From the book
Magia Adamica
Thomas Vaughan · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordAbove and below name related conditions of heavenly nature: free above, bound in matter below. Likeness and shared nature do not erase the difference of condition.
- In the bookVaughan places an alleged Egyptian inscription beside Hermes’s saying and treats their agreement as evidence of a common mystery.
- In this editionThe erroneous ΛΑΥΤΑ remains visible in the historical text, while the translation follows the printed correction to ΤΑΥΤΑ, “these things.”
- A place to readMagia Adamica · p. 68–Magia Adamica · p. 71 · Passage 2, moving from captive heaven to the two compared sayings and their promised reward.
Meaning
“Superior” and “inferior” here are relational terms. They describe the heavenly and lower regions and the conditions in which a related nature exists. Vaughan says heaven was extracted from lower things without every portion of heavenly nature being removed. What remains below shares essence and substance with separated stars and skies.
The distinction he states is “Captivitie” and “Libertie.” Heaven below is imprisoned in matter; heaven above is freed from grossness and impurity. The claim is stronger than a vague resemblance but narrower than saying that every visible object below is simply identical with a celestial object above.
Use in the book
At Magia Adamica · p. 68 different heavenly rulers are assigned to vital fire, secret water, pure air and central earth. The lower things are called provinces or thrones of the higher. Vaughan then explains their affinity through a common origin and remaining heavenly portions. His description of higher visiting and comforting lower follows from that shared nature (Magia Adamica · p. 69 · Passage 1), not from an arbitrary sympathy between unrelated things.
The Egyptian monuments extend the argument. An inscription attributed through Barachias Abenesi declares heaven above and below, stars above and below, and all above also below (Magia Adamica · p. 70 · Passage 1). Its final imperative joins grasping or understanding these things with good fortune. Vaughan’s own English then repeats the message separately. The repetition is evidence of his interpretation, not an accidental duplication to remove.
The dedication associated with the monument introduces another distinction between translation layers. The fresh Greek rendering describes gods enthroned together, whereas Vaughan calls them resident gods in Egypt (Magia Adamica · p. 70 · Passage 3). His preceding note says that he is printing Greek because his type lacks the Coptic characters. Thus even the historical witness is already a mediated presentation rather than an unaltered reproduction of an Egyptian inscription.
He then cites Hermes: what is above is like what is below, and conversely (Magia Adamica · p. 70 · Passage 4–Magia Adamica · p. 71 · Passage 1). The “like” should remain visible. The sentence does not use exactly the same grammar as the inscription’s all-above/all-below formula. Vaughan nevertheless regards them as so closely echoing one another that they might pass for one, invoking Euphorbus and Pythagoras as an analogy of identity.
The benefits are also paired. Hermes promises the world’s glory; the inscription promises good fortune to understanding. Vaughan uses their consonance to support his claim that magic flourished in Egypt. The subsequent inference that its truth came from the Hebrews is a further historical argument, not something stated by the above-and-below words themselves.
The shared printed page and multiple languages can make the passage seem a single continuous maxim. It is actually a sequence: explanation of affinity, first monument of Nature’s operations, second monument of above and below, dedication, Hermetic comparison, and historical conclusion. Keeping these steps distinct clarifies both what each quotation says and what Vaughan adds.
The printed erratum has interpretive importance. The fourth Greek line begins ΛΑΥΤΑ in the unrevised text; the correction directs ΤΑΥΤΑ. The modern rendering follows “these things.” This is a documented correction within the supplied edition, not a new conjecture silently introduced by the lexicon.
Places to read
- Magia Adamica · p. 68Original; Magia Adamica · p. 69 · Passage 1Originalcommon nature, captivity and freedom explain the union of higher and lower.
- Magia Adamica · p. 70 · Passage 1Greek; Magia Adamica · p. 70 · Passage 2Original; Magia Adamica · p. 70 · Passage 3Originalthe inscription, Vaughan’s English and the mediated dedicatory wording.
- Magia Adamica · p. 70 · Passage 4Original; Magia Adamica · p. 71 · Passage 1Original; Magia Adamica · p. 71 · Passage 2OriginalHermes, the comparison of promised benefits and the historical inference.
- Shared printed corrections · Magia Adamica and Coelum TerraeOriginalthe direction replacing ΛΑΥΤΑ with ΤΑΥΤΑ in the Greek maxim.
In this edition
The modern translation keeps the fresh Greek and Latin renderings distinct from Vaughan’s English verse and expansions. “Grasp” and “understand” express related but not identical choices for the concluding command. The historical form ΛΑΥΤΑ belongs in lookup as a misprint explicitly corrected by the source, not as an alternative meaningful Greek lemma.
Hypostatical earth
Earth considered as a central substantial basis.
The fixed stars are assigned rule in this lower domain within the reported scheme of celestial affinities. The modern reading’s “substantial” clarifies the local sense without treating it as a geological stratum or chemical element.
Record type: word or phrase.
Historical forms: Hypostaticall Earth.
Attested wording: Central, Hypostaticall Earth
Read: Magia Adamica · p. 68 · Original.
See also: Above and below.