Passages similar to: The Six Enneads — Are the Stars Causes?
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Neoplatonic
The Six Enneads
Are the Stars Causes? (6)
But that this same Mars, or Aphrodite, in certain aspects should cause adulteries- as if they could thus, through the agency of human incontinence, satisfy their own mutual desires- is not such a notion the height of unreason? And who could accept the fancy that their happiness comes from their seeing each other in this or that relative position and not from their own settled nature? Again: countless myriads of living beings are born and continue to be: to minister continuously to every separate one of these; to make them famous, rich, poor, lascivious; to shape the active tendencies of every single one- what kind of life is this for the stars, how could they possibly handle a task so huge? They are to watch, we must suppose, the rising of each several constellation and upon that signal to act; such a one, they see, has risen by so many degrees, representing so many of the periods of its upward path; they reckon on their fingers at what moment they must take the action which, executed prematurely, would be out of order: and in the sum, there is no One Being controlling the entire scheme; all is made over to the stars singly, as if there were no Sovereign Unity, standing as source of all the forms of Being in subordinate association with it, and delegating to the separate members, in their appropriate Kinds, the task of accomplishing its purposes and bringing its latent potentiality into act. This is a separatist theory, tenable only by minds ignorant of the nature of a Universe which has a ruling principle and a first cause operative downwards through every member.
Chapter 6: Of the Separation in the Creation, in the third Principle. (1)
IF we consider the Separation and the Springing forth in the third Principle of this World, how the starry Heaven should spring up, and how every...
(1) IF we consider the Separation and the Springing forth in the third Principle of this World, how the starry Heaven should spring up, and how every Star has a peculiar Form and Property in itself, in every of which a several Center is observed, so that every One of them is fixed [or steady] and Master [or Guider] of itself, and that every One of them rules in the Matrix of this World, and works and generates in the Matrix after their Kind; and then afterwards if we consider the Sun, which is their King, Heart, and Life, without whose Light and Virtue, they could neither act nor effect any Thing, but remain in the hard dark Death; and this World would be nothing but a fierce rough Hardness; and further, if we consider the Elements of Fire and Water, [and observe] how they continually generate one in another, and then how the Constellations rule in them, as in their own Propriety; and also consider what the Mother is, from whence all these Things must proceed; then we shall come to see the Separation, and the eternal Mother, the i Genetrix of all Things.
From whence the affections or insinuations exist; for the power of Venus makes fierce Mars or the fire-crack mild, and mitigateth it, and makes...
(35) From whence the affections or insinuations exist; for the power of Venus makes fierce Mars or the fire-crack mild, and mitigateth it, and makes Jupiter humble, else the power of Jupiter would break through the hard chamber, Saturn; and in men and beasts would break through the skull or brainpan; and so the sensibility would transmute itself into high-mindedness above the birthright, or right, law or order of the geniture of the Deity, in the manner and way of the proud devil. Of the Planet Mercurius.
It is, necessary, however, to discuss these things particularly, and to show how they subsist, and what reason they possess. It is requisite,...
(1) It is, necessary, however, to discuss these things particularly, and to show how they subsist, and what reason they possess. It is requisite, therefore, to understand that the universe is one animal; and that the parts in it are, indeed, separated by places, but through the possession of one nature hasten to each other. The whole collective power, however, and the cause of mixture, spontaneously draws the parts to a mingling with each other. But it is also possible for this spontaneous attraction to be excited and extended by art more than is fit. The cause itself, therefore, of this mixture extending from itself to the whole world, is good, and the source of plenitude; has the power of harmonically procuring communion, consent, and symmetry; and inserts, by union, the indissoluble principle of love, which principle retains and preserves both things that are in existence, and such as are becoming to be. But in the parts, through their separation from each other and from wholes, and because, from their own proper nature, they are imperfect, indigent, and imbecile, their mutual connection is accompanied with passion; by which, in most of them, desire and a connascent appetite are inherent.
But if that which is participated is received as in another and different thing, this other thing in terrene natures is evil and disorderly. The parti...
