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Anonymous

Candida Phoenix Philosophica

The White Philosophical Phoenix

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Candida Phoenix PhilosophicaPart II — Chapter 2: The Three Philosophical Principles

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Facing Pages · Branch 123 of 411

Part II — Chapter 2: The Three Philosophical Principles

Book Mode

German & Latin

87–88

Welcher triplex Mercurius (secundum de Nuysement) sage ich gleichfalls nochmahln / die Natura naturata, der Philosophorum vulgarium causa efficiens, forma, & materia ist / davon dieselbe so viel geschrieben / und so manche definition erfunden / und doch nicht gewust haben / was sie ihren discipulis damit bedeuten wollen. Ich spreche der Philosophorum vulgarium causa efficiens & forma &c. Quandoquidem veram causam efficientem, omninòque formam ignorant, neque enim eorum forma & Natura in ipsa est rerum Naturâ: Ergo illis nihil remanet, præter Elementa, quæ utique (physicè loquendo) omnium sunt rerum principia, ex iisdemque omnia creata visibilia, ut loquuntur, composita sunt. Quem in sensum etiam accipio Nuysemannum, dum dicit: Mundum habere Spiritum, Animam & Corpus. Etenim per Spiritum aërem, per formam sive animam ignem, & per corpus sal intelligo.

Und so viel auff dißmahl hiervon.

87–88

Candida Phoenix Philosophica: Part II — Chapter 2: The Three Philosophical Principles

87–88

This threefold Mercury, according to Nuysement, is again what I call created nature: the efficient cause, form and matter of the ordinary philosophers, about which they have written so much and invented so many definitions without knowing what they meant to teach their pupils. I say “the ordinary philosophers’ efficient cause and form” because they are ignorant of the true efficient cause and, indeed, of form; their form and nature do not exist in reality. Nothing therefore remains to them but the elements, which, physically speaking, are the principles of all things. All visible created things, as they call them, are composed from those elements. I likewise understand Nuysement in this sense when he says that the world has spirit, soul and body: by spirit I understand air, by form or soul fire, and by body Salt.

So much for this at present.

87–88

About This Reading Edition

An anonymous Hermetic treatise of 1680, presented in its original German and Latin with a new English translation, 279 explanatory notes, the historical phoenix frontispiece, an introduction, reading guide, outline, glossary, bibliography, and original registers.

Historical Text and Translation

Anonymous, Candida Phoenix philosophica. Frankfurt am Main: Christian Hermsdorff, 1680. The chosen witness is the Wellcome Library copy digitized as b32993456; German and Latin, with French, Greek, and Hebrew passages retained.

About Diotimos Editions

This historical edition credits Diotimos Editions as its English translator.

Rights

The 1680 source is identified as public domain by the Wellcome/Internet Archive record. The supplied 2026 transcription, English translation, introduction, notes, reading guide, outline, glossary, bibliography, and editorial arrangement are published with the site owner’s authorization. The frontispiece is retained from the supplied edition and credited to its historical witness.