Enter the 1990s...
The quest for the solution to my question of why religion "is what it is" and the proof to my theory that all religion is based on "one thing" came about from my soul searching experiences in college. When I entered college, I had absolutely no idea what the deuce I wanted to do with my life. I had just gotten through high school by the skin of my teeth, my old D&D group were scattered to the four winds and I found myself alone and living with my grandmother, which may have been a mistake. Top it all off with the fact that I was not working and generally living off of school grants and loans. The school of hard knocks came quickly, but I totally ignored it. I was forced to leave school and get a job only to quit that job and go back to school and try to get my GPA back up. The first 2 years of college were a dismal failure. I had the same attitude I had in high school. I shifted majors every semester it seemed. First electromechanical engineering, then physics, then chemistry, then biology, then ending with liberal arts. It took me 4 years to get my 2 year degree and by then I had so many elective credits I could have been a Junior by the time I entered UCF.
During my early college years I continued gaming with kids who were still in high school. It did not help that we lived right next to a bookstore in Deland, FL. Every week I would by something new, especially a Dragon magazine. The occult studies were put on hold (my grandmother didn't approve) I would still do experiments when she was out of town. My social deviance would continue even in those days. I did learn how to drive at least and soon saw myself driving to school. I would go back to Titusville and visit the only friend I had left there. Even though he was a Christian and not one of the D&D group I spent many weekends with him. I think he helped to calm my butt down a bit, but we were still weird. Dennis my friend, those days will always be remembered (Schmaltz!).
I left my grandmother and moved back in with my mother in 1990, and then went back to school after a disastrous foray in the real world. Apparently I was still not ready for it. It was a job as a graphic artist, or rather a draftsman. I was totally unprepared. School didn't help, mind you I didn't really study very hard either. It wasn't me. Also at this time my empathic ability shot right through the roof where I was sensing everybody's pain, in addition to my own. I learned to create the mental blocks quickly, but once a mind has touched you it's very hard to remove the experience. What was needed was a shield to go up the minute I sensed something. Ah youth...
I joined the Society for Creative Anachronism that year with my mother. The SCA is a unique experience and I am told you do not reach the exalted rank of Uber-geek until you have been in it at least a year. I found it interesting at first, and then a little too political. But if it were not for the SCA, I would have never met the people who would actually help me through a very difficult stage in my life.
It was through the SCA that I was first exposed face to face with Wicca. I had heard of it through my readings as a teen, but never thought it was for me, a bit too sexually oriented for my tastes and I thought the whole thing was one big Freudian nightmare. That theory was shattered when I actually witnessed a Wiccan hand-fasting ceremony. Suddenly a memory from my past came back. Ceremony, circle, fire, unity candle, jumping the broom. All these things seemed oddly familiar to me. It was also at this time that the "deja-vu" experiences I had in my teens came back with a vengeance. Every SCA event I attended seemed familiar to the smallest detail. The "buzz" had returned. But I still was blocking it, refusing to see what it was.
The early 90s were a flash of events, but all of them important. I was only a bystander in the SCA from 1990-1992. After 1992 I actually got involved. Enter Herr Doktor Wulf van der Russ, mka Bob Rush. A man who would be my Obi-Wan. Fencing was being introduced into the SCA and I wanted to be a part of it. This man put a sword in my hand and said go at it. I got poked repeatedly. He then had me go in the garage and play with an experienced fencer in close quarters. Poke after poke I simply could not keep the touches from getting me. Then it happened. My first real shift. Time seemed to slow down, I could feel the rage swell within me from the frustration. I could feel my face begin to contort and my eyes focus on the opponent. Parry, parry, thrust. Touch was mine. I scored my first touch. it took me a few seconds to come out of it and I was all like, what the frak just happened?
"You just cracked your shell with your egg-tooth" was what Bob said to me, but what I heard was Obi-wan "you have just stepped into a far greater world"
Needless to say fencing soon became my aggressive outlet, I became quite good, nothing masterful mind you, but I could hold my own. My technique was chaotic, doing a different move every bout to keep people guessing. Honestly I didn't even know what I was going to to next, I just let the subconscious rage direct me.
I also went head first in to witchcraft. I was introduced to it by Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft. I was more interested in the actual magick side of things rather than the whole religious aspect (deities and holidays) of it. I wanted power, real power. A power I could use to get what I desired without anyone being the wiser. The whole religion part of it didn't seem to mesh with me at that time. I would commune with nature and actually begin to feel the energy of the earth at that time. I was still unaware of what was truly inside of me trying to come out.
