# Coelum Terrae
The Magician’s Heavenly Chaos
A complete modern English reading of the 1650 text
Thomas Vaughan (Eugenius Philalethes)
Diotimos Editions 2026
Complete original and modern English reading with newly translated foreign passages and Diotimos study features
## Contents
- [About This Edition](#EDITION_STATEMENT)
- [Introduction](#INTRODUCTION)
- [Publication and Transmission](#CHRONOLOGY)
- [Text and Translation Policy](#TEXT_TRANSLATION)
- [The Complete Historical Text](#CT-WORK)
- [Coelum Terrae](#CT-MAIN)
- [The Agent and the First Matter](#CT-AGENT)
- [The Seed and the Earth](#CT-EARTH)
- [Nature in Motion](#CT-CHANGE)
- [Hyanthe](#CT-HYANTHE)
- [The Philosophers’ Testimonies](#CT-TESTIMONIES)
- [The Voice of Nature](#CT-NATURE)
- [Secrecy and the Divine Source](#CT-SECRECY)
- [Generation and Restoration](#CT-GENERATION)
- [The Natural Fire](#CT-FIRE)
- [The Region of Light](#CT-REGION)
- [The Living Return to Seed](#CT-REDUCTION)
- [The Reconciliation of the Elements](#CT-MEDIATION)
- [The Address to the Book](#CT-BOOK-POEM)
- [Printed Corrections for Coelum Terrae](#CT-ERRATA)
- [Interpretive Essays](#KEYWORDS)
- [Historical Glossary](#GLOSSARY)
- [Contextual Lexicon](#LEXICON)
- [Relations Within the Work](#RELATIONS)
- [Guide to the Poems](#POEM_GUIDE)
- [Reading Routes](#READING_ROUTES)
- [Questions for Study](#QUESTIONS)
- [Sources and Editorial Credits](#BIBLIOGRAPHY)
- [Subject Index](#SUBJECT_INDEX)
## About This Edition
Coelum Terrae is Thomas Vaughan’s account of the first matter of nature, the medicine believed to arise from it, and the conditions under which transformation becomes possible. He published it under the name Eugenius Philalethes in 1650. Its Latin title can be understood as Heaven of Earth; the English title announced in the original volume is The Magician’s Heavenly Chaos. The discourse itself was written in English. This Diotimos edition offers a complete modern English reading, with newly translated foreign passages, beside the historical wording.
The selected work is the added discourse in Magia Adamica, printed in London by T. W. for H. Blunden in 1650. It begins on printed page 78 with Vaughan’s announcement that he has finished arguing for the antiquity of magic and will now discuss the art itself. The reading continues through the prose conclusion and FINIS on page 138, the address to the book on pages 139–140, the concluding praise of God and Amen, and the printed corrections relevant to Coelum Terrae. Magia Adamica’s preceding argument and its own preliminary matter are separate host material, outside this edition’s stated scope. The opening backward reference is retained and explained rather than rewritten as a new beginning.
The source combines the EEBO Text Creation Partnership transcription of the 1650 British Library witness with the surviving pages of the Getty Research Institute’s 1650 copy. The Getty copy is imperfect as a whole and lacks the leaf containing page 78; it supplies a separate first-edition witness for the remainder of the selected discourse. Source locators identify the actual witness used. Arthur Edward Waite’s 1888 collected reprint is a later comparison, with its own editorial choices, and does not govern this reading.
The study material distinguishes Vaughan’s propositions, the authorities he quotes, and Diotimos interpretation. References to a universal medicine, transmutation, divine influence and incorruptibility report historical claims. Spiritual and material interpretations are explored where the language supports them; neither is imposed as the exclusive meaning of every passage. No common chemical substance is silently substituted for the unnamed first matter.
The historical text and the TCP transcription are public-domain source material; TCP identifies its Phase I transcription as available under CC0. The modern reading, new translations and supporting essays, glossary, contextual lexicon, guides and index are separately identified editorial contributions for Diotimos Editions. Full source credits and links appear in the bibliography. This is a textual reading edition, with stable historical page references, rather than a photographic facsimile.
## Introduction
Vaughan promises unusually direct speech and immediately explains why his account will remain scattered. His subject is one thing, yet its names multiply: water, salt, mercury, virgin, mother, earth and chaos. Its operations appear in bodily language, courtship, cosmology, theological argument and poetry. Reading Coelum Terrae requires following the qualifications attached to these names. A description on one page may be narrowed, withdrawn from ordinary substances, or placed inside a different speaker’s testimony on the next.
The opening lays out a sequence: the subject of the art, the medicine generated from it, and the means by which the art works. The sequence supplies this edition’s principal guide, though Vaughan repeatedly doubles back. The Hyanthe poem precedes a long body of testimony about water; the defence of secrecy leads into negative theology; the discussion of heat is followed by another account of the matter’s birthplace. The motion is purposeful but does not resemble a modern systematic handbook.
### Following the Argument
Begin with the distinction between an active universal agent and a passive universal recipient on pages 80–82. God is the agent; first matter is a created recipient bearing divine likeness. Vaughan demands encounter with the thing rather than possession of its name. He then describes its appearances, uses the earth’s seasonal changes to direct attention, and finally denies that ordinary dirt is the intended subject. These transitions matter more than any isolated synonym. See [the two sanctuaries](#CT-P080-B), [agent and patient](#CT-P081-A) and [the correction concerning earth](#CT-P089-A).
The central argument concerns life preserved through alteration. On pages 114–123, separation and reunion are justified by an account of corruption; on pages 128–130, a destructive return to elements is distinguished from a living return to seed. The egg example makes the difference tangible. The final pages broaden this claim into an account of mediation: elementary opposites need ordering, then a stronger divine bond. See [the diagnosis of corruption](#CT-P115-A), [the egg](#CT-P129-A) and [the spirit as bond](#CT-P134-A).
### Material and Spiritual Readings
Vaughan explicitly invokes seeing, handling and working. He also places the work inside a Christian account of creation, fall, restoration and divine agency. A reading concerned with the transformation of attention, desire or conduct can learn from his preference for patience over coercion and for hearing over display. Such a reading should remain an interpretation of the text’s relations, rather than an excuse to discard its physical claims. Conversely, references to a glass, moisture or heat do not authorize replacing his unstable vocabulary with a modern recipe.
The book itself prevents an easy choice between bodily and spiritual meanings. Its proposed medicine becomes a spiritual heavenly body; the spirit of God strengthens an elemental disposition; a living seed is neither a completed creature nor its dismantled ingredients. Attend to the level at which each speaker is arguing, and let unresolved tensions remain visible. The essays offer ways to follow those tensions without claiming to settle the identity of the secret subject.
### Speakers and Readers
The discourse contains Vaughan’s assertions, Latin and Greek citations, his own historical translations, reported sayings and voices assigned to Nature or the stone. These voices do not all have the same authority. When he praises a statement attributed to Lully, Arnold, Albertus or Zoroaster, the attribution is part of his reception of those names; it does not establish authorship of every quoted work. The notes distinguish a historical attribution from a separately verified source.
Vaughan’s satire can be sharp. Physicians, university disputants and readers who demand immediate disclosure receive insults, while patient students receive encouragement. His comments about women combine praise of patience and practical familiarity with condescending assumptions of his period. The modern reading retains these features of his address. The closing poem further complicates the pose of plain instruction by imagining the little book as an intimate object in the hands of readers.
## Publication and Transmission
### The London Volume of 1650
The title page of Magia Adamica advertises an added discovery of the true Coelum Terrae, the magician’s heavenly chaos and first matter of all things. The imprint is London, printed by T. W. for H. Blunden at the Castle in Cornhill, 1650. The TCP bibliographic record identifies Wing V151 and ESTC R203905 and records a British Library Thomason witness. Its annotation October 29 belongs to that recorded copy; it is not presented here as a separately established day of publication.
### The Collected Reprint of 1888
Arthur Edward Waite included Coelum Terrae in The Magical Writings of Thomas Vaughan, published by George Redway in London in 1888, with a biographical preface, an essay and translations of Latin passages. The Wellcome digitisation of that book is useful for comparison and for the history of Vaughan’s later reception. Its nineteenth-century framing is kept distinct from the 1650 work.
### The TCP Transcription
The TEI header for EEBO-TCP A64768 records keying in 2001, editorial work in 2002 and an electronic publication statement dated March 2009. The header also records the release of the Phase I texts into the public domain on 1 January 2015. This transcription supplies searchable, structurally encoded evidence from a first-edition witness, including page boundaries, citations and recorded gaps.
### The Diotimos Reading Edition
This 2026 edition returns to the 1650 textual basis, uses available first-edition page images to examine readings, provides a modern English text and fresh foreign-language translations, and adds clearly labelled study material. Its new pagination is independent of the historical pagination retained in passage locators.
## Text and Translation Policy
Original English blocks preserve the historical wording, including the book’s changes of voice and the foreign passages it prints. The modern reading regularises obsolete spelling and punctuation, clarifies older syntax, and retains meaningful repetition, qualifications, satire and technical ambiguity. Its purpose is sustained reading without abridgment. It does not convert the work into a claim of modern scientific demonstration.
A quoted Latin or Greek passage receives a fresh English rendering. Where Vaughan then offers his own English version, that historical rendering also remains in place, modernised as part of his discourse. The two may differ in emphasis or detail. Their deliberate sequence is preserved instead of collapsing them into a single anonymous translation. Biblical allusions, reported authorities and marginal citations likewise remain identifiable.
Stable CT passage identifiers connect the reading, notes and study features to historical printed pages and source witnesses. The identifiers are editorial locators. Headings in the Diotimos apparatus and any added reading divisions belong to the modern edition unless expressly identified as historical. They do not imply that the original continuous discourse contained modern chapters.
Book furniture such as repeated running headings, catchwords, blank surfaces and library markings is recorded through the source inventory rather than repeated as prose. The closing poem and concluding praise of God remain included. The appendix preserves the printed corrections for Coelum Terrae on pages 106 and 126. The host’s correction for its earlier Magia Adamica text and corrections belonging to The Man-Mouse Taken in a Trap fall outside the selected work; the note to the appendix distinguishes them rather than presenting a partial host notice as a complete transcription of the whole volume’s errata.
An annotation identifies a difficult reading, a source-dependent recovery or a genuine uncertainty where relevant. A later reprint can suggest a comparison without silently replacing an ambiguous first-edition form. New interpretations remain separate from the historical text. The source bibliography explains the different roles of the TCP transcription, Getty copy and Wellcome comparison.
## The Complete Historical Text
### Coelum Terrae
**CT-P078-A** 1650, p. 78
**Original English**
I have now, Reader, performed my promise, and according to my Posse proved the Antiquitie of Magic. I am not so much a foole as to expect a generall subscription to my endeavours, every man's Placet is not the same with mine; but Jacta est Alea, I have done this much, and he that will overthrow it, must know in the first place, it is his Task to do more. There is one point, I can justly bind an Adversarie too, That he shall not oppose Man to God, Heathen Romances to Divine Scriptures: He that would foyle me, must use such weapons as I doe, for I have not fed my Readers with straw, neither will I be confuted with stubble. In the next place it is my Designe to speake something of the Art it self, and this I shall doe in rationall termes, a Forme different from the Ancients, for I will not stuffe my Discourse like a Wilderness with Lions and Dragons. To Common Philosophers that fault is very proper, which Quintilian observed in some Orators: Operum fastigia spectantur, latent fundamenta; The spires of their Babel are in the Clouds, its Fundamentals no where, they talk indeed of fine Things, but tell us not upon what grounds. To avoid these Flights, I shall
**Modern English**
I have now, reader, fulfilled my promise and, to the best of my ability, proved the antiquity of magic. I am not foolish enough to expect everyone to endorse my efforts: not everyone shares my judgment. But the die is cast. I have done this much, and whoever would overthrow it must first understand that his task is to do more. On one point I may rightly bind an opponent: he must not set man against God, or pagan romances against divine Scripture. Whoever would defeat me must use the same weapons as I do. I have not fed my readers straw, and I will not be refuted with stubble. Next I intend to speak about the art itself. I shall do so in rational terms, departing from the manner of the ancients: I will not fill my discourse like a wilderness with lions and dragons. Ordinary philosophers are particularly guilty of the fault Quintilian observed in some orators: “The summits of their works are visible; their foundations lie hidden.” The spires of their Babel are in the clouds, its foundations nowhere. They speak of fine things, but never tell us on what grounds. To avoid such flights, I shall[^n1], [^n2]
**CT-P079-A** 1650, p. 79
**Original English**
in this my Olla (for I care not much what I shall call it) observe this Composition. First, I shall speake of that One only Thing, which is the Subject of this Art, and the Mother of all Things. Secondly, I will discourse of that most admirable, and more than naturall Medicine, which is generated out of this one Thing. Lastly, though with some disorder. I will discover the means how, and by which this Art works upon the Subject; but these being the Keyes which lead to the very Estrado of Nature. where she sits in full Solemnitie, and receives the Visits of the Philosophers, I must scatter them in severall parts of the Discourse. This is all, and here thou must not consider how long, or short I shall be, but how full the Discoverie: and truly it shall be such, and so much, that Thou canst not in modestie expect more. Now then you that would be what the Ancient Physicians were, Manus Deorum salutares, not Quacks and Salvos of the Pipkin; you that would performe what you publickly professe, and make your Callings honest and Conscionable, attend to the Truth without spleen. Remember that Praejudice is no Religion, and by Consequence hath no Reward. If this Art were damnable, you might safely studie it notwithstanding for you have a praecept to prove all Things, but to hold fast
**Modern English**
arrange this miscellany of mine—for I care little what I call it—as follows. First I shall speak of the one and only thing that is the subject of this art and the mother of all things. Second, I shall discuss the most wonderful and more than natural medicine generated from this one thing. Last, though with some disorder, I shall disclose the means by which the art works upon its subject. But these are the keys that lead into Nature's very chamber of state, where she sits in full ceremony and receives the philosophers' visits; I must therefore scatter them throughout the discourse. This is all. Consider here how complete the disclosure is, rather than how long or short my account may be. It will truly be such, and so much, that you cannot reasonably expect more. Now, you who would become what the ancient physicians were—the healing hands of the gods—instead of quacks and peddlers of pot remedies; you who would accomplish what you publicly profess, and make your callings honest and conscientious: attend to the truth without resentment. Remember that prejudice is no religion and consequently earns no reward. Even if this art were damnable, you could still safely study it, for you have a command to test all things and hold fast[^n3], [^n4]
**CT-P080-A** 1650, p. 80
**Original English**
that which is Good. It is your Duty not to bee wanting to your selves, and for my part, that I may be wanting to none, thus I begin.
**Modern English**
to what is good. It is your duty not to fail yourselves. For my part, so that I may fail no one, I begin as follows.
### The Agent and the First Matter
**CT-P080-B** 1650, p. 80
**Original English**
Said the Cabalist, Domus Sanctuarii, quae est hìc inferiùs; disponitur Secundum Domum Sanctuarii, quae est Superiùs, The Building of the Sanctuarie, which is here below, is framed according to that of the Sanctuarie, which is above. Here wee have two worlds Visible and Invisible, and two universall Natures Visible and Invisible out of which both those Worlds proceeded. The Passive Universall Nature, was made in the Image of the Active Universall one, and the Conformitie of Both Worlds, or Sanctuaries, consist in the Originall Conformitie of their Principles. There are many Platonics, (and this last Centurie hath afforded them some apish Disciples) who discourse very boldly of the Similitudes of Inferiors and Superiors, but if wee throughly search their Trash, it is a pack of small Conspiracies; namely of the Heliotrope and the Sun, Iron and the Load-stone, the Wound and the Weapon. It is excellent sport to hear how they crow being roosted on these pittiful Particulars, as if they knew the Universal Magnet, which binds this great Frame, and moves all the Members of it to a Mutuall Compassion,
**Modern English**
The kabbalist said: [New translation of the Latin:] “The house of the sanctuary here below is arranged according to the house of the sanctuary above.” [Vaughan’s own English rendering:] “The building of the sanctuary here below is framed according to that of the sanctuary above.” Here we have two worlds, visible and invisible, and two universal natures, visible and invisible, from which those worlds proceeded. The passive universal nature was made in the image of the active universal nature. The correspondence between the two worlds, or sanctuaries, consists in the original correspondence of their principles. There are many Platonists—and the last century has supplied them with some apish disciples—who speak very boldly about the likenesses between lower and higher things. But if we examine their rubbish thoroughly, it amounts to a collection of petty sympathies: the heliotrope and the sun, iron and the lodestone, the wound and the weapon. It is excellent sport to hear them crow from their perch on these paltry particulars, as though they knew the universal magnet that binds this great frame together and moves all its members to mutual sympathy.[^n5], [^n6]
**CT-P081-A** 1650, p. 81
**Original English**
This is an Humor much like that of Don Quixote, who knew Dulcinea, but never saw her. Those students then, who would be better instructed, must first know. There is an Universall Agent, who when hee was dispos'd to Create, had no other Patterne or Exemplar whereby to frame and mould his Creatures, but himself, but having infinite inward Idea's, or Conceptions in himself as hee conceived so hee created, that is to say, hee created an outward forme answerable to the inward Conception, or figure of his Mind. In the second place they ought to know, there is an Universall Patient, and this Passive Nature was created by the Universall Agent. This generall Patient, is the immediat Catholic Character of God himself in his Unitie, and Trinitie. In plain Termes, it is that Substance which wee commonly call the first Matter. But verily it is to no purpose to know this Notion, Matter, unlesse we know the Thing it self, to which the Notion relates; wee must see it, handle it, and by experimentall ocular Demonstrations know the very Central Invisible Essences, and Proprieties of it. But of these things heare the most excellent Capnion, who informes his Jew, and his Epicure of two Catholic Natures Material and Spiritual: Alteram (saith he) quae videri oculis, & attingi manu possit, propè ad omne Momentum
**Modern English**
Their disposition much resembles that of Don Quixote, who knew Dulcinea but had never seen her. Students who wish for better instruction must first understand that there is a universal agent. When he determined to create, he had no pattern or model by which to frame and mould his creatures except himself. But having infinite inward ideas or conceptions within himself, he created as he conceived: that is, he created an outward form corresponding to the inward conception or figure of his mind. Second, they must know that there is a universal patient, and that this passive nature was created by the universal agent. This general patient is the immediate universal character of God himself in his unity and trinity. In plain terms, it is the substance we commonly call first matter. Yet knowing the concept “matter” serves no purpose unless we know the thing to which the concept refers. We must see it, handle it, and through experimental demonstrations before our eyes come to know its very central, invisible essences and properties. But hear the excellent Capnion on these matters. He tells his Jew and his Epicurean of two universal natures, material and spiritual. [New translation of the Latin:] “One can be seen with the eyes and touched with the hand, and can change at almost every moment.[^n7], [^n8]
**CT-P082-A** 1650, p. 82
**Original English**
alterabilem. Detur enim venia (ut ait Madaurensis) Novitati Verborum, rerum obscuritatibus inservienti. Haec ipsa cum eadem & una persistere nequeat, nihilominus à tali Virtute animi hospitio suscipitur, pro modo rectiùs quo est, quam quo non est, qualis in veritate res est, id est, mutabilis. Alteram autem substantiarum Naturam incorruptam, immutabilem, constantem, eandem que ac sempèr Existentem. The English of it speaks thus One Nature is such, it may be seen with the eyes, and felt with the hands, and it is subject to Alteration almost in every Moment. You must Pardon (as Apuleius saith) this strange Expression, because it makes for the Obscuritie of the Thing. This very Nature, since shee may not continue one, and the same, is notwithstanding apprehended of the mind under her such Qualification, more rightly as shee is, than as shee is not, namely as the Thing it self is in Truth, that is to say, Changeable. The other Nature, or Principle of Substances, is incorruptible, immutable, constant, One and the same for ever, and alwayes existent Thus hee. Now this Changeable Nature whereof he speaks is the first Visible, Tangible Substance that ever God made; it is white in Appearance, and 'Paracelsus gives you the Reason why: Omnia (saith he) in Dei Manu alba sunt, is ea tingit, ut vult: All
**Modern English**
For pardon should be granted, as the man of Madaura says, to new language serving the obscurity of its subject. Although this nature cannot remain one and the same, it is nevertheless received into the mind's lodging by such a power of the soul, more rightly in respect of what it is than what it is not: as the thing truly is, that is, changeable. But the other nature of substances is incorrupt, unchangeable, constant, one and the same, and always existing.” [Vaughan’s own English rendering:] “One nature can be seen with the eyes and felt with the hands, and is subject to alteration at almost every moment. You must pardon, as Apuleius says, this unusual expression, because it serves the obscurity of the thing. Although this nature cannot continue one and the same, the mind nevertheless apprehends it under its actual condition: more rightly as it is than as it is not, namely, as the thing truly is—changeable. The other nature, or principle of substances, is incorruptible, unchangeable, constant, one and the same forever, and always existent.” So he says. Now this changeable nature is the first visible, tangible substance God ever made. It is white in appearance, and Paracelsus gives the reason: [New translation of the Latin:] “All things are white in God's hand; he colours them as he wills.” [Vaughan’s own English rendering:] “All[^n9], [^n10]
**CT-P083-A** 1650, p. 83
**Original English**
things when they first proceed from God, are white, but hee colours them afterwards, according to his pleasure. An Example wee have in this very matter, which the Philosophers call sometimes their red Magnesia, sometimes their white, by which Descriptions they have deceived many men; for in the first praeparation the Chaos is Bloud-red, because the Central Sulphur is stirr'd up, and discovered by the Philosophicall Fire. In the Second it is exceeding white and transparent like the Heavens. It is in Truth somewhat like Common Quicksilver, but of a Coelestiall transcendent brightnesse, for there is nothing upon Earth like it. This fine substance is the Child of the Elements, and it is a most pure, sweet Virgin; for nothing as yet hath been generated out of her: but if at any time shee breeds, it is by the fire of Nature, for that is her husband. Shee is no Animal, no Vegetable, no Mineral, neither is shee extracted out of Animals, Vegetables, or Minerals, but shee is praeexistent to them all, for shee is the Mother of them. Yet one thing I must say, shee is not much short of Life, for shee is almost Animal. Her Composition is miraculous and different from all other Compounds whatsoever. Gold is not so compact, but every Sophister concludes it is no Simple; but shee is so much One, that no man believes she is more.
**Modern English**
things, when they first proceed from God, are white, but he colours them afterwards according to his pleasure.” We have an example in this very matter, which the philosophers sometimes call their red magnesia and sometimes their white. These descriptions have deceived many men. In the first preparation the chaos is blood-red, because its central sulphur is stirred up and disclosed by the philosophical fire. In the second it is exceedingly white and transparent, like the heavens. In truth it is somewhat like common quicksilver, but with a celestial, surpassing brightness, for there is nothing on earth like it. This fine substance is the child of the elements and a most pure, sweet virgin: nothing has yet been generated from her. If she ever bears offspring, it is by the fire of Nature, for that is her husband. She is no animal, vegetable or mineral, nor is she extracted from animals, vegetables or minerals. She exists before them all, for she is their mother. Yet I must say one thing: she falls little short of life, being almost animal. Her composition is miraculous, differing from every other compound whatsoever. Gold is not so compact that any sophist mistakes it for a simple substance; but she is so completely one that no one believes her to be more.[^n11]
**CT-P084-A** 1650, p. 84
**Original English**
Shee yeelds to nothing but Love, for her End is Generation, and that was never yet perform'd by Violence. Hee that knows how to wanton, and toy with her. the same shall receive all her Treasures. First, shee shedds at her Nipples a thick heavy water, but white as any snow; The Philosophers call it Virgin-milk. Secondly, she gives him Bloud from her very heart; it is a quick heavenly fire, some impioperly call it their sulphur. Thirdly and lastly shee presents him with a secret Chrystall, of more worth and lustre than the white Rock, and all her Rosials. This is shee, and these are her Favours: Catch her, if you can.
**Modern English**
She yields to nothing but love, for her end is generation, and generation has never yet been accomplished by violence. Whoever knows how to court and play with her will receive all her treasures. First, from her nipples she sheds a thick, heavy water, white as snow; the philosophers call it virgin's milk. Second, she gives him blood from her very heart. It is a living heavenly fire, which some improperly call their sulphur. Third and last, she presents him with a secret crystal of greater worth and lustre than the white rock and all her rose-like jewels. This is she, and these are her favours. Catch her if you can.[^n12]
**CT-P084-B** 1650, p. 84
**Original English**
To this Character and Discoverie of my owne. I shall adde some more Descriptions, as I find her limm'd and drest by her other Lovers. Some few (but such as knew her very well) have written that shee is not onely One and Three, but withall Foure and Five, and this Truth is Essentiall. The Titles they have bestowed upon her, are divers. They call her their Catholic Magnesia. and the Sperme of the World. out of which all Naturall things are generated. Her Birth (say they) is Singular, and not without a miracle; her Complexion heavenly, and different from her Parents. Her Body also in some sense is Incorruptible, and the Common Elements cannot destroy it, neither
**Modern English**
To this portrait and disclosure of my own I shall add further descriptions, as I find her painted and dressed by her other lovers. A few, who knew her very well, have written that she is not only one and three, but also four and five; and this truth concerns her essence. They have bestowed various titles upon her. They call her their universal magnesia and the seed of the world, from which all natural things are generated. Her birth, they say, is singular and miraculous; her constitution is heavenly and differs from that of her parents. In a certain sense her body is incorruptible: the common elements cannot destroy it, nor[^n13]
**CT-P085-A** 1650, p. 85
**Original English**
will shee mix with them Essentially. In the outward shape, or figure, shee resembles a stone, and yet is no stone, for they call her their white Gum, and Water of their Sea, water of Life most pure, and most blessed water, and yet they minde not water of the Clouds, or Rain-water. nor water of the Wel, nor Dew: but a certain thick permanent, saltish water, a water that is drie, and wetts not the hand, a viscous, slimie water generated out of the saltish fatnesse of the Earth. They call her also their twofold Mercurie, and Azoth begotten by the Influences of two Globes, Coelestiall, and Terrestriall. Moreover, they affirme her to bee of that Nature, that no fire can destroy her, which of all other Descriptions is most true, for shee is fire her self, having in her a portion of the universall fire of Nature, and a secret Coelestiall spirit, which spirit is animated, and quickened by God himself, wherefore also they call her their most blessed stone. Lastly, they say shee is a middle nature between thick and thin, neither altogether Earthy, nor altogether Firie, but a mean aereall substance to bee found every where, and every time of the year.
