CHAPTER 5

ON THE FALL OF LUCIFER AND THE RESULTING DIVISION OR CREATION OF THE WORLD

PART 1

In the preceding chapter it was shown, to the extent that the divine light enlightened us, how the spirit-or light-world was created from the most holy divine will, how at that time everything was in the state of highest perfection, peace and magnificence and how the seven great and powerful spirits of his great power and wisdom, ministered before the throne of magnificence and before the vision of his glorious majesty, as can be read in Revelation and which we will further discuss in the next two parts of this book. With regard to this perfection the emanation and glow of the divine light and majesty went through the spirit Sachariel (according to cabbalistic tradition) through all the spheres and circles (see illustration 54) to the Son of the Dawn, where it was concentrated in a mirror and glorified in itself. Along with it came the wisdom and power of his magnificent light that flowed into all the other circles, up to the Son of the Dawn (see the character G-H-I-K-L-M-N-0-P-Q-S-T in illustration 54). This was the point into which the Almighty concentrated the entire light-world, so that the Son of the Dawn was the most powerful, majestic and perfect spirit who extended his magnificence, power and authority even into the circle of the known world, that is, the world of the Sons of God (which was the place created for him and his countless millions, that we today call the solar system). The incomprehensible expanse of this place can easily bewilder all reason. Can we not, then, conclude from this what a powerful, magnificent and perfectly beautiful spirit this Lucifer must have been? One need only consider the size of the earth, which in turn is nothing but a small point when compared with everything else. We might then try to imagine the great distance reaching to the , as well as its size, and beyond that the great expanse out-ward to and the other planets, and on to One might describe these distances in no other way except as millions of semidiameters or radiuses of the earth, but they cannot be truly comprehended in this way. All of this is absolutely nothing when compared to the height and depth of the so-called primi mobilis, or firmament, which is concealed from us, as well as the circle of the other stars or worlds, which we call the fixed stars. This expanse, which our reason cannot comprehend, is that place or space about which Revelation 21 clearly speaks, and in which the new heaven and the new earth are created and revealed anew, after the completion of the judgment of Almighty God and after the ending and dissolution of all time and eternity, as stated in the same chapter of Revelation, verses 1 and 2, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had vanished, and there was no longer any sea.” This new heaven and new earth are the new Jerusalem, in contrast to the heavenly one, which is so magnificently described in that entire chapter of Revelation and which we have also discussed here previously in chapter 3, part 9 and in many other places in this book. The incomprehensible space and size of this New Jerusalem can indeed be measured in human terms by multiples of the radius of the earth (see Revelation 21, verse 17 and chapter 3, part 9 of this book). However, its number cannot be comprehended in its entirety. This is the secret of the measurement of the New Jerusalem, found in Revelation as well as in the book of Ezekiel, chapter 40 to the end. We will speak more clearly and distinctly about this at a later point.

Truly, whoever examines this secret without prejudice will not oppose us but be of the same mind as us, and thus completely understand the measurements described in Revelation and Ezekiel. It is written in the fortieth chapter of Ezekiel, “And the man had a measuring-rod in his hand that was six cubits long, reckoning by the long cubit which was one cubit and a hand's breadth.” Those who understood chapter 3 of this book, especially part 9, will understand what we are aiming at here with regard to the measurement: The six cubits are God's six days of creation. That is to say, as a measure of the entire universe, or the space of the New Jerusalem, each rod measured six cubits and each cubit was a common cubit with an additional hand's breadth in length. That equals seven palms, according to human measurement, the mystical, or Sabbath, number. We must break off our discussion of this material for now. However, we may comment on it further at some later point and perhaps even approach it from the point of view of those eager to dispute us. But for now, we wish to focus on the main topic of this chapter, namely the fall of Lucifer.

PART 2

In all that we have written thus far we have shown how Almighty God created Lucifer as a magnificent being and what a magnificent realm the living God prepared for Lucifer and all his host of millions. Here, with a perfect divine serenity, Lucifer allowed God to quietly and peacefully work within him and did not do or want anything except what was agreeable and pleasing to the wonderfully perfect will of God, the source of all life, the eternal divine majesty. And so Lucifer enjoyed perfect freedom, power and authority, the perfect good, to do or not to do as he wished for his own highest pleasure, for Almighty God will not force any creature to do good. Thus, the eternally glorious majesty of God, which is itself perfect justice, set its own eternal justice against God's eternal fatherly love, so that the disobedience and recalcitrance of this creature who possessed complete freedom—that is, its own will and desires—would not become an eternal authority that paralleled God's own. Thus, the justice is ever present in order to oppose evil. And in this way we can better understand the justice and judgment of God and the condemnation of the prideful, that is, of evil and unjust men.

PART 3

And so Lucifer now stood in the most perfect and blessed magnificence, with complete freedom, and apart from the Living God there was nothing more blessed, magnificent and perfect. When he recognized his majesty and glory and saw reflected in himself the constant, sweet light of joy that comes from the glorious divine majesty, and when he found that the obedience of so many powerful princes and countless millions of other spirits was entirely subservient to his own free will, he became enamored of himself and his terrible power and, of his own free will, he resisted the effects of the sweet divine love-light (see illustration 54, F-B), which was the source of his essential, peaceful and joyful life and instead turned to and loved his own power, rather than the divine in him. This desire and delusion in turn immediately infected all his armies, since the effect of the divine light ceased for him at that very moment and this magnificent glow withdrew and was shut off both in him and in all those princes and armies under him, who were by their very nature outgrowths of his own essence. All of them fell out of the circle of the Sons of God (see illustration 54, W-X). And because the light, which has its origin only in God, was no longer reflected in him or his followers, there was nothing remaining in this large space except a terrible darkness. That is to say, the essence that composed all the circles of the universe, and which Lucifer had had within him—Schamajim, the fiery light-water, or watery light-fire—this all became a tangible and material darkness, in which Lucifer, now called Satan—that is, the one who became the adversary of God—and all his minions, without benefit of the divine light ranted and raged in the abhorrent dark fire. In Genesis 1, verse 2, this darkness is called the earth, namely the entire universe, because the Schamajim in which Lucifer resided in all his glory had now become a thick, dark, tangible essence, as Scripture notes, “The earth was without form and void (a chaotic, barren wasteland), with darkness over the face of the abyss (since the entire universe is tangible, dark, thick and opaque) and the Spirit of God hovered over the waters,” etc. This verse is in truth so full of the secrets of creation that without the light of divine grace it cannot be understood at all. (On this topic, see with all due diligence chapter 1 of volume 2 on .) In the first chapter above, part 12 and following, we discussed this material in some detail, but not in the manner that will be necessary here, so that those seeking the truth can compare this passage with other earlier ones, in order to completely understand us. The text of the Scripture passage first mentions the earth and after that, that the Spirit of God hovered over the waters. Thus, the comes last. In the first chapter we showed that the water was the first qualitas secundaria, which we will treat more clearly and precisely here through the divine light of mercy. But we will first have to go back a bit and consider that which initially flowed out of the divine light at the creation of the first spirit world, from the Word, that is, from Christ, and ask what this actually was. We discussed at length what it was in the first chapter but can add here that Almighty God is a light and a consuming , as he calls himself. Therefore, the emanation of his majesty can be nothing other than light and , which the Holy Spirit, through Moses, called Schamajim, a fiery , or watery . The entire first chapter speaks about this, clearly and precisely proving what this Schamajim is according to its essence. Thus, we can see that the Schamajim, or space of Lucifer, was a fiery or a watery , a magnificent wonder-light. We should remember here that the Schamajim, or heavens, had different degrees of magnificence and beauty, as in the case of the varying magnificence of the choirs and the principalities of angels. Since in this space or Schamajim the divine glow and light has been turned inward, it was no longer a bright or light-water, but rather a dark, cold, grim, fiery and tangible , a sand- and stone-producing and therefore called “earth” or “earthly” in Genesis 1, verse 2, that is, a viscous, sulfurous saltwater. And that was the or Chaos, that Scripture calls the darkness.

PART 4

Now the Chaos appears in the following figure (illustration 55 on page 130), namely in the dark, earthly, -water, over which the Spirit of God hovered in Genesis 1, verse 2, in contrast to the Schamajim, a loving joyful light or light-water. The rebellious spirit and all of his followers were enclosed and imprisoned within this Chaos and had to experience what it meant to be without the divine light. This Chaos, with its imprisoned unclean spirits was still the same space that had originally flowed out of the eternal divine fiat. However, it was now the opposite and instead of pure light, there was only pure darkness and horror. However, God, in his unlimited power, could make out of this space whatever his divine will wanted, since this space became accursed only incidentally, because of its ruler, Lucifer.

PART 5

The text of Genesis 1, verse 1 says that in the beginning God (Elohim) created the heavens and the earth. This was the Chaos mentioned above, namely the spheres or circles of Lucifer and all of his created hosts, which, through the just retribution of divine judgment, was turned back into this dark mixture, where the heaven and earth were concealed, namely the three beginnings: , and , i.e., Schamajim, that is, , as well as , namely the secret , or the one essence created by God the Almighty, which is three in essence, and has been revealed in the four elements. In the second verse the text says the earth was without form and void, and the Spirit of God hovered over the waters. What in the first verse is called “heaven” or Schamajim, is called in the second verse Majim, i.e., water. The Æsch, i.e. is not mentioned here, since it had not yet become visible or revealed through the divine separation. This Chaos was similar to a melted, dead body, in whose dark material the whole essence of the individual lay concealed with all its invisible earthly principles (for each individual body has earthly, vegetable and spiritual beginnings, that is, a seeding power). Without the appropriate separation, however, these individual principles could not be perceived or recognized, since the entire body would then remain a viscous whose external appearance is undifferentiated. This is how we should understand the Chaos, whose external form is terrible to behold. This is why Scripture says: tohu vabhohu, it is void and empty, that is, possessing a unordered, repulsive shape that cannot eternally persist before the most holy countenance of Elohim, the mighty judge.

PART 6

At this point we would like to say something about the reason why Moses, compelled by the Holy Spirit, called the eternal Godhead for the first time in Holy Scripture by the magnificent and fearful name Elohim, that is, the mighty judge (the oldest and most learned rabbis and cabbalists note that it is a name of judgment). In the fourth verse of the second chapter, however, he mentions the name of mercy jehovah, (with the addition of Elohim), of which Almighty God says in the book of Exodus chapter 3, verse 15, “This is my name forever. This is my title in every generation,” etc. In order to truly understand this, we must go back to the previous chapter and look at illustration 54, where we can see that everything in the spirit world, with the exception of the pride of Lucifer, stood in such magnificence and peace in the name of eternal grace and mercy, Jehovah and that the justice of God, which was discussed in part 2 of this chapter, was not yet revealed. However, as soon as pride, selfishness and egocentricity revealed themselves in Lucifer (who is the embodiment of recalcitrance, evil and disobedience), just as quickly then, the justice of the eternal God, that is, Elohim, revealed itself. That is why the Holy Spirit, through Moses, says in the very first words of Sacred Scripture, even before heaven and earth became visible and were revealed from the Chaos: In the beginning the Elohim, that is, the mighty judges, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, created the heavens and the earth, that is, the Chaos or the mass of things that were mixed together in the space of Lucifer and all his minions. The Holy Spirit did not employ this manner of speaking without special reason, namely to encourage those who love God and the truth to seek this secret in the divine light. This is why at the beginning of creation the living God first gives his most holy name of judgment, Elohim, before he gives the name of eternal mercy, jehovah, which appears for the first time in Holy Scripture only after creation has been completed. This shows that something must have happened in order to cause the living God to pass judgment, and how the Chaos, or the barren and formless mass, was not the object of his divine love but rather of his anger. For nothing can or may emanate from God except perfection and magnificence in his glorious light and glow, as we saw in the previous chapter, where we discussed the creation of the spirit-or light-world. Before anything was created from eternity, there existed only God, and thus apart from God there was nothing. And so it is true and certain that we cannot understand the creation of all things from nothing by the divine light, unless we recognize that when God the Almighty created all things, it occurred out of and from his own being, namely from his magnificent light and glow. Therefore, the Chaos must have of necessity endured a destructive blow, before it fell away from the glow of the divine light and became the formless, barren, dark, tangible, i.e., earthly, mass. By using his holiest of names, Elohim, the Spirit of God allows us and everyone who loves the eternal divine truth to recognize this with perfect clarity. The God-loving soul will thus find great pleasure in the passage of Genesis 1, verse 1, “In the beginning Elohim created the heavens and the earth.”

