TREATISE 1. BOOK I.

To the matter or subject, which was the second Being original: "Ens secundum" upon which the Creator acted for the perfection of the world, they attributed the Dyad original: "Diadem"; referring to the principle of duality or division or duality; and finally, to the spiritual power, or the fiery and lucid form, through whose presence the said matter or subject of the world was brought from potentiality into actuality, and all parts and regions of the cosmic machine, along with their creatures, were most excellently distinguished and arranged, they assigned the Triad. This is because this very essence claimed for itself the place of the third Being in the constitution of the universal workmanship. From the opinions of these ethnic pagan philosophers, it is manifest that they did not wander far from the true knowledge of the Divine Mind. Among them, I can never sufficiently admire or praise the sacred revelation of Hermes Trismegistus original: "Mercurii Trismegisti" and his depth in divine mysteries; for in his Pymander A foundational text of Hermeticism he revealed to us, divinely and beyond human capacity, the hidden secrets of God and His universal structure. After him, we consider Plato to be fuller of divine knowledge; as he, contrary to the assertions of the Peripatetics Followers of Aristotle, who argued the world was eternal and uncreated, constantly asserted that the world and those things in the world, visible and invisible, were made by the first unbegotten Principle. However, although it is impossible to describe this triple Creator essentially, He is nevertheless depicted to the eyes according to the contemplation of some Doctors in this manner: namely, either in human form.

The reasons why some have depicted God in human form are because: