SelfDefinition.Org
Life of Paracelsus
(1493-1541)
Franz Hartmann MD
Chapter 4 Anthropology the Generation of Man
Generation of Man
[Paracelsus writes:]
"All that Aristoteles and his followers have written about the generation of man, is not based upon observation or reading within the light of nature, but consists merely of theories which they have invented and elaborated with a great deal of cunning and trouble. It is merely phantastry and devoid of truth; for although the light of nature has not refused them anything, it has also given them nothing."
"What we teach is not the result of opinion and speculation, but of actual experience. Our philosophy has not originated in the realm of the imagination, but is copied from the book of nature itself. We believe that for the terrestrial man there is no nobler enjoyment than to know the laws of nature; but we reject that kind of smartness and cunning which invents systems of so-called philosophy, based upon arguments which have no foundation in truth."
"All that these writers can talk about is the sensual world, such as they perceive with their senses; but we claim that this world of external appearances is only the fourth part of the actual world; not that the world were still three times bigger than it appears to us, but that there are still three-fourths of it of which we are unconscious. We say that there is a world within the (element of) water, and that it has its own inhabitants; and another world within the (element of) the earth; and there are volcanic people, who live in the fourth part of the world, in the element of the fire."(De Generatio Hominis)
"There are creatures having within themselves the seed for their propagation, such as minerals and plants, and all that has no self-consciousness; and there are others endowed with consciousness and life, without any seed in them, namely, animals and human beings." [1]
[1. It is taught that primordial man also had within himself the power to propagate his own species, while he was in an ethereal state; but when he became more material the female element became partly separated from him and woman came into existence.]
[Hartmann writes:]
Man is made out of three substances, or seeds, or "mothers." His spiritual seed is from God, and God is his mother; his astral elements are developed under the influences of the constellation (the astral plane), and his mother is, therefore, the soul of the world; his visible body is formed and born out of the elements of the visible world, and thus the terrestrial world is its mother.
"If the whole man were made only out of the seed of his parents, he would resemble his parents in every respect. A chestnut-tree bears chestnuts, and from each of its fruits can grow nothing else but a chestnut-tree; but the mixture of seeds is the cause that a son may be very unlike his father. The seed (tincture) from the brain of the father and that from the brain of the mother make only one brain in the child, but that tincture among the two which is the strongest will predominate and characterise the child."
From God and From Nature
Man receives his spirit and body not from his father and mother, but from God and from nature, acting through the instrumentality of his parents. His soul and body are formed in his mother, but do not originate in her. The three substances or elements which go to make up the constitution of man are universal; man is merely a centre or focus through which they act.
There are beings who live exclusively in only one of these elements, while man exists in all three. Each of these elements is visible and tangible to the beings living therein, and its qualities may be known to its inhabitants. Thus the Gnomes may see all that is going on in the interior of the earthly shell surrounding our planet, this shell being as air for them; the Undines thrive and breathe in their watery world; the Sylphs live in the air like a fish in the water, and the Salamanders are happy in the element of the fire. A person in whose organisation the element of earth preponderates will have great talents for agriculture and mining; a soul sympathising especially with the watery element will endow the person with a taste for a seafaring life, &c.
Spirit is perceptible to spiritual existences, and the thoughts of mortals consequently appear visible and material to spirits; the Soul essence, with its currents and forms, may be seen and felt by the Elementals and beings that live in the realm of the soul; and they are, also, capable of reading such thoughts as are not of a too refined and spiritual character to be discerned by them, and to perceive the states of feelings of men by the colours and impressions produced in the auras of the latter; but they cannot perceive divine and spiritual things.
Matter, in the state in which it is known to us, is seen and felt by means of the physical senses; but to beings who are not provided with such senses, material things are as invisible and intangible as spiritual things are to those who have not developed the power of spiritual perception.
The Spiritual Essence of Man comes from the highest emanation of God. It is gifted with divine wisdom and with divine power; and if the higher elements constituting the normal man become conscious of the possession of divine gifts, and learn to realise their powers and how to employ them, they will be, so to say, superhuman, and may rightly be called Divine Beings, or Sons of the Almighty.
Whenever a child is conceived, a word proceeds, like a ray from God, which provides the future man with a Spirit. [2] This Spirit, however, is not absorbed immediately by the new-born child, but becomes incarnate gradually, as the man grows and attains reason and intelligence. [3]
[2. This Spirit is the same spiritual ray that has overshadowed man in his previous incarnation and afterwards become withdrawn into the divine essence, from which it issues again. It is, therefore, not a new Spirit, but the same that incarnated before.]
[3. This is not to be understood as if some astral form in the human shape were waiting to crawl into the body of the child, but that the spiritual element gradually develops and becomes active in the child, in proportion as the human instrument through which it desires to act enables it to manifest that activity. An incarnation generally becomes complete only when the child has attained its seventh year.]
Many men and women live, and marry, and die without ever coming into full possession of (or without entering into a firm connection with) that divine ray of wisdom that can alone transform them into immortal human beings; because, although the powers and essences that go to make up their astral souls may be much more enduring in their form than their physical bodies, still these powers will become exhausted and these essences be decomposed into their elements in due time, and there is nothing that endures to the end except the Spirit of God, that may become manifest in man by assimilating the more refined essences of the soul.
If no such assimilation takes place – in other words, if the individual during his life does not become wise and good and spiritually enlightened – the divine ray will, at the death of the person, return again to the source from whence it came; but that individual's personality [4] will only remain as an impression in the astral light.
[4. There is a difference between individuality and personality; personality being a changeable mask which the individual ray produces.]
Two Kinds of Intelligence
There are two kinds of intelligence in man: the higher and the lower intelligence. It is only the human (superhuman) intelligence that can combine and unite itself with the spirit. The lower or animal intellect, however clever it may be, and however much learning it may possess, will be lost, because it is not spiritual. It is the spirit or life alone that can hold forms together and prevent their dissolution and their return into chaos.
Pure spirit has no personality, but exists impersonal in and as God. Every birth produces a new person, but not a new spiritual ray. The spirit survives, but the personality of man, as such, will be lost. Only those elements belonging to his personality that will be absorbed by the spirit will survive with the latter. The cement that unites the soul with the spirit is love, and the love of God is, therefore, the highest good attainable by mortal man.
"The animal kingdom is not without reason and intellect, and in many of its arts, such as swimming, flying, &c., even superior to man; but the Spirit of God is far superior to the reasoning intellect, and by means of this spirituality man may rise above the animal plane. Therefore there is a great difference between the external and the internal man; for the intellectuality of the former perishes, while the wisdom of the latter remains." (De Fundamento Sapientiae)
The astral Soul-essence of Man is formed by the ethereal or astral influences coming from the souls of the world and of the planets and stars, especially from the soul (or astral body) of the planet whereon he lives. As the soul of each man and of each animal has its peculiar qualities that distinguish it from others, so the soul of each planet, each sun, each world, has its peculiar characteristics, and sends out its beneficial or its destructive influences, pervading cosmic space, acting upon the Microcosm of man, and producing finally visible results. [5]
[5. This is not to be understood as if the astral influences were creating the divine soul of man. Man's spirit is from God; his astral qualities are developed by the astral influences, and his elementary (physical) body grows out of the elements by which it is surrounded.]
These astral elements are the organisers of the soul of man. They are the builders of the temple in which the spirit resides, and being energised by them, the soul of man attracts by physiological processes the elements of the earth, and forms tissues, muscles, and bones, and becomes visible and tangible to other similarly constituted beings as the material or animal body of man. [6]
[6. Those anatomists, physiologists, and other scientists who claim to know all about the constitution of man, because they have studied the organisation, of his physical body, and deny the existence of a soul and spirit, know only a part and in fact the most unimportant part of the constitution of man.]
Man may therefore be looked upon as a twofold being – a visible and an invisible man (or as having a material and a spiritual aspect), linked together by an astral soul. "The form of a corporeal thing is one thing, and that which produces the form is another thing; the form of a thing arises from the form of the mystery (character). If a builder wants to build a house, the form of the house exists in his mind before he executes the building, even if it is seen by no one except by the builder himself." (De Podagris, II.)
