Agrippa: The Philosophy of Natural Magic, Chapter LII — Of the Countenance and Gesture, the Habit and the Figure Of The Body, and to What Stars Any of These Do Answer—Whence Physiognomy, and Metoposcopy, and Chiromancy, Arts of Divination, Have Their Grounds · 1 of 2 · tr. Henry Morley; L. W. de Laurence ed.
Chapter LII, Section 1a
CHAPTER LII.
Of the Countenance and Gesture, the Habit and the Figure Of The Body, and to What Stars Any of These Do Answer—Whence Physiognomy, and Metoposcopy, and Chiromancy, Arts of Divination, Have Their Grounds .
The countenance, gesture, motion, setting and figure of the body, being accidental to us, conduce to the receiving of celestial gifts and expose us to the superior bodies, which produce certain effects in us, like unto the effects following the methods of gathering hellebore, which, if thou pullest the leaf upward when gathering it, draws the humors upward and causeth vomiting; if downward, it causeth purging, drawing the humor downward.
How much also the countenance and gesture of one person doth affect the sight, imagination and spirit of another no man is ignorant.
So they that are parents discover those impressions in their children of their previous conditions, and that which they did then do, form and imagine.
So a mild and cheerful countenance of a prince in the city makes the people joyful; but if it be fierce or sad doth terrify them.
So the gesture and countenance of any one lamenting, doth easily move to pity.
So the shape of an amiable person doth easily excite to friendship.
Thou must know that such like gestures and figures as harmonies of the body, do expose it no otherwise to the celestials, than odors, and the spirit of a medicine, and internal passions, also, do the soul.
For as medicines and passions of the mind are by certain dispositions of the heaven increased, so also the gesture and motions of the body do get an efficacy by certain influences of the heavens.
For there are gestures resembling Saturn which are melancholy and sad, as are beating of the breast or striking of the head; also such as are religious, as the bowing of the knee, and a fixed look downwards, as of one praying; also weeping, and such like, as are used by the austere and Saturnine man; such an one as a satirist describes: With hang’d down head, with eyes fixed to the ground, His raging words bites in, and muttering sound He doth express with pouting lips.
A cheerful and honest countenance, a worshipful or noble gesture or bearing, clapping of the hands as of one rejoicing and praising, and the bending of the knee with the head lifted up, as of one that is worshiping, are ascribed to Jupiter.
A sour, fierce, cruel, angry, rough countenance and gesture are ascribed to Mars.
Solary are honorable and courageous gestures and countenances; also, walking abroad, a bending of the knee, as of one honoring a king with one knee bent.
Those under Venus are dances, embraces, laughters, and those of an amiable and cheerful countenance.
Those Mercurial are inconstant, quick, variable and such like gestures and countenances.
Those Lunary, or under the Moon, are such as are movable, poisonous, and childish and the like.
As we have spoken above of gestures so, also, are the shapes of men distinct, as follows: Saturn bespeaks a man to be of a black and yellowish color, lean, crooked, of a rough skin, great veins, the body covered with hair, little eyes, of a frowning forehead, a thin beard, great lips, eyes intent upon the ground, of a heavy gait, striking his feet together as he walks, crafty, witty, a seducer and murderous.
§ Ask Guru about this passage →Themes
Correspondencecosmology
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.
The passage centrally argues that bodily gestures and figures are influenced by celestial bodies and stars, reflecting a cosmic alignment between human form and heavenly forces.
All passages →Cosmic Sympathycosmology
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 states that medicines and passions are increased by certain dispositions of the heavens, implying a resonant connection between celestial influences and bodily states.
All passages →Related passages · 9 parallels
western_esoteric|The Kybalion (Three Initiates)|Chapter VIII (part 1)
“CHAPTER VIII PLANES OF CORRESPONDENCE "As above, so below; as below, so above."--The Kybalion.
The great Second Hermetic Principle embodies the truth that there is a harmony, agreement, and correspondence between the several planes of Mani…”
Shared concept: Correspondence — 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. (derived)
neoplatonism|Iamblichus: On the Mysteries|Chapter XVIII-b
“A certain thing of this kind also may take 71 place in the harmony and crasis of the universe: for the same things may be the salvation of the whole, through the perfection of the things inherent and the recipients; but may be noxious to th…”
Shared concept: Cosmic Sympathy — 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. (derived)
neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 365 (part 1)
“Section 45 45.
From this discussion it becomes perfectly clear that the individual member of the All contributes to that All in the degree of its kind and condition; thus it acts and is acted upon.
In any particular animal each of the lim…”
Shared concept: Cosmic Sympathy — 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. (derived)
hermeticism|Corpus Hermeticum 11: The Hymn|Section 1b
“It <i.e., Soul> fills it <i.e., the Body of the Cosmos> from within, and from without encircles it, making the All to live.
Without, this vast and perfect Life [encircles] Cosmos; within, it fills [it with] all lives; above, in Heaven, con…”
Shared concept: Correspondence — 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. (derived)
neoplatonism|Iamblichus: On the Mysteries|Chapter III
“Since, however, every part of the heavens, every sign of the zodiac, all the motion of the heavens, every period of time according to which the world is moved, and all things contained in the wholes of the universe, receive the powers which…”
Shared concept: Cosmic Sympathy — 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. (derived)
christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 4, Section 1h
“Hence comes the bare existence of all things, and hence their unions, 277 277 ἑνώσεις, διακρίσεις, ταὐτότητες, ἑτερότητες.
their differentiations, their identities, their differences, 278 278 Hence parts are united into wholes and wholes a…”
Shared concept: Cosmic Sympathy — 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. (derived)
theosophy|The Secret Doctrine|Page 39 (part 1)
“The Secret Doctrine by H.
P.
Blavatsky -- Vol.
1 [[Vol.
1, Page]] 529 MYSTERIOUS SUN FLUID.
VIII.
LIFE, FORCE, OR GRAVITY.
T HE imponderable fluids have had their day; "mechanical Forces" are less talked about; Science has put on a n…”
Shared concept: Cosmic Sympathy — 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. (derived)
western_esoteric|The Kybalion (Three Initiates)|Chapter VII (part 2)
“Man, like Micawber, may exclaim: "The Spirit of my Creator is inherent within me-- and yet I am not HE!" How different this from the shocking half-truth so vociferously announced by certain of the half-wise, who fill the air with their rauc…”
Shared concept: Correspondence — 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. (derived)
theosophy|The Secret Doctrine|Page 10 (part 2)
“The whole Kosmos in its objective form is Vaikhari-Vach , the light of the Logos is the Madhyama form, and the Logos itself the Pasyanti form, and Parabrahm the Para form or aspect of that Vach.
It is by the light of this explanation that…”
Shared concept: Correspondence — 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. (derived)