The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme · 100 of 159 · tr. Franz Hartmann
Chapter 10 (part 7)
It is not shown that Esau became subject to Jacob, but the story represents to us a spiritual symbol, showing how the kingdom of nature in man was to become subjected and to be made to submit in humility to the kingdom p.
214 of grace; how it should become entirely submerged in divine humility, and out of that humility become regenerated." ( Mysterium , lii.
29.) "Upon Esau followed Jacob as the image of Christ, conceived in the essence of faith and clinging to Esau's heel.
The Adamic image created by God had to be born first of all and to live eternally, but not in its gross and animal state of existence.
With the expression of 'Jacob holding on to Esau's heel' is symbolised that the other Adam, namely, Christ, should be born after the first Adam, and grasping him from behind, draw him back from the direction of his own self-will into the first matrix, wherein nature originated, so that he might be newly born." ( Mysterium , lii.
37.) "Esau was born of holy parents, and represented an image of corrupted nature only in regard to his state of separation.
God separated also the image of Christ from the same seed of Esau's parents (as Jacob), and put it before him as a contrast to his brother (Esau).
Moreover, Jacob by his gift and humility excited the greatest compassion in Esau, and therefore we should not condemn Esau." 1 ( Grace , ix.
121.) More important than these opposites are those of the descendants of Japhet, because they selected for themselves false gods from the powers of nature, and were now led by them by means of oracles.
"The idolatry of the heathen consisted in their departing from the one only God and turning to the magic generation of nature, selecting false gods from the powers of nature." 2 ( Mysterium , xi.
6.) p.
215 "The heathen worshipped the planetary system and the four elements, because they knew that these ruled the external life of all things.
Thus by means of their intellectually conceived word they entered into the likewise conceived and formed (manifested) word of nature.
On the other hand, the spirit of the formed word of nature became a part of themselves, and thus one intellect moved the other.
The human intellect moved the intelligence within the soul of the external world as far as the desire of the latter is concerned, and by means of this intelligence (residing within the astral light or the mind of the external world) the prophetic spirit out of the Spirit of God indicated to them how in future times the formed word of external nature would manifest itself in the up-building and in the destruction of kingdoms, &c.
Out of this soul of the world the heathen received answers by means of their images and idols, because their faith which they very powerfully introduced into them moved them; and this has therefore not all been accomplished by the devil, as it is supposed by those who, knowing nothing about the mystery, make the devil responsible for everything, while they are ignorant of what either God or the devil is." ( Mysterium , xxxvii.
10–13.) Those heathen who led a pure and blameless life arrived at a knowledge of the symbols of celestial things by means of their ability to see within the mirror of external nature.
1 "The heathen remained within their own magic, but p.
216 those who went out from the desire of corruption and entered into the light of nature, because they did not know God, but who, nevertheless, lived in purity, these heathen were the children of the free will, and in them has the spirit of freedom unfolded great wonders, as may be seen in the works of wisdom which they left behind them." ( Terrestrial and Celestial Mysterium , viii.
The transformation of base substance — outer matter or the inner soul — into a purified, perfected, or 'gold' state; the magnum opus as both laboratory practice and spiritual allegory.
The process of regeneration and being 'newly born' out of humility reflects the spiritual transformation central to alchemical work.
Malevolent planetary rulers or demiurgic powers that govern the material world and obstruct the soul's ascent.
The text describes heathen worship of the 'planetary system and the four elements' which ruled external life, functioning as governing powers of nature.
The universal fluid or medium of occult philosophy — Lévi's Great Magical Agent — that transmits will, thought, and magical influence between minds and matter, and preserves the impress of all forms and actions as a book of consciences; cognate with akasha and the anima mundi. Distinct from cosmic_sympathy (a doctrine of hidden affinity) in being a substantival medium that can be charged, directed, and abused.
The passage explicitly names 'the astral light or the mind of the external world' as the medium through which the prophetic spirit communicated with the heathen, making it a central mechanism of the passage's cosmology.
The Hermetic axiom that the structure of the cosmos is reflected at every scale — 'as above, so below; as within, so without' — making each level a legible map of the others.
