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Thomas Vaughan

Magia Adamica

The Antiquity of Magic · With the Complete Coelum Terrae

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Magia AdamicaThe Natural Fire · Page 120 · Passage A

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The Natural Fire · Page 120 · Passage A

Original English

your Prey. For a Cloze, I must tell thee, the Philosophers call'd this Fire their Balneum, but it is Balneum Naturae. a Naturall Bath, not an Artificiall one, for it is not any kind of Water, but a certain subtill temperate moysture which compasseth the Glasse, and feeds their Sun, or Fire. In a word without this Bath nothing in the world is generated. Now that thou mayst the better understand what Degree of fire is requisit for the work, consider the Generation of Man, or any other Creature whatsoever. It is not Kitchin fire, nor feaver that works upon the Sperm in the Womb but a most temperate, moyst, natural heat, which proceeds from the very life of the Mother. It is just so here; Our Matter is a most delicate Substance, and tender like the Animal sperme, for it is almost a living thing, nay in very truth it hath some small portion of life, for Nature doth produce some Animals out of it. For this very reason the least violence destroyes it, and prevents all generation, for if it be over-heated but for some few minutes, the white, and red Sulphurs will never essentially unite, and coagulat. On the Contrary, if it takes cold but for half an hour, the work being once well begun, it will never sort to any good purpose. I speak out of my own Experience, for I have (as they phrase it) given my self a Box on the Eare, and that twice

Modern English

your prey. To conclude, I must tell you that the philosophers called this fire their bath; but it is Nature’s bath, a natural bath, not an artificial one. It is no kind of water, but a certain subtle, temperate moisture which surrounds the glass and feeds their sun or fire. In a word, nothing in the world is generated without this bath. To understand better the degree of fire required for the work, consider the generation of a human being or any other creature. Neither kitchen fire nor fever works upon the sperm in the womb, but a thoroughly temperate, moist, natural heat proceeding from the mother’s own life. It is just the same here. Our matter is an extremely delicate substance, tender like animal sperm: it is almost a living thing, and indeed possesses a small portion of life, for Nature produces certain animals from it. For this very reason the least violence destroys it and prevents all generation. If it is overheated for only a few minutes, the white and red sulphurs will never unite and coagulate essentially. Conversely, if it takes cold for as little as half an hour once the work has properly begun, it will never come to any good result. I speak from experience: I have, as the saying goes, given myself a box on the ear, twice

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.

Rights

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.