Hunt writes: -- "But regarding Life -- Vital Force -- as a power far more exalted than either light, heat, or electricity, and indeed capable of exerting a controlling power over them all " (this is absolutely occult).
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"we are certainly disposed to view with satisfaction that speculation which supposes the photosphere to be the primary seat of vital power , and to regard with a poetic pleasure that hypothesis which refers the Solar energies to Life.
" Thus, we have an important scientific corroboration for one of our fundamental dogmas -- namely, that ( a ) the Sun is the store-house of Vital Force, which is the Noumenon of Electricity; and ( b ) that it is from its mysterious, never-to-be-fathomed depths, that issue those life currents which thrill through Space, as through the organisms of every living thing on Earth.
For see what another eminent physician says, who calls this (our life-fluid) "nervous Ether." Change a few sentences in the article, extracts from which now follow, and you have another quasi - Occult treatise on Life Force.
This once, it is again Dr.
B.
W.
Richardson, F.R.S., who gives his views in the " Popular Science Review ," Vol.
X.
, p.
380-3, on "Nervous Ether," as he has on "Sun-Force" and "Earth-Force": -- "The idea attempted to be conveyed by the theory is, that between the molecules of the matter, solid or fluid, of which the nervous organisms, and, indeed, of which all the organic parts of a body are composed, there exists a refined subtle medium, vaporous or gaseous, which holds the molecules in a condition for motion upon each other, and for arrangement and rearrangement of form; a medium by and through which all motion is conveyed; by and through which the one organ or part of the body is held in communion with the other parts, by which and through which the outer living world communicates with the living man: a medium, which, being present, enables the phenomena of life to be demonstrated, and which, being universally absent, leaves the body actually dead.
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." And the whole Solar System falls into Pralaya -- the author might have added.
But let us read further: .
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"I use the word Ether in its general sense as meaning a very light, vaporous or gaseous matter; I use it, in short, as the astronomer uses it when he speaks of the Ether of Space, by which he means a subtle but material medium.
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When I speak of a nervous Ether, I do not convey that the ether is existent in nervous structure only: I believe truly that it is a special part of the nervous organization; but, as nerves pass into all structures that have capacities for movement and sensibilities, so the nervous ether passes into all such parts; and as the nervous ether is, according to my view, a direct product from blood, so we may look upon it as a part of the atmosphere of the blood.
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 532 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
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The evidence in favour of the existence of an elastic medium pervading the nervous matter and capable of being influenced by simple pressure is all-convincing.
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In nervous structure there is, unquestionably, a true nervous fluid, as our predecessors taught * The precise chemical (?)** composition of this fluid is not yet well known; the physical characters of it have been little studied.
Whether it moves in currents, we do not know; whether it circulates, we do not know; whether it is formed in the centres and passes from them to the nerves, or whether it is formed everywhere where blood enters nerve, we do not know.
The exact uses of the fluid we do not consequently know.
It occurs to my mind, however, that the veritable fluid of nervous matter is not of itself sufficient to act as the subtle medium that connects the outer with the inner universe of man and animal.
I think -- and this is the modification I suggest to the older theory -- there must be another form of matter present during life; a matter which exists in the condition of vapour or gas, which pervades the whole nervous organism, surrounds as an enveloping atmosphere*** each molecule of nervous structure, and is the medium of all motion, communicated to and from the nervous centres.
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When it is once fairly presented to the mind that during life there is in the animal body a finely diffused form of matter , a vapour filling every part -- and even stored in some parts; a matter constantly renewed by the vital chemistry; a matter as easily disposed of as the breath, after it has served its purpose -- a new flood of light breaks on the Intelligence ." .
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A new flood of light is certainly thrown on the wisdom of ancient and mediaeval Occultism and its votaries.
For Paracelsus wrote the same thing more than three hundred years ago, namely, in the sixteenth century, as follows: -- "The whole of the Microcosm is potentially contained in the Liquor Vitae , a nerve fluid .
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in which is contained the nature, quality, character, and essence of beings." .
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( De Generatione Hominis ).
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"The Archaeus or Liquor Vitae is an essence that is equally distributed in all parts of the human body.
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The Spiritus Vitae takes its origin from the Spiritus Mundi.
Being an emanation of the latter , it contains the elements of all cosmic influences, and is therefore the cause by which the action of the stars (cosmic forces) upon the invisible body of man (his vital lingasharira ) may be explained." ( De Viribus Membrorum.
See "Life of Paracelsus" by Franz Hartmann, M.D., F.T.S.
) Had Dr.
Richardson studied all the secret works of Paracelsus, he would not have been obliged to confess so often -- "we do not know" .
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"it is not known to us" .
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etc., etc.
Nor would he have ever pronounced the following sentence, recanting the best portions of his independent rediscovery , in which he says ( p .
384): -- [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * Paracelsus for one, who called it liquor vitae , and Archaeus.
** Rather alchemical -- "composition." *** "This vital force .
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radiates around man like a luminous sphere" .
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says Paracelsus in Paragranum.
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 533 PANTHEISM OR MONOTHEISM.
"It may be urged that in this line of thought is included no more than the theory of the existence of the ether .
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supposed to pervade space.
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It may be said that this universal ether pervades all the organism of the animal body as from without, and as part of every organization.
This view would be Pantheism physically discovered if it were true ( !!
) It fails to be true because it would destroy the individuality of every individual sense.
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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 entire passage is a detailed exposition of a universal subtle medium (nervous ether, vital force, liquor vitae) that transmits life-energy, connects the outer world to the inner organism, and pervades all living matter — functionally identical to the Great Magical Agent described in the concept definition.
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 Sun as store-house of Vital Force mirroring the human body's nervous ether, and the Microcosm contained in the Liquor Vitae, express the as-above-so-below principle 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.
The medium through which 'the outer living world communicates with the living man' and 'the action of the stars (cosmic forces) upon the invisible body of man' is a clear expression of hidden affinities binding all parts of the cosmos.
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.
Vital Force is described as pervading all living things, radiating around man 'like a luminous sphere,' and present in every molecule of nervous structure — the divine principle indwelling all of creation.
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.
The Spiritus Vitae is described as 'an emanation' of the Spiritus Mundi that 'contains the elements of all cosmic influences,' establishing a clear downward flow from a transcendent source to the individual organism.
Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.
The passage positions Paracelsus's 'secret works' and 'ancient and mediaeval Occultism' as a hidden body of knowledge that modern science has only partially rediscovered.
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 passage repeatedly invokes the 'invisible body of man (his vital lingasharira)' and a non-physical medium through which the outer living world communicates with the inner person, describing a parallel dimension interpenetrating the physical.
The persistent form or image of a human being that exists from birth to death, distinct from the impermanent physical matter.
Blavatsky explicitly names the 'vital lingasharira' as the invisible body of man through which cosmic forces act, directly invoking the Theosophical concept of the persistent subtle form.
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.
Paracelsus's explicit statement that 'the whole of the Microcosm is potentially contained in the Liquor Vitae' and the Sun-as-storehouse issuing life currents to every organism on Earth make the human-as-cosmic-mirror the central structural claim of the passage.