In 1994 tragedy would enter my life. My chronically ill mother would pass away. While this devastated me, I felt as if her passing was necessary. At last this woman was in peace, no longer in pain. If only I could know such peace. I entered a very dark period in my life. My attitude towards all started to waver and I sought solace only through gaming, the SCA, and school. I had to get a job now and I went into working at SubWay with the gaming/SCA group I met the year before my mothers death. I ended up living with Roy, my mother's last lover and whom I would consider an step-father.
In 1995 I would come face to face with what most would call karma or the threefold law. Today I simply call it "exchange", and there is nothing equivalent about it. I was asked, no tricked by someone to "reflect" negative energy back at someone who had supposedly done her wrong. I was young and foolish and just beginning to understand magick. I soon learned that the person was the one in the wrong and I felt the brunt of the backlash. Work became unbearable and I soon learned that college at UCF was never going to pan out. I left school and work and went to live with the gaming group, living on what was left of my mother's life insurance claim.
Life with this group was an experiment in socialism. Anyone who had money put it into the pot and the bills were paid out of that. That was fine for those of us who did not work, a bit of a pain for those who did. Somehow it worked out for about 2 years. I also effectively quit the SCA at this time and drowned myself in magick and computer gaming. I did manage to learn a bit of HTML in the process. As I said we were a major gaming group, it was not uncommon for us to be playing until 3am. One of these people is on my Friends list. Chaz, Scott, Lewis and Bob thank you for your friendship and support during those years we lived together. We had our ups and downs, but the time will never be forgotten.
Also during this time I started to look at Wicca from a new perspective. Perhaps there was something to the laws and tenets of the craft after all. Thanks to the internet I learned more and more about Wicca and the craft in general. I talked on IRC and message boards and learned more and more about stuff. I also came to the conclusion that my mother had been experimenting with it shortly before her death. She did a naming ceremony for her first grandchild in 1994, months before her death. I didn't know at first, but the ceremony was in fact derived from a Wiccaning! Always the tactful one, mom stated that it was a "non denominational" ceremony. Seeming that it was performed at an SCA event she did not want to offend anyone. I was also helped by reading the books of a witch in the SCA. I was always welcomed by Connie to watch her house and from there I would read the works of Cunningham and Silver Ravenwolf. I learned where I went wrong, and soon dedicated myself properly to Wicca in 1996.
This person who introduced me to Wicca proper also landed me my first gig as a computer programer. I was a web designer then a web administrator, it seemed as if the karma was paid off, but I still had to face another test...
I was watching Connie's house late Feb 1997 and the dog that had never had a problem with me decided he was going to be belligerent. Perhaps he was scared in the fact that "mom" was not home, but in any case he challenged me. He sat there growling at me as I tried to get to the bathroom. I was certain he was going to bite me. I put my hand out as you would when approaching any unfamiliar dog, he didn't bite, nor growl. I was like, okay you're trying to assert dominance. Fine. Frak you! And I walked over the dog with full assertiveness. It was when I let my guard down with a sigh of relief that the dog grabbed my arm by the wrist. I was like "oh you so did NOT bite me just now!" I did not try to pull my hand from his clasped jaws but rather let him continue to hold on as I looked at him with the same kind of feeling I had when I first "zoned out" in that first fencing match and mentally said "Let go, let go NOW!" The dog let go, stood its ground barking but did not make another attack and I headed for the door going to Roy's house just down the street.
The bite was bad. The canine had reached down to the Ulna and was causing considerable pain. I sat in the emergency room for hours before anyone came in to look at the wound, which was actually 2, one on the top and one on the bottom of the wrist. All they did was sterilize it and put a steri-stip on it. No stitches since it was an animal bite and they wanted it to drain.
Needless to say when Connie came back, she was not amused. She did some magick on the wrist, the first time magick was done on me I might add. I also did some stuff to aid the process. The night of the bite I had a dream of the wound being cleansed in a bubble bath and the wound disappearing. Apparently this had an effect for on the 3rd day after the hit I went back to the hospital for a checkup. The nurse's aid freaked because the scab on the bite had puss. The head nurse cleaned the wound and said, "no it's not infected, that was all the toxins rising to the surface." No infection, brilliant. It would still be days before I gained the full functionallity of my wrist. I was painful to even use the mouse at work. Though this I learned 2 things. I accepted the wolf within, but I became fearful of dogs. Dogs became my "Shadow totem". It would take years to get over the fear of dogs.
