être engendrée des ténèbres , alors , elle [ cette teinture ] se trouva dans l'explosion de l'éclair de feu , à la place où la cinquième forme de la génération de l'amour s'engendra en similitude ; car elle étoit née de la source de la fontaine de la volonté , ou du cœur de Dieu. C'est pourquoi son ombre demeure élernelîement dans la volonté de Dieu , et c'est à cause de celle volonté que l'ombre de toutes les créatures et de toutes les essences qui ont été engendrées en images , demeurera éternellement : car elle est l'image de Dieu , qui a été engendrée de l'éternelle volonté ; mais son esprit ne demeure pas éternellement dans }e troisième principe de ce monde 5 il se brise à la cessation de la source ou de la vie. 29. Car tout ce qui vil dans le troisième principe se brise , et va dans son Ëlher et à sa fin , excepté ( 2Q2 ) CH. 12. la figure de la teinture qui demeure éternellement comme une ombre ou une volonté , sans esprit et sans mobiiité 5 mais dans le second principe la teinture demeure éternellement en esprit el en essence j le tout très puissamment ; savoir : dans les anges et dans l'bomme, aussi bien que dans l'ascension de toutes ]es essences , car leur centre pour la génération est éternellement fixe. De lessence et de la propriété de la teinture. ZéO profonde porte de la vie»
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
1although the power of the stars inflame it by the quality of the sun, the whole is nevertheless too feeble, and is as impotent. Now, as soon as the tincture is impotent, then the virtue of the blood, which is the tincture, is also impotent, and precipitates itself into a sweet repose as dead and vanquished. 24. Now then, it is only in the tincture that is found the discernment which rules the affective base, and makes the senses and the thoughts. That is why all is as dead; and only the stars govern still in the root of the first principle, where the divinity, as a splendour, or a virtue operates in all things. Then the astral spirit sees in the splendour of the mirror of the divine power, in the elementary fire, in the matrix of the water and opens its jaw after the tincture; but this tincture is debile, then it takes the power of the tincture, or the affective base, and it inqualifies with it. Then the affective base seeks the elements, and works therein entirely, according to the power of the stars, for, this affective base is in the work and the quality of the stars: and those are the nocturnal dreams, and the images or visions in sleep. The gate of the very high profundity of the life of the tincture, 25. Although the doctor know what the tincture is, nevertheless the simple and the ignorant know it not, they who have often more talent and intelligence than the doctor, without having so much Il f 20a) CH. 12, art: that is why I write for those who seek 5 although I think that neither the doctor, nor the alchemist has the base of the tincture, unless he be regenerated of the spirit; it is he who pierces through all, be he learned or ignorant. Before God the doctor is not valued more than the peasant.
22.6. The tincture is a thing which separates and carries away from the impure what is clear and pure; it bears with it the life of all the spirits or of all the essences in its highest degree. Yes, it is the reason of the brightness and the splendour; it is a cause which makes that all the creatures see and live. But its form is not of one single species: it is not in the animals as in man; and also it is different in the stones, the metals and the plants. Although it be truly in all things, it is nevertheless feeble in some, and in some others, as impotent. 27. But if we seek what it is in essence and in property, and how it is begotten, we find truly a precious and noble substance in its generation; for it derives from the power and from the source of the fountain of 1the divinity, which has represented itself in all things; that is why it is so secret and so hidden 5 and no affective base, false or impious in its knowledges will be able to find it nor to know it; and although it be there, nevertheless no light and false soul is worthy of it, that is why it es. Il, ( 201 ) remains hidden from it; and God governs all in all, without the creature feeling and perceiving it. This creature ceases to be and knows not how that happens to it: it lives, and knows not in what; it perishes and knows not how; and the shadow and the figure of the tincture remain eternally. For it is born of the eternal will 5 but the spirit is given to it by the fiat according to the species of each creature. It has been also implanted and incorporated at the beginning of the creation in the diamonds, the stones and the metals, according to each species.