PART 7

We must remember that although the name Elohim in the Sacred Scripture is also attributed to men, it occurs only when they, instead of God himself, act as judges, and thus it may be translated in general as “judge” or, in particular, “powerful judge.” The translation as “Gods” or “God,” by which some wish to flatter these people, is absolutely false, and is concocted by the Father of Lies as a blasphemy against God, who is praised through all eternity. In fact, the German word “Gott” is equivalent to jehovah, which cannot and may not ever be attributed to any mere mortal or even immortal creature, either in heaven or on earth. And anyone who does so is cursed for all eternity. Occasionally, the name Elohim is also used mockingly, when it is attributed to idols of men, which is typical of man's evil tongue. We see this, for example, in Moses 22, verse 20, where the holy text uses it more for the worship of idols than for the idols themselves. No scholar, no matter how wise he is, or thinks he is, could ever prove or demonstrate from divine Scripture that the name Elohim was ever attributed to the devil. In the first book of Samuel chapter 28, verse 13, it is written, “I have seen Elohim rising up from the earth,” etc. That this refers to the true ethereal soul of Samuel, who at that time was Elohim, i.e., a judge in Israel, is both true and certain. And this offers a challenge to all the anti-Christian scholars, that they should prove and demonstrate for us with ample evidence and without sophistic arguments that the devil was ever called Elohim in sacred Scripture, either as a god, or as a judge. It would be as unpleasant a task as proving that the prophet Bileam was a magician, as they frequently maintain. Their argument has as much force as does against . While these people were still priests, magi and Cabbalists, and before they turned to theology, one could readily believe them. But they always insist that they have been taught by highly qualified men, who are expert at studying and explaining: Ergo, if these people truly knew what man is composed of, as Scripture clearly and distinctly teaches, and if they understood the words of Christ, the Savior of the entire world—to which we alluded, insofar as we had the opportunity, and through God's grace explained in part 7 of chapter 4 above—they would certainly speak differently. Before we conclude this part, we have to ask ourselves how it was possible, that Samuel could be sitting in limbo, when Sacred Scripture provides evidence that he was a just and holy man. Let us answer our own question: We should first recognize that the situation of souls after death is very disparate, according to how much purification they require, as we will clearly discuss in subsequent parts. That Samuel had to stay in such a place is shown in the story that we presented above. However, from his holy life and development we can conclude that he stayed in a quiet and peaceful place, where he felt a longing for and anticipation of the appearance of God, rather than somewhere where he witnessed the hellish pain and torture of unclean spirits and souls all around him. The reason for his stay in that place is told to us in the first book of Samuel 8, verses 3 and 5, “His sons did not follow in their father's footsteps but were intent on their own profit, taking bribes and perverting the course of justice. So the Israelites said to him: ‘Look, you are now old and your sons do not follow in your footsteps.’” Out of his great love for his sons Samuel acted against the law. Deuteronomy 21, verses 1 8 to 21 recounts, “When a man has a son who is disobedient and out of control, and will not obey his father or his mother, or pay attention when they punish him, then his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of the town, at the town gate. They shall say to the elders of the town, ‘This son of ours is disobedient and out of control; he will not obey us. He is a wastrel and a drunkard.’ Then all the men of the town shall stone him to death and you will thereby rid yourselves of this wickedness. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid.” This text speaks of wastrels and drunkards, whom the parents should not tolerate, much less those who are inclined to greed, take bribes and pervert the law, etc., as the sons of Samuel did. Because of his earthly love for his own flesh and blood in opposition to the spirit, namely God, Samuel had to undergo purification in this place. For according to the Law of God, he should have been the first one given over to punishment and death, since out of weakness he allowed his love to oppose the Law of God. Thus, he had to have this desire completely washed away in an appropriate place. This is why he was present in Shèol, the waiting place of souls, from whence he was called forth by the woman of Endor. But enough of this for now. There will be other opportunities later to offer more detailed information about this.

THE FIRST DAY OF CREATION

PART 8

The Holy Spirit continues in the third verse of Genesis 1 by describing the first separation in this chaos, “Then God said: ‘Let there be light’ and there was light,” etc. This was the first separation, the revelation of the light in the darkness, so that from that point the beginnings became visible and recognizable out of which Almighty God made all things that are seen and unseen (see figure 56 on page 130). The text goes on to say, “Thus evening came, and morning came, the first day.” This day was the first span of twenty-four hours, as can be clearly seen from the contrast with the fourth day of Creation, on which the sun and moon were created, by whose orbits true night and true day were created as well. We recognize both the light of the first day of Creation and that of the fourth day of Creation as the day. Thus, on this first day through the power of the revealed light half of the circle became bright—that is, the day—and because the cruder and darker light remained in the lower half of the circle; this became the night. However, since no created thing can exist without movement, this revealed light and darkness was made the difference between day and night which was further distinguished on the fourth day of Creation by the sun and moon. Psalm 74, verse 16 says, “The day is thine, and the night is thine also, thou didst ordain the light and also the sun.” This is clearly laid out in the words of differentiation employed by the Holy Spirit through Moses: evening and morning. The third verse says, “Let there be light, and there was light.” This was then the first mentioned revelation of the light and the darkness, and all heavenly lights and bodies under the firmament, namely our solar system, were created out of this light. The fourth verse goes on to say, “And God saw that the light was good and he separated light from darkness.” This differentiation is based on the actual meaning of the Hebrew word, insofar as one separates a thing, so that each of its separated parts occupy a particular place, without relation to the other part, as shown in figure 57. In the fifth verse we read, “And God called the light ‘day’ and the darkness ‘night,”’ which shows us clearly and irreversibly incontrovertibly that the day, or the light, as well as the night, or the darkness, were two essentially distinct things, as we have previously shown with utmost clarity in the first chapter and which requires no further elaboration here.

THE SECOND DAY OF CREATION

PART 9

Then followed the second day of Creation, on which Almighty God created the heavens (Schamajim), that is, the upper fiery or light-waters, or firmament, namely the portion that extended up to the circle of the Son of God. And these were separated from the muddiest, earthen, crude , i.e. salty sulfurous waters. For the sixth verse notes, “So God made the vault, and separated the water under the vault from the water above it,” as the seventh verse goes on to explain more completely. At this point the earth, on which we live, is not yet mentioned, as it was still entirely mixed with, and thus concealed in the crude, muddy saltwater, just as we have incontrovertibly shown in the first chapter, that all possesses a power to form sand and stone. The eighth verse uses the term “heaven” to describe the expansion or vault which includes the circle of the starry heavens, i.e., the firmament, as well as the expansion that is the between the waters above and the waters below. Thus, heaven is that which in this manner separates all higher things from the waters below and which is itself a spiritual water. And the difference between both, the upper fiery waters and the lower muddy saltwaters, is not the crude air that we breathe, but rather the great aethereum between the upper and lower waters, in which all the stars of the circle of our solar system are contained and about whose creation we will speak shortly. In this emanation all the powers of the heavens are differentiated and made into the seeds of the unique qualities of each of the heavenly bodies belonging to the upper lights. From there these seeds come into our watery by the effect of the moon and are poured into the earth. For more on this, the reader should closely examine the preceding chapters.

THE THIRD DAY OF CREATION

PART 10

The text of Genesis 1 continues from the ninth to thirteenth verses with the description of the third day of Creation, “God said, ‘Let the waters under the heavens be gathered into one place, so that dry land may appear’; and God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters he called the seas.” Here, an additional separation within the muddy, salty, sulfurous waters below takes place, by which its sand-and stone-making power is revealed. In this separation Almighty God performed an astonishing miracle, for it was not (as most people imagine) simply a revealing of the great sea and the land mass as a massive, dark lump, but rather the fiery pit that burns with and and the entire inner central region were separated out (see page 10, figure 1), as were the great air-region F and G and the springs of the abyss, namely the great water-region E and F, which include not only the residences, prisons and containment areas of the devils, the damned and all other spirits and souls condemned to pain and torture, but also where the works that they are commanded to perform by Almighty God, Father and Creator of all creatures, are carried out, and which are described in the first chapter of this book. The proud spirit, who was so majestic and powerful, was thus humbled, and despite all his planning and hopes he was separated from his power and might and imprisoned, bound with the chains bf darkness, until such time as the of judgment and retribution will be poured down upon him and all of the damned by the breath of the Lord. And this fire will not cease until it has consumed all the works of darkness and of the damned, that is, everything that they have done in word, deed and thought. It will continue until the image of the devil has been entirely eradicated and the fire of retribution can find nothing more to break down, destroy and cleanse, and until such time as the fallen devil with all his followers is taken up by the eternal redemption of Jesus Christ and once again appears as he first did as an angel. Then, the eternal peace established by God will once again be witnessed in him and in all things. We should also bear in mind that the fall of Lucifer happened at the time when Orifielis ruled (see figure 53 on page 89). The Latin language calls this spirit Saturn and this may have led to the fable among pagan poets that Jupiter cast Saturn out of the heavens and gave him the earth as his domain.

PART 11

And so the fallen Lucifer and all his minions were given their particular place and region in which they had to remain until the time of judgment. As the source of all ruin Lucifer remains imprisoned and sealed in the fiery pit that burns with and in the central region of fire, the home of the most evil, grim and recalcitrant spirits, who were his most faithful servants at his fall. These are the spirits who reside in the area of his throne, as depicted in circle C of figure 54 on page 89. Some of them are imprisoned in the earth and others in its waters. The greatest number of these spirits, however, who are also the most powerful and who, by command of their king, Lucifer, seduce both prince and commoner, reside in the air. In this terrible and immense space they still rule and rampage unfettered under their prince, Beelzebub. We say unfettered because these devils can traverse all of the elements, although with the greatest suffering, even reaching to the throne of their king, Lucifer, in the same way that the air fills all bodies and penetrates them easily. This is the first torment of the devils, namely that Almighty God has separated them all, as if by means of a flash or stroke of lightning, and imprisoned each group of them in a separate element, so that they would not be able to form themselves into an army. Before their fall and ruin they were unbound and unfettered, as if in a pure loving light, and could traverse without any suffering or hindrance all their circles, much as the sun casts its rays through the pure air. However, each group of devils must now keep to its own residence or element and can neither tolerate nor bear another element, despite the fact that the devils of all elements are one in their vileness, intent and rebelliousness against the Creator. Although the devils of the air can penetrate all other elemental circles, this occurs only under the most excruciating pain and suffering, and they cannot unite and remain with the devils of the other elements, because of their very essence, their characteristics, that remain eternally the same. Their evil (i.e., that of the air devils) is greatly strengthened and inflamed, and they then return to their residence even more frenzied and terrible. This continues until the day of their second judgment when they will be cast down into the great abyss (see Revelation 20, verses 1 and 3) during the times of the Jesus Christ's glorious kingdom of peace and joy, whose duration is described with the number of a thousand years. The question of whether that actually represents a thousand of our present solar years we will leave to those in whom the Holy Spirit has enkindled a much better understanding of this matter. The ninetieth Psalm, verse 4 says, “For in thy sight a thousand years are as yesterday, which has passed, like a night-watch,” etc. A thousand years are almost the life span of the first created man, Adam. Thus, when the firstborn of all Creation, Jesus Christ, the heavenly and spiritual Adam, from whom all creatures came forth, comes again in order to establish his kingdom, should it last only one thousand common years and endure no longer than the life of one of the first sinful patriarchs? This cannot be easily reconciled with many passages in Sacred Scripture, especially where a secret number is used. This having been said, we do not want to steal the thunder of those who have been granted a better insight than us by the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, we are convinced in spirit that the present world was not created six or seven thousand years ago by him for whom there was no beginning of time, nor end of days. This, however, remains a problem for those many astute people who follow that particular interpretation of Scripture. Perhaps we will say more about this later.

PART 12

Such was the situation of the four elements, or qualitas secundaria, and of those condemned spirits who had fallen and were now enclosed and sealed up in them. These spirits had possessed complete glory and freedom before the fall of this universe, but they now lay fearfully imprisoned in the separated elements; all, that is, except Beelzebub and his armies. Although he resides in the element of air, he is able (albeit with fear and suffering) to pass through the other elements without finding rest therein. Rather, he must always with great suffering return to his element. This, then, is our accuser both day and night (see Revelation 12, verse 10), for he can reach into the circle of the Sons of God (see figure 54), as we find in Job 1, verse 6 and in Job 2, verse 1, where the Hebrew words say, “And Satan was there among them,” etc. This clearly shows that this powerful and grim spirit can travel into the circle of the Sons of God (although with great suffering), in order to accuse us there before the countenance of the Most Holy One. We will go even further here, speaking about the other invisible creatures in the physical and visible elements. No one should presume that such creatures also represent devils, for in truth no one should insult the Almighty in such a way, as if he left the powerful beings of this space alone. Rather, the reader should know that the elements are nothing other than chains and fetters for all devils, while the other spirits and creatures contained therein are free to wander about the regions and residences like a fish in water or a bird in the air. These creatures, or spirit-people, who are called the “Sons of God” in Holy Scripture (Genesis 6; Job 1 and 2)—but who are very different than the “Sons of God” who reside in the outer circle of our solar system—are defined by the element in which they were created: the earthly beings have a body, defined by the element , those in the water are defined by the element v, those in the air have a body defined by the . The fiery beings, however, have a body of pure . (These thoughts will cause considerable upset, especially to the experts whose minds are so oriented toward material things that they cannot comprehend anything spiritual. They have slapped together entire books arguing against the appearance of spirits and such. It would never occur to us to refute them all. That would indeed be foolish of us, because the catalog of foolish endeavors, which is mostly filled with imaginary expertise and scholarship is quite inexhaustible. It would be insane on our part to oppose such things as that.)

Earlier we showed the origin of the visible elements and how before the fall of Lucifer they were the regions or heavens in which he and all his countless hosts resided. These regions were entirely singular in nature, i.e., they were composed of Schamajim. But through the retraction of the divine light they became darkness. How they were then subsequently separated, you have already heard. The seeker of truth should also know that we are not saying that these creatures have crude, elemental bodies, like the visible and tangible elements. If we argued that, we would only be contradicting ourselves, and these creatures would then be not invisible, but rather visible. They are (if we may use an alchemical term) the quinta essentia, the purest and most spiritual part of any element. However, this part of every element can also be understood in terms of its goodness. For just as each element has a center of evil, namely the devils therein, which are the most evil part, these creatures or beings are, at the same time, the purest part of that element. And the closer the quinta essentia lies to the center of evil along its diameter, the more evil and dangerous it is. The creatures of the element of are the purest, and after them, those of the air, then those in the , and lastly those of the earth. Their time of creation was during the separation of the elements, during the first, second and third days of Creation. The elements were created on the first day, those of the air on the second day, and those of the water and the earth on the third day. This will certainly greatly offend anyone who believed that the holy angels, with all their choirs, were created on the first day from the separated light. Such people are unfamiliar with either the first Creation of the spirit-world, or with that of the earthly world. Nevertheless, we should allow them to believe what they like.

