boooooks

Of a three-fold consideration of the Elements.

There are then, as we have said, four Elements, without the perfect knowledge whereof we can effect nothing in Magick. Now each of them is three-fold, that so the number of four may make up the number of twelve; and by passing by the number of seven into the number of ten, there may be a progress to the supream Unity, upon which all vertue and wonderfull operation depends.

Of the first Order are the pure Elements, which are neither compounded nor changed, nor admit of mixtion, but are incorruptible, and not of which, but through which the vertues of all naturall things are brought forth into act. No man is able to declare their vertues, because they can do all things upon all things. He which is ignorant of these, shall never be able to bring to pass any wonderfull matter.

Of the second Order are Elements that are compounded, changeable, and impure, yet such as may by art be reduced to their pure simplicity, whose vertue, when they are thus reduced to their simplicity, doth above all things perfect all occult, and common operations of nature: and these are the foundation of the whole naturall Magick.

Of the third Order are those Elements, which originally and of themselves are not Elements, but are twice compounded, various, and changeable one into the other. They are the infallible Medium, and therefore are called the middle nature, or Soul of the middle nature: Very few there are that understand the deep mysteries thereof. In them is, by means of certain numbers, degrees, and orders, the perfection of every effect in what thing soever, whether Naturall, Celestiall, or Supercelestiall; they are full of wonders, and mysteries, and are operative, as in Magick Naturall, so Divine: For from these, through them, proceed the bindings, loosings, and transmutations of all things, the knowing and foretelling of things to come, also the driving forth of evill, and the gaining of good spirits.

Let no man, therefore, without these three sorts of Elements, and the knowledge thereof, be confident that he is able to work any thing in the occult Sciences of Magick, and Nature. But whosoever shall know how to reduce those of one Order, into those of another, impure into pure, compounded into simple, and shall know how to understand distinctly the nature, vertue, and power of them in number, degrees, and order, without dividing the substance, he shall easily attain to the knowledge, and perfect operation of all Naturall things, and Celestiall secrets.

in case anyone is wondering we have 4 pure elements:
fire, water, aire, and earth

next we have 3 compound pure element
fire/water water/aire water/earth

so 7 in total

next we have 2 super compound elements hehe
fire/water+water/aire water/aire+water/earth

so total of 12

Of the wonderfull Natures of Fire, and Earth.

There are two things (saith Hermes) viz. Fire and Earth, which are sufficient for the operation of all wonderfull things: the former is active, the latter passive. Fire (as saith Dionysius) in all things, and through all things, comes and goes away bright, it is in all things bright, and at the same time occult, and unknown; When it is by it self (no other matter coming to it, in which it should manifest its proper action) it is boundless, and invisible, of it self sufficient for every action that is proper to it, moveable, yielding it self after a maner to all things that come next to it, renewing, guarding nature, enlightening, not comprehended by lights that are vailed [veiled] over, clear, parted, leaping back, bending upwards, quick in motion, high, alwayes raising motions, comprehending another, not Comprehended it self, not standing in need of another, secretly increasing of it self, and manifesting its greatness to things that receive it; Active, Powerfull, Invisibly present in all things at once; it will not be affronted or opposed, but as it were in a way of revenge, it will reduce on a sudden things into obedience to it self; incomprehensible, impalpable, not lessened, most rich in all disensations of it self. Fire (as saith Pliny) is the boundless, and mischievous part of the nature of things, it being a question whether it destroys, or produceth most things. Fire it self is one, and penetrates through all things (as say the Pythagorians) also spread abroad in the Heavens, and shining: but in the infernall place streightened, dark, and tormenting, in the mid way it partakes of both.

Fire therefore in it self is one, but in that which receives it, manifold, and in differing subjects it is distributed in a different manner, as Cleanthes witnesseth in Cicero. That fire then, which we use is fetched out of other things. It is in stones, and is fetched out by the stroke of the steele; it is in Earth, and makes that, after digging up, to smoake [smoke]: it is in Water, and heats springs, and wells: it is in the depth of the Sea, and makes that, being tossed with winds, warm: it is in the Aire, and makes it (as we oftentimes see) to burn. And all Animals, and living things whatsoever, as also all Vegetables are preserved by heat: and every thing that lives, lives by reason of the inclosed heat. The properties of the Fire that is above, are heat, making all things Fruitfull, and light, giving life to all things. The properties of the infernall Fire are a parching heat, consuming all things, and darkness, making all things barren.