Heathen knowledge is described as seeing 'symbols of celestial things by means of their ability to see within the mirror of external nature'.
The Stoic and Plotinian doctrine that all parts of the cosmos are bound by hidden affinities, so that a movement in one part resonates through the whole; the metaphysical basis for astrology, magic, and divination.
It describes how 'one intellect moved the other' between human intellect and the intelligence within the soul of the external world.
Augustinian and Plotinian doctrine that evil has no positive being of its own but is a lack, distortion, or absence of the good — denying ontological dualism while preserving moral seriousness.
Corruption is defined not as inherent substance but as a 'state of separation' from the divine image.
Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.
[auto] The passage explicitly interprets the biblical narrative of Jacob and Esau as a spiritual symbol concealing an inner truth about nature and grace.
A non-physical dimension of reality, interpenetrating the physical world, populated by forces, beings, and forms ordinarily imperceptible to physical senses and instruments, that can affect embodied life without being seen — Dion Fortune's 'mind-side of nature,' the astral plane of Western esotericism broadly construed. Distinct from astral_light (a specific transmitting medium or fluid operating within this realm, not the realm itself), pleroma (the divine fullness at the summit of a cosmic hierarchy, not a parallel plane coextensive with ordinary life), and animism (particular indwelling spirits bound to specific natural objects, not the general unseen dimension itself).
The 'soul of the external world,' the 'intelligence within the soul of the external world,' and the 'astral light' together describe a non-physical dimension interpenetrating the physical world that mediates between human intellect and prophetic revelation.
The divine reason, word, or ordering principle through which the universe was created; mediates between the transcendent God and the material world.
The passage explicitly discusses the 'formed word of nature' and the 'intellectually conceived word' as mediating forces between God and the material world.
The human being as a small-scale image of the entire cosmos; the body, soul, and intellect mirroring the structure of the heavens and the divine — distinct from correspondence in that it makes the human the privileged mirror.
The passage states that the 'kingdom of nature in man' must submit to grace and that human intellect moves the intelligence within the soul of the external world.
The felt condition of exile from one's divine origin — Rumi's reed flute torn from its bed, Plotinus's 'we have forgotten,' the Gnostic forgetfulness; the affective wound that complements return_to_source and gives the return its motive.
Esau represents an image of corrupted nature 'only in regard to his state of separation' from God.
The rule of the stars and planetary powers over mortal destiny — the astrological governors whose spheres bind souls to birth, error, and death; in Sethian gnosis the 'error of the stars' that the savior exposes, and from which the incorruptible generation alone is free. Distinct from cosmic_sympathy (a doctrine of universal affinity) in being a bondage-to-powers claim, and from archons (the rulers as personal beings) in concerning the astral machinery itself.
The heathen worshipped the planetary system 'because they knew that these ruled the external life of all things,' expressing the rule of planetary powers over mortal existence.
The doctrine — central to Eastern Orthodox and Maximian theology — that the human person is progressively transformed into a partaker of the divine nature by grace, not merely justified or united in passing ecstasy.
The passage speaks of being 'regenerated' and becoming the 'image of Christ' through divine humility.
Iamblichean ritual practice that engages the gods directly through consecrated material symbols and actions, on the premise that divine power descends into properly prepared matter — distinct from philosophical contemplation alone.
The passage describes heathen magic where faith introduced into images moved the 'intelligence within the soul of the external world'.
A temporary mental construct given visible form on the astral plane by directed imagination — ordinarily without independent life, and dispellable by the same imaginative act that made it, unless invocation of elemental essence or projection of the maker's own force gives it sufficient sustained power to resist unmaking, at which point it escalates into an artificial_elemental. Distinct from artificial_elemental (the escalated, quasi-independently-alive entity this concept precedes and can turn into) and astral_light (the ambient medium in which a thought-form is formulated, not the construct itself).
The heathen's 'images and idols' through which they received answers are described as being moved by 'their faith which they very powerfully introduced into them,' describing mental constructs given form and sustained power through directed imaginative force.