From the book
Nine Books on the Nature of Things
Attributed to Paracelsus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Meaning
Book IV closes with a deliberate distinction: earth in itself is dead, but its element is invisible hidden life. This is not a denial of the life assigned to things growing from earth. The same book describes plants as sustained by liquor of earth and bodies as receiving life from air. The element’s hidden vitality therefore differs from the condition of earth considered by itself.
Places to read
- Book 4 · Life · Passage 19Latin“Terra autem per se est mortua”