The History of the Two Worlds

Adorned with stars, she holds and turns the celestial spheres with her hands, and the influences of those same spheres
are daily prepared and arranged by her fingers for the generation of elemental things. The bodies of the Planets also serve
as tools for the works of Nature; they are, as it were, the little hammers by which metals are produced in the terrestrial mines.
The region of this virgin’s heart and chest is the true seat and womb of the celestial Sun, and her belly is filled with the lunar body. From her breasts,
she perpetually instills innate heat and original: "humidum radicale" radical moisture—from which life and growth arise—into all creatures of the elements, and suckles them.
By a certain golden splendor of her heart, the stars—both fixed and wandering—are illuminated, and they borrow, as it were, their souls,
lives, and beauties from it. Their imperceptible influences, infused into her womb through the Mercurial Spirit Which the Philosophers call the Spirit of the Moon,
are carried downward to the earth, penetrating even to its center; through their impressions, diverse generations, differing in both place and species,
are constantly brought forth. By these actions of nature, the Planets come together, and by joining, they produce various things
differing in species in the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms. Starting from the lower parts, from the loins, the four Elements are encompassed;
for the right foot occupies the earth, while the left occupies the water, signifying the conjunction of her sulfurous and mercurial nature:
by which it is argued that nothing can be generated or grow without the union of both. This, I say, is Nature—not a GODDESS, but God’s closest
minister—who has beneath her a handmaid or follower who, by imitating her mistress, impresses the likenesses of things produced by her into herself through consent,
and follows and imitates her tracks and outlines in a wondrous manner. And it is for this reason that we have depicted her in the form and habit of an Ape
beneath the feet of Nature; which we call by the more worthy name of Art In this context, "Art" refers to human skill, technology, and specifically alchemy.
This beast (I mean Art), born from human ingenuity, learns many secret, beautiful, and notable things from the diligent observation of her Mistress,
with which she is accustomed to enriching men in every kind of doctrine; so also, conversely, she brings no small utility and profit
to that same teacher and Mistress of hers. For unless Art, produced by human ingenuity, occasionally gives aid in certain matters,
Nature herself will soon fail in the perfection of her operation. For Art sometimes corrects and supplies Nature—indeed, in the discourse
on mineral things, Art even seems to surpass her, if only we give any credit to those Chemical Philosophers; especially since it is certain and proven by experience
that in the animal circle, eggs can be made to hatch more quickly, silkworms
multiplied, and by their growth transformed into diverse shapes in the manner of Proteus, and bees procreated from the head of an ox;
in the vegetable circle, crops grow and multiply by the skill of the plow, by which fields are cultivated and harrowed, trees by grafting, and herbs and other vegetables
by planting; and in the mineral circle, metallic bodies and lesser minerals are prepared both for medicine and other uses,
and cleansed of their dregs, and even the Physical Stone The Philosopher's Stone, whose praises the Philosophers so greatly proclaim, is forged.
It is our intention, therefore, in this volume, to discuss these two efficient causes of the Macrocosm both clearly and at length.