The visible man consists of such originally invisible elements as have become visible in his body; the invisible man consists of feelings and thoughts whose origin is in the Macrocosm, and their light is reflected and impresses itself upon matter. Man is therefore the quintessence of all the elements, and a son of the universe, or a copy in miniature of its Soul, and everything that exists or takes place in the universe, exists and can take place in the constitution of man.
The congeries of forces and essences making up the constitution of what we call man, is the same as the congeries of forces and powers that on an infinitely larger scale is called the Universe. Everything in the Universe reflects itself in man, and may come to his consciousness; and this circumstance enables man, when he knows himself, to know the Universe, and to perceive not only that which exists invisibly in the Universe, but to foresee and prophesy future events.
On this intimate relationship between the Universe and Man depends the harmony by which the Infinite becomes intimately connected with the Finite, the immeasurably great with the small. It is the golden chain of Homer, or the Platonic ring. [7]
[7. This doctrine of Paracelsus is identical with the one taught by the ancient Brahmins and Yogis of the East; but it may not necessarily be derived from the latter, for an eternal truth may as well be recognised by one seer as by another, in the East as well as in the West, and two or more spiritually enlightened persons may perceive the same truth independently of each other, and describe it each one in his own manner. The terms Microcosm and Macrocosm are identical in their meaning with the Microprosopos and Macroprosopos, or the "Short-face" and "Long-face," of the Kabala. (Note made by H. P. Blavatsky.)]
To Be a Real Man
The object of man's existence is to be a real Man, including all that this term implies; i.e., to re-establish the harmony which originally existed between him and the divine state before the separation took place which disturbed the equilibrium, and which caused the first emanation of the divine essence to be absorbed by the third material emanation and to sink into matter.
To re-establish this harmony, Man may bring the will of God to perfect expression in his nature, by learning to know within himself the will of God and being obedient to it, and thereby his own nature and finally even the whole of the Macrocosm, will become spiritualised and be rendered paradisaical.
The individual qualities and temperaments of men will be developed to a certain extent, independently of their surroundings, by the power of the Ens seminis, a formative power (potency of matter). Adam and Eve (the spiritual dual male and female essence) have received their body through the "creatures" (elemental or astral essences), and through the Ens seminis, and through this never-ceasing supply men and women will come into existence until the end of the world. [8]
[8. This "end of the world," i.e., of external bisexual generation, will be when man has again found the woman within himself from whom he has become separated by his descending from his spiritual state and becoming gross and material. "The Lord is not without the woman;" that means to say that the paradisaical Man (the Karana sharira) is still male and female in one; but man, having ceased to be "the Lord," and become a servant to the animal kingdom in him, has ceased to recognise the true woman in him, his heavenly bride, and seeks for the woman in that which is external to him. Therefore man cannot enter into his original state of unity and purity except by means of the celestial marriage (within his soul) such as takes place during the process of spiritual regeneration. (See Jacob Boehme.)]
If there were no planets and stars, and if there never had been any in existence, nevertheless the children of Adam and Eve would be born and have their particular temperaments. One may be melancholy, another choleric, a third sanguine or bilious, &c. Such qualities of men come from the Ens proprietatis, and not from any astral influences, for the temperaments, tastes, inclinations, and talents form no part of the body; that is to say, they give no complexion, colour, or form to it – they are the attributes of the Ens proprietatis. [9]
[9. What else can this "Ens proprietatis" mean but the human monad reincarnating itself, and being in possession of all the tastes, inclinations, talents, and temperament acquired during its former existences as an individual being?]
Although, speaking in a general sense, the Microcosm and the Macrocosm bear to each other a similar relationship as the chicken in the egg bears to its surrounding albumen, nevertheless the action of the Macrocosm upon the Microcosm is only an external condition of life, called by Paracelsus, Digest. No man or any mortal being can exist without the influence of the Astra, but they do not come into existence through them. A seed thrown into the soil may grow and produce a plant, but it could not accomplish this if it were not acted upon by the sun, nor could the soil itself produce a seed, no matter how long the sun would shine upon it.
Paracelsus explains the origin of the qualities of the external conditions of life as being produced by the mutual attractions and interactions existing between the Macrocosmos and the Microcosmos, and by the harmony of both spheres (the upper and lower mind), of which either is formed in accordance with the other. The common basis of both -- which is, so to say, their common receptacle of germs – is called Limbus. "Man being formed out of the Limbus, and the Limbus being universal, and therefore the mother of all things, it follows that all things, including man, have the same origin, and each thing is attracted to its own original by reason of this mutual relationship. [10]
[10. Aboriginal spiritual Man (male and female in one) has been created by the will of God being active within divine wisdom; but the woman was made out of a "rib" (a power) of man. Therefore man and woman are not equals, except as far as their animal constitution goes: "The matrix from which man originated was the whole world (the limbus); but woman came out of the matrix of man. Thus man made unto himself a matrix, the woman, who is now to him as much as a whole world, and the spirit of the Lord is within her, informing and fructifying her. No one has seen it; but nevertheless it is in the matrix of woman. Therefore they ought not be used for whoredom; for the spirit is in them, coming from the Lord and returning to Him." (Paramirum, iv.)]
Man and Woman
"If man were not formed in such a manner and out of the whole ring and of all its parts, but if each man were made out of a separate piece of the world essentially distinct from others, he would not be capable to receive the influences residing in the whole. But the soul of the great world has the same divisions, proportions, and parts as the soul of man, and the material body of man receives the material body of Nature in the same sense as the son receives 'the blood' of his father."
A relationship similar to the one existing between the Macrocosm and the Microcosm exists between man and woman, and between woman and the uterus, and between the uterus and the foetus.
"The whole of the Microcosm is potentially contained in the Liquor Vitae (Prana), a nerve-fluid comparable to the fluidic brain-substance, and in which is contained the nature, quality, character, and essence of beings, and which ethereal life-fluid in man may be looked upon as an invisible or hidden man so to say, his ethereal counterpart or reflection." (De Generatio Hominis)
"From this nerve-aura or liquor vitae, in the process of the generation of man, the semen separates itself in a manner comparable to the separation of the foam or froth from a fermenting liquid, or as the quintessence (the fifth principle) of all things separates itself from the lower elements. This semen, however, is not the spermia or the visible seminal fluid of man, but rather a semi-material principle contained in the sperma, or the aura seminalis, to which the sperma serves as a vehicle." [11]
[11. That which Paracelsus calls the semen, or seed of man, is not that which is known as semen to modern physiologists, but a semi-spiritual principle to which the sperma merely serves as a vehicle and instrument for propagation; or, to express it in other words, the fructifying principle does not exist in the sperma, but in the spirit (the will and imagination) of man, or what is also called "the tincture." The sperma merely serves as a vehicle, in the same sense as the body of a man is a vehicle for the manifestation of his interior spirit. (See De Gener. Hom.)]
"The physical sperma is a secretion of the physical organs, but the aura seminalis is a product (or emanation) of the liquor vitas. It is developed by the latter in the same sense as fire is produced out of wood, in which there is actually no fire, but out of which heat and fire may proceed. This emanation or separation takes place by a kind of digestion, and by means of an interior heat, which during the time of virility becomes produced in man by the proximity of woman, by his thoughts of her, or by his contact with her, in the same manner as a piece of wood exposed to the concentrated rays of the sun can be made to burn. All the organs of the human system, and all their powers and activities, contribute alike to the formation of semen; and the essences of all are contained in the liquor vitae, whose quintessence is the aura seminalis, and these organs and physiological activities are reproduced in the foetus out of this liquor."
"They are, therefore, germinally contained in the seminal fluid that is necessary for the reproduction of the human organism. The spiritual semen is, so to say, the essence of the human body, containing all the organs of the latter in an ideal form." Furthermore, Paracelsus makes a distinction between Sperma cagastricum and Sperma iliastricum, of which the former is the product of the imagination (thought), and the latter is attracted directly from the Mysterium magnum. [12]
[12. The universal matrix, into which the spiritual monad, having passed through the Devachanic state, finally enters, and from which it is again attracted into new incarnations.]
