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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

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The Golden Chain of HomerII.5 · The Anatomy and Regeneration of Chaotic Water

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Facing Pages · Branch 339 of 504

II.5 · The Anatomy and Regeneration of Chaotic Water

German & Latin

1723 pp 267–268

Es möchte hier einer vorwerffen, daß die Excrementa von den Animalien, Vegetabilien und Mineralien, welche die Natur selbst durch ihre gebührende Emunctoria austreibet und auswirfft, nicht Aqua recolacea, oder ein Wesen ohne Krafft oder Substantz sey, sondern solche Wasser sind auch voll des Geistes und Samens und participiren gantz kräfftig von dem austreibenden Corpore, als der Urin von Menschen, die Gummata und Resina von denen Bäumen, und die mineralischen Wasser nach denen Mineren. So antworte ich: Erstlich, weilen die Natur solche eben überflüßig das erzeugte oder generirte Corpus zu conserviren befunden, als hat sie solches wollen austreiben; 2.) ist die Natur hier aus des Schöpffers Willen noch nicht gesinnet die Quintessentification vorzunehmen, wie der Mensch durch Kunst vornehmen kan; & tertio so weiset die Natur den Menschen gar fleißig auf die selbst ohne Schaden des Cörpers auslauffende Excrementa, hieraus zu seiner Leibes-Nothdurfft seinen Unterhalt zu suchen, daß er also nicht vonnöthen hat, das Corpus selbst anzugreiffen, sondern dessen Excrementa, welches eben jedes nach seiner Eigenschafft voll Krafft und Tugend seyn.

1723 pp 267–268

The Golden Chain of Homer: II.5 · The Anatomy and Regeneration of Chaotic Water

1723 pp 267–268

Someone may object that the excrements of animals, plants, and minerals, expelled by nature through their proper outlets, are not recolaceous water or a being without power or substance. Such waters are full of spirit and seed and participate powerfully in the body expelling them: human urine, gums and resins from trees, and mineral waters according to their ores. I answer, first, that nature found these superfluous to preserving the body produced or generated and therefore wished to expel them. Second, by the Creator’s will nature has not yet intended to undertake quintessentiation here, as a person can through art. Third, nature diligently directs people toward excrements that flow out spontaneously without harming the body, so that they may seek their bodily support from them. There is no need to attack the body itself, only its excrements, each full of power and virtue according to its property.

1723 pp 267–268

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.