The Celestiall, and bright Fire drives away spirits of darkness; also this our Fire made with Wood drives away the same, in as much as it hath an Analogy with, and is the vehiculum of that Superior light; as also of him, who saith, I am the Light of the World, which is true Fire, the Father of lights, from whom every good thing that is given, Comes; sending forth the light of his Fire, and communicating it first to the Sun, and the rest of the Celestiall bodies, and by these, as by mediating instruments, conveying that light into our Fire. As, therefore the spirits of darkness are stronger in the dark: so good spirits, which are Angels of Light, are augmented, not only by that light, which is Divine, of the Sun, and Celestiall, but also by the light of our common Fire. Hence it was that the first, and most wise institutors of Religions, and Ceremonies ordained, that Prayers, Singings, and all manner of Divine Worships whatsoever should not be performed without lighted Candles, or Torches. (Hence also was that significant saying of Pythagoras, Do not speak of God without a Light) and they commanded that for the driving away of wicked spirits, Lights and Fires should be kindled by the Corpses of the dead, and that they should not be removed untill the expiations were after a Holy manner performed, and they buried. And the great Jehovah himself in the old Law Commanded that all his Sacrifices should be offered with Fire, and that Fire should always be burning upon the Altar, which Custome the Priests of the Altar did always observe, and keep amongst the Romanes. Now the Basis, and foundation of all the Elements, is the Earth, for that is the object, subject, and receptacle of all Celestiall rayes, and influencies; in it are contained the seeds, and Seminall vertues of all things; and therefore it is said to be Animall, Vegetable, and Minerall. It being made fruitfull by the other Elements, and the Heavens, brings forth all things of it self; It receives the abundance of all things, and is, as it were the first fountain, from whence all things spring, it is the Center, foundation, and mother of all things.

Take as much of it as you please, seperated, washed, depurated, subtilized, if you let it lye [lie] in the open Aire a little while, it will, being full, and abounding with Heavenly vertues, of it self bring forth Plants, Worms, and other living things, also Stones, and bright sparks of Metals. In it are great secrets, if at any time it shall be purified by the help of Fire, and reduced unto its simplicity by a convenient washing. It is the first matter of our Creation, and the truest Medicine that can restore, and preserve us.

Of the wonderfull Natures of Water

The other two Elements, viz. Water, and Aire, are not less efficacious then the former; neither is nature wanting to work wonderfull things in them. There is so great a necessity of Water, that without it no living thing can live. No Hearb [herb], nor Plant whatsoever, without the moistening of Water can branch forth. In it is the Seminary vertue of all things, especially of Animals, whose seed is manifestly waterish. The seeds also of Trees, and Plants, although they are earthy, must notwithstanding of necessity be rotted in Water, before they can be fruitfull; whether they be imbibed with the moisture of the Earth, or with Dew, or Rain, or any other Water that is on purpose put to them. For Moses writes, that only Earth, and Water bring forth a living soul. But he ascribes a twofold production of things to Water, viz. of things swimming in the Waters, and of things flying in the Aire above the Earth. And that those productions that are made in, and upon the Earth, are partly attributed to the very Water, the same Scripture testifies, where it saith that the Plants, and the Hearbs [herbs] did not grow, because God had not caused it to rain upon the Earth. Such is the efficacy of this Element of Water, that Spirituall regeneration cannot be done without it, as Christ himself testified to Nicodemus. Very great also is the vertue of it in the Religious Worship of God, in expiations, and purifications; yea, the necessity of it is no less then that of Fire. Infinite are the benefits, and divers are the uses thereof, as being that by vertue of which all things subsist, are generated, nourished and increased. Thence it was that Thales of Miletus, and Hesiod concluded that Water was the beginning of all things, and said it was the first of all the Elements, and the most potent, and that because it hath the mastery over all the rest. For,
as Pliny saith, Waters swallow up the Earth, extinguish flames, ascend on high, and by the stretching forth of the clouds, challenge the Heaven for their own: the same falling become the Cause of all things that grow in the Earth.

Of the kinds of Compounds, what relation they stand in to the Elements, and what relation there is betwixt the Elements themselves, and the soul, senses, and dispositions of men.

Next after the four simple Elements follow the four kinds of perfect Bodies compounded of them, and they are Stones, Metals, Plants, and Animals: and although unto the generation of each of these all the Elements meet together in the composition, yet every one of them follows, and resembles one of the Elements, which is most predominant. For all Stones are earthy, for they are naturally heavy, and descend, and so hardened with dryness, that they cannot be melted. But Metals are waterish, and may be melted, which Naturalists confess, and Chymists [chemists] finde to be true, viz. that they are generated of a viscous Water, or waterish argent vive. Plants have such an affinity with the Aire, that unless they be abroad in the open Aire, they do neither bud, nor increase. So also all Animals
Have in their Natures a most fiery force, And also spring from a Celestiall source.

And Fire is so naturall to them, that that being extinguished they presently dye [die]. And again every one of those kinds is distinguished within it self by reason of degrees of the Elements.

For amongst the Stones they especially are called earthy that are dark, and more heavy; and those waterish, which are transparent, and are compacted of water, as Crystall, Beryll, and Pearls in the shels [shells] of Fishes: and they are called airy, which swim upon the Water, and are spongious [spongeous], as the Stones of a Sponge, the pumice Stone, and the Stone Sophus: and they are called fiery, out of which fire is extracted, or which are resolved into Fire, or which are produced of Fire: as Thunderbolts, Fire-stones, and the Stone Asbestus [asbestos].

Also amongst Metals, Lead, and Silver are earthy; Quicksilver is waterish: Copper, and Tin are airy: and Gold, and Iron are fiery.

In Plants also, the roots resemble the Earth, by reason of their thickness: and the leaves, Water, because of their juice: Flowers, the Aire, because of their subtility, and the Seeds the Fire, by reason of their multiplying spirit.

Besides, they are called some hot, wine cold, sonic moist, some dry, borrowing their names from the qualifies of the Elements. Amongst Animals also, some are in comparison of others earthy, and dwell in the bowels of the Earth, as Worms and Moles, and many other small creeping Vermine; others are watery, as Fishes; others airy, which cannot live out of the Aire: others also are fiery, living in the Fire, as Salamanders, and Crickets, such as are of a fiery heat, as Pigeons, Estriches [ostriches], Lions, and such as the wise man cals beasts breathing Fire.

