141. Observe, as hath been often mentioned, that
as in the Fiat, in the aching matrix (viz. the dark
harshness [or sourness]) the fire rose up in the
breaking- wheel in the kindling; and that in the
fiery, the light of the sun, and of all the stars
[sprang up] (which is [done] in the harsh matrix,
which from the light is become thin, lowly, and
material water), and the pleasant source of love
[sprang up], so that one form vehemently loveth
the other, in respect of the kind, meek light, which
was come into all forms ; so now the soft meekness was become a new child, which was not the
dark originality in the anguishing nature. But
this child was the paradise, yet being it stood not
in the materia [or matter], therefore the matrix of
2 the matrix, the harshness could not comprehend it ; but 8 it
yielded itself forth very desirously, and longing
with great earnestness (according to the fire and
bitterness) to comprehend the pleasant source of
love, and yet could not comprehend it, for 8 it was
paradisical ; and thus it still stood in great longing,
and generated water.
Ch. 8] OF THE CREATION OF THE CREATURES 125
242. But now God separated the fire (viz. the
fifth essence or form) from the water, and out of
that made the stars ; and the paradise is hid in
the matrix. Therefore now the mother of the
water desireth with great earnestness the mother
of the fire, and seeketh the child of love ; and the
mother of the fire seeketh it in the mother of the
water, where it was generated, and there is between
them a continual vehement hunger one after another
to copulate.
43. Now God said, Let all manner of beasts
come forth, every one after its kind ; and so there
came forth out of the essence of every one's kind,
a male and a female. And thus the spirit of the
stars, or the spirit in the form of fire, had now by
its longing copulated with the watery [spirit], and
two sexes sprang out of one essence ; the one
according to the limbus in the form of fire, and
the other according to the aquaster [or spirit of
the water] in the watery form ; yet so [blended
or] mixed, that they were alike as to the body.
And so the male was qualified according to the
limbus, or form of fire, and the female according
to the aquaster in the watery form.
44. And so now there is a vehement desire in
the creatures. The spirit of the male seeketh the
loving child in the female, and the female in
the male ; for the irrationality of the body in the
unreasonable creatures knoweth not what it doth ;
the body would not, if it had reason, move so
126
THE THREE PRINCIPLES
[Ch. 8
3eagerly towards propagation ; neither doth it know
anything of the impregnation [or conception], only
its spirit doth so burn and desire after the child
of love, that it seeketh love, (which yet is paradisical), and it cannot comprehend it ; but it
maketh a l semination only, wherein there is again
a centre to the birth. And thus ^s the original
of both sexes, and their propagation ; yet it doth
not attain the paradisical child of love, but it is
a vehement hunger, and so the propagation is acted
with great earnestness.
45. But that I now write, that the stars rule
in all beasts, and other creatures ; and that every
creature received the spirit of the stars in the
creation, and that all things still stand in the
same regimen ; this the simple will hardly believe,
though the doctor knoweth it well, and therefore
we direct them to experience. Behold, a male and
female beget young ones, and that often ; now
they come forth out of one only body, and yet
are not of one kind, [nor of the same] colour and
virtue, nor [shape or] form of body. All this is
caused by the alteration of the stars ; for when
the seed is sown, the 2 carver maketh an image
according to his 3 pleasure ; * yet according to the
first essence, he cannot alter that ; but he giveth
the spirit in the essence to it according to his
power [or ability or dominion], as also manners,
and senses, colour and gesture like himself, to be
as he is ; and as the constellation is in its essence
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.