"Woman, however, being nearer to Nature, furnishes the soil in which the seed of man finds the conditions required for its development. She nourishes, develops, and matures the seed without furnishing any seed herself. Man, although born of woman, is never derived from woman, but always from man. The cause of the mutual interaction of the two sexes is their mutual attraction. The tendencies of man cause him to think and to speculate; his speculation creates desire, his desire grows into passion, his passion acts upon his imagination, and his imagination creates semen. Therefore God has put semen into the imagination of man, and planted into women the desire to be attractive to man. The matrix contains a strong attractive power, to attract the semen, similar to that of the loadstone to attract iron." [13]
[13. Thus the matrix attracts the seed of both persons, mixed with the sperm; and afterwards it expels the sperm, but retains the seed. Thus the seed comes into the matrix." (Gebaerung) "The matrix," however, does not mean merely the womb of a woman; the whole body of the woman is a mother, a "matrix." (De Morbor. Matric) ]
"The relationship existing between the Macrocosm and Microcosm finds its analogy in the relationship existing between the female body and the uterus. The latter may be regarded as a Microcosm in a Microcosm. As the semen of man contains potentially all the organs of the parent body, so there are contained potentially in the uterus all the attributes of the female body, the whole of man's body is potentially contained in the semen, and the whole of the body of the mother is, so to say, the soil in which the future man is made to ripen, because all the essences and forces of her body centre in the uterus, and there the power of her imagination is especially active."
"Thus is Man the product of a secondary fluid, while the Macrocosmos is the product of a primordial fluid, and as the Spirit of God in the beginning of creation moved upon the surface of the waters (the soul) likewise the human spirit, being diffused through the whole of man's organism, moves upon the (seminal) fluid, out of which the human form is developed. That Spirit of God is the vivifying and spiritualising element in the process of procreation. But the human foetus passes in the uterus through an animal-like existence, receiving the true spirit at a later period. It is then like a fish in the water, and brings an animal nature into the world."
The fact of the semen being formed of all parts of the body in equal proportion explains why persons are born in whom certain organs may be missing. If for some cause one part or another of the human organism does not participate in the formation of semen, its essence will be missing in the constitution of the seminal fluid, and cannot reproduce the corresponding part in the matrix. [14] If for some cause a part of the father's organism produces a double quantity of semen, a child will be born having supernumerary members.
[14. It might be objected, that if this were true, a man having lost a leg could beget only one-legged children; but such a superficial reasoning would be caused by a misunderstanding of the true nature of man. The invisible man is the essential man, the physical body only the outward expression. If the physical body loses a limb, it does not follow that the soul-body loses it likewise; but if there is a congenital malformation, such as supernumerary fingers or toes, they may be reproduced in the child; because nature has a tendency to acquire habits and to repeat them.]
Imagination
"Whatever the mother imagines and obtains, the seed (spirit) of that thing is attracted to the matrix, and thereof grows the child; but the assertions of those astronomers who claim that the stars make a man are erroneous, and we will look upon such claims as a fable and joke to which one may listen during an idle hour. There are many fools in the world, and each one has his own hobby." (Gebaerung des Menschen).
As the imagination of man is productive of semen, likewise the imagination of the mother exerts a great constructive influence upon the development of the foetus, and upon this fact is based the similarity existing between children and parents. [15] Twins and other multiple births are caused if the uterus attracts the semen with more than one single draught. The power of attraction which the uterus exercises upon the seminal aura is so great that by coming into contact with the spermatic fluid of animals it may absorb it and bring forth monstrosities. [16]
[15. This creative and formative power of the imagination may be used to advantage for the purpose of producing male or female offspring at will, as has also been proved by experiments made in cattle-breeding. If the desire or passion, and consequently the imagination, of the female is stronger than that of the male during coition, male children will be produced. If on such an occasion the imagination of the male is stronger than that of the female, the child will be of the female sex. If the imagination of both parties is equally strong, a "hermaphrodite" may possibly be the result.]
[16. It will perhaps be difficult to state an example to prove this assertion; neither has it been disproved.]
It may therefore be said that the imagination of the father sets into activity the creative power necessary to generate a human being, and the imagination of the mother furnishes the material for its formation and development; [17] but neither the father nor the mother is the parent of the essential spiritual man, but the germ of the latter comes from the Mysterium magnum, and God is its father. Parents do not endow their children with reason, although they may furnish the child with a body, in which the principle of reason may or may not be able to act. [18]
[17. The effects of the mother's imagination on the development of the foetus are well known to the people. Hare-lip, acephali, moles, &c., may be caused by the effects of a morbid imagination.]
[18. If a child, as is often the case, manifests the same tastes, talents, and inclinations as those of his father or as other members of the same family, it does by no means necessarily follow that these tastes, &c., have been inherited by it from his parents, and the contrary often takes place. A similarity of tastes, &c., between the child and his parents would rather go to show that the monad, having developed its tendencies in a previous incarnation, was attracted to a particular family on account of an already existing similarity of his own tastes with those of its future parents.]
Reason is the natural birthright of every human being; it is eternal and perfect, and need not be educated in the child, but it may be overpowered and driven out by dogmatism and error. Intellectual acquisitions are perishable; memory is often lost much quicker in old age or on account of cerebral diseases than it is developed in youth. [19] Children may inherit from their parents the powers to employ their reason, but they do not inherit reason itself, because reason is an attribute of the Divine Spirit. Man cannot lose his reason, but he can become lost to it, because reason is an universal principle, and cannot be owned by any individual man, even if it is manifested in him.
[19. Numerous cases are known in which persons of great learning have become simpletons in their old age; others, where such persons, in consequence of a short sickness, lost all their memory, and had to learn to read again, beginning with the ABC.]
"A man carrying seed in him (having a lewd imagination) uses no reason; he lives only within his lusts and morbid fancies. God has created man that he may live as a free being within the light of nature; therefore the philosopher should remain free in that light and not live in the seed of nature, which is called Allara. God has put the seed into the imagination; but He has given to man a free will, so that he may either allow himself to be carried away by his fancies, or rise superior to what nature desires in him" (Gebaerung.)
Woman and Marriage
Woman, in so far as she is a human being, contains, like man, the germs of all that exists in the Macrocosm, and can manifest the same mental characteristics as man. Moreover, there are males with preponderating female soul-qualities, and females in whom the male elements are preponderating; but woman, as such, represents the will (including love and desire), and man, as such, represents intellect (including the imagination); only in the Lord, within either of them, i.e., in their own God, exists true wisdom.
Therefore woman, as such, is more given to willing, and is led by her desires; while man, as such, is more given to arguing and calculating causes and effects. Woman represents the substance; man represents spirit. Man imagines, woman executes. Man creates images; the woman renders these images substantial. Man without woman is like a wandering spirit, a shadow without substance, seeking to embody itself in a corporeal form; woman is like a flower, a bud opening in the light of the sun, but sinking into darkness when man, her light, departs.
The divine man (the angel) is male and female in one, such as Adam was before the woman became separated from him. He is like the sun, and his power may be reflected in men and women alike; but woman, as such, resembles the moon, receiving her light from the sun, and man without the woman (in him) is a consuming fire in want of fuel.
Originally, man and woman were one, and consequently their union could not have been more intimate than it actually was; but man, having become separated from the woman in him, lost his true substance. He now seeks for the woman outside of his true self, and wanders about among shadows, being misled by the illusions. Being fascinated by the charms of the terrestrial woman, he drinks of the cup of desires which she presents to him, and sinks into a still deeper sleep and forgetfulness of the true celestial Eve, the immaculate virgin, who once existed within himself.
In this way woman is the enemy of man, and revenges herself for having been divorced from him and cast out from her true home within his heart; but, on the other hand, she is man's best friend and redeemer; for man, having lost the paradise in his soul, and having become unconscious of the true light which existed in him before he went to sleep in the spirit and awoke in the flesh, would sink into still lower degradation and descend to still lower hells, if woman did not stand upon the threshold to stop him, and for the true heaven which he lost offer him a terrestrial paradise, illuminated by the light of her love, whose origin is in heaven.