PART 13

We have previously noted above that these creatures, according to their element in general, and also in particular, do not all possess the same level of goodness. According to the elements in general prevails over the , the over the and over the , as we mentioned a short while ago. Their particular qualities are also not all of the same level of goodness, according to how close they come in each element to the center of evil, the imprisoned and banished devils, as we can best show and demonstrate in figure 58 on page 130. Let us presume that region B is the throne of Satan, the hellish fire-region, the fiery pit that burns with fire and sulfur, the center of the anger and retribution of God, where all the evil of the devils is collected and the most terrible rage and suffering are present. Region C, then, is the earthly realm and region D is the realm of water. E is the region of the air, while X and W comprise the region of the Schamajim. No one will dispute that along the line B-W, point C stands closer to the holy light- or angel-world, which stands over the other worlds of our solar system, than the points G or F of the underground and . And point D is even closer to the light-world than point C, and thus more distant from the kingdom of hell. Point E is also closer to the light and the fire-region X-W, the border of the upper worlds. It will therefore be easy to understand, how these creatures in general differ in terms of goodness. We want to show and demonstrate how they differ in nature by the example of the earthly elements. Let us look at region B, the location of Satan, and C, the earth-circle, the embodiment of darkness. The creatures nearest to the surface of C, upon whom the rays of the upper light shine along the line W-C, are both good and pure. Those in the middle of the earth are of either good or bad disposition. However, those who lie closest to the underground region, and thus also to the great maelstrom, are the worst of all and quite frequently the messengers of the devils. Satan, who was once the absolute lord over all these regions, knows their essential substance. He also knows how to use those who are closest to him in a masterful fashion through his terrible cunning and deceit, in order to bring ruin to humans, which is the focus of his attention. And so it is with the element of , for just as the is a reflection of the light, as well as the incubator of the other elements (as we showed in the first chapter), so too, its spirits or creatures are powerful, wise and wonderful. However, the devil cannot make use of them as easily as those created from the dark element of the earth. The is sacred and is a mysterious element, and even though the devil practices his evil in it, this evil is only too quickly exposed through the constant influx of light, as if by a bright mirror. Satan is the prince of darkness and shuns the light and can therefore perform only a minimum of evil in the . With those spirits created in the air, however, it is a very different situation, and a secret that in our view will be evident to few. Although the element of the . is closest to the light- and therefore much purer than the earthly , Beelzebub, the representative of Lucifer, has his residence in this terrible and immense region with all his millions of devils. On the other hand, this is also the element that captures all the shapes and ideas of human deeds and their good and bad words, as well as all the shapes and ideas of the upper stars and their powers, including the abominable figures of the devils and their fierce ranting and raging. The essences of all these things are impressed into this element. No living creature can live or be sustained without breathing, because only by constantly inhaling and exhaling can all such shapes and ideas, according to their time and place, be led through the senses to our mind and be transformed from shape to thought. Thus, we are often overtaken during our nightly rest by feelings of joy or sadness without knowing even the slightest cause for this. However, when we make a or approach a light, all these nightly fears disappear, such that even the most fearsome of these keep their distance, without causing us any terror. This is also the reason why travelers, especially during a dark night, are overcome with fear and terror when they travel over a field or through thickets where battles had raged and blood had been spilled. The air in such areas is filled with the essential, though spiritual, shapes of all these deeds, which are then presented to our mind through our breathing them in, as we just mentioned above. It often happens to travelers as well that at some isolated location, even in broad daylight, they are overcome by a sense of foreboding, whose true cause can be nothing other than a murder or other horrific deed that must have been committed at that very place, where the image and shape of this deed was essentially imprinted into the at this location. The cause of all troubling and frightening dreams, especially of those souls who have distanced themselves from the light of the Holy Spirit or did not commend themselves to the sacred divine light upon going to bed, can also be found here. The devil, the prince of darkness, shuns the light and is not so terrible and grim around us in broad daylight. However, with the setting of the sun and the approach of darkness, the devils swarm out, together with their evil deeds and those of evil people, the tools of the devils. This is how the terrible and frightening fear of the night strikes us, and how nightmares occur, as we have just mentioned. There can be no doubt that the devils rage more horribly under the cover of darkness and have their main residence in those dark and cold parts of the world, for Satan is, after all, the prince of darkness. The history of these same landscapes has taught us well enough how he has deviously subjugated not only individual people but entire provinces and countries to his terrible authority. The air is the great Book of the Conscience, in which all men will one day find all their good and bad deeds recorded. Not even the smallest word will be forgotten here, for tone or sound is an essential product of the soul. If many good things have come out of a man's soul, he will enjoy the reward and joy that come from it. If these things are not good, he will experience what has been written, “that all men must render an account of their life, down to the most insignificant word,” etc. Further, in Revelation 14, verse 12 it states, “For they take with them the record of their deeds.” You will find just such a complete record here in the air. The air is truly the great storehouse, in which all the thoughts, words and deeds of men are received and preserved, as we have just shown. Indeed, through the our minds sometimes act quite unnaturally, as, for example, when one's thoughts stand in perfect harmony with another's over a longer distance, then both people will share at the same time a certain joy or sadness. This occurs because the has essentially received the shape or the image of the cause of this joy or sadness, which is in turn strongly attracted by and imprinted on the minds of both people. Love and hate, indeed all other passions of the soul, are born in us in this way. And what is more, there is no creature, reasoning or unreasoning, vegetable, animal or mineral, that has not also been essentially reproduced in this great world-spirit, the air, in a spiritual sense. And this (which the other elements can quickly and easily pass through) also impregnates the , so that strange results often appear in the mountains and in fissures through the stone-making water. Figures that look like the skeletons of strange animals and men, as well as all sorts of other creations, not only appear in caves and chasms, but also in slate and other rock formations (see chapter 1, part 15).

Since our goal has been nothing other than to present one particular issue, and to treat it in the greatest detail in all its aspects, we certainly have had sufficient opportunity with this material to create a great and extensive work. But we have not yet touched upon the ghosts of the departed, both of the naturally departed, as well as those who died violently. This topic is so extensive, in contrast to the opinion of the school theologians, that it could fill a large volume by itself. We will also need to address those who are, sadly, poorly informed about such things.

Those souls who occupy or reside in the air for the reason mentioned above will truly find themselves in a very terrible situation, unless they died with a calm and peaceful conscience and have gone among those about whom the Wisdom of Solomon 3, verse 1 says, “and torment shall not touch them.” These souls readily appear and can be easily made to appear, because the element can go through all others so easily and quickly. On the other hand, such souls are also easy to release and to help to their rest through the devout prayer and intercession of the faithful. If the soul has departed the body in the state of having turned away from God through greed, envy, revenge or any other desire, it will usually appear in the same circumstances, although generally without speaking at all. However, he who is versed and experienced in true magic, the Cabbala and theology will be able to speak to them and receive and answer. It also happens quite frequently that a soul can be seen consistently at one location over a period of not one but many days, months and years. We should note that there are two reasons that keep these souls at the same location. One is accursed greed, which controlled their mind at the time of their death. This greed binds them to the place where they have secreted their gold and treasure, where they must abide in great suffering and guard it, in heat or in cold, in the company of many obnoxious and impure spirits, in accordance with the scurrilous inclination of their desires during their lifetime. (We should mention here that it is the soul that man has received through birth that suffers here, not the immortal spirit that God directly placed in him.) This soul cannot be freed from this condition, unless its time of purification has passed. And if in the course of this time the money or treasure is not discovered, it comes completely under the power of the evil earth-spirits, from whom it can never be regained, except through a person versed in magic, the Cabbala, or theosophy. Any other attempt in this regard would be necromantic or satanic and can only be carried out by means of terrible curses and the blasphemous misuse of the most holy name of God. These same infernal writings and books, among them the Clavicula Salomonis, are generally not at all available either privately or publicly. It is true that such writings also contain the true art, magic, and Cabbala, but they are so sullied by the most sinful and blasphemous misuse of the most holy divine name, that a true seeker of God cannot look upon them without shock. Therefore, let every God-fearing soul be forewarned to neither read nor use such writings, unless he has at least a modest understanding of true magic and the Cabbala, and is grounded in true theology. Then he can differentiate to his advantage good from evil, and he can make use of that which is good.

PART 14

A short while ago we stated that there were two main reasons why a ghost or soul appears or is seen for such a long time at the same place. (We are not speaking here of the indestructible life-spirit of a person that he receives directly from God, but rather of the soul, received through his natural birth.) We have already mentioned the first reason. The second is that such a soul had committed a particularly evil deed during its lifetime, which remained secret and concealed from the eyes of men. Judgment was not passed on that deed in this world, which is why the soul must atone for its deed through suffering in such a place, in terrible fear and pain, according to the circumstances of the deed that it committed. Thus, the soul is most grievously tortured with this deed by the unclean spirits. If it was a concealed murder, for example, and the victim also died in an unclean state, then the situation is for both souls all the more terrible because the soul of the murderer is not only tortured in the most shocking manner by the unclean spirits, but also by the soul of the murder victim. The murderer's soul may also not expect its period of purification to begin until that of its victim has passed through all the levels of purification and gone to its rest. Only then will its period of cleansing begin. However, the prayers and intercession of the faithful who are still living can have a great effect, while a purchased intercession uttered from the pulpit or altar will not have even the slightest effect. A true magician, cabbalist or theologian can likewise accomplish much, but how few are they in number, O Lord, who seek you in the spirit and in the truth. We have given a foretaste of this wide-ranging material here, to the extent that the current topic would permit. Certainly more could be said about this at some later point in this book. However, we also want to mention that those who relentlessly pursue spirits and ghosts, curse them and consign them to the abyss of hell do a great evil and commit a grave sin by making the terrible situation of these poor suffering souls much worse. Through such un-Christian actions as these they even cause the parents, husbands, wives, children and other close relatives and friends to suffer more greatly than they already do. It would be a thousand times better to say a pious prayer for such an errant soul, to free it from its torture and suffering, than to condemn it to even worse suffering by banishing and cursing it.

PART 15

We have already sufficiently discussed the situation of the spirits of darkness and of the shapes and ideas of all the works of light and darkness, as well as the thoughts, words and deeds of men, that have been imprinted in the . We include “thoughts” here, because even the thoughts of men are revealed in the through their spiritual birth, either through the utterance of public or private words or by other palpable movements of the body and soul. It is otherwise not possible for a magician or a practitioner of the black arts to present or divine such things in mirrors, crystals, pearls, etc. Those who believe that the devil does not know the thoughts of men are quite mistaken. This brings us back to the creatures of the , whom we began to discuss in part 13. These creatures of the air, like those of the earth and those created from water, are rather simple beings of that element, since they are not composed of a mixture or combination of elements. Thus the ability of these spirits, like that of the , their element, is very powerful and formidable, and their knowledge and recognition of things past, present and future is immeasurable, even if they often pretend otherwise. Because they are made of the simple essence of their element, they are capable of recognizing all the impressions that are made in it. However, they can also be blinded by the unclean spirits with lies and falsehoods and in other ways, as we mentioned earlier. Beyond that, they can also be differentiated in terms of their goodness: the closer they are to the light, the purer, more perfect and kinder they are. However, the closer they are to the darkness, the more destructive, evil and deceptive they are. On the other hand, those in the middle between light and darkness are both good and evil. And although they can be quite benevolent and friendly to men, they can only be conjured up by, and only respond to, true magicians, cabbalists and theosophers, who are well versed in the language of nature, that is, in the designation of things, and who understand the character of such spirits. A true Christian, however, will take care to avoid the other arts, praised by many conjurers, as things of the devil and blasphemous of divine majesty. It is true that these spirits associate readily with many men and often foretell great and wonderful things. But since the devil, as a prince of the , knows very well how to recognize the thoughts of men, as mentioned above, and how to disguise himself as an angel of light, he quickly joins in with these spirits and deceives men with the help of evil spirits, that is, those spirits who reside at the border of darkness, or within it. The devil knows all too well how to fiddle for those who are inclined to dance, so as to lead them from one seduction to the other, until they completely turn away from the Creator. The villain keeps this up until he has driven the elemental spirit, whose essence and form he can masterfully imitate, entirely out of his victim. In the last scene of this opera the sorcery is complete with the victim becoming apostate and renouncing God. Therefore, anyone considering such an act should reflect well upon it in advance, before he is drawn into this kind of company, or has any part in it, for the devil is a very foul animal, from which no man can withdraw unscarred. This, then, is said as a warning to all who seek eternal truth.

PART 16

It is now time to consider the fourth element and its creatures. In the first chapter of this work we thoroughly and incontrovertibly demonstrated that , and , that is, , and , are one and the same in their essential nature, namely a watery light-fire or a fiery light-. These creatures were created from these elements and are thus quite pure, holy, wise and powerful. As such they cannot be blinded or seduced in the slightest by devils, the spirits of darkness. They have a strong and special love for creatures of the element , that element, that first arose out of their own. A human being's mortal body cannot bear contact with them. Yet wise men and cabbalists can receive much and great wisdom from them through the mediation of the water-creatures, in whom these light-creatures are constantly reflected. It is best, however, to exercise caution in seeking their wisdom.

PART 17

This, then, is what we have to say about these creatures, or spirit-people, and what has been revealed to us about them. Whoever would deny this speaks against the truth, indeed, against God himself In Exodus 20, verses 4 and 5 it is written, “You shall not make a carved image for yourself, nor the likeness of anything in the heavens above, or on the earth below, or in the waters under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them,” etc. In addition, Revelation 5, verse 13 says, “Every created thing in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea; everything that was in these places,” etc. This includes the creatures of and of the . We are well aware that school theologians understand this verse quite differently. However, we do not wish to expend the effort to dispute this point here. It is enough that we are in agreement on this point with those who seek the truth for the honor and praise of the almighty Creator.

