DiotimosReading Desk

Diotimos Library · Esotericism & Spirituality Collection · Bilingual Edition

Anonymous (traditionally attributed to Anton Joseph Kirchweger)

The Golden Chain of Homer

A New Translation from the German Edition of 1723

Explore the Lexicon
The Golden Chain of Homer2 From Whom or What Everything Was Born

Swipe or use the arrow keys.

German & Latin Page · Branch 43 of 504

2 From Whom or What Everything Was Born

German & Latin

1723 pp 5–6

Aus gesagtem können wir nun schliessen und uns vergewissern, daß diese grosse Welt, nach GOtt, Prima Materia sey, das Chaotische Wasser oder der zu Wasser resolvirte Dampff, und dieser ist unsern Augen noch eins und einfach, aber in seiner Zahl zweyfach, nemlich Wasser und Geist, sichtbar und unsichtbar, das Wasser ist Patiens, der Geist ist Agens. Aus diesen beyden wird ohn Unterlaß alles und jedes bis zu dem Ende der Welt gebohren, erhalten und wieder zerstöret, auch wieder geboren. Der nun zu dem Brunnen der geheimen Weisheit zu gelangen dringet, der behalte dieses wohl, und gehe mit diesem puncto Centrali in nachgehenden Capiteln ad Circumferentiam, so wird er befinden, daß alles in allen ist, nemlich in subjectis totius orbis dieser Geist mit seiner Krafft ausgetheilet; und wie alle Dinge aus diesem einigen bestehen, also gehen sie rursus in ihre äusserliche resolution wieder zu diesem: Das ist, die Circumferentia gehet per vicissitudines wieder ad Centrum. Wer nun dieses capiret, der macht kein dubium oder scrupel in Analysi naturæ. Denn er macht aus dem flüchtigen ein fixes, & e contra; aus dem süssen ein sauers, & vice versa; aus dem stinckenden ein wohlriechendes, aus dem Gifft einen Theriac, und aus dem Theriac einen Gifft: weil er weiß, daß sie alle aus einer einigen Wurtzel entsprungen, und wieder zu solcher werden können, wornach man so äusserst Verlangen erweist: denn sie nur distinct seyn secundum accidens & non secundum materiam, secundum digestionem majorem & minorem.

1723 pp 5–6

The Golden Chain of Homer: 2 From Whom or What Everything Was Born

1723 pp 5–6

From what has been said we can conclude and be assured that the first matter of this great world, after God, is chaotic water, or vapour resolved into water. To our eyes it is still one and simple, but in number it is twofold: water and spirit, visible and invisible. Water is the patient; spirit is the agent. From these two, each and every thing is continually born, preserved, destroyed again and born anew, until the end of the world. Whoever strives to reach the fountain of secret wisdom should hold this firmly in mind. Let him proceed with this central point toward the circumference in the following chapters, and he will discover that everything is in everything: this spirit and its power are distributed through the substances of the whole world. Just as all things consist of this one thing, so, in their outward dissolution, they return to it again. That is, through successive changes the circumference returns to the centre. Whoever understands this has no doubt or scruple in the analysis of nature. He makes the volatile fixed, and conversely; the sweet sour, and conversely; the foul-smelling fragrant; poison into theriac, and theriac into poison. He knows that all have sprung from a single root and can become that root again, which is so earnestly desired. They differ only in their accidental properties, not in their matter, according to a greater or lesser degree of digestion.

1723 pp 5–6

About This Reading Edition

The two-book alchemical work of 1723 in German with a new English translation, 399 notes, eight historical diagrams, chapter outlines, keyword essays, a glossary, bibliography, subject index, and 400 discussion questions.

Discussion Questions

Historical Text and Translation

Anonymous, Aurea Catena Homeri. Frankfurt and Leipzig: Johann Georg Böhme, 1723. Traditionally attributed to Anton Joseph Kirchweger; the attribution remains uncertain. Historical diagrams from the Stiftung der Werke von C. G. Jung copy digitized by e-rara.

About Diotimos Editions

This historical edition credits Diotimos Editions as its English translator.

Rights

The supplied edition identifies the 1723 German source and historical diagrams as public-domain material. Its new English translation and editorial apparatus are published with the site owner’s authorization. The complete original files are retained unchanged.