**Modern English**
will she mix essentially with them. In outward shape or form she resembles a stone, yet is no stone. They call her their white gum and the water of their sea, the most pure water of life and most blessed water. Yet they do not mean water from the clouds, rainwater, well water or dew, but a certain thick, permanent, slightly salty water: a dry water that does not wet the hand, a viscous, slimy water generated from the salty fatness of the earth. They also call her their twofold mercury and azoth, begotten by the influences of the two globes, celestial and terrestrial. Moreover, they say that no fire can destroy her. Of all their descriptions this is most true, for she herself is fire, containing a portion of Nature's universal fire and a secret celestial spirit. This spirit is animated and quickened by God himself; hence they also call her their most blessed stone. Last, they say she is a middle nature between thick and thin, neither wholly earthy nor wholly fiery, but an intermediate aerial substance to be found everywhere and at every season of the year.[^n14]
### The Seed and the Earth
**CT-P085-B** 1650, p. 85
**Original English**
This is enough: but that I may speak something my self in plain Termes, I say shee is a very salt, but extreme soft, and somewhat thin and fluid, not so hard, not so thick as
**Modern English**
That is enough. But to say something of my own in plain terms: she is an actual salt, yet extremely soft and somewhat thin and fluid, neither as hard nor as thick as
**CT-P086-A** 1650, p. 86
**Original English**
common extracted Salts, for shee is none of them, nor any kind of Salt whatsoever that man can make. Shee is a sperme that Nature her self drawes out of the Elements, without the help of Art: man may find it, where Nature leaves it, it is not of his office to make the sperme, nor to extract it, it is already made, and wants nothing but a Matrix, and heat convenient for Generation. Now should you consider with your selves where Nature leaves the seed, and yet many are so dull, they know not how to work, when they are told what they must doe. Wee see in Animal Generations, the sperme parts not from both the Parents, for it remaines with the Female, where it is perfected. In the great world though all the Elements contribute to the Composure of the sperme, yet the sperme parts not from all the Elements, but remaines with the Earth, or with the Water, though more immediatly with the one, than with the other. Let not your Thoughts feed now on the Phlegmatic, indigested Vomits of Aristotle, look on the green youthfull, and flowrie Bosome of the Earth; Consider what a vast Universall Receptacle this Element is. The Starrs and Planets over-look her, and though they may not descend hither themselves, they shed down their golden Locks, like so many Bracelets, and Tokens of their Love. The Sun is
**Modern English**
common extracted salts. She is none of these, nor any kind of salt that man can make. She is a seed Nature herself draws from the elements without the help of art. Man may find it where Nature leaves it; making or extracting the seed is not his office. It is already made, lacking only a womb and heat suitable for generation. You should now consider where Nature leaves this seed. Yet many are so dull that, even when told what they must do, they do not know how to work. In animal generation we see that the seed does not depart from both parents: it remains with the female, where it is perfected. In the great world, although all the elements contribute to the composition of the seed, it does not depart from them all. It remains with earth or water, though more immediately with one than the other. Do not feed your thoughts now on Aristotle's phlegmatic, undigested vomit. Look at the earth's green, youthful, flowering bosom. Consider what a vast universal receptacle this element is. The stars and planets look down upon her. Though they cannot descend here themselves, they shed their golden locks upon her like so many bracelets and tokens of love. The sun is[^n15]
**CT-P087-A** 1650, p. 87
**Original English**
perpetually busie, brings his Fire round about her, as if he would sublime something from her bosom, and rob her of some secret, inclosed Jewell. Is there any thing lost since the Creation? Would'st thou know his very bed, and his pillow? It is Earth. How many Cities dost thou think have perished by the Sword? how many by Earth-quakes? and how many by the Deluge? Thou doest perhaps desire to know where they are at this present: believe it they have one common Sepulcher, what was once their Mother, is now their Tombe; All things return to that place from whence they came, and that very place is Earth. If thou hast but leasure, run over the Alphabet of Nature, examine every Letter, I mean every particular Creature, in her Booke. What becomes of her Grasse, her Corne, her Herbs, her Flowers? True it is, both Man and beast doe use them, but this onely by the way, for they rest not till they come to Earth again. In this Element they had their first, and in this will they have their last station. Think (if other Vanities will give thee leave,) on all those Generations that went before thee, and anticipate all those that shall come after thee. Where are those Beauties, the Times past have produced, and what will become of those that shall appear in future Ages? They will all to the same 'Dust, they have
**Modern English**
perpetually busy, carrying his fire round her as though he would sublime something from her bosom and rob her of a secret, enclosed jewel. Has anything been lost since the creation? Would you know its very bed and pillow? It is earth. How many cities do you think have perished by the sword, how many by earthquakes, and how many by the flood? Perhaps you want to know where they are now. Believe it: they share one grave. What was once their mother is now their tomb. All things return to the place from which they came, and that place is earth. If you have leisure, run through Nature's alphabet and examine every letter—I mean every particular creature in her book. What becomes of her grass, grain, herbs and flowers? It is true that men and beasts use them, but this is only along the way; they do not rest until they return to earth. In this element they had their first station, and in it they will have their last. Think, if other vanities allow you, of all the generations before you; anticipate all those that will follow. Where are the beauties past times have produced, and what will become of those who appear in future ages? They will all return to the same dust. They have
**CT-P088-A** 1650, p. 88
**Original English**
one Common house, and there is no Familie so numerous, as that of the Grave. Doe but look on the Dally sports of Nature, her Clouds and mists, the Scæne, and Pageantrie of the Aire, Even these Momentary Things retreat to the Closet of the Earth. If the Sun makes her drie, shee can drink as fast, what gets up in Cloudes, comes down in Water, the Earth swallows up all, and like that Philosophicall Dragon eats her own Tayle. The wise Poets saw this, and in their mysticall language call'd the Earth Saturne, telling us withall, shee did feed on her own Children. Verily there is more Truth in their stately Verse, than in Aristotle's dull Prose, for hee was a blinde beast, and Malice made him so. But to proceed a little further with you, I wish you to concoct what you reade, to dwell a little upon Earth, not to fly up presently, and admire the Meteors of your own Braines. The Earth you know in the Winter time is a dull, dark, dead Thing. a contemptible frozen phlegmatick Lump. But towards the Spring, and Fomentations of the Sun, what rare Pearles are there in this Dung-hill? what glorious Colours, and tinctures doth she discover? a pure eternall green overspreads her, and this attended with innumerable other Beauties; Roses red and white, golden Lilies, Azure Violets, the Bleeding Hyacinths, with their severall
**Modern English**
one common house, and no family is so numerous as the grave's. Look at Nature's daily games: her clouds and mists, the scenes and pageantry of the air. Even these momentary things withdraw into earth's chamber. If the sun dries her, she can drink as quickly. What rises in clouds descends as water. Earth swallows everything and, like the philosophical dragon, eats her own tail. The wise poets saw this. In their mystical language they called earth Saturn, saying that she fed on her own children. Truly there is more truth in their stately verse than in Aristotle's dull prose: he was a blind beast, and malice made him so. But to go a little further, I would have you digest what you read, dwell a little on earth, and avoid flying up at once to admire the meteors of your own brain. In winter, as you know, earth is a dull, dark, dead thing: a contemptible frozen, phlegmatic lump. But as spring approaches and the sun warms her, what rare pearls appear in this dunghill! What glorious colours and tinctures she reveals! A pure, eternal green spreads over her, attended by countless other beauties: roses red and white, golden lilies, azure violets and the bleeding hyacinths, with their various[^n16]
**CT-P089-A** 1650, p. 89
**Original English**
coelestiall odours, and Spices. If you will be advised by me, Learn from whence the Earth hath these invisible Treasures. This Annuall Flora, which appears not without the Complements of the Sun. Behold I will tell you as plainly as I may. There are in the world two Extremes, Matter and Spirit: one of these I can assure you is earth. The Influences of the spirit animate and quicken the matter, and in the Material Extreme the seed of the spirit is to be found. In middle Natures, as Fire, Aire, and Water, this Seed stayes not, for they are but Dispenseros, or Media, which convey it from one extreme to the other, from the Spirit to the Matter, that is to the Earth. But stay my friend, this Intelligence hath somewhat stirr'd you. and now you come on so furiously, as if you would rifle the Cabinet. Give me leave to put you back. I mind not this Common, faeculent, impure Earth, that falls not within my Discourse, but as it makes for your Manuduction. That which I speak of is a Mysterie, it is Coelum Terrae, and Terra Coeli, not this dirt, and dust, but a most Secret, Coelestiall, Invisible Earth.
**Modern English**
heavenly fragrances and spices. If you will take my advice, learn where earth gets these invisible treasures—this annual Flora that never appears without the sun's attentions. I shall tell you as plainly as I may. There are two extremes in the world, matter and spirit; I can assure you that one of these is earth. The spirit's influences animate and quicken matter, and in the material extreme the spirit's seed is found. This seed does not stay in intermediate natures, such as fire, air and water. These merely distribute or mediate it, conveying it from one extreme to the other: from spirit to matter, that is, to earth. But wait, my friend! This information has stirred you, and you now rush forward as though you would plunder the cabinet. Allow me to put you back. I do not mean this common, foul, impure earth; that enters my discourse only as a means of leading you by the hand. What I speak of is a mystery: the heaven of earth and the earth of heaven, not this dirt and dust, but a most secret, celestial, invisible earth.[^n17]
### Nature in Motion
**CT-P089-B** 1650, p. 89
**Original English**
Raymund Lullie in his Compendium of Alchimie, calls the Principles of Art Magic, Spiritus fugitivos in Aere condensatos, in forma Monstrorum Diversorum, & Animalium,
**Modern English**
Raymond Lull, in his Compendium of Alchemy, calls the principles of the magical art [New translation of the Latin:] “fugitive spirits condensed in the air, in the form of various monsters and animals,[^n18]
**CT-P090-A** 1650, p. 90
**Original English**
etiam Hominum, qui vadunt sicut Nubes, modo hùc, modo illùc, Certain fugitive spirits condensed in the Ayre. in the shape of Divers Monsters. Beasts and Men, which move like Cloudes hither and thither. As for the Sense of our Spaniard, I refer it to his Readers, let them make the most of it.
**Modern English**
and even human beings, which go like clouds, now here, now there.” [Vaughan’s own English rendering:] “Certain fugitive spirits condensed in the air, in the shape of various monsters, beasts and men, moving like clouds here and there.” As for the Spaniard's meaning, I leave that to his readers; let them make the most of it.
**CT-P090-B** 1650, p. 90
**Original English**
This is true; As the Ayre, and all the Volatile Substances in it, are restlesse, even so it is with the first Matter. The eye of Man never saw her twice under one and the same shape but as Cloudes driven by the winde are forced to this, and that figure, but cannot possibly retain one constant forme, so is shee persecuted by the fire of Nature; for this fire, and this water are like two Lovers, they no sooner meet, but presently they play and toy, and this Game will not over till some new Babee is generated. I have oftentimes admired their subtil perpetual Motion, for at all Times, and in all places these two are busie, which occasioned that Notable sentence of Trismegistus, That Action was the Life of God. But most excellent, and Magisterial is that Oracle of Marcus Antoninus, who in his Discourse to himself, speaks indeed things worthy of himself, οὐδὲν οὕτως φιλεῖ ἡ τῶν ὅλων φύσις ὡς τὸ τὰ πάντα μεταβάλλειν, καὶ ποιεῖν νέα ὅμοια. The Nature (saith he) of the Universe delights not in any Thing so much, as to alter all Things, and
**Modern English**
This is true: as the air and all the volatile substances in it are restless, so too is first matter. No human eye ever saw her twice in precisely the same shape. Just as clouds driven by the wind are forced into this or that figure but cannot retain one constant form, so she is pursued by Nature's fire. This fire and this water are like two lovers: no sooner do they meet than they begin to play, and the game will not end until some new child is generated. I have often marvelled at their subtle, perpetual motion, for at all times and in all places these two are busy. This occasioned Trismegistus's notable saying that action was God's life. But most excellent and commanding is the utterance of Marcus Antoninus, who, in his discourse to himself, truly speaks things worthy of himself. [New translation of the Greek:] “The nature of the whole loves nothing so much as changing all things and making new things like them.” [Vaughan’s own English rendering:] “The nature of the universe delights in nothing so much as altering all things and[^n19]
**CT-P091-A** 1650, p. 91
**Original English**
then to make the like again. This is her Tick Tack, shee playes one Game, to begin another. The matter is placed before her like a peece of Wax, and shee shapes it to all formes, and figures. Now shee makes a Bird, now a Beast, now a Flowre, then a Frog and shee is pleas'd with her own Magicall performances, as men are with their own fansies. Hence shee is call'd of Orpheus, πολυμήχανος μήτηρ and ἀλλοτριομορφοδίαιτε the Mother that makes many Things, and ordaines strange shapes, or figures. Neither doth shee, as some sinfull Parents doe, who having their pleasure, care not for their Child; shee loves them still after shee hath made them, hath an eye over them all, and provides even for her Sparrowes. IT is strange to consider that shee workes as well privatly as publicly, not onely in Gardens where Ladyes may smell her perfumes, but in remote Solitudes and Deserts. The Truth is, shee seeks not to please others so much as her self, wherefore many of her works, and those the Choysest, never come to Light. Wee see little Children, who are newly come from under her hand, will be dabling in 'Dirt and Water, and other idle sports affected by none but Themselves. The Reason is, they are not as yet Captivated, which makes them seek their own pleasures; But when they come to Age, then Love or Profit makes them square
**Modern English**
then making their like again.” This is her tick-tack: she plays one game in order to begin another. Matter lies before her like a piece of wax, and she moulds it into every form and figure. Now she makes a bird, now a beast, now a flower, then a frog; she delights in her magical performances as people delight in their own fancies. Hence Orpheus calls her [New translation of the Greek epithets:] “the resourceful mother” and “she who dwells in ever-changing forms.” [Vaughan’s own English rendering:] “The mother who makes many things and ordains strange shapes or figures.” Nor does she behave like sinful parents who, having had their pleasure, care nothing for their child. She loves her children after making them, watches over them all, and provides even for her sparrows. It is strange to consider how she works privately as well as publicly, in remote solitudes and deserts as well as gardens where ladies smell her perfumes. In truth, she seeks to please herself more than others; hence many of her works, including the choicest, never come to light. Little children, newly come from her hands, dabble in dirt and water and other idle games enjoyed by no one but themselves. They are not yet captive, and therefore seek their own pleasures. But as they grow older, love or profit makes them shape[^n20], [^n21]
**CT-P092-A** 1650, p. 92
**Original English**
their Actions according to other mens Desires. Some Cockney claps his Revenues on his backe, but his Galantrie is spoil'd, if his Mistris doth not observe it. Another fights, but his Victory is lost, if it be not Printed, it is the world must heare of his Valour. Now Nature is a free spirit, that seeks no Applause, shee observes none more than her self, but is pleased with her own Magic, as Philosophers are with their Secret Philosophie. Hence it is that wee find her busie, not onely in the Potts of the Balconies, but in Wildernesses, and ruinous places, where no eyes observe her, but the Starrs and Planets. In a word, wheresoever the fire of nature finds the Virgin Mercurie, there hath he found his Love, and there will they both fall to their Husbandrie, a pleasure not subject to Surfets, for it still Presents new Varieties. It is reported of Marc Antonie, a famous, but unfortunate Romane, how he sent his Agent over the world to Copie all the handsome faces, that amongst so many excellent features, hee might select for himself the most pleasing peece. Truly Nature is much of this straine, for shee hath infinite beauteous patternes in her self, and all these shee would gladly see beyond her self, which shee cannot doe without the matter, for that is her Glasse. This makes her generate perpetually, and imprint her conceptions in
**Modern English**
their actions to other people's desires. Some cockney wears his income on his back, but all his finery is wasted if his mistress fails to notice. Another fights, but his victory is lost unless it is printed: the world must hear of his valour. Nature, however, is a free spirit seeking no applause. She attends to no one more than herself, delighting in her magic as philosophers delight in their secret philosophy. Hence we find her busy in wildernesses and ruined places, where only the stars and planets watch her, as well as in pots on balconies. In a word, wherever Nature's fire finds the virgin mercury, he has found his love, and the two will set about their husbandry together. It is a pleasure that never cloys, for it continually offers fresh varieties. It is reported that Mark Antony, the famous but unfortunate Roman, sent an agent round the world to copy every handsome face so that, from so many excellent features, he might choose the most pleasing portrait for himself. Nature has much the same inclination. She holds infinite beautiful patterns within herself, and longs to see them all outside herself. This she cannot do without matter, for matter is her mirror. It makes her generate perpetually and imprint her conceptions in[^n22]
**CT-P093-A** 1650, p. 93
**Original English**
the matter, communicating life to it, and figuring it according to her Imagination. By this Practice shee placeth her Fansie, or Idea, beyond her self, or as the Peripatetics say, extra Intellectum, beyond the divine Mind, namely in the Matter; but the Idea's being innumerable, and withall different, the pleasures of the Agent are maintain'd by their Varietie, or to speak more properly by his own fruitfulnesse, for amongst all the Beauties the world affords, there are not two, that are altogether the same. Much might bee spoken in this place concerning Beautio, what it is, from whence it came, and how it may be defaced, not onely in the outward figure, but in the inward Idea, and lost for ever in both worlds. But these pretty shuttles I am no way acquainted with, I have no Mistris but Nature, wherefore I shall leave the fine Ladies to fine Lads, and speak of my simple AElia Laelia.
**Modern English**
matter, communicating life to it and shaping it according to her imagination. Through this practice she sets her fancy or idea outside herself—or, as the Peripatetics say, outside the intellect: beyond the divine mind, namely, in matter. But because the ideas are countless and different, the agent's pleasures are maintained by their variety—or, more properly, by his own fruitfulness. Among all the beauties the world affords, no two are entirely alike. Much could be said here about beauty: what it is, where it came from, and how it may be defaced, not only in its outward form but in its inward idea, and lost forever in both worlds. But I have no acquaintance with these pretty trifles. I have no mistress but Nature. I shall therefore leave fine ladies to fine lads and speak of my simple Ælia Lælia.[^n23]
### Hyanthe
**CT-P093-B** 1650, p. 93
**Original English**
It was scarce Day, when all alone
I saw Hyanthe and her Throne.
In fresh, green Damascs she was drest,
And o're a Saphir Globe did rest.
This slipperie Sphaere when I did see,
Fortune, I thought it had been Thee.
But when I saw shee did present
A Majestie more Permanent,
**Modern English**
It was scarcely day when, all alone,
I saw Hyanthe and her throne.
In fresh green damask she was dressed,
And on a sapphire globe she rested.
When I beheld that slippery sphere,
“Fortune,” I thought, “it must be you.”
But when I saw she showed a majesty
More lasting still,[^n24]
**CT-P094-A** 1650, p. 94
**Original English**
I thought my Cares not lost, if I
Should finish my Discoverie.
**Modern English**
I thought my trouble well repaid,
If I could finish my discovery.
**CT-P094-B** 1650, p. 94
**Original English**
Sleepie shee look'd to my first sight,
As if shee had Watch'd all the Night,
And underneath, her hand was spread,
The White Supporter of her head.
But at my Second, studied View,
I could perceive a silent Dew
Steale down her Cheeks; lest it should Stayne
Those Cheeks where onely Smiles should reigne.
The Tears stream'd down for haste, and all
In Chaines of liquid Pearle did fall.
Faire Sorrows; and more dear than Joyes,
Which are but emptie Ayres and Noyse,
Your Drops present a richer Prize,
For they are Something like her Eyes.
**Modern English**
At my first sight she seemed asleep,
As though she had kept watch all night;
Beneath her head her hand was spread,
Its white support as she reclined.
But at a second, studied look
I saw a silent dew steal down
Her cheeks. Lest it should stain those cheeks
Where smiles alone ought to hold sway,
Her tears streamed swiftly down and fell
In chains of flowing pearl.
Fair sorrows, dearer far than joys
That are but empty airs and noise,
Your drops bestow a richer prize,
For they are something like her eyes.
**CT-P094-C** 1650, p. 94
**Original English**
Pretty, white Foole! why hast thou been
Sulli'd with Teares, and not with Sin?
'Tis true: thy Teares, like Polish'd Skies,
Are the Bright Rosials of thy Eyes,
But such strange Fates doe them attend,
As if thy Woes would never end.
From Drops to Sighes they turn, and then
Those sighes return to Drops agen:
But whiles the Silver Torrent seeks
Those Flowr's that watch it in thy Cheeks,
The White and Red Hyanthe weares,
Turn to Rose-water all her Teares.
**Modern English**
Pretty white innocent! Why have you
Been sullied with tears, yet not with sin?
Your tears, like polished skies, are bright,
The rose-like jewels of your eyes.
Yet such strange fates attend them still,
It seems your woes will never end.
From drops they turn to sighs, and then
Those sighs return to drops again.
But while the silver torrent seeks
The flowers awaiting in your cheeks,
Hyanthe's colours, white and red,
Turn all her tears to water of roses.
**CT-P095-A** 1650, p. 95
**Original English**
Have you beheld a Flame, that springs
From Incense, when sweet, curled, Rings
Of smoke attend her last, weak Fires,
And Shee all in Perfumes expires?
So dy'd Hyanthe. Here (said shee)
Let not this Vial part from Thee.
It holds my Heart, though now 'tis Spill'd,
And into Waters all distill'd.
'Tis constant still: Trust not false Smiles,
Who smiles, and weeps not shee beguiles.
Nay trust not Teares: false are the few,
Those Teares are Many, that are True.
Trust Mee, and take the better Choyce,
Who hath my Teares, can want no Joyes.
**Modern English**
Have you beheld a flame spring up
From incense, while sweet curling rings
Of smoke attend its last weak fires,
And it breathes out its life in perfume?
So died Hyanthe. “Here,” she said,
“Never let this vial leave you.
It holds my heart, though now outpoured
And wholly distilled into water.
It is constant still. Trust no false smiles:
She who smiles but does not weep deceives.
Yet trust no tears: the few are false;
The tears that are true are many.
Trust me and make the better choice:
Who has my tears can lack no joys.”
