Jacob Boehme's Aurora
Chapter 21: Of the Third Day.
ALTHOUGH the Spirit in the Writings of Moses has kept the deepest Mysteries secret, hidden and concealed in the Letter, yet all is so very regularly described, that there is no Defect at all in the Order thereof.
For when God through the Word had created Heaven and Earth, and had separated the Light from the Darkness, and had given a Place to each of them, then presently each began its Birth or Geniture, and Qualifying or Working.
On the First Day, God drove together [or compacted] the corrupt Salitter, which came to be so in the Kindling of his Wrath: I say, God then drove it together or created it through the strong Spirit, for the Word schuff [created] signifies here a Driving together, [or Compaction.]
In this Driving together or Compaction of the corrupted Wrath-Salitter, was King Lucifer also, as an impotent Prince, together with his Angels, driven into the Hole of the Wrath-Salitter, into that Place where the outward half dead Comprehensibility is generated, which is the Place or Space between the Nature-Goddess the Moon, and the dead Earth.
Now when this was done, the Deep became clear, and with the hidden or concealed Heaven the Light was separated from the Darkness, and the Globe of the Earth in the great Wheel of Nature was rolled or turned once about; and accordingly there passed the Time of one Revolution, or of one Day, which contains twenty-four Hours. [The Diurnal Motion of the Earth 24 Hours.]
In the Duration of the Second Day began the sharp Separation; and the incomprehensible Clift between the Wrath and the Love of Light was made, and so King Lucifer firmly, strongly, or fast boiled up into the House of Darkness, and was reserved to the final Judgment. And
so also the Water of Life was separated from the Water of Death, yet in that Manner as that they hang one to another in this Time of the World, as Body and Soul, and yet neither of them comprehend the other; but the Heaven which was made out of the Midst or Center of the Water, is the Clift between them, so that the comprehensible or palpable Water is a Death, and the incomprehensible or impalpable is the Life.
Thus now the incomprehensible Spirit, which is God, rules every where in this World, and replenishes or fills all, and the comprehensible hangs or depends on him, and dwells in the Darkness, and can neither see, hear, smell, nor feel the incomprehensible one, but sees the Works thereof, and is a Destroyer of them. And
now when God had bound up the Devil in the Darkness through the Closure of the Heaven, which Heaven is every where in all Places; then he began again his wonderful Birth or Geniture in the seventh Nature-Spirit, and all generated again as it had done from Eternity.
For Moses writes thus: And God said, let the Earth send forth Grass and Herbs that yield a Seed, and the Fruit-tree yielding or bearing Fruit after its Kind, and which has its own Seed in itself upon the Earth, and it was so done. And the Earth sent forth Grass, and the Herb that yields Seed, each after its Kind, and the Tree yielding Fruit, and which has [Gen. 1. 11, 12, 13.] its Seed in itself, every one according to its Kind; and God saw that it was good. And so out of Evening and Morning the Third Day came to be.
This indeed is very rightly and properly described, but the true Ground sticks hidden or concealed in the Word, and has never been understood by Man. For Man since the Fall could never comprehend or apprehend the inward Birth or Geniture, to perceive how the heavenly Birth or Geniture is; but his Reason lay captivated in the outward Comprehensibility or Palpability, and could not penetrate and press through Heaven, and see the inward Birth or Geniture of God, which also is in the corrupted Earth, and every where, in all Places. [See ch. 19. v. 55, 92.]
Thou must not here think, that God has made some new Thing, which never was before; for if that were so, then there had been another God, which is not possible to be. For without, or besides this one only God, nothing is at all, for the Gates of Hell are not any where without, beyond, or absent from this one only God; only there is a Partition or Distinction between the Love in the Light, and the kindled Wrath in the Darkness, so that the one cannot comprehend the other, and yet hang one to another as one Body.
The Salitter, out of which the Earth is come to be, was from Eternity, and stood in the seventh qualifying or fountain Spirit, which is the Nature-Spirit, and the other six have generated the seventh continually, and are encompassed or surrounded therewith, or lie captivated or inclosed therein, as in their Mother, and are the Power and Life of the seventh, just as the astral Birth is in the Flesh.
But when King Lucifer had stirred the Wrath in this Birth or Geniture, and had with his Loftiness brought the Poison and Death into it, then in the wrathful Birth, in the Fierceness, or Sting of Death, such Earth and Stones were generated. And
upon this now ensued the spewing out thereof; for the Deity could not endure such a Birth or Geniture in the Love and Light of God, but the corrupted Salitter must be driven together in a Lump, and Lord Lucifer also with it; so then presently the innate Light in the corrupted Salitter went out or extinguished, and the Closure of the Heaven between the Wrath and the Love was made, that so such Salitter might be generated no more, and that Heaven might hold the Wrath in the outermost Birth or Geniture in Nature captive in the Darkness, and be an eternal Partition or Separation between them. But
this being accomplished in the two Days, then on the Third Day the Light rose up in the Darkness, and the Darkness, together with the Prince thereof, could not comprehend it.
