Opus Mago-Cabbalisticum Et Theosophicum
574
Opus Mago-Cabbalisticum Et Theosophicum
574eBook
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Overview
After nearly three hundred years, one of the most important alchemical and magical texts of all time has finally been translated into English! In Goethe’s immortal play, Faust, the brooding hero reflects upon the vainness of earthly knowledge and education. He opens a book of magic and is transfixed by an illustration of the magical universe. He resolves there and then to become a magician. The book that fired Goethe’s imagination for that dramatic scene was a real book—the book of forbidden knowledge that evoked every mystical cliché, Opus Mago-Cabbalisticum et Theosophicum.
This first ever English edition of Opus Mago-Cabbalisticum et Theosophicum will appeal to anyone interested in the history or practical aspects of alchemy, astrology, magick, Rosicrucianism, esoteric Freemasonry, and the Golden Dawn. A perfect addition to any library of classic esoteric literature, this edition reproduces famous illustrations.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781609258191 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Red Wheel/Weiser |
| Publication date: | 06/23/2023 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 574 |
| Sales rank: | 820,513 |
| File size: | 7 MB |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
OPUS MAGO-CABBALISTICUM ET THEOSOPHICUM
By Georg Von Welling, Joseph G. McVeigh
Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC
Copyright © 2013 Red Wheel/Weiser, LLCAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-60925-819-1
CHAPTER 1
ON THE ORIGIN OF COMMON SALT
Part 1
One can only marvel at how many opinions have been rendered on the origin and first production of salt (that is, common kitchen salt, which is the true source of all other salts, whatever their name). Such opinions are offered by scholars as well as laymen. There has been much thought on this matter, which is certainly not unimportant in itself, insofar as it concerns the very origins of natural things. In fact, we might say that it is the first and most noble question in the ordering of the entire world, and thus worthy of more considered reflection. We should set aside all preconceived notions thereof, as well as any speculations that scholars may have drawn from their learned reflections, for these were arrived at in the comfort of their rooms, without the benefit of true experimentation and the difficult process of thorough research. Instead, one should engage in genuine and natural observation in order to determine the true origin and material production of salt, as we touch it, feel it and enjoy it in our food and drink. One can certainly not determine the true origins and essence of salt by distilling one salt or another from spirits, and this says nothing of the fact that it was first given its shape and form by God the Almighty and then placed in the waters of the seas, that great depository of treasures. From there it is distributed over the entire earth by means of underground channels, as if through the veins of the body, coming to the surface here and there in springs where the salt is then separated from the water by fire and made available to us.
Part 2
No reasonable person would deny that salt, as we know it, comes to us from the great oceans by way of underground channels and fissures and is drawn from its liquid state through the application of heat. However, this alone does not prove at all its true origin.
Part 3
In order to refute all other opinions on this matter and to open the way to the truth based on nature, we want first of all to consider the material form and shape of salt, just as it appears to us. Of these, there are three comrnon categories of salt, which are, however, essentially the same: spring-, rock-and sea salt. All three are in effect similar in nature and shape, even if they differ a little in form from one another due to the foreign particles they contain. A fourth category could also justifiably be introduced here, namely the salt found in common earth or soil, called . Yet, even this salt can be purified without much difficulty, such that it would perfectly resemble the spring-and other aforementioned salts in its shape, form and properties. In all three aspects they are of one essence, nature and characteristic. Salt has a cubic shape, which is a sign of earthly bodies and of gravity, and shows that it has mixed with earthly qualities as it passed thr9ugh the earth. With regard to its form, it is essentially transparent and the more it is purified of extraneous particles, the more it reveals of its heavenly transparent form. It is so fluid and plastic that it can very easily pass through all other bodies. Its taste is acidic and a bit astringent and possesses a desiccating property and nature. At the same time, it is by nature cooling, although its core is composed of nothing other than pure fire, as we shall show later in this text. We have now briefly considered salt, as it commonly appears to us.
Part 4
We now want to identify its true father and mother, and especially raise in more detail the question of its origin and essence, so that we might more thoroughly understand it.
Part 5
In the first chapter of Genesis, where the creation of the entire world, or of our solar system, is described, Moses teaches us that in the beginning Almighty God created the Shamajim veeth haarez, that is, the heavens, or the original water, and the earth. Moses mentions the heavens first, the spiritual fiery waters, and not without good cause, for they are the beginning of all things, created first by the Lord God. Or rather they are the beginning of the beginning, which according to its true essence is almost entirely unknowable, as we can clearly see from its wondrous name. Moses, or rather the Holy Spirit working through Moses, calls this expansion Schamajim, a composite name described by the earliest rabbis who were experienced and expert in the true Cabbala. They note that it is a composite of Æsch and Majim, fire and water. This word, according to its literal meaning, is truly a strange and wonderful mixture, for how is it possible to combine two such opposite things? And yet it represents an eternal truth, despite the fact that this fiery water, or watery fire, without which no creature can live and be maintained, is sought after with great effort by many men, yet found by so few. It is not our intention here to describe it in terms of its entire domain, for the explanation of such divine secrets would require a much more experienced writer than the author of this book. However, we will not conceal even the smallest detail that has been passed on to us by the Eternal Light, in order that we may successfully achieve our desired purpose and goal, namely to describe the first production of common cooking salt, be it sea-, spring-, or rock-salt, or even the wild earth-salt. All other salts, as well as the Vitriola Alumen,[??] and *, do not belong here, since the Vitriola and the alums are tainted by small metallic particles. However, * is a composite of uric acid and common salt. In the same way, saltpeter is a composite of volatile acidic and stabile alkaline particles, as will be shown in subsequent chapters. The alkalines are closest to our cooking salt, as will also be shown later.
