The Golden Chain of Homer: Aurea Catena Homeri

THE GOLDEN CHAIN OF HOMER

Aurea Catena Homeri

Anton Josef Kirchweger

Translated into English from the German edition of

1781

by Volunteer Members of the

Restorers of Alchemical Manuscripts Society

(R.A.M.S.)

1984

With Commentary by Hans. W. Nintzel,

Founder of R.A.M.S.

Edited by Gregory S. Hamilton

and Philip N. Wheeler

iUniverse, Inc.

Bloomington

The Golden Chain of Homer

Aurea Catena Homeri

Copyright © Alembic Publishing, LLC 2012

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iUniverse rev. date: 8/13/2012

Table of Contents

To The Reader

Philip N. Wheeler

Preface

Excerpt from the 1781 Preface by Phlebochron

The Identity of the Author of The Golden Chain of Homer

About the Producers

Anton Joseph Kirchweger (d. 1746)

Introduction to Aurea Catena Homeri

Gregory S. Hamilton, Ph. D.

To the Reader (1984)

Hans W. Nintzel

The Various Editions of The Golden Chain of Homer

Superius & Inferius Hermetis

Part I: The Golden Chain of Homer On the Generation of Things

Chapter I: What Nature Is

Chapter II: Out Of Whom or What Everything Originated

Chapter III: How Everything Was Born

Chapter IV: In What Manner the Universal Seed was Begotten and Born

Chapter V: How the Divided and Separated Chaotic Water Is Reborn and Becomes a General Original (Primordial) Seed Of All Things, Commonly Called: The World Spirit (Spiritus Mundi)

Chapter VI: Of Heaven and His Influences (Influxes)

Chapter VII: Of The Air and Its Influence

Chapter VIII: Of Water and Its Influence

Chapter IX: Of The Earth and Its Influence

Chapter X: Discovery of the True Universal Seed or Reborn Chaos, Spiritus Seu Animae Mundi, or The Famous World Spirit

Chapter XI: A Clear Proof that Nitrum and Sal are in the Air and in All Things in the World

Chapter XII: Nitrum and Salt can be Found in Every Water and Earth

Chapter XIII: Saltpeter and Salt are to be Found in the Creatures of the Animal Kingdom and they are Made of These Two and are again Resolved into Them

Chapter XIV: Niter and Salt are to be Found in Plants, and they are made of These Two and are again Dissolved into them.

Chapter XV: Saltpeter and Salt are to be found in all Creatures of the Subterranean Kingdom, and are Made of Them and Again Dissolved into Them

Chapter XVI: The Major Gate and The Key to Nature, Originator of Every Generation and Dissolution of Natural Things: Putrefaction

Chapter XVII: What Putrefaction Really Is

Chapter XVIII: What the Results of Putrefaction Are and What it Accomplishes

Chapter XIX: How the Volatile Turns Into an Acid, the Acid Into an Alkali, and the Reverse: How the Alkali Turns Into an Acid and This Into a Volatile Again

Chapter XX: What Is the Universal and the Particular Volatile Acidum and Alkali

Chapter XXI: What Is the Birth of Animals and Of What Constituents They Consist and Into What They Are Again Dissolved

Chapter XXII: What Is the Birth of Vegetables and Of What Beginnings They Consist and Into What They Are Again Dissolved

Chapter XXIII: What the Birth of Minerals Is, and of What Constituents They Consist, and Into What They are Dissolved

Part II: The Golden Chain of Homer

Chapter I: In What Way Nature Returns the Altered Chaotic Prime Beginnings to Their First Constitution Niter and Salt and How She Turns Them Again Into Vapour

Chapter II: In What Way Nature Destroys Animals

Chapter III: In What Way Nature Destroys Vegetables

Chapter IV: How Nature Destroys, Corrupts and Transforms Minerals

Chapter V: The Dismemberment, Separation, Reunion and Regeneration of the Chaotic Water into a Fifth Nature.

