Text transcribed and translated from Elias Zetzner - Teatrum Chemicum tom 1
ON THE DUEL BETWEEN THE SOUL AND THE BODY - DE DUELLO ANIMI CUM Corpore
Thus far we have spoken of the specific spagyric medicine, insofar as it pertains to the body. However, what we said earlier about meditative medicine will not be unfitting to repeat here, especially since it helps in resisting the cavils and cunning of the serpent, which he exercises upon our soul daily and without interruption, through his sophistical questioning.
"Why," he asks, "did God forbid it?" — and through his slanderous reply: "You shall not surely die."
Let us, therefore, not lend our ears to him as Eve did, but shut them, not deeming the devil worthy of any answer other than the one our Lord and Redeemer Jesus gave: "Get behind me, Satan."
When, therefore, he bursts in cunningly through our thoughts and imaginations, let us manfully drive him off with those same words, upon hearing which he is immediately forced to retreat.
Unhappy Saturn seeks to impress upon the human mind sloth, laziness, apathy, and sluggishness; and upon the body, earthy, heavy, and saturnine diseases.
Mercury instills in the mind avarice, wickedness, deception, thefts, and the like; in the body, watery and mercurial diseases.
Mars and Venus together influence the mind—Mars with robberies, assassinations, seditions, murders, etc.; in the body, fiery and airy martial diseases.
Venus brings lust and shameful bodily unions; in the body, she brings airy, fiery, and venereal illnesses. In contrast, the fortunate planets impress good imaginations—if they are accompanied by favorable planetary influences.
Saturn, in such a state, may sometimes promote good imagination and speculation—due to the first degree of study which he governs—by which one arrives at fortunate Mercury, who then grants discernment between truth and falsehood, the degree of understanding which he presides over.
Fortunate Venus, as mistress of love, chastity, and purity, presents to us the image of honorable affection.
Fortunate Mars gives vigilance, courage, and boldness to resist evil temptations. Not that they do these things absolutely (for that belongs to God alone), but mediately, by divine disposition through celestial nature, to which God has given such power. I do not doubt that this will seem ridiculous to many, and that they will not understand the purpose. But let them learn before they judge.
Let me try again, by another way, to impress this upon their minds. There are seven leaders of human inclinations, and likewise seven companions, so that each leader has a fellow leader and five companions.
These in total are: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, and Moon.
Those who have both leaders favorable, and companions not opposed, are called fortunate and suited for acquiring wisdom; those to whom these things do not occur are unfit. If you wish to have some knowledge of this astronomy, you must judge yourself, so that you know yourself before you presume to judge another.
Saturn is therefore the universal leader of all studies, especially the hidden ones.
Jupiter governs religions;
Mars, wars and disputes;
the Sun, kingdoms and dominions;
Venus, love;
Mercury, commerce and mechanical arts;
the Moon, constancy.
Those whose first leader is Saturn,
and second is Jupiter;
with the Sun as first companion,
Moon second,
Mercury third,
Venus fourth,
and Mars fifth—these rise easily to lofty heights.
Conversely, those whose first leader is Saturn and next Mercury; with Mars first companion, Venus second, Jupiter third, Moon fourth, and Sun fifth—these find it hard to reach excellence. Yet if not aided by nature, they may be led by art. With utmost effort, Mercury must be converted into Jupiter; Mars into the Sun; and Venus into the Moon.
For example, those who desire great wealth so they may live without care, and who only care for their own well-being and not for others, forgetting brotherly charity toward the poor—these follow the avaricious Mercury as their second leader. Such people must be redirected, so that instead of seeking great riches, they strive to acquire that universal medicine we spoke of earlier, by which they can relieve the sick and needy from their afflictions. In this way they will convert the filthy and avaricious Mercury into the most pure, splendid, generous, and charitable Jupiter, full of piety.
The first companion of these people, Mars, had directed their study and Saturn toward dominion over others but none over themselves. Now, with the aid of Jupiter whom they have gained, let them strive to rule and restrain their vain, ambitious, and proud desires. In this way they will transform Mars—once a tyrant over others—into the Sun, which rules themselves and reforms their evil life. Venus, too, had persuaded them to seek wealth to fulfill every carnal desire.
Now, however, they must pursue chastity and honorable love, and so transform their wanton Venus into the most chaste and modest Moon. If you do not fully understand this, I will explain further. As soon as you feel in your soul the jests of avaricious Mercury stirring your thoughts, recall the voluntary poverty of Christ. Against the vengeance and tyranny of Mars, oppose the patience of Christ. Against the lust of Venus, oppose the purity of the temple of God, which your heart ought to be.
More briefly: against all these things, be mindful of death and the resurrection. If, wishing to do this, you are held back by the devil and diverted from good meditations to vain and harmful thoughts (as often happens), then oppose him with the spoken word of our Lord Jesus: "Get thee behind me, Satan," and immediately return to good meditations.
Through constant struggle, overcome evil with good—that is, repel temptation by prayer. The chief weapons in this duel are prayer, by which we gain strength and power against our enemy.
Again, so this doctrine may be better understood, let us repeat.
Since Saturn is the general and first leader of all studies, he governs the fetus in the womb during the first month. He is joined by another fellow leader (for otherwise the same single study would be pursued in everything, which is absurd), who accompanies him as second leader. In the third month comes the first companion; in the fourth, the second; in the fifth, the third; in the sixth, the fourth; and in the seventh, the fifth companion.
For example, if someone has Jupiter as their second leader, their study is directed toward piety, charity, and holiness—provided that the first companion supports that inclination, such as the Sun, toward the kingdom of God; if it is the Moon, a most steadfast profession will follow; if Mercury, it will be for profit; if Mars, contentious and disturbing to the church; if Venus, polluted by pleasures. A study governed by Mars, with the Sun as first companion, seeks to obtain a kingdom through war; if Jupiter is the fellow leader, it will be directed toward piety; if Venus, toward lust; if Mercury, toward avarice and the accumulation of riches; if the Moon, toward the preservation of peace.
The Study of the Sun, with Jupiter as the first companion, seeks a kingdom for the glory of God; if Mars, then for cruelty and tyranny; if Venus, for pleasures; if Mercury, for the accumulation of wealth; if the Moon, for the peace of the homeland.
The study of Venus, with Jupiter as the first companion, is directed toward honorable marriage in observance of holiness; if Mars, to the pursuit of pleasures; if Mercury, for profit or prostitution; if the Moon, to the most steadfast bond of covenant; if the Sun, to wealth and riches.
The study of Mercury, with Jupiter as the first companion, signifies honest trade or licit arts without deceit; if Mars, then robberies and depredations; if the Sun, dominion; if Venus, fornication; if the Moon, probity.
The study of the Moon, with Jupiter as the first companion, brings health of conscience; with Mars, stubbornness; with the Sun, wisdom; with Venus, chastity; with Mercury, the preservation of offspring. And so one must judge similarly about the remaining second and third companions, etc.
Everyone can recognize for themselves their own leaders and companions, and in themselves, in this way, if they have not learned by another method. Let them consider what first and most strongly comes into their mind, and what study or desire clings most tenaciously. If they find it to be as just stated, they already have an indication of the inclination of Saturn toward Mercury.
Secondly, if it is to live a life of leisure and freedom, they already have the inclination of Mars—who wishes to command where he does not rage, and to rule without obeying.
Thirdly, if it is to live in delights, then the inclination of Venus is present.
Yet let no one despair if good companions have followed. If by the fourth, at some time, they have pitied a brother in calamity or poverty, then they already have Jupiter’s inclination, which they may substitute in place of Mercury.
If by the fifth, study has arisen in the mind, to serve God more zealously in the future than before, then they have the inclination of the Sun, to be substituted in place of Mars.
The sixth, if it has been to abstain from vanities, they have the inclination of the Moon, which can be exchanged for that of Venus.
If this is done, one will understand a very different astrology than what the unbelievers taught, drawn from the wisdom of the world—which, compared to true wisdom, is not merely foolishness but madness of the mind—trying to judge the events of times, which are reserved in the secrets of God.
But these things are set forth under the appearance of simplicity for ridicule, so that people may come even more to madness, mocking without understanding as they approach.
For truly the serpent that seeks has closed the ears and eyes of the mind with darkness, lest they see their nakedness and, like Adam, someday repent upon confessing it. To bring this about, let us reveal, as far as we can, the cunning of the serpent in deceiving.
The prophet Moses says: "Now the serpent was more crafty than all the animals of the earth which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman: Why did God command you not to eat from every tree of Paradise?"
First, we must note the cunning of the seducer, who chose to take the form of a serpent rather than any other animal. He knew that this was the most prudent of all, by which he could gain credibility through a semblance of wisdom, making the woman more likely to trust him. This is the cloak he chose under which each part of his wicked schemes, from head to foot—that is, from the beginning to the end of the deceptions he contrived—could lie hidden and concealed.