Besides, in Animals the Bones resemble the Earth, Flesh the Aire, the vital spirit the Fire, and the humors the Water. And these humors also partake of the Elements, for yellow choller [choler] is instead of Fire, blood instead of Aire, Flegme [phlegm] instead of Water, and black choller [choler], or melancholy instead of Earth.

And lastly, in the Soul it self, according to Austin [Augustine], the understanding resembles Fire, reason the Aire, imagination the Water, and the senses the Earth.

And these senses also are divided amongst themselves by reason of the Elements, for the sight is fiery, neither can it perceive without Fire, and Light: the hearing is airy, for a sound is made by the striking of the Aire; The smell, and tast [taste] resemble the Water, without the moisture of which there is neither smell, nor tast [taste]; and lastly the feeling is wholly earthy, and taketh gross bodies for its object.

The actions also, and the operations of man are governed by the Elements. The Earth signifies a slow, and firm motion; The water signifies fearfulness, & sluggishness, and remisseness in working: Aire signifies chearfulness [cheerfulness], and an amiable disposition: but Fire a fierce, quick and angry disposition.

The Elements therefore are the first of all things, and all things are of, and according to them, and they are in all things, and diffuse their vertues through all things.

You were saying....

How the Elements are in the Heavens, in Stars, in Divels [devils], in Angels, and lastly in God himself.

It is the unanimous consent of all Platonists, that as in the originall, and exemplary World, all things are in all; so also in this corporeal world, all things are in all; so also the Elements are not only in these inferior bodies, but also in the Heavens, in Stars, in Divels [devils], in Angels, and lastly in God, the maker and originall example of all things.

Now in these inferiour bodies the Elements are accompanied with much gross matter; but in the Heavens the Elements are with their natures, and vertues, viz. after a Celestiall, and more excellent manner, then in sublunary things. For the firmness of the Celestiall Earth is there without the grossness of Water: and the agility of the Aire without running over its bounds; the heat of Fire without burning, only shining, and giving life to all things by its heat.

Amongst the Stars, also, some are fiery, as Mars, and Sol; airy, as Jupiter, and Venus: watery, as Saturn, and Mercury: and earthy, such as inhabit the eighth Orbe, and the Moon (which notwithstanding by many is accounted watery) seeing, as if it were Earth, it attracts to it self the Celestiall waters, with which being imbibed, it doth by reason of its neerness [nearness] to us power [pour] out, and communicate to us.

There are also amongst the signes, some fiery, some earthy, some airy, some watery: the Elements rule them also in the Heavens, distributing to them these four threefold considerations Of every Element, viz. the beginning, middle, and end: so Aries possesseth the beginning of Fire, Leo the progress, and increase, and Sagittarius the end. Taurus the beginning of the Earth, Virgo the progress, Capricorn the end. Gemini the beginning of the Aire, Libra the progress, Aquarius the end. Cancer the beginning of Water, Scorpius [Scorpio] the middle, and Pisces the end.

Of the mixtions therefore of these Planets and Signes, together with the Elements are all bodies made.

Moreover Divels [devils] also are upon this account distinguished the one from the other, so that some are called fiery, some earthy, some airy, and some watery. Hence also those four Infernall Rivers, fiery Phlegethon, airy Cocytus, watery Styx, earthy Acheron. Also in the Gospel we read of Hell Fire, and eternall Fire, into which the Cursed shall be commanded to go: and in the Revelation we read of a Lake of Fire, and Isaiah speaks of the damned, that the Lord will smite them with corrupt Aire. And in Job, They shall skip from the Waters of the Snow to extremity of heat, and in the same we read, That the Earth is dark, and covered with the darkness of death, and miserable darkness.

Moreover also these Elements are placed in the Angels in Heaven, and the blessed Intelligencies; there is in them a stability of their essence, which is an earthly vertue, in which is the stedfast seat of God; also their mercy, and piety is a watery cleansing vertue. Hence by the Psalmist they are called Waters, where he speaking of the Heavens, saith, Who rulest the Waters that are higher then the Heavens [Ps148.4;] also in them their subtill [subtle] breath is Aire, and their love is shining Fire. Hence they are called in Scripture the Wings of the Wind; and in another place the Psalmist speaks of them, Who makest Angels thy Spirits, and thy Ministers a flaming fire. Also according to orders of Angels, some are fiery, as Seraphin [Seraphim], and authorities, and powers; earthy as Cherubin [Cherubim]; watery as Thrones, and Archangels: airy as Dominions, and Principalities.

Do we not also read of the original maker of all things, that the earth shall he opened and bring forth a Saviour? Is it not spoken of the same, that he shall be a fountain of living Water, cleansing and regenerating? Is not the same Spirit breathing the breath of life; and the same according to Moses, and Pauls testimony, A consuming Fire? That Elements therefore are to be found every where, and in all things after their manner, no man can deny: First in these inferiour bodies feculent and gross, and in Celestials more pure, and clear; but in supercelestials living, and in all respects blessed. Elements therefore in the exemplary world are Idea's of things to be produced, in Intelligencies are distributed powers, in Heavens are vertues, and in inferiour bodies gross forms.