### The Philosophers’ Testimonies
**CT-P095-B** 1650, p. 95
**Original English**
I know some Sophisters of the Heptarchie, I mean those, whose Learning is all Noyse, in which Sense even Py-annets, and Paraquitoes are Philosophicall, will conclude this, all Bayt and Poetrie, that wee are Pleasing not Positive, and cheat even the Readers Discretion. To prevent such impotent Calumnies, and to spend a little more of our secret Light upon the welldisposed Student, I shall in this place produce the Testimonies of some able Philosophers concerning the first Matter it self, as it is naturally found, before any alteration by Art; and here verily the Reader may discover the Mark, it is most easily done, if he will but eye
**Modern English**
I know some sophists of the Heptarchy—those whose learning is all noise, in which sense magpies and parakeets are philosophical—will conclude that this is mere bait and poetry: that we entertain without asserting anything and deceive the reader's very judgement. To forestall such feeble slanders, and to shed a little more of our secret light on the well-disposed student, I shall produce the testimony of some capable philosophers concerning first matter itself as it is naturally found, before any alteration by art. Here the reader may indeed discover the mark. He may do so most easily if he attends to[^n25]
**CT-P096-A** 1650, p. 96
**Original English**
the Flights of my Verse, or follow the more grave pace of their Prose. The first I shall cite is Arnoldus de Villâ novâ, an absolute perfect Master of the Art, hee describes the Philosophicall Chaos, in these plain termes. Lapis est, & non lapis, Spiritus, Anima, & Corpus; Quem si dissolvis, dissolvitur, & si coagules, coagulatur, & si volare facis, volat; Est enim Volatilis, albus ut lacryma oculi: postea efficitur citrinus, salsus, pilis carens: quem nemo suâ linguâ tangere potest. Ecce ipsum jam suâ demonstravi descriptione, non tamen nominavi. Modo volo ipsum nominare, & dico, quod si dixeris eum Aquam esse, verum dicis; & si dixeris eum Aquam non esse, mentiris. Ne igitur decipiaris pluribus descriptionibus, & operationibus, unum enim quid est, cui nihil alieni infertur. It is (saith hee) a stone and no stone Spirit, Soule, and Bodie; which if thou dissolvest, it will bee dissolved, and if thou doest coagulat it, it will be coagulated, and if thou doest make it fly, it will fly; for it is Volatil, or flying, and cleare as a teare; afterwards it is made citrine then saltish, but without shoots. or Chrystals, and no man may touch it with his Tongue. Behold I have described it truly to thee, but I have not named it. Now I will name it, and I say, that if thou sayest it is Water, thou doest say the Truth, and if thou sayest it is not water, thou
**Modern English**
the flights of my verse or follows the more sober pace of their prose. First I shall cite Arnold of Villanova, a thoroughly accomplished master of the art. He describes the philosophical chaos in these plain terms. [New translation of the Latin:] “It is a stone and not a stone, spirit, soul and body. If you dissolve it, it dissolves; if you coagulate it, it coagulates; and if you make it fly, it flies. For it is volatile, white as a tear from the eye. Afterwards it becomes yellow, salty and without hairs; no one can touch it with his tongue. See: I have now shown it through its description, yet I have not named it. Now I wish to name it, and I say that if you call it water, you speak the truth; if you say it is not water, you lie. Do not therefore be deceived by numerous descriptions and operations, for it is one thing, to which nothing foreign is introduced.” [Vaughan’s own English rendering:] “It is a stone and no stone, spirit, soul and body. If you dissolve it, it will dissolve; if you coagulate it, it will coagulate; and if you make it fly, it will fly. It is volatile, or flying, and clear as a tear. Afterwards it becomes citrine, then salty, but without shoots or crystals, and no one may touch it with his tongue. See: I have truly described it to you, but have not named it. Now I will name it: if you say it is water, you speak the truth; if you say it is not water, you[^n26], [^n27]
**CT-P097-A** 1650, p. 97
**Original English**
doest lie. Bee not therefore deceived with manifold Descriptions and Operations, for it is but one Thing, to which nothing Extraneous may be added. Thus Arnoldus; and he borrowed this from the Turba. Let us now heare his Disciple Raymund Lullie, who speaking very enviously and obscurely of Seven Metallic Principles, describes the Third wherein foure of the seven are included in these words; Tertium (saith hee) est Aqua clara Composita, & illa est res Argento vivo magis propingua, quae quidem reperitur supra Terram currens & fluens. Et istud argentum vivum in omni Corpore Elementato à materia aeris est proprie generatum, & ideo ipsius humiditas est valde ponderosa. That is: The third Principle, is a Cleare Compounded water, and it is the next substance in Complexion to Quick-Silver, it is found running, and flowing upon the Earth. This Quicksilver is generated in every Compound out of the Substance of the Aire, and therefore the moysture of it is extreme heavy. To these I will adde Albertus Magnus, whose Suffrage in this kind of Learning is like the Stylanx to Gold, for hee had thoroughly search'd it, and knew very well what part of it would abide the Test. Mercurius Sapientum (saith hee) est Elementum Aqueum frigidum, & humidum, Aqua permanens, spiritus Corporis, vapor
**Modern English**
lie. Do not be deceived, then, by many descriptions and operations, for it is only one thing, to which nothing extraneous may be added.” So says Arnold, who borrowed this from the Turba. Let us now hear his disciple Raymond Lull. Speaking very grudgingly and obscurely of seven metallic principles, he describes the third, which includes four of the seven, in these words: [New translation of the Latin:] “The third is a clear compound water, and it is the thing most nearly approaching quicksilver. It is found running and flowing upon the earth. This quicksilver is properly generated in every elemental body from the matter of air, and therefore its moisture is very heavy.” [Vaughan’s own English rendering:] “The third principle is a clear compound water, the substance nearest in constitution to quicksilver. It is found running and flowing upon the earth. This quicksilver is generated in every compound from the substance of air, and therefore its moisture is extremely heavy.” To these I shall add Albert the Great, whose testimony in this kind of learning is like the stylanx to gold. He had searched it thoroughly and knew what part would withstand the test. [New translation of the Latin:] “The mercury of the wise is a watery element, cold and moist: permanent water, spirit of the body, oily vapour,[^n28], [^n29]
**CT-P098-A** 1650, p. 98
**Original English**
unctuosus, Aqua Benedicta, Aqua virtuosa, Aqua Sapientum, Acetum Philosophorum, Aqua Mineralis, Ros coelestis gratiae, Lac Virginis, Mercurius Corporalis, & aliis infinitis Nominibus in Philosophorum libris nominatur, quae quidem Nomina quamvis varia sunt, semper tamen unam & eandem rem significant, utpote Solum Mercurium sapientum. Ex ipso solo elicitur omnis virtus Artis Alckimiae, & suo modo Tinctura alba & rubea. In plain English thus; The Mercurie of the Wisemen is a waterie Element, Cold and moyst. This is their Permanent water, the spirit of the Bodie, the unctuous vapour, the Blessed water, the virtuous water, the water of the Wisemen, the Philosophers Vinacre, the Mineral Water the Dew of heavenly Grace the Virgins Milk. the Bodily Mercurie and with other numberlesse names is it named in the Bookes of the Philosophers, which names truly though they are divers notwithstanding alwayes signifie one and the same thing, namely the Mercurie of the Wisemen. Out of this Mercurie alone all the Virtue of the Art is extracted and according to its Nature the Tincture both Red and White. To this agrees Rachaidibi the Persian; Sperma Lapidis (saith hee) est frigidum & humidum in Manifesto, & in Occulto calidum & siccum. The Sperme, or first matter of the stone is outwardly
**Modern English**
blessed water, potent water, water of the wise, philosophers' vinegar, mineral water, dew of heavenly grace, virgin's milk, bodily mercury. It is called by these and countless other names in the philosophers' books. Although these names vary, they always signify one and the same thing: the mercury of the wise alone. From it alone all the power of the alchemical art is drawn, and in its own manner the white and red tincture.” [Vaughan’s own English rendering:] “The mercury of the wise is a watery element, cold and moist. This is their permanent water, the spirit of the body, the oily vapour, the blessed water, the potent water, the water of the wise, the philosophers' vinegar, the mineral water, the dew of heavenly grace, virgin's milk and bodily mercury. It is called by these and countless other names in the philosophers' books. These names, though various, always mean one and the same thing: the mercury of the wise. From this mercury alone all the power of the art is extracted, and according to its nature the tincture, both red and white.” Rachaidibi the Persian agrees. [New translation of the Latin:] “The seed of the stone is cold and moist in what is manifest, and hot and dry in what is hidden.” [Vaughan’s own English rendering:] “The seed, or first matter of the stone, is outwardly[^n30], [^n31]
**CT-P099-A** 1650, p. 99
**Original English**
cold and moyst but inwardly Hot and Drie. All which is confirmed by Rhodian, another Instructor (it seemes) of Kanid King of Persia; his words are these; Sperma est album & liquidum, postea rubeum. Sperma istud est lapis fugitivus & est Aereum & Volatile, & est frigidum & humidum, & calidum & siccum. The Sperm (saith hee) is white and Liquid, afterwards red. This Sperm is the flying stone, and it is aereal, and volatil, cold and moyst, hot and drie. To these subscribes the Author of that excellent Tract intituled Liber trium Verborum. Hic est Liber (saith hee) Trium verborum, Liber Lapidis preciosi, qui est Corpus aereum & volatile, frigidum & humidum, aquosum & adustivum, & in eo est Caliditas & siccitas, frigiditas & humiditas, alia virtus in occulto, alia in Manifesto. This is the Book of Three words, meaning thereby Three Principles, The Book of the Precious stone, which is a Body aereal and volatil cold and moyst, watrie and adustive, and in it is Heat and Drought, Coldnesse and Moysture, one virtue inwardly, the other outwardly. Belus the Philosopher in that famous and most Classic Synod of Arisleus, inverts the order, to conceale the practice, but if rightly understood, he speaks to the purpose. Excelsum (sayth hee) est hoc apud Philosophos magnos Lapidem non
**Modern English**
cold and moist, but inwardly hot and dry.” All this is confirmed by Rhodian, apparently another instructor of Kanid, king of Persia. [New translation of the Latin:] “The seed is white and liquid, afterwards red. This seed is the fugitive stone; it is aerial and volatile, cold and moist, and hot and dry.” [Vaughan’s own English rendering:] “The seed is white and liquid, afterwards red. This seed is the flying stone; it is aerial and volatile, cold and moist, hot and dry.” The author of the excellent treatise called The Book of Three Words agrees. [New translation of the Latin:] “This is the Book of Three Words, the book of the precious stone, which is an aerial and volatile body, cold and moist, watery and burning. Within it are heat and dryness, coldness and moisture: one power hidden, another manifest.” [Vaughan’s own English rendering:] “This is the Book of Three Words”—meaning three principles—“the book of the precious stone, an aerial and volatile body, cold and moist, watery and burning. Within it are heat and dryness, coldness and moisture, one power inwardly and the other outwardly.” Belus the philosopher, in that famous and most authoritative assembly of Arisleus, reverses the order to conceal the practice; understood rightly, however, he speaks to the point. [New translation of the Latin:] “Among great philosophers it is an exalted truth that the stone is not[^n32], [^n33]
**CT-P100-A** 1650, p. 100
**Original English**
esse lapidem, apud Idiotas vile & Incredibile. Quis enim credet Lapidem Aquam, & Aquam Lapidem fieri, cum nihil sit diversius? Attamen revera ita est. Lapis enim est haec ipsa permanens Aqua, & dum Aqua est lapis non est. Amongst all great Philosophers it is Magisterial that our stone is no stone, but amongst Ignorants it is ridiculous and incredible. For who will believe that water can be made a stone, and a stone water, nothing being more different than these two? And yet in very truth it is so. For this very permanent water is the stone, but whiles it is water, it is no stone. But in this sense the Ancient Hermes abounds, and almost discovers too much. Scitote Filii Sapientum, quod priscorum Philosophorum aquae est Divisio, quae dividit ipsam in Alia quatuor. Know (saith hee) you that are the Children of the wise, the Separation of the ancient Philosophers was performed upon water, which Separation divides the water into other foure Substances. There is extant a very learned Author, who hath written something to this purpose, and that more openly than any, whom we have formerly cited. Sicuti Mundus Originem debet Aquae, cui Spiritus Domini incubabat, rebus tàm Coelestibus, quàm Terrestribus omnibus indè prodeuntibus; ita Limbus hic emergit ex Aquâ non vulgari, ne que ex Rore Coelesti, aut ex aere
**Modern English**
a stone; among the unlearned it is contemptible and incredible. Who would believe that a stone becomes water, and water a stone, when nothing is more different? Nevertheless it is truly so. For this very permanent water is the stone; while it is water, it is not a stone.” [Vaughan’s own English rendering:] “Among all great philosophers it is a masterly truth that our stone is no stone; among the ignorant it is ridiculous and incredible. Who will believe that water can become a stone, and a stone water, when nothing differs more than these two? Yet it is truly so. For this very permanent water is the stone; while it is water, it is no stone.” But the ancient Hermes abounds in this meaning, almost disclosing too much. [New translation of the Latin:] “Know, sons of the wise, that there is a division of the ancient philosophers' water that divides it into four other things.” [Vaughan’s own English rendering:] “Know, you children of the wise, that the ancient philosophers' separation was performed upon water, dividing it into four other substances.” A very learned author has written on this subject more openly than any we have cited. [New translation of the Latin:] “Just as the world owes its origin to the water over which the Spirit of the Lord brooded, all things heavenly and earthly proceeding from it, so this limbus arises from a water that is not common, neither from heavenly dew nor from air[^n34], [^n35]
**CT-P101-A** 1650, p. 101
**Original English**
Condensato in Cavernis Terrae, vel in Recipiente ipso, non ex Abysso Maris, fontibus, puteis, fluminibusvè hausto, sed ex Aquâ quadam perpessâ, omnibus obviâ, paucissimis cognitâ, Quae in se habet, quaecun que , ad totius operis Complementum sunt necessaria, omni amoto Extrinsico. As the world (saith hee) was generated out of that Water, upon which the Spirit of God did move, all things proceeding thence, both Coelestiall and Terrestriall So this Chaos is generated out of a certain Water that is not common, not out of Dew, nor Ayre condensed in the Caverns of the Earth, or Artificially in the Receiver; not out of water drawn out of the Sea, Fountains, Pitts, or Rivers, but out of a certain tortured water, that hath suffered some Alteration, obvious it is to All, but known to very few. This water hath all in it, that is necessarie to the perfection of the work, without any Extrinsecal Addition. I could produce a Thousand Authors more, but that were tedious; I shall conclude with one of the Rosie Brothers, whose Testimonie is AEquivalent to the Best of These but his Instruction far more Excellent. His Discourse of the first Matter is somewhat large, and to avoyd prolixitie, I shall forbeare the Latin, but I will give thee his Sense in punctuall plaine English.
**Modern English**
condensed in the earth's caverns or in the receiver itself; neither from the depth of the sea, springs, wells or rivers, but from a certain water that has suffered, available to all but known to very few. It contains whatever is necessary to complete the whole work, with everything external removed.” [Vaughan’s own English rendering:] “As the world was generated from the water upon which God's Spirit moved, all things proceeding from it, heavenly as well as earthly, so this chaos is generated from a certain water that is not common: not from dew, nor air condensed in the earth's caverns or artificially in a receiver; not from water drawn from the sea, springs, pits or rivers, but from a certain tortured water that has undergone alteration. It lies before everyone, yet is known to very few. This water contains everything necessary to perfect the work, without any external addition.” I could produce a thousand more authors, but that would be tedious. I shall conclude with one of the Rosy Brothers. His testimony equals the best of theirs, but his instruction is far more excellent. His discourse on first matter is rather long. To avoid prolixity I shall leave out the Latin and give you his meaning in precise, plain English.[^n36], [^n37]
### The Voice of Nature
**CT-P102-A** 1650, p. 102
**Original English**
I am a Goddesse (saith hee, speaking in the person of Nature) for Beauty and Extraction famous, born out of our own proper Sea, which compasseth the whole Earth, and is ever restlesse. Out of my Breasts I poure forth Milk and Bloud; Boyle these two, till they are turned into Silver and Gold. O most excellent Subject! out of which all things in this world are generated, though at the first sight thou art Poyson, adorn'd with the name of the flying Eagle. Thou art the first Matter, the seed of Divine Benediction, in whose Body there is Heat and Rain, which notwithstanding are hidden from the wicked, because of thy Habit, and virgin vestures which is scatter'd over all the world. Thy Parents are the Sun and Moone, in Thee there is Water and Wine, Gold also and Silver upon Earth, that mortall man may rejoyce. After this manner God sends us his Blessing and Wisdome with Raine, and the Beams of the Sun, to the eternall Glory of his Name. But consider ô Man, what Things God bestows upon thee by this means. Torture the Eagle till shee weeps, and the Lion bee weakened, and bleed to death. The Bloud of this Lion incorporated with the Teares of the Eagle, is the Treasure of the Earth. These Creatures use to devoure and kill one another, but notwithstanding their love is mutuall, and they put on the
**Modern English**
“I am a goddess,” he says, speaking in Nature's person, “famous for beauty and descent, born from our own sea, which surrounds the whole earth and is always restless. From my breasts I pour milk and blood. Boil these two until they turn into silver and gold. O most excellent subject, from which all things in this world are generated! Though at first sight you are poison, you are adorned with the name of the flying eagle. You are first matter, the seed of divine blessing. Within your body are heat and rain, hidden from the wicked by your habit and virgin clothing, which are scattered throughout the world. Your parents are the sun and moon. Within you are water and wine, and gold and silver upon earth, so that mortal man may rejoice. Thus God sends us his blessing and wisdom with rain and the sun's rays, to the eternal glory of his name. But consider, man, what God bestows upon you by this means. Torture the eagle until she weeps, and the lion is weakened and bleeds to death. The lion's blood, incorporated with the eagle's tears, is earth's treasure. These creatures devour and kill one another, yet their love is mutual. They take on the[^n38]
**CT-P103-A** 1650, p. 103
**Original English**
Proprietie, and Nature of a Salamander, which, if it remains in the fire without any detriment it cures all the Diseases of Men, Beasts and Metals. After that the Ancient Philosophers had perfectly understood this Subject, they diligently sought in this Mysterie for the Center of the Middlemost Tree in the Terrestrial Paradyse, entring in by Five litigious Gates. The first Gate was the Knowledge of the true Matter, and here arose the first, and that a most bitter Conflict. The second was the Praeparation by which this matter was to bee praepared, that they might obtain the Embers of the Eagle, and the Bloud of the Lyon. At this Gate there is a most sharp fight, for it produceth water and bloud, and a Spirituall bright Body. The Third Gate is the Fire, which conduceth to the Maturitie of the Medicine. The Fourth Gate is that of Multiplication and Augmentation in which Proportions and Weights are Necessarie. The fifth and last Gate is Projection. But most glorious, full rich, and high is hee who attains to the fourth Gate, for hee hath got an Universall Medicine for all Diseases. This is that great Character of the Book of Nature, out of which her whole Alphabet doth arise.
**Modern English**
property and nature of a salamander, which, if it remains unharmed in the fire, cures all diseases of men, beasts and metals. When the ancient philosophers fully understood this subject, they diligently sought within this mystery the centre of the middlemost tree in the earthly paradise, entering by five contentious gates. The first gate was knowledge of the true matter: here arose the first and most bitter conflict. The second was preparation, by which this matter was prepared to obtain the eagle's embers and the lion's blood. At this gate there is a most fierce battle, for it produces water, blood and a bright spiritual body. The third gate is fire, which brings the medicine to maturity. The fourth is multiplication and augmentation, in which proportions and weights are necessary. The fifth and last gate is projection. Yet glorious, rich and exalted is he who reaches the fourth gate, for he has obtained a universal medicine for every disease. This is the great character in the book of Nature from which her whole alphabet arises.[^n39], [^n40]
**CT-P104-A** 1650, p. 104
**Original English**
The fifth gate serves onely for Metals. This Mysterie existing from the Foundation of the World, and the Creation of Adam is of all others the most ancient, a knowledge which God Almighty by his Word breathed into Nature, a miraculous power, the blessed fire of Life, the Transparent Carbuncle, and red Gold of the Wise men, and the Divine Benediction of this life. But this mysterie, because of the Malice and wickednesse of men, is given onely to few, notwithstanding it lives, and moves every day in the sight of the whole world, as it appears by the following parable. I am a poysonous Dragon, present every where, and to bee had for nothing. My water and my fire dissolve and Compound; out of my body thou shalt draw the Green, and the Red Lyon: but if thou doest not exactly know mee, thou wilt with my Fire destroy thy five Senses. A most pernieious quick poyson comes out of my Nostrils, which hath been the Destruction of many. Separate therefore the Thick from the Thin artificially, unlesse thou dost delight in extreme Povertie. I give thee faculties both Male and Female and the Powers both of Heaven and Earth. The Mysteries of my Art are to bee performed magnanimously, and with great
**Modern English**
The fifth gate serves metals alone. Existing since the world's foundation and Adam's creation, this mystery is the most ancient of all: a knowledge Almighty God breathed into Nature through his Word, a miraculous power, the blessed fire of life, the transparent carbuncle and red gold of the wise, and the divine blessing of this life. Yet because of human malice and wickedness it is given to few, although it lives and moves daily before the whole world, as the following parable shows. I am a poisonous dragon, present everywhere and obtainable for nothing. My water and fire dissolve and combine. From my body you shall draw the green and red lion. But unless you know me exactly, you will destroy your five senses with my fire. A most deadly, living poison comes from my nostrils and has destroyed many. Therefore separate the thick from the thin with art, unless you delight in utter poverty. I give you male and female faculties, and the powers of heaven and earth. The mysteries of my art must be performed magnanimously and with great
**CT-P105-A** 1650, p. 105
**Original English**
Courage, if thou wouldest have mee overcome the Violence of the Fire, in which Attempt many have lost both their Labour and their Substance. I am the Egg of Nature known onely to the Wise, such as are pious and modest, who make of mee a little world. Ordain'd I was by the All-mighty God for men, but (though many desire mee) I am given onely to few that they may relieve the poore with my Treasures, and not set their mindes on Gold that perisheth. I am call'd of the Philosophers Mercurie: my husband is Gold (Philosophicall.) I am the old Dragon that is present every where on the face of the Earth; I am Father and Mother; Youthfull and Ancient; weak and yet most strong; Life and Death; Visible and Invisible; Hard and Soft; Descending to the Earth and Ascending to the Heavens; most high and most low; light and heavy; In mee the Order of Nature is oftentimes inverted, in Colour, Number, Weight and Measure. I have in mee the light of Nature, I am dark and bright, I spring from the Earth, and I come out of Heaven, I am well known, and yet a meer Nothing, all Colours shine in mee, and all Metals by the Beams of the Sun. I am
**Modern English**
courage if you would have me overcome the violence of fire, an attempt in which many have lost both their labour and their wealth. I am Nature's egg, known only to the wise—the pious and modest—who make a little world from me. Almighty God ordained me for men. Though many desire me, I am given to few, so that they may relieve the poor with my treasures and set no store by gold that perishes. The philosophers call me mercury; my husband is philosophical gold. I am the ancient dragon, present everywhere on earth's face. I am father and mother, young and old, weak and yet most strong, life and death, visible and invisible, hard and soft, descending to earth and ascending to heaven, highest and lowest, light and heavy. In me Nature's order is often inverted in colour, number, weight and measure. I have Nature's light within me. I am dark and bright. I spring from earth and come from heaven. I am well known and yet a mere nothing. All colours shine in me, and all metals through the sun's rays. I am[^n41]
**CT-P106-A** 1650, p. 106
**Original English**
the Carbuncle of the Sun, a most noble clarified Earth by which thou mayest turne Copper, Iron, Tin, and Lead into most pure Gold.
**Modern English**
the sun's carbuncle, a most noble, clarified earth by which you may turn copper, iron, tin and lead into the purest gold.”
**CT-P106-B** 1650, p. 106
**Original English**
Now Gentlemen you may see which way the Philosophers move, they commend their Secret water, and I admire the Teares of Hyanthe. There is something in the Fansie besides Poetrie, for my Mistris is very Philosophicall, and in her Love a pure Platonic. But now I think upon't, how many Rivals shall I procure by this Discourse? Every Reader will fall to, and some fine Thing may break her heart with Non-sense. This Love indeed were meer Luck, but for my part I dare trust her, and lest any man should mistake her for some things formerly named, I will tell you truly what shee is; She is not any known water whatsoever, but a Secret Spermatic Moysture, or rather the Venus that yeelds that moysture. Therefore doe not you Imagine that shee is any crude, phlegmatic, thin water, or shee is a fatt, thick, heavie, slimie humiditie; But lest you should think I am grown jealous, and would not trust you with my Mistris, Arnoldus de villanova shall speak for me, hear him. Ampliùs
**Modern English**
Now, gentlemen, you can see the philosophers' direction: they praise their secret water, and I admire Hyanthe's tears. There is something in this fancy beyond poetry, for my mistress is thoroughly philosophical, and in love a pure Platonist. Yet now I think of it, how many rivals will this discourse procure me? Every reader will set to work, and some fine fellow may break her heart with nonsense. Such love would indeed be mere luck. For my part, I dare trust her. Lest anyone mistake her for something previously named, I shall tell you truly what she is. She is no known water whatsoever, but a secret seminal moisture—or rather the Venus that yields that moisture. Do not imagine that she is some crude, phlegmatic, thin water, for she is a fatty, thick, heavy, slimy moisture. But lest you think I have grown jealous and will not trust you with my mistress, Arnold of Villanova shall speak for me. Hear him. [New translation of the Latin:] “Furthermore,[^n42], [^n43]
**CT-P107-A** 1650, p. 107
**Original English**
tibi dico, quod nullo modo invenire potuimus, nec similiter invenire potuerunt Philosophi, aliquam rem perseverantem in igne, nisi solam unctuosam Humiditatem. Aqueam humiditatem videmus de facili evaporare, Arida remanet, & ideo separantur, quia non sunt Naturales. Si autem eas humiditates consydereremus, quae difficulter separantur ab his quae sunt Naturales, non invenimus aliquas nisi unctuosas, & viscosas. I tell thee further (saith hee) that wee could not possibly find, neither could the Philosophers find before us, any thing that would persist in the fire, but onely the Unctuous Humiditie. A waterie Humiditie, we see, will easily vapour away, and the Earth remains behind and the parts are therefore separated because their Composition is not natural. But if wee consider those humidities, which are hardly separated from those parts which are naturall to them, wee find not any such but the unctuous, viscous Humidities. It will be expected perhaps by some Flint, and Antimonie-Doctors, who make their Philosophicall Contrition with a Hammer, that I should discover this Thing out-right and not suffer this strange Bird-lime to hold their pride by the Plumes. To these, I say, it is water of Silver, which some have called water of the Moon, but 'tis Mercurie of the Sun, and partly of Saturn,
**Modern English**
I tell you that we could find nothing whatever that persists in fire except oily moisture alone; nor could the philosophers find anything else. We see watery moisture readily evaporate; the dry part remains. They separate because they are not natural to one another. But if we consider those moistures that are difficult to separate from what is natural to them, we find none except oily and viscous ones.” [Vaughan’s own English rendering:] “I tell you further that we could not possibly find, nor could the philosophers before us, anything that would persist in fire except oily moisture. Watery moisture, as we see, easily evaporates, and earth remains behind. The parts are separated because their composition is not natural. But if we consider moistures that are difficult to separate from the parts natural to them, we find none except oily, viscous moistures.” Some flint and antimony doctors, who perform their philosophical crushing with a hammer, may expect me to disclose this thing outright rather than let this strange birdlime hold their pride by its feathers. To them I say: it is water of silver, which some have called water of the moon; yet it is mercury of the sun and partly of Saturn,[^n44], [^n45]
**CT-P108-A** 1650, p. 108
**Original English**
for it is extracted from these three metalls, and without them it can never bee made. Now they may unriddle, and tell me what it is, for it is Truth, if they can understand it.
**Modern English**
for it is extracted from these three metals, and without them it can never be made. Now let them solve the riddle and tell me what it is. It is the truth, if they can understand it.
### Secrecy and the Divine Source
**CT-P108-B** 1650, p. 108
**Original English**
To the Ingenuous and modest Reader, I have something else to replie, and I believe it will sufficiently excuse mee. Raimund Lullie, a man who had been in the Center of Nature, and without all Question understood a great part of the Divine Will, gives me a most terrible Charge not to prostitute these Principles. Juro Tibi (saith hee) supra animam meam, [Marginal note: Theor. cap. 6.] quod si ea reveles, damnatus es. Nam a Deo omne procedit bonum, & ei soli debetur. Quare servabis, & Secretum tenebis illud, quod ei debetur revelandum, & affirmabis quam per rectam proprietatem subtrahis, quae eius honori debentur. Quia si revelares brevibus verbis illud quod longinquo tempore formavit, in die magni Judicii condemnareris, tanquam qui perpetrator existens contra Majestatem dei laesam, nec tibi remitteretur Casus Laesae Majestatis. Talium enim Revelatio ad Deum, & non ad Alterum spectat. That is; I swear to thee upon my soule, that thou art damn'd, if thou shouldest reveale these Things. For every good thing proceeds from God and to him onely it is due. Wherefore thou shalt reserve, and keep that Secret, which God onely should reveale,
**Modern English**
For the candid and modest reader I have another reply, which I believe will excuse me sufficiently. Raymond Lull, a man who had been in Nature's centre and undoubtedly understood much of the divine will, lays a terrible charge upon me not to expose these principles indiscriminately. [New translation of the Latin:] “I swear to you upon my soul that if you reveal these things, you are damned. For every good proceeds from God, and is owed to him alone. Therefore you shall preserve and keep secret what it belongs to him to reveal, and declare that you rightly withhold what is owed to his honour. If you were to reveal in a few words what he formed over a long time, on the great day of judgement you would be condemned as an offender against God's injured majesty. The charge of treason would not be forgiven you. For the revelation of such things belongs to God and no other.” [Marginal note: Theory, chapter 6.] [Vaughan’s own English rendering:] “I swear to you upon my soul that you are damned if you reveal these things. Every good thing proceeds from God and is due to him alone. Therefore preserve and keep that secret which God alone should reveal,[^n46]
**CT-P109-A** 1650, p. 109
**Original English**
and thou shalt affirme thou doest justly keep back those things, whose Revelation belongs to his honour. For if thou shouldest reveale that in a few words, which God hath been forming a long time, thou shouldest be condemned in the great day of Judgement, as a Traytor to the Majestie of God, neither should thy Treason bee forgiven Thee. For the Revelation of such Things belong to God, and not to Man. So sayd the wise Raymond.
**Modern English**
and affirm that you rightly withhold those things whose revelation belongs to his honour. If you reveal in a few words what God has been forming over a long time, you will be condemned on the great day of judgement as a traitor to God's majesty, and your treason will not be forgiven. The revelation of such things belongs to God, not man.” So spoke the wise Raymond.
**CT-P109-B** 1650, p. 109
**Original English**
Now for my part I have alwayes honoured the Magicians, their Philosophie being both rational, and Majestic, dwelling not upon Notions, but Effects, and those such as confirme both the Wisdome and the power of the Creator. When I was a meer Errant in their Books, and understood them not, I did believe them. Time rewarded my Faith, and payd my Credulitie with Knowledge. In the Interim I suffer'd many bitter Calumnies, and this by some envious Adversaries, who had nothing of a Scholar, but their Gownes, and a little Language for Vent to their Non-sense. But these could not remove mee, with a Spartan patience I concocted my Injuries, and found at last that Nature was Magicall, not Peripateticall. I have no Reason then to distrust them in Spirituall Things, whom I have found so orthodox and faithfull even in Naturall
**Modern English**
For my part I have always honoured the magicians. Their philosophy is both rational and majestic: it dwells upon effects rather than mere notions, effects confirming the Creator's wisdom and power alike. When I was a mere wanderer in their books and did not understand them, I believed them. Time rewarded my faith and repaid my trust with knowledge. Meanwhile I suffered many bitter slanders from envious opponents who had nothing scholarly about them except their gowns and a little language through which to vent their nonsense. But they could not move me. With Spartan patience I digested my injuries, and finally discovered that Nature was magical, rather than Peripatetic. I have no reason, then, to distrust in spiritual things those I have found so sound and faithful even in natural[^n47]
**CT-P110-A** 1650, p. 110
**Original English**
Mysteries. I doe believe Raymund, and in order to that Faith, I provide for my Salvation. I will not discover, that I may not be condemn'd. But if this will not satisfie Thee, who ever thou art let me whisper thee a word in the ear, and afterwards doe thou proclaime it on the housetopps. Doest thou know from whom, and how that Sperme or Seed which men for want of a better name call the first matter, proceeded? A certain Illuminate and in his daies a member of that Societie, which some painted Buzzards use to laugh at, writes thus; Deus optimus Maximus ex Nihilo aliquid creavit, illud Aliquid vero fiebat unum aliquod, in Quo Omnia. Creaturae Coelestes & Terrestres. God (sayth hee) incomparably good and Great, out of nothing created something, but that Something was made one Thing, in which all Things were contained Creatures both Coelestiall and Terrestriall. This first Something was a certain kind of Cloud, or Darknesse, which was condensed into water. and this water is that One Thing in which all Things were contained. But my Question is, what was that Nothing, out of which the first Cloudy Chaos, or Something was made? Canst thou tell mee? It may bee thou doest think it is a meere Nothing. It is indeed Nihil quò ad Nos. Nothing that wee perfectly know. It is Nothing as Dionysius saith,
**Modern English**
mysteries. I do believe Raymond, and in accordance with that faith I make provision for my salvation. I will not disclose the secret, so that I may not be condemned. But if this does not satisfy you, whoever you are, let me whisper a word in your ear, and afterwards you may proclaim it from the rooftops. Do you know from whom, and how, that sperm or seed which people, for want of a better name, call the first matter proceeded? A certain enlightened man, in his day a member of that society which some painted buzzards are accustomed to laugh at, writes as follows: “God, supremely good and great, created something out of nothing; but that something became a single thing in which were all things, heavenly and earthly creatures.” [Vaughan’s accompanying English:] God, he says, incomparably good and great, created something out of nothing; but that something was made one thing, in which all things were contained, both heavenly and earthly creatures. This first something was a kind of cloud or darkness, which condensed into water; and this water is that one thing in which all things were contained. But my question is: what was that nothing out of which the first cloudy chaos, or something, was made? Can you tell me? Perhaps you think it is sheer nothing. It is indeed “nothing in relation to us”: nothing that we know perfectly. It is nothing, as Dionysius says,[^n48], [^n49], [^n50]
**Original marginal note**
**CT-P110-A-M01** 1650, p. 110
**Original English**
See Jacob Behmen in his most excellent and profound Discourse of the Three Principles.