Moreover, because he saw that this kind of creature was most suited to creeping in through any cracks or fissures, he could more easily, in this way, slowly insinuate himself into the still pure and innocent mind, unacquainted with evil.
Therefore, thus cloaked, he approached her simplicity, and addressed her with ensnaring and deceitful questions from his arsenal of sophisms: "Why did God command you not to eat of every tree?"
See how cleverly the father of sophists immediately puts forward a deception, attempting with a false question to draw the woman into falsehood as well—trying somehow to open a crack in the still-unified monarchy (of reason and will), and slip in through it—which he did.
Thus, the poorly cautious woman replied (who would have been wiser either to stay silent or to say, “Away with you!”): she adds to the devil’s lie ("of every tree") another lie of her own: "We may not touch it," she said, "lest perhaps we die."
But God had not said this. Rather, He had said the opposite: "Of every tree in Paradise you may eat." But the wicked sophist also tried to add lie upon lie.
The Lord God had not prohibited them from touching the tree, nor had He given them any reason to doubt the certainty of death if they ate of it. Indeed, He had absolutely confirmed it, saying: "You shall surely die"—not “perhaps,” but certainly and truly, "you shall die."
Now that the entrance had been made, with lies on both sides, the blasphemous villain repeated the lie, and at the same time accused God of lying: "You shall not surely die," he said. As if to say: “The matter is not as God persuaded you.”
And to confirm his false and sophistic argument, the wicked one added: “For God knows that on whatever day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil.”
First, he accuses God of envy, so as to render the woman hostile to God in this respect—suggesting that God begrudges them the happiness of possessing divinity. Second, he tries to persuade the woman to look upon the fruit with carnal eyes, and to be enticed through that sight into desire. He speaks as though God were enchanting their eyes so that they would not see the happiness in the fruit—so as to make them more and more disobedient to God. Third, he concludes that obedience is not to be followed, but rather that danger must be fled.
In the same way, the doctrine of the wise among the unbelievers has long been accustomed to cunningly deceive human minds. First of all, it gains authority for itself by a certain cloaked display—dressed in the elongated form of the serpent, projecting the prudence of the serpent as its own. Then it inserts elegance of speech, mixing Latin, then Greek, now Hebrew, French, Arabic words (although some of them hardly know their mother tongue)—that by such variety the ears of men might be charmed and led into admiration of so varied a discourse, believing that beneath such a flowing robe much wisdom lies hidden.
Thus also once did the Pharisees, covering their own serpent under such a cloak, attack Christ—not otherwise than that same binary serpent assailed Eve—beginning with sophistical questions, trying in any way to find an entrance by which to mock him with their arguments and ensnare him in error, that they might have a pretext for mocking and entirely eliminating him. But disappointed in their hope, they did not succeed with Christ as their teacher once did with Eve—namely, the prince of the world's wisdom, the diabolic serpent, the false binary, the chief sophist, etc.
What wonder is it, then, if some from among the sect of unbelievers now assail the spagyric philosophers—followers of truth—with their sophistical questions brought from Athens?
What should be answered to them? Precisely what Christ said to the Pharisees:
“If you judge that the spagyric philosophers write poorly, bear witness to the evil, O you Athenians. But if rightly, why do you abandon the truth to attack me—unless because your minds have been bewitched by ambition for honors, or rather by the greed of the one who said: ‘All these things I will give you, if you fall down and worship me.’”
He wishes to possess all through his false promises, but he will have none but his own.
Nor are we more bound to the false questions and tenets, maxims, axioms, problems, or—if you like—propositions of the Athenians, than Eve was bound to the binary serpent, had she wished to remain obedient. And had she answered, she would have said: “Get behind me, Satan. I am not from your school; you teach nothing but falsehood that you dreamt up. My teacher teaches nothing but truth. I obey him, not you—so I owe you no answer to your ‘why.’”
But if the doctrine of the unbelievers had proceeded from the word of God, or could be proven to be derived from it, we would embrace it without resistance. But rather, that wretched binary serpent will return as an angel of light before that ever happens.
Let us therefore remain fixed in the center of truth. This is our safest foundation against all the assaults of the cunning serpent. From His treasures, He will provide many fortresses and weapons with which we may defend ourselves against the tyranny of this world—which is passing away, along with all that is of it. But the word of God endures forever. Let us therefore cleave to this alone, and embrace it in all our works and professions.
Yet so that we may become more and more cautious in resisting the cunning of the serpent—who seeks to creep into our mind at every moment, in order to turn us away from good meditations by uprooting them and replacing them with vain imaginings drawn in a false circle, toward the desire of this world and the image of figments like shadows—we must look more deeply at the arch-sophist and vessel-maker who was involved in deceiving Eve.
That crafty subverter did not wish to use his first horn—or the very argument by which he himself had fallen—reserving it for the end (as sophists are also sometimes wont to place the latter before the former, so as to deceive more safely by confusion). For through ambition, he had transformed himself from an angel of light into an angel of darkness.
But then, with the other horn from the opposite side of the semicircumference—that is, a calumny directed at God—he knowingly and intentionally used deceit. He knew the truth, and yet he asked whether God had forbidden every tree, pretending either ignorance or rather posing a lying question, in order to provoke the woman into a lying response. This is clear from Eve’s first words in reply: “We may eat of the fruit of the trees,” etc., as though she had said, “The matter is not as you ask, but rather as follows.” Behold: as soon as she entered into dialogue with the devil, she became infected with the calumny of falsehood against God, and with wounded horns she issued forth a double lie.
For what else is calumny but a lie with deceit, and vice versa?
Someone might say: “Earlier, you claimed that the monarchy (i.e., the integrated unity of the soul) had only been wounded in one part, and that the slanderer (Satan) could not have induced man to calumny. Why do you now bring something contrary into discussion?”—To which I reply: I bring nothing other than what I said before: that Adam was never reduced to calumny, but rather confessed to his Lord pure and simple truth, saying: “I heard your voice and was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself”; and also: “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”
Did he lie? Not at all, because it had indeed happened as he said.
Therefore, the monarchy was not broken on his part, but remained intact. But on Eve’s part, there was an open path through which the serpent crept in.
He knew that through Adam’s threefold integrity, access could not be gained—because the unary principle protected the ternary. So the binary serpent tried to enter through Eve, so that by the resemblance of the first number of multiplicity and confusion, he might carry out his plan. For like things are more easily drawn to like than to unlike.
Again, it may be asked: “Since Eve was created perfect, how could she be deceived? For it is foreign to all perfection to fall.”
We will answer by posing another similar question, and when that is properly answered, this one will become clearer than it now is:
How did it happen that the angel of light, who was created far more perfect, fell in heaven with an incorruptible soul—though he had no occasion for it and no one to persuade him?
Thus it is all the more necessary for us, brothers, to beware of false imaginings, lest they persuade us of things outside the monarchy of truth.
For this reason, I will also present you with certain examples from sacred scripture, so that you may arm yourselves, and become more vigilant and cautious in repelling the snares of the devil—snares that you can now perceive better than before in your imaginations and thoughts, by which the devil, like a thief and a robber, tries to sneak into the monarchy of truth and simplicity in your soul. He seeks to gain even a moment’s hold, drawing out your affection toward answering him or lingering in conversation with him.
Each of us may test himself in this way: No one has escaped from the inherited desire for the knowledge of good and evil, received from the bite of the apple. Through this came the anxious craving to investigate everything—especially things that do not concern us, as well as those that seem to pertain to us. Hence the tempter promises honors or wealth to whoever is persuaded daily to eat this fruit.
For example: our spirit is never idle. Even when the body rests, it remains alert, turning over many thoughts in the mind—varied and diverse—according to one’s natural inclination, as we have heard above.
At once, the serpent is present, who inserts his own phantasms. Unless one learns to recognize them, the danger is imminent that we may become entangled in his snares.
What should we do?
We must test these thoughts against the touchstone, which is Christ, and examine them through the Word—by the thoughts of our own soul.
Once we perceive that these imaginings have something in common with the original sophistical deceits of the binary serpent—such as: “Why did He forbid all trees?” “You shall not surely die.” “Your eyes will be opened.” “You shall be as gods”—then we must at once flee to that safest anchor, the word of Christ:
“Get away from me, Satan! I have nothing in common with you; therefore I will not enter into dialogue with you.”
Jesus Christ is my teacher, and I am His disciple. He has written my name in His register; I have been erased from yours. I have been delivered by my Teacher to learn in another, far wider and more blessed Academy—what is true and eternal.
And the tempter must immediately flee. Yet he will not delay long before introducing something else into our minds—such as that phrase:
“You shall not surely die.”
With this deceptive stratagem, he tries to lead us toward disobedience in action, striving to root the fear of God out of our hearts—just as happened with Eve.
But when you again retreat to the refuge of Sacred Scripture and recognize this as the devil’s lie (as before), you will recall:
“In the day you eat from it, you shall surely die”—and before that:
“Eat freely of every tree, but from the tree of knowledge you shall not eat.”
