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

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

Swipe or use the arrow keys.

English Page · Branch 40 of 504

2 From Whom or What Everything Was Born

German & Latin

1723 pp 2–3

Der unbegreiffliche GOtt hat alles aus beliebigem Willen aus dem grossen Nichts erschaffen. Denn er beschlösse und wolte, und ließ aus seinem Göttlichen Munde ausgehen sein heiliges kräfftiges Wort: Fiat! welches zu einem unermeßlichen Dampff, Nebel und Rauch ward. Dieser Dampff rc. resolvirte oder concentrirte, verdickte sich durch seine immerwährende Vermehrung in das allgemeine bekante Chaotische Wasser. Dieses Wasser nun ist dasjenige, aus welchem diese grosse Welt mit allen ihren Inwohnern gemacht worden, und dieses Wasser ist jenes, aus welchem GOtt alle übernatürliche und natürliche Dinge gemacht, u. dieses Wasser ist der uranhebliche oder uranfängliche Ursprung aller Dinge, die vor und nach uns sollen kommen. Der Ursprung aber solches Wassers ist, wie gelehret, der ewige GOtt u. dessen ausgelassenes Wort, das Wort ist ein Geist voller Krafft, und dieser Geist ist sichtbar worden zu einem Dampff und Nebel. Dieser ist greiflich worden zu einem Wasser. Hier haben wir 2. Dinge in einem beschlossen, ein sichtbares, das ist Wasser, und ein unsichtbares, das ist der Geist, so in dem Wasser verborgen lieget.

1723 pp 2–3

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

1723 pp 2–3

The incomprehensible God created everything from the great Nothing by his own free will. He resolved and willed, and sent forth from his divine mouth his holy, powerful word: Fiat—“Let it be!” This became an immeasurable vapour, mist and smoke. Through its continual increase, this vapour and so forth resolved or concentrated itself, thickening into the familiar, universal chaotic water. This water is what this great world and all its inhabitants were made from. It is the water from which God made all supernatural and natural things, and it is the first beginning and primordial origin of all things that were to come before and after us. But the origin of this water, as we have explained, is the eternal God and the word he sent forth. The word is a spirit full of power, and this spirit became visible as vapour and mist. The latter became tangible as water. Here we have two things contained in one: a visible thing, water, and an invisible thing, the spirit hidden within the water.

1723 pp 2–3

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.