NOL
Theomagia, or, The temple of wisdome

Chapter 229

Book 111 . The Temple of Wifdome. 159

^_ . - ■^. .^ — i — - — —
the Brain: And this is one caufe of Wit. See our Book called The Holy Guide.
; He faith further, that the caufe of Wifdome is clear at laft, as we fee ; to wit, a clear and ftirring Glafs; fo when the Glafs is foul, it caufeth natural or willing folly, as in Fnols^ Children^ or Vrunl^ards -, but if it be but here and there befmeered, and drawn as it were with dark ftrokes, and lines of foul humours: The (hapes appears totheMinde, even as the forms appears in the zkrok^n Glafs to the Eye by halves and confufedly, which ^in like manner maketh ir.adnefs.
' In the fecond face of Aries they make the image of fl itnaii^ and fometimes of a n?oman : upon which(they fay} defcends a Genius that fpeaks nobly, and asketh qucfti- ons^and refolveth them him.felf 5 and he giveth and cau- feth health,. But how(fa:th he)cometh Sprits of this iiW ward G/dr/}, fo foul and flow ^ vyhen they are of tbem* felves (as becomes the beams of a heavenly foul) transfer- Ted into hutnane f(Jh , and loofely placed both verf clean , clear , quick and lively.- But we need fay no more, clear or foul , when thefe two qualities make or mar the whole work of perceiving : for if the Spirits he clear , it is a iigne they are in their own nature , and fo whole and quick withal ; but if they be fml^ it is a to* ken their whole condition and property is loft and gone, and that ftillnefs is come upon themalfo.
Neither is that Etherial temper^ which is called by the name of the Spirit Cherub^ that receives the Soul out of the rays of Stars and Planets , ofthe nature of feed, af the Bill bafe Impoftures thinks , but it is by fbme ealledl a Chariot , becaufe it carries the foul and all his be(ims dovyn into the hedy , into the middle point of the h^art^ which is the centre of mans body •, and from thence ie if diffufed through all the parts and members of his hdy^^ wh^rc it joyneth bis chariot to the natural keaty hnvg a
Spirit
l6o The Temple of PVifdome, Book III.
Sprit generated from the heart by heat : by thisit plun- geth it (elf into the humours , by the which it inhereth ill all the members. And to all thefe is made equally ^ the nigheft, although it be ditfufed through one to ano- ther, even as the heat o^fire adheretli nioft nigh to the Air d^ndWater^ although it be transferred by the Air to the If^ater, Thus it is raanifeftjhow the immortal foul^ by an Immortal body , viz. an Etherial Vehicle^ is inclu- ded in a gro(s and mortal body^ which is the cauf^of dif- €afes that fpring always from the body^znd from that part e(pecially where the wits inhabit ; by which difeafes, when thefe middle things are diflfolved and fail, then the fnul it felf by thefe middle things recollefteth it felf, and floweth back into the heart, which was the firft recepta- cle of the foul : but the fpirit of the heart failing , and heat being extin£^, itlea:^'ethhim, andmandieth, and the foul flyeth away , the one to fieave?:^ the wicked to Hell.
In the third and laft face o^ Aries 5 they (ay , arifcth a man which muftinftantly be ^rre/h^^ and placed in a Dia^ mmd^ and then defcends a Genius which renders a man fowerful \\-\ good ^{^d evil I fo that he (hall be feared of all. He is of a terrible look , and fpeaks fiercely : he (ays 3 if the Reafons vouched by his Brethren will not fatisfie the curious Inquifitors after thefe matters 5 let them praftice and fee with proof of eye-fight and expe- rience, the beft , plaineft , and mofl fatisfying reafon in the world, and then let him fay the truth.
If man alone doth pafs all other Creatures in wit , for his feveral temperatures above them , as wc heard be- fore 5 then if one man goeth before another in wit , it nmft needs follow from the fame caufe. Now as Spirits are clear and quick,/4ir and Fire alfo are clear and quicl^^ when 'Earth and W'atcr arc foul and flow : fo are the Creatures where they bear the fway affcfted both in