**Modern English**
See Jacob Böhme’s most excellent and profound discourse on the Three Principles.
**CT-P111-A** 1650, p. 111
**Original English**
Nihil eorum quae sunt, & Nihil eorum quae non sunt. It is nothing that was created, or of those things that are: and nothing of that which thou doest call nothing that is of those Things that are not, in thy empty destructive sense. But by your leave, it is the True Thing, of whom wee can affirme nothing: it is that transcendent Essence, whose Theologie is Negative, and was known to the Primitive Church, but is lost in These our Dayes. This is that Nothing of Cornelius Agrippa, and in this nothing, when hee was tyr'd with humane Things, I mean humane Sciences, hee did at last rest: Nihil Scire, (sayd hee) est vita felicissima, to know Nothing is the happiest Life; true indeed, for to know this Nothing, is Life Eternall. Learne then to understand that Magicall Axiom, Ex Invisibili factum est Visibile, for all Visibles came out of the Invisible God, for hee is the Well-spring from whence all things flow, and the Creation was a certain stupendious Metaphysicall Birth, or Deliverie. This fine Virginwater, or Chaos, was the second Nature from God himself, and if I may say so, the Child of the Blessed Trinitie. What Doctor then is hee, whose hands are fit to touch that Subject, upon which God himself when he workes, layes his own Spirit, for verely so we reade, The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the water? And
**Modern English**
“none of the things that are, and none of the things that are not.” It is nothing that was created, or among the things that exist; and nothing among what you call nothing—that is, among things that do not exist, in your empty, destructive sense. Yet, with your permission, it is the true thing of which we can affirm nothing: that transcendent essence whose theology proceeds by negation. This was known to the early Church, but has been lost in our own day. This is Cornelius Agrippa’s nothing; and in this nothing, when he was tired of human things—I mean human sciences—he finally rested. “To know nothing,” he said, “is the happiest life.” To know nothing is indeed the happiest life, for to know this nothing is eternal life. Learn, then, to understand that magical axiom: “The visible was made from the invisible.” All visible things came from the invisible God, the wellspring from which all things flow; and creation was an astonishing metaphysical birth or delivery. This subtle virgin water, or chaos, was the second nature after God himself and, if I may put it so, the child of the blessed Trinity. What doctor’s hands, then, are fit to touch that subject upon which God himself, when he works, lays his own Spirit? For truly we read: “The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the water.” And[^n51], [^n52], [^n53]
**Original marginal note**
**CT-P111-A-M01** 1650, p. 111
**Original English**
See Dyonys. Ar. Th. Neg.
**Modern English**
See Dionysius the Areopagite, on negative theology.
**Original marginal note**
**CT-P111-A-M02** 1650, p. 111
**Original English**
Gen. c. 1.
**Modern English**
Genesis, chapter 1.
**CT-P112-A** 1650, p. 112
**Original English**
can it bee expected then, that I should prostitute this Mysterie to all hands whatsoever, that I should proclame it, and crie it, as they cry Oysters? Verily these Considerations, with some other which I will not for all the world put to Papyr have made mee almost displease my dearest friends, to whom notwithstanding I owe a better Satisfaction. Had it been my fortune barely to know this Matter, as most men doe, I had perhaps been lesse carefull of it, but I have been instructed in all the Secret Circumstances thereof, which few upon Earth understand. I speak not for any Ostentation, but I speak a Truth which my Conscience knowes very well. Let me then Reader, request thy Patience, for I shall leave this Discoverie to God, who if it bee his blessed will can call unto Thee, and say: Here it is, and thus I worke it. I had not spoken all this in my own Defence, had I not been assaulted (as it were) in this very point, and told to my face I was bound to discover all that I knew, for this Age looks for Dreames and Revelations, as the Traine to their invisible Righteousnesse. I have now sufficiently discours'd of the Matter, and if it be not thy fortune to find it by what is here written, yet thou canst not bee deceived by what I have sayd, for I have purposely a voyded all those Termes, which might make thee mistake
**Modern English**
can I then be expected to expose this mystery to every hand whatsoever, to proclaim it and cry it through the streets as oysters are cried for sale? These considerations, together with others which I would not commit to paper for the whole world, have almost made me displease my dearest friends, to whom I nevertheless owe a better satisfaction. Had my fortune been merely to know this matter, as most people do, perhaps I would have guarded it less carefully; but I have been instructed in all its secret circumstances, which few on earth understand. I do not speak for display: I speak a truth which my conscience knows very well. Reader, let me therefore ask your patience. I shall leave this disclosure to God, who, if it is his blessed will, can call to you and say: “Here it is, and this is how I work upon it.” I would not have said all this in my defence had I not been attacked, as it were, on this very point, and told to my face that I was obliged to disclose everything I knew; for this age expects dreams and revelations as the attendants of its invisible righteousness. I have now discussed the matter sufficiently; and if you are not fortunate enough to find it through what is written here, you nevertheless cannot be deceived by what I have said. I have deliberately avoided every term that might lead you to mistake
**CT-P113-A** 1650, p. 113
**Original English**
any Common Salts, Stones, or Minerals for it. I advise thee withall to beware of all Vegetables, and Animals: avoyd them, and every part of them whatsoever. I speak this because some ignorant, Sluttish Broylers, are of Opinion, that mans Bloud is the True Subject. But Alas! is mans Bloud in the Bowels of the Earth, that Metals should bee generated out of it? or was the world, and all that is therein, made of man's Bloud, as of their first Matter? Surely no such Thing. The first Matter was existent before Man, and all other Creatures whatsoever, for shee is the Mother of them all; They were made of the first Matter, and not the first Matter of them. Take heed then, Let not any man deceive thee. It is totally impossible to reduce any particular to the first Matter, or to a Sperm, without our Mercurie, and being so reduc'd, it is not Universall, but the Particular Sperm of its own Species, and works not any Effects but what are agreeable to the Nature of that Species, for God hath seal'd it with a particular Idea.
**Modern English**
any common salts, stones or minerals for it. I also advise you to beware of all plants and animals: avoid them, and every part of them whatsoever. I say this because some ignorant, filthy broilers believe that human blood is the true subject. But is human blood in the bowels of the earth, so that metals could be generated from it? Or were the world and everything in it made from human blood as their first matter? Certainly not. The first matter existed before humanity and every other creature, for she is the mother of them all. They were made from the first matter, rather than the first matter from them. Take care, then: let no one deceive you. It is entirely impossible to reduce any particular thing to the first matter, or to a sperm, without our Mercury. Even when so reduced, it is not universal, but the particular sperm of its own species; and it produces no effects except those suited to that species’ nature, for God has sealed it with a particular Idea.[^n54]
**CT-P113-B** 1650, p. 113
**Original English**
Let them alone then who practise upon man's bloud in their Chemicall stoves, and Athanors, or as Sendivow hath it, in Fornaculis mirabilibus; they will deplore their Error at last, and sit without Sackcloth, in the Ashes of their Compositions.
**Modern English**
Leave alone, then, those who work upon human blood in their chemical stoves and athanors—or, as Sendivogius puts it, “in their wonderful little furnaces.” They will lament their error at last, sitting without sackcloth in the ashes of their compounds.[^n55]
### Generation and Restoration
**CT-P114-A** 1650, p. 114
**Original English**
But I have done I will now speak something of Generation, and the wayes of it, that the Process of the Philosophers upon this Matter, may be the better understood. You must know that Nature hath two Extremes, and between them a Middle Substance, which elsewhere wee have call'd the Middle Nature. Example enough wee have in the Creation. The first Extreme was that Cloud or Darkness whereof we have spoken formerly; some call it the Remote Matter, and the Invisible Chaos, but very improperly, for it was not invisible. This is the Jewish Ensoph outwardly, and it is the same with that Orphic Night;
Ὦ Νὺξ μέλαινα χρυσέων ἄστρων τροφέ.
O Night! thou black nurse of the golden stars.
**Modern English**
But I have finished with that. I shall now say something about generation and its ways, so that the philosophers’ process upon this matter may be better understood. You must know that Nature has two extremes and, between them, a middle substance, which elsewhere we have called the middle nature. Creation gives us sufficient example. The first extreme was that cloud or darkness of which we spoke earlier. Some call it the remote matter and the invisible chaos, very improperly, for it was not invisible. This is the outward aspect of the Jewish Ensoph, and it is the same as that Orphic Night:
“O black Night, nurse of golden stars.”
[Vaughan’s English:] “O Night, you black nurse of the golden stars.”[^n56], [^n57]
**Original marginal note**
**CT-P114-A-M01** 1650, p. 114
**Original English**
Anima Magica.
**Modern English**
Anima Magica.
**CT-P114-B** 1650, p. 114
**Original English**
Out of this Darkness all things that are in this world came as out of their Fountain or Matrix: hence that Position of all famous Poets and Philosophers, Omnia ex Nocte Prodiisse. The middle Substance is the Water, into which that Night or Darkness was condensed, and the Creatures fram'd out of the Water make up the other Extreme. But the Magicians when they speak strictly. will not allow of this last Extreme, because Nature doth not stay here, wherefore their Philosophie runs thus; Man (say they) in his natural state, is in the meane Creation, from which hee must recede to one of
**Modern English**
Out of this darkness everything in this world emerged, as from its fountain or womb; hence the statement of all famous poets and philosophers, “All things came forth from Night.” The middle substance is the water into which that night or darkness condensed; and the creatures formed from the water make up the other extreme. But the magicians, speaking strictly, do not admit this last extreme, because Nature does not stop here. Their philosophy therefore runs as follows: humanity, they say, in its natural state, occupies the middle creation, from which it must move towards one of
**CT-P115-A** 1650, p. 115
**Original English**
two Extremes; either to Corruption, as commonly all men doe for they die, and moulder away in their graves: or else to a spirituall, glorified Condition, like Enoch and Elijah, who were translated, and this (say they) is a true Extreme, for after it there is no Alteration. Now the Magicians reasoning with themselves, why the meane Creation should be subject to Corruption, concluded the Cause and Original of this disease to be in the Chaos it self, for even that was corrupted, and cursed upon the Fall of Man. But examining Things further, they found that Nature in her Generations did onely concoct the Chaos with a gentle heat, shee did not separate the parts, and purifie each of them by it self, but the purities and impurities of the Sperme remained together in all her Productions, and this Domestic enemie prevayling at last, occasion'd the Death of the Compound. Hence they wisely gathered, that to minister Vegetables, Animals, or Minerals for Physic, was a meer madness, for even these also had their own Impurities and Diseases, and required some Medicine to cleanse them. Upon this Adviso, they resolved (God without all Question being their Guide) to practise on the Chaos it self, they opened it, purified it, united what they had formerly separated, and fed it with a twofold Fire, Thick, and Thin,
**Modern English**
two extremes: either towards corruption, as people commonly do, dying and mouldering away in their graves; or towards a spiritual, glorified condition like that of Enoch and Elijah, who were translated. This, they say, is a true extreme, since no alteration follows it. Now, reasoning among themselves why the middle creation should be subject to corruption, the magicians concluded that this disease had its cause and origin in the chaos itself; for even the chaos was corrupted and cursed at humanity’s Fall. Examining matters further, however, they found that Nature, in her acts of generation, only digested the chaos with a gentle heat. She did not separate the parts and purify each by itself; instead, the sperm’s purities and impurities remained together in everything she produced. This domestic enemy eventually prevailed, causing the compound’s death. They therefore wisely concluded that administering plants, animals or minerals as medicine was sheer madness: these, too, had their own impurities and diseases and needed a medicine to cleanse them. Acting on this conclusion, and undoubtedly guided by God, they resolved to work upon the chaos itself. They opened it, purified it, reunited what they had separated, and fed it with a twofold fire, thick and thin,[^n58]
**CT-P116-A** 1650, p. 116
**Original English**
till they brought it to the immortal Extreme, and made it a spirituall heavenly Body. This was their Physic, this was their Magic. In this performance they saw the Image of that face, which Zoroaster calls Triadis Vultus ante Essentiam, &c. They perfectly knew the Secundea, which contains all things in her naturally, as God contains all things in himself spiritually. They saw that the Life of all things here below, was a Thick Fire, or fire imprisoned and incorporated in a certaine incombustible Aereall moysture. They found moreover that this fire was originally derived from Heaven, and in this sense Heaven is styl'd in the Oracles,
Ignis, Ignis Derivatio, & Ignis Penu.
**Modern English**
until they brought it to the immortal extreme and made it a spiritual, heavenly body. This was their medicine; this was their magic. In accomplishing it they saw the image of that face which Zoroaster calls “the countenance of the triad before essence,” and so forth. They knew perfectly the Secundea, which contains all things within herself naturally, as God contains all things within himself spiritually. They saw that the life of everything here below was a thick fire: fire imprisoned and embodied in a certain incombustible, airy moisture. They found, moreover, that this fire was originally derived from heaven; and in this sense the Oracles call heaven:
“Fire, the outflow of fire, and the storehouse of fire.”[^n59], [^n60]
### The Natural Fire
**CT-P116-B** 1650, p. 116
**Original English**
In a word, they saw with their Eyes, that Nature was Male and Female; Ignis ruber super Dorsum Ignis Candidi, as the Cabalists expresse it: A certain Fire of a most deep red Colour, working on a most white, heavy, salacious Water, which Water also is Fire inwardly, but outwardly very cold. By this practice it was manifested unto them that God himself was Fire according to that of Eximidius in Turba: Omnium rerum Initium esse Naturam quandam, eamque perpetuam, infinitam, omnia foventem, Coquentemque . The Beginning of all things (sayth he) is a Certain Nature, and
**Modern English**
In a word, they saw with their own eyes that Nature was male and female: “red fire upon the back of white fire,” as the Kabbalists express it. A certain fire of the deepest red works upon an intensely white, heavy, sexually ardent water. This water, too, is inwardly fire, although outwardly very cold. This practice revealed to them that God himself was fire, according to Eximidius in the Turba: “The beginning of all things is a certain nature, perpetual and infinite, nurturing and cooking everything.” [Vaughan’s English:] the beginning of all things, he says, is a certain nature, and[^n61]
**CT-P117-A** 1650, p. 117
**Original English**
that eternall, and infinite, cherishing and heating all Things. The truth is Life which is nothing else but Light, and heat proceeded originally from God, and did apply to the Chaos, which is elegantly call'd by Zoroaster, Fons fontium, & fontium cunctorum, Matrix continens cuncta. The Fountain of fountains, and of all fountains The Matrix containing all Things. Wee see by Experience that all Individuals live not onely by their own heat, but they are preserved by the outward universal heat, which is the life of the great world. Even so truly the great world it self lives not altogether by that heat which God hath inclosed in the parts thereof, but it is praeserved by the circumfused influent heat of the Deitie; For above the Heavens God is manifested like an infinite burning world of Light and Fire, so that hee overlooks all that he hath made, and the whole. Fabric stands in his heat and Light, as a man stands here on Earth in the Sun-shine. I say then that the God of Nature employes himself in a perpetuall Coction, and this not onely to generate, but to preserve that which hath been generated: for his spirit and heat coagulat that which is Thin, rarifie that which is too grosse, quicken the dead parts, and cherish the cold. There is indeed one operation of heat, whose method is vitall, and far more mysterious
**Modern English**
that nature is eternal and infinite, cherishing and warming all things. The truth is that life, which is nothing other than light and heat, originally proceeded from God and applied itself to the chaos, elegantly called by Zoroaster “the fountain of fountains, and of all fountains the womb containing everything.” [Vaughan’s rendering:] “the fountain of fountains, and of all fountains the matrix containing all things.” Experience shows that individuals live not only through their own heat, but are preserved by the external, universal heat which is the life of the great world. In just the same way, the great world itself does not live entirely through the heat which God has enclosed in its parts. It is preserved by the surrounding, inflowing heat of the Deity. For above the heavens God manifests himself like an infinite, burning world of light and fire, overlooking everything he has made; and the whole structure stands in his heat and light as a person here on earth stands in sunshine. I say, then, that the God of Nature engages in perpetual digestion, both to generate and to preserve what has been generated. His Spirit and heat coagulate what is thin, rarefy what is too gross, enliven the dead parts and cherish the cold. There is indeed one operation of heat whose method is vital and far more mysterious
**CT-P118-A** 1650, p. 118
**Original English**
than the rest, they that have use for it, must studie it. I have for my part spoken all that I intend to speak, and though my Book may prove fruitless to many, because not understood, yet some few may be of that Spirit as to comprehend it: Amplae mentis ampla flamma, sayd the great Chaldaean. But because I will not leave thee without some Satisfaction, I advise thee to take the Moone of the firmament, which is a middle nature, and place her so that every part of her may be in two Elements at one and the same time, these Elements also must equally attend her Body, not one further off, not one neerer than the other. In the regulating of these two, there is a twofold Geometrie to be observed, Natural, and Artificial. But I may speak no more. The true Furnace is a little simple shell, thou mayst easily carry it in one of thy hands. The Glasse is one, and no more, but some Philosophers have used two, and so mayst thou. As for the work it self. it is no way troublesome a Lady may reade the Arcadia, and at the same time attend this Philosophie without disturbing her fansie. For my part I think women are fitter for it than men, for in such things they are more neat and patient, being used to a small Chimistrie of Sack-possets, and other finicall sugar-sops. Concerning the Effects of this Medicine, I shall not speak any
**Modern English**
than the rest. Those who have a use for it must study it. For my part, I have said everything I intend to say. Although my book may prove fruitless to many because it is not understood, a few may possess the spirit to comprehend it: “A great flame belongs to a great mind,” said the great Chaldaean. But because I will not leave you without some satisfaction, I advise you to take the moon of the firmament, which is a middle nature, and place her so that every part of her may be in two elements at the same time. These elements must attend her body equally, neither farther away nor nearer than the other. In regulating these two, a twofold geometry must be observed, natural and artificial. But I may say no more. The true furnace is a small, simple shell which you can easily carry in one hand. There is one glass vessel, and no more, although some philosophers have used two, and you may do so too. The work itself is in no way troublesome: a lady may read the Arcadia while attending to this philosophy without disturbing her imagination. I think women are better suited to it than men, being neater and more patient in such things, accustomed as they are to a small chemistry of sack possets and other delicate sugared dishes. Concerning this medicine’s effects, I shall say no[^n62], [^n63]
**CT-P119-A** 1650, p. 119
**Original English**
thing at this time, hee that desires to know them, let him reade the Revelation of Paracelsus, a Discourse altogether incomparable, and in very truth miraculous. And here without any partialitie, I shall give my Judgement of honest Hohenheim. I find in the rest of his workes, and especially where hee falls on the stone, a great many false Processes, but his Doctrine of it in Generall is very sound. The truth is, hee had some Pride to the Justice of his Spleen, and in many places hee hath err'd of purpose, not caring what Bones hee threw before the Schoole-men; for hee was a Pylot of Guadalcana, and sayl'd sometimes in his Rio de la recriation. But I had almost forgot to tell thee that. which is all in all, and it is the greatest Difficultie in all the Art, namely the fire. It is a close, ayrie, circular, bright fire; the Philosophers call it their Sun, and the glasse must stand in the shade. It makes not the matter to vapour, no not so much as to sweat, it digests onely with a still, piercing, vitall heat. It is continuall, and therefore at last alters the Chaos, and corrupts it; The Proportion and Regiment of it is very Scrupulous, but the best rule to know it by, is that of the Synod: facite ne Easianus volet ante Insequentem; Let not the Bird fly before the Fowler: make it sit whiles you give fire, and then you are sure of
**Modern English**
more at present. Whoever wishes to know them should read the Revelation of Paracelsus, a discourse altogether incomparable and truly marvellous. Here I shall give my judgement of honest Hohenheim without partiality. In the rest of his works, especially where he treats the stone, I find many false processes; but his general doctrine concerning it is very sound. The truth is that some pride accompanied his justified indignation. In many places he went wrong deliberately, caring little what bones he threw before the schoolmen: he was a pilot of Guadalcana, sometimes sailing upon his “river of recreation.” But I almost forgot to tell you what is everything in everything, and the greatest difficulty in the whole art: the fire. It is a close, airy, circular, bright fire. The philosophers call it their sun; and the glass must stand in the shade. It does not make the matter vaporise, or even so much as sweat: it only digests it with a quiet, penetrating, vital heat. It is continuous, and so eventually alters and corrupts the chaos. Its proportion and regulation are exceedingly delicate. The best rule for recognising it, however, is the Synod’s: “See that the pheasant does not fly ahead of its pursuer.” [Vaughan’s rendering:] do not let the bird fly before the fowler. Make it sit while you fire, and then you are sure of[^n64], [^n65], [^n66]
**CT-P120-A** 1650, p. 120
**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[^n67]
**CT-P121-A** 1650, p. 121
**Original English**
or thrice, out of a certain confident Negligence, Expecting that, which I knew well enough, could never bee. Nature moves not by the Theorie of men, but by their practice, and surely Wit and Reason can performe no Miracles, unlesse the hands supplie them. Bee sure then to know this fire in the first place, and accordingly bee sure to make use of it. But for thy better Securitie, I will describe it to thee once more. It is a drie, vaporous humid fire; it goes round about the Glasse, and is both equall and Continuall. It is restlesse, and some have call'd it the white philosophicall Coale. It is in it self naturall, but the praeparation of it is Artificiall, it is a heat of the Dead wherefore some call it their unnatural, Necromantic fire. It is no part of the Matter, neither is it taken out of it, but it is an external fire, and serves onely to stirr up, and strengthen the inward oppressed fire of the Chaos. But let us hear Nature her self, for thus shee speaks in the Serious Romance of Mehung. Post putrefactionem sit ipsa Generatio, idque per internum incomburibilem Calorem ad Argenti vivi frigiditatem calefaciendam, quod tantum equidem patitur, ut tandem cum sulphure suo uniatur. Omne illud uno in Vase complexum est, Ignis, aer, & Aqua videlicet, quae in Terreno suo vase accipio, eademque uno in Alembico relinquo; & tum coquo,
**Modern English**
or three times, through an overconfident negligence, expecting what I knew perfectly well could never happen. Nature moves through human practice, not human theory; and certainly ingenuity and reason can perform no miracles unless the hands supply their part. Be sure, then, to know this fire first of all, and accordingly to use it. For your greater assurance I shall describe it once more. It is a dry, vaporous, humid fire; it circulates around the glass and is both even and continuous. It is restless, and some have called it the white philosophical coal. It is natural in itself, although its preparation is artificial; it is a heat of the dead, which is why some call it their unnatural, necromantic fire. It forms no part of the matter, nor is it extracted from it. It is an external fire, serving only to stir up and strengthen the chaos’s inward, oppressed fire. But let us hear Nature herself, speaking in Mehung’s serious romance: “After putrefaction generation itself takes place, through the inward incombustible heat that warms the coldness of quicksilver. This undergoes only so much that it is finally united with its sulphur. All this is comprised in one vessel—namely fire, air and water—which I receive in their earthly vessel and leave together in one alembic. Then I cook,[^n68], [^n69]
**CT-P122-A** 1650, p. 122
**Original English**
dissolvo, & sublimo, absque Malleo, forcipe, vel lima, sine Carbonibus, vapore, Igne aut Mariae-Balneo, & Sophistarum Alembicis: Coelestem namque meum ignem habeo, qui Elementalem, prout Materia idoneam decentemque formam habere desyderat, excitat. That is: After Putrefaction succeeds Generation, and that because of the inward incombustible Sulphur, that heats, or thickens the Coldness, and Crudities of the Quicksilver which suffers so much thereby, that at last it is united to the Sulphur, and made one Body therewith. All this namely (Fire, Ayre, and Water) is contained in one Vessell; in their earthly Vessel that is in their grosse Body, or Composition I take them and then I leave them in one Alembic, where I concoct, dissolve, and sublime them without the help of Hammer, Tongs, or File; without Coales, Smoake, Fire, or Bath, or the Alembics of the Sophisters. For I have my heavenly fire, which excites, or stirs up the Elementall one, according as the matter desires a becomming, agreeable forme. Now Nature every where is one and the same, wherefore shee reades the same lesson to Madathan, who thinking in his Ignorance to make the stone without dissolution, receives from her this Check. An tu nunc Cochleas, vel Cancros cum Test is devorare niteris? An non priùs à vetussissimo Planetarum Coquo maturari,
**Modern English**
dissolve and sublime them, without hammer, tongs or file, without coals, vapour, fire or a bath of Mary, and without the sophists’ alembics. For I have my heavenly fire, which awakens the elemental fire as the matter desires to possess a suitable and fitting form.” [Vaughan’s accompanying English:] after putrefaction comes generation, through the inward incombustible sulphur which heats, or thickens, the coldness and crudities of quicksilver. It undergoes so much through this that it is at last united with the sulphur and made one body with it. All this—namely fire, air and water—is contained in one vessel. I take them in their earthly vessel, that is, their gross body or compound, and leave them in one alembic, where I digest, dissolve and sublime them without hammer, tongs or file; without coals, smoke, fire or bath; and without the sophists’ alembics. For I have my heavenly fire, which excites or stirs up the elemental one according as the matter desires a becoming, fitting form. Now Nature is everywhere one and the same; hence she teaches the same lesson to Madathan, who, ignorantly thinking he could make the stone without dissolution, receives this rebuke from her: “Are you now trying to devour snails or crabs with their shells? Must they not first be ripened[^n70]
**CT-P123-A** 1650, p. 123
**Original English**
& praeparari illos oportet? Doest thou think (sayes hee) to eat Oysters shells and all? ought they not first to bee opened, and prepar'd by the most Ancient Cooke of the Planets? With these agrees the excellent Flammel, who speaking of the Solar, and Lunar Mercurie, and the Plantation of the one in the other, hath these words. Sumantur itaque , & noctu, interdiuque assiduè supra ignem in Alembico foveantur. Non autem ignis Carbonarius, vel è ligno confectus sed clarus pellucidusque ignis sit, non secus ac Sol ipse, qui nunquam plus justo calidus ardensque sed omni tempore ejusdem caloris esse debet. Take them therefore (sayth hee) and cherish them over a fire in thy Alembic: But it must not be a fire of Coales, nor of any wood, but a bright shining fire, like the Sun it self, whose heat must never be excessive but alwayes of one and the same Degree. This is enough, and too much, for the Secret in it self is not great, but the Consequences of it are so, which made the Philosophers hide it. Thus Reader thou hast the outward Agent most fully and faithfully described. It is in Truth a very simple mysterie, and if I should tell it openly, ridiculous. Howsoever by this, and not without it, did the Magicians unlock the Chaos, and certainly it is no newes that an Iron-key should open a Treasurie of Gold. In this Universall
**Modern English**
and prepared by the most ancient cook of the planets?” [Vaughan’s English:] do you think, he says, to eat oysters, shells and all? Must they not first be opened and prepared by the most ancient cook of the planets? The excellent Flamel agrees. Speaking of solar and lunar Mercury and the planting of one within the other, he says: “Let them therefore be taken and continually cherished over a fire in the alembic, by night and by day. Let this be no fire of charcoal or wood, but a clear, transparent fire, like the sun itself. It must never be hotter or more burning than is proper, but must remain at the same heat at every time.” [Vaughan’s English:] take them, he says, and cherish them over a fire in your alembic. But it must be no fire of coals or wood, but a bright, shining fire, like the sun itself, whose heat must never be excessive but always of one and the same degree. This is enough, and too much. The secret itself is not great, but its consequences are, which made the philosophers conceal it. Reader, you now have the external agent described most fully and faithfully. It is, in truth, a very simple mystery, and would seem ridiculous if I told it openly. Nevertheless, by this, and never without it, the magicians unlocked the chaos. Certainly there is nothing new in an iron key opening a treasury of gold. In this universal[^n71]
**CT-P124-A** 1650, p. 124
**Original English**
Subject they found the Natures of all particulars, and this is signified to us by that Maxim: Qui Proteum non novit, adeat Pana. This Pan is their Chaos, or Mercurie, which expounds Proteus. namely the Particular Creatures, commonly call'd Individualls, For Pan transformes himself into a Proteus, that is, into all varieties of Species, into Animals, Vegetables, and Minerals; for out of the Universall Nature, or first matter, all these are made, and Pan hath their Proprieties in himself. Hence it is that Mercurie is call'd the Interpreter, or Expositor of Inferiors and Superiors, under which Notion the Ancient Orpheus invokes him.