The Lord is the same in woman as He is in man; but males and females are not equals. They are constituted very differently from each other, not only according to their mental characteristics, but also in regard to the whole of their bodily substance. Male and female animals are made out of the same stuff; but woman was not originally created; she was formed out of a "rib" (a spiritual substance) of man, and is therefore of a nobler and more refined kind of matter, such as he possessed before the woman was formed from him. Woman is made of the best and substantial part of man, and is therefore the crown of creation.
"A common boor thinks that the blood of a woman is the same as that of a man; but a physician, unless he has been baptized with the blood of a boor, will see the difference between the two." (De Morb. Matric.)
Man represents the dark, fiery will, woman the light love-will; man the fire, woman the water. It is not the divine man who is attracted by any woman, but the tincture (nature) in him. The fiery element in man seeks for the watery element in woman, and carries the man along. Thus it is neither man nor woman who longs for sexual intercourse, but nature in them.
There is, perhaps, no doctrine which has done more mischief than the misconstrued teaching about affinities and soul-marriages; because such a doctrine is willingly accepted by the carnal mind. God did not create souls in halves, nor can Adam find his Eve again unless she grows within his heart. Man will never find his celestial bride unless he looks for her within his internal heaven, within "the Lord."
Sexual cohabitation, whether authorised or unauthorised by Church or State, is merely an animal function. There is neither Absolute good nor absolute evil in marriage. It relates to the parties entering the contract, and is therefore relative. It may serve for their edification in one case, and for their degradation in another.
To the semi-animal man it may be a school of education; but the regenerated man requires no sexual relationship. The procreation of children is an animal function, and he who is unable or unwilling to exercise it has no business to marry. If he, nevertheless, enters the connubial bonds, he commits a piece of stupidity, if not a fraud. [20]
[20. "As there is a love between animals so that they long to dwell and cohabit together as males and females, so there is such an animal love among men and women, which they have inherited from the animals. It is a deadly love, which cannot be carried higher, and belongs merely to the animal nature of man. It springs from animal reason, and as animals love and hate each other, so does animal man. Dogs envy and bite each other, and in so far as men envy and fight each other they are the descendants of dogs. Thus one man is a fox, another a wolf, another a bear, &c. Each one has certain animal elements in him; and if he allows them to grow in him, and identifies himself with them, he is then fully that with which he is identified." (De Fundamento Sapientiae)]
It is also useless for a man to resist the claims of nature in him, if he cannot rise superior to that nature; and the power for that superiority does not depend on his human will, but comes from his higher and spiritual nature, in which he should seek his refuge.
"As long as the root is not, with all of its fibres, torn out of the earth (i.e., as long as man has not become regenerated, and thereby free from sexual attractions), he will be blind and feeble; the spirit quick; the fancy strong; and the temptations so great that he cannot resist, unless he has been chosen for that purpose; for all things are ordained by God. If He wants you to be married, and to have children from you, then all your pledging yourself to chastity and your virginity will amount to nothing. If, in such a case, you refuse to marry, you will then fall into whoredom, or something still worse. Thus will God punish your disobedience, and your resistance to the will of God will be your eternal death." (De Homunculis)
In regard to the marriage obligations, Paracelsus says: "If a woman leaves her husband, she is then not free from him nor he from her; for a marriage union having once been formed, it remains a union for all eternity." This means that by entering willfully into sexual relationship with another being, we become attached to it in our will, and a partaker of its future Karma. A woman to whom a man is bound by promise and sexual intercourse becomes, as it were, a part of the man, and cannot be divorced from him by any ceremony or external separation. They constitute, so to say, one mind, and the component parts of the mind, which represent the carnal man, are not separated until the time of the second death. [21]
[21. This goes to account for cases of vampirism, when the elementary of a dead person is still attracted to the object of its affections and obsesses him or her. (Incubi and Succubi: "Spirit-husbands and "Spirit-brides")]
Sexual intercourse without love is merely a kind of onanism with a corporeal form substituted for the merely mental image; but if sanctioned (not "sanctified") by love, it is then a union, not merely of body, but also of soul; not of the spiritual soul, which needs no such union, it being already one with all other such souls in the substance of Christ, but a union of that which constitutes the lower mind of man. [22]
[22. It is not the flesh and bones of a man which form attachments and make and break promises, but the internal, carnally minded man; and this man will be bound by his attachments and promises long after the house in which he has lived (his body) will have ceased to exist. In regard to this subject, Paracelsus regards it as dangerous to give further details.]
The Constitution of Man
According to Paracelsus, the constitution of man consists of seven principles, or, to express it more correctly, of seven modifications of one primordial essence, which are as follows, and to which we add their Eastern terms [23]:—
[23. See A. P. Sinnett's "Esoteric Buddhism." [BlavatskyArchives.Com] ]
1. The Elementary Body. (The Physical Body) – Sthula Sharira.
2. The Archaeus. (Vital force) – Prana.
3. The Sidereal Body. (The Astral body) – Linga Sharira.
4. Mumia. (The Animal Soul) – Kama rupa.
5. The Rational Soul. (The Human Soul) – Flesh of Adam. Manas.
6. The Spiritual Soul. (The Spiritual Soul) – Flesh of Christ. Buddhi.
7. The Man of the new Olympus. Atma Buddhi Manas.
In his "Philosophia Sagax" and his "Explanations of Astronomia," Paracelsus deals extensively with a description and explanation of these seven qualities. The most important points referring to the higher principles are as follows:—
"The life of man is an astral effluvium or a balsamic impression, a heavenly and invisible fire, an enclosed essence or spirit. We have no better terms to describe it. The death of a man is nothing else but the end of his daily labour, or taking away the ether of life, a disappearance of the vital balsam, an extinction of the natural light, a re-entering into the matrix of the mother. The natural man possesses the elements of the Earth, and the Earth is his mother, and he re-enters into her and loses his natural flesh; but the real man will be re-born at the day of the resurrection in another spiritual and glorified body." (De Natura Rerum) [24]
[24. Speaking of the day of the resurrection, Paracelsus refers to a great mystery, alluded to in St. John's Revelation, and more plainly spoken of by the Eastern Adepts, when at the end of the Seventh Round all the higher recollections of the various personalities with which the spiritual monad has been connected during its many objective existences, and which have not become exhausted in Kama-loca, but have been preserved in the Astral Light, will re-enter the field of consciousness of the spiritual (divine) man.]
In the study of anthropology the consideration of the divine part of man is of supreme importance; for the animal part of man is not the true man; neither is the elementary body the man; for that body without the true man within is merely a corpse. "Man has two spirits, a divine and a terrestrial spirit. The former is from the breath of God; the latter from the elements of the air and the fire. He ought to live according to the life of the divine spirit and not according to that of the animal." (De Lunaticos)
But the divine, immortal, and invisible man cannot be a subject for the investigation of any science, such as deals merely with external and visible things. He can be known to no one except to his own self; for the low cannot comprehend the high, and the finite mind cannot contain the infinite. The study of the divine man is the object of self-knowledge:
"Physical science deals with the physical, and metaphysical science with the astral man; but these sciences are misleading and incomplete, if we lose out of our sight the existence of the divine and eternal man." (De Fundamento Sapientiae)
"Neither the external nor the astral man is the real man, but the real man is the spiritual soul in connection with the Divine Spirit. The astral soul is the shadow (ethereal counterpart) of the body, illumined by the spirit, and it therefore resembles man. It is neither material nor immaterial, but partakes of the nature of each."
"The inner (sidereal) man is formed out of the same Limbus as the Macrocosm, and he is therefore able to participate in all the wisdom and knowledge existing in the latter. He may obtain knowledge of all creatures, angels, and spirits, and learn to understand their attributes. He may learn from the Macrocosm the meaning of the symbols (the forms) by which he is surrounded, in the same manner as he acquires the language of his parents; because his own soul is the quintessence of everything in creation, and is connected sympathetically with the whole of Nature; and therefore every change that takes place in the Macrocosm can be sensed by the ethereal essence surrounding his spirit, and it may come to the consciousness and comprehension of man." [25]
[25. It ought to be kept in mind that whenever Paracelsus speaks of the terrestrial or "earthly" man, he does not refer to the elementary (physical) body, but to the carnal part of the mind (the lower manas). Therefore, he says, "the body thinks, but the spirit wills.” The elementary body does not think; it is merely a corpse, without the "inner man", and the shadow of the latter. It is as such of so little importance that it may not be at all missed, if we leave it either during a trance or after its death.]