Of the vertues of things Naturall, depending immediatly upon Elements.

Of the natural vertues of things, some are Elementary, as to heat, to cool, to moisten, to dry; and they are called operations, or first qualities, and the second act: for these qualities only do wholly change the whole substance, which none of the other qualities can do.

And some are in things compounded of Elements, and these are more then first qualities, and such are those that are maturating, digesting, resolving, mollifying, hardening, restringing, absterging, corroding, burning, opening, evaporating, strengthening, mitigating, conglutinating, obstructing, expelling, retaining, attracting, repercussing, stupifying [stupefying], bestowing, lubrifying, and many more.

Elementary qualities do many things in a mixt [mixed] body, which they cannot do in the Elements themselves. And these operations are called secondary qualities, because they follow the nature, and proportion of the mixtion of the first vertues, as largely it is treated of in Physick [Medical] Books. As maturation, which is the operation of naturall heat, according to a certain proportion in the substance of the matter. Induration is the operation of cold; so also is congelation, and so of the rest. And these operations sometimes act upon a certain member, as such which provoke Urine, Milk, the Menstrua, and they are called third qualities, which follow the second, as the second do the first.

According therefore to these first, second, and third qualities many diseases are both cured, and caused. Many things also there are artificially made, which men much wonder at; as is Fire, which burns Water, which they call the Greek Fire, of which Aristotle teacheth many compositions in his particular Treatise of this subject. In like manner there is made a Fire that is extinguished with Oyl [oil], and is kindled with cold Water, when it is sprinkled upon it; and a Fire which is kindled either with Rain, Wind, or the Sun; and there is made a Fire, which is called burning Water, the Confection whereof is well known, and it consumes nothing but it self: and also there are made Fires that cannot be quenched, and incombustible Oyles [oils], and perpetuall Lamps, which can be extinguished neither with Wind, nor Water, nor any other way; which seems utterly incredible, but that there had been such a most famous Lamp, which once did shine in the Temple of Venus, in which the stone Asbestos did burn, which being once fired can never be extinguished. Also on the contrary, Wood, or any other combustible matter may be so ordered, that it can receive no harm from the Fire; and there are made certain Confections, with which the hands being anointed, we may carry red hot Iron in them, or put them into melted Metall, or go with our whole bodies, being first anointed therewith, into the Fire without any manner of harm, and such like things as these may be done. There is also a kind of flax, which Pliny calls Asbestum, the Greeks call Ασβεζον, which is not consumed by Fire, of which Anaxilaus saith, that a Tree compassed about with it, may be cut down with insensible blows, that cannot be heard.

Of the Occult Vertues of things.

There are also other vertues in things, which are not from any Element, as to expell poyson [poison], to drive away the noxious vapours of Minerals, to attract Iron, or anything else; and these vertues are a sequell of the species, and form of this or that thing; whence also they being little in quantity, are of great efficacy; which is not granted to any Elementary quality. For these vertues having much form, and litle matter, can do very much; but an Elementary vertue, because it hath more materiality, requires much matter for its acting. And they are called occult qualities, because their Causes lie hid, and mans intellect cannot in any way reach, and find them out.

Wherefore Philosophers have attained to the greatest part of them by long experience, rather then by the search of reason: for as in the Stomack [stomach] the meat is digested by heat, which we know; so it is changed by a certain hidden vertue which we know not: for truly it is not changed by heat, because then it should rather be changed by the Fire side, then in the Stomack [stomach]. So there are in things, besides the Elementary qualities which we know, other certain imbred vertues created by nature, which we admire, and are amazed at, being such as we know not, and indeed seldom or never have seen. As we read in Ovid of the Phoenix, one only Bird, which renews her self.

All Birds from others do derive their birth,
But yet one Fowle there is in all the Earth,
Call'd by th' Assyrians Phoenix, who the wain
Of age, repairs, and sows her self again.

And in another place,

Ægyptus came to see this wondrous sight:
And this rare Bird is welcom'd with delight.

Long since Metreas [Matreas] brought a very great wonderment upon the Greeks, and Romans concerning himself. He said that he nourished, and bred a beast that did devour it self. Hence many to this day are solicitous, what this beast of Matreas should be. Who would not wonder that Fishes should be digged out of the Earth, of which Aristotle, Theophrastus, and Polybius the Historian makes mention? And those things which Pausanius wrote concerning the singing Stones? All these are effects of occult vertues. So the Estrich [ostrich] concocts cold, and most hard Iron, and digests it into nourishment for his body; whose Stomack [stomach] they also report, cannot be hurt with red hot Iron. So that little Fish called Echeneis doth so curb the violence of the Winds, and appease the rage of the Sea, that, let the Tempests be never so imperious, and raging, the Sails also bearing a full Gale, it doth notwithstanding by its meer touch stay the Ships, and makes them stand still, that by no means they can be moved. So Salamanders, and Crickets live in the Fire; although they seem sometimes to burn, yet they are not hurt. The like is said of a kind of Bitumen, with which the weapons of the Amazons were said to be smeared over, by which means they could be spoiled neither with Sword nor Fire; with which also the Gates of Caspia, made of Brass, are reported to be smeared over by Alexander the great. We read also that Noah's Ark was joyned together with this Bitumen, and that it endured some thousands of years upon the Mountains of Armenia. There are many such kind of wonderfull things, scarce credible, which notwithstanding are known by experience. Amongst which Antiquity makes mention of Satyrs, which were Animals, in shape half men, and half bruits [brutes], yet capable of speech, and reason; one whereof
S. Hierome reporteth, spake once unto holy Antonius the Hermite, and condemned the errour of the Gentiles, in worshipping such poor creatures as they were, and desired him that he would pray unto the true God for him; also he affirms that there was one of them shewed openly alive, and afterwards sent to Constantine the Emperour.