In 1998 I experienced my first "Witch War". While I was not directly involved in it, my master Bob was at the forefront of this. It all started when someone in the SCA, someone I knew from when I first joined, started doing crap that involved teching wicca to minors. That wasn't the worst of it. She was using magick and ritual to coerce others into joining her 'coven'. Orgies and bloodletting were rumored to be happeneing. I could feel the rage of the wolf buring within me, but my Master warned me not to get involved, even though I knew that my mother was a victim of this witch's wrongdoings. This bitch even claimed to have performed death curses, claiming she was the one who caused someone to get into a motorcycle accident. I wanted to kill her. "And that is why you must not get involved", said Bob. I heeded the master's warnings, and stayed my hand. This would be a situation that would not be fully resolved until well into the early 21st century.
1999 was the last, best year of the 20th century. I was living the high life. I had a good job, a good wife, didn't have to want for much and was growing more powerful and confident by the day. I felt I could do no wrong. I was going on roadtrips across the country, got to see New Orleans that year and saw Weird Al on stage. There were a few revelations and tribulations and sadly it all ended too quickly. In the end the decade would end as it started, at an SCA event. I would meet this very strange lady who was a witch and had a knack for just seeing inside people. She told me many things that I can't quite remeber but summed it up as "You are meant for far greater things than what you are doing. There will come times where you must make a choice. There will be times where you must be alone. But in the end you will know who you truly are." That night was new year's eve and as the clock chimed 12 and Y2K faded from fear into foolish folly I could feel my true self come to the surface. This was the greatest shift I have yet experienced. I was the wolf at that point. I was on all hands and feet and baying at the moon!" A new dawn has come. Sadly it would be short lived. While I felt the world was my oyster, I would learn in the '00s that it could be easily taken away from someone who has a weak foundation.
That story to continue in the next installment.
Monday, April 23, 2012
Introducing Arcanus Tempestas Greywolf - Part the First
As this is a cathartic self analysis, I have decided to produce a chronological account of myself as it pertains to the metaphysical and spiritual side of my life. But as all things connect, it may slip into other facets of my being.
At a young age I was exposed to anything and everything I had an interest in, be that science, mathematics, reading, science fiction, comics, and yes even religion. My grandfather understood the importance of knowledge and was always giving me books to read. Mostly textbooks (he worked as a high school custodian in his later years) and then later Reader's Digest publications. I had a fondness for books on codes and puzzles. It was not uncommon to see my face in the encyclopaedia just to pass the time. Later I gained an interest in books about weird stuff such as metaphysics, UFO's and other X-Files like subjects.
Television helped to form my mind as well. I remember watching Sesame Street and Electric Company pseudo-religiously back in the 1970s. At the age of 10 I was actually watching Dr. Carl Sagan's Cosmos, and understanding it. I thank my uncle for exposing me to space science back in the 1970s shortly after Star Wars came out. I knew what an eclipse was, understood the difference between a Galilean and a Newtonian telescope and could explain how and why the moon has phases by the time I was 10.
Yes I was always a nerd, and encouraged to be one. Language and Science made sense to me. I could easily see the code around me but as I entered my pre-teen years there was one aspect of life that confused, and scared, the hell out of me. That was religion.
I soon found out that there were things in this universe that could not be simply explained through science and logic. Couple that with knowing that humans could wipe themselves off the planet in a nuclear conflagration and I soon entered the angsty teen stage at the humble age of 12! I was also being teased for being a nerd and an overweight one at that. The confusion would build to a head. I was also beginning to feel and sense things of a metaphysical nature all of this did not make any sense to me. Was I going to hell? Was Jesus and God "out to get me?" Why did I start seeing things like simulacra on the bedroom door? What the hell happened on that September night back in 1983?
Oh yes, September 1983. This would be most possibly my first encounter with the paranormal or whatever you want to call it. It all began when my mother fell ill and was in the hospital, the beginnings of her chronic illness. She hired a babysitter-caregiver who was a bit looney. This caregiver was into things that I did not understand. She called herself a Christian, but one who did "magick?" At that age I had no idea what she was talking about. All the stuff she spouted only continued to confuse me about religion. Then one night after my sister busted her knee up on freshly graveled pavement and had to go to the emergency room for stitches, this weird "Christian" lady performed some type of healing ritual on my sister. My sister was laid up in the living room, and I was in my bedroom. That night I started hearing what at first I thought was the television. It sounded like demonic laughter. Next thing I hear is the weird lady "boo-hooing" and running to the guest bedroom. I could not quite get myself to open my bedroom door and investigate, out of fear. Remember I read up on this stuff even by the age of 13. Finally when the sounds were gone, I opened my door and got the courage to find out what the hell happened. The weird lady was not in the bedroom(?), my sister was on the couch sleeping soundly as if nothing happened. A bag of tomatoes bought that day was strewn all over the floor and the clincher was a small plastic "wineglass" with a lock of my sister's hair in it. WTF! I knew this was the signs of some kind of ritual gone horribly wrong. I went back to bed and confronted the caregiver with questions. "Did you perform an exorcism?" "What happened last night?" etc.. She would not answer completely, but continued to assure me my sister was not possessed and was fine.
