Sal Lumen and Spiritus Mundi Philosophici

Now this root and mine is enclosed in the ancient bosom of old Demogorgon, the universal progenitor, whom the ancient poets, most diligent investigators of natural secrets, ingeniously depicted wearing a green cloak, wrapped in an iron-coloured rust, covered in obscure darkness, and nourishing every kind of animal. Into his belly the powers of the celestial globes continually flow, penetrating the earth’s flanks and making them pregnant with species of every possible form. There too the elemental qualities and forces come to serve this ancient father, the producer of all things who gives each its specific character. He is perpetually occupied in distributing specific forms through his Iliaste, and in rousing vital heat through his Archee. These Iliaste and Archee are like the two instruments by which things are formed, preserved and increased. [Marginal definitions: Iliaste is the purveyor who supplies the materials for generation. Archee is the fire or natural heat that digests and acts upon those materials.] This Demogorgon is he through whom God’s meditation and thought produced everything created in the heavens and beneath the heavens. Thus, by an admirable adaptation unknown to the common run of philosophers, who attribute it to hidden causes, he contains within himself his Iliaste and his Archee, forms and generates everything, then nourishes and preserves what he generates. Everywhere he performs the office of steward and distributor, establishing the storehouse of his provisions in the midst of the earth’s entrails, from which he draws and distributes life and vigour to everything he produces, from the centre to the circumference.