PART 18

We still have to speak a bit about the shape of these spirits and how one can bring about contact with them (although it should truly be avoided at all costs, because God the Lord will not tolerate it). Regarding their shape, it must be noted that all reasoning creatures carry the image of Adam. For more on this, see volume 2, on sulfur. (The ideas that we present here may give some readers cause to protest. Nevertheless, we want to fully explain ourselves here, which should please the reader. Yet it is not our intention to explain each and every point completely and in great detail, since we want to leave some things upon which others can reflect.) The image of Adam is that of the human form. And because they are the simplest of all the elemental beings, they are, like the spirits, also immortal, in contrast to the foolish opinion of the Count de Cabbala. Similarly, the opinion of those whose focus lies on the physical world, and who thus attribute to these simple spirit-creatures different genders, is equally foolish and risible. In fact, like all spirits, they were created in their final numbers all together and all at once, except for those, about whom we will speak below. That these spirit-people mixed with humans in Genesis 6, verses 2 and 4, and were severely punished for it by God, is not considered something negative for us, but rather something positive. This mixing has a very different meaning, as we will explain in parts 20 to 23, which follow, and also in chapter 8 of the third volume, which deals with . The Genesis passage does not say that the daughters of God had intercourse with the sons of men. Rather, the sacred text states, “The sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful,” and further, “The sons of God had intercourse with the daughters of men,” etc. We see here that the text only refers to these beings with the human gender designation of “sons.” This point, including the female gender, will be treated in more detail in the following part through part 23. In addition, we are certain that this intercourse with the daughters of men was carried out only by the spirit-creatures of the element of the , since those of the , and cannot mix with human flesh in any way. It would require a lengthy treatise to completely explain this point; but that is not our intent here, and neither do we want this work to grow inordinately large. Nevertheless, anyone interested in this point can read chapter 8 of volume 3, on and find much of interest there. Those, who seek the truth and are guided by God, will understand us completely, especially if they understood what was said earlier in this text, concerning how man was formed from the dust of the earth.

Dealing with such spirits is not as easily done today, as many foolish conjurers and sorcerers might imagine. But putting the devilish nature of these things aside, it should be noted that anyone who would dare to undertake such things must have, in addition to a true inner fear of God, also a complete knowledge of the true magical liturgy of divine worship. He must be completely versed in true philosophy, so that he knows with utmost certainty what manner of creatures these simple beings are, and what is pleasing or not pleasing to each kind of spirit-creature in its element. He needs to know this so that he can suppress that which is unpleasing to them and thus emphasize that which is. As we know from our daily experience with wild animals, each of them can be excited, attracted and finally trapped through the use of a particular scent. Something that is repugnant to them would only drive them away. Anyone wishing to consort with spirits must be a great cabbalist and a true theosopher, who fully knows the nature of such spirits, so that the devil is not able to trick him. If anyone has these qualities, he will also be a true astrologer, as is absolutely necessary in this secret art. (This will be treated further in volume 3, when we discuss .) He must be willing to tolerate his holy isolation and know how to raise his mind to the highest level, so that he may encounter these spirits through the powers of his mind, and draw them to himself, as if by means of a powerful magnet. Indeed, our true faith is nothing other than the powerful energy of our mind which has been immersed in the divine light. Then, wherever our mind is directed, this energy is focused on that object. This knowledge provides the foundation and basis of the holy arts Magiæ & Cabbalæ in the secret theology, about which we could say much that is important here. We could also elaborate on what the Magus must do, both internally and externally, in order to engage in a conversation with these creatures, and how he might use such an interaction with these spirits. However, no philosopher or theosopher has ever truly accomplished this. Thus, we will not pursue this line of thought any further—even if we knew how it might be done—since it is forbidden. This, then, should be sufficient discussion about the simple creatures of the elements in human form. However, the reader might think that we are contradicting ourselves here by referring to Genesis 6, verses 1 to 4, where the intercourse between certain spirit-creatures and the daughters of men is described. In order to counter this reproach and to free ourselves of the suspicion of having committed an error, we will explain this more clearly.

PART 19

We mentioned in part 10, above, that during the third day of Creation the material water was separated from the earth, whereby both of these elements became visibly differentiated. Then Almighty God commanded in the eleventh verse of Genesis 1, that the earth bring forth all manner of seed-bearing plants, which the twelfth verse reports as being fulfilled. That the earth cannot exist without , and water cannot exist without the earth, need not be proven here once again. Rather, the reader can find a detailed discussion of this in the first chapter of this book. However, we must remind the reader that in the earth, as well as in the water that permeates it, the essential shapes of all vegetable, animal and mineral seeds reside, this essential extract of all elements. We do not mean that they lie in the crude, dark soil, which is only a covering or external part of the earth, but rather in the pure, spiritual-corporeal, virginal earth. Furthermore, it is well known to all true philosophers that each and every species under the heavens that multiplies must also have a body composed of differentiated elements, and that a simple body, or a pure and simple creature of an element, such as the creatures of fire, air and water, cannot multiply with their own, or with other species. This is because they are pure spiritual beings, possessing at the same time an angelic body. Thus, we should not reasonably expect that these spirits of , or can engage in intercourse with any other creatures. In order to be capable of reproducing, a material seed is necessary. Scientists know that the seed of animals is essentially the product of the purest blood that has been undergone a second refinement in the body. Therefore, we must search for another species capable of reproduction, which fulfills the description mentioned in Genesis 6. We need only look to the element of the earth to find such creatures, which reside throughout the earthly world. (They are of both genders, because they are composed of the qualitas secundaria, that is, the element of the earth and, as our subsequent comments will show, they can be immortal, unlike the other creatures that we spoke about above.)

A short while ago we stated that the seed-producing power of all things is inherent in the element of the earth, namely in the spiritual-corporeal virginal . (In , however, only the image and the potential for this power are present. The real material for such a seed is absent, and thus the process of producing a seed cannot be completed.) Therefore, we can incontrovertibly conclude that these spiritual-corporeal creatures of the element are in fact the extraction of the spiritual-corporeal, virginal . Thus, Sacred Scripture is and will remain eternally true, against the devil and all his raging host and all their allies. Scripture says in Genesis 6, verse 4, “In those days, when the sons of God had intercourse with the daughters of men and got children by them, there were giants on the earth, as they were thereafter. They were the heroes of old, men of renown,” etc. That these were not angels a reasonable man can easily comprehend from what was said above. And no one can show that an angel or angels were ever given the name son or sons of God in Scripture. Thus, the sons of God, who, according to Moses, had intercourse with the daughters of men, must be another type of being altogether. Sacred Scripture does not say “the daughters of God” had intercourse, but uses only the one gender, the masculine, and does not consider for special reasons a similar deed on the part of the feminine gender. Because Holy Scripture mentions only one gender in such an important matter, we must hold fast to it and unwaveringly believe that the many stories related from the time after the Flood, both about families in particular and nations in general, must be interpreted on the basis of these principles. And even though reasonable people put forth other opinions in order to dispute our point, we nevertheless hold to our conclusions. We could certainly present many more such stories, but that would only provide fools and others, who relish disputes, with more reason to spew their venom against our work. It should be eminently evident, even to someone who had but the slightest acquaintance with philosophy, that a spirit-body can easily and completely affect a material body. However, a large, dense material body cannot do the same, nor can it affect a spirit-body. What we have asserted here are not articles of faith meant to be addressed to all women without distinction, for they might draw some curious conclusions or principles with respect to their understanding of nature. For that reason we address our words here only to wise and reasonable men.

PART 20

We must now prove what we asserted in part 18, namely that the elemental spirit-body creatures of , and and of the purest earth cannot die, yet have an end, while all men can die, but have no end throughout eternity. All true believers in the words of life know this to be true. Moses says in Genesis 6 that the intercourse of the sons of God with the daughters of men produced huge beings or giants, even much later, in the times of Joshua and David. Who can doubt that these were true human beings? Sacred Scripture even names them giants or great and powerful men in the books of Joshua, Samuel, etc. Now we have shown that these spirit-bodied creatures are the simplest beings of the elements, and thus of an entirely spiritual essence, similar to the angels. They are not subject to death or decay, as are mortal creatures whose body is subject to the alternation of heat and cold, the opposites through which decay and decomposition are produced. No simple spirit-body is subject to such suffering. These creatures of the elements are just such simple beings, and as such, untouched by death. On the other hand, they have also produced great and mighty giants, namely human beings whose elemental body is subject to death, but whose essential body, soul and spirit are undying and will endure eternally.

PART 21

We must also remember that no creature, either in heaven or earth, or in the water or under the earth is called man, except for Adam and his seed. We must also remember that no creature was so perfectly created as he, who possesses a body, soul and spirit, according to the three witnesses in heaven: the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit, as well as the three witnesses on earth: the spirit, the water and the blood, as recorded in the first letter of John 5, verses 7 and 8. The letter to the Hebrews 1, verse 7 says of the angels, “He who makes his angels to spirits and his servants to fiery flames.” Angels are the simplest spirits of the divine light, and the elemental creatures of which we spoke are, like the angels, the simplest spirits of the four elements, who, as Moses said, produced offspring with the daughters of men, who were themselves composed of body, soul and spirit. The fathers of this offspring had only an essential elemental spirit-body; their offspring, however, had a material body, soul (that is, an ethereal or elemental spirit that they had in common with the fathers) and a spirit (that is, the direct exhalation or inhalation of God that gives man advantages above all other creatures). So what do you say now, you scholars? How can you contest this point? How do you plan to find your way out of your ignorance? And how can you defend what is commonly taught, namely that the immortal spirit it of man is passed on per traducem (through intercourse)? We believe that what has been said here sufficiently proves that the immortal spirit of man is not transferred per traducem to the woman through the sinful will of the man. Rather, it comes with the breath of God directly into the offspring, when the woman feels new life for the first time within her, as we will show in the following text.

PART 22

We now finally have to speak about the differing nature and characteristics of these spirit-bodied creatures of the element . We call them spirit-bodied creatures, for although they have human form, they do hot possess the essential human substance. They owe the name “man” to their likeness of the living God in Christ, the sole heavenly man. These creatures of the element differ from the creatures of other elements in their nature and characteristics, according to the nature and characteristics of the earthly region, and the virginal seed-earth, from which they were born and created. As we mentioned earlier, there reside in this virginal , in addition to the emanations of the planet spirits, likenesses of all created beings under the heavens, great and small, weak and strong, wise and foolish, and also good and evil, according to the essential seed-power of that part of the earth in which they were formed and created. The crudest and most evil of these are the so-called kobolds, which are usually full of devilish evil. The Evil One masterfully makes use of them and practices his deceit and evil through them. Nevertheless, there are among the ignorant common folk, many of whom make use of such kobolds for their own benefit and for the injury of their neighbor. What they do is not much better than using a true devil for their purposes. These, and the two types that follow, are quite similar to humans, in that they have a crude and material body and are composed of a body and a nascent soul. They represent both genders and reproduce in their own manner. However, because they are not the simplest essence of this element, they are corruptible and can die. They are not included in the term “sons of God” for they are often possessed by the devil, who uses them as a tool for all his evil against men. Somewhat better in this respect are those whom we call the Bergmännlein (“Little Mountain Men”). Although frequently seen, they are not inclined to converse with humans. They possess all the underground riches of the earth, as well as the treasure that men have concealed and buried in it. The magical conjurers who believe that they can steal the treasure from these creatures through tricks and incantations and through the Most Holy Name of God are sorely mistaken. On the other hand, for the true wise man who understands the language of nature, the signaturam rerum, this would certainly be possible and even easy. Such knowledge, however, is not very common. That means ultimately that almost no one knows the true God. Instead, each person creates his own God according to his own mind.

In addition to the Bergmännlein there are those whom the ancients called the pigmies (Pigmæi), who also frequently reveal themselves to men. These three species of creatures were created and have their origins in earthly arsenic, sulfur and saltpeter: the kobolds arise from earthly arsenic; the so-called Bergmännlein from earthly , and the pigmies from the earthly saltpeter. And these three types reproduce within their species, as we mentioned earlier. There are also seven other essential types of creatures in the element of , who are in their very essence benevolent and who are not subject to death. They all represent the ideas and forms of higher powers, are capable of higher spiritual and physical processes, and thus are capable of reproducing. What we do not wish to elaborate upon here, for special reasons, is that they have an affinity to the seven planet-spirits, who are more noble, stronger and wiser than they, and who, according to Sacred Scripture, had intercourse with the daughters of men. Of these spirits, the Venusian and lunar ones appear most frequently to us. The ancients called the Venusian spirits Fauni, satyrs, lunar nymphs, sprites, etc. The lunar spirits are often found in material , where they are most active, and are known today as water-sprites, even though the three cruder types mentioned earlier also frequently appear in , and the females of these types in particular perform all manner of evil. Thus those who believe that is a pure substance are sorely mistaken. From material waters the Nephilim were created, i.e., the giants, those powerful, brave and famous heroes of the Bible. This, then, will have to suffice as an explanation, for although much more could be written on this topic, we have certain reasons for stopping at this point.

PART 23

We must still say something about the reasons why Almighty God destroyed the first world and erased all of humanity from the face of the earth through the Flood, because of this mixing of spirits with the daughters of men. It would seem that the daughters of men alone had agreed to this sin and that the men of the earth were unfairly punished for it. However, we must remind the reader at this point that even the men of the earth had a part in this evil deceit of the devil. It was he that tempted and excited those three crude types of spirits by showing them the beauty of the human females, thus leading them to eventually have intercourse with one another, in the hope of again eradicating the human seed from the earth and creating confusion everywhere against the Most Holy Will of God. Because the three types of beings, the kobolds, the Bergmännlein and the pygmies, have a cruder body, but one that comes closest to the human body, and because they can reproduce with humans, the devil showed the males of these creatures the human women for their lascivious desires, against the order of nature. And the women, often driven to illicit lust by men, had intercourse with these creatures, thus causing ultimate chaos. This was in keeping with the devil's intent, mentioned above, of eradicating the human seed and of destroying the plan of Almighty God. Man alone is created in the likeness of the living God and for that reason, Holy God could not tolerate this chaotic and ruinous intercourse, for he is the God of order. From this illicit intercourse powerful beings were created, who reveled in their power and tyranny. They were famous men who caused men to turn away from God and who, after their death, were worshiped as deities. The devil also had a hand in this and through his deceit and evil he plunged mankind into the most horrific ruin, while teaching the humans all his evil. In sum, the devil caused such confusion and evil that he had almost accomplished the general destruction of humankind, if not for the fact that God the Lord had eradicated all the living things under the heavens through the Flood and with them the knowledge of this evil that was perpetrated against the Will of God. And when this same evil was practiced later by the Canaanites, the Lord God commanded Israel to destroy and totally eradicate them, so that the Israelites would not learn this evil from them. Since that time we have not had an example of widespread activity on the part of these creatures. We have now shown that such a deed was highly displeasing to Almighty God, whose Most Holy Will alone must be done for all eternity. Furthermore, it is dangerous to seek wisdom from these creatures for the reasons discussed above, for the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, and happy are those whom God, the Holy One, and his Spirit teach and instruct.