Mortal man is a spirit, and has two bodies that are intimately connected together, an elementary and a sidereal body. These two bodies go to form one man. When a man dies, his elementary body returns to the elements of the Earth; the Earth absorbs the whole of his three lower principles, and nothing remains of the form of the body.
The more material parts of the sidereal body undergo a similar decomposition. This body is formed of the astral elements, and is not dependent on physical substances. It is subject to planetary influences, and as the elementary body is dissolved into the elements from which it has been taken, likewise the astral form will in due time dissolve into the sidereal elements to which its substance belongs.
The sidereal body remains near the decaying physical body until it is itself decomposed by the action of the astral influences. The two bodies were partners during life, and are only separated by death. Therefore they naturally remain near each other for a while after death, until they are consumed by their elements, the one in the grave, the other one in the air. [26] The decomposition of the elementary body requires a certain length of time according to its qualities and the qualities of its surroundings, and likewise the sidereal body may be decomposed slow or quick, according to the coherence of its particles, and according to the quality and strength of the astral influences acting upon it.
[26. If clairvoyance were at present a normal faculty of mankind, and if men could see the astral forms of the dead hovering over the graves and decomposing in the air, graveyards would soon be abolished, and cremation take the place of burial.]
The Elementary Body
The elementary body is corporeal, but the sidereal body is ethereal. The elementary body is visible and tangible; the sidereal body is invisible and intangible for us, but visible and tangible for those beings that are of a nature similar to its own.
The elementary body cannot move on its own account from the place where it has been deposited after death; but the sidereal body (Kama rupa) goes to that place to which it is mostly attracted by its own desires. If there are no particular places to attract it, it will remain near the elementary body; [27] but if it is attracted to other places it will visit them, and it is therefore especially liable to haunt the residence which the person occupied during his life, being attracted there by its acquired habits and instincts.
[27. Thus there seems to be a scientific reason for offering sacrifices upon the graves of the dead, as is the custom in China.]
Being devoid of reason and judgment, it has no choice in such matters, but follows blindly its attractions. The sidereal body will under certain (mediumistic) conditions become visible, and it therefore can be seen at places to which the reflex of its former passions, such as envy, avarice, repentance, revenge, selfishness, lust, &c., will attract it, and it may remain in such places until it is dissolved and decomposed.
If a sensitive person asserts to have seen the spirit of a deceased person, we may believe that he has seen the sidereal body of such a person, but it is wrong to believe that such a ghost or apparition is the real man, because it is nothing else but the sidereal corpse that appears on such occasions. Such astral corpses may be seen like the reflection of a man in a mirror until they disappear, and the form of one may last longer than that of another. [28]
[28. The last thoughts and desires of a dying person, and their intensity, will, to a great extent, determine the locality to which such a sidereal body may be attracted. Some places have been known to be haunted for a great number of years.]
"The art called Nigromantia (Necromancy) teaches how to deal with such forms. It teaches their habits and instincts, their attributes and qualities, and how we may find out through them the secrets of the persons to whom those shadows belonged. As the image of a man in a large mirror shows the whole of his person and imitates all his movements and actions, so by observing the sidereal body of a deceased person, we can obtain information in regard to the former appearance and the acts and ways of that person, and find out who he was and where he lived." [29] (Philosophia Sagax, lib. i.: Probatio in Scientiam Nigromanticam)
[29. It appears from this sentence that the phenomena of "Modern Spiritualism" [Wikipedia] are not a new revelation, but were known and explained three hundred years ago. "Oh, the soul of poor Galen! If he had remained faithful to truth, his Manes would not now be buried in the abyss of hell, from whence he wrote me a letter. Such is the fate of all quacks!" (Paragranum, Preface)]
Paracelsus ridicules the exorcists, and those who say prayers and read masses for the dead, "because," he says, "the former attempt to force a sidereal corpse to talk, while, in fact, no corpse can talk, and they can get from it at best a reflection of their own thoughts, and the latter attempt to fetch an inanimate body into a living heaven by their pious interposition."
In regard to the conjurers, he says:—
"... they attempt to conjure sidereal bodies, and do not know that they are attempting an impossibility, because such bodies have no sense and cannot be conjured. The consequence is, that the devils (certain elementals) take possession of such sidereal bodies and play their pranks with the conjurers. Such devils will take possession of a living man, and make a weak man act as they please, and cause him to commit all sorts of foolishness and crimes. But if they can do this with a living soul, how much easier then will it be for them to take possession of a dead soul which has no spiritual power to resist! Therefore, such conjurers do not deal with the spirits of the dead, but with the powers of evil and the fathers of lies." [30]
[30. This sentence may seem to throw discredit upon the practices of modern spiritualists, but not all the practices of spiritualists consist in dealing with the sidereal bodies of the dead. Such practices do not deserve the name Spiritualism, but ought to be looked upon as Spiritism, and when the laws upon which our modern Spiritualism and Spiritism are based are known, it will be easy enough to make a distinction. Spiritualism means a dealing with spiritual intelligences; Spiritism, a dealing with unintelligent or semi-intelligent invisible forms. A spiritualist enters into the sphere of a spirit; that is to say, he enters en rapport with a certain mind, and writes or speaks in the spirit of the latter, making himself a medium through which the intelligence of the latter can act, and by which means he may obtain great truths. The spiritist permits an invisible entity to enter bodily into his own physical form and submits his body to the will of the invisible stranger. ]
The Elementals are also the beings which may produce so-called "physical manifestations," cause the appearance and disappearance of objects, throw stones, &c. In a fragment entitled "De Sagis et Earum Operibus" (On Witches and their Arts), cap. 3, he says: "In regard to such things, you ought to know that they are natural, and that no one can justly say otherwise but that Nature produces them, because, if, for instance, a blooming rose is brought in the midst of winter into a country where there are no roses, an ordinary man will think that such a thing took place in contravention to Nature's laws; but the Magus (the wise), who knows by what process such phenomena are produced, knows that they are produced according to the law of Nature, because such a flower is brought from a country where it has grown in a natural manner, and where there is no winter at that time. Thus, ice or snow may be brought with the same facility into a warm country in the midst of summer from another country in which it is winter. Ignorant persons should be informed that the Magus creates neither roses nor snow, but that he can receive them from places where they already exist." [31]
[31. The fact that such material objects are occasionally brought by invisible powers is known to all who have examined the phenomena of Modern Spiritism; but no scientific researcher will ever discover how this is done as long as he does not believe in the existence of Elementals, in regard to which little is publicly known.]
The Evestrum
Intimately connected with the sidereal body is the Evestrum and the Trarames. In regard to these, Paracelsus says in his Philosophia ad Athenienses, "To speak of the Evestrum in its mortal and immortal aspects, we may say that everything has an Evestrum, and that it is like a shadow seen upon a wall. The Evestrum comes into existence, and grows with the body, and remains with it as long as a particle of the matter composing the latter exists."
"The Evestrum originates contemporaneously with the first birth of each form, and everything, whether it be visible or invisible, whether it belongs to the realm of matter or to the realm of the soul, [32] has its Evestrum; but Trarames means an invisible power that begins to be able to manifest itself at a time when the senses of the inner perception become developed. The Evestrum indicates future events by causing visions and apparitions, but Trarames causes an exaltation of the senses. Only those who are gifted with great wisdom may understand the true nature of Evestrum and Trarames. The Evestrum influences the sense of sight; Trarames the sense of hearing. The Evestrum causes dreams foreshadowing future events; Trarames communicates with man by causing voices to speak, music to sound that may be heard by the internal ear, invisible bells to ring, &c." [33]
[32. According to the teachings of the Eastern Adepts, each of the seven principles of man may again be subdivided into seven, and each soul has therefore a sevenfold constitution. In other words, each of the seven qualities contains also the other six. (See Jacob Boehme.)]