Κλῦθί μου Ἑρμεία, Διὸς ἄγγελε, Μαιάδος υἱέ, Ἑρμηνεῦ πάντων.
Hear me ô Mercurie, thou messenger of Jove, and son of Maia, the Expositor of all Things.
**Modern English**
subject they found the natures of all particular things, as the maxim tells us: “Whoever does not know Proteus should approach Pan.” This Pan is their chaos or Mercury, which explains Proteus: the particular creatures commonly called individuals. For Pan transforms himself into Proteus—that is, into every variety of species, into animals, plants and minerals. All these are made from universal Nature or the first matter, and Pan possesses their properties within himself. Hence Mercury is called the interpreter or expositor of things below and things above. In this capacity the ancient Orpheus invokes him:
“Hear me, Hermes, messenger of Zeus, son of Maia, interpreter of all.”
[Vaughan’s English:] “Hear me, Mercury, messenger of Jove and son of Maia, expositor of all things.”[^n72]
### The Region of Light
**CT-P124-B** 1650, p. 124
**Original English**
Now for the Birth of this Mercurie, and the Place of it, I find but few Philosophers that mention it. Zoroaster points at it, and that very obscurely, where he speaks of his Jynges or the Idea's in these words;
**Modern English**
As for the birth of this Mercury, and its place, I find few philosophers who mention it. Zoroaster points towards it, very obscurely, when he speaks of his Iynges, or Ideas, in these words:[^n73]
**CT-P124-C** 1650, p. 124
**Latin**
Multae quidem hae scandunt lucidos Mundos,
Insilentes: Quarum Summitates sunt Tres.
Subjectum est Ipsis Principale pratum.
**Modern English**
Many of these ascend the shining worlds,
Leaping: their summits are three.
Beneath them lies the primal meadow.
**CT-P125-A** 1650, p. 125
**Original English**
This Pratum, or Meadow of the Idea's, a place well known to the Philosophers, (Flammel calls it their Garden, and the Mountain of the seven Metals, see his Summarie, where hee describes it most learnedly for hee was instructed by a Jew) is a certain secret, but Universall Region: one calls it Regio Lucis, the Region of Light, but to the Cabalist it is Nox Corporis, a Terme extremely apposit, and significant. It is in few words the Rendezvous of all Spirits, for in this place the Idea's when they descend from the Bright world to the Dark one, are incorporated. For thy Better Intelligence thou must know that Spirits whiles they move in Heaven, which is the Fire-world, contract no impurities at all, according to that of Stellatus;
Omne quod est supra Lunam, aeternumque bonumque
Esse scias, nec triste aliquid Coelestia tangit.
**Modern English**
This meadow of the Ideas, a place well known to the philosophers, is a certain secret yet universal region. Flamel calls it their garden and the mountain of the seven metals: see his Summary, where he describes it most learnedly, having been instructed by a Jew. One calls it the “region of light”; but to the Kabbalist it is the “night of the body,” an extremely apt and significant term. In a few words, it is the meeting place of all spirits: here the Ideas, descending from the bright world into the dark, are embodied. To understand this better, know that spirits, while moving in heaven, which is the fire world, contract no impurities at all, in accordance with Stellatus:
“Know that everything above the moon is eternal and good;
No sorrowful thing touches the heavenly realms.”[^n74]
**CT-P125-B** 1650, p. 125
**Original English**
All (sayth hee) that is above the Moon, is eternall and good, and there is no Corruption of Heavenly Things. On the contrary, when Spirits descend to the Elementall Matrix, and reside in her Kingdom, they are blurr'd with the Original Leprosie of the Matter, for here the Curse raves and rules, but in Heaven it is not Praedominant. To put an end to this point,
**Modern English**
Everything above the moon, he says, is eternal and good, and there is no corruption of heavenly things. Conversely, when spirits descend into the elemental womb and dwell in her kingdom, they are stained with matter’s original leprosy. Here the curse rages and rules; in heaven it does not predominate. To conclude this point,
**CT-P126-A** 1650, p. 126
**Original English**
let us hear the admirable Agrippa state it; This is hee, between whose lipps the Truth did breathe, and knew no other Oracle. Coelestium vires, dum in se existunt, & à Datore Luminum per sanctas Intelligentias, & Coelos influuntur, quousque ad Lunam pervenerint: earum Influentia bona est, tanquam in primo gradu; deinde autem quando in Subjecto viliori suscipitur, ipsa etiam vilescit. That is; The Heavenly powers, or spirituall Essences whiles they are in themselves, or before they are united to the Matter, and are shower'd down from the Father of Lights thorough the holy Intelligences and the Heavens, untill they come to the Moone: Their Influence is good, as in the first degree; But when it is received in a corrupt Subject, the Influence also is corrupted. Thus He. Now the Astronomers pretend to a strange familiaritie with the starrs, the Natural Philosophers talk as much: and truly an Ignorant man might well think they had been in heaven, and conversed, like Lucians Menippus, with Jove himself. But in good Earnest these Men are no more Eagles than Sancho, their fansies are like his flights in the Blanket, and every way as short of the Skies. Ask them but where the Influences are received, and how; bid them by faire Experience prove they are present in the Elements, and you have undone them; if
**Modern English**
let us hear the admirable Agrippa state it: he from whose lips Truth breathed, knowing no other oracle. “The heavenly powers, while they exist in themselves and flow from the Giver of Lights through the holy intelligences and the heavens, have a good influence as far as the moon, as though in the first degree. Afterwards, however, when that influence is received in a baser subject, it too becomes base.” [Vaughan’s English:] the heavenly powers or spiritual essences, while existing in themselves, or before union with matter, are showered down from the Father of Lights through the holy intelligences and the heavens until they reach the moon. Their influence is good, as in the first degree; but when received in a corrupt subject, the influence too is corrupted. So much for Agrippa. Now astronomers claim a strange familiarity with the stars, and natural philosophers talk in the same way. An ignorant person might well think they had been in heaven and conversed, like Lucian’s Menippus, with Jove himself. But in earnest these people are no more eagles than Sancho. Their fancies resemble his flights in the blanket and fall equally short of the skies. Simply ask where and how the influences are received; require them to prove through sound experience that they are present in the elements, and you have undone them. If[^n75], [^n76]
**Original marginal note**
**CT-P126-A-M01** 1650, p. 126
**Original English**
Occult. phil.
**Modern English**
On Occult Philosophy.
**CT-P127-A** 1650, p. 127
**Original English**
you will trust the foure Corners of a Figure, or the three Legs of a Syllogism, you may; this is all their Evidence. Well fare the Magicians then, whose Art can demonstrate these Things, and put the very Influences in our hands. Let it be thy studie to know their Region of Light, and to enter into the Treasures thereof, for then thou mayst converse with Spirits, and understand the Nature of invisible Things. Then will appear unto thee the Universal Subject, and the two minerall Spermes, White, and Red, of which I must speak somewhat, before I make an end.
**Modern English**
you choose to trust the four corners of a figure or the three legs of a syllogism, you may: this is all their evidence. Long live the magicians, then, whose art can demonstrate these things and place the very influences in our hands. Make it your study to know their region of light and to enter its treasures; then you may converse with spirits and understand the nature of invisible things. Then the universal subject will appear to you, and the two mineral sperms, white and red, about which I must say something before concluding.
### The Living Return to Seed
**CT-P127-B** 1650, p. 127
**Original English**
In the Pythagoricall Synod, which consisted of Threescore and Ten Philosophers, all Masters of the Art, it is thus written. Ignis Spissum in Aera cadit; Aeris vero Spissum, & quod ex igne Spisso congregatur, in Aquam incidit; Aquae quoque Spissum, & quod ex Ignis & Aeris Spisso coadunatur, in Terrâ quiescit. Ita istorum Trium spissitudo in Terrâ quiescit, inque eâ conjuncta sunt. Ipsa ergo Terra omnibus caeteris Elementis spissior est, uti Palam apparet, & videre est. That is, The Thicknesse, or Sperm of the Fire falls into the Ayre; The Thickness or Spermatic part of the Ayre. and in it the Sperm of the Fire, falls into the Water; The Thickness or spermatic Substance of the Water, and in it the two Spermes of Fire and
**Modern English**
In the Pythagorean Synod, consisting of seventy philosophers, all masters of the art, it is written: “The dense part of fire falls into air; the dense part of air, together with what is gathered from dense fire, falls into water. The dense part of water, together with what is combined from the dense parts of fire and air, rests in earth. Thus the density of these three rests in earth, and in it they are joined. Earth itself is therefore denser than all the other elements, as is plainly apparent and can be seen.” [Vaughan’s English:] the thickness or sperm of fire falls into air. The thickness or spermatic part of air, containing the sperm of fire, falls into water. The thickness or spermatic substance of water, containing the two sperms of fire and[^n77]
**CT-P128-A** 1650, p. 128
**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,[^n78]
**Original marginal note**
**CT-P128-A-M01** 1650, p. 128
**Original English**
Gen. c. 3. ver. 19.
**Modern English**
Genesis 3:19.
**CT-P129-A** 1650, p. 129
**Original English**
and the moysture of it is viscous, and slimie, a water and no water, for such a Sperme ought to bee. Suppose Dr. Coale, I mean some Broyler, had a minde to generat something out of this Egg: Questionlesse he would first distill it, and that with a fire able to roast the Hen that layd it, then would hee calcine the Caput mortuum, and finally produce his Nothing. Here you are to observe that Bodies are nothing els but Sperm coagulated, and he that Destroyes the Body, by consequence destroyes the Sperm. Now to reduce Bodies into Elements of earth and water, as wee have instanc'd in the Egg, is to reduce them into Extremes beyond their Sperm, for Elements are not the Sperm, but the Sperm is a Compound made of the Elements, and containing in it self all that is requisit to the frame of the Body. Wherefore be well advis'd before you distill, and Quarter any particular Bodies, for having once separated their Elements, you may never generat, unless you can make a Sperm of those Elements, but that is impossible for man to doe, it is the Power of God, and Nature. Labour then you that would be accounted wise, to find out our Mercurie, so shall you reduce things to their mean spermaticall Chaos, but avoyd the broyling Destruction. This Doctrine will spare you the vain Task of Distillations, if you will but remember this
**Modern English**
and its moisture is viscous and slimy: a water and no water, as such a sperm ought to be. Suppose Dr Coal—I mean some broiler—wanted to generate something from this egg. He would undoubtedly distil it first, with a fire strong enough to roast the hen that laid it; then he would calcine the dead residue and finally produce his nothing. Here observe that bodies are nothing but coagulated sperm; consequently, whoever destroys the body destroys the sperm. To reduce bodies to the elements of earth and water, as in our example of the egg, is to reduce them to extremes beyond their sperm. The elements are not the sperm: the sperm is a compound made from the elements, containing everything needed to frame the body. Be well advised, therefore, before distilling and quartering particular bodies. Once you have separated their elements, you can never generate anything unless you can make a sperm from those elements; and that is impossible for humanity. It belongs to the power of God and Nature. Labour, then, you who wish to be considered wise, to discover our Mercury. Through it you will reduce things to their intermediate, spermatic chaos; but avoid the destruction of broiling. This doctrine will spare you the futile task of distillations if you remember this[^n79]
**CT-P130-A** 1650, p. 130
**Original English**
Truth: That Spermes are not made by Separation but by Composition of Elements, and to bring a Body into Sperm, is not to distill it, but to reduce the whole into one thick water, keeping all the parts thereof in their first naturall union. But that I may return at last to my former Citation of the Synod All those Influences of the Elements being united in one Mass, make our Sperm or our Earth, which is Earth and no Earth. Take it if thou doest know it, and divide the Essences thereof, not by violence, but by naturall putrefaction, such as may occasion a genuine Dissolution of the Compound. Here thou shalt find a miraculous white Water, an Influence of the Moone, which is the Mother of our Chaos; It rules in two Elements Earth and Water. After this appears the Sperm or influx of the Sun, which is the father of it. It is a quick, Coelestiall fire, incorporated in a thin, oleous, Aereall Moysture. It is incombustible, for it is fire it self, and feeds upon fire, and the longer it stayes in the fire, the more glorious it growes. These are the two mineral Spermes Masculine. and Foeminine: if thou doest place them both on their Chrystalline Basis, thou hast the Philosopher's flying Fire-drake, which at the first sight of the Sun breathes such a poyson, that nothing can stand before him. I know not what to tell thee more, unlesse in the Vogue
**Modern English**
truth: sperms are made by the composition of elements, not their separation. To bring a body into sperm is not to distil it, but to reduce the whole to one thick water, keeping every part in its first natural union. To return at last to my earlier quotation from the Synod: all those elemental influences, united in one mass, make our sperm or our earth, which is earth and no earth. Take it, if you know it, and divide its essences through natural putrefaction rather than violence, bringing about a genuine dissolution of the compound. Here you will find a miraculous white water, an influence of the moon, which is our chaos’s mother. It rules in two elements, earth and water. After this appears the sperm or influx of the sun, which is its father. This is a living, celestial fire embodied in a thin, oily, airy moisture. It is incombustible, being fire itself and feeding upon fire; the longer it remains in fire, the more glorious it grows. These are the two mineral sperms, male and female. If you place both upon their crystalline base, you have the philosophers’ flying fire dragon, which, at the first sight of the sun, breathes a poison before which nothing can stand. I do not know what more to tell you, unless, following the fashion[^n80]
**CT-P131-A** 1650, p. 131
**Original English**
of some Authors, I should give thee a flegmatic Description of the whole process and that I can dispatch in two words. It is nothing els but a continual Coction the Volatil Essences ascending and descending till at last they are fix'd, according to that excellent Prosopopaeia of the stone.
**Modern English**
of some authors, I gave you a dull description of the entire process; and that I can dispatch in two words. It is simply a continuous digestion, the volatile essences ascending and descending until at last they are fixed, in accordance with that excellent personification of the stone:
**CT-P131-B** 1650, p. 131
**Latin**
Non ego continuò morior, dum spiritus exit,
Nam redit assiduè, quamvis & soepe recedat,
Et mihi nunc magna est Animae, nunc nulla facultas.
**Modern English**
I do not die at once when my spirit goes out,
For it continually returns, though often it withdraws;
Now my soul has great power, now none.[^n81]
**CT-P131-C** 1650, p. 131
**Latin**
Plus ego sustinui, quam Corpus debuit unum;
Tres Animas habui, quas omnes intus habebam,
Discessere duae, sed Tertia poenè secuta est.
**Modern English**
I have endured more than one body should;
I had three souls, all held within me.
Two departed; the third almost followed.
**CT-P131-D** 1650, p. 131
**Original English**
I am not dead, although my spirit's gon,
For it returns, and is both off, and on,
Now I have life enough, now I have non.
**Modern English**
I am not dead, although my spirit is gone,
For it returns, and is both off and on;
Now I have life enough, now I have none.
**CT-P131-E** 1650, p. 131
**Original English**
I suffer'd more, than one could justly doe;
Three soules I had, and all my own but Two
Are fled: the Third had almost left mee too.
**Modern English**
I suffered more than one could rightly do;
Three souls I had, all my own, but two
Have fled: the third had almost left me too.
**CT-P131-F** 1650, p. 131
**Original English**
Ὃ γέγραφα, γέγραφα. I have written, what I have written- And now give me leave to look about mee. Is there no Powder-Plott, or practice? What's become of Aristotel, and Galen? Where is the Scribe and Pharisee, the Disputers of this world? If they suffer all this,
**Modern English**
“What I have written, I have written.” I have written what I have written. And now allow me to look around. Is there no Gunpowder Plot, no conspiracy? What has become of Aristotle and Galen? Where are the scribe and Pharisee, the disputers of this world? If they tolerate all this,[^n82]
**Original marginal note**
**CT-P131-F-M01** 1650, p. 131
**Original English**
Joh. 19. 22
**Modern English**
John 19:22.
**CT-P132-A** 1650, p. 132
**Original English**
and believe it too, I shall think the General Conversion is come about, and I may sing,
Jam redit & Virgo, redeunt Saturnia Regna.
**Modern English**
and believe it too, I shall think the general conversion has come about, and may sing:
“Now the Virgin returns; Saturn’s reign returns.”[^n83]
### The Reconciliation of the Elements
**CT-P132-B** 1650, p. 132
**Original English**
But come what will come, I have once more spoken for the Truth, and shall for Conclusion speak this much Again. I have elsewhere call'd this Subject, Limus coelestis, and the middle Nature: The Philosophers call it the Venerable Nature, but amongst all the Praetenders I have not yet found one, that could tell me why. Hear me then, that whensoever thou doest attempt this work, it may be with reverence, not like some proud, ignorant Doctor but with lesse Confidence & more Care. This Chaos hath in it the foure Elements, which of themselves are contrarie Natures, but the wisdome of God hath so placed them that their very order reconciles them. For Example, Ayre and Earth are Adversaries, for one is hot and moyst, the other cold and drie. Now to reconcile these two, God placed the Water between them, which is a middle Nature, or of a mean Complexion between both Extremes. For she is cold and moyst, and as shee is cold, shee partakes of the Nature of the Earth, which is cold and drie, but as shee is moyst, she partakes in the Nature of the Ayre, which is hot and moyst. Hence it is, that Ayre and Earth which are Contraries
**Modern English**
But come what may, I have once more spoken for Truth, and in conclusion shall say this much again. Elsewhere I have called this subject the “heavenly slime” and the middle nature. The philosophers call it the venerable nature; yet among all the claimants I have not found one who could tell me why. Hear me, then, so that whenever you attempt this work you may do so reverently, with less confidence and more care than some proud, ignorant doctor. This chaos contains the four elements, which are contrary natures in themselves; but God’s wisdom has placed them so that their very order reconciles them. For example, air and earth are adversaries: one is hot and moist, the other cold and dry. To reconcile them God placed water between them, a middle nature with a temperament intermediate between the two extremes. For she is cold and moist: through coldness she shares the nature of earth, which is cold and dry; through moisture she shares the nature of air, which is hot and moist. Hence air and earth, contrary
**CT-P133-A** 1650, p. 133
**Original English**
in Themselves, agree and imbrace one another in the water, as in a middle Nature which is proportionate to them both, and tempers their Extremities. But verely this Salvo makes not up the Breach, for though the water reconciles two Elements like a friendly Third, yet shee her self fights with a Fourth, namely with the Fire: For the Tire is hot and drie, but the water is cold and moyst, which are clear Contraries. To prevent the Distempers of these two, God placed the Ayre between them, which is a Substance hot and moyst; and as it is hot, it agrees with the fire, which is hot and drie; but as it is moyst, it agrees with the water, which is cold and moyst; so that by mediation of the Ayre, the other two Extremes, namely fire and water are made friends, and reconciled. Thus you see, as I told you at first, that Contrarie Elements are united by that Order and Texture wherein the Wise God hath placed them. You must now give me leave to tell you that this Agreement or friendship is but partil, a very weak love, cold and skittish: for whereas these Principles agree in one qualitie, they differ in two, as your selves may easily compute. Much need therefore have they of a more strong and able Mediator to confirme and preserve their weak Unitie, for upon it depends the very æternitie, and Incorruption of the Creature. This blessed
**Modern English**
in themselves, agree and embrace in water, a middle nature proportioned to both which tempers their extremes. Yet this remedy does not completely repair the breach. Although water reconciles two elements like a friendly third party, she herself fights a fourth, namely fire. Fire is hot and dry, whereas water is cold and moist: clear contraries. To prevent their discord God placed air between them, a substance hot and moist. Through heat it agrees with fire, which is hot and dry; through moisture it agrees with water, which is cold and moist. Thus air’s mediation makes friends of the other two extremes, fire and water, and reconciles them. You see, then, as I said at first, that contrary elements are united by the order and texture in which the wise God has placed them. Now allow me to tell you that this agreement or friendship is only partial: a very weak love, cold and skittish. For although these principles agree in one quality, they differ in two, as you can easily calculate. They therefore greatly need a stronger, more capable mediator to confirm and preserve their weak unity, upon which the creature’s very eternity and incorruptibility depend. This blessed[^n84]
**CT-P134-A** 1650, p. 134
**Original English**
Caement, and Balsam, is the Spirit of the living God, which some ignorant Scriblers have call'd a Quintessence, for this very Spirit is in the Chaos, and to speak plainly, the fire is his Thrrne, for in the Fire he is Seated, as wee have sufficiently told you elsewhere. This was the Reason, why the Magi call'd the first Matter their Venerable Nature, and their blessed stone, and in good earnest what think you, is it not so? This blessed Spirit fortifies, and perfects that weak Disposition which the Elements already have to Union and Peace, (for God works with Nature, not against her,) and brings them at last to a beauteous specificall Fabric. Now if you will aske me, where is the Soul, or as the Schoole-men abuse her the Form, all this while? what doth shee doe? To this I answer, that shee is, as all Instrumentals ought to be, subject and obedient to the will of God, expecting the perfection of her Body: for it is God that unites her to the Body, and the body to her. Soule and Body are the work of God, the one as well as the other: the Soul is not the Artificer of her house, for that which can make a Body, can also repayre it, and hinder death; but the Soule cannot doe this, it is the Power, and Wisdome of God. In a word, to say that the Soule form'd the Body, because shee is in the Body, is to say that the Jewell made the Cabinet, because the
**Modern English**
cement and balsam is the Spirit of the living God, which some ignorant scribblers have called a quintessence. This very Spirit is in the chaos; and, to speak plainly, fire is his throne, for in fire he is seated, as we have sufficiently told you elsewhere. This is why the Magi called the first matter their venerable nature and their blessed stone. Seriously, what do you think: is it not so? This blessed Spirit strengthens and perfects the elements’ existing weak disposition towards union and peace—for God works with Nature, not against her—and finally brings them into a beautiful structure of a particular species. If you ask where the soul is all this while, or the form, as the schoolmen misuse her name, and what she is doing, I answer that she is subject and obedient to God’s will, as all instrumental agents ought to be, awaiting the perfection of her body. It is God who unites her to the body, and the body to her. Soul and body alike are God’s work. The soul is not the builder of her house: whatever can make a body can also repair it and prevent death; but the soul cannot do this. It belongs to God’s power and wisdom. In a word, saying that the soul formed the body because she is in it is like saying the jewel made the cabinet because the[^n85]
**Original marginal note**
**CT-P134-A-M01** 1650, p. 134
**Original English**
Anthroposoph.
**Modern English**
Anthroposophia.
**CT-P135-A** 1650, p. 135
**Original English**
Jewell is in the Cabinet, or that the Sun made the world, because the Sun is in the world, and cherisheth every part thereof. Learn therefore to distinguish between Agents and their Instruments, for if you attribute that to the Creature, which belongs to the Creator, you bring your selves in Danger of hell-fire, for God is a jealous God, and will not give his glorie to Another. I advise my Doctors therefore, both Divines and Physicians, not to bee too rash in their Censures, nor so Magisterial in their Discourse, as I have known some Professors of Physic to be: who would correct and undervalue the rest of their Brethren, when in Truth they Themselves were most shamefully ignorant. It is not ten, or twelve years Experience in Druggs and Sopps can acquaint a man with the Mysteries of God's Creation. Take this, and make a world: Take I know not what, and make a Pill or Clyster, are different Recepts. Wee should therefore consult with our Judgements, before wee venture our Tongues, and never speake, but when wee are sure wee understand. I knew a Gentleman, who meeting with a Philosopher Adept, and receiving so much Courtesie as to be admitted to Discourse, attended his first Instructions passing well. But when this Magician quitted my friends known Roade, and began to touch, and drive round the
**Modern English**
jewel is in the cabinet; or that the sun made the world because it is in the world and nourishes every part of it. Learn, therefore, to distinguish agents from their instruments. If you attribute to the creature what belongs to the Creator, you endanger yourselves with hellfire; for God is a jealous God and will not give his glory to another. I therefore advise my doctors, theologians and physicians alike, against rash judgements and against the imperious discourse I have known among some professors of medicine. They would correct and belittle their colleagues while themselves being most shamefully ignorant. Ten or twelve years’ experience of drugs and sops cannot acquaint a person with the mysteries of God’s creation. “Take this, and make a world” and “Take I know not what, and make a pill or enema” are different prescriptions. We should therefore consult our judgement before venturing our tongues, and speak only when sure that we understand. I knew a gentleman who met an adept philosopher and was courteously admitted to conversation. He attended very well to the first instructions; but when this magician left my friend’s familiar road and began to touch and turn the
**CT-P136-A** 1650, p. 136
**Original English**
great Wheele of Nature, presently my Gentleman takes up the Cudgells, and urging all the Authorities, which in his vain judgement made for him, opprest this noble Philosopher with a most clamorous, insipid Ribaldrie. A goodly sight it was, and worthy our Imitation, to see with what an admirable Patience the other received him. But this Errant concluded at last, That Lead or Quick-silver must be the Subject, and that Nature work'd upon one of both. To this the Adeptus replied, Sir, it may bee so at this time, but if hereafter I find Nature in those old Elements, where I have sometimes seen her very Busie, I shall at our next meeting confute your Opinion. This was all hee said, and it was something more than hee did. Their next meeting was referr'd to the Greek Calends, for he could never be seen afterwards, notwithstanding a thousand Sollicitations. Such Talkative babling people as this Gentleman was, who run to every Doctor for his Opinion, and follow like a Spaniell every Bird they spring, are not fit to receive these Secrets, they must be serious, silent men, faithfull to the Art, and most faithfull to their Teachers. Wee should alwayes remember that Dotrine of Zeno: Nature (said hee) gave us one Tongue, but two Eares, that wee might heare much, and speak little. Let not any man therefore
**Modern English**
great wheel of Nature, my gentleman promptly took up the cudgels. Citing every authority which, in his vain judgement, supported his position, he overwhelmed this noble philosopher with clamorous, empty abuse. It was a fine sight, worthy of our imitation, to see the admirable patience with which the other received him. But this wandering knight finally concluded that lead or quicksilver must be the subject, and that Nature worked upon one of them. The adept replied: “Sir, perhaps it is so at present; but if hereafter I find Nature among those old elements where I have sometimes seen her very busy, I shall refute your opinion at our next meeting.” That was all he said, and a little more than he did. Their next meeting was deferred to the Greek calends: despite a thousand requests, he could never afterwards be seen. Talkative babblers like this gentleman, running to every doctor for an opinion and following every bird they flush like a spaniel, are unfit to receive these secrets. They must be serious, silent people, faithful to the art and most faithful to their teachers. We should always remember Zeno’s doctrine: Nature, he said, gave us one tongue but two ears so that we might hear much and speak little. Let no one, therefore,[^n86]
**CT-P137-A** 1650, p. 137
**Original English**
be ready to vomit forth his own shame and ignorance: Let him first examine his knowledge, and especially his practice, lest upon the Experience of a few violent Knacks, hee presume to judge Nature in her very Sobrieties. To make an end; If thou doest know the first Matter, know also for certain, thou hast discovered the Sanctuarie of Nature; There is nothing between thee and her Treasures, but the Doore: that indeed must be opened. Now if thy Desire leads thee on to the Practice, consider well with thy self what manner of man thou art, and what it is that thou would'st do, for it is no small matter. Thou hast resolved with thy self to be a Cooperator with the Spirit of the living God, and to minister to him in his worke of generation. Have a Care therefore that thou doest not hinder his work: for if thy heat exceeds the Naturall Proportion, thou hast stirr'd the wrath of the moyst Natures, and they will stand up against the Central fire, and the Central fire against them, and there will be a terrible Division in the Chaos: but the sweet Spirit of Peace, the true eternal Quintessence will depart from the Elements, leaving both them and Thee to Confusion; neither will hee apply himself to that Matter, as long as it is in thy violent, destroying hands. Take heed therefore, lest thou turn Partner with the Devill,
**Modern English**
be ready to vomit forth his own shame and ignorance. Let him first examine his knowledge, especially his practice, lest experience of a few violent tricks makes him presume to judge Nature in her utmost sobriety. To conclude: if you know the first matter, know certainly that you have discovered Nature’s sanctuary. Nothing stands between you and her treasures except the door, which must indeed be opened. If your desire now leads you towards practice, carefully consider what kind of person you are and what you wish to do, for it is no small matter. You have resolved to cooperate with the Spirit of the living God and minister to him in his work of generation. Take care, therefore, not to hinder his work. If your heat exceeds the natural proportion, you stir up the anger of the moist natures: they rise against the central fire, and the central fire against them, bringing a terrible division within the chaos. But the sweet Spirit of peace, the true eternal quintessence, will depart from the elements, leaving both them and you in confusion. Nor will he apply himself to that matter while it remains in your violent, destructive hands. Take care, then, lest you become the devil’s partner,
**CT-P138-A** 1650, p. 138
**Original English**
for it is the Devil's designe from the Beginning of the world, to set Nature at Variance with her self, that he may totally corrupt, and destroy her. Nè tu augeas fatum, doe not thou further his Designes. I make no question but many men will laugh at this, but on my Soule I speak nothing But what I have known by very good Experience, therefore believe mee. For my own part it was ever my desire to bury these Things in silence, or to paint them out in shadowes, but I have spoken thus clearly, and openly, out of the Affection I bear to some, who have deserved much more at my hands. True it is, I intended sometimes to expose a greater work to the world, which I promised in my Anthroposophia, but I have been since acquainted with that World, and I found it base, and unworthie: wherefore I shall keep in my first happy Solitudes, for Noyse is Nothing to mee, I seek not any man's Applause. If it be the will of my God to call me forth, and that it may make for the Honour of his Name, in that respect I may write again, for I feare not the Judgement of Man, but in the interim here shall be and End.