Chapter VI: What is Finally to be Concluded from the Preceding Long Chapter

Chapter VII: Dissection of Animals

About the Dragons Illustration

Chapter VIII: Anatomia Vegetabilium

Chapter IX: Anatomia Mineralium

Chapter X: Arbor Dulcificationis

Chapter XI: Of the Alkahest or: Alka Est

Afterword to Aurea Catena Homeri

Abbreviations

References

A Word from the Publisher

To The Reader

Philip N. Wheeler

The original German edition of 1781, Aurea Catena Homeri, contained many symbols that are often seen in alchemical manuscripts. Were these symbols used in the original German edition of 1723? Recently I was able to obtain copies of the 1757 (German) and 1762 (Latin) editions to compare against the 1781 edition. There are many symbols in the 1781 edition that were added post-1762. It is unknown why these additional symbols were added to the 1781 edition, long after the death of Dr. Kirchweger in 1746.

Based on this research, most of the symbols of the 1781 German edition are replaced in this edition with clear English text. Selected symbols were carefully redrawn in high resolution and are included in this edition where appropriate. The symbols were translated using my book Tables of Alchemical Symbols and Gematria (see the References).

The footnotes present another mystery. They appear in the 1781 German edition. However, they are not in the 1757 German edition, nor in the 1762 Latin edition. In fact, each of these editions shows interesting deviations. The text in Chapter I, 1757, is very short, less than a page in length, whereas it is much longer in the 1781 edition. The 1757 edition also contains an index. In the 1762 edition the paragraphs of text are numbered and it contains an index. The double-dragon image appears in the 1762 Latin edition at the very end of the book, and in the 1781 edition at the end of Part II Chapter VII, but not in the 1757 German edition.¹ Obviously many variations were introduced after Dr. Kirchweger’s death. A copy of the original German edition of 1723 is needed to clear up these questions.

The citations to ancient texts such as the Freimaurerische Versammlungsreden (Masonic Assembly Speeches; 1779) are from the 1781 German edition.

All additions and explanations by Gregory S. Hamilton or Philip N. Wheeler are noted by the initials GSH or PNW.

Preface

Excerpt from the 1781 Preface by Phlebochron

²

The Golden Chain of Homer is a book highly valued by students of Alchemy. An uncountable number of people have read and studied it. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), for example, gained an array of inspiring thoughts from this work. Among other titles used over the centuries to refer to The Golden Chain of Homer are Aurea Catena Homeri, Goldenen Ketten Home, Annulus Platonis, and the Superius et Inferius Hermetis (Oberen und Interen des Hermes).

The quintessence of the work may be stated as:

From the sky it comes,

to the sky it rises,

and down to Earth it must come again,

eternally changing.

The idea that all creation, no matter what its nature, is closely interconnected, that a deeply secret connection pervades all of nature, that one thing relates to the next and things depend upon each other, is an underlying principle of Alchemy. The idea of this secret connection appears in the form of an up and down, a way-to and way-back, in the form of an always changing circulation. This is a restatement of the quintessence of the work above. Goethe once said that he liked the Aurea Catena Homeri because of the simplicity and truth of the statement of quintessence. And this same grand natural philosophic idea was also the one that captivated another large circle of readers of this book throughout the 19th century.

Today he or she who concerns themselves in the art of the hermetics (Alchemy) now holds this revered work in their hands. May it enlighten the student of alchemy. Only an artist will persevere through the work once - twice - three times. The door is always open; go into the room my friend! Aperta jam porta, intra in conclave, amice! He who enters the palace of this book and gives it more than a passing glance, will finally pass through all doors and reach the bed of the naked queen. He will also encounter the natural king who checks the heart and kidneys -- qui scrutatur corda renes.3 And both of them -- Queen and King -- will reveal to him the spirit of the time in which the chain originated. This spirit, as a seed, will enable the comprehension of other mystical, alchemical writings.

I present to you, honorable brothers and sisters, a work complete with explanations of the theory as well as practical explanations.⁴

Let the spirit of truth and the power of conviction come back to life from a time over a century ago.