[33. So-called Astral Bells, known to all practical occultists.]
"Whenever a child is born, there is born with him an Evestrum, which is so constituted as to be able to indicate in advance all the future acts and the events in the life of the individual to whom it belongs. If that individual is about to die, his Evestrum may indicate the approach of his death by raps or knocks, audible to all, or by some other unusual noise, by the movement of furniture, the stopping of clocks, the breaking of a picture, the fall of a mirror, or any other omen; but frequently such omens are neither recognised nor noticed, and not understood. The Trarames produces manifestations of a more subjective character, and may speak to a person in a way that is audible to him but inaudible to others." [34]
[34. The Evestrum appears to be identical with the Linga shariram, or Astral body of the Eastern occultists. The Trarames is the power which acts on the open sense of hearing of the astral man.]
"The Evestrum of man is born with him, and after the death of the latter it remains in the earth-sphere, [35] and there is still some sympathetic connection between the Evestrum and the eternal and immortal part of man, and it will indicate the state of happiness or misery in which the soul of the person to whom it belongs exists. Such Evestra are not the souls of the dead walking upon the earth, but they are the ethereal duplicates of the persons to whom they belonged, remaining until the last particle of the matter composing the physical bodies of the latter has been consumed."
[35. They have often been seen and described as the spirits of the dead by mediums and clairvoyants. The "Evestra" are merely states of mind, or thoughts, having become endowed with a certain amount of will, so as to render them more or less self-conscious, and, as it were, independent of the person from whom they originate, as is shown in cases where a man would be glad to get rid of some idea by which he is possessed, but cannot drive it away from his mind. Such thoughts will remain impressed on the astral light of a room which that person inhabited, and such an image may even become visible and objective. A case is known where a man became insane and was sent to an insane asylum, where he was kept for over a year. He suddenly became well and went home; but afterward he heard that his "ghost" was still haunting the cell which he had occupied in the asylum, and that it was there living, overthrowing the furniture, &c. He became curious to see his own "ghost," and in spite of all the warnings of his friends, he went back to that cell, saw his "ghost," and was again observed by it, so that he died insane.]
"All Evestra originate in the Turba magna, the collective activity of the universe. [36] The Evestra prophetica proceed directly from the Turba magna, the Evestra obumbrata come into existence at the time when the forms to which they belong appear. The Evestra prophetica [37] are the harbingers of great events that may concern the well-being of the world. If some such important event is to take place, they will be the forerunners to announce it to the world, so that the latter may be prepared for it, and a person who understands the true nature of such an Evestrum is a seer and prophet."
[36. The Soul of the Universe. According to Jacob Boehme, it is the awakened life of the inner world, perturbing Nature.]
[37. Direct emanations of the Universal Mind; Thought bodies.]
Even the highest God has his Evestrum mysteriales by which his existence and his attributes may be recognised, [38] by which everything good may be known, and which may illuminate every mind. All the powers of evil, from the lowest to the highest, have their Evestra mysteriales, which may predict future evil, and which shed their bad influence over the world."
[38. The transcendental bodies of the Dhyan-Chohans collectively.]
"Necromantia gives its signs through the Astra, which we also call 'Evestra.' They mark the bodies of the sick and the dying with spots, showing that he will die on the third day; they mark the hands and fingers of men with yellow spots, foreshowing fortunate events. Through them the dead perform signs and wonders, such as the bleeding of a corpse in the presence of the murderer, and through their power voices are sometimes heard from out of the tombs. Noises and hauntings may thus take place in charnel-houses, and the dead appear in the clothing which they used to wear while living, and various visions be seen in mirrors, stones, water, &c. A great deal might be said about such things, but it would create fears and superstitions and other evils. This we wish to avoid, and we will therefore say no more about such things, which ought not to be publicly known." (Signat. Rer., ix.)
"There are Evestra in all things, [39] and they are all prophesying spirits, whether the bodies to which they belong are rational or irrational, sensitive or without sensation. These Evestra teach Astronomia (natural science) to him who can understand what they say. The character of each thing may be known through its Evestrum, not by making astrological charts, calculating nativities, and composing prognostics, but by looking at it with the understanding, in the same manner as we may look at the image of an object in a mirror or at the shadow of a body on the surface of the water, or upon the earth."
[39. See Professor Denton's "The Soul of Things." Every atom and molecule, every ephemeron, must have its Evestrum, whether the compounds are regarded as organic or inorganic.]
"The Ens (the eternal cause and character of a thing) is reflected in its Evestrum. The form of the latter perishes, but the spirit remains. The number and variety of Evestra are as incalculable as that of the visible and invisible forms to which they belong. The Evestra of human beings know the thoughts of men, guide their instincts, watch over them in their sleep, warn them of dangers, and prophesy future events. The Sibyls of the past have read the future in the Evestra, and the Evestra have caused the ancient prophets to speak as it were in a dream." (Philos. ad Athenienses)
"The world of the Evestra is a world of its own, [40] although intimately interlaced and connected with ours. It has its own peculiar states of matter and objects that may be visible or invisible to its inhabitants, and yet corresponding to a certain extent to ours. Still, it is a world constituted differently from ours, and its inhabitants can know as little about our existence as we about theirs."
[40. The Astral Plane.]
"The firmament of the universe [41] is fourfold in its essence, and divided into four planes. One belongs to Matter (Earth), one to Water, one to Air, and one to Fire, but the firmament in which rests the Evestrum is dispersed. The latter is not the firmament containing our visible stars, but the sphere in which the Nymphae, Undines, Salamanders, Flagae, &c., live. These beings are not dependent on our sphere of existence, but they have a firmament of their own; they have their own peculiar conditions, places of dwelling, localities, stars and planets."
[41. The sphere of the Universal Mind.]
"As there is in our world water and fire, harmonies and contrasts, visible bodies and invisible essences, likewise these beings are varied in their constitution and have their own peculiarities, for which human beings have no comprehension. But the two words intermingle and throw their shadows upon each other, and this circumstance causes delusive visions, apparitions, omens, and signs, mixing strangely with the two impressions coming from the Evestra prophetica, and only an intelligence illuminated by wisdom can distinguish the true from the false." [42]
[42. The writings of Paracelsus, such as have been preserved, in regard to the description of the Astral world, are exceedingly mixed up, and written in a style which renders their meaning almost incomprehensible.]
"The first thing, however, which we ought to do is, as Christ says, to seek for the Kingdom of God and His justice. If we do this we will require no prophecies, because all that we need will be given to us." [43] (De Arte Praesaga)
[43. This means that it is not advisable to try to develop astral sight or to deal with the inhabitants of the astral plane as long as we have not the power to rise above that plane. When our true spiritual powers become active in us, we shall also be able to see all that is below that state of existence, and incur no danger from it.]
Dreams
Thus, the astral life is most active in man when his physical body is asleep. The sidereal man is then awake, and acts through the Evestrum, causing occasionally prophetic dreams, which the person after awakening to physical consciousness will remember, and to which he may pay attention. Such dreams may also be caused by other influences, and be delusive; and man ought therefore neither to reject nor to accept all dreams without discrimination, but always use his reason to distinguish the true from the false.
"But, on the whole, there may be more reliance put into dreams than in the revelations received by the art of Necromancy; because the latter are usually false and deceptive, and although the Elementals, using the astral bodies of the dead on such occasions as masks, will give correct answers to questions, and often confirm their assertions with oaths, nevertheless no implicit confidence or reliance can be put into what they may say, because they do not wish to speak the truth, nor are they able to speak it."
"The patriarchs, prophets, and saints preferred, therefore, visions and dreams to any other mode of divination. Balaam [Wikipedia] was so well versed in the art of calling forth prophetic dreams that he could have them whenever he wanted. He was therefore falsely accused of being a sorcerer; for the Scriptures do not use any discrimination in such matters, but call every one a sorcerer who has such powers, and uses them to obtain information without being himself a saint."