How Occult Vertues are infused into the severall kinds of things by Idea's, through the help of the Soul of the World, and rayes of the Stars: and what things abound most with this Vertue.

Platonists say that all inferiour bodies are exemplified by the superiour Ideas. Now they define an Idea to be a form, above bodies, souls, minds, and to be one, simple, pure, immutable, indivisible, incorporeal, and eternall: and that the nature of all Idea's is the same.

Now they place Idea's in the first place in very goodness it self (i.e.) God, by way of cause; and that they are distinguished amongst themselves by some relative considerations only, least whatsoever is in the world, should be but one thing without any variety, and that they agree in essence, least God should be a compound substance.

In the second place, they place them in the very intelligible it self (i.e.) in the Soul of the world, differing the one from the other by absolute forms, so that all the Idea's in God indeed are but one form: but in the Soul of the world they are many. They are placed in the minds of all other things, whether they be joyned to the body, or separated from the body, by a certain participation, and now by degrees are distinguished more, and more. They place them in nature, as certain small seed of forms infused by the Idea's, and lastly they place them in matter, as Shadows. Hereunto may be added, that in the Soul of the world there be as many Seminal Forms of things, as Idea's in the mind of God, by which forms she did in the Heavens above the Stars frame to her self shapes also, and stamped upon all these some properties; on these Stars therefore, shapes, and properties, all vertues of inferiour species, as also their properties do depend; so that every species hath its Celestiall shape, or figure that is sutable [suitable] to it from which also proceeds a wonderfull power of operating, which proper gift it receives from its own Idea, through the Seminal forms of the Soul of the world.

For Idea's are not only essential causes of every species, but are also the causes of every vertue, which is in the species: and this is that which many Philosophers say, that the properties which are in the nature of things (which vertues indeed are the operations of the Idea's) are moved by certain vertues, viz. such as have a certain, and sure foundation, not fortuitous, nor casuall, but efficacious, powerfull, and sufficient, doing nothing in vain. Now these Vertues do not err in their actings, but by accident, viz. by reason of the impurity, or inequality of the matter: For upon this account there are found things of the same species, more, or less powerful, according to the purity, or indisposition of the matter; for all Celestial Influences may be hindred by the indisposition, and insufficiency of the matter. Whence it was a Proverb amongst the Platonists, That Celestial Vertues were infused according to the desert of the matter: Which also Virgil makes mention of, when he sings,

Their natures fiery are, and from above,
And from gross bodies freed, divinely move.

Wherefore those things in which there is less of the Idea of the matter (i.e.) such things which have a greater resemblance of things separated, have more powerfull vertues in operation, being like to the operation of a separated Idea. We see then that the situation, and figure of Celestials is the cause of all those excellent Vertues, that are in inferiour species.

You can not destroy anything only change it.

You can not destroy the glass, but you can empty it and pour something else into it.

You can not destroy color but you can change the color.

You can change something by looking at it in another way by changing yourself.

yes and we do not create, only direct energy and produce.

that's why our thoughts are not our own, they are already there, we just receive them by rising or lowering our vibration.

The most complete...

Everything to need to know in about 1,500 pages, and it's free.


[link to montalk.net]

i'm sure will be back to more wisdom from occult philosophy books

next, a very dear book to me its called The Perfect Way

[link to www.theosophical.ca]

its a lecture, from 1888, about finding the universal Christ concept within. it also talks about the technology of the soul and how it can be discovered and experienced on a whole new planetary level

1. OUR theme is that which is at once the supreme subject and object of culture, and the necessary basis of all real religion and science. For it is the substance of existence, the Soul, universal and individual, of humanity. Only when we know the nature of this, can we know what we ourselves are, and what we have it in us to become. For our potentialities necessarily depend upon the substance whereof we are made.

2. This is not Matter. Wherefore a science which, in being restricted to the cognition of phenomena, is a materialistic science, cannot help us to an understanding of ourselves. But, on the contrary, to such understanding such science is, in its issues, the greatest enemy. Matter is not God: and in order to understand ourselves, it is necessary to understand God. God is the Substance of existence. Be that substance what it may, it still is God; and of God no other definition is possible or desirable, but all conditions are satisfied by it. To know God, then, is to know this substance; and to know this, is to know ourselves, and only by knowing this can we know ourselves.

3. Such, and no other or less, was the meaning of the famous mystic utterance inscribed on the temple porch at Delphi, – Know thyself, – a sentence which, notwithstanding its brevity, comprehends all wisdom. An attempt, it is true, has been made to improve upon it in the saying, – Ignore thyself, and learn to know thy God. By that which is intended in the latter, is, albeit unsuspected by its framer, comprised in the former. For, as is known to the Mystic – or student of Substance, such is the constitution of the universe, that man cannot know himself without knowing God, and cannot know God without knowing himself. And as, moreover, only through the knowledge of the one can the knowledge of the other be attained, so the knowledge of the one implies and involves that of the other. For, as the Mystic knows, there is but one substance alike of man and of God.