For there, out of the Earth, sprung up Grass and Herbs, and Trees, and there now also it stands written thus: Each according to its Kind. In these Words lie the Kernel of the eternal Birth or Geniture hidden or concealed, and cannot be comprehended or apprehended by or with Flesh and Blood, but the Holy Ghost through the animated or soulish Birth must kindle the astral Man, otherwise he is blind herein, and understands nothing but concerning Earth and Stones, also Grass, Herbs, and wooden Trees. [Gen. 1. 12.]
But now is it written here; God spake [said,] Let the Earth bring forth Grass and Herbs, and fruitful Trees.
Observe here,
The Word spake, [said] is an eternal Word, and was before the Times of the Wrath, from Eternity in this Salitter, when it stood yet in the heavenly Form and Life, and now also it is not quite dead in its Center, but only in the Comprehensibility or Palpability.
But now when the Light rose up again in the outward Comprehensibility, or in Death, then the eternal Word stood in its full Birth, and generated the Life through and out of Death, and the corrupted Salitter brought forth Fruit again.
But seeing the eternal Word must qualify, mix, or unite with the Corruption in the Wrath, thereupon the Bodies of the Fruits were evil and good. For the outward Birth or Geniture of the Fruits must be out of or from the Earth, which is in Death; and the Spirit of Life must be out of the astral Birth, which stands in Love and Wrath.
For thus stood the Birth or Geniture of Nature in the Time of the Kindling, and was thus together incorporated in the Earth, and must also in such a Birth spring up again: For it is written; 'That the dead Earth should let the Grass and Herbs, and Trees spring up, each according to its Kind,' that is, according to the Kind and Quality, as it had been from Eternity, and as it had been in the heavenly Quality, Kind and Form. For that is called its own Kind, which is received in the Mother's Body or Womb, and is its own by Right of Nature, as its own peculiar Life. [Gen. 1. 12.]
Thus also the Earth brought forth no strange Life, but even that which had been in it from Eternity: And as before the Time of the Wrath it had brought forth heavenly Fruits, which had a holy, pure heavenly Body, and were the Food of Angels, so now it brought forth Fruits, according to its comprehensible, palpable, hard, evil, wrathful, poisonous, venomous, half-dead Kind; for as the Mother was, so were her Children.
Not that the Fruits of the Earth are thereupon wholly in the Wrath of God; for the one only incorporated or compacted Word, which is immortal and incorruptible, which was from Eternity in the Salitter of the Earth, sprung up again in the Body of Death, and brought forth Fruit out of the dead Body of the Earth; but the Earth comprehended not the Word, but the Word comprehended the Earth.
And now as the whole Earth was, together with the Word, so was the Fruit also, but the Word remained in the Center of the Heaven, which is also in this Place hiddenly; and this Birth or Geniture caused the seven qualifying or fountain Spirits, out of or from the outermost, corrupt, and dead Birth or Geniture, to form the Body; and itself, viz. the Word or Heart of God, remained in its heavenly Seat, sitting on the Throne of Majesty, and filled the astral and also the mortal Birth or Geniture, but to them was the holy Life altogether incomprehensible.
Thou must not think, that thereupon the outermost dead Birth or Geniture of the Earth has got such a Life through the risen Word that sprung up, so that it is no more a Death: No; that can never be, for that which is once dead in God, that is really dead, and in its own Power can never be living again; but the Word, which qualifies, mixes, or unites with the astral Birth in the Part of the Love, that generates the Life through the astral Birth or Geniture, through the Death.
For thou seest plainly, how all the Fruits of the Earth, whatsoever it brings forth, must putrefy and rot; also they are a Death.
But that the Fruits get another Body than the Earth is, which is much fuller of Virtue, fairer, or more beautiful, also of a better Taste, Relish and Smell; it is, because the astral Birth or Geniture receives Power or Virtue from the Word, and forms or frames another Body, which stands half in the Death, and half in the Life, and stands hidden between the Wrath of God and the Love.
But that the Fruits upon the Body are much pleasanter, more lovely, sweeter and milder, and with a good Taste and Relish, that is even the third Birth out of the Earth, according to which the Earth shall be purged and cleaned at the End of this Time, and shall be set or put again into its first Place, but the Wrath will abide in Death.
The richly joyful Gate of Man.
Behold, thus says the Spirit in the Word, which is the very Heart of the Earth, and which rises or springs up in his Heaven, in the clear Flash of the Life, wherewith my Spirit in its Knowledge qualifies, mixes, or unites, and through which I write these Words.
Man is made out of the Seed of the Earth, out of an incorporated or compacted Mass or Lump; [“understand out of the Matrix of the Earth, wherein the Eye is twofold; the one in God, and the other in this World, out of three Principles;”] and not out of the Wrath, but out of the Birth or Geniture of the Earth; and stood in the astral Birth or Geniture in the Part of the Love, but Wrath hung to him, which he should have put forth from himself, as the Fruit puts forth the Bitterness of the Tree;
and that he did not, but reached back from the Love into the Wrath, and lusted after his dead or mortal Mother to eat of her, and to suck her Breast, and to stand upon her Stock. [Or Mother of its Body.]
Now according to his Wrestling, so also it befell him, and so he brought himself with his outermost Birth or Geniture into the Death or Mortality of his Mother, and with his Life he brought himself out from the Love into the Part of the wrathful, astral Birth or Geniture.