The Identity of the Author of The Golden Chain of Homer

The identity of the author of the Aurea Catena Homeri, which was first printed in 1723, but which prior to that had been distributed in a handwritten version, was unknown for a long time. That is, unknown among the profane ones. However, informed ones knew. One of these informed people was Rudolf Johann Friedrich Schmidt, born in 1702 in Celle, and who died in 1761 in Copenhagen; he was a medical doctor, general practitioner and alchemist in Hamburg, and Ratgeber (Counselor) of Darmstadt, Germany. Dr. Schmidt left his extensive library of manuscripts, alchemistic and medical books to the library of the city of Hamburg. Among his books is the Aurea Catena Homeri, the Leipzig edition of 1738. Schmidt was very knowledgeable of the Golden Chain, which had a strong influence on him. He had the habit of making remarks on the margins of his favorite books, which prove to be very valuable to us now. His pocket edition of the Aurea Catena Homeri was marked on the page of the preface with the following remark: Doctor Kirchweger Stirus natione pro Autore Catenas Areae Homeri se confessus est. ⁵

There was probably no biobibliographic researcher who could have been more pleased about this remark of Schmidt dating from 1738 or 1739 than Hermann Kopp, the deserving historian-writer of alchemy. Kopp in his own Aurea Catena Homeri arrives at the same conclusion, namely that the Doctor Anton Joseph Kirchweger (dead on Feb. 8, 1746, Counselor and Court Physicist of the Region of Salzkammergut, Austria) was the author. Kopp concluded this from, among other things, a manuscript catalogue that was published in Vienna only in 1786.

About the Producers

Anton Joseph Kirchweger (d. 1746)

Author of the German edition, concealed behind his brotherhood name ‘Homerus.’ A physician and German alchemist of the 18th century, Dr. Kirchweger also annotated an edition of The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony by Basilius Valentinius.

Hans W. Nintzel (d. 2000)

Hans was an alchemist and the founder of the Restorers of Alchemical Manuscripts Society (R.A.M.S.), a non-profit team that consisted of a small number of volunteers from all over the world, from India to Australia to Europe and the U.S.A. Hans made a version of the Golden Chain of Homer available to the other members of RA.M.S. in the early 1980s.

R.A.M.S. was active from the 1970’s until the early 1990’s under the direction of Hans, and today the tradition continues with this publication and the work of RAMS Digital at the Paracelsus College in Australia. A practicing alchemist and student of Frater Albertus, Hans sought only the best and clearest works on alchemy, spurning those without substance. Hans’ decades of manuscript collecting, organizing, retyping, and sending copies of those most valued ancient manuscripts at cost to other R.A.M.S. members is his true legacy.

Philip N. Wheeler

Editor and partial translator of this version. Alchemist and Electrical Engineer. His interest in alchemy started 40 years ago with the study of books on alchemy from various booksellers, and by first obtaining the tincture of lemon balm in 1970 in a small home laboratory. Slowly learning about the subject, he began requesting titles from the Interlibrary Loan Service at the University of Virginia. It was through this service that he discovered The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony and many other texts. Through bookseller inquiries, he came upon the Paracelsus College in Utah and immediately subscribed to their journals Parachemy and Essentia.⁶ It was through Parachemy that he made first contact with Hans Nintzel in the late 1970’s and immediately struck up a lasting friendship. He became a member of R.A.M.S. and began helping Hans with his very focused work in preparing valued alchemical manuscripts for distribution as well as participating in modern alchemical experiments such as detailed in The Betty Story by Philip N. Wheeler (see References).

Gregory S. Hamilton, Ph. D.

Greg’s interest in Alchemy spans over 30 years. He was a good friend of Hans and a translator and contributor to R.A.M.S. A practicing pharmaceutical chemist and patent law specialist, Greg is a good friend and contributor to this edition.

Introduction to Aurea Catena Homeri

Gregory S. Hamilton, Ph. D.