Wit
B ook 111. ilrje i einple uj H^jJ dome. i6 i
JFit and Body ^ as appears, with difference between tbe Hart and the Inde ^ and all other wholefbme and noy- fbme Creatures. To go further, why are the men fb grofs and rude under the two Foles of the world , in the frozen Countries^ and fo civil and wife in the hot , as Dr. TundinM well noteth ? but for that the outward heac clcanfeth , as it is a cleanfer and dryer , and fo eleareth their bodies 5 whereas cold on the other fide binds and thickens : and fo like wife by flopping the flying out of the grofs , foul , and waterifli humours and leavings, makes all not onely dark and cloudy , but hot and moijl alfo, as if it were Drunk^n^ by boyling together, as Tyihagoras tearmeth it.
They raife the firft face of Scorpio^ and then they make another Figure of a Souldier armed and crovyncd with a StiPord in his hand : and,upon this (they fay) de- fcends a Sprit or ^ngel that fpeaks with a luxurious voyce : Jt flieweth the caufe of VVifdome and foUy^ it alfo teacheth what Stars make Profhetig and how that Beads may put on mavlike TSlature^ e^c. He favours his brother preceding, and (ays he might have corn- pa r'd people to o/ tries to the Jouth in hot Countries, Becaufe (faith he) the odds of Wifdome between jig the fame cattje of drought atnd moifture h that is, as the Sfirit {mhy clearnefs zndfulnefs of the Bodies. And therefore Ves Cartes viis not ill advifed, when he (aid, ihatatfucha time as the Eye of the Body failed, th« Eyes of the Underf^anding begin to fee (harply, beeau(c when his waterifli inllrument dryeth up with the re(i of the body, though it put out the fight of Sen (e, yetic is a token that the light of IVit increafcth: for drought, as we faid, breeds clearnefs^ if it be not mixt with cold* iie/>, for then it brings in Earthiinefsy the heavieftEle* ment of all : And therefore thofe that are old and cold,
Mmm aire
l6z The temple of mfdome. Book III,
afrc very dotHig and cbildijh again: but if that drought- be Teafoned with heat (the more the better) they make the man very wife and full of underftanding. It fetii been always obferved Jidius Cafar is defcribed fo, biltmoi^ ftrongly before him ^/e:)c^w^/er3 whofe body by hi5 great heat and drought , was not onely moft (weet inlife, but able, lying dead above Ground in a hot'lbyl and feafbn^ without any Balming, alone to keep k felf feeth and fweet without all taint and corruption, ft)r many days together.
In the kccMdface they make the Ima^e of a man na* h^dy which we will apply to good furpcfe 'mgoodA tersy although the Arabians raffe this Figure, upon which refteth Barcbiel , a deceitful Spirit ; yet expe- rience hath taught us that good may be done by this Spirit ; for it faith , men may elevate themfelves a- bove the powers of their body , and abov€ theii^ feniitive Pon?erj5 and thofe being furmonnted , re 6eive into themfelves the perfection of the Heavens mdlnteUipnces a Divine Vigotir. Seeing therefore the Souls of ailrhen, both wife and foolifh, are perpetual; and alfo all the Spirits obey theperfeft Souls -^ Kofie Cmcz ^^2/ think, that fools may be made wife : And this Genius dithy that pcrfeftman may by the powers erf their 5o«/ repair their dying Bodies, with other inferi^- our Souls newly feparated, and infpire them again, as a Weezel that is killed is made alive again by the breath mid cry of his Dam : and Lyons make alive again thek ^ad Whelps by breathing upon them.
Andbecaufe, astheyfay , all like things being ap |>lyed to their like, arc made of the fame natures ; and •every patient and thing that receives into it felf the Afl of an Jjs^ent^ is endued with the nature of thsLtAgenti und made Con^natural : Hence they think, that to raift -tlie dead to life , fotne Herbs I fpake of in my Bo