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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 Homer3 How Everything Was Born

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English Page · Branch 47 of 504

3 How Everything Was Born

German & Latin

1723 pp 8–9

Aus dem subtilesten Theil hat GOtt den Himmel und seine Einwohner gemacht, weil er das subtileste, klareste, reineste, geistreicheste, voller Leben und Seel war, der lebhafft-feurigste und fruchtbareste und beweglichste Theil. Aus dem nechstfolgenden um einen grad mindern Theil machte GOtt das Firmament, nachgehends folget die Lufft, hernach das Wasser, und denn die Erde. Also schiede GOtt eines nach dem andern, und gab ihnen Namen und Krafft zu wircken, und jedes hiesse er seines gleichen hervor bringen, und dieses alles per potentiam impositam verbo divino & impressam immortalis quasi seminis virtutem multiplicabilem, nach welcher er ihnen das verbum multiplicationis zu seinem Gebote befahl rc. Der Himmel solte seine Einwohner und Sternen, die Lufft ihre Meteora, das Wasser seine Fische, die Erde ihre Kräuter, Thiere und Ertz hervor bringen. Aber nicht allein hat GOtt jedem dieser geschiedenen Theile eine specificirte Krafft sich zu vermehren gegeben, sondern auch eine individuirte Tugend, also daß ein jedes Ding, insonderheit das, so in diesen geschiedenen Theilen sein Wesen, zu seyn, empfanget, solche vermehrende Krafft habe. Es hat GOtt auch absonderlich gewolt, daß auch von diesen zusammen ein Universal-General-Saame und Sperma gezeuget werde. Und zwar dieses der Ursachen, weil GOtt sahe, daß das Primordial-Chaotische Wasser nunmehro zertheilet war, und solches nimmermehr ohne Zerstörung aller erschaffenen Dinge zusammen in eins kommen könte, wie es im Anfang war.

1723 pp 8–9

The Golden Chain of Homer: 3 How Everything Was Born

1723 pp 8–9

From the subtlest part God made heaven and its inhabitants, because it was the subtlest, clearest, purest and most spirit-filled part, full of life and soul: the most vividly fiery, fruitful and mobile. From the next part, one degree below it, God made the firmament; next comes air, then water, and then earth. Thus God separated one thing after another, gave them names and the power to act, and commanded each to bring forth its like. All this was through a power implanted by the divine word and an impressed reproductive virtue, as of an immortal seed; in accordance with it, he enjoined upon them the word of multiplication as his command, and so forth. Heaven was to bring forth its inhabitants and stars, air its meteors, water its fish, and earth its plants, animals and ores. God gave each of these separated parts not only a power of multiplication specific to its kind but also an individual virtue, so that every particular thing receiving its being within these separated parts should possess this reproductive power. God also expressly willed that together they should generate a common, universal seed and sperm. He did so because he saw that the primordial chaotic water was now divided and could never come together into one again, as it had been at the beginning, without destroying all created things.

1723 pp 8–9

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.