Several things make the Aurea Catena stand out from other alchemical writings. First is the sheer readability of the work. In contrast to the many works written in alchemical cant and therefore rather opaque, Aurea Catena is written in a clear, lucid style which is nearly modern. Many basic procedures are described in clear terms, and overall the work is a pleasure to read.

Secondly, the work is notable for beginning with a coherent and clearly presented theory of the workings of the natural sphere, following the tenets of the Emerald Tablet and exemplified by an alchemical description of the Water Cycle. After presenting this basic theory in the first several chapters, the work then expands on this paradigm in a series of iterative experimental procedures, frequently based on the manipulations of water, that progressively illuminate this natural philosophy in increasingly profound manner. In this way, the Aurea Catena is self-contained and complete in a way that no other alchemical writing of my acquaintance is.

Thirdly, many basic processes and experiments are described using the simplest materials, in keeping with the theoretical description presented in the early chapters. Of note, for example, are the water works of chapters X, Part I and Chapter V, Part II. The processes outlined in Chapter X Part I, Discovery of the True Universal seed or Reborn Chaos, are clearly described and worthy of considerable effort, as are those of Chapter V Part II, The Dismemberment, Separation, Reunion and Regeneration of the Chaotic Water into a Fifth Nature, which represents a more complex operation on the regenerated chaos. To give but one more example, there is a process described towards the end of Chapter IV, utilizing only simple earth and water, that is worthy of consideration. These and other procedures are described simply and clearly, and each one can serve as a departure point to find one’s own path of investigation.

I’ll finish with a few words about Hans Nintzel, to whom we give thanks for disclosing this full work. When Phil and I began studying alchemy over 30 years ago, in the pre-Internet age, sources of information were few, and our inquiries quickly led us to Frater Albertus and the Paracelsus Research Society. As has been the case for so many, Albertus and PRS opened the gates for us, and soon we were in contact with Hans, an interaction that continued for some time. Hans’ generosity, kindness, and devotion to the cause were inspiring, and Phil and I are grateful to have known Hans and been associated with his Restorers of Alchemical Manuscripts Society (R.A.M.S.). Hans considered the R.A.M.S. version of the Golden Chain to be their Magnum Opus, and this edition is a fitting tribute to Hans and his work.

Ora et Labora!

To the Reader (1984)

Hans W. Nintzel

With the production of the present work, The GOLDEN CHAIN OF HOMER, R.A.M.S. (Restorers of Alchemical Manuscripts Society), may have accomplished their Magnum Opus. As will be discovered by the reader, many different versions of this book (Boehme et al) have been published. This includes the R.A.M.S. production of an excerpt by Dr. Sigismond Bacstrom, which was released several years ago. The present work reflects the full text of the work edited by Anton Kirchweger. This author reveals that he was a member of a secret Hermetic order. And that one of the brothers of the order, Homerus, an alchemical adept, set down the basics of this work.

Whatever the true origins of this book, no one will doubt that it is indeed a masterpiece of alchemical literature. Written in down-to-earth language, one can begin to understand alchemical principles and thus unveil the mysteries that shroud the Holy Science of Alchemy. The footnotes alone form a compendium of data that is of enormous value. It may be of interest to the reader to be aware of a question asked by the R.A.M.S. producer of one recognized as an alchemical master⁷. The question was: If your house was on fire and you could save only ONE book from your library, which one would you save? The alchemical teacher, for so he was, smiled a secret smile and replied: Well, it would be the Golden Chain of Homer. Pressing this point, I then asked: Is this then, THE most important book of alchemy, or, at least, ONE of the most important books? The teacher looked away for a moment, reflecting and answered: Yes. IF you can understand it! So, courteous reader, you have in your hands a book deemed by those who know, as being VERY important And so it is. More germane, you will find it to be immensely understandable.