(3) For the participation from the first could not be a thing of this kind, unless the recipient had some mutation. But if that which is participated is received as in another and different thing, this other thing in terrene natures is evil and disorderly. The participation, therefore, becomes the cause of the abundant difference in secondary natures, and also the commixture of material substances with immaterial effluxions; and besides these, another cause is this, that what is imparted in one way, is received in another by terrestrial substances. Thus, for instance, the efflux of Saturn is constipative, but that of Mars is motive; but the passive genesiurgic receptacle in material substances receives the former according to congelation and refrigeration, but the latter according to an inflammation which transcends mediocrity. Do not, therefore, the corruption and privation of symmetry arise from an aberration which is effective of difference, and which is material and passive? Hence the imbecility of material and terrene places, not being able to receive the genuine power and most pure life of the etherial natures, transfers its own passion to first causes. Just as if some one having a diseased body, and not being able to bear the vivific heat of the sun, should falsely dare to say, in consequence of looking to his own maladies, that the sun is not useful to health or life.
For ’tis impossible that any of the things that are should be unfruitful. For if fecundity should be removed from all the things that are, it could no...
(1) [Asclepius] Thou speak’st of God, then, O Thrice-greatest one?
[Trismegistus] Not only God, Asclepius, but all things living and inanimate. For ’tis impossible that any of the things that are should be unfruitful. For if fecundity should be removed from all the things that are, it could not be that they should be for ever what they are. I mean that Nature, Sense, and Cosmos, have in themselves the power of being born, and of preserving all things that are born. For either sex is full of procreation; and of each one there is a union, or,—what’s more true,—a unity incomprehensible; which you may rightly call Erōs or Aphroditē, or both [names].
Chapter 25: Of the whole Body of the Stars and of their Birth or Geniture; that is, the whole Astrology, or the whole Body of this World. (90)
He that does not know nor understand this, he does not at all know the birth of the stars, for all, concreted together, is one body. When once life...
(90) He that does not know nor understand this, he does not at all know the birth of the stars, for all, concreted together, is one body. When once life is generated in any creature, the creature's life stands or subsisteth afterwards in the creature's own body, as the birth or geniture of the natural body of this world stands or subsisteth in its own body; for every life must be generated according to the right, law or ordinance of the Deity, as the Deity generateth itself continually.
Chapter 25: Of the whole Body of the Stars and of their Birth or Geniture; that is, the whole Astrology, or the whole Body of this World. (29)
Every star has a several peculiar property, which thou may perceive by the curious ornament of the budding, blossoming earth. And the Creator has...
(29) Every star has a several peculiar property, which thou may perceive by the curious ornament of the budding, blossoming earth. And the Creator has therefore rebuilt and revived again the old kindled body into so many and various powers, that through this old life, in the wrath, such a new life might generate itself therein, through the closure of heaven, that that new life might have all the powers and operations that ever the old had before the times of wrath, that it might qualify, mix or unite with the pure Deity, distinct from this world, and that it might be one holy God, together with the Deity without, distinct from this world.
Of the same, from the same Erotic Hymns. Since we have arranged the many loves from the one, by telling, in due order, what are the kinds of...
(16) Of the same, from the same Erotic Hymns. Since we have arranged the many loves from the one, by telling, in due order, what are the kinds of knowledge and powers of the mundane and supermundane loves; over which, according to the defined purpose of the discourse, the orders and ranks of the mental and intelligible loves preside; next after which are placed the self-existent intelligible and divine, over the really beautiful loves there which have been appropriately celebrated by us; now, on the other hand, by restoring all back to the One and enfolded Love, and Father of them all, let us collect and gather them together from the many, by contracting It into two Powers entirely lovable, over which rules and precedes altogether the Cause, resistless from Its universal Love beyond all, and to which is elevated, according to the nature of each severally, the whole love from all existing things.
Chapter 8: Of the Creation of the Creatures, and of the Springing up of every growing Thing; as also of the Stars and Elements, and of the Original of the a Substance of this World. (5)
His Eternal Wisdom and Virtue [or Power] has formed itself with the Fiat in all Things, and he Himself is the Master- Workman; and all Things went for...
