1Ch. 7] THE FOUR ELEMENTS 89
of the second Principle in the virtue of the light)
over and in the virtue of the spirit of the stars and
elements very mightily, as in that which is its proper
own. But in the fall of Adam we lost this great
power, when we left paradise, and went into the
third Principle, into the matrix of this world, which
presently held us captive in restraint. But yet we
have the knowledge [of that power] by a glance [or
glimmering], and we see as through a dim or dark
glass the eternal 1 birth. » Or operative
5. And although we move thus weakly or im- p'
potently in all the three births, and that the gate
of paradise is so often darkened to us, and that the
devil doth so often draw us into the hellish gate,
and that also the elements cover the 2 sidereal gate, 2 or the
and wholly cloud them, so that we oftentimes move influences of
in the whole matrix, as if we were deaf, dumb, or
half dead, yet if the paradisical light shineth to us,
we may very well see into the mother of all the
three Principles ; for nothing can hinder us, the
threefold spirit of man seeth every form and quality
in its mother.
26. Therefore though we speak of the creation of
the world, as if we had been by at present, and had
seen it, none ought to marvel at it. nor hold it for
impossible. For the spirit that is in us, which one
man inherits from another, that was breathed out
of the eternity into Adam, that same spirit hath
seen it all, and in the light of God it seeth it still ;
and there is nothing that is far off, or unsearchable :
90 THE THREE PRINCIPLES [Ch. 7
For the eternal birth, which standeth hidden in the
centre of man, that doth nothing [that is] new,
it knoweth, worketh and doth even the same that
ever it did from eternity ; it laboureth for the light
and for the darkness, and worketh in great anguish ;
but when the light shineth therein, then there is
mere joy and knowledge in its working.
7. So that when the heaven, and the birth of
the elements are spoken of, it is not a thing afar
off, or that is distant from us, that is spoken of;
but we speak of things that are done in our body
and soul ; and there is nothing nearer us than this
birth, for we live and move therein, as in the house
of our mother ; and when we speak of heaven, we
speak of our native country, which the enlightened
soul can well see, though indeed such things are
hidden from the body.
38. For as the soul of man moveth and swimmeth
between the virtue of the stars and elements, so the
created heaven also moveth between paradise and
the kingdom of hell, and it swimmeth in the eternal
matrix ; its limit reacheth as far as the ethera [skies
or receptacle] hath yielded itself up to the creation,
so far as the kingdom of Lucifer did reach, where
yet no end is to be found : For the virtue or power
of God is without end, but our sense reacheth only
Or outbirth, to the fiery heaven of the stars, which are a l propagation in the fifth form of the eternal mother
(or a quinta essentia), wherein the separation in
the time of the third Principle (or in the beginning
Ch. 7] THE FOUR ELEMENTS 91
of this world), the virtue or power of the matrix
was l separated, where now the separation is thus 1 Or divided
moved : And then every essence in the propaga- iarie5!r ' °r
tion, in the manifold centres of the stars, hath a
2 longing desire, one after another, and a continual 2 attracting.
will to infect [impregnate, or mix influences] ;
and the one essence, or virtue, is the 3meat and3 food.
drink, as also the chest [case, or receptacle] of
the other.
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.