To give the reader some idea of the effort that went into this book, recognize that 8 people put in efforts spanning over two years. It is fitting then, that we thank those involved. First, Ms. L. M. who single-handedly translated almost 600 pages of archaic German text into English. We owe her much. Also, the Messrs. K. M. and D. D., two practicing alchemists in Australia. They did a tedious and masterful job of ensuring no alchemical sense was lost. Their comments and editing made a fantastic book come to life! Typists J. H. and M. R. got the final version going. J. N. contributed most of the illustration while D. H. labored with the symbols and proofreading. Final typing, editing, symbology and production was done by Hans Nintzel with help from some folk who wish to remain anonymous. To all, we applaud your mighty efforts done as a labor of love. Thank you.

Now dear reader, you can embark on a fantastic alchemical journey. Recognize though, as Gerhard Dorn wisely noted, the theory is dry without the praxis. Doing the laboratory work will thoroughly ingrain the theory and make it LIVE within and without you. Enjoy!

The Various Editions of The Golden Chain of Homer

The first edition of the Aurea Catena Homeri was published in 1723 anonymously under the title: Aurea Catena Homeri. Or: A description of the origin of nature and natural things, how and out of what they are born and created, and how they are destroyed into their original kind, independent of what the thing is, which gives birth and destructs again, according to nature’s own instructions and order, shown in the most simple way and illustrated with its most beautiful rationale and causes throughout. If you don’t understand what is earthen, how do you understand what is heavenly? Frankfurt & Leipzig, Publisher Johann GeorgBohme, 1723. Of this 1723 version there are two editions, which (according to Kopp) only differ in the initials and other ornaments. Then followed these editions:

Superius & Inferius Hermetis

Translation of the Superius & Inferius Hermetis Latin Phrases

Part I: The Golden Chain of Homer On the Generation of Things

Chapter I: What Nature Is

NATURE is that amalgamation, which is brought together by the Creator, including the visible and invisible worlds, and containing in Itself both visible and invisible creatures, all of which function solely due to the essence (being) and presence of God⁸.

For the better understanding by men of the creation, the natural visible and the supernatural invisible realms are separated, but, in the final analysis, this is of no concern to us, because we believe that all and everything has been naturally made by God, out of the Chaos and the Great No-Thing or Void⁹.

1. The term World means all created beings taken all together, may they be visible or invisible to our eyes. That is why we understand it not only the whole terrestrial lump upon which we dwell, but also the sun, the moon, all the planets and the stars, together with the immeasurable space In which they exist, and all other beings which live, act, and are contained therein.

2. By the term Nature, on the other hand, we understand the immutably working law of motion, impressed from the beginning of the world by the almighty Creator upon all these created beings by His eternally uncreated Word. This law produces both the mode of existence of the whole world in general and that of every created thing in particular.

According to the principle of the sages: all influence of the mover or doer is according to the structure of the object to be moved, or the sufferer, the passive recipient. The mover Himself who animates and engenders and destroys everything in all, however, is the much discussed World Spirit. Our great Sendivogius means Him when he uses the word Nature and calls her a volatile spirit that effects its work in bodies. He is one and the same in all created things. He is Universal but the Law of Motion within creatures is different in countless ways, that is, relatively different, according to the condition of the innumerable varieties of created species because of the Word of power of the Omnipotence: Let each grow, bring forth seed, and multiply after its kind (Genesis I).

That upon which precisely this law of motion is impressed is the suffering (passive) part. The universal World Spirit, on the contrary, is the active part in all creatures. Both, however, taken together as a unit, comprise what we call Nature.

In order to form a clear, simple and quite mechanical idea of this active and passive concept, we have only to consider paper mills, flour mills, grist mills, grinding mills, stamp mills, and innumerable other like machines. All are driven to the accomplishment of their specific action by one energy source, for instance, water, but differently according to the diversity of their inner structure. Although driven differently from one another, each one, properly speaking, is in no other way driven, than in accordance with the predisposition made by the Foreman (Master Craftsman), in its inner structure, and a specific Law of Motion results. In the case of such a machine, water is like the universal Spiritus Mundi, or World Spirit, whereas the inner structure is like the so often mentioned immutable law of motion in creatures.