(5) So the Matter of this World, as also the Stars and Elements, must not be looked upon, as if God was not therein. His Eternal Wisdom and Virtue [or Power] has formed itself with the Fiat in all Things, and he Himself is the Master- Workman; and all Things went forth in the Fiat, every Thing in its own Essence, Virtue and Property. For as every Star in the Firmament has a Property different from the other; thus is it with the Mother also, out of which the fifth Essence of the Stars went forth. For when the fiery Form of the Stars was separated from her, she was not presently severed from the first eternal Birth-Right, but she kept her first eternal Virtue. Only the rising Power of the Fire is severed from her, so that she is become a pleasant Refreshment, and a kind Mother to her Children.
Chapter 24: Of the Incorporating or Compaction of the Stars. (29)
Now thou wilt object and say, Then sure the stars are God, and they must be honoured and worshipped as God.
(29) But that the birth, or the body of the stars in their seat, does not change or alter (but do as they did from eternity), signifieth that there shall be a constant, continued birth or geniture, whereby, in one uniform operation, which yet stands in the infiniteness, the benumbed body of the earth should continually and constantly be kindled again, and generate itself anew, and so also should the house of darkness of the deep above the earth; whereby the new body might continually and constantly be generated out of death, till time should be accomplished, and the whole newborn body [perfected]. Now thou wilt object and say, Then sure the stars are God, and they must be honoured and worshipped as God.
Chapter 4: Of the creation of the Holy Angels. An Instruction or open Gate of Heaven. (70)
Nevertheless the quality of the stars reigneth in the spirit; yet the spirit can and may raise or demerse itself in its own qualities, or may live in ...
(70) Nevertheless the quality of the stars reigneth in the spirit; yet the spirit can and may raise or demerse itself in its own qualities, or may live in the influences of the stars, as it pleaseth: It is free, for it has got for its own the qualities which it has in itself.
After the truth against the present life Of miserable mortals was unfolded By her who doth imparadise my mind, As in a looking-glass a taper's flame...
(1) After the truth against the present life Of miserable mortals was unfolded By her who doth imparadise my mind, As in a looking-glass a taper's flame He sees who from behind is lighted by it, Before he has it in his sight or thought, And turns him round to see if so the glass Tell him the truth, and sees that it accords Therewith as doth a music with its metre, In similar wise my memory recollecteth That I did, looking into those fair eyes, Of which Love made the springes to ensnare me. And as I turned me round, and mine were touched By that which is apparent in that volume, Whenever on its gyre we gaze intent, A point beheld I, that was raying out Light so acute, the sight which it enkindles Must close perforce before such great acuteness. And whatsoever star seems smallest here Would seem to be a moon, if placed beside it. As one star with another star is placed. Perhaps at such a distance as appears A halo cincturing the light that paints it, When densest is the vapour that sustains it,
We may, however, beginning from another hypothesis, demonstrate the same thing. We must admit that the corporeal parts of the universe are neither...
(1) We may, however, beginning from another hypothesis, demonstrate the same thing. We must admit that the corporeal parts of the universe are neither sluggish nor destitute of power, but as much as they excel our concerns in perfection, beauty, and magnitude, by so much also is the power which is present with them greater. Each, likewise, by itself is capable of effecting different things, and produces certain different energies. They are also capable of effecting things much more numerous on each other. And besides this, a certain multiform production extends to parts from wholes; partly from sympathy, through similitude of powers, and partly from the aptitude of the agent to the patient. If, therefore, certain evils and destructions happen to parts, they are salutary and good as with reference to wholes and the harmony of the universe, but to parts they introduce a necessary corruption, either from not being able to bear the energies of wholes, or from a certain other commixture and temperament of their own imbecility, or, in the third place, from the privation of symmetry in the parts to each other.
Chapter 25: Of the whole Body of the Stars and of their Birth or Geniture; that is, the whole Astrology, or the whole Body of this World. (84)
Thus far the power of the life reached forth from the sun, and not higher; but the lustre or shining thereof, which has its power also, reacheth even...
(84) Thus far the power of the life reached forth from the sun, and not higher; but the lustre or shining thereof, which has its power also, reacheth even to the stars, and through the whole body of this world. But thou must understand this exactly, from whence these two Planets are come to be.