Here again, the second lie is unmasked and defeated, just as the first was, and the persuader of lies is exposed.
Then returning again, he draws forth an argument fabricated with his deceptive compass, such as:
“Your eyes will be opened.”
See how cunningly now he tempts us through the sense of sight—where he could not succeed through imagination—as if to say:
“God has blinded your eyes so that you cannot see the profit of this thing. At least try it—it is a harmless risk—and immediately you will see that what I tell you is true. Just look more closely, feast your eyes, consider how delightful the sight of this fruit is. Look at it carefully—very carefully.”
By this gaze, the basilisk seeks to pour its venom into the heart; and when it reaches there, danger to life is imminent. Therefore, let us flee to the asylum and turn over the Word of God in our minds, so that our eyes may not see vanity by turning away. When he still cannot conquer in this way, he will soon return, claiming something new and even more poisonous, such as this: "You will be like gods, knowing good and evil."
Now at last he uses his first horn, which he knew and had experienced in himself to be the most effective of all temptations—by which he had himself fallen into the crime of offending the divine Majesty.
For he was not content with the blessedness with which God had honored him—namely, His presence, the enjoyment of His glory, and the supreme good—but wished also to be God. He had already learned how detestable it is in God's eyes to claim that which belongs to Him alone. Therefore, ambition, the most persuasive and yet most dangerous of all vices, he reserves as the final torment of souls.
With this first horn, having struck the hearts of men with a deadly wound, he then inflicts a second wound with the second horn, namely brutishness—by which he removes all reason and intellect from men, making them even more irrational than beasts. So they neither know God nor themselves anymore, and are thus, being enslaved to the devil, easily carried wherever he drags them, without resistance. In this state, unless God’s mercy intervenes, the wretched ambitious man is in peril of being finally struck by the last horn, that is, divorce from his Creator (God forbid), and of being utterly lost in despair regarding salvation.
See, then, dear reader, how dangerous it is to follow inclination into the stamped impressions of hell, and how profitable and necessary it is to have learned the celestial astrology. Let others mock it, those who have already experienced the wounds of brutishness. But you—if you are wise—withdraw at once your step from the broad road that leads to hell, lest you try too late and fail.
Let these things be said seriously to you and to all, even though many treat them as frivolous and ridiculous, like the speech of donkeys. Yet a donkey bore many secrets, to which mules and hinnies were not worthy—Christ, the fountain and origin of all secrets, disdained them. We are not ashamed to be called by this name: for we would rather, riding on the colt of a donkey with our leader Christ, enter the New Jerusalem, than be led on the most adorned mules to eternal punishment.
So, dear reader, that you may learn to beware in all things—both supernatural and natural—from the reprobate binary and its offspring the quaternary, it is now time to show in greater detail how widely the imperfection of its seed has spread, and how this serpent has tried to creep in throughout the whole of creation.
Indeed, being excluded from the unity of eternal heaven, and cast out beyond the incorruptible created heaven of the world, he fell into the quaternary and elementary region, which he now strives more and more each day to corrupt, as it is already weak and decaying.
We said earlier that the world was created in order, and that it consists of three elements: number, measure, and weight—which God used as instruments for our instruction. So beginning with numbers, we say that in the ternary all numbers are consummated, and that it is the most complete end of all numbers. For the ternary, when reflected into itself, through generation produces the number nine, beyond which it is not permitted to proceed in numbers, but must return to unity, through which the second order of numbers arises.
The same happens with the three accumulated numbers, 2, 3, and 4, which also provide such a complete consummation. Hence, it is evident how excellent the ternary is among all numbers.
Let us now examine the imperfection of the binary. The binary, by its own reproduction, generates the quaternary, which is far from being the consummation of numbers. Although some claim that in the quaternary is this consummation—saying that by adding the first four numbers the number ten is made—this is clearly false. For the ten is surpassed by the quaternary, as is evident from the accumulation of the first numbers: 2, 3, 4, 5. The unit is not properly counted as a number among them (and if one blasphemously includes it as 1, 2, 3, 4 to form ten), we still deny that ten is the true consummation of numbers by generation. For in this way, ten is surpassed twice by the offspring of the quaternary.
And though progress beyond ten returns to unity, this return should not be considered as introducing multitude or composition, just because it appears in the series of composites. In that context, unity exists as a means for reducing the composite to simplicity and purity—as ten stands like a center in a circle. But in the twenty, it is not so; the binary is the center of the twenty, for the forging of the duel mentioned above.
In the hundred, thousand, and their like, once again unity presents itself as the center. These things are very important to note, for they are immensely necessary in spagyrics.
The ancient sages would have spoken more rightly if they had said that the consummation of all number lies in the ternary through the unit alone, rather than in the quaternary. We do not deny that the quaternary may rest in the ternary, for the establishment of the philosophical week, of which we spoke at length above. But this can only happen after it has cast off the nature of its parent binary, passing through the ternary toward the simplicity of unity, and from there to acquired philosophy.
All even numbers are considered masculine and formal, whose father is the ternary. All odd numbers are feminine and material, whose mother is the binary.
If anything of mystery lies hidden in the binary, other than in its reduction, as above—by means of the ternary to the simplicity of unity—let it be brought forth if it aids the advancement of arcane truth, and I shall receive it with a grateful and cheerful heart. Meanwhile, let us proceed with our subject.
Therefore, ours, about which we now speak, is a triple ternary, namely natural, artificial, and supernatural. Again, natural is either simple or composite; artificial, however, is decomposed, either moral or supernatural; the latter usually follows the artificial and sometimes precedes it. The simple does not allow composition because it is pure and separated from the composite. The composite ternary receives the quaternary, but it is not well mixed with it unless by the removal of its binary, which once overcome becomes the septenary. The decomposed, by the spagyric art, is by all manner of separation of the binary from the situs; by the spagyric art, it is by all manner of separation of the binary from the septenary, bringing them into union.
The moral ternary is by the scheme of philosophy previously considered. The supernatural, however, is a gift of God and is marked in the union of the mind. The pivot of this whole mystery turns around the rejection of the binary; then finally the ternary joined to the quaternary produces that it rests in it through the septenary, to which, again with the ternary restored, it arrives at the likeness of unity in the revolution of the ten (denarius), under the form of the center, as we said, dwelling both in natural things and in any others whatsoever, and in supernatural things.
So far, enough has been said about the order of the world through numbers; now let us come to the order of measure. We recently said that in numbers the unit (unary) is the center of the ternary, and its offspring is the novenary, namely as a point in the circle.
Therefore, the source and origin of the first measure is the center; for from it, if a point flows straight until it rests, a straight line is made, which if, by the aforementioned flowing point, is carried around an immovable center until it returns to its place, a circle is made and the image of the triad in unity, or monarchy; the same straight line precisely measures the circle into a perfect hexagon, which by the intervening angle of the alternation of ternary figures is delineated, and from perfection progresses the equilateral triangle.
Moreover, it should be noted that the center is unary and its circle ternary; whatever is inserted between the center and the enclosed enters the monarchy, should be considered binary, whether it be another circle, a triangle, or any other figure. In this way, the binary made from the beginning from an angel became the devil — the measure of contempt allegorically.
I recently said that the dark angel had fashioned for himself a circle, one foot of which was volatile ambition, the other slander: and since he tried to fix slander, he wandered until he came to a semiternal figure, then finally ambition turned into slander and this went into ambition, whence resulted a binary under the figure of a serpent raising two horns with four points, and from there the kingdom of strife divided itself by the intervention of serpents, whereby it was cast down into outer darkness.
Although deceived by nefarious art, he did not cease, but rather took up again (as from the nature of the binary) this instrument persistently, attempting if in any way this time he might be able to build a better monarchy than before.
Therefore, beginning from the aforementioned destruction, he attacked the matter with destructions.
Hence, he fixed both feet of the compass: one into brutality, the other into divorce, and while he circled with brutality up to the delineations of the circle a little more than a third part, the foot of divorce moved in its place, and by slippery deceit he deceived the artificer and yielded to the center.
Wherefore it happened that the foot of brutality was recalled by the wicked artificer to its place, from which it had previously proceeded, and took the place of the center, the foot of divorce causing the first Euclidean destruction of the first, into a circuit similar to the first. But this same thing happened with the foot of calumny this time, which was of the foot of divorce, namely, the engineer of wickedness, and so it deceived even the slippery one to yield its place. Wherefore three points were left, none concluding anything: one in the destruction, the other two in the extremities of the serpents again intersecting.
And when the wicked artificer saw himself deceived twice already, and that he had achieved nothing different than before, he determined to try again, the roaring lion in wrath, seeking the ternary to devour, and he circled in a gyration repeating the destructions heard: whereby through three destructions he fixed three points, and in reverse he made four through destructions, the remaining two divided at the extremes, and eight serpents: which however, the most wicked corrupter of all artifices could neither bring to the square surface, nor to the cube of solidity.