**Modern English**
for from the world’s beginning the devil has intended to set Nature at variance with herself, wholly to corrupt and destroy her. “Do not add to fate”: do not further his designs. I do not doubt that many will laugh at this; but upon my soul I say nothing except what I have known through very good experience. Believe me, therefore. For my own part, I always desired to bury these things in silence or depict them in shadows. I have spoken so clearly and openly through my affection for certain people who have deserved much more from me. It is true that I once intended to present the world with a larger work, promised in my Anthroposophia. Since then, however, I have become acquainted with that world and found it base and unworthy. I shall therefore remain in my original, happy solitude: noise means nothing to me, and I seek no one’s applause. If my God wills to call me forth, and if it may honour his name, for that purpose I may write again; for I do not fear human judgement. Meanwhile, here shall be an end.[^n87]
**CT-P138-B** 1650, p. 138
**Original English**
FINIS.
**Modern English**
THE END.
### The Address to the Book
**CT-P139-A** 1650, p. 139
**Original English**
ANd now my Book, let it not stop thy Flight,
That thy just Author, is not Lord, or Knight.
I can define my self: and have the Art
Still to present one face, and still one Heart.
But for nine years some Great ones cannot see
What they have been, nor know they what to bee.
What though I have no Rattles to my name,
Do'st hold a simple Honestie no Fame?
Or art thou such a stranger to the Times,
Thou canst not know my Fortunes from my Crimes.
Goe forth, and fear not: some will gladly bee
Thy learned friends, whom I did never see.
Nor shouldst thou fear thy welcom: thy small Price
Cannot undo'em, though they pay Excise.
Thy Bulk's not great: it will not much distresse
Their emptie Pockets, but their Studies lesse.
Th'art no Galeon, as Books of Burthen bee,
Which can not ride but in a Librarie.
Th'art a fine Thing and little: it may Chance
Ladies will buy thee for a new Romance.
Oh how I'le envy Thee! when thou art spread
In the bright Sun-shine of their Eyes, and read
With Breath of Amber, Lips of Rose, that lend
Perfumes vnto thy Leaves, shal never spend:
When from their white hands they shall let thee fall
Into their Bosomes, which I may not call
Ought of Misfortune, Thou do'st drop to rest
In a more pleasing place, and art more blest.
**Modern English**
And now, my book, do not let this stop your flight:
Your rightful author is no lord or knight.
I can define myself, and have the art
To show one constant face, one constant heart.
Yet for nine years some great ones cannot see
What they have been, nor know what they should be.
What if no rattles decorate my name?
Do you think simple honesty no fame?
Or are you such a stranger to these times
You cannot tell my fortunes from my crimes?
Go out, and fear not: some will gladly be
Your learned friends, though never seen by me.
Do not fear your welcome: your small price
Cannot undo them, though they pay excise.
Your bulk is small: it will not much distress
Their empty pockets, and their studies less.
You are no galleon, like books of burden,
That cannot berth except within a library.
You are a fine and little thing: by chance
Ladies may buy you as a new romance.
How I shall envy you when you are spread
In the bright sunshine of their eyes and read
With amber breath and lips of rose, which lend
Perfumes to your leaves that shall never end;
When from their white hands they shall let you fall
Into their bosoms, which I cannot call
A stroke of ill fortune: you fall to rest
In a more pleasing place, and are more blessed.[^n88], [^n89]
**CT-P140-A** 1650, p. 140
**Original English**
There in some silken, soft Fold thou shalt lye
Hid like their Love, or thy own Mysterie.
Nor shouldst thou grieve thy Language is not fine,
For it is not my Best, though it be Thine.
I could have voyc'd thee forth in such a Dresse,
The Spring had been a Slut to thy Expresse;
Such as might file the rude, unpolish'd Age,
And fix the Readers Soule to ev'ry Page:
But I have us'd a course, and homely strain,
Because it suits with Truth, which should be plain.
Last, my dear Book, if any looke on Thee
As on Three Suns, or some great Prodigie,
And swear to a full point, I do deride
All other Sects, to publish my own pride;
Tell such they lie, and since they love not Thee,
Bid them goe learn some High-shoe heresie.
Nature is not so simple, but shee can
Procure a solid Reverence from man;
Nor is my Pen so lightly Plum'd that I
Should serve Ambition with her Majestie.
'Tis Truth makes me come forth, & having writ
This her short Scaene, I would not stifle it:
For I have call'd it Childe, and I had rather
See't torn by them, than strangl'd by the Father.
**Modern English**
There, in some soft, silken fold, you shall lie,
Hidden like their love, or your own mystery.
Do not grieve that your language is not fine:
It is not my best, although it is yours.
I could have voiced you in so fine a dress
That spring would seem a slattern by your image;
Such words could polish this rude, unpolished age,
And fasten the reader’s soul to every page.
But I have used a coarse and homely strain
Because it suits with Truth, which should be plain.
Lastly, dear book, if any look on you
As on three suns or some great prodigy,
And swear outright that I deride
All other sects to publish my own pride,
Tell them they lie; and since they do not love you,
Bid them go learn some rustic heresy.
Nature is not so simple: she can
Command a solid reverence from humanity.
Nor is my pen so lightly feathered that I
Should serve ambition with her majesty.
Truth makes me come forth; having written
This short scene of hers, I would not stifle it.
I have called it child, and would rather see
It torn by them than strangled by its father.[^n90]
**CT-P140-B** 1650, p. 140
**Latin**
Soli Deo Gloria.
**Modern English**
Glory to God alone.
**CT-P140-C** 1650, p. 140
**Original English**
Amen.
**Modern English**
Amen.
### Printed Corrections for Coelum Terrae
**CT-P140-D** 1650, p. unnumbered errata
**Original English**
p. 106. l. 23. for or, r. for. p. 126. l. 26. for doctrine, r. dictrine.
**Modern English**
Printed corrections for Coelum Terrae: page 106, line 23, for “or” read “for”; page 126, line 26, for “doctrine” read “dictrine”.[^n91]
## Interpretive Essays
These essays follow particular arguments in Coelum Terrae. They distinguish historical exposition from proposed philosophical applications and refer back to the complete reading.
### One Thing and Many Descriptions
Vaughan’s first promise is to discuss the one thing that underlies the art. He does not begin by giving it a stable common name. Instead he distinguishes a universal agent from a universal patient, then insists that the concept of matter is useless without encounter with the thing itself. The point is epistemic as well as cosmological: repeating a noun is insufficient evidence of understanding. His scorn for unsupported philosophical spires in the opening already prepares this distinction. See [the complaint about foundations](#CT-P078-A) and [the demand for encounter](#CT-P081-A).
The subsequent descriptions make the demand harder. The subject resembles quicksilver, but exceeds it; it is called a salt, but is not a salt made by human extraction; it is like a stone, yet is not a stone. Earth provides a visible lesson in reception and return, but ordinary earth is then ruled out. These statements have a double function. They invite recognition through familiar things while resisting an identification made too quickly. The reader is expected to compare relations and properties across the descriptions, rather than seize the first plausible household or mineral equivalent. See [the mercurial resemblance](#CT-P083-A), [the natural seed](#CT-P086-A) and [earth qualified](#CT-P089-A).
A real tension remains when the taunt about silver, the sun and Saturn on pages 107–108 is placed beside the earlier exclusion of ordinary minerals and the later denial that human blood can be first matter. Calling every statement a code does not resolve it. Neither does selecting one line and ignoring the rest. A historically responsible reading records the change of audience: the metal statement is offered to challengers as something to unriddle, while the surrounding address withholds direct disclosure. This edition preserves that difficulty and leaves the substance unnamed. For a reflective reader, the discipline involved is concrete: suspend the urge to possess a conclusion until the conditions and contradictions of the description have been heard. See [the challenge](#CT-P107-A) and [the exclusions](#CT-P113-A).
### Hyanthe and the Work of Poetry
The Hyanthe poem is situated between Vaughan’s account of Nature’s imagination and a long sequence of authorities on the first matter. That position supplies its strongest interpretive clue. Nature has been described as bringing inward patterns into outward visibility; Hyanthe then appears as a figure whose dress, posture, colours, tears and final vial demand close looking. Vaughan explicitly directs his reader to compare the flight of his verse with the slower movement of the testimony that follows. The poem therefore participates in the argument instead of pausing it for decoration. See [imagination and matter](#CT-P093-A), [Hyanthe’s appearance](#CT-P093-B) and [the invitation to compare](#CT-P095-B).
The speaker’s first interpretation is revised. A slippery globe suggests Fortune, but Hyanthe’s more enduring majesty makes that identification inadequate. A first sight is followed by a studied view. Tears become chains of liquid pearl; drops turn to sighs and return to drops; white and red become rose-water. The sequence translates the earlier language of changing appearance into an encounter governed by attention and affection. A spiritual reading can understand the revision of sight and the preference for faithful sorrow over deceptive smiles as disciplines of discernment. A material reading can follow the imagery of circulation, colour and distillation. Neither inference requires pretending that the poem openly names an ingredient.
Hyanthe’s death concentrates the ambiguity. Her heart is said to remain in the vial, distilled into waters; its constancy survives a change of form. This is close to the discourse’s larger question of life maintained through alteration, but the poem gives it the emotional cost of loss and trust. The later return to her tears, immediately after the prose testimony, confirms the connection without reducing the woman to a diagram. Read the poem twice: first as an encounter with a voice and a suffering figure, then alongside the stated properties of the philosophical water. Each reading corrects something the other can overlook. See [the vial](#CT-P095-A) and [Vaughan’s return to Hyanthe](#CT-P106-B).
### The Difference Between Reduction and Destruction
The egg on pages 128–129 provides the book’s clearest test of an operation. An egg is already a compound capable, under suitable conditions, of becoming a chick. Destroying its organisation and obtaining separate residues does not preserve that capacity. Vaughan caricatures a practitioner who distils and calcines the egg, then mistakes the resulting nothing for achievement. The example explains why a return to elements differs from a return to seed: both may undo a finished appearance, but only the latter is said to retain the conditions of generation. See [the two reductions](#CT-P128-A) and [the egg and the broiler](#CT-P129-A).
The distinction reaches backwards to his account of first matter. The seed is a composition drawn by Nature from the elements, rather than an arbitrary heap of isolated ingredients. Art must find and work with that composition. Yet the earlier account of medicine requires opening the chaos, purifying its parts and reuniting them. There is no simple prohibition of all separation. The question is whether a separation serves an eventual living union or destroys the compound’s generative coherence. His vocabulary of opening, cleansing, feeding and coction supplies the difference he wants his reader to perceive. See [the seed already made by Nature](#CT-P086-A), [purification and reunion](#CT-P115-A) and [reduction into thick water](#CT-P130-A).
This distinction permits a disciplined philosophical application. Analysis of a person, institution or work may expose parts while losing the relations through which those parts act together. Rebuilding those relations requires more than listing the pieces. That application is a modern analogy, not a hidden proof of Vaughan’s universal medicine. The historical claim concerns the possibility of transforming a material subject into a restored body; the analogy concerns what readers can learn from his criteria of generative success. Both readings retain the importance of the egg: the proposed work is assessed by what its subject can become, rather than by the violence or novelty of the procedure.
### Heat and the Measure of Cooperation
The fire discussion gathers together many of Coelum Terrae’s apparent oppositions. The external agent is called natural, yet its preparation is artificial; dry, yet humid; a heat of the dead, yet a means of awakening inward life. It is described through a glass and a furnace, but distinguished from familiar kitchen heat and the apparatus of the practitioners Vaughan mocks. Reading these terms as a single familiar flame would erase the very distinctions the passage works to establish. See [the vessel and twofold geometry](#CT-P118-A), [the sun and shade](#CT-P119-A) and [the external fire](#CT-P121-A).
The governing model is gestation. The mother’s life provides an evenly maintained warmth appropriate to a delicate seed. Force cannot substitute for this relation: excessive heat defeats union, while interrupted warmth also ruins the work. Vaughan supports the account by claiming repeated failures of his own, not merely by quoting another authority. He then returns to Nature as teacher through the voices associated with Mehung, Madathan and Flamel. These testimonies belong to the history of his argument; their names do not make their material claims automatically verified. The repeated criterion remains a heat fitted to its subject. See [the maternal comparison](#CT-P120-A) and [the cited fire testimony](#CT-P123-A).
The concluding address gives this criterion a theological form. To work is to cooperate with the spirit of the living God; an uncontrolled act divides what the spirit holds together. A symbolic reading can follow the same relation between attention, proportion and the possibility of change. It is more precise to speak of patient cooperation than to make warmth an arbitrary synonym for enthusiasm or willpower. Vaughan’s subject has requirements independent of the practitioner’s confidence. The hand, judgement and inward disposition are answerable to something they do not create. That is why his admission of negligence matters: even the speaker claiming knowledge can fail when his conduct ceases to fit the conditions of the work. See [cooperation and division](#CT-P137-A).
### Creation and the Language of Nothing
The defence of secrecy turns into a question about origins. Vaughan asks what the nothing was from which the first something arose. He then denies that this nothing means a mere absence as ordinarily imagined. Through the language he assigns to Dionysius and Agrippa, he directs the reader toward an essence that cannot be contained by affirmations about created things. His argument is theological: the invisible source exceeds the things that proceed from it. It is not a claim that the first matter simply is God. See [the question of the first something](#CT-P110-A) and [negative theology](#CT-P111-A).
This distinction is already present in the opening relation of agent and patient. The universal patient is created, receives an impress and bears likeness; the universal agent supplies the pattern. Later, the virgin water is described as second nature from God, and the Spirit moving upon the waters supplies the scriptural frame. The religious language makes contact with matter more momentous for Vaughan, rather than making matter disappear. It also explains his suspicion of a reader who wants the subject named as an ordinary commodity. In his account, a revelation condensed into a few words would bypass a divine work extending through creation and time. See [the created recipient](#CT-P081-A), [the cited prohibition](#CT-P108-B) and [the refusal to publish the secret](#CT-P112-A).
The modern reader need not adopt this prohibition to understand its function. It authorises the book’s combination of candour and reserve, invites trust in an unverified achievement, and limits the speaker’s responsibility to state the conditions plainly. It also articulates a genuine limit of naming: the source of a relation cannot always be described as one more item within it. Keep both aspects in view. The theological claim deserves accurate exposition, while the rhetorical claim to privileged knowledge remains a claim. Conflating the two either dismisses the argument before hearing it or treats its reserve as sufficient evidence that its promised knowledge has been attained.
### Mediation and the Ethics of Hearing
Near the end, Vaughan explains elementary agreement through shared qualities. Water links earth and air; air links water and fire. A mediator can communicate with each of two opposites because it shares something with each. The resulting arrangement is still weak, so a stronger bond is required: the spirit of the living God. This is not simply a list of four substances followed by a fifth. It is a sequence of relations, followed by a claim about what can preserve those relations beyond their ordinary instability. See [the first mediation](#CT-P132-B), [agreement and its weakness](#CT-P133-A) and [the divine bond](#CT-P134-A).
The discussion also restricts the status of secondary agents. Vaughan rejects the inference that a soul must have fabricated its own body merely because it inhabits and animates it. His jewel and cabinet comparison exposes the faulty move from presence to authorship. Soul, body and instruments remain dependent on the Creator. This insistence helps explain why the practitioner is a cooperator rather than an independent maker, and why theological claims sit inside an argument about generation. The text does not permit every level of agency to collapse into one. See [the jewel and its cabinet](#CT-P135-A).
The social story that follows gives a second test of mediation. A visitor can repeat authorities and argue loudly, but cannot follow a teacher beyond familiar categories. The adept responds patiently, then ceases to make himself available. The lesson concerns a relation broken by the hearer’s conduct. A reflective reading can ask how quickly prior knowledge becomes an obstacle to new evidence, without accepting a teacher’s claim to authority merely because he demands silence. Vaughan himself asks for practice as well as words. His final reader must examine the quality of an act, the limits of a claim and the disposition brought to another person. The book’s ethical vocabulary becomes most useful when applied to the reader and the speaker alike. See [the lost meeting](#CT-P136-A) and [examining knowledge and practice](#CT-P137-A).
## Historical Glossary
These definitions follow the uses of words in this work. A term may change with its speaker, level of argument or place in a sequence; the linked passage provides a starting context rather than a universal chemical equivalence.
### Agent
An acting cause. Vaughan distinguishes the universal agent, God, from created recipients and instrumental causes. His later warning against crediting the creature with the Creator’s work depends on this distinction. See [the historical passage](#CT-P081-A).
### Art
The disciplined human cooperation with Nature through which the promised transformation is attempted. Art finds a seed it does not manufacture and must preserve conditions appropriate to it; it is therefore neither arbitrary invention nor a replacement for divine agency. See [the historical passage](#CT-P086-A).
### Azoth
One of the inherited names Vaughan lists for the universal subject or twofold mercury. Its appearance belongs to a cluster of descriptions attributed to philosophers; the text does not identify it with one securely named modern compound. See [the historical passage](#CT-P085-A).
### Balneum Naturae
The natural bath. Vaughan describes it as a subtle temperate moisture surrounding the glass and sustaining the philosophical fire, while distinguishing it from an ordinary artificial water bath. Retain that qualification when reading the Latin name. See [the historical passage](#CT-P120-A).
### Body
A formed compound, or the embodied result of generation. Bodies are described as coagulated seeds, while the restored medicine is called a spiritual heavenly body. The word therefore does not mean only inert matter opposed to spirit. See [the historical passage](#CT-P129-A).
### Chaos
The generative subject before its possibilities have been developed into particular creatures, with its principles held together. Vaughan also discusses an earlier cloudy darkness. Context determines whether he is speaking of cosmic origins, the subject of the art or an intermediate condition. See [the historical passage](#CT-P114-A).
### Coagulation
The gathering or thickening by which a fluid or mobile subject takes a more settled bodily form. In the quoted testimonies it is paired with dissolution; it belongs to a sequence of changes rather than proving a fixed modern chemical reaction. See [the historical passage](#CT-P096-A).
### Coction
Sustained heating or maturation, understood through the preparation of food and especially natural generation. The whole process is later compressed into continual coction, with volatile essences rising and returning until fixed. See [the historical passage](#CT-P131-A).
### Corruption
A change through which an existing bodily order fails. Vaughan relates ordinary decay to impurities in the chaos and to the Fall, but also places a controlled alteration before generation. The term is not confined to moral wrongdoing. See [the historical passage](#CT-P115-A).
### Dissolution
An opening or resolving of a compound. Vaughan contrasts a generative dissolution into a middle seed with destructive separation into extremes; the relation preserved in the subject matters more than the mere loss of a solid appearance. See [the historical passage](#CT-P130-A).
### Earth
Both the visible element that receives and returns creatures and the more secret celestial earth toward which that visible lesson points. Vaughan explicitly refuses to let the reader equate his subject with ordinary impure dirt. See [the historical passage](#CT-P089-A).
### Elements
The four traditional principles fire, air, water and earth, qualified through heat, coldness, moisture and dryness. Vaughan describes their descent into a seed and their agreement through intermediaries. These are the text’s historical categories, not modern chemical elements. See [the historical passage](#CT-P127-B).
### First matter
The universal created recipient from which particular kinds proceed, and the unnamed subject of the art. Vaughan denies that a particular plant, animal or mineral can simply be assumed to be this universal mother. He insists on knowing the thing rather than only its name. See [the historical passage](#CT-P081-A).
### Fixation
The settling of what previously rose and returned as volatile essences. In the process summary, fixation is the outcome of continued coction. It should not be treated as a free-standing synonym for psychological concentration, though it may support a reflective analogy. See [the historical passage](#CT-P131-A).
### Generation
The production of a formed living or natural thing from its seed under appropriate conditions. Generation supplies the central model for the art, including its requirement for a matrix, fitted warmth and an intact capacity to develop. See [the historical passage](#CT-P086-A).
### Hyanthe
The female figure in Vaughan’s poem whose changing appearances, tears and distilled heart connect poetry with his account of the first matter. He later returns to her tears when comparing his verse with the philosophical water described by authorities. See [the historical passage](#CT-P106-B).
### Idea
An inward pattern according to which an outward form is produced. The universal agent creates according to inward conceptions; Nature’s many patterns appear through matter. The word denotes more than a passing personal opinion in these passages. See [the historical passage](#CT-P093-A).
### Influence
A power communicated through the heavens and received in a lower subject. Vaughan argues that its goodness may be altered by the recipient, then demands experiential evidence of how influences are received. The vocabulary joins cosmology to his claim for the art. See [the historical passage](#CT-P126-A).
### Magnesia
An inherited name for the philosophical subject. Red and white magnesia refer to appearances discussed in the description of the chaos. Neither the modern magnesium element nor an ordinary commercial substance should be substituted solely because the names resemble one another. See [the historical passage](#CT-P083-A).
### Matrix
A receptive place or condition in which a seed can be held and developed. The word draws on the womb but extends to universal Nature and the place where spirits become embodied. Its meaning must be read with the particular scale of the argument. See [the historical passage](#CT-P125-A).
### Medicine
The perfected subject Vaughan and his authorities describe as restoring corrupted natures. The quoted five-gate account distinguishes an earlier universal medicine from a final operation directed to metals. These therapeutic powers are historical claims, not assurances supplied by the edition. See [the historical passage](#CT-P103-A).
### Mercury
A shifting philosophical name for the universal or mediating subject, linked to water, interpretation, motion and generation. Vaughan sometimes compares it with common quicksilver but does not thereby erase the distinction between a philosophical principle and an ordinarily named metal. See [the historical passage](#CT-P124-A).
### Middle nature
An intermediate substance or condition linking extremes. Water mediates between an originating darkness and formed creatures in one argument; later, shared elemental qualities explain local mediations. The word middle names a relation rather than one unchanging material identity. See [the historical passage](#CT-P114-B).
### Natural fire
Heat or active power understood through Nature’s living operations. Vaughan also distinguishes an externally prepared fire from the inward fire of chaos. A reader must ask which relation is meant instead of assuming that every mention names the same flame. See [the historical passage](#CT-P121-A).
### Nature
The created order, its productive power, or the personified teacher who speaks through cited philosophical voices. Nature’s freedom and delight in varied forms supply Vaughan with a model of action independent of fashionable approval. These senses cooperate without being identical. See [the historical passage](#CT-P092-A).
### Negative theology
Speech about the divine source that refuses to define it by the properties of created things. Vaughan’s discussion of nothing invokes this approach; its nothing is not the simple nonexistence he expressly rejects. See [the historical passage](#CT-P111-A).
### Patient
That which receives an action. The universal patient is first matter, created by the universal agent and receptive to its pattern. The historical term is not restricted to an ill person receiving medical care. See [the historical passage](#CT-P081-A).
### Projection
The fifth gate in the extended testimony voiced by Nature, said to concern metals. It follows knowledge of the matter, preparation, fire and multiplication. The word is historical technical vocabulary here, rather than a modern psychological diagnosis. See [the historical passage](#CT-P104-A).
### Putrefaction
A form of corruption or opening placed before a new generation. Vaughan’s account requires an appropriate natural dissolution of the compound, distinguished from violent destruction. Its place in a larger sequence is essential to its meaning. See [the historical passage](#CT-P130-A).
### Quintessence
A fifth or sustaining essence. Vaughan criticises the name when it obscures the spirit of the living God, yet later calls the spirit of peace the true eternal quintessence. His use is deliberately theological and context-dependent. See [the historical passage](#CT-P134-A).
### Reduction
A bringing back. The text contrasts destructive reduction into elemental extremes with a vital reduction into the middle seed from which a body was formed. The same general word can therefore name opposed outcomes. See [the historical passage](#CT-P128-A).
### Region of light
The secret universal region where descending ideas or spirits receive embodiment, described through a meadow, garden and bodily night. Vaughan tells readers to seek experiential knowledge of it; the text does not supply an independently established geographical location. See [the historical passage](#CT-P125-A).
### Seed
The generative composition drawn by Nature from the elements, historically also called sperm. It is neither the separate elements nor the completed creature. Vaughan uses the relation across scales, so the word is not always restricted to human or plant reproduction. See [the historical passage](#CT-P129-A).
### Sulphur
A philosophical term for an active, fiery or colouring principle in several descriptions, including the red and white sulphurs whose union depends on suitable heat. Its referent cannot be assumed to be common brimstone at every occurrence. See [the historical passage](#CT-P120-A).
### Virgin milk
An inherited name for the thick white water associated with the philosophical subject. It appears both in Vaughan’s personification and in the authorities’ lists of names. The maternal image participates in an argument about nourishment and generation. See [the historical passage](#CT-P084-A).
## Contextual Lexicon
These twenty-four entries begin with exact sentences from the modern reading and verified forms from the original wording. Each distinguishes its historical setting from a possible reflective application. The links return to the passage so that the surrounding argument remains available.