Corollary Teachings

I. The whole of Nature and creatures, therefore, consists of two basic origins, the doer or mover, who is a spiritual being, and the moved or sufferer (passive recipient) who is a tangible or corporeal being, in regard to his moving spirit.

EXPLANATION: Air is the passive recipient (suffering) and is corporeal relative to fire, which is the subtlest and most effective element. Water is tangible and corporeal, moved and made effective by the Air, which relative to water, is an active Spiritual being. Earth is moved, impregnated, moistened and fertilized by Water, which relative to Earth, is a moving and active Spirit. But everything, as already mentioned, is originally made effective by the universal World Spirit.

II. Since the effects of Nature occur only according to the created (inborn) properties of natural things, while Art must faithfully follow Nature and cannot achieve anything useful without her, all practical investigation of Nature undertaken without a preliminary correct knowledge of the universal World Spirit and the created properties of those natural things in which work is done, must needs turn out as foolish and fruitless.

III. But whoever perfectly understands this active Spirit and the above-mentioned law of motion in all types of creatures in relation to the differences proper to them, will also recognize the Lawgiver in His infinite wisdom, His eternal omnipotence, His eternal justice, and His eternal mercy. He will possess natural science perfectly and is on the highest level of Hermetic philosophy.

And even if it seems impossible to some to climb to this highest level, the natural scientist eager to learn and be truly reborn in Christ, the light of grace, should not lose courage and confidently start investigating. He should not, however, take anything in hand without knowing it, or make something of it without knowing what, as the sophists are wont to do. Instead, to begin with, he must choose one thing only, not several at a time, as the object of his studies and investigations. Above all, he must get to know it inside out, and then only make of it what is possible according to its inherent law of motion. Neither must he stop working till he has completely investigated it, knows it perfectly, and has thereby obtained the final natural goal he had set for himself.

For it is not in the multiplicity that the Art consists (says one of our greatest teachers and with him the entire host of master sages). But afterwards he can proceed with the investigation of something else, in which he will already succeed more easily, because every creature is to be considered a book of Nature, as the very fine saying of our philosophers is to be understood, namely, that one book opens and explains another. In this way he can imperceptibly reach the highest level of Hermetic wisdom, sooner than one can imagine. For the whole of Nature resembles a circular chain, the links of which hang exactly together. When then an enlightened spiritual man, by his studies and investigations, has finally come to perfectly know the first link, it will be easy for him to expand his knowledge from this to the second, from that to the third, and so on from one link to the next through the whole circle. And Nature, this faithful servant of the Lord, will herself guide an eager investigator truly reborn in the light of Grace.

Chapter II: Out Of Whom or What Everything Originated

The incomprehensible God has created everything out of the void or great Nothing¹⁰ according to his will (as he liked). He decided and willed, and emitted from his mouth his holy Word of Power FIAT! that became an immeasurable vapor, fog, mist and smoke.¹¹

This smoke resolved and thickened (condensed) into the generally known chaotic water by its perpetual increase. This water, then, is that out of which the great world with all its inhabitants has been made, and this water is that out of which God has made all supernatural and natural things, and this water is the primeval origin of all things, which came before us and are to come after us.

A Lecture on The Great Void or No-Thing

FROM WHICH ALL NATURE AND CREATURES HAVE ORIGINATED

1. Here we do not teach about the primeval Nothing (void) out of which the eternal Omnipotent created the worlds of spirits before the beginning of those times, when He, in His infinite Wisdom, appointed the sun, moon and stars as measurements. We begin at Lucifer’s revolt against God, and after his fall was accomplished. The Almighty had installed Lucifer as the ruler over all those hosts of the countless legions of creatures that lived in that wide and vast expanse of our planet-world. We thereby follow the infallible teaching which the most excellent Moses, that historian of creation so highly illumined by the Spirit of the Lord, has recorded and left us in his Book of Creation.