PART 24

Up to this point we have expounded at some length on the invisible creatures of the third day of Creation. However, we will go into greater detail in chapter 8 of volume 3 in discussing . And so it is now time to turn our attention to the visible creatures described in the eleventh and twelfth verses of Genesis 1 thusly: “Then God spoke: ‘Let the earth produce grass, plants bearing seed, fruit-trees bearing fruit with seed, according to its kind.’ And so it was.” And it continues in verse 12, etc. Once again, a unique and marvelous theater of God's works opens itself before our eyes, as was especially asserted in part 26 of chapter 1, where we spoke about the characteristics of the virginal earth (and how it contains all the seeds or powers of heaven within it). In this day of Creation we see these forces at work in the indescribable number of plants which spring forth out of even the smallest piece of earth, and how they all rely on only one type of liquid for their nourishment. One would have to conclude that what was said in the previous part of this text was true, namely that these seeds had had an earlier spiritual birth (of which we spoke in the previous chapter and which requires no further elaboration here), when they came down from above into the sand-and stone-making , from which these seeds were then driven into the cruder earth in a somewhat more fixed shape by the underground fire. The seeds then soften in the moist earth through the power of the created Light, i.e., Schamajim, and are brought to germination and sprout up, driven by the underground fire, and are nourished by the fire above, until each seed, according to its nature, which is determined by the stars, brings forth a plant, a bush or a tree in its own way. After each plant has completed the purpose for which it was created through the change of seasons—that is, it grows, blossoms and bears fruit or flowers containing their own seeds, for the glory of God and the use and enjoyment of man in this difficult life—it will then rest again, so that it can capably repeat the same process. However, no one can maintain that the earth would be incapable of bringing forth plants without seeds having first been sown, since we can see every day that the earth brings forth entire forests and other growth in places that have not been cultivated for years. This is clearly a sign that the heavens shower us daily with their powers.

PART 25

All the plants of the earth were brought forth before the Fall of man (more on this later) and before the earth was cursed. At that time, even the most common plant possessed a thousand times more healing and nourishing power than the renowned, but seldom seen, aurum potabile. They maintained this perfection until the Fall of Man and the subsequent curse. From that time until the Flood and the banishment of all flesh under heaven, there still remained in all of these plants a ray of the first divine blessing, and thus they were in general and each individually far more powerful, nourishing and healing than the philosophical wonder mentioned above, the potabile. Thus, it is quite clear that at the time of the banishment and of the Flood, this ray was enclosed inside a crude and thick casing, so that the new world, rebuilt by Noah, could no longer live from plants alone. (The reader should take special note of this, for there is more to it than many intelligent observers can imagine.) This is because the material mercurial salt, or the powers of Schamajim, i.e., the oft-mentioned red and white of nature of these new plants, hardened and became a crude salt, called a sal alkali. We will have time later to discuss this further. But for now we will move on to the fourth day of Creation.

THE FOURTH DAY OF CREATION

PART 26

On this day God completed the wondrous birth of all the heavenly bodies of our solar system from the first created light, together with all of their created beings. Light and darkness were the beginning of creation, as the Holy Scripture notes in just a few words and which we extensively treated in previous chapters. These two elements, light and darkness, were themselves also divided, the light into fire and air, and the darkness into water and earth, also previously described. The text of Genesis 1, verses 14, 15 and 16 states, “God said ‘Let there be lights in the vault of heaven to separate day from night, and let them serve as signs both for festivals and for seasons and years. Let them also shine in the vault of heaven to give light to the earth.’ And so it was. God then made the two great lights, the greater to govern the day and the lesser to govern the night; and with them he made the stars.” The first day of Creation saw the separation of the light from the darkness, and these created characteristics distinguished day from night until the fourth day of Creation, when the sun, moon and all the stars were created from the light, while the remaining Schamajim was set in the sphere above the stars (the region of the children of God). Then all the circles of the stars were created, and each heavenly body had its own circle and each circle was characterized according to the body that had its orbit and movement within it. The heavenly body could no longer deviate from its circle into that of another star, as we will discuss further in the chapter on in the C. de Astrologia. For just as the bodies of the stars are all entirely different from one another, so too are their circles, because each circle or region is characterized by the body that moves within it. These circles cannot be mixed, and would react just like oil and water, should one circle press upon or touch the other. All of these circles are contained within that of the Schamajim of the Sons of God; that of the Schamajim is contained within the higher circles, and these are contained in turn within those of the choirs or angelic circles. The highest region is that of the almighty will of the living God. Although this structure could perhaps be more clearly represented by means of images, such as an egg or various other items, we will forego such distractions in the belief that anyone with a good mind will be able to understand us without such comparisons.

PART 27

Until the fourth day of Creation the first created light not only distinguished the first three days and nights, but also, through its powerful rays, not only brought about all the plants beneath the heavens, but also thoroughly impregnated the earth and its circle with all manner of original plant, animal and mineral seeds with which to populate the ideal world. In order that the earth might produce such plants, the Almighty drew up out of the earth salt-sulfurous vapors that were able to receive from the Schamajim, which, for brevity's sake and for certain other reasons, we will call the common mercurial essence. As these vapors soon became a fluid through the darkness (that is, through the coolness of the night) and were held close to the earth by the third day, or the light thereof, the earth brought forth on the third day, with the assistance of the underground fire, unimaginable quantities of all types of vegetation, thus fulfilling the will of the Living God, as related in Genesis 2, verse 5, “For the Lord God had sent no rain on the earth; nor was there any man to till the ground.” This is because rain is the product of the great heavenly lights, that were created for the first time on the fourth day and can be found with due diligence in the fourth, fifth and sixth verses of Genesis 2.

PART 28

The seeker of divine secrets will not take it amiss that we must digress for a moment, in order to consider what marvelous properties these first earthly plants must have possessed (and which could not in the least be compared with the fruits of the Garden of Eden), when they were first brought forth in the fullness of God's blessing and without any curse upon them. It can certainly be concluded that a serving of sugar beets at that time contained more energy and potency than an entire bucket full of the seldom seen aurum potabile. These latter thoughts will certainly awaken many masterful tongues against us, but it shall not trouble us in the least, for it is said, that everyone is an extension of their words. We are certain that if we wanted to explain ourselves most clearly here, every reasonable person would agree with our position. However, although we are not inclined to explain ourselves so explicitly, we will, for the sake of the truth, say this much: we do not believe at all in the existence of potabile, as it has been taught and described by most so-called philosophers and their followers, the so-called chemists, but which until now has still not been seen by anyone other than by charlatans, liars and cheats. The wise man, on the other hand, believes the true potabile or universal-potion to be the clear potion of water prepared with living and , with the red and white of nature, the solar and lunar seeds and dissolved in the great unknown waters of the world-sea. But where can one get such a potion and how can one be sure it is genuine? This is a question that we will leave unanswered here, since we spoke about it earlier. However, an impetuous reader could get ahead of our explanation here and ask, “If you know this potion so well (as you indicate in your words above), how is it that you cannot produce it whenever you and others need it?” This reproach from such stupid louts would not be entirely unwarranted, and so we will have to respond to it to a certain degree. Firstly, we did not say that we knew entirely how to prepare such a potion (and even if it had been said, it certainly would not have been a lie). There are higher reasons why we ourselves do not possess any aurum potabile sophorum and it is not necessary to lay out these reasons before the nose of every argumentative fool. Anyone who has read this book from the beginning and has a healthy mind will be perfectly content with all that we have presented. As the saying goes: it is one thing to have knowledge about something, but another thing entirely to actually possess it. Let us return then to the work of the fourth day of Creation.

PART 29

The sun, moon and all the stars were created on this day from the heavenly light, that is, from Schamajim, as Scripture clearly states with the words, “Let there be lights in the vault of heaven,” etc. Because the Will of God figuratively created all these heavenly bodies in this light or Schamajim, the fiat of God brought them forth both essentially and materially, such that each star would have its own characteristic body, both in terms of its light and mass, as well as in terms of its other qualities. (To understand this, the reader will have to remember the first chapter of this work.) Whereas the sun is an emanation of Æsch from Schamajim or Æsch Majim, the moon is likewise an emanation of Majim from Schamajim. And so it was with all the other stars, namely, that each more or less has its own tendency toward, or its own mixture of or . We can more easily form an image of this in our mind than talk about it in any detail. A reasonable person will understand what we mean here.

In order to understand how the sun, moon and all other bodies of the heavens are differentiated in their essence, and how their rays fall in equal measure on the earth, the reader should closely consult the first chapter, where this is all explained, and which does not need to be repeated here. Instead, let us now return to the other topic, for we still have to say a few words about certain things. In so doing, however, we will arouse an entire swarm of clever fools against us. Nevertheless, we must ask whether the heavenly bodies are indeed, as popular opinion would have it, unpopulated empty clumps of matter that have been set in the heavens only for the purpose of nightly decoration. Those who feel obliged to offer an opinion on God's intent and on divine Creation are filled with this delusion. It is also these people who will most aggressively dispute our arguments. That the sun, moon and countless stars are especially ruled by creatures with a very simple essence, or spirits from these heavenly bodies, cannot be shown from tradition itself, i.e., from the words of Sacred Scripture. Rather, it can be clearly demonstrated by considering the power and glory of the living God, and from some passages in Sacred Scripture, to the complete satisfaction of every true seeker of wisdom. In part 12 and in other parts we discussed at some length the creatures of the four elements, and convincingly showed that these four great essences: fire, air, water and earth, are filled with certain spirit-beings or elemental creatures. Is it not far less likely that Almighty God would leave these countless heavenly bodies, both in our universe as well as in the higher realms (where there are an indescribable number of worlds that are much larger than our earth), devoid of creatures, who would also praise his great majesty and glory? Psalm 148 says in the first 4 verses, “Praise the Lord out of heaven; / praise him in the heights. / Praise him, all his angels; / praise him, all his host. / Praise him, sun and moon; / praise him, all you shining starts; / praise him, heaven of heavens, / and you waters above the heavens.” In Psalm 147, verse 4, it says., “He numbers the stars one by one / and names them one and all.” And Isaiah 40, verse 26 says, “Lift up your eyes to the heavens; consider who created it all, led out their host one by one and called them all by their names; through his great might, his might and power, not one is missing.” It will be clear to everyone, why we have cited these passages from Sacred Scripture. Similarly, everyone knows, how these passages are typically interpreted, and, in our opinion, erroneously so. The third verse of Psalm 148 says, “Praise him, sun and moon; / praise him, all you shining stars.” Who is supposed to be praising the Supreme Being here? Is it, as popular opinion believes, the lifeless heavenly bodies-the sun, moon and the stars—praising God through their orderly orbits in specific paths and their positioning with respect to one another? O, such foolish thoughts about the majesty and glory of the living God! It is the spirit-creatures and inhabitants of the sun, moon, and all the stars who praise and laud the name of God. And according to this system, we consider each star or sun of the upper region enveloping our solar system, as well as our own sun and moon, a world, just as our earth, with its atmosphere reaching to the region of the , can be called a world. The inhabitants of these worlds are characterized by the essential quality of the world or globe from which they were created. Each of these worlds and their inhabitants have a ruler or king, who are powerful spirits, but who are subject to the higher spirits of the angelic circles or the regents of the spirit-world (see figure 53 on page 87). These higher spirits are in turn subject to the seven great spirits before the throne of God and they receive their influence from them. And the seven great spirits in turn receive their influence from God, as is explained in the outline mentioned earlier. Just as the characteristics of these powerful spirits and their domains are tied to these stars, so too, their effects on our universe and on our earthly globe—the treasure and collector's chest of nature—are similarly determined. For example, when the planet alone shines its rays and powers on the earth, without any other body coming between, do we not experience only hot, dry times, feverish pestilence, war, murder, theft, fires and bloodshed? This effect becomes much more pronounced when another -like world from the upper region (from the fixed stars) joins its own rays in with these. The same can be said of all the other worlds of the upper region, and the effect they have on ours. All of these stars are set in a particular order by the planets, or, to be more accurate: the stars of the firmament receive their powers from the twelve choirs of the angelic world and then pass these powers on to the planets (which are fewer in number), and from there this power come down to us. Since we dealt with this in the first, second and subsequent chapters in great detail, there is no need for us to repeat it here, until we go into further detail in the third volume on , in the chapter on astrology.

THE FIFTH DAY OF CREATION

PART 30

The fifth day saw the creation of everything that lives in the oceans, lakes, rivers and other waters, and in the air, reported in Genesis 1, verses 20 to 23. The mercurial substances, i.e., all plant life, were the first to be separated and brought forth. After that came all saline things, i.e., those creatures that lived in the ocean and other waters, as well as in the air. However, the creatures of a sulfuric nature, i.e., all the animals of the earth, first appeared on the sixth and last day of Creation. Before the Fall of Man and the resultant Curse, all of these created things, the fish and birds, as well as all plant life, were in their substance glorious, pure and perfectly healthy, and not inclined to predation or injury of any sort. However, after the Fall and the Curse, everything inside them changed: their original pure substance was enclosed and sealed up within a cruder nature, such that the effect of their life-fluids, necessary for the maintenance of human life, was greatly reduced. At this point we should perhaps say a few words about the various characteristics of the fish that live in fresh-and saltwater, and also about the birds of the sky. Certainly, everything we have said up to now should be more than sufficient for the reader. However, we want to add here, that there is nothing more wondrous than all the arguing and talking by otherwise reasonable people about the wintering habits and location of some birds, such as swallows, storks, etc., since Genesis 1, verse 20 makes quite clear their origin and creation, by which it can be truly and incontrovertibly concluded that these birds must winter along the coast in warmer climes, in warm wetlands and similar places. And so we now conclude this fifth day of Creation.