For all his structure lacked a center, without which nothing perfect, solid, or stable can ever be in all nature. We therefore conclude that the devil is by accident without a center, that is, without the Word of God, without which nothing made was made.
For only God can make something out of nothing, and the best out of the invalid; likewise everything that is, from what is not, by His word alone, which is the supernatural center of all power and truth in all things. Through the corruption of His ternary (under which the angel was created from the beginning), called the quaternary figure, the human ternary monarchy by such four destructions with eight serpents also killed two by two, attempted to tear apart and divide the thing into so many horrible irreparable parts due to lack of center, which however he could not accomplish, because it is not permitted to destroy entirely the remnant of the center of truth in Adam, by the introduction of calumny and falsehood, to which he had led Eve.
Wherefore, the almighty and merciful God, having pity on Adam and Eve together in their grievous misery and as the star of calamity, decreed to destroy the mark of perdition, torn and delivered, yet still clinging but a little, and to restore it to His entire monarchy by the restoration of that point into the center, which is the true character and our safest mark of salvation situated in the Word of God.
Therefore, it was necessary to place the center of strife in this manner: From each destruction looking mutually from the diameter, always passing around two omitted, three diagonal lines are drawn, in the point of destruction the true center sought is held.
So that now I may clearly show you the image of the reduction of the ternary to the simplicity of unity, by the rejection of the binary, and also how the quaternary by conjunction can rest in the ternary and together become a partaker of the union, note: From each destruction afterward draw straight lines to each destruction; by this way you will have a quaternary of equilateral triangles: one of which is enclosed by the other three, but none of them has life or a center except the middle one, because there cannot be more centers in the monarchy, nor more than one life.
Do you now see the quaternary enclosed in the ternary, but not yet resting in the true philosophical week, about which I spoke twice above? So that, in order to be reduced together with the ternary to the simplicity of unity, the ternary must be wholly rejected in this manner: From the center of the whole ternary to any of the three cones of the large triangle draw a straight line, which is mentally understood to be wrapped around from its end, while from the other end it remains fixed in the center; then whatever points and lines there are by such a wrapping, until it returns from where it moved, must be abolished and erased.
Now no binary will appear in the monarchy of the circle, no ternary, nor even quaternary, but here already it rests in the ternary, hides, and together with it rejoices under unity, although not visible to external eyes, but only mental ones. Only the residual half-diameter line is visible which is the remnant of the fruit, for which reason daily we must fight manfully, and not effeminately, the counter-strife of the very crafty serpent while we remain in the perishable; lest, forgetting the sin of each of our first parents, we relapse into the same.
Behold, now you have, excellent reader, the idea of the monarchy of the triad in unity, depicted and placed before your eyes by me, from which more deeply than the letter or the picture before you, through the sharpness of your mind you will know whatever pertains to the spagyric art and the adept philosophy, helped also by those things which I recently revealed to you in this little work.
Through me it shall not fail that this matter will be well for you, provided you do not envy yourself through sloth and negligence the happiness of the intelligence of these mysteries, which above all things in this life are necessary; because through the admiration of the great works of God, they lead to His true knowledge, as to the only One, indeed they draw into His love, in whom also the highest good of Christians lies hidden and is revealed only to those who believe in God through the Word, the center of His truth, His Son, in whom and through whom all things are, to whom alone with the Father and the Holy Spirit be praise, honor, and glory forever.
It remains in order that we liberate this through weights.
We said before that the order of creation consists of numbers, measure, and weight. The first two we completed through the units one and three alone, without the help of others. Now through these same we will also reckon weights to infinity, which cannot be done better or more fittingly by any others.
By only two weights: the first of one pound, the latter of three, the weighing proceeds into infinite weights. Thus, one weighed by these two weights: these and one, three or three pounds hang: this weight once, and once one, four: three once, and twice one, five: three twice, six weights: three twice and once one, seven: three twice and twice one, eight: three three times, nine: three times three and once one, ten: three times three and twice one, eleven: three four times, twelve: thus in the thousands of thousands many.
But if one wishes to make this by lighter work, add for these two other three weights impartial, from five, seven, and nine: or add weighted matter in increase to weighted matter as often as seems expedient.
But truly the spagyric weights remain in unity, and they have no progress to increase except through unity, such as the one center to its first monarchy and circumference, namely ten: and of the same center to the second unity, one hundred: to the third, one thousand: to the fourth, ten thousand: to the fifth, one hundred thousand: to the sixth, one million: to the seventh, ten million, and so on to infinity.
This progression of order is not so much spagyric as it is natural, and most hidden in the center of nature, yet brought forth into light and made manifest through spagyric art, or brought from potentiality into act. These are the things that ought to be said here concerning numerical weights, artificial and natural, through one, three, and ten.
However, let us see what that binary with its quaternary is able to accomplish in artificial weights. By the weight of two pounds, and another of four pounds, no way can an odd weight be weighed by one or three, but only even ones. In natural things, however, they exercise their tyranny, drawing all parts of nature by sections beyond just proportion and monarchy.
The End.
LATIN VERSION
DE DUELLO ANIMI CUM Corpore.
HActenus de peculiari medicina spagirica, quod ad corpus attinet. Caeterum quae supra de meditatīva medicina diximus, hoc loco repetere non erit incongruum, maxime quod faciant ad resistendum serpentis cavillationibus & astutiis, quas in animum nostrum exercet indies absque intermissione, per sophisticam suam interrogationem. Quare (inquit) Deus prohibuit & per calumniosam responsionem: Nequaquam (ait) moriemini. Ne igitur, ut Eva, illi praebeamus aures, at occludamus non dignati diabolum alio responso, quam dedit ei Dominus & redemptor noster Jesus: Abi a me Satana: quum igitur per cogitationes & imaginationes nostras astute proruperit, viriliter expugnemus eisdem verbis, quibus auditis loco cedere mox cogitur.
Saturnus igitur infelix in mentem humanam imprimere conatur ignaviam, pigritiam, acidiam, & socordiam: item in corpus, terreos, graves, ac saturnios morbos: Mercurius in mentem, avaritiam, nequitiam, circumventiones, furta, & id genus alia: item in corpus aqueos & mercuriales morbos, Mars & Venus ambo simul in mentem influunt Mars pro sua parte, latrocinia, iugulationes, seditiones, homicidia, &c. in corpus igneos & simul aereos martiales. Venus concupiscentiam, corporumque turpem societatem: in corpora vero aereos & igneos una morbos ac venereos. Contra fortunati bonas imaginationes imprimunt, ut si quando sint felicibus planetis comitati.
Saturnus itaque in eo statu bonam imaginationem & speculationem, ob studii gradum primum quem obtinet, nonnunquam administrat: per quas ad Mercurium fortunatum pervenitur, hic perceptionem justi verique discrimen à falso, cognitionis gradu, cui praeside dicitur: Venus autem fortunata, quia gradui praesest amoris, pudicitiae, castitatis, dilectionem, & amoris honesti nobis imaginem ob oculos depingit. Mars vero fortunatus vigilantiam, animum & audaciam ad resistendum malis tentationibus addit. Non quod absolute id faciant, quod solius est Dei, sed mediate per ipsum sic disponente natura caelesti, cui Deus hanc potestatem dedit. Non dubito quin haec multis ridicula videbuntur, quodque tendant non intelligunt. Verum addiscant priusquam judicent.
Rursus tentabo si alia via possim eorum ingeniis inculcare. Septem sunt humanarum inclinationum duces, totidem quoque sunt comites, ut quisque dux socium ducem habeat & quinque comites. In universum sunt isti: Saturnus, Jupiter, Mars, Sol, Venus, Mercurius, & Luna.
Qui ducem utrumque habent propitium, & non reluctantes comites, fortunati dicuntur, & ad sapientiam adeptam idonei: contra vero inepti, quibus ista non contingunt. Si hujus astronomiae cupis aliquam habere notitiam, judicium à teipso facias oportet, ut teipsum cognoscas prius quam de alio sis judicaturus.
Saturnus itaque dux est omnium studiorum universalis, & praesertim abditorum: Jupiter quidem religionum. Mars belliorum & controversiarum: Sol regnorum dominiorumque. Venus amorum: Mercurius negotiationum, & mechanicarum artium: Luna autem constantiae.
Qui ducem habent Saturnum priorem, & Jovemque ducem posteriorem, Solem comitem primum, secundum comitem Lunam, tertium Mercurium, quartum Venerem, & quintum Martem, facile ad sublimia scandunt.
Contra quibus dux prior est Saturnus, & Mercurius dux proximus, comes primus Mars, secundus Venus, tertius Jupiter, quartus Luna, quintus vero Sol: istis non facile contingit adire Corinthium, à natura tamen si non juventur, arte hac ducetur. Summo studio conatuque maximo Mercurius est in Jovem convertendus: Mars in Solem: & Venus in Lunam.
