The Summary of Physics Restored

190Living things are sustained by twofold nourishment, bodily and spiritual. Without the latter, the former contributes little to life. Plants plainly owe the benefit of their growth and nourishment no less to air and Heaven than to earth. Indeed, unless earth herself drank ethereal milk, her breasts would wither. The sacred initiate into Nature’s secrets expressed this sufficiently when blessing Joseph:* “May his land receive the blessing of the Lord: from the fruits of heaven, from the dew and the deep lying beneath; from the fruits brought forth by the Sun and Moon; from the summit of the ancient mountains; from the fruits of the everlasting hills”, and so forth. In this mystical language the Prophet promises earth’s fertility from the influence of the Sun and Moon and the abundant influx of heavenly things.