THE SIXTH AND LAST DAY OF CREATION

PART 31

We now come to the close of Creation in the sixth day, when the mysterious ways of God's Creation were completed, while presaging at the same time those of the future world. Genesis 1, verses 24 and 25, says that God the Lord created from the earth on this day all the creatures of the earth. This refers to those that did not reside in the air or in the waters. Scripture names them differently and divides them into three main categories: cattle, reptiles and beasts of the earth. The Eternal Word or Fiat pronounced that the earth should produce—and allow to go forth—living souls, according to their species: cattle, both great and small, for holy use and for the good of mankind after its Fall; reptiles, that is, everything that crawls in and on the earth; and the beasts of the earth, that is, all kinds of creatures great and small, wild and predatory animals (as they had become after the Fall). Scripture says, “They came out from the earth and went forth.” This suggests their essence. That is, just as the essence of all plant life before the Fall, the Curse and decline of man was mercurial, all fish had a predominantly saline essence, while the most noble of these substances, , resides in all the cattle, reptiles and beasts of the earth. By the wisdom of God these so-called creatures of the earth were the last to come forth, so that they could immediately find sustenance and support, as noted in Genesis 1, verse 30, where it is written, “All green plants I give as food to the wild animals, to all the birds of heaven, and to all reptiles on earth, every living creature.” This indisputably shows what we briefly discussed above, that during this period of Creation there were no destructive, predatory or poisonous creatures, for they all ate nothing but plants and had not yet tasted blood. The earth was not yet cursed because of man, and everything stood in perfect divine grace and love. The strife, hatred, bitterness and stress were not yet evident and thus ruin and damnation had not yet appeared.

PART 32

The preceding parts of this chapter have recounted the Creation of this our visible world (see X-B in figure 54), as similarly noted in Sacred Scripture. We recounted how this visible world, light and darkness, all the lights of heaven—i.e., stars—all plants, all types of fish and birds and lastly, all cattle, reptiles and beasts of the earth, were created. Genesis 2, verse 5 further notes, “Nor was there any man to till the ground.” That means there was no reasoning creature present who could have acted as master of all these magnificent creatures and things and who, in thinking about them, would have praised the majesty of the Creator. Therefore, the Lord God spoke in Genesis 1, verse 26, “Let us make man,” etc. Here we come to those secrets that are quite often discussed by many people but which are seldom understood because such secret things must be explained according to the knowledge they contain, that is, their agreed-upon principles. This is why it has been interpreted so poorly and generally misunderstood. But we will let them have their opinions, created by their opinion makers, on the condition that they similarly respect our own principles, which are based on Sacred Scripture. In the creation of mankind God held to the same process that he employed in the creation of the rest of the visible world, namely, the Lord God did not create the living creatures until he first provided for their shelter and sustenance. Thus, on the sixth day of Creation, as noted in Genesis 2, verse 8, God “planted a garden in Eden away to the east, and there he put the man whom He had formed.” Verse 9 says, “The Lord God made trees spring up from the ground, all trees pleasant to look at and good for food; and in the middle of the garden He set the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.” Verse 10 continues, “There was a river flowing from Eden to water the garden, and when it left the garden it branched into four streams.” Verse 11 states, “The name of the first is Pishon; that is the river that encircles all the land of Havilah, where there is gold.” Verse 12 says, “The gold of that land is good; bdellium and precious carnelians are also to be found there.” Verse 13 says, “The name of the second river is Gihon; this is the one which encircles all the land of Cush.” Verse 14 continues, “The name of the third is the Tigris; this is the river that runs east of Asshur. The fourth river is the Euphrates.” Finally, verse 15 says, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to till it and care for it.” In these passages one finds miracle upon miracle. First, in the eighth verse we read that God made the Garden of Eden and put humans into it, both man and woman. Second, out of the earth of this garden sprang up all types of pleasant trees. Third, a river flowed out of this garden, which was then divided into four main streams that flowed through and around different parts of the Garden. Fourth, God placed man into this Garden, to cultivate and protect it. Fifth, God gave man a rule to follow, namely that he should not eat of a certain tree in the Garden (Genesis 2, verse 9 says it was called the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil), in order to avoid both physical and spiritual death. He could, however, partake of all other plants and trees in the Garden without restriction. Let us stop here to reflect on the text and go through it in some detail. We know from Genesis 1, verse 26, and Genesis 2, verse 8 that everything described in Scripture here was accomplished on the sixth day. So let us begin with the Garden of Eden away to the east.

Both Jews and Christians have contrived many stories about this Garden, many of them quite strange and illogical. If we were to recount all these different tales here, it would be an unnecessary and thankless task, since none of them are of any use to us. We will also refrain from analyzing the words Eden or Kedem according to the Cabbala, because it would take us too far from our intended purpose. Instead, we will simply stick to the sense of Scripture. The Sacred Text says, “The Lord God planted the Garden of Eden away to the east.” That the word Eden in the original language of mankind meant a place of perfect happiness is well known to a scholars of language. However, the question is: where was this place located? The Sacred Text says “away to the east.” Where was that? Where the sun rises, or, as the rabbis teach, in the region where Adam was first created? Or was it in the land of the Canaanites or some other part of Asia? We believe that none of these answers is correct, for in Genesis 2, verse 10 it is written that a river flowed out of Eden, which then divided itself into four other main streams. Where is this river's source and its four tributaries? From the start, this question has been particularly difficult for most people, especially for those whose wisdom rests on certain principles devised by men. They think one of these four streams must be the Ganges, and another the Nile, and so forth. They believe this particularly since Sacred Scripture mentions certain geographical areas that are between these rivers and watered by them. Here we would say: Be logical! One flows toward the equator and arises in the north, while the other flows to the north and originates near the equator, etc. Isn't that quite a strange source from which such contradictory streams flow? Since many scholars are so concerned with such well-known rivers, we wonder why they haven't included the Rio Plata in South America. Not to mention many other famous rivers right here in Europe, such as the Danube and the Rhine that bring with them magnificent fruits such as gold and wine in great abundance (which is why there are more lovers of these rivers than there are of divine truth). One may further ask how it is that today the sources of these main streams run directly toward one another and why these rivers are so terribly far apart from one another. The answer that is normally given is that the Flood caused this. But this and other such sorry explanations are more laughable than serious. Thus, we do not need to concern ourselves any further with such confused opinions, and so we will turn our attention back to Scripture and its eternal truth.

PART 33

We want to reiterate here that the Lord God first made for man (this being created in his likeness), a place to live and the means for his sustenance, after the example of the creation of the earthly world. Man's place to reside was the Garden of Eden away to the east (see figure 59 on page 130, W-X) and his food was brought forth from the soil of Eden. But anyone not wishing to be called a sophist, or whose eyes have not been blinded by the dust of conventional thinking, will clearly see that Genesis 2, verse 9 is speaking about a very different earth than Genesis 1, verse 11. The fruits of this soil of Eden, among them the Tree of Life and also the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, which can be recognized from the outline presented in Genesis 1, verse 16, show that this region or Garden of Eden had nothing to do with the animal world. We place this region in figure 59 in the expanse W-X of our starry heavens, which includes the upper water Æsch Majim or Schamajim. It serves as a curtain or cover, so that the fire of divine justice would not consume the accursed earth before the assigned time of its holy judgment, when this cover or curtain will be drawn back, so that all the world may see the glory of God at the Last Judgment. This is the region of all pleasures, of repose and of peace, and it is thus called Eden in the original text of Scripture and which, according to the Cabbala, may also be called the Garden or Region of Wisdom. As the soil of this garden was, so too were its fruits, namely the fruits of life and of wisdom. From this soil the first man, Adam, was created, in the wonderful likeness of God (Genesis 2, verse 7). This soil, from which Adam was created, called Adamah, is not the same as the soil described in Genesis 1, verses 1 and 11, as is clear from Scripture and from what we have discussed above. Scripture says that the Lord God created Adam from the dust of the same earth. This dust of the earth of Eden has been sufficiently discussed in the first chapter of this book and at other places in our text. Just as the earth in the garden was made from Schamajim, so too, Adam's body was gloriously transparent and resplendent, since it was made out of spiritual and , or red and white , the fiery , that is, Schamajim. Thus, Adam could fulfill the divine command of Genesis 1, verse 26, “to rule the fish in the sea, the birds of heaven, the cattle, all wild animals on earth, and all reptiles that crawl upon the earth.” We can thus conclude from the magnificence of this first man, Adam, that he was able to rule from Eden, the Region W-X (see figure 59), all the circles or regions between the Garden and our earth, according to his own will. In what magnificence he and his descendants could have lived, if he had only refrained from tasting the forbidden fruit!

As Scriptures says, this human creature, Adam, was created both man and woman; not two different bodies, but rather he was one in essence, with two potentialities, for he was created from the dust Adamah, the red and white of the spiritual and , possessing both male and female seeds, the dust of Adamah, which came from Schamajim. He thus had the power (since he was of a heavenly nature) to magically reproduce himself. It could not have been otherwise, so long as the male and female essences had not been corrupted. And so he was like the angels with his glorious body, traversing the different regions, not stopped or hindered by any of them, because he was the essence of all essences. However, by virtue of his living soul, or the immortal spirit that God had directly breathed into him, the man Adam stood above the angels. But before we continue with this point, we still have to say a bit more about the Garden of Eden.

PART 34

Genesis 2, verse 10 says that a river (whose name is not given in the text) flowed out of Eden, which not only watered the garden, but also divided into four main streams: Pishon, Gihon, Hiddekel (Tigris) and Phrat (Euphrates). The text also says that these streams flowed around certain lands or geographical areas. These words are often used by certain schools of theological thought for the purpose of subverting the truth. But because the truth is spiritual, it cannot be affected by such a crude concretization. And so we continue, unimpressed by this effort, and point out, that the source of this river that flowed through Eden and watered the Garden, was the glory and majesty of God himself in his eternal and unknowable profundity, which reveals itself to all heavenly and earthly creatures in the temple of the fullness of his divinity, namely in the Fiat or the Word, which was the spiritual Adam, the man of heaven, born from all eternity the Son of God, Jesus Christ (see figure 53). God pours himself out through a-b to the seven great spirits who surround his throne of glory (Revelations 1, verse 4) and among which can be found the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. From the great spirits this font of life pours itself from b to d into the angelic worlds or regions, which then flows from d to e and from there to f and on to g, h, i, k, l, m, n, o, p, then back to d, and thus through all the powers of the angelic realm. (See the designation of these powers in the Hebrew letters in figure 53 from d, e, f, g, h, i, k, l, m, n, o, p into d, where the original source of the river that waters the Garden of Eden can be found. From there, it divides into the four main streams of fire, air, water and earth in region B, from which the emanation of life passes through the stars, sun and moon and falls unceasingly upon our earth, even to its very center, where it works its power. Here, God's eternal will and plan has revealed the secrets of divine majesty for all other regions, including our solar system, as well as the upper regions and the spirit-world.) This is all clearly explained in detail in chapter 1 and in subsequent chapters and does not need to be repeated here. However, we will be criticized by those who say that Scripture points out how the named streams that branch off from the river in Eden flow through certain lands. They note that the river Pishon flows through the land Havilah (which in their dreams must be the beautiful realm of the , India, or some other similar land.) They also note that the river Gihon flows through all of Cush (they must mean an African land here); while the Tigris flows through Assyria, as does the Euphrates (although we don't know how they relate to today's rivers of the same names). One can only marvel at such interpretations whose parts fit together like fat in cold buttermilk. We must also wonder how it is that there are so many blind people, who, together with the blind Jews, adhere so closely to the literal meaning of these words and who, through their human understanding, base the principles of their wisdom on such interpretations. As a result, they are not really interested in uncovering the divine secrets contained within these words. Why, then, should we care? We want to respond to their criticism of our basic ideas, which are all solidly based on the truth. We could employ the Cabbala here and interpret the Hebrew names for the four rivers, but since so few readers would understand this—and even fewer would appreciate it—we will consider it an unnecessary diversion and only say a few words about it. The river Pishon is the first mentioned, as the one that flows through the region of gold, Havilah, where bdellium and carnelians are also found. This is the river of growth that quickens all living things, the so-called fire element. This element brings with it the valuable , the red in which the golden stone Onychel is produced (whose outer surface has a golden shine, but whose inside contains Schamajim, enclosed in a fearsome fire-wheel. We could say a bit more about this, if we didn't mind being harshly criticized. And so we will not discuss this topic any further at this point, but rather leave it for the third volume on , where we can deal with it in greater detail.)

The second river is called Gishon, which flows out of the bowels of the region of and encompasses the whole globe, the black, dark and corrupted realm of the earth. The third river is the Tigris, which represents the accursed, harshest and most inhospitable aspect of the earth. The fourth river is called the Euphrates and represents collectively all the waters that have been impregnated and filled with heavenly emanations, and which once again brings back life to the burnt region of Cush. In response to the criticism mentioned earlier, let us point out that our interpretation shows how much farther and clearer one can understand these things if one would read the Cabbala a bit more closely, where we would find much more about the secrets of the numbers relating to these rivers. All this, however, does not represent our opinion at all. Rather, we want to leave something for the reader to think about, and so we will leave it at this.

