ALPHARITE

This weekend I will be mostly reading…

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 06:58:07 +0000

This weekend I will be mostly reading…

flutterknife: The Dead Alchemist — Elihu Vedder, c.1868

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 10:48:22 +0000

flutterknife:

The Dead Alchemist — Elihu Vedder, c.1868

CH Book II V.XII-XVI

Sat, 03 Dec 2011 14:07:05 +0000

Asclepius: What, then, is God?

Hermes: [13] Not any one of these is He; for He it is that causeth them to be, both all and each and every thing of all that are. Nor hath He left a thing beside that is-not; but they are all from things-that-are and not from things-that-are-not. For that the things-that-are-not have naturally no power of being anything, but naturally have the power of the inability-to-be. And, conversely, the things-that-are have not the nature of some time not-being.

Asclepius: [14] What say'st thou ever, then, God is?

Hermes: God, therefore, is not Mind, but Cause that the Mind is; God is not Spirit, but Cause that Spirit is; God is not Light, but Cause that the Light is. Hence one should honour God with these two names [the Good and Father] - names which pertain to Him alone and no one else.

For no one of the other so-called gods, no one of men, or daimones, can be in any measure Good, but God alone; and He is Good alone and nothing else. The rest of things are separable all from the Good's nature; for [all the rest] are soul and body, which have no place that can contain the Good.

[15] For that as mighty is the Greatness of the Good as is the Being of all things that are - both bodies and things bodiless, things sensible and intelligible things. Call thou not, therefore, aught else Good, for thou would'st impious be; nor anything at all at any time call God but Good alone, for so thou would'st again be impious.

[16] Though, then, the Good is spoken of by all, it is not understood by all, what thing it is. Not only, then, is God not understood by all, but both unto the gods and some of the men they out of ignorance do give the name of Good, though they can never either be or become Good. For they are very different from God, while Good can never be distinguished from Him, for that God is the same as Good.

The rest of the immortal ones are nonetheless honoured with the name of God, and spoken of as gods; but God is Good not out of courtesy but out of nature. For that God's nature and the Good is one; one of the kind of both, from which all other kinds [proceed].

The Good is he who gives all things and naught receives. God, then, doth give all things and receive naught. God, then, is Good, and Good is God.

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Fri, 02 Dec 2011 14:08:06 +0000

TEXTS

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 14:11:06 +0000

TEXTS

"And that it was therefore further necessary not only once again to oblige ourselves towards his..."

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 09:57:17 +0000

“And that it was therefore further necessary not only once
again to oblige ourselves towards his Royal Majesty, but also to vow to the
following articles; and then his Royal Majesty would likewise know how to
behave himself towards his liege people. Upon which he caused the page to
read over the articles, which were these.
(I) You my lords the Knights shall swear that you shall at no time ascribe
your order to any devil or spirit, but only to God your Creator, and his
handmaid Nature.
(2) That you will abominate all whoredom, incontinency and uncleanness,
and not defile your order with such vices.
(3) That you through your talents will be ready to assist all that are worthy,
and have need of them.
(4) That you desire not to employ this honour to worldly pride and high
authority.
(5) That you shall not be willing to live longer than God will have you
do.
At this last article we could not choose but laugh, and it may well have
been placed after the rest only for a conceit.”

- The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz, Book VII, from an English translation
published in 1690.

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Tue, 29 Nov 2011 14:16:06 +0000

"Anima per Mundum mea quoties errabat maerens, Ubi Paradisus esset, esset et Gehanna quaerens: ..."

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 14:15:06 +0000

“Anima per Mundum mea quoties errabat maerens,
Ubi Paradisus esset, esset et Gehanna quaerens:
Toties ad me reversa — Iter ecce irritum;
“Paradisus et Gehenna en! omnino Ego sum.””

- Edward FitzGerald’s Fifth Latin Rubaiyat

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Sun, 27 Nov 2011 14:10:05 +0000

"VI. When we call all these Operations ours, they are not all to be understood according to the..."

Sat, 26 Nov 2011 14:10:05 +0000

“VI. When we call all these Operations ours, they are not all to be understood according to the common Operations of the Sophisters of Metals, whose Industry consists only in disguising of Subjects from their Form, and their Nature: but ours are really to transfigure our Subject, yet conserving its Nature, Quality, and Property.”

