P R Æ F A T I O

PREFACE

...that he would return: Who ever remembers such things! Something else must take his place, about which we are not entirely certain; yet he should not be considered so foolish as to cast off his old skin original: "veteres ut abjiciat exuvias"; a metaphor for his old life or social status. unless better and more certain things were at hand. Our conjectures fail us, since he embarked on this without consulting us; let him look out for his own end; since he once needed us, he is now considered a stranger.

After I overcame these and many other misfortunes with a calm and joyful spirit, I immediately wove together the following series to unburden my conscience. This was related to me at my request by a man unknown to the world, a God-fearing man; I will summarize his main points through Questions and Answers original: "Interrogata & Responsa", in which the subsequent questions will sometimes point to more than was clearly declared in the preceding answers. This was done intentionally, so that the reader might likewise exert some effort in the meantime, and it would be clear that the aforementioned answers are abundant.

At one time, this friend of mine came to visit me. Among other things, I asked him if he still remembered the promises he had made to me—to provide certain materials to be joined to my father’s Work Van Helmont is referring to the writings of his father, the famous alchemist and physician Jean Baptiste van Helmont. for the further instruction of the kind reader. He replied to me:

"Listen, Brother: last night, as I was continually weighing and ruminating on your words and on the new and unheard-of commentary on the Poimander of Hermes Trismegistus The Poimander is a foundational text of Hermeticism, a mystical philosophical tradition. Hermes Trismegistus was its legendary founder., my lamp was extinguished. I had withdrawn from natural food for the body for a time so that I might devote myself entirely to the interior. Then, after I had suffered a heavy trance original: "deliquium", I saw—with the use of my eyes suspended—certain transparent, heavy, dark, and compact things created in their beginning, middle, and end by a certain Light which also penetrated my very self. At that moment of vision, I found myself placed upon a transparent, living, spherical, double platform original: "suggestu" without a base, held fast in its own beginning, irradiated by the stars, and inscribed everywhere with a circular letter, which some call the Zenith and others the Nadir. This vision spoke to me by its very appearance:

'Hear, see, understand, and speak to the One in All, and All in One original: "Vnum in Omnibus, & Omnia in Vno"; the time has appeared for all the blind to see, and for those who see to remain blind. Follow me, and I will lay open to you my illuminated lights. My heart, most stable, created both old and new, is hung as a prize brabium|A Latinized Greek word for a prize or reward in a contest, often used in a spiritual sense to mean the 'prize' of eternal life. for every man, its quality expressed as an unknown thing. Step forward, strive! You are able to reach the bottom of my necessary body, with all its durable, resting, and active members. These are whole parts, praising their Creator individually and universally through their effects—the Creator who made me perfect, so that I might help you and those like you in a moment of necessity; for I am subject to you, and besides me, there is nothing.' Hearing these things, it was clear they were true; and by that very sign, I saw the prize hanging, over which, as if in a frenzy, I uttered these words:"