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The Living Return to Seed · Modern English
Original English
Ayre fall into the Earth, and there they rest, and are conjoyned. Therefore the Earth it self is thicker than the other Elements as it openly appears, and to the eye is manifest. Remember now what I have told thee formerly concerning the Earth; what a generall Hospitall it is, how it receives all things, not onely Beasts and Vegetables, but proud and glorious Man: when Death hath ruin'd him, his courser parts stay here, and know no other Home. This Earth to Earth, is just the Doctrine of the Magi; Metalls (say they) and all things may bee reduc'd into that whereof they were made. They speak the very Truth, it is God's own Principle, and he first taught it Adam Dust thou art, and to Dust shalt thou return. But lest any man should be Deceived by us, I think it just to informe you, there are two reductions; One is Violent and Destructive, reducing Bodies to their Extremes, and properly it is Death, or the Calcination of the common Chimist. The other is Vital, and Generative, resolving Bodies into their Sperm, or middle Substance out of which Nature made them, for Nature makes not Bodies immediatly of the Elements but of a Sperm, which shee drawes out of the Elements. I shall explain my self to you by Example. An Egg is the Sperm, or middle Substance out of which a Chick is ingendred,
Modern English
air, falls into earth, where they rest and are conjoined. Earth itself is therefore thicker than the other elements, as is openly apparent and manifest to the eye. Remember what I told you earlier about earth: what a universal hospital it is, receiving everything—not only beasts and plants, but proud and glorious humanity. When death has ruined a person, the coarser parts remain here and know no other home. This “earth to earth” is precisely the Magi’s doctrine. Metals, they say, and all things can be reduced to that from which they were made. They speak the very truth: it is God’s own principle, which he first taught Adam: “Dust you are, and to dust you shall return.” But lest anyone be deceived by us, I think it right to tell you that there are two reductions. One is violent and destructive, reducing bodies to their extremes: properly, it is death, or the ordinary chemist’s calcination. The other is vital and generative, resolving bodies into their sperm, or the middle substance from which Nature made them. For Nature makes bodies not immediately from the elements, but from a sperm which she draws out of the elements. I shall explain by an example. An egg is the sperm, or middle substance, from which a chick is generated,
Socrates
Reading Magia Adamica · The Living Return to Seed · Page 128 · Passage A
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Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.About This Reading Edition
Thomas Vaughan’s complete 1650 Magia Adamica publication, with all historical preliminaries and the complete appended Coelum Terrae, original and modern English, fresh translations of Latin, Greek and Hebrew, full poems, eight historical marginal notes, the complete recovered printed corrections, 312 annotations and the complete supplied Diotimos study apparatus.
Historical Text and Translation
Thomas Vaughan (Eugenius Philalethes), Magia Adamica: or The Antiquitie of Magic, with Coelum Terrae. London: T. W. for H. Blunden, 1650. Governing transcription: EEBO-TCP A64768.0001.001. The Getty Research Institute copy supplies surviving first-edition page images; the 1656 issue supplies explicitly disclosed missing or defective material. The complete shared 1650 errata are recovered from the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica copy of The Man-Mouse.
About Diotimos Editions
This historical edition credits Diotimos Editions as its English translator.
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The historical text is public domain; the EEBO-TCP Phase I transcription is released under CC0. The supplied 2026 reading, translations and Diotimos editorial material are published with the site owner’s authorization.
- Governing historical text and transcriptionEEBO-TCP: governing 1650 textual witness
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