- Aphorismi Urbigerani, Or Certain Rules, Clearly Demonstrating the Three Infallible Ways of Preparing the Grand Elixir or Circulatum Majus of the Philosophers, London, 1690.

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Fri, 25 Nov 2011 14:10:05 +0000

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Thu, 24 Nov 2011 14:10:05 +0000

"I beheld a boundless view: all was changed into Light, a mild and joyous Light; and I marveled when..."

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 14:11:06 +0000

“

I beheld a boundless view: all was changed into Light, a mild and joyous Light; and I marveled when I saw it. And in a little while, there came to be in one part a downward-tending darkness, terrible and grim, and methought it like unto a snake. And thereafter I saw the darkness changing into a Watery Substance, which was unspeakably tossed about. Coiling in sinuous folds, it gave forth smoke as from fire; and I heard it making an indescribable sound of lamentation, for there was sent forth from it an inarticulate Cry. But from the Light there came forth a holy Speech, which took its stand upon the Watery Substance, and methought this Word was the voice of the Light. And the Divine Mind spoke for me to hear:

“That Light is I, even the One Mind, the first God, who was before the Watery Substance that appeared out of Darkness, and the Word which came forth from the Light is son of God. Learn my meaning by looking at what you yourself have in you, for in you too, the Word is son, and Mind the father of the Word. They are not separate one from the other, for Life is the union of Word and Mind. Now fix your thought upon the Light and learn to know it.”

I saw in my mind that the Light consisted of innumerable Powers and had come to be an ordered world, but a world without the bounds of material existence. This I perceived in thought, seeing it by reason of the words that the Divine Mind had spoken to me. And when I was amazed, he spoke again to me:

“You have seen in your mind the archetypal form, which is prior to the beginning of things and is limitless.”

”

- Corpus Hermeticum I:4-7

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Tue, 22 Nov 2011 14:11:06 +0000

CHXIII:2-3

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 10:49:33 +0000

Hermes: Wisdom that understands in silence, such is the matter and the womb from out which Man is born, and the True Good the seed.

Tat: Who is the sower, father? For I am altogether at a loss.

Hermes: It is the Will of God, my son.

Tat: And of what kind is he that is begotten, father? For I have no share of that essence in me, which doth transcend the senses. The one that is begot will be another one from God, God's Son?

Hermes: All in all, out of all powers composed.

Tat: Thou tellest me a riddle, father, and dost not speak as father unto son.

Hermes: This Race, my son, is never taught; but when He willeth it, its memory is restored by God.

Tat: Thou sayest things impossible, O father, things that are forced. Hence answers would I have direct unto these things. Am I a son strange to my father's race? Keep it not, father, back from me. I am a true-born son; explain to me the manner of Rebirth.

Hermes: What may I say, my son? I can but tell thee this. Whenever I see within myself the Simple Vision brought to birth out of God's mercy, I have passed through myself into a Body that can never die. And now i am not as I was before; but I am born in Mind. The way to do this is not taught, and it cannot be seen by the compounded element by means of which thou seest. Yea, I have had my former composed form dismembered for me. I am no longer touched, but I have touch; I have dimension too; and yet am I a stranger to them now. Thou seest me with eyes, my son; but what I am thou dost not understand even with fullest strain of body and of sight.

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Mon, 21 Nov 2011 14:05:06 +0000

Fundament to Firmament IV: Heart

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 20:13:18 +0000

Fundament to Firmament IV: Heart

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Sun, 20 Nov 2011 20:02:14 +0000

I used a mixture of barbaric and logical utterances in my last opus, including known second-language...

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 19:53:59 +0000

I used a mixture of barbaric and logical utterances in my last opus, including known second-language words (Latin, primarily, with some common Koine Greek terms), and spiritual syllables. Of all of them, the known second language terms seemed the most resonant, carrying intention married to the weight of evolved usage, but without the expiration of power common in everyday, first-language words. Best to hit the books again- dictionaries with clear and comprehensive etymologies, this time.

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Sun, 20 Nov 2011 19:37:51 +0000