4. This substance, we repeat, is not Matter; and a science which recognizes Matter only, so far from ministering towards the desired comprehension of ourselves, is the deadly foe of such comprehension. For, as Matter is, in the sense already described, the antithesis of Spirit, so is Materialism the antithesis of the system under exposition, namely, of Mysticism, or, as we propose to call it, Spiritualism. And here it must be understood that we use this latter term, not in its modern, debased and limited sense, but in its ancient proper purity and plenitude, that wherein it signifies the science, not of spirits merely, but of Spirit, that is, of God, and therein of all Being. Thus adopting and rehabilitating the term Spiritualism, we define as follows: – first, the system we have recovered and seek to establish; and, next the system we condemn and seek to destroy.
5. Dealing with both substance and phenomena, Spirit and Matter, the eternal and the temporal, the universal and the individual; constituting respecting existence a complete system of positive doctrine beyond which neither mind nor heart can aspire; providing a rule of knowledge, of understanding, of faith, and of conduct; derived from God’s own Self; transmitted and declared by the loftiest intelligences in the worlds human and celestial; and in every respect confirmed by the reason, the intuition, and the experience of the earth’s representative men, its sages, saints, seers, prophets, redeemers, and Christs, and by none in any respect confuted; – the system comprised under the term Spiritualism is not only at once a science, a philosophy, a morality, and a religion, but is the science, the philosophy, the morality, and the religion of which all others are, either by aspiration or by degeneration, limitations merely. And according to the degree of its acceptance by man, it ministers to his perfection and satisfaction here and hereafter.

6. But its antithesis: – Springing from the bottomless pit of man’s lower nature; having for its criterion, not the conclusions of the mind or the experiences of the soul, but only the sensations of the body; and being, therefore, not a science, nor a philosophy, nor a morality, nor a religion, but the opposite of each and all of these, – the system comprised under the term Materialism is not a limitation of Spiritualism, but is the negation of it, and is to it what darkness is to light, nonentity to existence, the “devil” to God. And in proportion to the degree of its acceptance by man, it ministers to his deterioration and destruction here and hereafter.

7. Between the two extremes thus presented, having liberty to choose, and power to determine his own destination, man, according to mystical doctrine, is placed, in pursuance of the Divine Idea of which creation is the manifestation. And whereas, implying the culture of the substantial, Spiritualism, as we use the term, represents Reality; and in implying the culture of the phenomenal only, Materialism represents Illusion, the choice between them is the choice between the Perfection and the Negation of Being.

8. But whatever the quarrel of the Spiritualist with Materialism for its exclusive recognition of Matter, and consequent idolatry of form and appearance, with Matter itself he has no quarrel. For, although, by reason of its limitations, the cause of evil, Matter is not in itself evil. On the contrary, it comes forth from God, and consists of that whereof God’s Self consists, namely, Spirit. It is Spirit, by the force of Divine will subjected to conditions and limitations, and made exteriorly cognizable.

9. Matter is thus a manifestation of that which in its original condition is unmanifest, namely, Spirit. And Spirit does not become evil by becoming manifest. Evil is the result of the limitation of Spirit by Matter. For Spirit is God, and God is good. Wherefore, in being the limitation of God, Matter is the limitation of good. Such limitation is essential to creation. For without a projection of Divine Substance, that is, of God’s Self, into conditions and limitations, – of Being, which is absolute, into Existence, which is relative, – God would remain inoperative, solitary, unmanifest, and consequently unknown, unhonored and unloved, with all God’s power and goodness potential merely and unexercised. For aught else to exist that God, there must be that which is by limitation, inferior to God. And for this to exist in plenitude corresponding to God’s infinitude, it must involve the idea of the opposite and negation of God. This is to say: – Creation, to be worthy of God, must involve the idea of a No-God. God’s absolute plenitude in respect of all the qualities and properties which constitute Being, must be contrasted by that utter deprivation of all such properties and qualities, which constitutes Not-Being. Between no narrower extremes can a Divine creation be contained. By no lesser contrast can God be fully manifested. The darkness of God’s shadow must correspond in intensity with the brightness of God’s light. And only through the full the knowledge of the one, can the other be duly apprehended and appreciated. He only can thoroughly appreciate good, who has ample knowledge of evil. It is a profound truth, that “the greater the sinner, the greater the saint.” That exquisite epitome of the Soul’s history, the parable of the Prodigal Son, is based upon the same text. Only they who have gone out from God, returning, know God. At once consequence and cause of the going out from God, Matter is an indispensable minister to Creation, without which and its limitations Creation were not.

