Section I. Portion IV. Part I. Book II.

...invisible, in the regions of water and earth, as if it were a legate or messenger sent from the higher realms to the lower world, foretelling accidents that must occur on the land, in the water, and to their creatures. It is like a highly polished tablet or table upon which the planets and stars, as if with a painter's brush, have depicted with their rays—as if with living colors—rains, snows, hails, thunders, winds, storms, and the like. It also displays the most evident signs of drought, cold, earthquakes, fertility, sterility, and other things pertaining both to the ruin and the health of men. In the air, therefore, through the mediation of God’s celestial creatures, is shaped the reading and knowledge of future things, which is given only to men of true science and those fortified with wisdom to read and understand.

For example, CometsIn early modern science, "meteors" and "comets" referred to any atmospheric phenomena, not just astronomical ones. do not appear in the air for nothing or in a vain manner, nor do the infinite other particular meteors and wonders. From these, we are clearly taught (by the testimony of the ancients) that the air, with the help of the heavens, indicates to us like a mirror or a pointing finger the beginnings of common calamities, the deaths of illustrious persons, the cruelties of wars, the changes of seasons, famine, plague, and all kinds of diseases and such things. Hence, Robert Grosseteste, the Bishop of Lincoln, says:

The air is the matrix of all impressions, for by grace of its moisture, it acts as a spiritual mirror. It most easily receives or emulates the forms and natures of all things placed or cast against it, and it readily represents and receives the likenesses of all shapes and colors.

Thus he concludes that the air is the womb of all impressions, since it is the medium whether in its own region or in the bowels and depths of water and earth; it is also the very matter of meteors, both healthy and unhealthy. Indeed, and what is more, it retains within itself invisible and imperceptible impressions, which are the images of manifest and visible things. For this reason, if someone passes through a place where a man was killed, or where a fresh corpse is hidden, he is immediately shaken by fear and stupor. This is because the air in that place is filled with the specters of the killing—the horrible images of the homicide and its "seeds," as it were—and these affect the spirit of the man passing through as he breathes that air, disturbing him with those similar images and striking him with great terror.

Similarly, through these kinds of hidden impressions in the air, various dreams and multiform impressions are produced in the human spirit through the icons of "idols" (images), likenesses, or species. These arise from things originating from words or actions whose forms have multiplied in the air. Therefore, this species of invisible or hidden "meteors" is the reason why such miraculous cures are brought to a happy conclusion by the Weapon Salveoriginal: "Unguento Armario" — a controversial medicinal ointment believed to heal a wound by being applied to the weapon that caused it, rather than the body., as has been more than sufficiently explained in our treatise on Mystical Anatomy.

Furthermore, these types of "meteors" reigning hidden and invisibly in the air are the origins of epidemic or popularly spreading diseases—namely the plague and pestilential illnesses. These diseases are the effects of either a Comet or some other meteor (whether fiery, watery, windy, or mixed) which was visible in times past but has now been dissipated everywhere through the air into invisible parts. Because the human spirit, as well as the terrestrial spirit, enters with the air through breathing, it pollutes them from every side just like the external air, as will be demonstrated more broadly below.

Regarding the disposition or "complexion" of this spirit, (Galen, On the Powers of Simple Medicines, Book 2, ch. 20) a massive difference seems to arise among the princes of Philosophy (who are observed to be at odds with one another in their writings). For Aristotle and those who follow his opinion think the air is hot, while the Stoics, opposing them, confidently say it is cold. But if we explore the matter a little more accurately, we will perceive that it is neither hot nor cold, nor moist nor dry by itself, but consists in a middle state between these qualities. Hence, it is judged fit and suitable to receive any of these accidental impressions, although the air itself exists with no certain or manifest quality of its own.

For this reason, it is observed to be sometimes hot, sometimes cold, sometimes moist, and not rarely dry. Therefore, it is not improperly compared to the celestial Mercury, the messenger of Jupiter (as was said above), who usually takes on the nature of the quality of whichever planet he is joined with. Thus, it is noticed that he is cold and dry with Saturn, more hot and less moist with Jupiter, hot and dry with Mars, but with the Sun in a more moderate degree, more moist and less hot with Venus, and cold and moist with the Moon. The air is observed to do the same, receiving various temperatures according to the variety of celestial influences and the difference of the blowing winds.

Therefore, we say that the air, considered simply and in its own nature, is neither hot, nor cold, nor moist, nor dry. However, insofar as it withdrew from the abyss of dark hyleThe "hyle" refers to the primordial, unformed matter of the universe. in the first creation under the name of "waters," it is more fit to participate in the quality of darkness—namely coldness—which reigns mostly in the absence of light. But insofar as it participates in the form of light, it is rendered ready to receive hot and fiery influences. From this it is clear that in its own nature, without respect to other influences, its aptitude for coldness is removed by its inclination toward the heat of the informing light; therefore, it cannot be called hot or cold originally and in its essence. Since moisture and dryness are simple qualities arising from the "simples" (that is, from heat and cold), it follows that the air by its nature is neither cold nor hot, and consequently neither moist nor dry. But indeed, insofar as...