PART 35

Let us now return to the end of part 33, where we heard what a magnificent creature the man Adam was, and what a glorious light and aura surrounded him. We also heard of how he desired nothing more than to accede to the will of God, and thus lived in true sanctity and justice, in an indescribably calm, quiet peace and joy, and how he could have continued to live in that way, had he not transgressed against the restrictions of his Creator, who had formed him so magnificently. After the Lord God had created him so gloriously in his image and likeness and made him ruler of the whole universe (from which Lucifer had fallen) and even gave him Eden as his throne, he commanded Adam not to desire, nor to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, under pain of physical and eternal death. However, he could enjoy everything else in the Garden freely, including the Tree of Life in the middle of the Garden, and rule over all creatures and created things above and below his throne. Earlier in this chapter we spoke at some length about the fall of Lucifer and its cause, and how the seat of Lucifer in this present world was changed after the man Adam was created to rule and complete the world in place of Lucifer. Since Lucifer saw this magnificent creature, Adam, as a king of this powerful domain, out of which he was cast because of his pride, his fury and envy toward this man swelled up within him, with the intention of separating Adam from this glory so that he would be ruined and banned along with him. But because he lies bound with the chains and bonds of darkness in the fiery pit until the day of the Last Judgment, Lucifer then ordered his servant, the Lord and Prince of the Air, Beelzebub, to tempt Adam into acting against God's will and command. Lucifer saw that Adam was alone and used that as the source of his temptation. Adam was then shown all the empires of this world and told how useful all of these could be for him, because he was so alone. He told Adam that if he were to reproduce into millions of people, only then would he truly rule over this world. The devil reminded Adam that he could do this of his own power and rule his domain (the whole universe) according to his will as a powerful king. And so the devil tempted man to pursue his own good and his own glory, rather than that of his Creator. And so man created in his mind the idea of disobedience against Eternal God and looked around for a species with which he could exercise his power and reproduce, and rule the world on his own, thus setting him against his God and King. Satan further told him that because of his immortal spirit, which had been breathed into him directly by God, he was immortal for all ages and would never suffer decay or death. Adam's sins were thus real, albeit of spiritual origin. However, in order to frustrate the envy and evil of the devil and to protect man from reproducing against his nature in a manner abhorrent in God's eyes, and thus to protect him from complete eternal ruin, the Lord God said in Genesis 2, verse 18, “It is not good for man to be alone. I will provide a partner for him, who will be with him” (for companionship and for reproduction). Then, to show man that his mind had deceived him and that he would not find such a helper in the animal world (which was subject to him), the Lord God led all the living creatures of the earth to Adam, so that he could name each of them according to their species, and so that he would learn to recognize that in the entire universe or visible world there was no helper present with whom he could reproduce (see Genesis 2, verse 19). Thus, man had conspired in his thoughts most terribly against God's most holy will and plan, which had ordained that Adam should reproduce according to his own nature and his situation in Eden, as we will elaborate upon more clearly in the next volume of this book. As Genesis 2, verse 20 further states, “He found no helper for Adam from those creatures around him.” So that Adam would not fall victim to his enflamed animal passions and allow these desires, that went against his nature, to cause his ruin, the Lord God revealed through the division of Adam (who was previously two in one) his spiritual transgression and his real sin and disobedience, as we see in the text of Genesis 2, verse 21, where it says, “And so the Lord God put the man into a deep sleep and while he slept, he took one of his ribs and closed the flesh over the place.” Verse 22 continues, “The Lord God then built up the rib, which he had taken out of the man, into a woman and led her to the man.” Verse 23 states, “Adam said: ‘Now this, at last, is bone from my bones, flesh from my flesh. This shall be called woman, for from man was this taken.”’ Finally, verse 25 says, “Now they were both naked, the man and his wife, but they had no feeling of shame towards one another.”

Verse 21 is quite full of unfathomable secrets: first, it says that the Lord God put Adam into a deep sleep. No reasonable person will doubt that this sleep was not the result of his toil and suffering, fear and worries regarding the nourishment of his earthly body. It is also clear that Adam, in his blissful and magnificent situation in the heavenly restful Garden of Eden, did not need to sleep, nor was he ever so inclined. Thus, we can conclude with certainty that Adam must have done something in his mind that removed him from his state of perfection and set him into a different state of being, in which he was capable of sleep, as a symbol of death (that this sleep is also a metaphor for the darkening of his soul by sin is not wrongly asserted, but we will leave this for the theologians to work on and involve ourselves instead with the secret contained in the letter of the text). This passage calls Adam's sleep thardemah, its radix radam. This radix, cabbalistically understood, means that at that time man had both blood and a spirit, that is, a growing soul, into which the Adam of Paradise, the inner immortal man with his immortal spirit—directly breathed into him by God—was enclosed. And so that God's wisdom and will regarding Adam—the center of the upper and lower world—not be thwarted by Satan's deceit, such that the man would choose a partner on the basis of the devil's temptation, God took pity on Adam in his deep sleep, or darkness of sin, and separated Æsch and Majim in him (the reader will have to have understood chapter 1 in order to comprehend this). Scripture says that as Adam lay in a deep sleep, the Lord God took one of his ribs and put flesh in its place. At this point we want to speak of fixed and the bones of the human body, since they, like all other salts, have their origin in Schamajim. It is not necessary here to reiterate what is and where it comes from—although it is important for the current discussion—as we have described it extensively and in great detail in the first three chapters of this book. Human flesh is also a , but not the same as that which forms the bones. The salt of the bones is of far greater durability, as can be seen in the decay of corpses, as well as through various other experiments. That is the most indestructible of all essences can be read in the preceding chapter. Similarly, we know that the true essence of is Schamajim, that is, Æsch Majim, a watery or a fiery , from which red and white are formed, the true Adamah, from which then Adam, the man in Eden, was created by the Lord God in his own image and likeness. This Adam, made from Adamah, was, before his division, blinded by the deceit of the devil (that is, blinded by his own magnificence), whereby he imagined, against the Will of God, that he was part of this animal world by virtue of his flesh and blood, in the image of this dark world, where the animal nature resides in the blood. (Psalm 8, verse 7 shows that he was to rule over this world, “Thou makest him master over all thy creatures; thou hast put everything under his feet.”) Then the Lord God took the essence Majim from Adam, which was a rib or some other basic structure of this divinely miraculous construction, and made woman from it. He closed off the space this made among the other ribs of Adam with flesh, that is, with an extract of the so-called elements of the earthly world, to which Adam had directed his thoughts and thus, into which he descended through the deceit and envy of the devil. Then God led the woman that he made from Adam to him, the man, who recognized her immediately as an essential part of his own essence or the earth of Eden. He said that the woman was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh and that she would be called woman, because she came from man (see Genesis 2, verse 23).

We will digress a bit here from our topic and say that whoever understands what we have said about blood and life, and the division of Adam, will also comprehend why all Jews are forbidden to eat any blood, and why the blood must be drained from a sacrifice and then brought before the high priest in the Holy of Holies for reconciliation, whereby the remaining blood must then be poured out at the altar of burnt sacrifices. In a similar sense Genesis 2, verse 24 says, “And they will be one flesh.” In fact, if it were our intention to speak about the secrets of the religious worship—both the old as well as the new—we could find enough material here on both the ceremonial service as well as the secret of the spiritual connection between Christ and his bride, so that this work would become quite large. In it we could also show what true worship consists of (without all the human embellishments). But then this work would become too large. The seeker of wisdom will certainly find in our comments more than enough material upon which to further reflect. And so let us now return to our original topic.

PART 36

Adam now had a companion because of God's resolve and thus the devil's plan was thwarted. And since both Adam and his partner were formed in Eden (at this point they were still in the interim situation, since their sin had not yet been revealed), God blessed them (see Genesis 1, verse 28) and set them to rule over all things there, as can be read in the passage just cited. The Lord God allowed them to eat freely of all things growing in the Garden (see verse 29), because their flesh was composed of earthly elements. He made an exception, however, of one tree in the Garden (see Genesis 2, verse 17). In order that the man (who was already ruined through his thoughts) could recognize and see for himself whether he could exist in this ruinous condition caused by his own mind and in wholehearted opposition to his Creator in Eden, God forbade him under unavoidable pain of physical and spiritual death from eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Thus, both Adam and his companion roamed naked in the Garden and neither felt any shame (see Genesis 2, verse 25), since their conscience had not yet been awakened by their disobedience and fall. Therefore, Satan now tried his tricks on the woman, since his first effort with the undivided Adam had not gone as he had hoped. Satan knew from his knowledge as the first ruler of this earthly, or animal, world, that the essence of the woman's mind had a much more watery nature and was not as fiery and durable as the man's. The devil therefore knew that it would be easier to entice her to entertain all manner of desires, and to revel in them. Therefore, he approached the woman in the shape of a snake, as recorded in Genesis 3, verse 1, “The serpent was more crafty than any wild creature that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Is it true that God has forbidden you to eat from any tree in the Garden?”’ Now we face the difficult question: what kind of a creature was this “serpent”? And was it the devil himself, or did he simply speak through it and use it as a tool? Indeed, there are as many answers to these questions as there are religions, denominations and sects. In fact, although this passage is of the utmost importance, it cannot be explained by wisdom that is based on theories devised by men. The text doesn't mention Satan at all, but rather an animal that it calls the “serpent,” one more devious than all the creatures of the Garden, and accursed above all other animals (for seducing man) by the Lord God. It is condemned to crawl on its belly and eat the dust of the earth all the days of its life (see Genesis 3, verse 14). From this it is clear that this creature, because it must crawl on its belly, was created originally differently and must have had feet at first. It must have been an admirable and attractive animal, to seduce the woman. It is also clear that it was able to come to Eden. This requires no explanation. But the question remains: what kind of a creature was it? This cannot be answered from the text of Scripture. And what the rabbis and others have speculated on this topic, is far too vulgar to be described here. Other opinions are not much better. Thus, the truth will have to be deduced from the circumstances of this story. The text of Genesis 3, verse 1 says that the serpent spoke to the woman, “Is it true that God has forbidden you…?” etc. These words clearly show that they must have been preceded by an extensive conversation (or argument) with the woman. That being the case, we can conclude that the serpent was a beautiful animal, close in form to man, since the woman engaged it in a conversation. Indeed, the serpent must have seemed to her like a human from the earthly world (although without an immortal body and spirit like those of Adam). The serpent must have assumed the form of a human and been very beautiful and complete in this shape. And as part of their punishment, Adam and his woman had to assume this shape themselves. The serpent, on the other hand, suffered the loss of its hands and feet and the ability to speak, and was transformed into the creature that we today call a snake. The woman was smitten by the beauty of the serpent and because she saw a form similar to her own, she thought that this creature was one of her own species, and therefore was seduced by Satan. That Satan spoke through the serpent and deceived Eve is demonstrated in the passage of Genesis cited above, “and the serpent was more clever.” This word for “clever” (arum) does not mean an animal's trickiness or deceitfulness, like that of an ape, fox or similar creature. Rather, the actual meaning of the Hebrew word refers to someone who is well experienced and astute at something that they have done before. This cannot refer to an animal, but suggests instead a rational creature imbued with an immortal spirit. Apart from the angelic creatures, none possessed an immortal spirit other than Satan and his legions, and after them, man. It is clear that this word, arum, is not referring to a human creature, since none existed at that time except Adam and Eve. And since the word also has the meaning of “experienced” at something, etc., this could not apply to them, since they were still too new. Thus, the serpent could be none other than the crafty and devious Satan, as confirmed in Genesis 3, verse 15, “I will put enmity between you and the woman,” etc. Although we could provide more material for a clearer explanation of this point, certain reasons com pel us to let our presentation stand without further elaboration.

With regard to the conversation between the serpent and the woman, and how it deceived her, Satan picked up here where he left off with Adam. That is, he made known to the woman her own perfect beauty and magnificence and how it lay within her power to reproduce herself into millions of beings. In addition to the multiplication of her power and glory, he also made known to her the pleasure that she would experience in fulfilling her desire to increase her own race, which would rule over the universe, without needing God's wisdom and assistance. (It was said earlier that Adam's reproductive ability, before his fall, was not yet revealed.) Satan also pointed out to her that if they would eat of the forbidden fruit, which was nothing other than the essence of all knowledge and perception, and the fulfillment of one's will and desires, they would in effect become the equal of God. And in order to prevent this, God forbade them to eat this fruit, so that they would not become his equal in glory, might, power and in the fulfillment of their will. That is why he threatened them with death. Satan also showed her at the same time, through the serpent, how to seduce Adam to eat this fruit, which would lead to great knowledge and wisdom, as she had previously known. For as long as Adam did not have sexual knowledge of her, she could not achieve this perfection. Since the thoughts of the woman were preoccupied in this way, and she saw that the fruit of this tree was itself so perfectly beautiful and pleasing to look at and, beyond that, that it could make her so knowledgeable and glorious, passions and desires were awakened in her mind with the full intensity of the animal world, such that the fulfillment of her will could no longer be prevented, as her mind dwelled upon the idea that possessed her and how she might implement it. And when she took the fruit and ate it, she then convinced Adam to do the same. But because they were both of one essence in one flesh, the emanation of the woman's mind awakened the still-concealed desires of Adam for his partner and thus he wished to find an object in which his desire could invest itself and find satisfaction, but which could now be found nowhere, except in the woman. After his desire was awakened by this temptation, it burned forth in an unquenchable desire for fulfillment. Then Adam, without the slightest resistance, ate of the forbidden fruit and immediately shared with the woman the knowledge of good and evil, life and death, but also that of eternal death and damnation. Their earthly minds had led them to, and revealed to them, what they had done, which they now recognized through the knowledge that they acquired from the forbidden fruit. This realization made them ashamed of their nakedness, being stripped of their original perfection, and they then hid themselves. Since God incorporates his chosen punishment in the sinful deed committed by his creatures, the punishment for this deed was meted out to all, as Genesis 3 points out. First, because it had served Satan's deceit, the serpent forfeited its earlier superior beauty and became the repulsive serpent (from that point on called the snake), which preserves in its use of venom a symbol of the infernal venom that destroys the soul. Its bite brings physical death, just as the hellish poison brings sin with it and eternal death. Second, the woman's pride, by which she thought to become a great ruler, was humbled, and her desires were fully subordinated to the will of the man. And instead of the anticipated pleasure, reproduction would bring her great pain and suffering. Third, because he allowed himself to be tempted and excited by the woman, and without hesitation indulged himself with her in forbidden, prideful knowledge, he would be so burdened down with toils, labor and suffering that he could never escape it. So too, the land was cursed by the Lord God, so that only thorns and thistles now grew (that is, unhealthy, injurious and ruinous fruits and plants), where earlier nothing but perfect, healthy, beautiful and magnificent plants and fruits were produced. And although these thorns and thistles may appear healthy and nutritious, their use and enjoyment would be more deleterious than helpful to man and bring him closer to death rather than life. Through his curse Almighty God concealed the original simplicity and purity of all created things deep within them. That is, he concentrated the essence of light within them and surrounded it with a dark material substance. In so doing, he brought about the spiritual and material opposition of light and darkness, heat and cold, wetness and dryness. At the same time, he made all created things of the earthly realm subject to a process of ageing or gradual decay which is always present and at work in all of nature, until such time as all such things composed of light and darkness revert back to their original material state. This means that death and decay will destroy all earthly and damnable things of this world fallen into darkness through the Curse, until all created things reappear in their original light-essence (as before the Curse) and until the concealed original man—like Adam in Eden—within all men returns once again. When that occurs, man will no longer have to endure eternal death along with the fallen spirits in the world of darkness.