And there he stands now between Heaven and Hell in the Face of the Devil in his Kingdom, against whom the Devil wars, fights, and strives continually, that he might either banish him out of his Country into the Earth, or make him a Child of Wrath in Hell. And what is now his Hope?
Answer.
Behold! thou blind Heathen; behold! thou Perverter, Obscurer, and Wrester of the Scriptures, open thy Eyes wide, and be not ashamed at this simple Plainness; for God lies hid in the Center, and is yet much more simple and plain, but thou seest him not.
Behold! thy Spirit or thy Soul is generated from or out of thy astral Birth or Geniture, and is the third Birth in thee, just as an Apple upon a Tree is the third Birth or Geniture of the Earth, and has not its Vegetation in, from, or within the Earth, but from above the Earth; and if it was a Spirit, as thy Soul is, it would not suffer the Earth any more to tie or bind it to Corruption.
But thou must know, that the Apple on its Stock or Branch however, with its innermost Birth or Geniture, qualifies, mixes, or unites with the Word of God, through whose Power it is grown out of the Earth.
But seeing the Wrath is in its bodily or corporeal Mother, therefore it cannot set or put it out from the comprehensible or palpable Birth, but must remain with its Body in the Palpability or Comprehensibility in Death.
But in its Power, in which its Life stands, wherewith it qualifies, mixes, or unites with the Word of God, it will in its Mother, in the Power of the Word at the last Judgment-Day, be set or put again into its heavenly Place, and be separated from the wrathful, and dead or mortal Palpability, and spring up in the Heaven of this World, in a heavenly Form, and be a Fruit for Men in the other Life. [“
Here understand, the Power of the Principle, out of which the Apple and All grows, shall in the Renovation of the World spring up again in Paradise with the Wonders.”] [Deut. 13. 14. Rom. 12. 8.] [Or Body alive.]
But seeing thou art made out of the Seed of the Earth, ["red Earth, is Fire and Water, conceived with or by the Word Fiat, out of the Matrix of the Earth; but when Man imagined or set his Desire into the Earth, he became earthly,"] and hast set or put thy Body back again into thy Mother, therefore thy Body also is become a palpable, dead, or mortal Body, such as thy Mother is. And
thy Body has the same Hope which thy Mother the Earth has, viz. that at the last Judgment-Day, in the Power of the Word, it shall be let or put again into its first Place.
But seeing thy astral Birth stands here on Earth in the Wrath, and qualifies, mixes, or unites with the Love in the Word, just as the Fruit on the Tree does; for the Power of the Fruit qualifies, or unites with the Word; therefore thy Hope stands in God. For the astral Birth or Geniture stands in Love and Wrath, and that in this Time it cannot boast of, in Regard of the outermost Birth or Geniture in the Flesh, which stands in Death.
For the dead or mortal Flesh has encompassed the astral Birth, and Man's Flesh is a dead Carcase, whilst it is yet in the Mother's Body or Womb, and is encompassed with Hell and God's Wrath.
But now the astral Birth generates the animated soulish Birth, viz. the Third, which stands in the Word, wherein the incorporated or compacted Word lies hidden in its Heaven. ["
The Sulphur to the (Production of the) Soul, is the first Principle in the eternal Will-Spirit, and comes to Life in the third Principle, and so lives between Love and Wrath, and hangs to both."] But
now seeing thou hast thy Reason, and art not like the Apple on the Tree, but art created an Angel and the Similitude or Image of God, instead of the expelled Devils, and knowest how thou canst with thy astral Birth, in the Part of Love, qualify or unite with the Word of God, therefore thou canst in the Center in the Word, set or put thy animated or soulish Birth into Heaven, and thou canst, with thy Soul, even with thy living Body in this dead or mortal Palpability, rule with God in Heaven.
For the Word is in thy Heart, and qualifies or unites with the Soul, as if it were one Being; and if thy Soul stands in the Love, then it also is one Being. And, thou mayest say, that according to thy Soul thou sittest in Heaven, and livest and reignest with God. ["
Understand, according to the Spirit of the Soul, with the Image out of the animated or soulish Fire."]
For the Soul, which apprehends the Word, has an open Gate in Heaven, and can be prevented by nothing; neither does the Devil see the Soul, because it is not in his Country or Dominions.
But seeing thy astral Birth stands with the one Part in the Wrath, and that the Flesh through the Wrath stands in Death, thereupon the Devil, in the Part of the Wrath, sees continually even into thy Heart, and if thou lettest him have any Room or Place there, then he tears that Part of the astral Birth, which stands in the Love, out from the Word. And
then thy Heart is a dark Valley:
And if thou doest not labour and work quickly again to the Birth of the Light, then he kindles the Wrath-fire therein, and then shall thy Soul be freed out from the Word, and then it qualifies, or unites with the Wrath of God, and so afterwards thou art a Devil, and not an Angel, and canst not with thy animated or soulish Birth reach the Gates of Heaven.
But if thou fightest and strivest with the Devil, and keepest the Gate of Love in thy astral Birth, and so departest from hence as to the Body, then thy Soul remains in
the Word quite hidden from the Devil, and reigns with God, even unto the Day of the Restitution of that which was lost.
But if thou standest with thy astral Birth in the Wrath, when thou departest from hence as to the Body, and thy Soul not comprehended in the Word, then thou canst never reach the Gates of Heaven; but into what thou hast sown thy Seed, that is, thy Soul, in that very Part shall thy Body also rise.