Exempli gratia, quicunque ditari plurimum appetunt, ut absque sollicitudine vivere possint, & qui sibi solis quam bene sit, alios minime curant, obliti fraternae charitatis in pauperes exercendae, Mercurium secundum ducem habent avarum quem sequuntur: istis contra intendendum est, ut non tam opes multas appetant, quam universalem illam medicinam, de qua nuper dictum, adipiscantur, qua aegros, & egenos a suis calamitatibus sublevare queant: hac via sordidum ipsum & avarum Mercurium, in candidissimum, splendidissimum, ac liberalem, pietatisque plenum & charitatis Jovem converterint.
Horum etiam hominum comes prior Mars, studium atque Saturnum eò direxerat, ut in alios dominium appeterent, in seipsos verò nullum: contra jam auxilio Jovis quem modo possederunt, nitantur vanos ambitiosos, & superbos appetitus suos regere & frenare: hoc modo Martem in alios imperiosum, in Solem ipsorum dominantem, suaeque vitae malae reformatorem transmutabunt. Venus etiam eorum horum minimum suaserat, in adimpletionem appetituum carnis omnium divitias illas ut quaererent.
Contra jam est, quod castitatis & honestatis amorem constanter prosequantur, & sic lasciviam suam Venerem in pudicissimam & castissimam Lunam commutabant. Quod si non satis intelligas explicabo latius. Mox atque senseris in animo tuo avari Mercurij ioculos stimulare tuas imaginationes, Christi voluntariam paupertatem recole. Contra Martis vindictam atque tyrannidem, oppone Christi patientiam. Contra Veneris lasciviam, templi Dei munditiam, quod cor tuum esse debet.
Brevius contra haec omnia, mortis memor & resurrectionis esto. Si idipsum facere cupiens a diabolo retraharis, & a bonis meditationibus, ad alias vanas & perniciosas cogitationes (ut fere semper fieri solet) contra nox prolatò verbo domini nostri Jesu, dic: Abi hinc a me Satana, & (subinde ad bonas redi meditationes, assiduoque praelio sic bono vince malum, id est, oratione propelle tentationem. Arma sunt potissima quibus in hoc duello praeliandum est, oratio, qua robur & vires contra nostrum inimicum acquirimus. Rursus, ut melius intelligatur hoc genus doctrinae, repetamus.
Quatenus Saturnus generalis studiorum in omni dux prior est, primo mense foetum regit in utero matris, adjungitur illi socius dux alter (alioqui semper in omnibus unum idemq studium operaretur, quod absurdum foret) qui secundo loco ducem priorem comitatur: tertio comes primus: quarto secundus: quinto tertius: sexto quartus: & septimo comes quintus. Verbi gratia, si quis ducem alterum Jovem habeat, studium ejus ad pietatem, charitatem & sanctimoniam dirigetur, modo comes primus fautor sit istius inclinationis, uti Sol, ad regnum Dei: si Luna, constantissima professio futura: contra si Mercurius, mercenaria: si Mars, contentiosa, movensque turbationes in ecclesia: si Venus, deliciis inquinata. Studium autem quod Marte duce regitur, primo comite Sole, bello regnum appetit: si Jupiter ducem sequatur, ad pietatem: si Venus, ad lasciviam: si Mercurius, ad avaritiam & opum ac divitiarum amplificationem: si Luna, in conservationem pacis.
Studium Solis primo comite Jove, regnum appetit in gloriam Dei: si Marte, in saevitiam atque tyrannidem: si Venere, ad voluptates: si Mercurio, ad opes accumulandam: si Luna, in tranquillitatem patriae. Veneris autem studium primo comite Jove, ad honestum dirigitur matrimonium in observationem sanctitatis: si Marte, ad explendas voluptates: si Mercurio, ad quaestum vel ad lenocinium: si Luna, in constantissimum foederis vinculum: si Sole, ad opes & divitias. Studium tamen ipsius Mercurii, primo comite Jove, mercimonium honestum, aut licitas artes absque dolo significat: si Marte, latrocinia & depraedationes: si Sole, dominium: si Venere, stuprum: si Luna, probitatem.
Studium vero Lunae primo comite Jove, conscientiae sanitatem: cum Marte, pertinaciam: si cum Sole, sapientiam: cum Venere, castimoniam: cum Mercurio, partorum conservationem: sic de reliquis comitibus secundis, tertiis, &c. judicandum erit. A seipso quisque duces & comites sitos, & in seipso poterit ad hunc modum, si non alia ratione didicerit cognoscere. Consideret quod primùm & potissimum sibi veniat in mentem, haereatque tenacissime studium atque desiderium: si comperiat esse ut dixerur, jam habet indicium inclinationis Saturni ad Mercurium. Secundum ut otiosus vivere possit ac liber, jam habet Martis inclinationem, qui merere cupit ubi non saevit, imperare & non obedire. Tertium si fuerit, ut in delitiis vivere valeat, jam habet Veneris inclinationem.
Nec propterea despondeat animum si qui boni subsecuti fuerint comites. Ut si per quartum aliquando fratris calamitosi vel egeni ipsiusm miseruit, jam habet Jovis inclinationem, quam in Mercurii locum substituere potest. Si per quintum inde studium, in mentem venerit Deo in postferum diligentus, quam antea servientis desiderium, jam Solis inclinationem habet in locum Martis surrogandam. Sextum si fuit, ut abstineret a vanitatibus, jam habet inclinationem Lunae, quam pro Venere commutare poterit.
Quod si fecerit, longe aliam astrologiam intelliget, quam docuerunt infideles ex mundi sapientia, quae ad veram sapientiam collata, nedum stultitia est, sed mentis insania, de temporum eventibus judicare conata, quae reservata sunt in arcanis Dei. Sed haec irrisionibus posita sunt ab ea quae apparet simplicitate, ut magis ad insaniam veniant, rideant, adientes interim non intelligant.
Eternim Quaerens ille serpens aures & mentis oculos tenebris occlusit & occaecavit, ne sui videant suam nuditatem & quandoq; fatentes eam cum Adamo resipiscant. Quod ut faciant, serpentis calliditatem in fallendo, nudius est quod pro viribus detegamus. Ait propheta Moyses: Sed & serpens erat callidior cunctis animalibus terrae quae fecerat Dominus Deus, qui dixit ad mulierem: cur praecepit vobis Deus ut non comederetis ex omni ligno Paradysi? Primo calliditas est nobis consideranda in luminatoris, qui serpentis speciem inducere voluit potius, quam alterius animalis.
Scivit enim hoc esse prudentissimium, quo se sibi conciliarit auctoritatem a prudentia, qua major fides illi adhiberetur à muliere, hoc pallio oblongò opus esse decrevit, sub quo singulae partes nequitiarum suarum à capite usque ad pedes, hoc est, ab initio ad finem molitarum à se deceptionum, laterent & contegerentur: tum quod videret hoc genus animalis promptissimum ad per quascunque rimas vel fissuras penetrandum, hoc ipso melius in mentem integrām adhuc nullius mali consciam, sibi serpendo sensim faceret ingressum. Proinde ad hunc modum palliatūs, & eam simplicitatem adorsus, captiosis atque mendacibus è sophismatum suorum genere quaestionibus sic alloquitur: quare praecepit Deus omne lignum.
Ecce quam astute mox pater Sophistarum proposita fallacia, per mendacè quaestionem conatur mulierculam etiam ad mendacium trahere, tentans si quo modo hoc impetu rimulam faciat in integrām adhuc monarchiam, & per eam irrepât, quod fecit. Respondens itaq; male cauta mulier, (quae sanius vel tacuisset, vel ab, dixisset, hinc procul) mendacio diaboli (de omni ligno) duplicatum addit mendacium (ne tangeremus, inquit, & ne forte moreremur) non autem dixerat Deus, de omni ligno non comedas, imo contra, Ex omni ligno paradysi comede. Sed Sophista nequam etiam mendacii ad mendacium insercere conatus est.
Non etiam Dominus Deus prohibuerat, ne tangerent arborem, neque reliquerat iis aliquam occasionem dubitandi de morte, si comerent; quinimo affirmatione prorsum asseruit, inquiens, morte moriemini, quasi moriemini, imo sane moriemini. Facto sibi jam introitu per mendacia utrinque prolata, mendacium replicat blasphemus nequam, simulque Deum insimulat mendacii: Nequaquam (inquit) moriemini. Ac si diceret, non ita se res habet ut Deus persuasit vobis. Addidit nequam quo falsum & sophisticum argumentum suum confirmaret: Scit enim Deus, quocunque die comederitis ex eo, aperientur oculi vestri, & eritis sicut Dij scientes bonum & malum.
