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Diotimos Library · Esotericism & Spirituality Collection · Bilingual Edition

Attributed to Abraham the Jew

The Manly Hall Manuscript Collection, Volume I

Book of Hieroglyphic Figures

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The Manly Hall Manuscript Collection, Volume IThe Two Natures of Natural Spirits · Manuscript 67r · Scan 161

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English Page · Branch 154 of 351

The Two Natures of Natural Spirits · Manuscript 67r · Scan 161

French

Ms. 67r

sont incorruptibles, permanents, fixes et lumineux, et que les âmes sont devenues impassibles avec leurs corps, et mille fois plus rayonnantes de lumière, qu’ils jouissent des plaisirs éternels et d’une infinité de délices ? La chose ne souffre point de doute, et il n’y a point à disputer là-dessus.

Quelle difficulté trouve-t-on donc, qu’un corps rendu spirituel et subtil, lumineux et très pénétrant, ne puisse pas passer au travers des portes, les connaître intimement les comprendre, entendre un homme qui parle, le voir, contenir le lieu où il est définitivement et être tout autour de lui et qu’il puisse sans moyens comme sans parole, sans yeux sans oreilles, imprimer les conceptions de son esprit, puisque cela a coutume de se pratiquer dans le corps lumineux, quoique privé de sens et de raison soit par prodige ou merveille ou miracle, comme nous voyons recevoir et renvoyer l’apparence des objets qui se présentent devant un miroir sans qu’il soit gâté ou endommagé. C’est certainement une chose qui ne mérite pas notre réflexion ; la nature nous le fait voir à découvert, et l’art peut opérer ces sortes de merveilles ;

Ms. 67r

The Manly Hall Manuscript Collection, Volume I: The Two Natures of Natural Spirits

Ms. 67r

are incorruptible, permanent, fixed, and luminous, and since the souls, together with their bodies, have become impassible and a thousand times more radiant with light, that they enjoy eternal pleasures and endless delights? The matter admits no doubt, and there is nothing to dispute about it.

What difficulty, then, is found in a body made spiritual and subtle, luminous and highly penetrating, being able to pass through doors, know them intimately and comprehend them, hear a person speaking, see him, encompass the place in which he is definitively present and be all around him? Or in its being able, without means—without speech, eyes, or ears—to impress the conceptions of its spirit? This commonly occurs in a luminous body, although deprived of sense and reason, whether by prodigy, wonder, or miracle: we see it receive and return the appearance of objects presented before a mirror without being spoiled or damaged. Certainly this is something that does not demand our reflection; nature shows it to us openly, and art can perform these sorts of wonders.

Ms. 67r

About This Reading Edition

The first manuscript in the Manly Palmer Hall collection at the Getty Research Institute: the Book of Hieroglyphic Figures, presented in French and English with 463 explanatory notes, 13 manuscript plates, 25 source details, an introduction, chapter outline, glossary, bibliography, and register of readings.

Historical Text and Translation

Book of Hieroglyphic Figures (Livre des figures hiéroglyphiques), attributed in the witness to Abraham the Jew. Getty Research Institute, Manly Palmer Hall collection of alchemical manuscripts, accession 950053, Box 1, Hogart manuscript 3; French witness catalogued circa 1800. Manly Palmer Hall is the collector, not the author.

About Diotimos Editions

This historical edition credits Diotimos Editions as its English translator.

Rights

The circa 1800 source manuscript is public domain. The supplied 2026 French reading transcription, English translation, introduction, notes, outline, glossary, register, and editorial arrangement are published with the site owner’s authorization. Source photographs are credited to the Getty Research Institute and Internet Archive in the supplied edition.