The Gate of the Power.
But
that Soul and Body shall come together again at the Day of the Resurrection, thou mayest perceive so much here by the Earth. For the Creator said: Let the Earth bring forth Grass and Herbs, and Trees bearing Fruit, each according to its Kind. And then each sprung up according to its Kind, and grew; and as before the Time of the Wrath it had a heavenly Body, so it got now an earthly one answerable to its Mother. [Or infine another.]
But it is to be considered, how all was comprised in the Word at the great Tumult and Uproar of the Devil, so that all sprung up in its own Being according to its Power, Virtue and Kind, as if it had never been destroyed, but only altered.
Now if it was thus at that Time, when there was such Murdering and Robbing, sure it will be much more so at the last Judgment-Day, when the Earth shall be separated in the kindled Wrath-Fire, and shall be living again or revived, then surely it will be comprehended in the Word of Love, as it has in the same Word here generated its Fruit of Grass, Herbs, and Trees, as also all manner of mineral Oars of Silver and Gold.
But seeing the astral Birth of the Earth stands in the Love, and the outward in Death, therefore will each remain in its Seat, and so Life and Death will separate themselves. And
where now would the Soul of Man rather be at the Day of Regeneration, than in its Father, that is, in the Body which hath generated it? [Note, Christ's not being af- fended to his Father.]
But seeing the Soul, all the while the Body had been in Death, remained hidden in the Word, and seeing the same Word also holds the Earth in the astral Birth in Love, therefore it qualifies, mixes, or unites through the Word, all the Time of its Hiddenness and Secrecy, also with its Mother the Body, according or as to the astral Birth or Geniure in the Earth, and so Body and Soul in the Word were never separated one from another, but live jointly and equally together in God.
And though indeed the bestial Body must putrefy and rot, yet its Power and Virtue live, and in the mean while there grow out of its Power, in its Mother, fair beautiful Roses, Blossoms and Flowers. And though it were quite burnt up and consumed in the Fire, yet its Power and Virtue stands in the four Elements in the Word, and the Soul qualifies, mixes, or unites therewith; for the Soul is in Heaven, and the same Heaven is every where, even in the Midst or Center of the Earth.
O dear Man, view thyself for a while in this Looking-Glass; thou wilt find it more largely to be read of concerning the Creation of Man. This I set down here for this very Cause, that thou mightest the better understand the Power of Creation, and that thou mightest the better conceive, and fit thyself for this Spirit, and so learn to understand its Language.
The open Gate of the Earth.
Now it might be asked: From or out of what Matter or Power and Virtue then did the Grass, Herbs, and Trees spring forth? What manner of Substance or Condition or Constitution has this Kind of Creature?
Answer.
The Simple says, God made all Things out of nothing; but he knows not that God; neither does he know what he is: For when he beholds the Earth, together with the Deep above the Earth, he thinks verily all this is not God; or else he thinks, God is not there. He always imagines with himself, that God dwells only above the azure Heaven of the Stars, and rules, as it were, with some Spirit which goes forth from him into this World; and that his Body is not present here upon the Earth, nor in the Earth. And
just such Opinions and Tenets I have read also in the Books and Writings of Doctors, (verò Doctores,) and there are also very many Opinions, Disputations, and Controversies risen about this very Thing among the Learned. [Doct. &sistent. Learned in Folly of verbal Trifles.]
But seeing God opens to me the Gate of his Being in his great Love, and remembers the Covenants which he has with Man, therefore I will faithfully and earnestly, according to my Gifts, unfold and set wide open all the Gates of God, so far as God will give me Leave.
It is not to be understood, as that I am sufficient enough in these Things, but only so far as I am able to comprehend.
For the Being of God is like a Wheel, wherein many Wheels are made one in another, upwards, downwards, cross-ways, and yet continually turn all of them together.
Which indeed when a Man beholds the Wheel, he highly marvels at it, and cannot at once in its Turning learn to conceive and apprehend it: But the more he beholds the Wheel, the more he learns its Form or Frame; and the more he learns, the greater Longing he has to the Wheel; for he continually sees something that is more and more wonderful, so that a Man can neither behold it, or learn it enough.
Thus I also, what I do not enough describe in one Place concerning this great Mystery, that you will find in another Place; and what I cannot describe in this Book in Regard of the Greatness of the Mystery, and my Incapacity, that you will find in the other following.
For this Book is the first Sprouting, or Vegetation of this Twig, which springs or grows green in its Mother, and is as a Child, which is learning to go, and is not able to run apace at the first.
For though the Spirit sees the Wheel, and would fain comprehend its Form or Frame in every Place, yet it cannot do it exactly enough, because of the Turning of the Wheel: But when it comes about again, so that the Spirit can see the first apprehended or conceived Form again, then continually it learns more and more, and always delights and loves the Wheel, and longs after it still more and more.
Now observe,
The Earth has just such Qualities and qualifying or fountain Spirits, as the Deep above the Earth, or as Heaven has, and all of them together belong to one only Body; and the whole or universal God is that one only Body. But that thou doest not wholly and fully see and know him, Sins are the Cause, with, and by which, thou in this great divine Body liest shut up in the dead or mortal Flesh, and the Power or Virtue of the Deity is hidden from thee, even as the Marrow in the Bones is hidden from the Flesh.