Primo Deum insimulat invidia, quo reddat mulierem Deo hac parte inimicam, quasi illis invideat felicitatem divinitatis possidendae. Secundo persuadere conatur mulieri, ut fructum aspiciat oculis carneis, & hoc aspectu alliciatur ad appetentiam, item loquitur ac si Deus fascinaret oculos eorum, ne viderent in fructu felicitatem, quo magis ac magis Deo faciat inobedientes. Tertio concludit non esse obediendum, quon potius fugiendum periculum eventus.
Haud secus infidelium sapientium doctrina, hominum ingenia hactenus captiosè fallere solita, primum omnium auctoritatem sibi conciliaret apparatu quodam palliato, convestium ornatum in longam figuram serpentis formam protensò, & prudentiam serpentem prae se ferente, tum elegantia sermonis interserit, modo Latinis, mox Graecanis, jam Hebraicis Gallicis, Arabicis (cum istorum nonnulli vix maternum idioma calleant) verbulis, ut hac varietate fascinentur hominum aures, ac in admirationem tam variegati sermonis tractae, sub talari veste multam occultari credant sapientiam.
Sic olim Pharisæi suum serpentem sub eiusmodi pallio contegentes, Christum aggressi, non aliter quam serpentes ille binarius Evam, ab interrogationibus sophisticis faciunt exordium, tentantes si qua parte sibi facere possint ingressum ad irridendum eum suis argutiis, utque non sacile se queat extricare, quin trahatur in aliquem errorem, unde habeant occasionem deridendi, confusumque prorsum e medio tollendi causam praetexant. Verum sua spe frustrati, non ipsis evenit cum Christo, quod illorum cum Eva praeceptori Quareno mundi sapienti, serpenti diabolo, falsi binario, sophistae primario, &c.
Quid mirum, si qui jam ex infidelium secta faciant impetum in spagiricos philosophos veritatis sectatores, per sophisticas suas quaestiones ab Athenis allatas?
Quid erit illis respondendum? Nimium quod Christus Pharisæis ad hunc modum: Si male scribere judicatis spagiricos philosophos, testimonium perhibete de malo ô vos Athenienſes; si vero bene, cur vos relictis mini veritati, nisi quod vestros fascinavit animos ambitio honorum, seu potius avaritia illius qui dixit: Ecce haec omnia tibi dabo si pronus adoraveris.
Omnes possidere vellet suis falsis pollici tationibus, nec tamen alios praeterquam suos habiturus est. Non magis tenemur falsis Athenienſium quaestionibus, atque placitis, maximis, axiomatibus, problematicis, aut si vis propositionibus, quam serpenti binario debuit Eva, si manere voluisset obediens, aut si responder, dixisset: ab hinc à me Satana, non sum ex tua schola, nihil praeter falsum doces quod somniasti: meus autem praeceptor, nihil nisi verum docet, huic obedio, non tibi, quare nec ad tuum quare respondere debeo.
Verum si doctrina infidelium processisset ex verbo Dei, aut inde sumpta probari valeret, amplecteremur sine ulla resistentia. Sed potius miser ille binarii serpens in angelum lucis redibit, quam id fiat.
Conſistamus igitur in centro veritatis, hoc nobis tutißimum est fundamentum contra serpentis callidi quosvis insultus. Propugnacula multa nobis suppeditabit e suis thesauris & arma quibus defendamur à tyrannide hujus mundi, qui transiturus est, & omnia quae sua sunt, verbum autem Dei manet in aternum: huic igitur soli adhæreamus, & amplectamur hoc in omnibus nostris operibus atque professionibus.
Caeterum ut magis ac magis reddamur cautiores, ad resistendum calliditati serpentis, in animum nostrum ad singula momenta irrepere conantis, quo bonas meditationes avertat eradicatione; suas autem inferat vanas imaginationes falsi circulo delineatas, ad cupiditatem hujus mundi, simulacrorum ut umbra figmentium imaginem: est quod latius consideremus archisophiæ et vasificieri, qui fuit usus Evam decipiendo. Argutus ille supplantator noluit uti primum suo cornu primo, vel eodem argumento quo lapsus ipse fuerat, hoin finem reservans (ut solent etiam aliquando sophistae praepostere posteriora prioribus praeponere, quo securius per confusionem fallant ingenia) ambitione siquidem sesipsum transmutarat ex angelo lucis in tenebrarum angelum.
Atqui altero cornu ex opposto semicircumferentiae, calumnia videlicet in Deum directa prius, mentiens data opera, fuit usus. Scivit contrarium, atque interrogat, non prohibuisse Deum omne lignum, sed vel ignorare se fingit, aut potius per mendacium interrogationem instituit, quo interrogatam mulierculam ad responsionem etiam mendacem incitet, ut patet ex primis verbis Evae quae respondet, De fructu lignorum vesicimur, &c. ac si dixisset, non ita te res habet ut interrogas, sed ad hunc modum. Ecce mox atque in colloquium cum diabolo ingressa fuit, etiam calumnia mendacii in Deum infecta est, cornuaque saucia, binum protulit mendacium.
Quid enim aliud est calumnia, quam mendacium cum cavillo, & e contra?
Dicet quispiam, ante dixisti monarchiam non nisi in una parte laceram, non potuisse calumniator hominem ad calumniam adigere, quid modo diversum adfers in medium? Nihil nisi idipsum quod prius dixi, Adamum ad calumniam nunquam fuisse reductum, imo potius puram & meram fassus est Domino suo veritatem, inquens: Vocem tuam audivi & timui quia nudus essem, & abscondi me: item mulier quam dedisti mihi sociam, dedit, & comedi.
Quid mentiebatur? nihil omnino, quoniam ita successerat ut loquitur.
Quare pro parte sua laceram no fuit veri monarchia, sed cohaerens, at pro parte Evae aperta fuit via qua serpens irrepsit.
Scivit enim per ternarium Adami non posse potuissé aditum unario protegenté ternarium, binarii inigtur Evae tentavit ingredi, ut per similitudinem numeri primi multitudinis & confusionis id exequertur: similia namque similibus attrahuntur facilius quam dissimilibus. Rursus interrogabitur, cum Eva creata esset perfecta, quînam seduci potuerit? alienum enim est ab omni perfectione, labi. Respondebimus per aliam interrogationem a simili, cui quum responsum exacte fuerit, clarius quam nunc, etiam respondebimus.
Qui autem factum est: ut angelus lucis, qui longe perfectior creatus erat, in coelo et animam incorruptibili, sit lapsus, cum nullam haberet occasionem, persuadente eum sibi neminem: Proinde maxime cavendum est nobis, ô fratres, à falsis imaginationibus, ne persuadeant ea quae sunt extra veritatis monarchiam.
Hac de causa vobis etiam proponenda quaedam exempla scripturae sacrae sunt, quibus armaremini, & vigilantiores cautioresque fieretis ad propulsandum insidias diaboli, quas modo melius quam antea percipitis ab imaginationibus & cogitationibus vestris, per quas ut fur & latro subintrare nititur in veritatis atque simplicitatis monarchiam vestram, ut eam affectione ad sibi respondendum, vel tantisper insistendum lacert.
Quisque nostrum in seipso ipsum experiatur ad hunc modum: Nemo non ex morsu pomi haereditavit appetentiam scientiae boni & mali, & per eam cuncta perquirendi maxime anxiam cupiditatem, tam ea quae nostra minime intersunt, quam quae ex re nostra esse videntur, unde vel honores, vel opes pollicetur ille qui pomum hoc comedere suadet indies. Exempli gratia. Spiritus noster nunquam est otiosus, imo vel quiescente corpore maxime vigilat, multas in animo cogitationes versat, easque diversas, in diversis & in quovis, juxta naturalem inclinationem, uti superius audivimus.
Adest mox serpens, qui suas ingerit phantasias: quas nisi contingat agnoscere, periculum instat ne in suas casses intricemur. Quid faciendum? Ad lydium lapidem, qui Christus est, affricandae sunt, & ex ejus verbo examinandae per ejusdem animi nostri cogitationes. Ubi perceperimus ejusmodi imaginationes commune quid habere cum captiosis illis primis sophismatibus binarii serpentis, ut sunt: Quare de omni ligno prohibuit? nequaquam moriemini: aperientur oculi vestri: eritis sicut Dii: mox ad anchoram illam tutissimam confugiamus, Christi verbum, videlicet, abi hinc a me procul Satana, nihil mihi commune tecum est, ideo tecum in colloquium non intro.
Jesus Christus est et meus praeceptor, ejus ego sum discipulus, in ejus album dedit meum nomen, a tua sum matricula deletus, per meum praeceptorem ereptus, ut in alia longe lateq; feliciori Academia discam quae vera sunt, perpetuoque duratura. Confestim abire cogitur, nec diu cunctaturus, quin subinde novum quid proferat in mente nostra, ut illud est, Nequaquam moriemini. Hoc fallo strategemate nos ad executionem inobedientiae hortari nititur, Dei timorem a cordibus nostris eradicare cupiens, ut Evae contigit. Ubi jam ex refugio ad sacras scripturas, deprehenderis iterum hoc esse diaboli mendacium ut prius; habetur enim: Quoties comederis ex eo, morte moriemini, ut antea: De omni ligno comede, de ligno scientiae non comedes.
