Diotimos Library · Esotericism & Spirituality Collection · Bilingual Edition
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English Page · Branch 170 of 504
I.21 · The Generation of Animals
German & Latin
1723 pp 119–120Das mercke der Leser wohl, der Geist ist, der da wircket und thut, und nicht das Wasser. Je stärcker und mehr der Geist in einem Animali ist, je weniger ▽, je munterer, lebhaffter das Thier ist. Hat aber das Thier viel ▽, so erträncket es den Spiritum, und das Thier wird träg und faul und schläffrig. Der Geist aber muß Wasser haben, vermittelst welchen er alles agiren muß, und kan ohne Wasser nichts thun; Allein in rechter Quantität, nicht zu viel und nicht zu wenig, sonsten ist es excessiv, welches nicht allein in animali, sondern auch in vegetabili & minerali regno. Denn der Anfang und Ursprung aller Dinge war nur Geist und ▽, und der Geist hat im ▽ angefangen zu wircken und alles, was sichtbar und unsichtbar im Himmel und auf Erden, zu schaffen auf Befehl seines Schöpffers. Also macht solcher individuirter Geist in dem Thier vermittelst des Wassers Blut, Fleisch, Haut und Bein und alle Glieder des Leibes, und macht es hart und weich nach Angebung des Schöpffers. In der Resolution aber da macht es eben solcher Spiritus, wie ers aus ▽ gemacht hat, also macht ers mit und durchs ▽ zu einer wässerichten Materie, und endlich zu einem Wasser-Spiritu, wie es auch im Anfange gewesen. Aus diesen nun siehet der Leser den Samen und Saamen, aus wem das animalische Reich geboren und zerstöret wird, und zu was es wieder wird, und in wem und aus wem es bestehet.
The Golden Chain of Homer: I.21 · The Generation of Animals
1723 pp 119–120Let the reader mark this well: spirit acts and works, not water. The stronger and more abundant the spirit in an animal, and the less water, the livelier and more animated the animal. If an animal has much water, it drowns the spirit and the animal becomes sluggish, lazy and sleepy. Yet spirit must have water through which to carry out all its activity; without water it can do nothing. The quantity must be right, neither too much nor too little, or it is excessive. This holds not only in the animal but also in the vegetable and mineral kingdoms. The beginning and origin of all things was only spirit and water. In water the spirit began to work and to create everything visible and invisible in heaven and on earth at its Creator’s command. In an animal this individualized spirit accordingly makes blood, flesh, skin, bone and all the body’s members through water, making it hard and soft according to the Creator’s direction. In resolution the same spirit that made it from water makes it, with and through water, into watery matter, and finally into a water-spirit as it was at the beginning. From this the reader sees the seed and source from which the animal kingdom is born and destroyed, what it becomes again, and in and from what it consists.
Socrates
Reading The Golden Chain of Homer · I.21 · The Generation of Animals · B1C21S006 · 1723 pp 119–120
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Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.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.
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.
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This historical edition credits Diotimos Editions as its English translator.
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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.