(168) III. The earth signifieth or denoteth the heavenly nature, or the seventh spirit of nature, in which the ideas or images, forms and colours rise up.

(5) And the representation of the earth contains men, cattle, reptiles, wild beasts; and of the inhabitants of the water, fishes and whales; and again, of the winged tribes, those that are carnivorous, and those that rise mild food; and of plants likewise, both fruit-bearing and barren.

(86) There also in the earth there are found, according to the quality of each spirit, mineral ores, stones, water and earth; and therefore it is that the earth is of so many various qualities, all as each qualifying or fountain spirit, with its innate, instant birth or geniture, was at the time of the kindling.

(80) The earth is the fruit of the seventh spirit of God, which is nature or corporeity, wherein the other six spirits generate themselves again, and figure or frame the Salitter of the seventh spirit into infinite sorts of forms or shapes; so that the earth also generateth its seed, which is the fruit of vegetation, as is apparent to the eye.

(81) In the earth thou canst not trace nor find, besides plants and metals, anything but 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 bitter, 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. [82. is absent according to Sparrow's text]

(45) The outer circle contains the figures of the Zodiac; the second, their signs and that part of the human body which they rule; the third, the months of the year, with brief notes concerning temperaments, etc. The fourth circle contains the elements accompanied by their appropriate symbols, and the following seven circles mark the orbits of the planets; also the planetary angels, the seven major members of the Universal Man, and the seven metals, each division appearing under its appropriate element according to the elemental names in the fourth circle. In the twelfth circle appear the words: "There are Three Principles, Three Worlds, Three Ages, and Three Kingdoms." In the thirteenth circle appear the names of the twelve arts and sciences which are considered essential to spiritual growth. In the fourteenth circle is the word Nature. The fifteenth circle contains the following words. "It is the great honour of faithful souls, that from their very birth an angel is appointed to preserve and keep each of them." (See first English translation, London, 1893.)

(8) I will treat, 1. Of the earth. 2. Of the deep above the earth. 3. Of the incorporating or compacting of the bodies of the stars. 4. Of the seven chief qualities of the planets, and of their heart, which is the sun. 5. Of the four elements. 6. Of the outward comprehensible or palpable birth or geniture, which existeth out of this whole regimen or dominion. 7. Of the wonderful proportion and fitness or dexterity of the whole wheel of nature.

(50) Kircher describes the 21 figures in the central panel thus: "Seven principal triads, corresponding to seven superior worlds, are shown in the central section of the Table. They all originate from the fiery, invisible archetype [the triple crown of the throne]. The first, the Ophionic or IYNX Triad, V S W, corresponds to the vital and fiery world and is the first intellectual world, called by the ancients the Aetherium. Zoroaster says of it: 'Oh, what rigorous rulers this world has!' The second, or Ibimorphous Triad, O Q R, corresponds to the second intellectual, or ethereal, world, and is concerned with the principle of humidity. The third, or Nephtæan Triad, X Y Z, corresponds to the third intellectual and ethereal [world] and is concerned with fecundity. These are the three triads of the ethereal worlds, which correspond to the Father Foundation. Then follow the four triads of the sensible, or material, worlds, of which the first two correspond to the sidereal worlds, G I K and γ δ ε, namely, Osiris and Isis, Sun and Moon, indicated by two bulls. They are followed by two triads--the Hecatine, LM N, and the Serapæan, ζ η θ, corresponding to the sublunary and subterranean worlds. These complete the seven worlds of primary Genii ruling the natural universe. Psellus quotes Zoroaster: 'The Egyptians and the Chaldeans, taught that there were seven corporeal worlds (i. e., worlds ruled by the intellectual powers);the first is of pure fire; the second, third, and fourth, ethereal; the fifth, sixth, and seventh, material; the seventh being the one called terrestrial and hater of light, and is located under the Moon, comprising

(62) The earthly Earth is like the holy Ternary, wherein is the heavenly Aquaster (viz. in the heavenly Earth, which I call the [one holy] Element) which is pure. Thus God is a Spirit, and the pure Element is heavenly Earth, for it is substantial; and the Essences in the heavenly Earth are paradisical Buds [or Fruits;] and the Virgin of Wisdom is the great Spirit of the whole heavenly World, in a Similitude, and that not only opens the great Wonders in the heavenly Earth, but also in the whole Deep of the Deity.

