Diotimos Library · Esotericism & Spirituality Collection · Bilingual Edition
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Facing Pages · Branch 123 of 204
Sulphur · Air · Passage 2
Source reference
- Latin witness
- 1616 · sequence pages 19–20
Latin
In hoc Elemento sunt omnes res integrae, per imaginationem ignis, et est plenum virtutis divinae. In illo namque inclusus est Spiritus Altissimi, qui ante creationem ferebatur supra aquas, teste sacra Scriptura, et volavit super pennas ventorum. Si igitur ita est sicuti est, quod Spiritus Domini in illo ferebatur, quid dubitas, quod de virtute sua divina in illo reliquit? Nam hic Monarcha solet ornare habitacula sua, ornavit enim hoc Elementum Spiritu vitali omnis creaturae. In illo namque est semen omnium rerum dispersarum, cui a creatione statim vis illa magnetica, ut supra diximus, a summo opifice inclusa est, quam si non haberet, non posset attrahere quicquam de nutrimento, sed sic semen in sua parva quantitate relinqueretur, nec cresceret nec multiplicaretur; sed sicut lapis magnetis trahit ad se ferrum durum, ad exemplum poli Arctici trahentis ad se aquas ut in Elemento Aquae scripsimus, sic aer per magnetem vegetabilem, quod in semine est, trahit ad se nutrimentum menstrui mundi, id est aquae. Ista omnia fiunt aere, cum ille est dux aquarum, eiusque vis inclusa est occulta in omni semine ad attrahendum humidum radicale, et haec virtus est, ut supra diximus, in omni semine semper pars illa 280, ut in tractatu 12 Tractatuum tibi ostendimus.
English
In this element all things are whole through fire's imagination, and it is full of divine power. Enclosed within it is the Spirit of the Most High, who, as sacred Scripture testifies, moved over the waters before creation and flew upon the wings of the winds. If, as is indeed the case, the Lord's Spirit was borne in it, why doubt that he left some of his divine power there? For this monarch is accustomed to adorn his dwelling places. He adorned this element with every creature's vital spirit. In it lies the dispersed seed of all things, into which the supreme maker enclosed that magnetic force, mentioned above, immediately at creation. Without that force it could draw no nourishment. It would remain in its small quantity, neither growing nor multiplying. But as the lodestone draws hard iron to itself, after the example of the Arctic pole drawing waters as I described under water, so air, through the vegetable magnet in seed, draws to itself the nourishment of the world's menstruum, that is, water. All this is done by air, the guide of waters. Its power is secretly enclosed in every seed to draw radical moisture. As I have said, this power in every seed is always that two-hundred-and-eightieth part which I showed you in the Twelve Treatises.
Socrates
Reading A New Light of Alchemy · Sulphur · Air · Sulphur · Air · Passage 2
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Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.About This Reading Edition
The complete supplied Latin–English edition of the Twelve Treatises, Epilogue, Enigma, Parable, Dialogue of Mercury and Treatise of Sulphur, with original preliminaries, John French’s historical English address and its separately labelled modernisation, 101 annotations and the complete study apparatus.
Historical Text and Translation
The Twelve Treatises and their concluding texts follow the selected 1606 Herzog August Bibliothek witness. The Dialogue uses the 1607 Cologne printing; the author’s preface and Alsted epigram use Frankfurt 1611. Sulphur uses the 1616 Munich and Rome witnesses. John French’s 1650 address is separately identified as historical English reception.
About Diotimos Editions
This historical edition credits Diotimos Editions as its English translator.
Rights
The historical Latin texts and John French’s 1650 English address are in the public domain. The new translation, modernisation and editorial apparatus were prepared with AI assistance for Diotimos Editions in 2026 and are published with the site owner’s authorization.