In order that man (who now recognized life and death) could not return on his own from death, with which he was now entwined through his knowledge and which was now revealed to him, to eternal life (thus completing the task that the serpent convinced the woman to pursue, namely to be the equal of God), the Lord God spoke in Genesis 3, verses 22 and 23, saying, “We must take care that he does not reach out his hand and take fruit from the Tree of Life and eat it, thereby living forever. So the Lord God drove him out of the Garden of Eden to till the ground from which he had been created.” Here, the text clearly states that Adam was driven out from the soil from which his inner, immortal body was created, and set upon another earth, from which he took on his mortal flesh. And so that man would recognize that he could not stand before God in his mortal flesh, the Lord God took away the cover of the fig leaves, behind which the man and woman tried to hide themselves (this representing the imagined sweetness of that world) and clothed him with skins to show him that he could now only survive before God with a covering of the justice of the unspotted Lamb, who for him and all the world would be slaughtered and sacrificed on the cross. Thus, the thoughts of those who say that such clothing of skins was made out of lambskins are correct in a certain respect. However, the Lord God proclaimed in Genesis 3, verse 15 that eternal salvation would come about through the seed of woman, Jesus Christ, so that man would not entirely lose heart at having been expelled from the countenance of God and be secure in this solace, as in an impregnable fortress, against the deceit of the devil, thus remaining free from eternal death. Man was thus expelled to this earth, from which his earthly flesh was taken. Thus, he could not return to the Tree of Life to eat from it and to live eternally, for the Lord God blocked the way back with the flaming swords of the Cherubim. And thus man had to cultivate the earth with great toil and sorrow in order to live, and he was not yet permitted to eat meat, and would not be so for many years, until the time of the Flood, the other curse cast upon him. This was so because a glimmer of the original glory still resided in the elements—as if they were filled with aurum potabile, of which we spoke earlier—and all plants possessed as foodstuffs far greater energy, nourishment and healthiness than anything that can be found since the time of Noah.

If the six days of Creation, during which this complex machine, the house of the world, with all the creatures contained therein, are now complete, as figure 52 clearly shows, then we could end this chapter now, since the following parts would not be needed. In fact, we could add quite a bit more regarding the sixth day, but since it would deal primarily with theological things, we will leave that material to those whose expertise is writing about theology. For example, with regard to the sixth day, we could speak of the invisible elemental creatures, as well as the qualities of the human spirit. But because of what we just said above, we will not go beyond what has already been said in parts 12 to 22 at this point. Nevertheless, we will say more about it in the second volume, and especially in the third volume dealing with .

Concerning the immortal spirit breathed directly into us by God, we have stated our thoughts clearly enough at the end of part 21. And so it is not necessary to expound on this topic any further. However, we must raise a challenge to those who hold an opposing opinion. When they state that the immortal spirit (or, as they say, the immortal soul) enters the human body per traducem and resides in the seed, we might ask where all the souls reside that are poured out by illicit desire? We might also ask if it is possible to commit the murder of any creature other than a human being, because of the former's immortal spirit. If so, then the killing of all unreasoning creatures would be an act of murder. Now one might also, without any further input from us, consider the consequences of this and to what absurdities it leads. It is true that Almighty God had decided from all eternity the total number of men, that is, how many would exist from Adam on to the very last of all men, when this earthly existence ceases to be; thus, there can be no more and no less than that number. Since this supposition is correct, and indeed incontestable, opposing arguments lead to such absurdities as the following: that the eternal plan of God could be thwarted by the evil of men or, since the soul continues on per traducem, as one light ignites another, man is thus a being of mere coincidence, because it is supposedly his will that determines through his actions whether another man is procreated. We could support our thoughts with more evidence and arguments, but we will not do so, in order to avoid causing the reader any dismay, but also in part for another good reason: we wish to let our explanation in part 21 suffice and hurry on to the end of this long chapter.

PART 37

Although we rendered that explanation earlier, there are still a few questions asked by both wise men and fools that we should answer. First, the question can be raised: What kind of trees were the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil? Secondly, in what time period did the Fall of Man occur? Third, what was the path to the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden? Fourth, who were the Cherubim, who protected the Garden of Eden, and what kind of swords did they wield? These are truly questions that will require more than just our imagination to answer. Holy Scripture speaks of these matters, but doesn't answer these questions literally in the text, unless the reader seeks a true mystical understanding therein. Scripture says of the trees in Genesis 2, verse 9 that the Lord God brought forth trees from the ground in the Garden of Eden, both the Tree of Life in the middle of the Garden, and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, etc. We can see here that both trees are not described as imaginary objects, but rather they were—and are—real things (from the soil of Eden). It is also stated that they bear fruit, as Christ the Lord promised in Revelation 2, verse 7 that he would give to those who were victorious the right to eat from the Tree of Life that stands in the middle of God's Paradise. And since these are real trees, what is it in them that gives life in the one and knowledge—resulting in death—in the other? Both are essential characteristics of their respective trees. As we discussed earlier in some detail, Lucifer fell because he was not satisfied with his beauty, power and glory. There arose in him the desire to be as wise and powerful as God, a Lord unto himself, apart from and without God. The Lord God transformed Lucifer's pride and self-serving knowledge, as well as his magnificent light, into dark damnation. Thus, in this being we see revealed the knowledge and recognition of good and evil which the Lord God made the essence of the one tree and of its fruit, and which man ate against God's will through the deceitful inducement of the devil. We also see revealed in this the satanic intent, as well as death and damnation, through which he has plunged man today into ruination. This was mentioned earlier and thus the Tree of Knowledge needs no further elaboration.

With regard to the Tree of Life we see that it contains within its very core the essence of life, which protects and preserves the immortal and indestructible life of all reasoning beings. The Lord God says in Genesis 3, verse 22, “We must see to it that he not reach out his hand and take fruit from the tree, eat it and live forever.” In other words, eternal life was not supposed to be given to this mortal flesh, so that the knowledge of evil would not be kept eternally alive. Thus, man was driven out of the Garden and the way back to the Garden was concealed. Nevertheless, it is certain that this Tree of Life was a truly essential tree. We could say much more about its secret, which would not disappoint our readers. However, discussing this topic might incite the entire ecclesiastical hierarchy against us, and they might accuse us of being heretics and condemn us. Although this would not cause us any real concern, we would still prefer to be brief, so that this book doesn't become too wordy. Instead, we will say more in the remaining volumes of this work.

The Lord God now saw two of his creatures corrupted. First, it was Lucifer with his millions of spirits, and then man with all his descendants, still contained within him at this point as an ideal potential. Neither of these creatures could be reconciled to the justice of God because of their terrible fall and disobedience; they had eternally distanced themselves from God and would have remained in eternal death and darkness, had not Almighty God fulfilled and revealed his plan and intention in Christ Jesus. All who lay aside their pride and selfishness and approach this source of reconciliation, this original source of all life (see figure 53), that moves and preserves life and pours itself out upon regions b., c. and d., and indeed upon all regions or circles of the light-world, as well as the earthly world, they will truly and deeply enjoy the true Bread of Heaven, Christ Jesus, be born in the unfathomable and unchanging love of God, and be eternally united with God to live in his glory. But they, whose spirit, soul and inner man were created from the dust of the earth in Eden, must live in the deepest humility with a fearful, but passionate desire to return to the light, the original condition of their existence, and to live eternally with God. And just as the actual consumption of this true Bread of Heaven leads to divine eternal life, so too eating of the Tree of Life, in the middle of Eden (see figure 53) saves us from decay and death, and brings us back to our original condition, to enjoy an eternal life without natural death. It is necessary here to expand somewhat our explanation on this material. But those whose sense of reason has not been distorted by constricting rules or preconceived notions, or who are possessed by an argumentative demon, they will recognize how we understand these two types of eternal life (which are actually one and the same), the one in and with God through Christ Jesus, and the natural eternal life granted to Adam before his fall. Those who have attained the blessed divine life are described in Revelation 22, verse 1, where it is written that they are refreshed and drink of the “river of the water of life, sparkling like crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.” Here, too, they eat and are nourished by the fruit of the trees (that is, the trees that grow on both sides of the river), whose leaves are used by the heathens (i.e., all damned peoples) for medicinal purposes. When they eat these leaves, that is, when they are thoroughly permeated with the belief in and the desire for Christ, they will also eat of the fruits and drink of the stream in the eternal afterlife. Enough, then, about the Tree of Life and the Knowledge of Good and Evil; we will now move on to the next topic of discussion: When and at what time did the Fall of Man occur? Genesis 2, verses 1 and 2 state, “Thus heaven and earth were completed with all their mighty throng. On the sixth day God completed all the work he had been doing, and on the seventh day he ceased from all his work. God blessed the seventh day and made it holy.” From these words we can see that the Lord God created nothing more on or after the seventh day. Instead, that which was created multiplied from then on through God's blessing. Everyone can now see quite well from what we have discussed thus far in this work that the curse upon earthly creation because of man's disobedience happened such that he could nourish himself only with great difficulty his entire life long on this earth. Before man fell, our -system stood under the first divine blessing, described in Genesis 1, “He brought forth everything in perfection and purity, without any curse, death or decay.” However, the current dark, material condition that brings death with it was caused by the Fall of Man. Since all of Creation up to today's material or tangible condition was completed in six days, it incontrovertibly follows that man was not only created on the sixth day, but also fell and was driven out of Eden on the same day. Whoever does not like this explanation should seek that which will satisfy his own delusions in the heathen dust of the theological schools, since the Lord God himself does not provide an easy answer to anyone, or at least to very few.

The third question concerns the location of the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden. We might not actually have to answer this question, since in the entire clerical hierarchy the location of the Garden of Eden has been identified as this or that place on this earth. They also claim that the waters of the Great Flood destroyed it and washed it away. Thus, the location must be known to them, unless the new geography did not match up with the old, leading them to a false location. We will let them enjoy their Paradise, while providing our own answer to this question.

We noted earlier how all the original light-beings were enveloped and enclosed in the bonds of the visible and material elements, as if in a strong vise. And we also described how at some later point man, surrounded by his elemental body, could not remain in Eden (not having eaten from the Tree of Life), because his elemental body could not find the appropriate nourishment there. Thus, he was driven here to this world. And so regarding a path to the Tree of Life in Eden we can offer nothing useful, as long as this vulnerable, elemental body exists. But as soon as the body of those who enjoy the true heavenly bread and who are once again brought back through it to their original state in the divine light and the eternal life of joy. Once this mortal body is given over to decay through death, the man who was created from the dust of Eden's earth is once again unbound and liberated (as Saint Paul teaches magnificently in his first letter to the Corinthians 15, verses 36 to 50, where he portrays this whole mystery without any concealment) and the way is revealed to him and no longer blocked.

We have now answered this question. Indeed, we could have commented here on some other important material concerning the differing conditions of the deceased, as was originally our intent. But since this book has grown much larger than we conceived of it at first, this and other very important material will have to be left out for now, which will also rob our opponents of the opportunity to attack us and to smear the paper on which we write.

Let us hurry, then, to the fourth question and the end of the chapter. It was asked who the Cherubim were and what kind of swords they wielded. The Cherubim are mentioned in very few passages of Scripture, but they are described such that we can positively conclude that they have a human figure and that they are powerful spirits. They are located to the east in order to protect the Tree of Life. How many of them there are cannot be easily concluded from these passages in Scripture. Nevertheless, from the circumstances surrounding the mysteries of the Old Testament we can conclude that there are two such powerful spirits together with the hosts of angels entrusted to them. Their weapons are the terrible fiery flames of God's anger. They watch over in the east (as reported above) the path to the tree, so that nothing from this beastly world may approach the Tree of Life before their reunion with God through Christ and the reversal of decay and the curse. If anyone is dissatisfied with this answer, he should keep his opinion to himself, for this was not written in order to win over anyone's opinion.

Before we finally conclude this chapter, we should speak about the system in figure 53, that is, about true astrology and how, according to these principles, we can thoroughly and unmistakably assess the effects of the various influences on these earthly bodies (among which we include all the heavenly bodies up to ), through the points d, e, f, g, h, i, k, l, m, n, o, p, and with the symbols , , , , and from a (see figure 53). But this and much more uncommon and unusual information must wait until its appropriate time to be revealed. And with this, we conclude this chapter.