Chapter 2: An Introduction, shewing how men may come to apprehend The Divine, and the Natural, Being. And further of the two Qualities. (25)
Now if we consider rightly of the sun and stars, with their corpus or body, operations and qualities, then the very divine being may be found...
(25) Now if we consider rightly of the sun and stars, with their corpus or body, operations and qualities, then the very divine being may be found therein, and we may find that the virtues of the stars are nature itself.
After the body of the universe, also, many things are generated by the nature of it. For the concord of similars, and the contrariety of dissimilars,...
(1) After the body of the universe, also, many things are generated by the nature of it. For the concord of similars, and the contrariety of dissimilars, effect not a few things. Farther still, the assemblage of many things into the one animal of the universe, and the powers in the world, whatever the number and quality of them may be, effect, in short, one thing in wholes and another in parts, on account of the divided imbecility of parts. Thus, for instance, the friendship, love, and contention which subsist in energy in the universe, become passions in the partial natures by which they are participated. Those things, likewise, that are preestablished in forms and pure reasons in the nature of wholes, participate of a certain material indigence, and privation of morphe , in things which subsist according to a part. And things which are conjoined to each other in wholes are separated in parts. Hence partible natures, which participate of wholes in conjunction with matter, degenerate from them in all things, and also from what is beautiful and perfect. But some parts are corrupted, in order that wholes may be preserved in a condition conformable to nature. Sometimes, likewise, parts are compressed and weighed down, though at the same time wholes remain impassive to a molestation of this kind.
But these are moved conformably to the mandates of the celestial Gods. For the most pure, agile, and supreme part of the air, is adapted to be enkindl...
(2) Moreover, the lations of the stars approximate to the eternal circulations of the heavens, not only locally, but also in powers, and the irradiations of light. But these are moved conformably to the mandates of the celestial Gods. For the most pure, agile, and supreme part of the air, is adapted to be enkindled [ i. e. is most inflammable], so that when the Gods assent, it is immediately set on fire. And if some one thinks that certain effluxions of the celestial bodies are imparted to the air, his opinion will not be discordant with what is frequently effected by the divine art. The union, also, and sympathy of the universe, and the simultaneous motion of the most remote parts, as if they were near, and belonged to one animal, cause these signs to be sent from the Gods to men in the most luminous manner, primarily, indeed, through the heavens, but afterwards through the air.
I here set down this description of the birth or geniture of man's life, to the end that the original of the stars and planets may be the better...
(47) I here set down this description of the birth or geniture of man's life, to the end that the original of the stars and planets may be the better conceived. In the description of the creation of man thou wilt find all, more fundamentally and deeply, what the beginning of man is. Now observe:
For it has its corporeal propriety to itself, as a child, when the child is born or generated from the mother. ["Saturn, indeed, was created together ...
(10) But Saturn was not bound to its place, as the sun is, for it is not a corporeal place or space in the room of the deep; but Saturn is a son which is born or generated out of the chamber of death, out of the kindled, hard and cold anxiety, and is only one of the household or family in that space or room in which it has its course and revolution. For it has its corporeal propriety to itself, as a child, when the child is born or generated from the mother. ["Saturn, indeed, was created together with the wheel, when the FIAT created the wheel; but it does not go forth or proceed from Sol."]
Chapter 5: Of the Third Principle, or Creation of the material World, with the Stars and Elements; wherein the First and Second Principles are more clearly understood. (9)
Secondly, you [may] thus see the Separation clearly by the Stars and fiery Heaven, that the eternal Separation [or Distinction] is in the eternal...
(9) Secondly, you [may] thus see the Separation clearly by the Stars and fiery Heaven, that the eternal Separation [or Distinction] is in the eternal Matrix; for you may see that the Stars and the fiery Heaven, and the watery, the airy, and earthly, are generated out of one Mother, that they qualify with [or have Influence upon] one another, and that the Birth of their Substance is in one another, also that one is the Case or Vessel to hold the other in, and yet they have not one and the same [Property] Qualification [or Condition.] Thus here in the Separation you [may] know, that the eternal Matrix has a Separation in itself, as is mentioned before in the third Chapter concerning the eternal Birth of the four Anguishes, where the Fire is generated between Harshness and Bitterness, and the Light in the Flash of Fire, and so every Source retains its own due.