"God wills that we shall be like the apostles in purity and simplicity of mind, and that we shall not speculate in hidden and secret things, such as are called supernatural [44] and which may be misused for the purpose of injuring one's neighbour in body and soul. The difference between a magus and a sorcerer is, that the former does not misuse his art. If magic (the power of the spiritual will) is misused, it is then sorcery." (Philosophia Occulta)
[44. Those are in error who claim that there is nothing supernatural; for although all things exist in Nature, Nature itself is not God. God is not outside, but above and beyond Nature; not in regard to locality, but in regard to His superiority.]
"There are two kinds of dreams – natural ones and such as come from the spirit. It is unnecessary to say much about the former, because they are known to all. They may be caused by joy or sadness, by impurities of the blood, by external or internal causes. A gambler may dream of cards, a soldier of battles, a drunkard of wine, a robber of theft. All such dreams are caused by the lower principles of such persons, which play with their imagination, heat their blood, and stimulate their phantasy."
"But there are supernatural dreams, and they are the messengers from God, that are sent to us at the approach of some great danger. Ananias, Cornelius, and many others had similar visions, and such supernatural dreams take place sometimes even among the present generation; but only the wise pay attention to them. Others treat them with contempt, although such dreams are true, and do not deceive."
"The dream in the Gabal plays with that which is in man, and that which the dream shows is the shadow of such wisdom as exists in the man, even if during his waking state he may know nothing about it; for we ought to know that God has given us all wisdom and knowledge, reason, and the power to perceive the past and the future; but we do not know it, because we are fooling away our time with outward and perishing things, and are asleep in regard to that which is real within our self."
"If one appears to have more talent than another man, it is not because he has been especially favoured by God, but because he has, more than the other, sought of that which God has given to each." (Fragmenta Medico)
"There are some persons whose nature is so spiritual, and their souls so exalted, that they can approach the highest spiritual sphere at a time when their bodies are asleep. Such persons have seen the glory of God, the happiness of the redeemed, and the torture of the wicked; and they did not forget their dreams on awakening, but remembered what they had seen unto the end of their days."
"Such things are possible, and the greatest mysteries are thus laid open to the perception of the spirit; and if we earnestly desire such gifts, and pray with an unrelenting faith to the power of the Supreme, that rests in ourselves, to grant them to us, we may be enabled to see the Mysteria Dei, and to understand them as well as Moses, Jesaiah, and John."
"It sometimes happens that the Evestra of persons who have died perhaps fifty or a hundred years ago appear to us in a dream, and if such an Evestrum comes to us in our dream and speaks with us, we should pay especial attention to what it says; for such a vision is not a hallucination or delusion, and it is possible that a man is as much able to use his reason during the sleep of his body as when the latter is awake, and if in such a case such an Evestrum appears to him, and he asks questions, he will then hear that which is true. A great deal could be said about such Evestra, but it is not proper to say more about them." [45]
[45. The thoughts of great minds remain for ages like stars on the mental horizon of the world.]
"Through the Evestra we may obtain a great deal of knowledge in regard to good or to evil things, if we ask them to reveal them to us. Many persons have had such prayers granted to them. Some people that were sick have been informed during their sleep what remedies they should use, and after using such remedies they became cured."
"And such things have happened not only to Christians, but also to the heathens, to Jews, Saracenes, Mamelukes, Persians, and Egyptians; to good and to bad persons; and I cannot, therefore, believe that such revelations come directly from the Deity, because, there being only one God, all those peoples cannot have separate gods; but I believe that the universal light of Nature illuminated such disciples, and as that light has no organs of speech, it causes Evestra in the astral spheres of men during their sleep." (De Caducis)
"When men are asleep their bodies are like those of animals or plants, for animals and plants have also their elementary and their sidereal bodies; but the divine spirit can only become active in man. During sleep the sidereal body, by which man is connected with the inner nature of the Macrocosm, becomes free in its movements, and it can then rise up to the sphere of his ancestors, and converse with the stars (thoughts); that is to say, the processes taking place in the intellectual sphere of the Macrocosm will throw their reflections into his soul and come to his inner perception. Dreams, visions, and omens are gifts given to the sidereal man, and not to the elementary body."
"The day of the corpora is the night for the spiritus. When the bodies cease their labour, the spirits (in man) begin their work. When the body of man rests, his spirit begins to become active; and when the spirit rests, the body resumes its work. Therefore is the waking of the body the sleep of the spirit, and the spirit's sleep a waking for the body. They will not sleep or operate together; one acts, while the other reposes." (Philosoph., v.)
"But dreams will be pure or impure, wise or foolish, rational or irrational, according to the position which man occupies in his relation to the light of Nature. Prophetic sights are caused by the circumstance that man has a sidereal body, related to the substance of the Universal Mind, and the former confabulates with the latter whenever the attention of the sidereal body is not needed by the requirements of the physical body."
"That is to say, all that takes place in the outer world is mirrored forth in the inner world, and appears as a dream. The elementary body has no spiritual gifts, but the sidereal body possesses them all. Whenever the elementary body is at rest, asleep or unconscious, the sidereal body is awake and active, because the latter needs neither rest nor sleep; but whenever the elementary body is fully awake and active, the activity of the sidereal body will then be restrained, and its free movements be impeded or prevented, like those of a man who is buried alive in a tomb." [46]
[46. "The spirit educates the body (the internal the external man), and may seduce it to commit sins, for which the body has to suffer; but the body can neither instruct nor seduce the spirit. The body eats and drinks, but the nourishment of the spirit is faith. The body perishes, the spirit is eternal. The body is subdued by the spirit, but not the spirit by the body. The body is dark, the spirit light and transparent. The body is subject to disease; the spirit remains well. Material things are dark to the body, but the spirit sees through everything. The body (mind) speculates; the spirit (the will) acts. The body is Mumia, the spirit is balsam. The body belongs to death, the spirit to life. The body is of the earth; the spirit from heaven and God." (Phil. Tract., iv.) ]
"The quality of the dreams will depend on the harmony that exists between the soul and the Astrum (Universal Mind). To those who are self-conceited and vain of their imaginary knowledge of exterior things, having no real wisdom, nothing can be shown to them, because the perverted action of their own minds opposes the harmonious action of the Universal Mind and repulses it. The spheres of their souls become narrow and contracted, and cannot expand towards the whole. They rest self-satisfied, buried in the shadow of their own ignorance, and are inaccessible to the light of Nature. Their attention is fully absorbed by the smoke of the candle-wick of their material reason, and they are blind to the light of the spiritual sun."
"The activity of the Universal Mind can only come to the consciousness of those whose spheres of mind are capable of receiving its impressions. Those who make room for such impressions will receive them. Such impressions are passing in and out of the sphere of the individual mind, and they cause visions and dreams, having an important meaning, and whose interpretation is an art that is known to the wise." (Phil. Sagax)
"Thus one spirit may teach another during the sleep of the body; for spirits deal with each other and teach each other their art. A foreign spirit cannot enter into a body which does not belong to him; it is bound to its own body. Therefore, the body of man must learn from its own spirit, and not from a foreign one; but his spirit must learn from other spirits, for it cannot always have everything out of its own self." (Philos., v.)
Death
The word "Death" implies two meanings: 1. Cessation of the activity of Life; 2. Annihilation of Form. Form is an illusion, and has no existence independent of Life; it is only an expression of life, and not productive of it. The form cannot cease to live, because it never lived before, and the death of a form is only the cessation of the eternal power of life in one form of manifestation of its activity preceding its manifestation in some other form. But Life itself cannot die or be annihilated, because it is not born of a form. It is an eternal power, that has always existed and always will exist. The annihilation of a particle of life would be a loss to the Universe that could not be replaced. Life is a function of God, [47] and will always exist as long as God is.
[47. The seventh principle.]
Before we can expect to die, we must first come to life. Life cannot cease to be active in a form as long as it has not become active therein. There are two kinds of life in man – the spiritual and the natural life. If the natural life ceases to be active in a man, the man dies, and he will then be conscious only of the life of his spirit; but if that life has not become active in him during his natural life, it will not become so by means of his death.