But if thou in the Spirit breakest through the Death of the Flesh, then thou seest the hidden God. For as the Marrow in the Bones penetrates, presses or breaks through, and gives Virtue, Power and Strength to the Flesh, and yet the Flesh cannot comprehend or apprehend the Marrow, but only the Power and Virtue thereof, no more canst thou see the hidden Deity in thy Flesh, but thou receivest its Power, and understandest therein that God dwells in thee.
For the dead or mortal Flesh belongs not to the Birth of Life, as that it can receive or conceive the Life of the Light as a Propriety; but the Life of the Light in God rises up in the dead or mortal Flesh, and generates to itself, from or out of the dead or mortal Flesh, another heavenly and living Body, which knows and understand the Light. [C: inno.]
For this Body is but a Shell, from which the new Body grows, as it is with a Grain of Wheat in the Earth. The Husk or Shell shall not rise and be living again, no more than it is in the Wheat, but will remain for ever in Death and in Hell. "
The new Body grows out of the heavenly Substantiality in the Word, out of the Help and Blood of Christ, out of the Mystery of the old Body." [Ggg]
Therefore Man carries about with him here upon Earth, in his Body, the Devil's eternal Dwelling-House. O thou fair excellent Goddess! mayest thou not well prance and trick thyself therein, and in the mean while invite the Devil into the new Birth for a Guest, will it not profit thee very much? Take heed, thou doest not generate a new Devil, who will remain in his own House.
Behold the Mystery of the Earth; as that generates or brings forth, so must thou generate or bring forth. The Earth is not that Body, which grows or sprouts forth, but is the Mother of that Body; as also thy Flesh is not the Spirit, but the Flesh is the Mother of the Spirit.
But now in both of them, viz. in the Earth and in thy Flesh, there is the Light of the clear Deity hidden, and it breaks through, and generates to itself a Body according to the Kind of each Body; for Man according to his Body, and for the Earth, according to its Body; for as the Mother is, so also is the Child.
Man's Child is the Soul, which is generated out of the astral Birth from or out of the Flesh; and the Earth's Child is the Grass, the Herbs, the Trees, Silver, Gold, and all mineral Oars.
Now thou askest: How then shall I do, that I may understand something concerning the Birth or Geniture of the Earth?
Answer.
Behold! the Birth of the Earth stands in its Birth or Geniture, as the whole Deity does, and there is no Difference at all, but only as to the Corruption in the Wrath, wherein Comprehensibility or Palpability stands; that only is the Difference or Distinction, and is the Death between God and the Earth.
Thou must know, that all the seven Spirits of God are in the Earth, and generate as they do in Heaven: For the Earth is in God, and God never died; but the outermost Birth or Geniture is dead, in which the Wrath rests, and is reserved for King Lucifer, to be a House of Death and of Darkness, and to be an eternal Prison or Dungeon.
Of the seven Spirits of God, and of their Operation in the Earth.
The first is the astringent Spirit, and that contracts, or draws together in the astral Birth of the seven qualifying or fountain Spirits a Mass or Lump in the Earth, through the Kindling of the superior Birth or Geniture above the Earth, and dries that up with its sharp Coldness; just as it contracts, or draws the Water together, and makes Ice thereof; so it also contracts or draws together the Water in the Earth, and makes thereof a dry Mass or Lump.
Then next the bitter Spirit, which exists in the Fire-flash, is also in the Matter or Mass, and that cannot endure to be captivated or imprisoned in the dried exsiccated Matter, but rubs itself against the astringent Spirit in the dried Mass or Lump, so long till it kindles the Fire; and so when that is done, then the bitter Spirit is terrified, and gets its Life.
Conceive this here right.
In the Earth thou canst not perceive, find, or search out any Thing besides the Herbs, Plants or Vegetables and Metals, more than Astringency, Bitterness, and Water: But the Water now therein is sweet, opposite to the other two Qualities: Also it is thin or transparent, and the other two are hard, rough and sour, and always the one is against the other. Thereupon there is a perpetual Struggling, Fighting, and Wrestling, but in the Struggling of these three, the Life does not yet stand; but they are a dark Valley, and they are three Things which can never endure one another, but there is an eternal Struggling among them. And
from hence Mobility takes its Original; also God's Wrath, which rests in the hidden Secrecy, takes its Original from hence; and so also the Original of the Devil, of Death and of Hell, arises from hence; as you may read thereof concerning the Fall of the Devil.
The Depth in the Center of the Birth or Geniture.
Now when the Three, viz. the Astringency, Bitterness, and Sweetness, rub themselves one against another, then the astringent Quality grows predominant, for it is the strongest, and forcibly attracts or draws the Sweetness together, for the Sweetness is meek and extensive in respect of its Suppleness, and must yield to be captivated, or imprisoned. And
so when this is done, then the Bitterness is also together captivated or imprisoned in the Body of the sweet Water, and becomes also together dried up, and then the Astringent, Sweet and Bitter are one in another, and struggle so strongly in the dried Mass or Lump, till the Mass be quite dry: For the astringent Quality always contracts it together, and dries it more and more.