Part 6
We mentioned above that Almighty God first created the heavens, Schamajim, as the beginning of all beginnings, or as the element of all elements: the fiery waters. Moses continues and adds the words veeth haarez, "and the earth," which is a secondary element (qualitas secundaria), for here the symbols [??] and [??] are understood as we will subsequently explain. The line dividing a from b in the [??] was at first not yet present. That is, after the separation of both parts (commonly referred to as the elements), the Schamajim immediately assumed the form of a physical body or object in which it could reveal its power and effect. In the sixth and ninth verses Moses goes on to describe the separation of both of the other secondary qualities, air and water, from the earth, or rather, the earth from the water. Thus, water was the first of these qualities (qualitas secundaria), as we will soon show. While the fiery water, or pure fire, as the lightest of all things, maintained its place in the domain of the Schamajim, the more common elemental fire took its place in the middle of the earth, whereby the division or separation of the so-called elements from their original source, Schamajim, was completed. That everything, as we mentioned earlier, has its life, essence and sustenance from Schamajim is shown in the eleventh verse of the third day of creation. Here, by divine command and through the power of this fiery water, which even the earliest philosophers called common mercury (Mercurius), the earth brought forth all kinds of grasses, herbs and fruit-bearing trees, etc., even before the sun and moon and some of the stars had been created to feed and nourish all the living creatures that would first be created on the fifth and sixth days. Almighty God allows us to see here the wisdom of his order, whereby the living creatures he would create later would find food and sustenance right away. Not until the fourth day were the sun, moon and all the stars created; they were to function in the order of this great world as sources of this divine power, life and emanation, Schamajim, for every creature, according to its needs. Now the sun, with the full power of its atoms, which were nothing but fire, together with the watery atoms of the [??] began to fill the air and pass on this heavenly seed to the sea, and they continue to fill it to the present day. However, it was not only the sea that was filled with this seed, but also the entire earth, which is shown not only by the ubiquitous presence of earth-salt, but also by the dew, frost, rain and snow, all of which are full of this seed. From the treasure trove of the sea it was carried throughout the entire earth through underground channels and fissures for the preservation and sustenance of all creatures. It was shown above that Schamajim is a composite name, drawn from Æsch [??] and Majim [??], and so it remains.
Now the sun is a cruder part of Æsch, the heavenly fire, just as the moon and all other stars are a cruder part of Majim, the heavenly water. The first beginning, Schamajim, still continuously flows into them, and they continue to partake of the Divine Power and Effluence from the wondrous river that has its source in Eden, that is, from the great sea of the calm and peaceful divine essence, that waters the Garden of Wonders, or Paradise, there, as few people know. Through this contact, the atoms of the sun and moon, united in the , then make their way into the sea, from where the atoms are carried throughout the entire earth for the fruitfulness and preservation of all creatures.
Part 7
No one, whom the Lord God has enlightened, will deny that salt is the effluence of the sun, moon and all the stars, of their fire and water, or Schamajim, (generally called [??] by the philosophers). It is now quite undeniable that the closer the sea is to the equator, the saltier it is. As experience shows, four pounds of seawater produces a bit more than one pound of good salt. Similarly, the sun cooks the foaming seawater on sandy beaches to produce salt. However, the closer the sea is to the poles, the less salt it produces, as is well known to anyone residing in northern lands. Everyone knows how little useful salt is produced by boiling saltwater from those regions, for even though the water there is salty, the sun's rays strike the water at too shallow an angle to have as powerful an effect as at the equator and in nearby regions, where the sun's rays fall more directly upon the water.
Part 8
True philosophers will also confirm with incontrovertible arguments that the air itself is everywhere filled with a mild salty balm of the heavens. Through the use of a certain type of magnet, or other means of attraction, they can collect and produce considerable amounts of this fiery water or wondrous salt. And if anyone should think that such a magnet were itself saline, which is certainly not the case with anyone practiced in the study of nature, then he should understand that we are familiar with various simple devices that can attract from the saline heavenly Schamajim significant quantities of watery fire, or fiery waters, which are essentially nothing other than salt, the fire-filled air. Through a special procedure the fluid can be removed, thus producing this marvelous salt, known to so few, just as its higher usage is known to even fewer. Furthermore, how many people have claimed that dew (not to mention rain, snow and frost, to which it equally applies) is filled with this heavenly balm of life, or salt, as even the simplest of minds can discover through a process of simple extraction and further purification.