### Claims and Their Grounds
“They speak of fine things, but never tell us on what grounds.” — [source p. 78](#CT-P078-A).
Source forms: grounds, Fundamentals.
Vaughan promises to discuss the art in rational terms and attacks accounts whose splendid upper stories have no visible foundations. The architectural image belongs to an argument about what a writer must supply to a reader. His own subsequent use of poetry shows that imagery itself is not the fault; the question is whether an image connects to an intelligible claim.
Reflective possibility: A reflective reading can distinguish the appeal of an explanation from the grounds that support it. An impressive vocabulary may invite attention, but it cannot complete the work of showing why a claim should be accepted.
Read with [source p. 95](#CT-P095-B), [Mediation and the Ethics of Hearing](#ESSAY_MEDIATION) and [Listening Before Judgment](#LEX_LISTENING).
### Universal Sympathy
“The correspondence between the two worlds, or sanctuaries, consists in the original correspondence of their principles.” — [source p. 80](#CT-P080-B).
Source forms: Conformitie, Similitudes.
The two sanctuaries relate visible and invisible orders through the conformity of their principles. Vaughan distinguishes this universal relation from collections of curious correspondences between individual objects. His criticism is aimed at readers who mistake a few reported sympathies for knowledge of the bond of the whole.
Reflective possibility: For reflection, an analogy becomes more useful when its proposed relation can be stated. Resemblance may begin an inquiry; the reader still has to ask what connects the terms and how far that connection extends.
Read with [source p. 124](#CT-P124-A), [One Thing and Many Descriptions](#ESSAY_ONE_THING) and [Mediation Between Contraries](#LEX_MEDIATION).
### The Thing Beyond Its Name
‘Yet knowing the concept “matter” serves no purpose unless we know the thing to which the concept refers.’ — [source p. 81](#CT-P081-A).
Source forms: Matter, Thing.
Calling something matter does not give the student acquaintance with it. Vaughan moves from a general account of agent and patient to seeing, handling and trial. The sentence retains his commitment to a subject encountered in nature, even while his account also assigns that subject a divine origin.
Reflective possibility: A reader can apply the distinction to familiar intellectual habits: knowing the accepted word for an experience is different from attending to what the word describes. This reflective use does not settle the historical identity of Vaughan’s matter.
Read with [source p. 136](#CT-P136-A), [One Thing and Many Descriptions](#ESSAY_ONE_THING) and [Finding Rather Than Making](#LEX_FINDING).
### The Virgin Mother
“She exists before them all, for she is their mother.” — [source p. 83](#CT-P083-A).
Source forms: Mother, Virgin.
First matter is represented as a mother because particular creatures have not yet been generated from it. Its virginity therefore describes a generative relation, rather than the absence of every internal distinction. Red and white appearances belong to different preparations in the surrounding passage and should be read in their sequence.
Reflective possibility: The image can suggest a capacity that has not yet taken a particular form. Such a reading should preserve the text’s distinction between a source of forms and the forms already produced from it.
Read with [source p. 105](#CT-P105-A), [One Thing and Many Descriptions](#ESSAY_ONE_THING) and [Treasure and Its Use](#LEX_GIFT).
### Generation Without Violence
“She yields to nothing but love, for her end is generation, and generation has never yet been accomplished by violence.” — [source p. 84](#CT-P084-A).
Source forms: Love, Generation.
The personified matter yields to love and has generation as its end. Courtship continues the preceding account of the virgin and the fire of nature. Vaughan uses the language of affection to describe a mode of working in which the subject’s capacity matters; he returns later to the damage caused by excessive heat.
Reflective possibility: A possible reflective application concerns the difference between eliciting a capacity and forcing a result. Patience here is active attention to conditions, rather than a promise that effort alone will produce the desired transformation.
Read with [source p. 120](#CT-P120-A), [Heat and the Measure of Cooperation](#ESSAY_FIRE) and [The Measure of Heat](#LEX_HEAT).
### Many Names for One Subject
“They also call her their twofold mercury and azoth, begotten by the influences of the two globes, celestial and terrestrial.” — [source p. 85](#CT-P085-A).
Source forms: Mercurie, Water.
Stone, gum, sea, water, mercury and fire are coordinated names within Vaughan’s account of first matter. Some describe appearance, others origin or action. The surrounding exclusions prevent a simple substitution of an ordinary substance for every occurrence of the word water.
Reflective possibility: When a passage changes names, the reader can record what feature each name makes visible. This keeps symbolic richness connected to the argument and avoids assuming that every image introduces a different subject.
Read with [source p. 98](#CT-P098-A), [One Thing and Many Descriptions](#ESSAY_ONE_THING) and [The Invisible Earth](#LEX_EARTH).
### Finding Rather Than Making
“Man may find it where Nature leaves it; making or extracting the seed is not his office.” — [source p. 86](#CT-P086-A).
Source forms: sperme, Matrix.
Vaughan distinguishes nature’s production of the seed from the artist’s task of finding it and providing a suitable matrix and heat. The distinction limits the artist’s claim to authorship. It also explains why his instructions repeatedly turn the reader back toward generation in the natural world.
Reflective possibility: A reflective reading can ask which conditions are already present and which belong to one’s own action. Recognising a received capacity may change the work one undertakes without making that work unnecessary.
Read with [source p. 134](#CT-P134-A), [The Difference Between Reduction and Destruction](#ESSAY_LIVING_REDUCTION) and [Universal and Particular Seed](#LEX_UNIVERSAL).
### Earth as a Common House
“Earth swallows everything and, like the philosophical dragon, eats her own tail.” — [source p. 88](#CT-P088-A).
Source forms: Earth, Grave.
The earth receives creatures, cities and the passing forms of the air. The grave and the dragon’s returning tail belong to the same extended account of circulation. This is part of the approach to the first matter, yet Vaughan soon warns that his secret earth is not simply common dirt.
Reflective possibility: The return of forms can invite reflection on shared dependence and mortality. The comparison remains strongest when it keeps the movement of the passage: ordinary return first prepares the reader for a distinction that ordinary earth alone cannot explain.
Read with [source p. 89](#CT-P089-A), [The Difference Between Reduction and Destruction](#ESSAY_LIVING_REDUCTION) and [A Return That Preserves Generation](#LEX_REDUCTION).
### The Invisible Earth
“What I speak of is a mystery: the heaven of earth and the earth of heaven, not this dirt and dust, but a most secret, celestial, invisible earth.” — [source p. 89](#CT-P089-A).
Source forms: Coelum Terrae, invisible.
After leading the reader through familiar earth and its seasonal abundance, Vaughan checks the reader’s eagerness. He distinguishes the common element used for instruction from the celestial earth named by the title. The correction is part of the teaching and prevents the analogy from becoming a direct identification.
Reflective possibility: A reader can ask when a useful comparison has silently become an assertion of identity. An image may disclose a relation while still requiring the reader to return to the differences that the author explicitly preserves.
Read with [source p. 113](#CT-P113-A), [One Thing and Many Descriptions](#ESSAY_ONE_THING) and [The Thing Beyond Its Name](#LEX_THING).
### Nature Without an Audience
“Nature, however, is a free spirit seeking no applause.” — [source p. 92](#CT-P092-A).
Source forms: Applause, Magic.
Nature works in ruins and wildernesses as well as in cultivated places. Vaughan contrasts this activity with human performances organised around applause, fashionable display or printed reputation. The analogy connects natural fruitfulness with the author’s account of philosophical attention.
Reflective possibility: Reflection can consider what remains worth doing when its public recognition is removed. The passage does not require isolation from others; it questions the dependence of an activity’s worth on being watched.
Read with [source p. 138](#CT-P138-A), [Mediation and the Ethics of Hearing](#ESSAY_MEDIATION) and [Listening Before Judgment](#LEX_LISTENING).
### Hyanthe’s Tears
“It holds my heart, though now outpoured
And wholly distilled into water.” — [source p. 95](#CT-P095-A).
Source forms: Teares, Vial.
Hyanthe’s tears pass through the poem as a liquid treasure and a gift entrusted to the speaker. Distillation, death and fidelity are brought into the language of courtship. Vaughan then directs the reader to compare these poetic motions with the philosophers’ prose accounts of first matter.
Reflective possibility: A reflective use can examine how grief and preservation appear together in the image of the vial. That possibility should remain an interpretation of the poem’s relations, rather than an assertion that the historical passage describes only an inward process.
Read with [source p. 95](#CT-P095-B), [Hyanthe and the Work of Poetry](#ESSAY_HYANTHE) and [Verse Beside Testimony](#LEX_REGISTERS).
### Verse Beside Testimony
“To forestall such feeble slanders, and to shed a little more of our secret light on the well-disposed student, I shall produce the testimony of some capable philosophers concerning first matter itself as it is naturally found, before any alteration by art.” — [source p. 95](#CT-P095-B).
Source forms: Poetrie, Testimonies.
Vaughan anticipates the objection that his poem is pleasing fiction and turns to a series of attributed philosophical testimonies. The change of register is meant to support the same subject through another form of speech. His attribution of a passage is preserved without treating it as independent proof that every named figure wrote it.
Reflective possibility: The reader can compare what the verse invites one to notice with what the prose explicitly asserts. The two registers may support a shared inquiry while making different demands on judgment.
Read with [source p. 96](#CT-P096-A), [Hyanthe and the Work of Poetry](#ESSAY_HYANTHE) and [Many Names for One Subject](#LEX_NAMES).
### Manifest and Hidden Qualities
“This seed is the fugitive stone; it is aerial and volatile, cold and moist, and hot and dry.” — [source p. 99](#CT-P099-A).
Source forms: frigidum, humidum.
The cited descriptions distribute heat, cold, dryness and moisture between manifest and hidden conditions. They belong to a qualitative account of generation, not a list of modern laboratory measurements. The sequence of testimonies matters because each adds a relation to the subject already under discussion.
Reflective possibility: A reflective analogy may distinguish what a situation presents from capacities not yet apparent. It should not turn the hidden into a claim that any desired property must exist beneath the surface.
Read with [source p. 133](#CT-P133-A), [One Thing and Many Descriptions](#ESSAY_ONE_THING) and [Mediation Between Contraries](#LEX_MEDIATION).
### The Five Gates
“Yet glorious, rich and exalted is he who reaches the fourth gate, for he has obtained a universal medicine for every disease.” — [source p. 103](#CT-P103-A).
Source forms: Gate, Multiplication.
The borrowed speech of Nature orders the work as knowledge of matter, preparation, fire, multiplication and projection. The passage distinguishes the general medicine associated with the fourth gate from the fifth gate’s application to metals. Its gates organise an account of practice and should be read before being assigned inward counterparts.
Reflective possibility: A reflective reading can ask what changes between identifying a subject, preparing it, sustaining a process and applying its result. The sequence is a useful question about stages; it is not a universal map imposed upon every undertaking.
Read with [source p. 104](#CT-P104-A), [Heat and the Measure of Cooperation](#ESSAY_FIRE) and [Treasure and Its Use](#LEX_GIFT).
### Treasure and Its Use
“Though many desire me, I am given to few, so that they may relieve the poor with my treasures and set no store by gold that perishes.” — [source p. 105](#CT-P105-A).
Source forms: poore, Treasures.
The speaking matter is said to be given to a few so that they may relieve the poor. This ethical purpose appears inside the expansive list of opposed names and powers. Wealth is present in the argument, but its intended use qualifies the desire for possession.
Reflective possibility: The image can direct attention to what a hoped-for transformation would make possible for others. Asking about that use gives the search an ethical question without pretending that the historical promises have thereby been verified.
Read with [source p. 137](#CT-P137-A), [Mediation and the Ethics of Hearing](#ESSAY_MEDIATION) and [The Responsibility of Disclosure](#LEX_DISCLOSURE).
### The Responsibility of Disclosure
“For every good proceeds from God, and is owed to him alone.” — [source p. 108](#CT-P108-B).
Source forms: Secret, God.
Vaughan quotes a severe charge attributed to Raymond Lull to justify withholding the plain declaration of his principles. The oath is part of the text’s religious account of knowledge and authority. It explains the author’s position; it does not by itself establish that he possesses the secret he claims to guard.
Reflective possibility: A reflective use may ask what responsibilities accompany knowledge and how an appeal to secrecy can be assessed. The passage allows both questions: what might require discretion, and what evidence remains available to the reader.
Read with [source p. 112](#CT-P112-A), [Creation and the Language of Nothing](#ESSAY_NOTHING) and [The Nothing Beyond Ordinary Names](#LEX_NOTHING).
### The Nothing Beyond Ordinary Names
“Yet, with your permission, it is the true thing of which we can affirm nothing: that transcendent essence whose theology proceeds by negation.” — [source p. 111](#CT-P111-A).
Source forms: nothing, Invisible.
Nothing is qualified through negative theology: the source is neither a created thing nor an empty absence. Vaughan places this discussion between an account of creation and his refusal to disclose first matter without reserve. The language concerns the divine source and should not be collapsed into a casual synonym for chaos.
Reflective possibility: A reflective reading may attend to the limits of a name or concept. Acknowledging those limits need not abolish careful distinctions between what is unknown, what is absent and what the text holds to exceed ordinary predication.
Read with [source p. 110](#CT-P110-A), [Creation and the Language of Nothing](#ESSAY_NOTHING) and [Agent and Instrument](#LEX_INSTRUMENT).
### Universal and Particular Seed
“They were made from the first matter, rather than the first matter from them.” — [source p. 113](#CT-P113-A).
Source forms: first Matter, Species.
The rejection of human blood follows the claim that first matter precedes all particular creatures. Vaughan distinguishes returning a body to its own species’ seed from possessing the universal first matter. This distinction explains why an example of generation does not automatically identify the universal subject.
Reflective possibility: For reflection, a successful account of one case can remain particular. Before generalising it, the reader can ask whether the conditions that made it work belong to that case or are actually shared by all the cases under discussion.
Read with [source p. 128](#CT-P128-A), [The Difference Between Reduction and Destruction](#ESSAY_LIVING_REDUCTION) and [A Return That Preserves Generation](#LEX_REDUCTION).
### The Middle Creation
“This, they say, is a true extreme, since no alteration follows it.” — [source p. 115](#CT-P115-A).
Source forms: Corruption, Extreme.
Ordinary embodied life is placed between corruption and the glorified condition exemplified by Enoch and Elijah. The philosophical account links mortality to impurities carried through natural generation. It is a historical theological argument and an alchemical claim, not a modern account of disease.
Reflective possibility: The passage can support reflection on a condition understood as unfinished and capable of change. Its religious endpoints should remain visible rather than being replaced with a general promise of personal improvement.
Read with [source p. 114](#CT-P114-B), [The Difference Between Reduction and Destruction](#ESSAY_LIVING_REDUCTION) and [The Measure of Heat](#LEX_HEAT).
### The Measure of Heat
“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.” — [source p. 120](#CT-P120-A).
Source forms: heat, Generation.
The comparison with generation in the womb specifies a temperate and sustained heat. Vaughan contrasts it with kitchen fire and fever, then describes failures caused by neglect. The relations of subject, outward agent and inward fire matter more than treating the single word fire as a sufficient explanation.
Reflective possibility: A reflective reading can ask what kind and degree of attention a delicate process can bear. Neither intensity nor gentleness alone supplies a rule; the appropriate measure depends on the subject and the action being considered.
Read with [source p. 121](#CT-P121-A), [Heat and the Measure of Cooperation](#ESSAY_FIRE) and [Generation Without Violence](#LEX_LOVE).
### A Return That Preserves Generation
“One is violent and destructive, reducing bodies to their extremes: properly, it is death, or the ordinary chemist’s calcination.” — [source p. 128](#CT-P128-A).
Source forms: Violent, Vital.
Vaughan distinguishes destructive reduction to extremes from a vital resolution into the middle substance from which a body was generated. The following egg example criticises a procedure that destroys the very capacity it seeks to recover. The contrast is internal to his account of natural generation.
Reflective possibility: A possible application concerns attempts to understand something by taking it apart. The question is whether the method preserves the relations needed for the phenomenon one wants to understand, or removes those relations before the inquiry begins.
Read with [source p. 129](#CT-P129-A), [The Difference Between Reduction and Destruction](#ESSAY_LIVING_REDUCTION) and [The Middle Creation](#LEX_MIDDLE).
### Mediation Between Contraries
“Thus air’s mediation makes friends of the other two extremes, fire and water, and reconciles them.” — [source p. 133](#CT-P133-A).
Source forms: Mediator, Unitie.
Water and air mediate between opposed elemental qualities, but Vaughan judges their agreement insufficient without the divine spirit. The account moves from partial reconciliation to a stronger sustaining bond. Its four-element scheme should be read as the book’s historical framework.
Reflective possibility: The passage may prompt reflection on a relation that shares something with each opposing term. Such mediation can make agreement possible while leaving a further question about what sustains that agreement over time.
Read with [source p. 134](#CT-P134-A), [Mediation and the Ethics of Hearing](#ESSAY_MEDIATION) and [Universal Sympathy](#LEX_SYMPATHY).
### Agent and Instrument
“The soul is not the builder of her house: whatever can make a body can also repair it and prevent death; but the soul cannot do this.” — [source p. 134](#CT-P134-A).
Source forms: Soule, Body.
The soul is not made the independent builder of its body. Vaughan uses the jewel and cabinet to reject an inference from presence to authorship, and he reserves the union of body and soul to God. This qualifies a reading that would assign every transformative power directly to the individual.
Reflective possibility: For reflection, participation in an action need not mean complete control over its conditions or result. The distinction encourages a more exact account of what one contributes, receives and remains unable to command.
Read with [source p. 135](#CT-P135-A), [Mediation and the Ethics of Hearing](#ESSAY_MEDIATION) and [Finding Rather Than Making](#LEX_FINDING).
### Listening Before Judgment
“We should always remember Zeno’s doctrine: Nature, he said, gave us one tongue but two ears so that we might hear much and speak little.” — [source p. 136](#CT-P136-A).
Source forms: Eares, Tongue.
The talkative visitor replaces the adept’s instruction with familiar authorities and loses the possibility of another meeting. Vaughan closes the story with the image of two ears and one tongue. The episode criticises premature judgment while also presenting the teacher’s authority from the narrator’s own side.
Reflective possibility: A reflective use can ask whether a response answers what has actually been said or merely restores a familiar position. Careful listening can leave room for later judgment; it need not mean surrendering judgment altogether.
Read with [source p. 137](#CT-P137-A), [Mediation and the Ethics of Hearing](#ESSAY_MEDIATION) and [Claims and Their Grounds](#LEX_GROUNDS).
## Relations Within the Work
The following relations connect arguments that Vaughan places at some distance from one another. They are editorial guides to comparison, not a decoded recipe or a claim that every inherited name has a single referent.
### Agent and Recipient
The first matter receives an impress rather than creating itself. Compare [the universal agent and patient](#CT-P081-A) with [the soul waiting upon bodily formation](#CT-P134-A) and [the jewel and cabinet](#CT-P135-A). The later argument protects a distinction already established near the beginning: an instrument or inhabitant does not acquire the Creator’s agency simply through its presence.
### One Subject and Many Names
Place [the water and mercury descriptions](#CT-P085-A) beside [the catalogue of philosophical water names](#CT-P098-A) and [Pan and Proteus](#CT-P124-A). The apparent multiplicity is repeatedly attributed to the possibilities of one subject. This claim must still be tested against the differences among witnesses and descriptions rather than treated as permission to erase them.
### Water and Poetic Tears
Read [the chains of tears](#CT-P094-B), [Hyanthe’s vial](#CT-P095-A), [the tear-like water](#CT-P096-A) and [Vaughan’s own comparison](#CT-P106-B). The author provides the bridge between verse and prose. The connection makes the tears significant without fixing every poetic detail as a one-to-one technical instruction.
### Heat and Generation
Compare [the union of fire and virgin subject](#CT-P083-A), [maternal warmth](#CT-P120-A) and [the disruption of elemental peace](#CT-P137-A). Heat is evaluated through its relation to a receptive subject. Violence is a failure of that relation in both the natural and theological accounts.
### Seed and Elements
Move from [the seed Nature has made](#CT-P086-A) to [the descent of elemental thicknesses](#CT-P127-B), then to [the egg](#CT-P129-A) and [the return to middle chaos](#CT-P130-A). A seed is a formed relation among elements with a capacity the separated ingredients do not necessarily retain.
### Secrecy and Evidence
Set [the promise of disclosure](#CT-P079-A) against [the prohibition attributed to Lully](#CT-P108-B) and [Vaughan’s refusal](#CT-P112-A). Then compare [the demand to demonstrate influences](#CT-P126-A) with [the story of the silenced visitor](#CT-P136-A). The book asks for evidence while restricting what may be disclosed; reading it critically requires keeping both facts visible.
## Guide to the Poems
The poems are historical parts of the argument and its presentation. This guide identifies speakers, movements and comparisons; it does not provide a cipher that assigns a modern substance to each image.
### Hyanthe and the Vial
The Hyanthe sequence on pages 93–95 begins with an observer and a figure enthroned above a globe. A first assumption gives way to closer study. Dress, whiteness, redness, dew and repeated tears culminate in the gift of a vial containing the figure’s distilled heart. Read the motions before deciding how the images signify: looking, revising, weeping, evaporating, returning and handing over. Vaughan later links the tears to the philosophers’ secret water. See [the opening](#CT-P093-B), [the return of drops and sighs](#CT-P094-C), [the final gift](#CT-P095-A) and [the explicit connection](#CT-P106-B).
### The Voice of the Stone
On page 131, Latin verse allows the transforming subject to speak of a spirit that leaves and returns, and of three souls nearly lost. Vaughan then supplies English verse. The sequence belongs to his summary of continual coction and volatile essences. Retaining both the fresh translation of the Latin and the modernised historical English keeps visible the difference between a source quotation and Vaughan’s own poetic handling. See [the process summary](#CT-P131-A), [the first Latin stanza](#CT-P131-B), [the second stanza](#CT-P131-C), [the first historical English stanza](#CT-P131-D) and [its continuation](#CT-P131-E).
### The Book Sent Into the World
The closing address speaks to the book itself. Vaughan imagines an object small enough to travel beyond a library, enter a reader’s private space and find friends its author has never met. Literary courtship returns in the imagined women readers, while the declaration of a plain style counters charges of vanity. The last image makes publication an act of allowing a child to go forth rather than suppressing it. Its wit and self-defence complicate the prose retreat into solitude; the work closes through more than one voice. See [the departure](#CT-P139-A) and [the final address](#CT-P140-A).
## Reading Routes
These routes support return visits. A first reading should follow the complete historical discourse in order, since qualifications often arrive after the description they modify.
### A First Continuous Reading
Begin with [the opening promise](#CT-P078-A) and follow the discourse through [the prose conclusion](#CT-P138-A). Continue beyond FINIS to [the address to the book](#CT-P139-A), its [continuation](#CT-P140-A) and [the relevant printed corrections](#CT-P140-D). Use the glossary when a term obstructs the argument; allow the notes to clarify difficulties without turning every paragraph into a hunt for an ingredient.
### First Matter and the Forms of Nature
Read [agent and patient](#CT-P081-A), [the first description](#CT-P083-A), [the correction concerning earth](#CT-P089-A), [the names of the water](#CT-P098-A) and [the rejection of particular bodies](#CT-P113-A). Return to [One Thing and Many Descriptions](#ESSAY_ONE_THING) to consider why a catalogue of synonyms does not amount to an identification.
### Generation and Restoration
Connect [the diagnosis of corruption](#CT-P115-A), [fitted warmth](#CT-P120-A), [the egg](#CT-P129-A), [vital reduction](#CT-P130-A) and [the sustaining spirit](#CT-P134-A). The paired essays on [reduction](#ESSAY_LIVING_REDUCTION) and [heat](#ESSAY_FIRE) follow the criteria by which Vaughan distinguishes a successful transformation from destruction.
### The Work Read Through Its Poetry
Move from [Hyanthe’s throne](#CT-P093-B) through [her tears](#CT-P094-B), [her vial](#CT-P095-A) and [Vaughan’s interpretation](#CT-P106-B). Then read [the speaking stone](#CT-P131-B) with its [historical English verse](#CT-P131-D) and [the closing book poem](#CT-P139-A). Use [the poem guide](#POEM_GUIDE) to compare the different kinds of speaker.
### A Reflective and Philosophical Reading
Begin with [the demand to dwell with what is read](#CT-P088-A), then consider [the limits of naming](#CT-P111-A), [the distinction of agencies](#CT-P135-A), [listening](#CT-P136-A) and [cooperation](#CT-P137-A). Formulate a modern application only after describing the historical claim accurately. The [questions for study](#QUESTIONS) help keep observation, inference and personal analogy distinct.
## Questions for Study
These questions ask for evidence from particular passages. They do not presuppose that Vaughan’s promised achievement has been verified or that a single spiritual or material interpretation must govern the whole book.
### Names and Knowledge
What would count as knowing the thing rather than knowing the word first matter? Compare [the demand for encounter](#CT-P081-A) with [the names and properties](#CT-P085-A). Which descriptions narrow the range of possible meanings, and which multiply it?
### Visible Lesson and Hidden Subject
At what point does Vaughan move from ordinary earth to another meaning of earth? Follow [the return of creatures](#CT-P087-A), [seasonal change](#CT-P088-A) and [the explicit qualification](#CT-P089-A). What does the visible lesson establish before the hidden subject is named?
### What the Poem Adds
How does the speaker revise his first view of Hyanthe? What is gained by reading [the tears](#CT-P094-B) before [the water testimony](#CT-P096-A)? Does [Vaughan’s comparison](#CT-P106-B) explain every detail, or only establish a relation?
### The Egg as a Test
Explain [the egg example](#CT-P129-A) without importing modern chemical terminology. What capacity is lost in Vaughan’s destructive procedure, and why is a collection of separated elements insufficient to restore it?
### Evidence and Withholding
How can the demand for demonstrable influences on [pages 126–127](#CT-P126-A) coexist with the withholding on [page 112](#CT-P112-A)? What can a reader responsibly conclude when the offered grounds are partly testimonial?
### Whose Work Is Transformation
Compare [the sustaining spirit](#CT-P134-A), [soul and body](#CT-P135-A) and [the practitioner’s cooperation](#CT-P137-A). Which actions belong to God, Nature, the subject and the human worker? Where does Vaughan warn against confusing them?
### An Interpretation With Its Limits
Choose one passage that supports a spiritual or ethical application. First describe its historical context; then state the proposed application and the evidence for it. Finally identify one feature of the passage that your interpretation does not explain.
### Reading Beyond the First Ending
What changes when [FINIS](#CT-P138-B) is followed by [the book poem](#CT-P139-A)? Compare the claim to plain truth with the intimacy, wit and imagined audiences of the verse. What do the relevant printed corrections add to a reader’s awareness of a printed book?
## Sources and Editorial Credits
The following records distinguish the 1650 textual basis, its modern transcription, the surviving comparison copy and the later collected reprint. Historical page numbers in the reading refer to the 1650 volume. Web records and digitised copies were consulted for this edition in October 2026.
### The 1650 Text and the TCP Transcription
Thomas Vaughan, writing as Eugenius Philalethes. Magia Adamica, or The Antiquitie of Magic, with the added discovery of Coelum Terrae. London: printed by T. W. for H. Blunden, 1650. EEBO-TCP A64768; Wing V151; ESTC R203905; EEBO image set 115898; British Library Thomason witness 174:E1299[1]. University of Michigan text: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A64768.0001.001 . The selected Coelum discourse begins on printed page 78; its source locators distinguish this witness from the Getty pages.