En iterum deprehensio secundo mendacio profligetur, ut prius, suasor ille mendacii.
Rursum rediens, circino suo fallo fabricatum argumentum profert, ut illud est: Aperientur oculi vestri. Ecce qua astute jam nos per sensum visus tentat, ubi non per imaginationes potuit, ac si diceret: Falsinavit Deus oculos vestros, ut videre non possitis emolumentum ejus rei, saltem experiamini, facile periculum, & statim videbitis verum esse quod vobis dico, aspicite modo penitius, oculos pascite, respicite quam sit ejus pomi delectabilis conspectus, diligenter admodum respicite.
Hoc aspectu basilisci venenum transfundere nititur ad cor, quo quum pervenerit, imminet periculum vitae, ad Asylum igitur confugientes, verbum Dei volvamus in animo, ne videant vanitatem oculos avertendo. Cum nec sic potuerit vincere, mox rediturus novum adseret aliis virulentius, ut est illud: Eritis tanquam Dii scientes bonum & malum. Jam demum utitur primo suo cornu, quod scivit & expertus fuit in se ipso esse omnium efficacissimam tentationem, qua lapsus inciderat in crimen laesae divinae Majestatis.
Non enim fuit contentus ea felicitate, qua Deus ipsum dignatus erat, utpote suo conspectu & suae gloriae fruitione summoque bono, quin etiam Deus esse voluit. Expertus jam erat quam detestabile sit coram Deo, appellere id quod soli Deo convenit. Proinde in extremum animorum hominum tormentum servat ambitionem, omnium ut persuadibilius vitium, ita etiam perniciosius.
Hoc ipso primo suo cornu laeso cordi hominum lethali vulnere, secundum infligit vulnus, utputa cornu secundum, brutalitatis videlicet: quo jam totam rationem & mentem adimat ab hominibus, beluisque multo reddat irrationalibiores, ut nec Deum neque seipsos cognoscant amplius, quo fiat, diabolo mancipati, facile, quocunque trahit, ferantur absque resistentia. In hoc passu nisi Dei succurrat misericordia, periclitatur miser ambitiosus, ne postremo cornu, divortij videlicet à suo creatore (quod absit) ipsum feriat quadricornuta bestia, deque salute desperatum sit.
Vide quaeso lector optime, quam sit periculosum incurrere per inclinationem, inflixum afforum in infernalia impressiones, quamque coelestem Astrologiam didicisse proficuum atque necessarium. Hanc deridere sinas alios, qui jam brutalis cornu sunt experti vulnera; tu autem si sapis, a lata via quae ducit ad inferos pedem extemplo retrahito, ni serius conatus nequ eas.
Haec tibi ac omnibus serio dictas sint, etsi àplerisque ut frivola & ridicula contemnatur, ut ab asinis (quos vocant) prolata. Arcana multa gestavit asinus, quibus mulos & mulas minime dignatus est Christus omnium arcanorum fons & origo. Non dedignamur nos hoc nomine: malimus enim asino pullo insidentes cum nostro duce Christo, novam intrare Jerusalem, quam super mulos ornatissimos ad aeterna supplicia duci. Ut igitur in omnibus, cum supernaturalibus, tum naturalibus cavere discas, amice lector, a reprobato binario, & a quaternario sua prole; jam est quod latius demonstremus, quam late suam seminarii imperfectionem, ut per universum videre licet hunc serpentem subintrare conatum fuisse.
Verum exclusus ab unario caeli aeterni, & extra terrarium creati caeli incorruptibilis projectus, in quaternariam & elementariam regionem decidit, quam etiam infirme corrupti, corrumpeque magis ac magis nititur indies.
Diximus antea mundum esse creatum ordine, & hunc constare tribus, numero videlicet, mensura, & pondere: quibus Deus in nostri doctrinam voluit uti ut instrumentis. Proinde à numeris incipientes, dicimus in ternario numeros omnes consummari, & in eo omnium esse numerorum finem absolutissimum. Ipso namq; in seipsum reflexo, per generationem producit novenarium, ultra quem in numeris progredi minime licet, verum ad unitatem redeundum per quam oritur unitas secunda numerorum secundi ordinis.
Idipsum accidere solet in tribus primis numeris accumulatis, 2. 3. 4. qui eandem etiam consummationem absolutam praestant. Hinc videre est quam sit omnium numerorum praestantissimus ternarius. Contra binariam imperfectionem examinemus. Binarius vero sui reproductione per generationem quaternarium efficit, longe sane distantem à consummatione numerorum. Etsi nonnulli velint in quaternario consummationem istam esse, cum dicant, per accumulationem quatuor primorum numerorum fieri denarium: contrarium satis constat, etenim superatur denarius quaternario, ut patet ex aggregatione primorum, 2. 3. 4. 5. Unarius enim non est numerus, nec inter eos recensendus, quod si nefas committentes, faciant ad hunc modum, 1. 2. 3. 4. ut denarium consentiant, negamus nihilominus denarium esse numerorum consummationem per generationem, etenim hac via bis denarium superat quaternario ea proles.
Et quamvis ultra denarium progrediendo fiat regressus ad unitatem, non est existimandum propterea hanc inducere multitudinem, aut compositionem, quia in serie compositorum reperitur: ibidem enim est ad reductionem compositorum in simplicitatem & puritatem, ut in est denario veluti centrum in circulo; in vigenario tamen non ita, sed binarius est vigenarij centrum ad monomachiam supra positam fabricandum. In centenario quidem, & millenario, sibique similibus, rursus ut centrum sese praebet unitas. Haec apprime notanda, quod ad spagiricam summe sint necessaria.
Melius dixissent antiqui vates in ternario consummationem esse omnis numeri per solum unarium, quam in quaternario. Non negamus quaternarium in ternario quiescere posse, ad hebdomadis philosophicae constitutionem, de qua supra fecimus amplam mentionem; Atqui non prius quam sui parentis binarij naturam exuat, per ternarium transitum faciens ad unitatis simplicitatem, atque deinceps ad adepta[m] philosophiam. Pares omnes numeri masculi cense[n]tur formales, quorum pater est ternarius. Impares vero sunt feminei & materiales, quorum mater est binarius.
Si quidpiam arcani latet in binario, praeterquam in reductione ejus, ut supra, in suo quaternario per ternarium ad unitatis simplicitatem, quod faciat in promotione studiorum arcanae veritatis, adferatur, & pergrato hilarique audienus animo: interea tamen ad institutum progrediemur.
Est igitur noster, de quo jam agitur, ternarius triplex, ut naturalis, artificialis, & supernaturalis. Rursum naturalis, simplex vel compositus: artificialis vero, decompositus est, aut moralis, vel supernaturalis; qui posterior plerumque subsequitur artificialem, & aliquando praecedit. Simplex non patitur compositionem, quia purus est a composito separatus. Compositus ternarius quaternarium recipit, nec tamen ei bene permiscetur, nisi per amotione binarii sui, quo superato fit septenarius. Decompositus, arte spagirica sit per omnimodam separationem binarii à situs, arte spagirica sit per omnimodam separationem binarii à septenario in unionem adducendo.
Moralis ternarius, sit per scefam philosophiae meditatae antehac positam. Supernaturalis autem, est donum Dei, & in unione mentis insignitet. Totius hujus mysterii cardo vertitur circa abjectionem binarii; tum demum ternarius quaternario junctus efficit, ut hic in illo quiescat per septenarium, cui rursum ternario restituto, pervenitur ad similitudinem unitatis in revolutione denarii, sub centri forma, ut diximus, habitantis, tam in naturalibus quam in aliis quibuscunque, & in supernaturalibus.
Hactenus de ordine mundi per numeros dictum quod satis sit, jam ad ordinem mensurae veniamus. Nuperrime diximus in numeris unarium esse ternarij centrum, & ejus foetus novenarij scilicet, ut in circulo punctum.
Fons igitur & origo mensurae primae centrum est, nam ex eo si punctum recta flua donec quiescat, fit recta linea, quae si per punctum fluxile prius dictum circumvehatur immoto centro, donec redeat suo loco, fit circulus & imago triadis in unitate, vel monarchiae; eadem recta linea praecise metitur circulum in perfectum hexagonum, qui per intermissum angulum alternation ternarij figurar delineat, & ex perfectione progredientem trigonum aequilaterum.
Notandum porro, centrum esse unarium & circulum ejus esse ternarium, quicquid autem inseritur inter centrum, & inclusam intrat monarchiam, pro binario habendum est, sive circulus alius, sive trigonus, aut quavis alia figura sit. Qua via vero binarius ab initio factus ex angelo diabolus sit mensura contemplum allegorice.