Part 9
However, if the air is not sufficiently saturated with this heavenly salt, whether it is caused by divine intervention due to human sinfulness, or because of a lengthy absence of sunshine, or by any other circumstances, then the air is completely spoiled and soon deteriorates. As a result, all of nature suffers: humans and animals suffer contagious pestilence, and all plant life withers and dies. Famine, affliction and general destruction follow, as we have known well enough from the beginning of time to the present day. On the other hand, we also know that even with continuous sunshine and the absence of rain, a strong dew can produce the most magnificent, fruitful and healthiest of times, for the air is saturated with this life-giving balm, or heavenly salt.
At this point, we could certainly ramble on a bit about the Secret of all Secrets, and at the same time draw attention to what the philosophers call their common [??], and how obviously—and even tangibly—(although recognized by so few people) Almighty God has laid out before our eyes on an almost daily basis the manifestations of his power, although he allows few men to recognize these because of their contrived wisdom and the ungratefulness that results from it. Thus, they cannot see how all things are "spiced" with divine fire, or salt, and thus protected from present and eternal destruction for the sake of eternal glory. Likewise, they do not see how Christ, our savior and mediator, himself the divine eternal [??], Fiat, or Word, eternally begotten and born from the divine fire of love for our eternal salvation. Unless we really and truly partake of this salt, we can never withstand, either in this world or the next, the cleansing fire of his majesty, nor can we be preserved for his glorious eternal rest, as can be shown and proven by countless examples from the Holy Scriptures. See Genesis 5, verse 24; Exodus 3, verse 2 or 5; Exodus 19, verse 18; Exodus 24, verse 18; Exodus 32, verse 29; Leviticus 9, verse 24; Leviticus 10, verses 1 and 2; Numbers 16, verse 35; 1 Kings 18, verse 38; 2 Kings 1; 2 Kings 20, verses 9 to 15; 2 Kings 13, verses 20 and 21; Isaiah 6, verses 6 and 7; 1 Corinthians 3, verses 12 to 15 and many other passages that in general have been poorly understood. Through the lesser world of men not even the smallest part of this monumental secret can be proven, as all true philosophers have sufficiently noted.
Part 10
Not wishing to dwell too much here at the beginning on these monumental secrets, until the Lord God grants us more illumination and grace, let us return then to the first proof: that salt, coming from the sun, moon and stars, is produced in the sea and finds its way to us. We say it comes from the sun, moon and stars because they are all repositories (as shown above) of the divine emanation, Schamajim, which pours itself out as the heavenly Æsch, or fire, into the sun, and as the heavenly Majim, or water, into the moon and other stars of the heavens. This is noted in Genesis 1, verse 14 or 18, where it says concerning the fourth day of creation that there should be two great lights, etc.: one to illuminate the day and the other the night, etc., and to distinguish the years and the seasons, etc., such that the sun spreads its fiery heavenly seed into the air throughout the day. All the stars draw this seed to themselves (each in the manner specified by divine will for the common good) and each transforms it in its own way and characteristic manner. At night, however, the stars send to the moon the heavenly seeds that they have received from the father of suns and which they have modified, each in its own way. (For more on the effects of the moon and its powerful rays, see the Psalm 121, verse 6: "the sun will not strike you by day, nor the moon by night." Here, the use of the words "will not strike you" attributes to the rays of both the sun and the moon the same effect and power.) The moon, as the lesser light and regent of the night, further alters the seeds it receives into cold watery seeds and disperses them into the air, thereby reuniting once again the Æsch and the Majim (namely the Schamajim) in the air as a matrix. And with it comes once again a rebirth of the Æsch Majim or Schamajim, the seed and origin of all creatures under the light of the moon, as well as their source of preservation and sustenance. It comes with the air in the form of a gentle, misty water and runs off into the sea or into the earth, where the sun or the central fire in the earth bring about its transformation into salt. It is then distributed over the entire earth by the waters of the seas through underground channels and fissures, so as to seed the earth and make it fruitful. And it reveals itself now and then through channels and fissures and creates our salt springs and wells. This water also falls into great, broad fissures, where it is altered and desiccated by the underground fire, causing the fissures eventually to be filled with the rock salt that is produced in the process. And although it is mined in many places, it is replaced quite quickly from the air, by force of its own internal fiery magnet. If, during its migration underground, it comes to a particular spot, it produces, together with the central or underground fire, or sulfur, both metals and minerals, depending on the purity of the [??] or [??]. And so it remains that our salt, namely common cooking salt, is the beginning and the end of all things. It was also well proven earlier that this [??] is both [??] and [??], or [??] [??] and [??], or [??], namely the universal [??] which is so often spoken about, but so little understood.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from OPUS MAGO-CABBALISTICUM ET THEOSOPHICUM by Georg Von Welling, Joseph G. McVeigh. Copyright © 2013 Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC. Excerpted by permission of Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC.
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Table of Contents
Contents
Foreword to the 2006 edition by Lon Milo DuQuette
Foreword of the Publisher, Homburg, the 7th of January 1735
Foreword of the Author, The 4th of January 1721
Volume 1. On Salt
Volume 2. On Sulfur
Volume 3. On Mercury
Eternal Wisdom