10. But mere creation does not represent the totality of the Divine purpose. And a creation restricted to the actualities of Matter would be the reverse of a boon to itself or a credit to God. For by a creation thus limited, Deity would have shown Itself to be that only which the Materialist imagines It, namely, Force. Whereas “God is Love.” And Love is that, not which merely creates and after brief caress repudiates and discards; but which sustains, redeems, perfects, and perpetuates. And to these ends Matter ministers indispensably, and therein contributes towards that second creation which is the supplement and complement of the first. This second creation is called Redemption, and in it the Creator finds His recognition and glorification, and man his perfection and perpetuation. For Redemption is the full compensation, both to God and to the universe, for all that is undergone and suffered by and trough Creation. And it is brought about by the return from Matter of Spirit, to its original condition of purity, but individualized and enriched by the results of all that has been gained through the processes to which it has been subjected; – results which, but for Matter, could not have been. Matter is thus indispensable to the processes both of creation and of perfection. For that through which we are made perfect is experience, or suffering; and we are only really alive and exist in so far as we have felt. Now, of this divine and indispensable ministry of experience, Matter is the agent.

11. Such being for the Spiritualist, who also is Mystic and not Phenomenalist merely, the origin, nature, and final cause of Matter, he has with it no ground of quarrel. But recognizing it as intended, not to conceal but to reveal God, and to minister to man’s creation in the image of God, he regards the material universe as a divine revelation, and seeks, by humble, reverent, and loving analysis of it, to learn both it and God, and thus to make it minister to his own perfection. “Imitation,” it has been said, and truly, “is the sincerest flattery.” And man best honours God when he seeks to be like God. In this pursuit it is that, following his intuition of Spirit, he ascends from the exterior sphere of Matter and appearance, – that sphere which, as the outermost of man’s system, constitutes the borderland between him and negation, and is therefore next neighbour, to that which, mystically, is called the devil, – to the interior sphere of Spirit and Reality, where God subsists in His plenitude. And so, from Nature’s Seeming he attains to the cognition at once of God’s and his own Being.

12. The system by the knowledge and observance of which these supreme ends are attained, and which is now for the first time in the world’s history openly disclosed, has constituted the hidden basis of all the world’s divine revelations and religions. For from the beginning there has been one divine Revelation, constantly re-revealed in whole or in part, and representing the actual eternal nature of existence; and this in such measure as to enable those who receive it to make of their own existence the highest and best that can possibly be imagined or desired. Known by various names, delivered at various places and periods, and finding expression under various symbols, this revelation has constituted a Gospel of Salvation for all who have accepted it, enabling them to escape the limitations of Matter and return to the condition of pure Spirit, and therein to attain immunity, not merely, as is ordinarily desired, from the consequences of sin, but from the liability to sin. And, as history shows, wherever it has succeeded in obtaining full manifestation, Materialism, with all its foul brood, has fled discomfited, like Python, the mighty Serpent of Darkness, before the darts of Phoebus, to make its dwelling in the caverns and secret places of earth.

PART II
The Perfect Way by Anna Bonus Kingsford and Edward Maitland
13. COMING, then, to the proper subject of this Lecture, we will now treat of the Soul, universal and individual, commencing with the latter.
The soul, or permanent element in man, is first engendered in the lowest forms of organic life, from which it works upwards, through plants and animals, to man. Its earliest manifestation is in the ethereal or fluidic material called the astral body; and it is not something added to that body, but is generated in it by the polarization of the elements. Once generated, it enters into and passes through many bodies, and continues to do so until finally perfected or finally dissipated and lost. The process of its generation is gradual. The magnetic forces of innumerable elements are directed and focused to one center; and streams of electric power pass along all their convergent poles to that center, until they create there a fire, a kind of crystallization of magnetic force. This is the Soul, the sacred fire of the hearth, called by the Greeks Hestia, or Vesta, which must be kept burning continually. The astral and fluidic body, its immediate matrix, – called also the perisoul, – and the material or fixed body put forth by this, may fall away and disappear; but the soul, once begotten and made an individual, is immortal, until its own perverse will extinguishes it. For the fire of the soul must be kept alive by the Divine Breath, if it is to endure for ever. It must converge, not diverge. If it diverge, it will be dissipated. The end of progress is unity; the end of degradation is division. The soul, therefore, which ascends, tends more and more to union with and absorption into the Divine.

14. The clearest understanding may be obtained of the soul by defining it as the Divine Idea. Before anything can exist outwardly and materially, the idea of it must subsist in the Divine Mind. The soul, therefore, may be understood to be divine and everlasting in its nature. But it does not act directly upon Matter. It is put forth by the Divine Mind; but the body is put forth by the astral, or “fiery”, body. As Spirit, on the celestial plane, is the parent of the soul, so Fire, on the material plane, begets the body. The plane on which the celestial and creatures touch each other, is the astral plane.

15. The soul, being in its nature eternal, passes from one form to another until, in its highest stage, it polarizes sufficiently to receive the spirit. It is in all organized things. Nothing of an organic nature exists without a soul. It is the individual, and perishes finally if uninformed of the spirit.

16. This becomes readily intelligible if we conceive of God as of a vast spiritual body constituted of many individual elements, all having but one will and therefore being one. This condition of oneness with the Divine Will and Being, constitutes what, in Hindu mysticism, is called the celestial Nirvana. But though becoming pure Spirit, or God, the individual retains his individuality. So that, instead of all being finally merged in the One, the One becomes Many. Thus does God become millions. “God is multitudes, and nations, and kingdoms, and tongues; and the voice of God is as the sound of many waters.”