(15) Conformably, therefore, there are various abodes, according to the worth of those who have believed. To the point Solomon says, "For there shall be given to him the choice grace of faith, and a more pleasant lot in the temple of the Lord." For the comparative shows that there are lower parts in the temple of God, which is the whole Church. And the superlative remains to be conceived, where the Lord is. These chosen abodes, which are three, are indicated by the numbers in the Gospel - the thirty, the sixty, the hundred. And the perfect inheritance belongs to those who attain to "a perfect man," according to the image of the Lord. And the likeness is not, as some imagine, that of the human form; for this consideration is impious. Nor is the likeness to the first cause that which consists in virtue. For this utterance is also impious, being that of those who have imagined that virtue in man and in the sovereign God is the same.

(14) They are the power of the seven spirits of God; for when in this world the wrath of God was kindled by the devil, then the whole house of this world in nature, or the outermost birth or geniture, was as it were benumbed or chilled in death; from whence the earth and stones are come to be. But when this hard dross or scum was driven together into a lump or heap, then the deep was cleared. But the deep was very dark, for the light therein was dead in the wrath.

(8) By these seven letters were also made seven worlds, seven heavens, seven lands, seven seas, seven rivers, seven deserts, seven days (as before), seven weeks from Passover to Pentecost, and every seventh year a jubilee.

(75) 9. With the seven double letters He also designed seven earths, seven heavens, seven continents, seven seas, seven rivers, seven deserts, seven days, seven weeks (from Passover to Pentecost), and in the midst of them His Holy Palace. There is a cycle of seven years and the seventh is the release year, and after seven release years is the Jubilee. For this reason God loves the number seven more than any other thing under the heavens.

(104) ["Nature and the Ternary are not one and the same; they are distinct, though the Ternary dwelleth in nature, but unapprehended, and yet is an eternal band, as is plainly unfolded in our second and third books."] Now observe here, how the Imaging in Nature is in the seventh Spirit.

(51) And the earth shall rejoice, c. And the righteous shall dwell upon it, d. And the elect shall walk thereon.

(33) 3rd. Primordial water He extracted from the air. He formed therein twenty-two letters and established them out of mud and loam, making them like a border, putting them up like a wall, and surrounding them as with a rampart. He poured snow upon them and it became earth, as it reads: "He said to the snow be thou earth." (Job. xxxvii. 6.)

(114) In that seventh spirit of nature rise up also the heavenly fruits and colours, and whatsoever is apprehensible or comprehensible, and is like to such a form or manner as if the angels did dwell between heaven and earth in the deep, where they ascend and descend, and wherever they are, there their foot resteth, as if it stood upon the earth.

(2) He continued further in his discourse and said: "The third order is called Triple-faced Hekatē, and there are under her authority seven-and-twenty [arch]demons, and it is they which enter into men and seduce them to perjuries and lies and to covet that which doth not belong to them. "The souls then which Hekatē beareth hence in ravishment, she handeth over to her demons which stand under her, in order that they may torment them through her dark smoke and her wicked fire, they being exceedingly afflicted through the demons. And they spend one-hundred-and-five years and six months, being chastized in her wicked chastisements; and they begin to be dissolved and destroyed. "And thereafter, when the sphere turneth itself, and the little Sabaōth, the Good, he of the Midst, who is called in the world Zeus, cometh, and he cometh to the eighth æon of the sphere which is called the Scorpion, and when Boubastis, whom they call Aphroditē, cometh, and she cometh to the second æon of the sphere which is called the Bull, then the veils which are between those of the Right and those of the Left draw themselves aside and Zorokothora Melchisedec looketh out of the height; and the world and the mountains are agitated and the æons become alarmed. And he looketh on all the regions of Hekatē, so that her regions are dissolved and destroyed, and all the souls which are in her chastisements, are carried off and cast back anew into the sphere, because they are dissolved in the fire of her chastisements."

(27) When the seventh seal was broken there was silence for the space of half an hour. Then came forth seven angels and to each was given a trumpet. When the seven angels sounded their trumpets--intoned the seven-lettered Name of the Logos--great catastrophes ensued. A star, which was called Wormwood, fell from heaven, thereby signifying that the secret doctrine of the ancients had been given to men who had profaned it and caused the wisdom of God to become a destructive agency. And another star--symbolizing the false light of human reason as distinguished from the divine reason of the initiate--fell from heaven and to it (materialistic reason) was given the key to the bottomless pit (Nature), which it opened, causing all manner of evil creatures to issue forth. And there came also a mighty angel who was clothed in a cloud, whose face was as the sun and his feet and legs as pillars of fire, and one foot was upon the waters and the other upon the land (the Hermetic Anthropos). This celestial being gave St. John a little book, bidding him eat it, which the seer did. The book is representative of the secret doctrine--that spiritual food which is the nourishment of the spirit. And St. John, being "in the spirit," ate his fill of the wisdom of God and the hunger of his soul was appeased.

(22) 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, [Gen. i 12] 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 that it had been in 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.