2. In the beginning, he writes, God created heaven and earth. As soon, that is, as Lucifer, the Son of Dawn, in his splendor and perfect power over the Thrones, Principalities, and inferior spirits of his whole hierarchy (desired) to rule according to his own will and thus began to resist the irradiation of the heavenly light-waters of God, which had so gloriously illumined him in gentle stillness, perfect calm, joy and delight, and had been reflected by him upon all his Thrones and hosts of angels with great brilliance, the Elohim, the Judges, or the eternal justice of God, immediately withdrew this gentle irradiation of the said light-waters, thereby arousing the mighty fire, in which Lucifer together with his followers were seized, drawn together by the vehement harshness of its active strength, and (while just this fire was whirling up tremendous vapors through the entire immense space of his realm in the process of destruction, which condensed more and more and finally dissolved into water, partly adhering all around the periphery of his kingdom, in the form of a mercurial sulphur or condensed fiery water) were locked up in a dark heavy mass without water or light, for their eternal punishment.

This is the point which Moses accepted as the beginning of his history of creation and chronology. From it we understand that by his words quoted above he meant the earth to be the said dark, inert mass, and by heaven that which was outside this mass. We also understand why he immediately wrote the following after the above-cited words:

The earth, however, was without form and void; and darkness was upon the abyss, and the Spirit of God moved upon the waters, before he mentioned the creation of this water with even one syllable. Now then, these waters, resolved out of the mighty vapors driven up by the Divine Fire of Vengeance and expanding all around the dark mass, were filled with an active spirit throughout their expansion, whereby the Almighty Word of creation brought forth all the creatures of our planetary world in the six Days of creation. It is that which we call the great Nothing, from which all nature and creatures arose.

Some ancient men gave this name void to the whole expansion and everything contained in it. They did this not in the erroneous opinion that it was really nothing in itself, but because in the beginning no form of the creatures gradually originating therein by the work of creation was real, though all were contained therein as possibilities, just as one might call for instance the ink in an ink-pot a Nothing or a void. In itself and by itself the ink contains absolutely no letters, numerals, lines, dots, words, numbers, designs, speeches, calculations, nor figures really, but only as potentialities which, however, the creative hand of a skillful, perfect writing-master can gradually all form from it and, so to speak, create.

Corollary Teachings

I. Everything, therefore, has originated in ONE, that is, in the above-mentioned waters. According to the known tenet of all true sages: Out of which a thing becomes, into the same it can also be changed back. Therefore everything can be changed back into that ONE, into a fiery active water. This our students must henceforth deeply imprint upon their minds for further consideration.

Since Nature consists of a passive and an active essence and Lucifer together with all his angels were created by the divine flux of the Eternal Omnipotence, which he and his followers were meant to use only according to the moving action of the gentle irradiation of the Divine Light-Bearers, it follows that:

II. In addition to the higher Angels, there were lower orders of Angels created, in which they could act and over which they could rule, owing to the fact that the lower order of Angels are, so to speak, tangible and are recipients in regard to the higher, according to the nature and properties of each. Consequently, the orders of Angels graduate from degree to degree passive toward an exceedingly more sublime (subtle) nature and characteristics, as is every Agens (agent; active) in relation to its Patiens (patient; passive). Since Lucifer had to act as the sole ruler over the whole hierarchy of his angels, through his Throne Princes, and had to keep passive only toward the above-mentioned active movement of the gentle irradiation of the Divine Light-Water, we may thereby conclude with what a brilliant, glorious and super-splendid nature and character the eternal Almighty had endowed this great spirit with, who should have ruled throughout all of Eternity. But since he wished to rule and act according to his own will, he closed off the infusion of the upper Light-Waters into himself; in respect to them, he shifted from a natural-passive state to a self-acting one. In so doing, he reversed the nature of all the orders of his hierarchy, and of his own being, by which, of course, the destruction of his realm followed as a necessity.