The TCP TEI header identifies a diplomatic transcription rather than a critical edition, records electronic publication in March 2009 and releases the Phase I transcription for reuse under Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ . Credit is due to the EEBO Text Creation Partnership and its contributing institutions. Encoded gaps and foreign-language omissions in the transcription require examination of source evidence; they are not authority to omit a passage in a new edition.
### The Getty Research Institute Copy
Thomas Vaughan. Magia Adamica, with Coelum Terrae. London, 1650. Getty Research Institute, call number 372004; Internet Archive identifier magiaadamicaoran00vaug, ARK ark:/13960/t7fr0pk07. Digitisation: https://archive.org/details/magiaadamicaoran00vaug . The catalogue describes this copy as imperfect, with title and other early leaves and gathering G wanting, and notes repeated gathering F. It is therefore a witness with stated limitations, not an intact copy of the entire host volume. Its surviving Coelum pages 79–140 provide first-edition image evidence, including the poems and concluding doxology. The final errata leaf is missing from this copy, so the relevant printed corrections are taken from the TCP witness, with that limitation stated. Credit: Getty Research Institute, digitised through Internet Archive.
### The Later Wellcome Comparison
Thomas Vaughan. The Magical Writings of Thomas Vaughan, edited with translations, biographical preface and essay by Arthur Edward Waite. London: George Redway, 1888. Wellcome Collection work dr6u75bj; digitisation b24868279. Record: https://wellcomecollection.org/works/dr6u75bj . IIIF manifest: https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/presentation/v2/b24868279 . This later reprint is a comparison and a record of nineteenth-century reception, not the governing witness or the source of the new foreign-language translations. Credit: Wellcome Collection; its digitised historical material is marked Public Domain.
### Authorities Quoted Within the Work
Coelum Terrae cites or invokes Scripture, Hermes, Orphic and Chaldaean material, Reuchlin under the name Capnion, Agrippa, authors and works attributed to Arnold of Villanova, Lully, Albertus Magnus, Flamel and Paracelsus, and other alchemical testimonies. The present edition translates the passages as they occur in Vaughan’s work. A historical attribution is retained as an attribution; the list does not claim that each named figure authored the precise wording or work Vaughan received. Notes identify specific parallels when the evidence permits.
### Diotimos Editorial Contributions
The modern English reading, fresh foreign-language translations, introduction, annotations, interpretive essays, glossary, contextual lexicon, guides, reading routes and subject index were prepared for Diotimos Editions in 2026. Editorial divisions and commentary remain distinct from the historical discourse. The English-only reading EPUB contains the same complete modern reading and supporting material; the parallel edition also includes the historical wording.
The scope is the complete Coelum Terrae discourse and its included historical ending, rather than the whole Magia Adamica volume. References to earlier Vaughan works or to the host’s earlier pages identify context; they do not silently insert other works into this edition. The source note records textual uncertainty where it affects a reading.
## Subject Index
Entries link to stable historical passages and editorial study features. Historical pages refer to the 1650 volume, distinct from the pagination of this modern edition.
### Active and passive nature
[two sanctuaries](#CT-P080-B), [agent and patient](#CT-P081-A).
### Agency
[interpretive essay](#ESSAY_MEDIATION), [instruments and causes](#CT-P135-A).
### Agrippa
[nothing](#CT-P111-A), [influences](#CT-P126-A).
### Air
[elemental descent](#CT-P127-B), [mediation](#CT-P133-A).
### Albertus Magnus
[the water testimony](#CT-P097-A), [its names](#CT-P098-A).
### Arnold of Villanova
[the stone and water](#CT-P096-A), [unctuous moisture](#CT-P107-A).
### Art
[glossary](#GLOSS_02), [Nature supplies the seed](#CT-P086-A).
### Authority and testimony
[related passages](#REL_SECRECY_EVIDENCE), [study question](#QUESTION_AUTHORITY).
### Azoth
[glossary](#GLOSS_03).
### Balneum Naturae
[glossary](#GLOSS_04), [natural bath](#CT-P120-A).
### Body
[glossary](#GLOSS_05), [soul and embodiment](#CT-P134-A).
### Book as child
[closing image](#CT-P140-A), [poem guide](#POEM_BOOK).
### Capnion
[the two natures](#CT-P081-A), [Vaughan’s English](#CT-P082-A).
### Chaos
[glossary](#GLOSS_06), [darkness and middle substance](#CT-P114-A).
### Coagulation
[glossary](#GLOSS_07).
### Coction
[glossary](#GLOSS_08), [the process summary](#CT-P131-A).
### Contraries
[earth and air](#CT-P132-B), [fire and water](#CT-P133-A).
### Cooperation
[the practitioner’s task](#CT-P137-A), [interpretive essay](#ESSAY_FIRE).
### Corruption
[glossary](#GLOSS_09), [the diagnosis](#CT-P115-A).
### Creation
[the created recipient](#CT-P081-A), [creation and negation](#ESSAY_NOTHING).
### Dionysius
[negative theology](#CT-P111-A).
### Dissolution
[glossary](#GLOSS_10), [natural putrefaction](#CT-P130-A).
### Dragon
[Nature’s voice](#CT-P104-A), [the fire-drake](#CT-P130-A).
### Earth
[glossary](#GLOSS_11), [ordinary and celestial earth](#CT-P089-A).
### Egg
[the example begins](#CT-P128-A), [destructive reduction](#CT-P129-A).
### Elements
[glossary](#GLOSS_12), [seed and elements](#REL_SEED_ELEMENTS).
### English as the original language
[edition statement](#EDITION_STATEMENT), [editorial policy](#TEXT_TRANSLATION).
### Errata
[the historical notice](#CT-P140-D), [scope and treatment](#TEXT_TRANSLATION).
### Eugenius Philalethes
[authorial name](#EDITION_STATEMENT), [1650 source](#BIB_TCP).
### Evidence
[encounter with the thing](#CT-P081-A), [the demand for demonstration](#CT-P126-A).
### Fire
[natural fire](#GLOSS_24), [heat and cooperation](#ESSAY_FIRE).
### First matter
[glossary](#GLOSS_13), [one thing and many descriptions](#ESSAY_ONE_THING).
### Fixation
[glossary](#GLOSS_14), [rising and returning](#CT-P131-A).
### Flamel
[the fire testimony](#CT-P123-A), [the garden](#CT-P125-A).
### Generation
[glossary](#GLOSS_15), [restoring a generative relation](#ESSAY_LIVING_REDUCTION).
### Getty copy
[source record](#BIB_GETTY).
### God and Nature
[the sustaining bond](#CT-P134-A), [cooperation](#CT-P137-A).
### Heat
[maternal comparison](#CT-P120-A), [external agent](#CT-P121-A).
### Hermes
[action and life](#CT-P090-B), [the separation of water](#CT-P100-A).
### Hyanthe
[glossary](#GLOSS_16), [poem guide](#POEM_HYANTHE).
### Ideas
[glossary](#GLOSS_17), [outward forms](#CT-P093-A).
### Influences
[glossary](#GLOSS_18), [reception and corruption](#CT-P126-A).
### Listening
[the adept and the visitor](#CT-P136-A), [ethics of hearing](#ESSAY_MEDIATION).
### Lully
[the compounded water](#CT-P097-A), [the prohibition](#CT-P108-B).
### Magia Adamica
[host volume and scope](#EDITION_STATEMENT), [bibliographic record](#BIB_TCP).
### Magnesia
[glossary](#GLOSS_19), [red and white appearances](#CT-P083-A).
### Matrix
[glossary](#GLOSS_20), [embodiment](#CT-P125-A).
### Medicine
[glossary](#GLOSS_21), [the five gates](#CT-P103-A).
### Mercury
[glossary](#GLOSS_22), [interpreter of particulars](#CT-P124-A).
### Middle nature
[glossary](#GLOSS_23), [water and extremes](#CT-P114-B).
### Nature
[glossary](#GLOSS_25), [freedom and generation](#CT-P092-A).
### Negative theology
[glossary](#GLOSS_26), [interpretive essay](#ESSAY_NOTHING).
### Nothing
[the question of origins](#CT-P110-A), [the qualified meaning](#CT-P111-A).
### Pan and Proteus
[universal and particular](#CT-P124-A).
### Paracelsus
[whiteness](#CT-P082-A), [Vaughan’s mixed judgement](#CT-P119-A).
### Patient
[glossary](#GLOSS_27).
### Poetry
[poetry in the argument](#ESSAY_HYANTHE), [guide to the poems](#POEM_GUIDE).
### Projection
[glossary](#GLOSS_28), [the fifth gate](#CT-P104-A).
### Putrefaction
[glossary](#GLOSS_29), [Nature’s quoted lesson](#CT-P122-A).
### Quintessence
[glossary](#GLOSS_30), [the living spirit](#CT-P134-A).
### Reduction
[glossary](#GLOSS_31), [two opposed kinds](#CT-P128-A).
### Region of light
[glossary](#GLOSS_32), [the meadow of ideas](#CT-P125-A).
### Secrecy
[the withheld disclosure](#CT-P112-A), [secrecy and evidence](#REL_SECRECY_EVIDENCE).
### Seed
[glossary](#GLOSS_33), [Nature’s composition](#CT-P086-A).
### Speaking stone
[Latin verse](#CT-P131-B), [poem guide](#POEM_STONE).
### Spiritual interpretation
[reading method](#INTRO_READINGS), [reading route](#ROUTE_REFLECTION).
### Sulphur
[glossary](#GLOSS_34), [the fitted union](#CT-P120-A).
### TCP transcription
[source and licence](#BIB_TCP), [transmission](#CHRON_TCP).
### Virgin milk
[glossary](#GLOSS_35), [maternal imagery](#CT-P084-A).
### Waite reprint
[the 1888 comparison](#BIB_WELLCOME), [publication context](#CHRON_1888).
## Annotations
[^n1]: The opening paragraph completes the transition from the host work, Magia Adamica, into the promised disclosure of Coelum Terrae. It is retained in full although the Getty copy lacks printed page 78. Its wording comes from the British Library witness transcribed by EEBO-TCP.
[^n2]: Posse means ability or power; placet, an expression of approval; jacta est alea, “the die is cast.” The newly translated Latin sentence about visible summits and hidden foundations is followed by Vaughan’s own Babel analogy.
[^n3]: Olla is a pot or mixed dish, used here for the book’s mixture of subjects. Estrado is a raised place or chamber of state: Nature receives her visitors like a sovereign.
[^n4]: “Healing hands of the gods” translates manus deorum salutares. The command to test everything and retain the good alludes to 1 Thessalonians 5:21.
[^n5]: “Catholic” and “universal” describe the scope of a natural principle, rather than a denominational identity. “Sympathy” renders compassion here in its older sense of shared affection or mutual response.
[^n6]: The wound and weapon invoke the early modern doctrine of sympathetic healing. Vaughan contrasts these particular correspondences with the universal bond he seeks to disclose.
[^n7]: Agent and patient mean that which acts and that which receives an action. Capnion is the name under which Vaughan cites Johannes Reuchlin. The “Jew” and “Epicurean” are speakers in Reuchlin’s philosophical dialogue, not claims about all members of either group.
[^n8]: The term “character” means an impressed mark or expression. Vaughan’s first matter is presented as a universal created recipient, not simply as the name of a familiar chemical substance.
[^n9]: The man of Madaura is Apuleius, whom Vaughan names in his own following English rendering. Both the Latin quotation, freshly translated here, and Vaughan’s historical English explanation are retained; the repetition belongs to the original.
[^n10]: The final Latin saying, attributed by Vaughan to Paracelsus, literally says that all things are white “in God’s hand.” Vaughan’s following English develops that phrase into a statement about their first emergence from God.
[^n11]: The comparison to common quicksilver is qualified by a claim of celestial brightness. Vaughan’s mercury, magnesia and sulphur should therefore be read in their stated philosophical relationships before being assigned any fixed modern chemical identity.
[^n12]: Rosials is rendered here as “rose-like jewels,” following the surrounding comparisons; the exact reference is uncertain. Vaughan repeats the word of Hyanthe’s tears. The loving courtship of matter develops his opposition between fruitful generation and coercive violence.
[^n13]: The numerical titles one, three, four and five are presented as mutually compatible accounts of the same subject. Their relation to different principles or operations is part of Vaughan’s symbolic exposition.
[^n14]: Azoth, mercury, dry water and the blessed stone are names in the philosophical vocabulary Vaughan assembles. His explicit rejection of rainwater, well water and dew is retained.
[^n15]: Matrix means a womb or generative receptacle. “Seed” renders sperme, which here applies analogically to the whole natural world as well as to animal generation.
[^n16]: The dragon eating its tail is a figure of return and circulation. Vaughan’s Saturn likewise represents earth receiving back the beings she has generated; it is not an identification with a single planetary metal.
[^n17]: Coelum Terrae and Terra Coeli mean “heaven of earth” and “earth of heaven.” Vaughan immediately distinguishes this hidden earth from ordinary dirt and dust, so the reciprocal phrases are central to the title’s meaning.
[^n18]: Vaughan attributes this alchemical Compendium to Raymond Lull. The attribution is retained as historical testimony; it does not establish authorship by the medieval philosopher.
[^n19]: The Greek quotation is recovered from the 1650 page image, where EEBO-TCP substitutes a non-Latin gap. It corresponds to Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 4.36. Vaughan’s printed τὰ πάντα, “all things,” is retained rather than silently replaced with the τὰ ὄντα, “existing things,” of other Greek editions.
[^n20]: The two Greek epithets are recovered from the 1650 image. They call Nature a resourceful mother and one whose dwelling or way of life takes changing forms. Vaughan’s own following English paraphrase is separately retained.
[^n21]: Tick-tack names a game; the image makes Nature’s transformations a succession of activities, not a declaration that she acts aimlessly.
[^n22]: “Wears his income on his back” keeps Vaughan’s image of wealth displayed in clothes. His contrast with Nature’s unobserved creativity prepares the poem, where beauty and tears disclose a hidden process.
[^n23]: Ælia Lælia is named in the prose as the enigmatic mistress Vaughan is about to portray. The ensuing poem calls her Hyanthe. The two names and the prose-to-poetry transition are both preserved.
[^n24]: The Hyanthe poem continues through printed page 95. Its sapphire sphere evokes Fortune’s instability, while the narrator discovers a more lasting majesty. The modern reading retains every verse line’s content without attempting to reproduce all the original rhymes.
[^n25]: Py-annets and paraquitoes are magpies and parakeets. Vaughan’s joke equates merely noisy learning with the cries of birds. Heptarchy literally means a sevenfold government; here it is part of his polemical address.
[^n26]: The Latin pilis carens literally means “without hairs.” Vaughan explains this as “without shoots or crystals”; the new translation and his own interpretation are both given. The Latin albus means white, while Vaughan’s following English says clear.
[^n27]: Arnold of Villanova is Vaughan’s attribution for the cited alchemical authority. The following reference to the Turba names the older collection commonly called Turba philosophorum.
[^n28]: The “seven metallic principles” are reported in the language of the cited authority. Vaughan’s term enviously means withholding knowledge, not merely feeling another person’s good fortune as a grievance.
[^n29]: Stylanx is retained as printed. The comparison and the following reference to a test associate it with the testing of gold; its specific material or object is not identified here. Albert the Great is Vaughan’s named authority, and the citation alone does not settle the authorship of the alchemical work transmitted under that name.
[^n30]: The Persian authority’s printed name is Rachaidibi, legible in the Getty image where EEBO-TCP leaves a gap. The name is preserved without conjecturally replacing it with a better-known historical alchemist.
[^n31]: The many names are expressly said to refer to one subject. They are translated individually; none has been collapsed into a single modern chemical equivalent.
[^n32]: Liber trium verborum means “Book of Three Words.” Vaughan explains the three words as principles. The contrary qualities, hot and dry versus cold and moist, are distributed between hidden and manifest aspects of the same subject.
[^n33]: The assembly of Arisleus and its speaker Belus belong to the literary setting of the Turba tradition as Vaughan presents it.
[^n34]: The new translation follows the Latin’s statement about the division of water; Vaughan’s own historical rendering explains the division as a separation into four substances. Both forms of the passage are retained.
[^n35]: Limbus is retained in the new translation as the author’s term for the primordial matrix. Vaughan renders it chaos in his own following English.
[^n36]: Perpessa means having suffered or undergone something. Vaughan expands it as tortured water that has undergone alteration. These are historical philosophical descriptions, retained without replacing them with a modern procedure.
[^n37]: Vaughan himself omits the Rosy Brother’s Latin, announcing that he will provide its sense in English. No Latin text is absent from this edition at that point: the 1650 book already contains only Vaughan’s English rendering.
[^n38]: The long speech from the Rosy Brother continues through printed page 106. Its goddess, eagle, lion and dragon images retain both material and spiritual possibilities within the text’s own philosophical frame.
[^n39]: The 1650 text reads “Embers of the Eagle,” although the preceding image speaks of the eagle’s tears. The reading is retained rather than silently harmonised.
[^n40]: The five gates are knowledge of matter, preparation, fire, multiplication or augmentation, and projection. The passage distinguishes the universal medicine at the fourth gate from the specifically metallic use of the fifth.
[^n41]: The speaker explicitly calls the spouse philosophical gold. The sequence of contrary titles is preserved in full; it describes the comprehensive and changeable subject through paradox.
[^n42]: The 1650 errata directs the reader to replace or with for at page 106, line 23. The original wording remains visible in the historical layer; the modern reading applies the correction: she is not thin water, for she is a thick moisture.
[^n43]: Vaughan calls his mistress “a pure Platonic,” maintaining the courtship imagery while describing a philosophical relation. Spermatic here means seminal or generative.
[^n44]: “Crushing” renders contrition in its physical sense. Birdlime is sticky material used to catch birds; Vaughan turns his opponents’ proud plumage into the object of a verbal trap.
[^n45]: Vaughan answers the demand for an outright disclosure with a riddle about silver, moon, sun and Saturn. The modern reading preserves that riddle rather than converting it into a fixed chemical identification.
[^n46]: The marginal reference reads Theor. cap. 6, “Theory, chapter 6.” The new translation preserves the warning of the Latin passage, followed by Vaughan’s separate historical English version. The threatened punishment explains his stated reserve; it is part of his argument about the custody of knowledge.
[^n47]: Peripatetic means belonging to the Aristotelian philosophical tradition. Vaughan’s language of faith rewarded by knowledge joins his claim of experimental discovery to his religious account of Nature.
[^n48]: The “society” is the Rosicrucian fraternity as Vaughan understands it. The text does not establish the named speaker’s historical membership of an organised fraternity. “Painted buzzards” attacks the society’s mockers.
[^n49]: The marginal reference recommends Jacob Böhme’s Three Principles. The Latin quotation and Vaughan’s own English explanation are both retained; the modern reading newly translates the Latin before modernising his historical explanation.
[^n50]: TCP marks damaged letters in “Seed” and “Illuminate”; both words are readable in the Getty copy and are restored here. “Illuminate” means an enlightened person, rather than the later Bavarian Illuminati.
[^n51]: Negative or apophatic theology approaches God through the denial of finite predicates. Vaughan’s “nothing” means neither a blank nor non-existence: he explicitly distinguishes divine transcendence from a destructive sense of nothing.
[^n52]: The marginal abbreviation points to Dionysius the Areopagite and negative theology. The Christian writings transmitted under that name are conventionally attributed to Pseudo-Dionysius; Vaughan receives them under their traditional attribution.
[^n53]: Nihil scire can mean “to know nothing.” Vaughan deliberately rereads its “nothing” as the transcendent divine source. Both the ordinary wording and his mystical interpretation are preserved.
[^n54]: “Sperm” is a general generative seed or intermediate substance here, not invariably human semen. Vaughan’s rejection of human blood explicitly limits what his first matter can mean. The particular Idea marks the specific character of a creature, even after reduction to its own seed.
[^n55]: An athanor is a furnace associated with sustained alchemical heating. In fornaculis mirabilibus means “in wonderful little furnaces.” The sackcloth and ashes turn penitential language into a joke about unsuccessful chemical residues.
[^n56]: The marginal Anima Magica refers to Vaughan’s Anima Magica Abscondita. “Ensoph” represents Ein Sof, “without end.” Vaughan makes a particular Christian natural-philosophical appropriation of the term; his formulation is not a neutral account of Jewish Kabbalah.
[^n57]: The Greek invocation, untranscribed in TCP, is restored from the original page with accents and word divisions regularised: “O black Night, nurse of golden stars.” Vaughan’s own English rendering follows and is separately retained.
[^n58]: “Translated” means taken from ordinary earthly life into another condition, as in the biblical accounts of Enoch and Elijah. Vaughan distinguishes mutable existence from corruption and from a final glorified state; “extreme” means an endpoint.
[^n59]: The “Oracles” are the Chaldaean Oracles as received in Renaissance esoteric philosophy and attributed by Vaughan to Zoroaster. Secundea, “the second,” names his mediating nature, containing things naturally in contrast with God’s spiritual containment.
[^n60]: Triadis vultus ante essentiam is rendered literally as “the countenance of the triad before essence.” Ignis penu uses the image of an inward provision chamber or storehouse of fire.
[^n61]: “Salacious” means sexually ardent or generatively desirous, within this passage’s male–female cosmology. The newly translated Latin is followed by Vaughan’s own English: the repetition reflects the original text, rather than a duplicated editorial passage.
[^n62]: Moon, elements, furnace and glass are Vaughan’s terms in an argument joining material generation, cosmology and theology. Their relations are retained without assigning the language a single modern chemical identity.
[^n63]: The Arcadia is a literary romance. Sack possets and sugar sops evoke domestic preparations involving wine, milk or sweetened food. Vaughan’s judgement about women’s aptitude and domestic work is retained as part of his historical voice.
[^n64]: Hohenheim is Paracelsus. Vaughan recommends a work called the Revelation while criticising other processes attributed to him; this does not authenticate every text circulating under Paracelsus’s name.
[^n65]: The “pilot of Guadalcana” and Río de la recreación continue Vaughan’s Spanish literary allusions. The latter means “river of recreation.” The point is a playful or deliberately misleading diversion; no precise modern place identification is imposed here.
[^n66]: The 1650 word appears as Easianus (also TCP’s reading), probably a misprint for Fasianus, “pheasant.” The fresh translation supplies the probable sense; Vaughan’s own bird and fowler explanation is separately retained. The hunting image concerns control of volatility.
[^n67]: Balneum naturae means “Nature’s bath.” Vaughan distinguishes it from an artificial water bath, then interprets the work through gestation. This comparison gives the language both a natural-philosophical and a theological setting.
[^n68]: Vaughan distinguishes an external, prepared heat from the inward fire of chaos. “Necromantic” and “heat of the dead” are names he reports; the passage does not identify one determinate substance by them.
[^n69]: The Latin attributed to Mehung speaks of inward incombustible heat (calorem). Vaughan’s own explanatory English instead says “sulphur,” and expands several phrases. The new translation and the modernised historical English are both retained, making the difference visible.
[^n70]: Cochleas vel cancros means “snails or crabs,” while Vaughan’s English substitutes oysters. Both readings are preserved. The rebuke belongs to Nature’s speech to Madathan and makes preparing shellfish an image of dissolution.
[^n71]: The “most ancient cook of the planets” evokes planetary ripening. Flamel’s attribution is retained as Vaughan gives it, without establishing that the historical Nicolas Flamel authored the quoted alchemical work. Night and day appear explicitly in the Latin and the fresh translation, although Vaughan’s English is shorter.
[^n72]: Pan represents the universal source, Proteus the changing variety of particular forms, and Mercury their interpreter. The Greek invocation to Hermes is restored from the first-edition page with regularised accents. Hermes and Mercury are the Greek and Latin names used in the adjoining versions.
[^n73]: Iynges names powers within the Chaldaean hierarchy, here glossed by Vaughan as Ideas. This association belongs to his argument rather than constituting an equivalence valid throughout ancient philosophy.
[^n74]: Nox corporis means “night of the body”; regio lucis means “region of light.” They name the mediating place from different perspectives. The fresh translation retains Stellatus’s “sorrowful thing,” while Vaughan’s English interprets it as corruption.
[^n75]: The marginal Occult. phil. names Agrippa’s De occulta philosophia. The Latin says an influence becomes “base” in a baser subject; Vaughan’s English develops this as corruption. Both formulations remain available.
[^n76]: Menippus’s heavenly journey belongs to Lucian’s satire; Sancho’s tossing in a blanket belongs to Don Quixote. Vaughan joins them to mock claims of celestial familiarity unsupported by experience.
[^n77]: The Pythagorean Synod is the assembly in the alchemical Turba philosophorum as Vaughan receives it. The fresh translation renders spissum as “dense part”; Vaughan’s own English adds his interpretation “sperm.” The assembly is a literary authority, not evidence here of a meeting of seventy historical adepts.
[^n78]: Genesis 3:19 supplies the dust-to-dust reference. “Reduction” means a return to a prior condition. Vaughan distinguishes destructive decomposition into extremes from generative return to an intermediate seed, an essential distinction in his criticism of ordinary chemistry.
[^n79]: “Dr Coal” is a satirical name for the broiler. Caput mortuum, literally “dead head,” denotes a chemical residue. The mock experiment attacks the assumption that violent analysis preserves the capacity for generation.
[^n80]: The flying fire-drake is a dragon figure for the conjunction of volatile principles. Vaughan assigns it an explicitly poisonous property. The description is preserved without redaction, alongside the text’s cosmic, generative and theological meanings.
[^n81]: The two Latin stanzas give the stone a speaking voice. Their fresh translations precede the modernised English verses printed by Vaughan. Continuò means “at once” here. The printed division of facultas is joined for reading.
[^n82]: The Greek repeats Pilate’s words in John 19:22: “What I have written, I have written.” Both the fresh translation and Vaughan’s own English repetition are retained. The Gunpowder Plot allusion turns towards anticipated opposition and conspiracy.
[^n83]: Virgil, Eclogue 4.6, supplies the return of the Virgin and Saturn’s reign, a golden-age image used here to imagine a general conversion. The Latin line is newly translated in the modern reading.
[^n84]: The elemental qualities are hot, cold, moist and dry. Water and air mediate the oppositions described, yet Vaughan calls this agreement only “partil,” or partial. His assertion that the principles “differ in two” is retained rather than silently replaced with another system.
[^n85]: The first matter is venerable because the divine Spirit reconciles and perfects its elements. “Instrumentals” means instrumental agents. Vaughan’s distinction among Creator, soul and body challenges an independent formative power attributed to the soul.
[^n86]: The Greek calends were a proverbial day that never comes: calends belonged to the Roman calendar. The story ends with the adept’s permanent withdrawal, not a dated appointment. Zeno’s saying illustrates listening and restraint.
[^n87]: Nè tu augeas fatum means “do not increase fate” or “do not add to the allotted destruction.” Vaughan applies it immediately as “do not further his designs.” Both the Latin sense and his contextual interpretation are retained.
[^n88]: The poem beginning “And now my Book” follows the prose FINIS and continues onto page 140. It is retained in full. The wrapped words “Price” and “fall” are placed in their metrical lines without dropping words.
[^n89]: The “rattles” are showy titles attached to a name. “For nine years” alludes pointedly to the instability of public great men in Vaughan’s recent political world, without naming an individual. Excise is a tax; the small book jokes about its price and physical burden.
[^n90]: The “three suns” are a portent; “high-shoe heresy” dismissively suggests rustic or coarse sectarian teaching. Vaughan closes by defending plain truth against ambition, then calls the book his child and prefers its public destruction to suppressing it himself.
[^n91]: These two corrections come from TCP’s transcription of the unnumbered errata after the closing poem; the Getty copy lacks that surface. Only the entries affecting Coelum Terrae are included. Other corrections concern distinct works outside this edition. The unusual direction “doctrine” to “dictrine” is retained as TCP records it, without pretending to verify it from an unavailable image.