Lumen de Lumine

In the Beginning it was generated by Reflexion of the first unity upon the Coelestial Cube, for the Bright Emanations of God did flow like a streame into the Passive πηγὴ, and in this Analogie the Samian styles Him πηγὴν ἀεννάου φύσεως, Fontem perpetuae Naturae. You shall understand that the Aether is not one, but manifold, and the Reasons of it wee shall give you hereafter. By this I mind not a variety of Substances, but a Chaine of Complexions. There are other Moystures, and those too aethereall: They are Females also of the Masculine Divine Fire, and these are the Fountains of the Chaldee, which the Oracle styles πηγαίας ἀκρότητας, Summitates Fontanas, the Invisible upper springs of Nature. Of all substances that come to our hands, this Aether is the first that brings us News of Another World, and tels us we live in a corrupt place. Sendivogius call’d it the Urine of Saturn, and with this did he water his Lunar and Solar Plants. Ex Mari meo (said the Jew) oriuntur Nebulae, quae ferunt Aquas Benedictas, & ipsae irrigant Terras, & educunt Herbas & Flores. In a word this Moysture is animated with a Vegetable blessed divine Fire, which made one describe the Mistery thus. Ex Naturâ, & ex Divino factum est: Divinum enim est, quia cum Divinitate conjunctum Divinas substantias facit. To conclude, the Aether is to be found in the lower spring or מעין, namely in that substance, which the Arabians call Flos salis albi, the Flower of white Salt. It is indeed borne of Salt, for Salt is the Root of it, and it is found withall in locis salsosis, in certaine Saltish places. The best Discovery of it is this: The Philosophers call it their Mineral Tree, for it grows as all Vegetables doe, and hath Leaves and Fruits in the very Houre of its Nativity. This is enough, and now I passe to another principle.