Providence is the presence of God and the source or seat of all secondary causes secondary causes: natural or created forces that act according to God's primary will; it is, in a sense, the "Eye of God," or the link between God and everything He created. Just below the Soul of the World original: Anima Mundi is that vast expanse called the ethereal heaven, or firmament. This is where the fixed stars, planets, and comets are located, and where these celestial bodies move freely in every direction throughout the heavens.

To illustrate these points, I have included an illustration of the inner heaven, showing the various orders of spirits and essences of the Divine Mind. These are identified by their specific names and characters in the original Hebrew text, as found in Holy Scripture and the manuscripts of ancient, learned philosophers. Since these names and characters are printed in full and explained in the first volume of my Illustration of the Occult Sciences (pages 79, 80, and 81), I will not repeat them here. However, the attached illustration is essential to help the curious reader gain a proper understanding of the subject. This illustration also shows how the rays or beams of Divine Providence flow from the center—the seat of the Godhead—through the various orders of angels and spirits to the Soul of the World original: Anima Mundi. From there, they reach all the celestial bodies, planets, and stars, our Earth, and the furthest reaches of infinite space. This process is called "celestial influx" celestial influx: the theory that spiritual or astrological forces flow down from the heavens to influence the physical world, which is the natural power by which the qualities and temperament of one body are shared with another.

CONCERNING NATURE.

No word used by authors or spoken by people is more inconsistently applied or less understood than the word "Nature." When we speak of the "nature" of a thing, we usually mean its essence—that is, the qualities or causes that make it what it is, whether that thing is physical original: "corporeal" or not (for example, when we try to define the nature of a fluid or a triangle). We also often confuse what a person has by "nature" with what they inherit by birth, such as when we say a person is "noble by nature." Sometimes we use "nature" to mean an internal principle of movement, such as saying a stone falls to the ground by nature. At other times, we understand "nature" to be the established order and course of things. Occasionally, we use it to describe the sum of powers belonging to a single body, especially a living one; in this sense, doctors original: "physicians" say that nature is "strong," "weak," or "exhausted," or that in certain diseases, "nature," if left to itself, will provide the cure. Finally, we sometimes use the term "nature" to mean the entire universe, or the whole system of God’s physical works, as when it is said of a