From the book
Centuries of Meditations
Thomas Traherne · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Attraction and loadstone
attract; drawn; loadstone; cords of love
A loadstone is a naturally magnetic stone.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordA loadstone is a naturally magnetic stone.
- In TraherneThe opening meditation contests the maxim that the unknown cannot be loved.
- In this editionRetain the historical “loadstone” in quotation; “lodestone” is its modern spelling.
- A place to beginLoadstone and earthly centre exemplify an influence felt before its object is clearly known.
Meaning
A loadstone is a naturally magnetic stone. Attraction names a movement toward something, including a desire whose object is not yet distinctly known.
Use in the book
The opening meditation contests the maxim that the unknown cannot be loved. Hidden attraction toward the earth's centre and iron's movement toward a loadstone provide natural analogies for the soul's expectation of some great good. The point is the felt influence of an incompletely apprehended object, not a claim that spiritual love is a measured magnetic force. At the Cross the imagery develops into cords of love and the movement of heavy things toward a centre. The drawn soul travels by thought and affection, not feet. Desire is powerful without being straightforward compulsion: crowds drawn to a feast, miracle, or beloved object move voluntarily. Attraction therefore mediates between freedom and the compelling worth of what is loved.
Places to read
In this edition
Retain the historical “loadstone” in quotation; “lodestone” is its modern spelling. The physical comparisons are analogies within the argument, not scientific demonstrations of spiritual causation.
Source note
Primary text: I.2, I.56, I.57. I.2 supplies the magnetic comparison; I.56–572 develop its devotional and voluntary counterparts.
From the book
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Empedocles of Acragas · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Lodestone
τῆς Ἡρακλείας λίθου (tēs Hērakleias lithou); τὴν λίθον (tēn lithon)
Hērakleia lithos is the Heraclean stone, conventionally understood here as lodestone because of the stated attraction of iron.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordHērakleia lithos is the Heraclean stone, conventionally understood here as lodestone because of the stated attraction of iron.
- In this workThe stone plays two roles in Alexander's report: it emits material which clears air from iron's passages, and it receives the iron's effluences in passages fitted to them.
- In this edition“Lodestone” identifies the object through the attraction described.
- A place to readNames the Heraclean stone and its emitting and receiving functions.
Meaning
Hērakleia lithos is the Heraclean stone, conventionally understood here as lodestone because of the stated attraction of iron. The excerpt supplies no etymological explanation of the name or geographical provenance for a particular specimen.
Use in the book
The stone plays two roles in Alexander's report: it emits material which clears air from iron's passages, and it receives the iron's effluences in passages fitted to them. It is therefore both an initiating body and a suitable receiver. These distinct functions help explain why the account cannot be reduced merely to “iron fits the stone.”
They also structure the criticism. Alexander asks why the stone does not follow its own emissions, and why its effluences alone have the ability to shift the obstructing air. The questions seek the stone's distinctive explanatory property within a mechanism largely shared with other bodies. No separate occult faculty is stated in the report, but neither does the witness explicitly say Empedocles formulated a polemic against all sympathetic explanations. The lexical entry should describe the stated physical roles without enlarging the historical claim.
Places to read
- A 89 (testimony)2Alexander of Aphrodisias, Questions, first excerpt. Names the Heraclean stone and its emitting and receiving functions.
- A 89 (polemical)2Alexander of Aphrodisias, Questions, second excerpt. Asks what makes the stone’s emissions and motion exceptional.
Translation in this edition
“Lodestone” identifies the object through the attraction described. The text does not supply a mineralogical formula, magnetic polarity, or the source of the name Heraclean.