Dixi nuper tenebrosum angelum sibi fabricatum fuisse circulum, cujus pes unus ambitionis volubilis fuit, alter autem calumniae: cumq; calumniam figere conaretur, tantisper ambivit usque dum ad semiternariam figuram ventum sit, tum demum ambitio in calumniam versa, haec in ambitionem abiit, unde resultavit binarius sub figura serpentis duplicis cornua quatuor erigentis, & inde monomachiae regnum divisum in seipsum per intercessionem serpentum, quapropter dejectum in tenebras exteriores.
Quamvis illusus ab arte nefanda, non propterea cessavit, quin secundo (ut ex binarij conditione est) pervicaciter resumserit instrumentum hoc, tentans, si quo modo valeret hac vice monarchiam struere priore meliorem.
Proinde ab interfectione dicta sumens exordium, interfectionibus rem aggressus est.
Circinipedem igitur utrumque defixit, unum in brutalitatem, alterum in divortium, cumque brutalitate circinaret usque ad circuli delineationes paulo plus tertiam partem, divortij pes suo loco motus, gliscenti lubricitate suum fefellit artificem, ac centro cessit.
Quo factum ut pes brutalitatis ab artifice nequam, suo loco, unde prius processerat, revocatus, centri vicem gessit, divortij pede per primi primam Euclidis interfectionem faciente, in ambitum priori similem. Atqui hoc ipsum de calumniae pede contigit hac vice, quod de pede divortij, videlicet, nequitiae machinatore et eo ipso decepit, ut etiam lubricus loco cederet. Quo factum ut tria puncta nihil concludentia relicta sint unum in interfectione, alia duo in extremitatibus serpentum sese rursum intersecantium.
Cumque nequam artifex videret se bina jam vice deceptum, aliud quoque nihil effecisse, quam prius, tentare statuit leo rugiens iracundia, quaerensque ternarium quem devoret, circuit in gyrum interfectiones auditas repetendo: quo factum ut per tres interfectiones tria puncta fixerit, & in inversum fex, quatuor per interfectiones, reliqua duo in extrema divisa, & octo serpentes: quae tamen omnia, neque ad superficiem quadratam, neque ad cubum soliditatis adducere potuit nequissimus artificiorum omnium corruptor.
Etenim tota sua structura centro carebat omni, sine quo nihil perfecti, solidi stabilisque nihil esse potest, unquam in tota rerum natura. Concludimus igitur, diabolum esse per accidens absque centro, id est, absque verbo Dei, sine quo factum est nihil quod factum est.
Solus enim Deus ex nihilo potest aliquid facere, & ex invalido optimum, item ex eo quod non est, omne id quod est, idipsum per solum verbum suum, quod supernaturale centrum est omnis virtutis atque veritatis omnium in omnibus. Ea per corruptionem sui ternarij (sub quo creatus erat angelus ab initio) figura dicta quaternaria, humanae ternarij monarchiam eiusmodi quatuor interfectionibus octo quoque serpentibus binis ac binis interfectis, in tot tamque horridas partes irreparabiles ob centri defectum dilacerare re dividere conatus fuit, quod tamen efficere nequivit, quia veritatis in Adamo centri nonnihil residui delere non est ei permissum, inductione calumniae & mendacii, ad quae traxerat Evam.
Quapropter miseritus omnipotens & misericors Deus Adam & Evam simul arumnosae miseriae, ac stellae calamitosi, decrevit in traditam perditionis disfectam notam, nec nisi punctulo adhuc tantillo cohaerentem, delere, ac in suam integram monarchiam restituere, per instaurationem punctus illius in centrum, quod verus est character, & nota tutissima nostrae salutis in verbo Dei sita.
Proinde necessarium fuerit monomachiae centrum indere ad hunc modum videlicet: A singulis interfectionibus sese mutuo ex diametro respicientibus, binis semper circumeundo praetermissis, ducuntur tres lineae diagonales, in punctulo interfectionis habetur centrum verum quod quaeritur.
Ut modo clare vobis demonstrem imaginem reductionis ternarij ad unitatis simplicitatem, per abjectionem binarij, tum etiam qua ratione quaternarius per conjunctionem in ternario quiescere possit, & una cum eo particeps unionis fieri, notate: A singulis postmodum ad singulas interfectiones ducite rectas lineas, hac via quaternarium habebitis triangulorum aequilaterialium: quorum unum reliquis tribus includitur, at nullum eorum vitam aut centrum habet praeter medium, quia in monarchia non possunt esse plura centra, nec vitae plures una.
Videtisne iam quaternarium in ternario conclusum, at nondum quiescentem in veram hebdomadem philosophicam, de qua super bis dixi; Ut igitur una cum ternario reducatur ad unitatis simplicitatem, abjiciendus est omnino ternarius ad hunc nempe modum: A centro totius ternarij ad quemvis trium conorum trianguli magni ducatur linea recta, quae mentaliter intelligatur circumvolvi a parte suae extremitatis, ab altera vero extremitate in centro fixa manere, tum quicquid punctorum & linearum est, per istiusmodi circumvolutionem, usque dum redeat unde mota sit abolere delereque.
Iam nullus apparebit in monarchia circuli binarius, nullus ternarius, nullus etiam quaternarius, sed hic iam in ternario quiescit, latet, ac una cum eo jubilat sub unitate, licet non conspicuus oculis externis, at solum mentalibus. Sola semidiametri linea residua conspicitur quae pomi reliquum est, propter quod indies contracallidi serpentis monomachiam, dum in caduco haerebimus, nobis est viriliter, & non feminee, praeliandum; ne delicti utriusque primi nostri parentis obliti, in idipsum relabamur.
Ecce jam habes optime lector ideam monarchiae triadis in unitate, per me tibi depictam & ob oculos positam, ex qua penitius quam litera prae se fert vel pictura, per tuae mentis acumen penetrando cognosces quicquid ad spagiricam & adeptam philosophiam pertinet, adjutus tamen eis quae nuper tibi hoc opusculo revelavi.
Per me non stabit quin tibi haec in re bene sit, modo tibi ipsi per ignaviam & socordiam non invideas felicitatem intelligentiae horum arcanorum, quae prae cunctis omnibus in hac vita necessaria sunt; quia per admirationem magnalium Dei, ad eius veram cognitionem, tanquam ad unicum ducent, quinimo in ejus amorem trahunt, in quo etiam summum Christianorum bonum latet, ac patet solum credentibus in Deum per verbum centrum veritas ejus filium, in quo, & per quem sunt omnia, cui soli cum patre & spiritu sancto sit laus, honor, & gloria in aeternum.
Reliquum est ex ordine, ut hunc per pondera libremus.
Diximus antea creationis ordinem constare numeris, mensura, & pondere. Duo praecedentia per unarium & ternarium solos absolvimus absque aliorum adminiculo. Jam per eosdem etiam expendamus pondera in infinitum, quod nullis aliis melius neque aptius fieri potest.
Duobus tantum ponderibus: priore unius librae, posteriore trium, libratio progreditur in infinita pondera. Ut unum his libratum duo pondera: hoc & unum, tria vel tres libras pendunt: hoc pondus semel, & semel unum, quatuor: tria semel, & bis unum, quinque: tria bis, sex pondera: tria bis & semel unum, septem: tria bis, & bis unum, octo: tria ter, novem: ter tria & semel unum, decem: ter tria & bis unum, undecim: tria quater, duodecim: sic in millenariorum millenaria plurima.
Quod si leviori negotio facere quis volet, ad ista duo alia consiciat sibi tria pondera impatria, ex quinario, septenario, & novenario: vel ponderatam materiam in augmentum addat ponderatae materiae quoties expedire videbitur.
Verum enimvero spagirica pondera manent in unitate, nec nisi per unitatem ad augmentum progressum habent, ut unius centri ad suam primam monarchiam & circumferentiam, decadem videlicet: ac ejusdem centri ad secundam unitatem, centum: ad tertiam mille: ad quartam millenariorum decadem: ad quintam, millenariorum centuriam: ad sextam, millenariorum centuriæ decadem: ad septimam, millenariorum centuriæ centuriam, & sic in infinitum.
Iste progressus ordinis non tam spagiricus est quam naturalis, & in naturae centro occultissimus, per spagiricam artem tamen in lucem prolatus & manifestatus, vel è sua potentia in actum adductus. Haec sunt quae de numeralibus ponderibus artificialibus, & naturalibus per unarium, ternarium, & denarium hoc loco dici oportuit.
Attamen videamus quid ille binarius, cum suo quaternario praestare valeat in ponderibus artificialibus. Pondere duarum librarum, & altero librarum quatuor, nulla via unarium, neque ternarium, in summa nullum pondus imparium librari potest, sed sola paria. In naturalibus vero suam exercent tyrannidem, cunctas naturae partes per sectiones extra justam proportionem & monarchiam trahentes.