This heated paper we may compare to a certain relation of inferiors to superiors; and its approximation to the lamp, to the opportune use of things according to time, place, and matter.
But the procession of fire in the paper aptly represents the presence of divine light, to that nature which is capable of its reception.
Lastly, the inflammation of the paper may be compared to the deification of mortals, and to the illumination of material natures, which are afterwards carried upwards like p.
78 the fire of the paper, from a certain participation of divine feed.
Again, the lotus before the rising of the sun, folds its leaves into itself, but gradually expands them on its rising: unfolding them in proportion to the sun's ascent to the zenith; but as gradually contracting them as that luminary descends to the west.
Hence this plant by the expansion and contraction of its leaves appears no less to honour the sun than men by the gesture of their eye-lids, and the motion of their lips.
But this imitation and certain participation of supernal light is not only, visible in plants, which possess but a vestige of life, but likewise in particular stones.
Thus the sun-stone, by its golden rays, imitates those of the sun; but the stone called the eye of heaven, or of the sun, has a figure p.
79 similar to the pupil of an eye, and a ray shines from the middle of the pupil.
Thus too the lunar stone, which has a figure similar to the moon when horned, by a certain change of itself, follows the lunar motion.
Lastly, the stone called Helioselenus, i.
e.
of the sun and moon, imitates after a manner the congress of those luminaries, which it images by its colour.
So that all things are full of divine natures; terrestrial natures receiving the plenitude of such as are celestial, but celestial of supercelestial essences; while every order of things proceeds gradually in a beautiful descent, from the highest to the lowest.
For whatever is collected into one above the order of things, is afterwards dilated in descending, various souls being distributed under their various ruling divinities.
In fine, some things turn p.
80 round correspondent to the revolutions of the sun, and others after a manner imitate the solar rays, as the palm and the date: some the fiery nature of the sun as the laurel, and other a different property.
For indeed we may perceive the properties which are collected in the sun, every where distributed to subsequent natures constituted in a solar order; that is, to angels, dæmons, souls, animals, plants, and stones.
Hence the authors of the ancient priesthood, discovered from things apparent, the worship of superior powers, while they mingled some things, and purified with others.
They mingled many things indeed together, because they saw that some simple substances possessed a divine property (though not taken singly) sufficient to call down that particular power, of which they were participants.
p.
81 Hence by the mingling of many things together, they attracted upon us a supernal influx; and by the composition of one thing from many, they symbolised with that one, which is above many; and composed statues from the mixtures of various substances, conspiring in sympathy and consent.
Besides this, they collected composite odours, by a divine art, into one, comprehending a multitude of powers, and symbolizing, with the unity of a divine essence.
Considering besides, that division debilitates each of these, but that mingling them together restores them to the idea of their exemplar; hence the ancient priests, by the mutual relation and sympathy of things to one another, collected their virtues into one, but expelled them by repugnancy and antipathy; purifying, when it was requisite, with sulphur and p.
Themes
◆Active Contemplationpraxis
A form of meditation that uses imagery, imagination, or symbolic thought rather than purely empty stillness.
The text uses physical analogies like paper, lotus, and stones to understand divine realities.
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 mingling of substances to purify and attract influx mirrors theurgical alchemical transformation.
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.
[auto] The passage details how plants and stones imitate celestial bodies, reflecting the cosmic structure at every scale.
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.
[auto] The text explicitly mentions the 'mutual relation and sympathy of things to one another' used by priests to collect virtues.
A chain of divine beings or principles flowing downward from a single transcendent source (the One or the Father), each level less perfect than the one above.
[auto] The passage centrally describes a chain of 'generative causes' and 'progeny' flowing from celestial orbs to terrestrial regions through 'progressions of similitude'.
The merging of the individual soul or self with the divine, transcending personal identity.
[auto] The passage emphasizes the 'perfect union and consent' between causes and effects and how everything becomes 'familiar to it' through similitude.
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.
[auto] The passage directly compares the inflammation of paper to the 'deification of mortals' and illumination of material natures.
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.
[auto] The description of ancient priests mingling substances to attract a 'supernal influx' aligns perfectly with theurgical practice.