From this we may further conclude that Lucifer had perfectly well understood the great excellence with which he was endowed. In his inner nature, however, he either had not understood or only imperfectly; nor had he been intent on recognizing it, because otherwise he would have foreseen and avoided the reversal and destruction of his realm together with his own ruin which necessarily resulted with ghastly fright from his willful self-rule, and he would eternally have given credit to the Creator for such superior benefits. It is precisely this that teaches us.

III. That the sham-erudite children of the world, who from lack of inner self-knowledge attribute their talents not to the Creator who bestowed them, but to their own excellence; who consider, judge, and wish to deal with everything solely according to their self-conceit and imagined wisdom, are found to have a satanic nature into which they pervert everything they deal with and in whatever they operate.

A true son of wisdom, on the contrary, must especially recognize himself in his heart, according to spirit and truth, and he must let the gentle irradiation of the upper light flow and act in him. Consequently, he must steadily follow the moving light of God in nature, in true humility and annihilation of his own will, so as to receive the transformation of his own earthly nature into a heavenly nature by means of a true, rebirth through the blood of Christ, before he can think of changing earthly into tinctural bodies.

Grace of blessings, dear Brothers, which we may well ardently wish upon you according to the strength of our spirit, but which we cannot give you. It may be obtained from above, however, through steady true prayer and devoted cooperation.

To the above may be added the two incomparable speeches by our Rev. Brother Hannan, which are the second and third of the Versammlungsreden12; also, the tenth of the great Nothing. Thus you will get an adequate idea on this point.

The origin of that water ¹³ is thus the eternal God and his spoken word¹⁴. That word is a spirit full of power. That spirit changed visibly and tangibly into a vapor and fog, and that turned tangibly into a water.

Here we have two things enclosed in one, a visible, which is water, and an invisible, which is the spirit hidden in it.

Water without the spirit is a recolaceum15, or without power; and spirit without water is nothing, or without duration, because spirit must have a body if it is to effect corporeal or bodily things. For God intended it to be so that spirit should effect everything in all creatures by means of water, because water mixes easily with all things and through it spirit can soften, penetrate, give birth, and also destroy everything again.

Water is the subject, or the body, the casing, and the instrument. Spirit is the active agent (the active principle), the famous World Spirit, anima & spiritus mundi, the all-acting spirit and power of God, the universal seed, sperma universi, the true agens, the blacksmith of all natural things.

In the beginning, from its origin, this water and spirit was quite volatile and unstable, as can easily be surmised, a vapor, fog, and smoke-water ¹⁶.

From this everyone can infer what is its origin and from what beginning it stems. This can and will later be clearly put forward and explained.

That the world has arisen from vapor, and that vapor turns into water, and water into vapor, is indeed obvious. To be sure, we see nothing between heaven and earth but vapor, smoke, fog, and water which, driven by the central heat, is sublimated up from the earth-water sphere into the atmosphere or Air. And if we could see the subtle effluences or vapors of the heavens, we could also see the influences which enter from above downward into these vapors sublimated from below upward. But since we cannot do this with our dark physical eyes, we must comprehend it by analogy (reflection) touching it with our hands through the chemical praxis, as that which can be found in the great world can also be found in the little world¹⁷ and that what is above is like what is below.¹⁸

That such vapors arise from water, we see first of all in the summer time, when the sun heats the waters, changes them into vapor, and draws them into the air; also, when it had been raining before and the sun is shining afterwards, we see how the roofs sprinkled with rain smoke and steam, and how these vapors evaporate again into the air.

When the farmer is cooking water in his saucepan, kettle or pot on his stove, he sees that the water is steaming and smoking, and if he wishes, he can boil or turn it all into pure steam.

We notice, however, that steam becomes water after fog (mist) and smoke have condensed into clouds. Such clouds thereafter condense into rain, snow and water, and fall back again to their origin. The farmer in his field, when he must work in the heat, feels with great discomfort that his whole body is breathing out and steaming out. That steam settles down in his clothes and there resolves into water, so that it runs down his back in streamlets which we call perspiration.

The same is seen by those who deal with distillation, that is, that the liquores19 rise as steam into the head, there condense, trickle through the spout and run down in streamlets, and that