But when the sweet Water can defend itself no longer, then (Anguish) rises up in it, just as in Man, when he is dying, when the Spirit is departing from the Body, and so the Body yields itself captive as a Prisoner to Death; just so the Water also yields itself captive as a Prisoner.
And in this (anxious Rising up) an anguishing Heat is generated, whereby a Sweat presses forth, as it does in a dying Man; and that Sweat qualifies, mixes, or unites with the astringent and bitter Qualities, for it is their Son, which they have generated out of the sweet Water, which they had killed and brought to Death. [a Humour or Moisture.]
Now when that is done, then the astringent and bitter Qualities rejoice in their Son, understand in the Sweat, and each of them gives to it their Power, Virtue and Life, and stuff it like a greedy gormandizing Hog, so that it soon comes to grow full and swelled: For the astringent Quality, as also the bitter, always draw the Sap out of the Earth, and stuff it into their young Son.
But the Body which was first contracted or drawn together out of the sweet Water, remains dead or mortal, and the Sweat of the Body, which qualifies, mixes or unites, with the astringent and bitter Qualities, has the House therein, where it spreads itself forth, grows gross, full, and lusty or wanton. [f Fat, luscious, lascivious.] [r Juice of the Body.]
But now the two Qualities, viz. the astringent and bitter, cannot leave their Contention and Opposition, or contrary Will, but wrestle continually one with another: The Astringent is strong, and the Bitter is swift. And
so now when the Astringent grapples with the Bitter, then the Bitter leaps aside, and takes the Sun’s Sap along with it; and then the Astringent every where presses hard after it, and would fain captivate it, then the Bitter runs out from the Body, and extends itself as far as it can.
But then when the Body begins to be too straight or narrow for it, that it can extend or stretch it no more, and that the Contention is too great, then the Bitter must yield itself captive. Yet, notwithstanding the Astringent cannot kill the Bitter, but only holds it captive, and so the Strife in them is so great, that the Bitter breaks out of the Body in Strings like Threads, and takes some of the Sun’s Sap or Body along with it. And this now is the Vegetation or Growing, and Incorporating or Imbodying of a Root in the Earth. [Fibræ. And this now is the Vegetation or Growing, and Incorporating or Imbodying of a Root in the Earth.]
Now thou askest, How can God be in that Birth or Geniture?
Answer.
Behold! that is the Birth or Geniture of Nature; and so now if in these three Qualities, viz. the astringent, bitter and sweet, the Wrath-fire was not kindled, then thou wouldst plainly see where God is.
But now the Wrath-fire is in all three; for the Astringent is too very cold, and contracts, or draws the Body too hard together; and the Sweet is too very thick and dark, which the Astringent soon catches and holds it captive, and dries it too much; and then the Bitter is too stinging, murderous, and raging; and so they cannot be reconciled to agree.
Else if the Astringent was not so much kindled in the cold Fire, and the Water not so thick, also the Bitter not so swelling, rising, and murderous, then they might kindle the Fire, from whence the Light would exist, and from the Light the Love, and so out of the Fire-flash, the Tone would exist. And then thou shouldst see plainly whether there would not be a heavenly Body there, wherein the Light of God would, and does shine. [Or that Fire. Kindle the Fire, from whence the Light would exist, and from the Light the Love, and so out of the Fire-flash, the Tone would exist.]
But seeing the Astringent is too cold, and dries the Water too much, thereupon it captivates the hot Fire in its Coldness, and kills or destroys the Body of the sweet Water, and so the Bitter captivates it, and dries it up. And
so in this Exsiccation, or Drying up, the Unctuosity or Fatness in the sweet Water is killed or destroyed, in which the Fire kindles itself, and so out of that Unctuosity or Fatness an astringent and bitter Spirit comes to be. For when the Unctuosity or Fat in the sweet Water dies, then it is turned into an anguishing Sweat, in which the astringent and bitter qualify, mix, or unite.
The Meaning is not, that the Water dies quite; no, that cannot be, but the astringent Spirit takes the Sweetness, or the Unctuosity and Fatness of the Water captive in its cold Fire, and qualifies, mixes, or unites therewith, and makes use thereof for its Spirit: Its own Spirit being wholly benumbed, and in Death, therefore it makes use of the Water for its Life, and draws out its Unctuosity or Fatness to itself, and bereaves it of its Power. And
then the Water becomes an anguishing Sweat, which stands between Death and Life, and so the Fire of the Heat cannot kindle itself: For the Unctuosity or Fatness is captivated in the cold Fire, and so the whole Body remains a dark Valley, which stands in an anguishing Birth or Geniture, and cannot comprehend or reach the Life. For the Life which stands in the Light cannot elevate itself in the hard, bitter, and astringent Body; for it is captivated in the cold Fire, but not quite dead. And
thou must see, that all this is really so. For Example, take a Root which is of a hot Quality, put it in warm Water; or take it into thy Mouth, and make it warm and supple or moist; and then thou wilt soon perceive its Life, and active or operative Quality: But so long as it is without, or absent from the Heat, it is captivated in Death, and is cold as any other Root or Piece of Wood is. And
then thou seest, that the Body upon the Root is dead also; for when the Virtue is gone out of the Root, then the Body is but a dead Carcase, and can operate or effect nothing at all. And that is, because the astringent and bitter Spirits have killed or destroyed the Body of the Water, and attracted the Fatness or Unctuosity thereof to themselves; and thus they have drawn or sucked up the Spirit thereof into the dead Body. [Bred or hatched up their Spirit in the dead Body.]