17. The Celestial Substance is continually individualizing Itself, that It may build Itself up into One perfect Individual. Thus is the Circle of Life accomplished, and thus its ends meet the one with the other. But the degraded soul, on the other hand, must be conceived of as dividing more and more, until, at length, it is scattered into many, and ceases to be as an individual, becoming, as it were, split, and broken up, and dispersed into many pieces. This is the Nirvana of annihilation. (See Appendices, No. IV.)

18. The Planet must not be looked upon as something apart from its offspring. It, also, is a Person, fourfold in nature, and having four orders of offspring, of which orders man alone comprises the whole. Of its offspring some lie in the astral region only, and are but twofold; some in the watery region, and are threefold; and some in the human region, who are fourfold. The metallic and gaseous envelope of the planet, are its body and perisoul. The organic region comprises its soul; and the human region its spirit, or divine part. When it was but metallic it had no individualized soul. When it was but organic it had no divine spirit. But when man was made in the image of God, then was its spirit breathed into its soul. In the metallic region soul is diffused and unpolarized; and the metals, therefore, are not individual; and not being individual, their transmutation does not involve transmigration. But the plants and animals are individual, and their essential element transmigrates and progresses. And man has also a divine spirit; and so long as he is man – that is truly human – he cannot re-descend into the body of an animal or any creature in the sphere beneath him, since that would be an indignity to the spirit. But if he lose his spirit, and become again animal, he may descend, and – disintegrating – become altogether gross and horrible. This is the end of persistently evil men. For God is not the God of creeping things; but Impurity – personified by the Hebrews as Baalzebub – is their god. And there were none of this in the Age of Gold, neither shall there be any when the earth is fully purged. Man’s own wickedness is the creator of his evil beasts. (Comp. Bhagavat-Gita, 1. xvi.)

19. The soul is not astral fluid, but is manifest by astral fluid. For the soul itself is, like the idea, invisible and intangible. This may be best seen by following out the genesis of any particular action. For instance, the stroke of the pen on paper is the phenomenon, that is, the outer body. The action which produces the stroke is the astral body; and, though physical, it is not a thing, but a transition or medium between the result and its cause, – between, that is, the stroke and the idea. The idea, manifested in the act, is not physical, but mental, and is the soul of the act. But even this is not the first cause. For the idea is put forth by the will, and this is the spirit. Thus, we will an idea, as God wills the Macrocosm. The potential body, its immediate result, is the astral body; and the phenomenal body, or ultimate form, is the effect of motion and heat. If we could arrest motion, we should have as the result, fire. But fire itself also is material, since, like the earth or body, it is visible to the outer sense. It has, however, many degrees of subtlety. The astral, or odic, substance, therefore, is not the soul itself, but is the medium or manifestor of the soul, as the act is of the idea.

20. To pursue this explanation a little further. The act is a condition of the idea, in the same way as fire, or incandescence, is the condition of any given object. Fire is, then, the representative of that transitional medium termed the Astral body; as Water – the result of the combined interaction of Wisdom the Mother, or Oxygen, and Justice the Father, or Hydrogen – is of the Soul. Air, which is produced by the mixture – not combination – of Wisdom and Force (Azoth), represents the Spirit – One in operation, but ever Twain in constitution. Earth is not, properly speaking, an element at all. She is the result of the Water and the Air, fused and crystallized by the action of the Fire; and her rocks and strata are either aqueous or igneous. Fire, the real maker of the body, is, as we have seen, a mode and condition, and not a true element. The only real, true, and permanent elements, therefore, are Air and Water, which are, respectively, as Spirit and Soul, Will and Idea, Father and Mother. And out of this are made all the elements of earth by the aid of the condition of Matter, which is, interchangeably, Heat and Motion. Wisdom, Justice, and Force, or Oxygen, Hydrogen, and Azote, are the three out of which the two true elements are produced.

21. Material body, astral fluid or sideral body, soul, and spirit, all these are one in their essence. And the Page 40
The Perfect Way by Anna Bonus Kingsford and Edward Maitland
first three are differentialities of polarization. The fourth is God’s Self. When the Gods – the Elohim or Powers of the Hebrews – put forth the world, they put forth substance with its three potentialities, but all in the condition of “odic” light. This substantial light is called sometimes the sideral or astral body, sometimes the perisoul, and this because it is both. It is that which makes, and that which becomes. It is fire, or the anima bruta (as distinguished from the Divine), out of and by means of which body and soul are generated. It is the fiery manifestation of the soul, the magnetic factor of the body. It is space, it is substance, it is foundation; so that from it proceed the gases and the minerals, which are unindividualized, and from it also the organic world which is individualized. But man it could not make; for man is fourfold and of the divine ether, the province assigned by the Greeks to Zeus, the father of the Gods and men.

22. The outer envelope of the macrocosm and the microcosm alike, the Earth or body, is thus in reality not elemental at all, but is a compound of the other three elements. Its fertility is due to the water, and its transmutory or chemical power to the fire. The water corresponds to the soul, – the “best principle” of Pindar, – while fire is to the body what spirit is to the soul. As the soul is without divinity and life until vivified by the spirit, so the body – earth or Matter – is without physical life in the absence of fire. No Matter is really dead Matter, for the fire element is in all Matter. But Matter would be dead, would cease, that is, to exist as Matter, if motion were suspended, which is, if there were no fire. For, as wherever there is motion there is heat, and consequently fire; and motion is the condition of Matter, so without fire would be no Matter. In other words, Matter is a mode of life.