Paracelsus: The Book Concerning the Tincture of the Philosophers · 10 of 13 · tr. Arthur Edward Waite
Section 1j
It is the spirit of the fifth substance, a Fount of all Joys ( beneath the rays of the moon), the Supporter of Heaven and Earth, the Mover of Sea and Wind, the Outpourer of Rain, upholding the strength of all things, an excellent spirit above Heavenly and other spirits, giving Health, Joy, Peace, Love; driving away Hatred and Sorrow, bringing in Joy, expelling all Evil, quickly healing all Diseases, destroying Poverty and misery, leading to all good things, preventing all evil words and thoughts, giving man his heart's desire, bringing to the pious earthly honour and long life, but to the wicked who misuse it, Eternal Punishment".
This is the Spirit of Truth, which the world cannot comprehend without the interposition of the Holy Ghost, or without the instruction of those who know it.
The same is of a mysterious nature, wondrous strength, boundless power.
The Saints, from the beginning of the world, have desired to behold its face.
By Avicenna this Spirit is named the Soul of the World.
For, as the Soul moves all the limbs of the body, so also does this Spirit move all bodies.
And as the Soul is in all the limbs of the Body, so also is this Spirit in all elementary created things.
It is sought by many and found by few.
It is beheld from afar and found near; for it exists in every thing, in every place, and at all times.
It has the powers of all creatures; its action is found in all elements, and the qualities of all things are therein, even in the highest perfection.
By virtue of this essence did Adam and the Patriarchs preserve their health and live to an extreme age, some of them also flourishing in great riches.
When the philosophers had discovered it, with great diligence and labour, they straightway concealed it under a strange tongue, and in parables, lest the same should become known to the unworthy, and the pearls be cast before swine.
For if everyone knew it, all work and industry would cease; man would desire nothing but this one thing, people would live wickedly, and the world be ruined, seeing that they would provoke God by reason of their avarice and superfluity.
For eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath the heart of man understood what Heaven hath naturally incorporated with this Spirit.
Therefore have I briefly enumerated some of the qualities of this Spirit, to the Honour of God, that the pious may reverently praise Him in His gifts (which gift of God shall afterwards come to them), and I will herewith shew what powers and virtues it possesses in each thing, also its outward appearance, that it may be more readily recognised.
In its first state, it appears as an impure earthly body, full of imperfections.
It then has an earthly nature, healing all sickness and wounds in the bowels of man, producing good and consuming proud flesh, expelling all stench, and healing generally, inwardly and outwardly.
In its second nature, it appears as a watery body, somewhat more beautiful than before, because (although still having its corruptions) its Virtue is greater.
It is much nearer the truth, and more effective in works.
In this form it cures cold and hot fevers and is a specific against poisons, which it drives from heart and lungs, healing the same when injured or wounded, purifying the blood, and, taken three times a day, is of great comfort in all diseases.
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 passage describes the Spirit's progressive purification through stages — from 'impure earthly body, full of imperfections' to a 'watery body, somewhat more beautiful' with greater virtue — mirroring the alchemical magnum opus of transformation toward perfection.
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 Spirit functions as a universal medium pervading all created things, transmitting vital force and power — 'as the Soul is in all the limbs of the Body, so also is this Spirit in all elementary created things' — cognate with the anima mundi and a substantival transmitting medium.
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.
The passage explicitly states that the Spirit moves all bodies and is in every thing, linking cosmic forces through hidden affinities.
The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father.
The Spirit is described as 'of a mysterious nature,' 'sought by many and found by few,' 'beheld from afar and found near,' and 'the world cannot comprehend without the interposition of the Holy Ghost' — a radical concealment beyond ordinary perception.
The doctrine that the divine is present within all things and the universe itself, pervading creation rather than remaining solely transcendent above it. Distinct from unity_of_being (the general claim that all existence is one substance, agnostic about whether that substance indwells its parts) and from kingdom_within (the divine present specifically IN THE INDIVIDUAL human, accessible without mediation) — divine_immanence is the general pervading-presence claim applied to all of creation, not a human-specific indwelling.
The Spirit 'exists in every thing, in every place, and at all times' and 'is in all elementary created things' — a pervasive, indwelling divine presence throughout all of creation rather than remaining solely transcendent.
Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.
The Spirit is portrayed as actively moving Sea and Wind, upholding the strength of all things, and ordering the cosmos toward good ends.
Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.
The passage explicitly states that the philosophers 'concealed it under a strange tongue, and in parables, lest the same should become known to the unworthy, and the pearls be cast before swine' — a direct statement of esoteric concealment for the ready.
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 Spirit is a non-physical dimension of reality interpenetrating the physical world — 'the world cannot comprehend' it, yet it 'exists in every thing, in every place, and at all times' and affects embodied life through healing and protection.
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 central analogy of the passage — the Soul in the body mirroring the Spirit in all of creation — is a textbook microcosm-macrocosm statement making the human body the privileged mirror of the cosmic order.
The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.
The Spirit is presented as a single, undivided principle that pervades and moves all of creation — 'it exists in every thing, in every place, and at all times' — functioning as the one source from which all multiplicity and vital force flows.