Diotimos Library · Esotericism & Spirituality Collection · Bilingual Edition
Sal Lumen and Spiritus Mundi Philosophici
Treatises on the True Salt and the Universal Spirit of the World
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French Page · Branch 57 of 251
Book One · Chapter 5
French
1621 pp. 40–41 · scans FR060, FR061Les semences de tous les corps sont aquees, comme pleines de l'humeur de leur Mercure. Que si leur chaleur innee est tiree de puissance en acte par la chaleur externe du Soleil, alors par decoction se fait la generation. Ce qui a fait dire aux philosophes anciens que le Soleil & l'homme engendrent, assavoir le Soleil, le Soleil terrestre, qui est l'or: & l'homme, l'homme, c'est une chose manifeste que le feu elementaire est comme mort & ingenerable sans le feu solaire: qui fait que le Soleil est coustumierement appellé seigneur de vie & generation. La chaleur donc en toute generation des choses vient du Soleil; mais l'humidité que l'on appelle radicale est fomentee par l'influence Lunaire, que toutes choses reçoivent & sentent, estant alterees & changees par les mouvemens de cet astre, en son croissant ou decours. Voyla pourquoy Hermes a dit que la Lune est mere de la matiere universelle, & le Soleil son pere: car la chaleur du Soleil & l'humidité de la Lune engendrent toutes choses, parce que la chaleur & l'humeur ayant pris temperie conçoivent, & de cette conception tout naist & reçoit vie. Et combien que le feu & l'eau soient contraires, toutes-fois l'un ne pourroit profiter sans l'autre, mais par leur diverse action tout est conceu & conçoit. Ainsi dans l'univers discordante concorde Aux generations devient apte & s'accorde.
Sal Lumen and Spiritus Mundi Philosophici: Book One · Chapter 5
1621 pp. 40–41 · scans FR060, FR061The seeds of all bodies are watery, being full of the moisture of their Mercury. If their innate heat is brought from potentiality into actuality by the sun’s external heat, generation then takes place through decoction. This led the ancient philosophers to say that the sun and man generate: the sun, that is, the terrestrial sun which is gold; and man, man. It is manifest that elemental fire is as though dead and incapable of generation without solar fire; hence the sun is customarily called the lord of life and generation. Heat in every generation of things therefore comes from the sun, but the moisture called radical is fostered by lunar influence. All things receive and feel this influence, being altered and changed by the movements of this heavenly body in its waxing or waning. That is why Hermes said that the moon is the mother of universal matter and the sun its father. For the sun’s heat and the moon’s moisture generate all things: heat and moisture, having reached a temperate balance, conceive, and from this conception everything is born and receives life. Although fire and water are contrary, neither could accomplish anything without the other; through their different actions everything is conceived and itself conceives. Thus in the universe discordant concord Becomes fit for generation and agrees.
Socrates
Reading Sal Lumen and Spiritus Mundi Philosophici · Book One · Chapter 5 · Book One · Chapter 5 · Unit 3
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Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.About This Reading Edition
The complete French text of 1621 with a new English translation, all three books, preliminary texts, nine concluding sonnets, original errata, 299 annotations and the complete supplied study apparatus.
Historical Text and Translation
Clovis Hesteau de Nuysement, Traittez de l’harmonie et constitution generalle du vray sel, secret des Philosophes, & de l’Esprit universelle du Monde. Paris: Jérémie Périer and Abdias Buisard, 1621. The governing witness is the BnF/Gallica reproduction, ark:/12148/bpt6k656273. The reproduced privilege is dated 6 November 1620; the separate eighty-page Poème philosophic of 1620 is outside this edition.
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This historical edition credits Diotimos Editions as its English translator.
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The historical text printed in 1621 is in the public domain. The supplied 2026 French reading text, new English translation, introduction, notes and complete study apparatus are published with the site owner’s authorization.
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