Otherwise if the sweet Water could keep its Unctuosity or Fatness in its own Power, and that the astringent and the bitter Spirits did rub themselves one with another very gently in the sweet Water, then they would kindle the Unctuosity or Fatness in the sweet Water, and then the Light would instantly generate itself in the Water, and would enlighten the astringent and the bitter Quality.
Whereupon they would get their true Life, and would be satisfied by the Light, and rejoice highly therein, and from that living Joy, Love would arise up, and then the Tone would rise in the Fire-flash, through the Rising up of the bitter Quality in the astringent. And if that was done, there would be a heavenly Fruit, just as it springs up in Heaven.
But thou art to know, that the Earth has all the qualifying or fountain Spirits. For through the Devil's Kindling, the Spirits of Life were incorporated or compacted together also in Death, and, as it were, captivated, but not quite murdered.
The first Three, viz. the astringent, sweet, and bitter, belong to the Imaging or Forming of the Body; and therein stands the Mobility, and the Body or Corporeity, and thence now have the Comprehensibility, or Palpability, and are the Birth of the outmost Nature.
The other three, viz. the Heat, Love, and Tone, stand in the Incomprehensibility, and are generated out of the first three; and this now is the inward Birth, wherewith the Deity qualifies, mixes or unites. And now
if the first Three were not congealed or benumbed in Death, so that they could kindle the Heat, then thou wouldst soon see a bright shining heavenly Body, and thou wouldst see plainly where God is.
But seeing the first three Qualities of the Earth are congealed, or benumbed in Death, therefore they remain also a Death, and cannot elevate their Life into the Light, but remain a dark Valley, in which there stands God's Wrath, Death, and Hell, as also the eternal Prison, and Source or Torment of the Devils.
Not that these three Qualities of the outermost Birth, in which the Wrath-fire stands, are rejected and reprobated even to the innermost; no, but only the outward palpable Body, and therein the outward hellish Source, Quality, or Torment.
Here thou seest once more, how the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Hell hang one to another, as one Body, and yet the one cannot comprehend the other. For the second Birth, viz. the Heat, Light, Love, and the Sound or Tone, is hidden in the outermost, and makes the outward moveable, so that the outward gathers itself together, and generates a body. And
though the Body stands in the outward Palpability, yet it is formed according to the Kind and Manner of the inward Birth, for in the inward Birth or Geniture stands the Word, and the Word is the Sound or Tone, which rises up in the Light in the Fire-flash through the bitter and the astringent Quality.
But seeing the Sound of God's Word must rise up through the astringent bitter Death, and generate a Body in the half dead Water, thereupon that Body is good, and also evil, dead and living; for it must instantly attract the Sap of Fierceness, and the Body of Death, and stand in such a Body and Power, as the Earth its Mother does.
But that the Life lies hid under and in the Death of the Earth, as also in the Children of the Earth, I will here demonstrate it to you.
Behold! Man becomes weak, faint and sick, and if no Remedy be used, then he soon falls into Death. The Sickness is caused either by some bitter and astringent Herb which grows out of the Earth, or else caused by an evil, mortiferous deadly Water, or by several Mixtures of earthly Herbs, or by some evil stinking and rank Flesh or Meats, and Surfeit from thence to Loathing;
now if a learned Physician inquires of the sick Person, from what his Disease proceeds, and takes that which is the Cause of the Disease, whether it be Flesh, Water, or Herbs, and drys or burns it to Powder, according as the Matter is, and so burns away the outward Poison thereof which stands in Death's Disease, then, in that distilled Water, or burnt Powder, the astral Birth remains in its Seat, where Life and Death wrestle one with another, and are both capable of being raised up; for the dead Body is gone. And
so now, if thou mingleth with this Water or Powder some good Treacle or the like, which holds captive the Rising up, and the Power of the Wrath in the astral Birth, and givest it to the sick Party or Patient in a little warm Drink, be it Beer or Wine, then the innermost and hidden Birth of the Thing operates, which has caused the Disease in Man through its outermost dead Birth.
For when it is put into warm Liquor, then the Life in the Thing becomes Rising, and would fain raise itself, and be kindled in the Light, but it cannot because of the Wrath, which is opposite to it in the astral Birth or Geniture.
But it can do thus much, viz.: it can take away the Disease from a Man; for the astral Life rises up through Death, and takes away the Power from the Sting of Death: And to when that has got the Victory, then the Party becomes sound again. [Or it does take away the Disease.]
Thus thou seest, how the Power or Virtue of the Word and eternal Life in the Earth, and in its Children, lies hidden in the Center in Death, and springs up through Death, incomprehensibly as to the Death, and continually travels in Anguish to the Birth of the Light, and yet cannot flourish or bud, till the Death be separated from it.
But it has its Life in its Seat, and that cannot be taken from it, but Death hangs to it in the outermost Birth or Geniture, as also the Wrath in Death; for the Wrath is the Life of Death and of the Devil; and in the Wrath stands also the corporeal Being, or the Bodies of the Devils, but the dead Birth or Geniture is their eternal Dwelling-house.