328. From all eternity it has been in God; that is why it is also in God for eternity. But when God would form an image of his substance, and that this image must be begotten of the darkness, then, it [ this tincture ] found itself in the explosion of the flash of fire, at the place where the fifth form of the generation of love begot itself in similitude; for it was born of the source of the fountain of the will, or of the heart of God. That is why its shadow remains eternally in the will of God, and it is because of that will that the shadow of all the creatures and of all the essences that have been begotten in images, will remain eternally: for it is the image of God, which has been begotten of the eternal will; but its spirit remains not eternally in the third principle of this world 5 it breaks at the cessation of the source or of the life. 29. For all that lives in the third principle breaks, and goes into its Ether and to its end, except ( 2Q2 ) CH. 12. the figure of the tincture which remains eternally as a shadow or a will, without spirit and without mobility 5 but in the second principle the tincture remains eternally in spirit and in essence; the whole very powerfully; to wit: in the angels and in man, as well as in the ascension of all the essences, for their centre for the generation is eternally fixed. Of the essence and of the property of the tincture. The profound gate of the life.
Our translation, period-faithful. Citable as our translation, never as the source.
Saint-Martin's French rendering of Boehme's 'Von den drei Principien göttlichen Wesens'. The same work stands in this estate in English as boehme:2. The title page also advertises 'L'Aurore naissante, du même Auteur' from the same booksellers — Saint-Martin's translation of the Aurora, whose English counterpart the estate holds as boehme:1. Reading the two versions against each other shows what a Martinist made of a German shoemaker's theosophy.
→ boehme:2
This work carries, in the author's own voice, both a set of hostile comparisons drawn against named peoples and an explicit refusal of any such boundary, and the Press publishes both rather than either alone. At Ch.25 §85 he calls the Jews blind; at Ch.17 §106 he warns of a coming visitation of the Jews and the Turks; and at Ch.26 §32-33, asked whence the Turks are grown, he answers "From thy perverted sense" — laying the rise of Mahomet at the door of christian pride and disputation. Against these stands Ch.25 §72, which opens the grace with no boundary at all: all men are invited to it, of whatever race, "whether Turks, Jews, Pagans, Christians", and no one is excluded. The same chapter that indicts turns the indictment inward at §105-106 — each believes not to dwell in Babel, and the author includes himself — and §33 concludes that God should be as near the one as the other. The contradiction is the author's, it is not resolved by him, and removing either half would misrepresent the work. Operator ruling, 2026-08-29.
This work carries, in the author's own voice, both a set of hostile comparisons drawn against named peoples and an explicit refusal of any such boundary, and the Press publishes both rather than either alone. At Ch.25 §85 he calls the Jews blind; at Ch.17 §106 he warns of a coming visitation of the Jews and the Turks; and at Ch.26 §32-33, asked whence the Turks are grown, he answers "From thy perverted sense" — laying the rise of Mahomet at the door of christian pride and disputation. Against these stands Ch.25 §72, which opens the grace with no boundary at all: all men are invited to it, of whatever race, "whether Turks, Jews, Pagans, Christians", and no one is excluded. The same chapter that indicts turns the indictment inward at §105-106 — each believes not to dwell in Babel, and the author includes himself — and §33 concludes that God should be as near the one as the other. The contradiction is the author's, it is not resolved by him, and removing either half would misrepresent the work. Operator ruling, 2026-08-29.
This work carries, in the author's own voice, both a set of hostile comparisons drawn against named peoples and an explicit refusal of any such boundary, and the Press publishes both rather than either alone. At Ch.25 §85 he calls the Jews blind; at Ch.17 §106 he warns of a coming visitation of the Jews and the Turks; and at Ch.26 §32-33, asked whence the Turks are grown, he answers "From thy perverted sense" — laying the rise of Mahomet at the door of christian pride and disputation. Against these stands Ch.25 §72, which opens the grace with no boundary at all: all men are invited to it, of whatever race, "whether Turks, Jews, Pagans, Christians", and no one is excluded. The same chapter that indicts turns the indictment inward at §105-106 — each believes not to dwell in Babel, and the author includes himself — and §33 concludes that God should be as near the one as the other. The contradiction is the author's, it is not resolved by him, and removing either half would misrepresent the work. Operator ruling, 2026-08-29.