CHAPTER II.

Concerning the Subject of Astrology.

THE study of Astrology or Philosophy is conversant about the universal knowledge of all the wonderful and secret things of God, infused and put into natural things from above in the first Creation.

The exercise therefore of the Light of Nature is the most sagacious perscrutation (INTENSE SCRUTINY) and enucleation (TO PEEL OUT or EXTRACT) of the abstruse, internal and invisible virtues, lying hid in external, corporal and visible things; to wit,

What should be the first matter of this great world whereof it was made.

What the Elements should be, and those things which are bred of the Elements, and consist in them; of what kind is their creation, essence, nature, propriety and operation as well within as without.

What might be in the stars of heaven, what their operation.

What in volatiles, what in fishes, metals, minerals, gems; what in every species of sprigs and vegetables.

What in animals, beasts, creeping things, and in the whole frame of the world.

Lastly, what is in Man, who was made and created of all these; to wit,

What is that mass, or slime, or dust whereof the body of the first man was formed, and whence he received his soul, and what it is; and whence he hath the Spirit, and what he is: And so the Light of Nature, or Astrology comprehends in itself all the wisdom and knowledge of the whole universe; that is, all these are hid and learned in the School of the Light of Nature, and are referred to as Astrology, or are rather Astrology itself; to wit,

The Subject of Astrology is therefore double; the Macrocosm and the Microcosm, the greater world and the lesser world.

The greater world is this very frame and great House, or this huge Tabernacle wherein we inhabit and live; and it consists of the four elements, Fire, Air, Water and Earth; and is twofold, visible according to the body, invisible according to the soul or spirit.

The lesser world is Man, the offspring or sum of the greater world, extracted and composed out of the whole greater world, who also in himself is twofold, visible according to the body, invisible according to the soul or spirit.

And as Man is made of nothing else but the world, so also is he placed and put nowhere else but within the world, to wit, that he might live, dwell, and walk therein, yet so as that he should take heed of that subtle Serpent, and should not eat of the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil, lest he die; that is, that he serve not the soul of the world, and creatures subject to vanity: but as a wise man rule the stars, and resist the devil tempting him, by the concupiscence of the flesh, of the eyes and pride of life; and suppress sinful nature, living and walking in wisdom and simplicity of the Divine Godhead inspired into him, not in the Subtlety of the Serpent by arrogancy and love of himself.

For it is most certain, of what anything is born and procreated, from thence also it seeks, desires and receives its nourishment, convenient to its essence and nature, for the sustentation of itself.

Now Man was taken from, and composed of the Macrocosm, and placed in the same: Therefore also necessarily he is nourished, cherished, receives his meat and drink, is clothed and sustained according to that. (Gen. iii, 19. Thou art taken from the earth, and thou shalt eat thereof in labour all the days of thy life, and shalt eat the herbs of the field until thou shalt return unto the earth, for from it thou art taken.)

Seeing therefore, Man, as to his body, is composed of the elements, and as to his soul, of the stars, and each part is fed and sustained from that from which it was taken; the food or aliment of the body, whereby the body grows to a due stature, comes to a man from the elements, the earth, the water, air and fire; not that man should take to himself for food the crude bodies of the elements, but the fruits growing from the elements: they are for nutriment. But the food of the soul inhabiting in the Microcosmical body, are all kinds of sciences, arts, faculties, and industries, with which she tincts and makes herself perfect.

Moreover; all aliment passeth into the substance of the user, and is made the same that he himself is; that is, whatsoever a man eats and drinks, the same thing is essentially transmitted into the substance, nature, propriety and form of man, by the digestion of Archeus in the ventricle (STOMACH). I say, the food passeth and is converted into the nature of the eater, and drink into the substance of the drinker, and is made one and the same with him.

And in the first place, let these things be understood concerning the body without wonder: because man is made of that which he eats and drinks. So also whatsoever a man learns, studies, knows in things that are placed without himself, that knowledge and intelligence passeth into the very essence, nature and propriety of a man, and is made one with him.

The Light of Nature is made man in man, and by a man's diligent searching, man is made light both in light and by light; and by the benefit of that light, he finds out all things, whatsoever he seeks and desires; but one more and another less, because all do not seek with the like study.

Every knowledge, science, art, industry and faculty passeth into the nature of man, penetrates him, occupies him, possesseth him, tincts him, is agglutinated to him, united with him, and perfected in him, and he in it. For, whatsoever kind of aliment man useth, and whatsoever he endeavours to study, inquire, know and understand, this is not strange or different from his essence and nature.