The Depth in the Circle of the Birth or Geniture.
Now one might ask, what Manner of Substance has it, or what is the Condition thereof, that the astral Birth of the Earth did begin its qualifying, operating, and generating one Day sooner than the astral in the Deep above the Earth; seeing the Fire in the Deep above the Earth is much sharper and easier to be kindled, than the Fire in the Earth; and seeing also that the Earth must be kindled by the Fire in the Deep above the Earth, else it can bear no Fruit?
Answer.
Behold, thou understanding Spirit: The Spirit speaks to thee, and not to the dead Spirit of the Flesh: Open the Door of thy astral Birth wide, and elevate that one Part of the astral Birth in the Light, and let the other in the Wrath stand still, and take Heed also that thy animated or soulish Spirit do wholly unite with the Light. And
so when thou standest in such a Form, then thou art as Heaven and Earth is, or as the whole Deity is with its Births or Genitures in this World.
But now if thou art not thus, then thou art blind herein, though thou wast the wittiest and wisest Doctor that ever could be found in the World.
But if thou art thus, then raise up thy Spirit, and look through thy Art of Astrology, thy deep Sense, and Measuring of Circles, and see if thou art able to apprehend it? It must be born IN THEE, else thou gettest neither Grace nor Art.
If the Eyes of thy Spirit shall stand open, then thou must generate thus, else thy Comprehensibility is a foolish Virgin, and it befalls thee, as if a Limner should offer to pourtray the Deity on a Table, and tell thee, it is made right, the Deity is just so.
Then the Believer and the Limner are both alike, both of them see nothing but only Wood and Colours, and the one blind leads the other: Surely thou art not to fight here with Beasts, but with Gods.
Now observe,
When the whole Deity in this World moved itself to the Creation, then not only the one Part did move, and the other rest, but all stood jointly in the Mobility, even the whole Deep, so far as Lord Lucifer was King, and so far as the Place of his Kingdom reached, and so far as the Salitter in the Wrath-fire was kindled. [Now observe,]
The Motion of the three Births lasted the Length of six Days and Nights, wherein all the seven Spirits of God stood in a full moving Birth or Geniture, as also the Heart of the Spirits; and the Salitter of the Earth turned about in that six Times in the great Wheel; which Wheel is the seven qualifying or fountain Spirits of God. And at each turning about or diurnal Revolution, there was generated a several special Fabrick or Work, according to the innate infant qualifying, or fountain Spirits.
For the first qualifying or fountain Spirit is the astringent, cold, sharp and hard Birth, or Geniture, and that belongs to the first Day in the astral Birth or Geniture; the Astrologers call it the Saturnine, which was performed on the first Day. For therein the hard dry sharp Earth and Stones came to be, and were incorporated or compacted together; moreover, then was also generated the strong Firmament of Heaven, and the Heart of the seven Spirits of God stood hidden in the hard Sharpness.
Astrologers appropriate, or attribute the second Day to Sol or the Sun, but it belongs to Jupiter, to speak of it astrologically; for on the second Day the Light broke forth out of the Heart of the seven qualifying or fountain Spirits, through the hard Quality of Heaven, and caused a Mitigation or Allaying in the hard Water of the Heaven, and the Light became shining in that Meekness and Allaying. And
then the Meekness and the hard Water separated themselves asunder, and the Hardness remained in its hard Place, as a hard Death, and the Meekness or Softness penetrated through the Hardness in the Power of the Light.
And this now is the Water of Life, which is generated in the Light of God out of the hard Death. And thus the Light of God in the sweet Water of Heaven broke through the astringent and hard dark Death; and thus the Heaven is made out of the Midst or Center of the Water.
The hard Firmament is the astringent Quality, and the gentle, mild or meek Firmament is the Water, in which the Light of Life rises up, which is the Clarity or bright Light of the Son of God. And in this Manner or Form also the Knowledge, and the Light of Life rises up in Man, and the whole Light of God in this World stands in such a Form, Birth and Rising up.
The third Day is very rightly attributed to Mars, because it is a bitter, and a furious raging and stirring Spirit. In the third Revolution of the Earth the bitter Quality rubbed itself with the astringent.
Understand this Thing rightly.
When the Light in the sweet Water penetrated through the astringent Spirit, then the fire-flash, Terror, or Crack of the Light, when it kindled itself in the Water, rose up in the astringent and hard dead Quality, and made all Stirring, from thence existed the Mobility.
Now I speak here not only of the Heaven above the Earth, but this Stirring and Birth or Geniture was also in the Earth, and every where.
But seeing the heavenly Fruits, before the Time of the Wrath, sprung up only in this Stirring of the seven qualifying or fountain Spirits, and vanished or passed away again by their Stirring, and so changed or altered themselves, And
though indeed the whole Deity is in the Center of the Earth hidden, yet the Earth could not for that Reason, bring forth heavenly Fruit, for the astringent Quality had shut and barred the hard Bolt of Death upon it, and so the Heart of the Deity in all the Births remained hidden in its meek and light Heaven.
For the outermost Birth is Nature, and that ought not to reach back into the Heart of God, neither can it, but is the Body, in which the qualifying or fountain Spirits generate themselves, and show forth and manifest their Birth or Geniture by their Fruits.