Sacred and Truly Christian Philosophy, or Cosmic Meteorology

(as David states in many places) the winds or the angels of GOD bring it about—by making a sound and commotion in the air—that the very dry bones of the field should come together, each bone to its joint, and that nerves and flesh should grow upon them, and skin be stretched over them? Ezekiel 37. Then it was said: "Spirit" original: "aer seu spiritus"; the author equates the biblical 'spirit' or 'breath' with physical air. "come from the four winds, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live"; and the spirit went out, and they lived again. What of it? Is not a corpse, by rotting, gradually reduced into invisible air? Do we not observe it transform even to the bones, and even these to be gradually diminished day by day? Do we not see the earthly "clot"—that is, the human body, or indeed that of any animal or plant—return through the testing of ordinary fire first into smoke (as a middle meteorIn this context, a "meteor" refers to any atmospheric phenomenon or transition state of matter, not just a falling star.), and finally into air? This air is the simple beginning or end of those very meteors, or imperfect mixtures, from which they first departed. Those skilled in True Chemistry original: "Vera Chimia"; here referring to Alchemy as a sacred science of matter. have recognized that there is no complete dissolution of a thing unless it be by reducing it into its "first matter," which they called Water that does not wet the hands. We have heard the followers of true philosophy saying that the air is the "great philosophical sea," containing infinite mysteries, in which the waves or billows are tossed by the various breaths of GOD according to the divine will. And it is written in the prophet Daniel, chapter 7: "Behold, the four winds of heaven strove upon the great sea." And this is that great sea into which infinite rivers have entered—namely, the celestial influences—of which the Philosopher speaks thus: “O our heaven! O our water! O our Mercury! O our salt-nitre dwelling in the sea of the world! O our Vegetable! O our fixed and volatile Sulphur! Water not wetting the hand, without which no one can live,” etc. And indeed, he rightly calls the air the "Mercury of the Philosophers," since it seems to alter its own nature according to the nature of the influence of any planet or the wind blowing upon it.

Do we not also see, as confirmation of this matter, that common Mercury (which for this reason the common Alchemists called "Quicksilver" original: "Argentum vivum") when joined or Amalgamated with any of the other fusible metals, converts its own nature into the nature of the metal with which it is joined? This is just like the celestial Mercury, which is convertible into the nature of any planet to which it is applied. And yet this quicksilver is nothing other than mere air, changed by the mediation of cold into a visible, heavy water; this is shown by its effect, for by the violence of fire it vanishes and is transmuted back into the air from which it primordially arose. Furthermore, that this air, so condensed into water, is "earth in potential" is proved by the fact that through the industry of Chemistry, we have observed it to be precipitated into earth by itself, and without the help of another.

And again, the wise have noticed that a "living fire" leaps out from the center of quicksilver. By this, it is indicated that the air, thus reduced into a Mercurial cloud, possesses within itself the nature of every wind and, consequently, every element. For we see this same thing in a cloud formed from the air in its own bosom or womb; experience teaches that fire, water, earth, and smoke (or wind) are within it. Whence the philosopher says: “I pray you, consider the simple water of a cloud. Who would ever believe that it contains within itself all that the world has—hard stones, salts, air, earth, fire—and yet by itself it appears as simple water?”

It has also been proven by us through experience that a portion of air enclosed in a large round glass vessel and sealed by fire referring to a "hermetically sealed" glass flask., if exposed to the celestial sun or a slow heat, will be converted into water. The reason is that it is the nature of heat to refine original: "subtiliare" air that was previously imbued with a moderate coldness. But because refined air requires a wider place for its expanded existence, it is necessary either that the glass be broken, or that as much of the air be condensed into water as the dimension of the positioned and now-refined air exceeds the space it would take if it were all refined—which is clearly demonstrated in our experimental instrument. It follows, therefore, that the same water, which was previously air, returns again into air in the absence of heat and the presence of cold, lest a vacuum should occur; for cold requires its portion in thickness, just as heat requires its own in thinness. By these things, it is aptly declared that air (which is nothing other than subtle water) can very easily be converted into the coarse disposition of visible and thick water.

But since it is certain that every visible thing comes first from an invisible thing, according to that saying of St. Paul alleged above: namely, that “through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear,” Hebrews 11. Therefore, it must be held as an infallible axiom that visible water was primordially made from air, or from invisible water or spirit. Whence, when it was said that the "Spirit of the Lord moved over the waters," Moses wished to imply (as Augustine interprets) a fiery love over the spiritual—and not visible—waters; from which was created the substance of the Empyrean heaven and that angelic substance, which is the more sublime portion of the air or universal spirit.

We conclude, therefore, that coarse things were made primordially and a priori from the cause to the effect; from the preceding. from subtle things, and not the other way around. Similarly, subtle things are made from coarser things by a final resolution and a posteriori from the effect to the cause; from the following., which is also confirmed by the testimony of the sacred scriptures: “Who has numbered the heavens in wisdom, and made the things that descend from the heavens to rest? When the dust descended into that hardness, and the clods cleaved fast together?” Job 38:37. By these words, it is indicated that the earth first descended from the heavens—namely from the air or the mundane spirit. This is also clearly declared by the generation of a "thunderstone" original: "lapidis ceraunij"; a stone believed to fall from the sky during a lightning strike. or lightning bolt.

What then is the Universal Air, and of what consistency? Certainly, it is an intermediate spirit between darkness and light, produced by mutual action and passion at the instant of creation by the operation of the wind. For the typical creation was made according to the pattern of the disposition of the world to be created, in the archetypal idea; and this disposition has a relation to the properties of the persons in the Divine Trinity, since the distinction of the one Deity into three properties was made with respect to the creation of the world; for before—