The reason is, because whatsoever is without a man, the same is also within him, for that man is made of all these Things which are without him, that is, of the whole universe of things.

Therefore whatsoever man takes from without from the elements and stars by meat, drink, knowledge, study and intelligence, this is the same that man is, and is made the same with man. So man eating bread, and drinking water, wine, etc., from the Macrocosm, he eats and drinks himself; and learning — arts, tongues, faculties, and sciences of external things, he learns and knows himself.

And as he tincts his body by meat and drink, which pass into the substance of flesh and blood, so also his soul is tincted with whatsoever kind of sciences, arts, etc., eating and drinking, he is united essentially with that which he eats and drinks. And learning and knowing, he is united essentially with that which he studies, learns and knows. Wherefore this is a most certain rule; — Whatsoever is without us, is also within us. Which in this place, we, philosophizing of the soul and body, do thus declare.

This whole world visible as to the body, invisible as to its soul, is without us. From this we are all essentially in and with the first man complicitly made and created, and incontinently after the creation, were put and placed into it. And seeing it is manifest that everything that is derived, retains the essence, nature and propriety of its original; that although the Macrocosm is without us, yet nevertheless it may also be found truly within us; I say the World is in us, and we are in it, and yet this is, as that is without us, and we without that. For indeed we have no existence or original from anything else, but from that which is without us, and which was before us; nor are we, nor do we inhabit, walk and live in anything else, save in that whereof we are made. Neither do we seek and draw forth meat and drink from any other, either for the body or the soul, but from that into which we are placed, and which is placed in us.

As to the Spirit, we are of God, move in God, and live in God, and are nourished of God. Hence God is in us and we are in God; God hath put and placed Himself in us, and we are put and placed in God.

As to the Soul, we are from the Firmament and Stars, we move and live therein, and are nourished thereof. Hence the firmament with its astralic virtues and operations is in us, and we in it. The Firmament is put and placed in us, and we are put and placed in the Firmament.

As to the Body, we are of the elements, we move and live in them, and are nourished of them: — hence the elements are in us, and we in them. The elements, by the slime (SOFT, MOIST EARTH), are put and placed in us, and we are put and placed in them.

So God is whole without us, and also whole within us, by the being of inspiration, that is, by His Spirit communicated to us.

So the World is whole without Adam, and also the whole world is within Adam, by the being of extracted slime.

So Adam is whole without us, and also whole within us, by the being of seed.

And so we bear God within us, and God bears us in Himself. God hath us with Himself, and is nearer to us than we are to ourselves. We have God everywhere with us, whether me know it, or know it not.

We bear the world in us, and the world bears us in itself. Therefore whatsoever we perceive, feel, touch, taste, smell, hear, see, imagine, think, speculate, learn, understand, savour, know, eat, and drink, and wheresoever we walk, this is the very same from whence we have drawn our original. We are always conversant in those things of which we are made. For Man is the centre of the whole universe. So we learn nothing else, but the very same thing that was before us, and whereof we are made, and which before we begin to learn, lies hid in us. Yea, we learn, search and know nothing else than our selves; to wit, learning, searching and knowing that whereof we come, and whence we have received our being. So we eat and drink nothing else but ourselves, to wit eating and drinking that whereof we are made.

So our Body hath its hunger and thirst in itself from within, and desires the perfection of itself, by meat and drink taken from the elements from without.

See "Paracelsus" of the 'Lodestone of Nature in the Macrocosm and Microcosm'— So the soul hath its hunger and thirst in itself, and desires the perfection of itself, by meat and drink from the stars, which is the wisdom and knowledge of natural things; by arts, tongues, sciences, etc. Hence spring the artificers and wise men of this world.

Moreover, as in meat and drink taken from the elements, there is always pure and impure conjoined, which when they come into the stomach to the fire of digestion, are by the internal Vulcan or Archeus of Nature separated from one another after a spagirical (TO SEPARATE, THEN REASSEMBLE) manner, and that which is pure is retained and abides in us, that is the essence extracted from meat and drink, the pure is separated from the impure which passeth into flesh and blood. For it penetrates the body like unto leaven, and is made one with it, and causeth it to increase, that it may become greater and more solid in its strength and nerves; but the impure, differing from nutriment, is cast forth into the draught, and that by the operation of Archeus labouring in the ventricle. By like reason the matter is even in all sciences arising from the Light of Nature, where always good and evil are joined together. For in Nature all things are convertible, as well to good as to evil. Wherefore unless Astrology be Theologized, that is, unless that which is good be retained, and that which is evil rejected, Man from thence acquires to himself eternal death. And this is the probation of Man.