No mortal man can become immortal by dying; he must have gained (become conscious of) eternal life during his terrestrial existence before he can expect to retain that life after the death of his body: become earth-bound spirits, until the time of their natural dissolution arrives.
"What is death? It is that which takes the life away from us. It is the separation of the immortal from the mortal part. It is also that which awakens us and returns to us that which it has taken away." (Paramirum, ii.)
"Each form is an embodiment of certain principles or qualities. If there were, for instance, no heat, nothing could become hot. If there were no wisdom, no man could become wise; if there were no art, there would be no artists. If the principles from which men and animals derive their qualities did not exist, there could be no men or animals in whom such qualities are made manifest. These principles (forms of will) remain, although the forms in which they have been manifested for the time being decay. If a wise man dies, his wisdom still continues to be, and may be communicated to another person." (De Fund. Sap.)
If a mill suddenly comes to a stop, it may be from two causes; either the miller who manipulated it has gone away, or there has been something wrong with the works, so that they could not operate any longer. In the same way the death of the body will occur, if for some reason the body is no longer capable to accomplish its work for the spirit by which it is inhabited, or it may be that the inhabitant (the soul) for some reason has left the house. The latter circumstance accounts for many cases of sudden death "from unknown causes", and therefore an apparently dead body should never be buried before the only certain sign, which shows that it is no longer inhabitable – namely, putrefaction – appears; for otherwise we are not sure that the inhabitant may only be temporarily absent, and find his house destroyed when he returns.
All forms are subject to annihilation; they are only illusions, and as such they will cease to exist when the cause that produced them ceases to act. The body of a king or a sage is as useless as that of an animal after the life whose product it was has ceased to act.
A form can only maintain its existence as long as the action of life upon the substance of the form continues. But life is an eternal and perfect power; it can be brought into contact, but it cannot be united with physical matter. It can only be attracted to physical matter by the power of the spirit, and if the spirit ceases to attract it, life will depart from matter, and the form will be dissolved into its elements.
Nothing can become united with eternal and perfect life except that which is eternal and perfect. That which is good and perfect can continue to live; that which is evil and imperfect will be transformed. If all the elements constituting a man were good, if his whole emotional and intellectual constitution were perfect, such a man would be wholly immortal. If there is nothing good in him, he will have to die and to be wholly transformed. If a part of him is good and another part evil, the good portion will live and the evil one will perish. "Omne bonum perfectum a Deo; imperfectum a diablo."
"The divine man does not die; but the animals in him are subject to dissolution. Man will have to render account for his acts; not so the animals. An animal is only an animal and not a man; but the true man is an image of God. Animal man is that which the animal in him makes of him, and if a man is not really a man in regard to his wisdom, he is not a man but an animal." (De Fund. Sap.)
"The spirit of man comes from God, and when the body dies the spirit returns to God. The astral soul comes from the astral plane and returns to it. The body comes from Nature and returns to it. Thus everything returns to its own prima materia. If God is not conscious in us, how can we expect to be conscious in God? Who can see by a light which does not shine?" (De Morb. Invis., iv.)
"No man becomes raised in the flesh of Adam and Eve (the lower Manas), but in the flesh of Christ (the Atma-Buddhi Manas); therefore that which is not in the flesh of Christ cannot be redeemed." (De Fund. Sap., fragm.)
Everything Has Life
Everything that exists is a manifestation of life. Stones and metals have a life as well as plants, animals, or men; only the mode of the manifestation differs on account of the organic structure of the particles of which they are composed. A fly, for instance, has the same life as a stone, because there is only One Life; but in a fly it manifests itself otherwise than in a stone, and while the shape of the stone may exist for thousands of years, the fly lives only a few days.
The elements, which are used by the power of life for the purpose of manifesting itself, are as indestructible as life itself, but they continually change their states, they are continually undergoing transformations, they are continually calcinated, sublimated, dissolved, decomposed, distilled, coagulated, and tinctured in the alchemistical laboratory of Nature.
Each form has a certain period during which it may exist as a form, and the length of this period is predetermined by the number which is a constituent factor in the organisation of form, and which springs from life itself, because life is a conscious power, and does nothing at random, but everything according to its own inherent law; and if the form should be prematurely destroyed, life will nevertheless be active in the astral soul of the form, which cannot be destroyed until the time for its natural dissolution has arrived. [48]
[48. Premature deaths from crime, suicide, and accidents cause their victims to become earth-bound spirits, until the time of their natural dissolution arrives.]
The outer form is only caused by the action of life upon the astral form, and if the exterior form is broken, the inner form still continues to exist, and can under certain conditions be brought again into contact with the remnants of the broken form, and thereby that form may be revived. If a thing dies a natural death, such a revival is impossible; but if the death has been premature, such a revival may take place, if the vital organs of the person or animal have not been irrevocably destroyed. [49]
[49. See F. Hartmann, "Premature Burial," London, 1896.]
But even in that case there still exists a very close sympathetic relationship between the remnants of the body and the living astral form, and this relationship continues to exist until the period of the natural life of the individual has expired, or until the substances composing his body have been entirely dissolved into their elements. [50]
[50. Spirit-communications from suicides go to confirm this fact.]
The remnants of such bodies, the corpses of persons that have committed suicide or died by the hands of an executioner, have therefore great occult powers. They do not contain life, but the balsam of life, [51] and it is very fortunate that this fact is not publicly known, because if evil-disposed persons knew these things and the use that can be made of the corpses, they might use them for sorceries and evil purposes, and inflict much suffering upon others. [52]
[51. The vehicle of life (the astral body).]
[52. The Eastern esoteric doctrine teaches the same: The astral form, or Caballi, of suicides, or of one who died an unnatural premature death, cannot immediately be dissolved, but will linger and wander in the earth's atmosphere (Kama-loca) for the period that was allotted to its body's life by natural law. The astral bodies (spirits, so called) of suicides are those who appear nine times out of ten in spiritual seances, when they will assume any celebrated name, or even the appearance of certain well-known persons, whose images are well impressed in the aura around those present. They are the most dangerous of all the Elementaries. See "Key to Theosophy." [by Blavatsky] PDF at selfdefinition.org/
If we would burn a tree, and enclose the ashes and the smoke and the vapour, and all the elements that made up the tree, into a great bottle, and plant a living seed of that tree into the ashes, we might resurrect the same kind of a tree again out of its ashes, because there would be a centre of life, to which all the elements that were before necessary to form that tree could be again attracted to form another tree of the same kind, having all the characteristics of the former; but if there were no seed, there would be no tree, because the character of the tree is neither in the ashes nor in the vapour nor in the smoke, but in the Mysterium magnum, the eternal storehouse of life, from which it will be attracted again by the seed, and be made to live in a new form endowed with greater virtues and powers than the ones it possessed before.
All this goes to show not only the indestructibility of "matter" but also that of "mind." The will-spirit of a person retains its own qualities after the death of the person; but this will-spirit is not the person itself. The person's personality consists of that combination of personal qualities which are represented in his form, and if that form, be it on the physical or on the astral plane, is dissolved, there is then an end of that personality, and only the will-spirit remains.
But the divine spirit of man, having attained self-consciousness in God and substance in the body of Christ, or, to express it in other words, that part of the Manas which has become illumined by the light of the Atma-Buddhi, will continue as a self- conscious and self-luminous entity in the life of eternity. [53]
[53. Jacob Boehme says: "Death is a breaking up of the three kingdoms in man. It is the only means by which the spirit is enabled to enter into another state and to become manifest in another form. When the spirit dies relatively to its selfhood (personality) and its self-will becomes broken in death, then out of that death grows another will, not according to that temporal will, but according to the eternal will." (Signal, xvi. 51)]
Thus there is something incorruptible and eternal, and something corruptible and temporal, in man, and he may use his free will to identify himself either with the one or the other. If he identifies himself with Nature, he will have to be transformed by her. If he identifies himself with the divine spirit, he will remain that which he is. "There is no death to be feared except that which results from becoming unconscious of the presence of God."