The fear of the unknown was quickly overruled by my naturally inquisitive nature. I had to find out what the frak happened, and why my sister was the focus of this. E.V. if you are reading this, please forgive me for this is an important point in my life, even if you don't remember it. I tried to look up everything in the occult section about it. All I could find was references to calling spirits and daemons, stuff I really didn't want to get caught up in at that time. Just when the confusion was at it's peak some answers came to me as I was inducted into the Boy Scouts.
I think it was October of that some year, I went to my first Scout Camp-Out. The forests and hills of Minnesota are truly breathtaking, at least in the 1980s they were. This was the first time in the years of my young life that I felt I truly belonged. Being outside, cold crisp air, lakes and trees. The voices in my mind began to quiet and I felt at peace. It was here that I experienced my first non-religious ritual. Induction into the scouts involved all being in a circle, with a bonfire in the center. You take the oath and dedicate yourself to being a scout and living by the motto and oath. I was finally part of something, and not an outcast, this was the first step to knowing who I was.
Early the next year, I did survival training in the scouts. Me and another experienced scout were to truly rough-it in the cold Minnesota snow. We built a lean-too and insulated the ground from our bedding. The task was simple, spend the night alone, just the 2 of us, with as little as we could carry. It was a fun experience, cold, but fun. It was that night I had another experience. While answering nature's call in the overnight hours (and quickly as possible), I saw her. I don't quite remember if this was real, or a dream, but I saw the most magnificent animal. A wolf. I was not afraid, she looked at me with her amber eyes glowing in the night and we just froze, staring at each other. She then went on her way as if to acknowledge her acceptance of us being in her domain. Or perhaps it was more than that. It would not be for many more years that I would even remember the experience.
Time would continue and I would enter my teen years. I also noticed something changing within me. I was not quite as afraid of things as I was before. I was much more aggressive, fights with other kids was not uncommon. Grades dropped as I was no longer interested in math or science anymore. This would continue after we moved to Florida due to my mother's health. I got in with a nerdy crowd and learned how to play D&D and computer games. I also learned a bit of the martial arts, sparing with friends on the coquina rock so prevalent in Florida. The mid 1980s were my deviant angsty teen years. While still a nerd, I was more and more obsessed with the metaphysical and occult. This is when I denounced religion entirely and began to experiment with the occult. I discovered that I was most probably a pagan and said my gods were Herne the Hunter and Gaia. Herne of course I gained from watching Robin of Sherwood back in that day. That show was my first introduction to paganism and demonology to a degree. I considered myself to be a "wolfs-head" due to my iconoclastic nature. I even did a D&D game scenario where Robin hood had a wizard. I also had a small "alchemists lab" full of chemicals I would find or get by other means. I was mostly a pyromaniac, burning sulfur and iron filings to make sparky effects. Yes I did experiment with making fireworks, nearly burning down the house in the process. Seeming as I always played the wizard in D&D, I was the Mage-Boy of the group.
Yes, my grades were affected by this deviant behaviour, I didn't feel school was important. It was a miracle that I actually turned it around in my senior year to graduate.
At the age of 18, I was a nerd, a wannabe wizard, a hardcore D&D gamer, self-proclaimed pagan and a social deviant with a crapload of unexplained rage within me. Little did I know all the answers I seek would come to me in the college years. Which will be blogged in part II...
At a young age I was exposed to anything and everything I had an interest in, be that science, mathematics, reading, science fiction, comics, and yes even religion. My grandfather understood the importance of knowledge and was always giving me books to read. Mostly textbooks (he worked as a high school custodian in his later years) and then later Reader's Digest publications. I had a fondness for books on codes and puzzles. It was not uncommon to see my face in the encyclopaedia just to pass the time. Later I gained an interest in books about weird stuff such as metaphysics, UFO's and other X-Files like subjects.
Television helped to form my mind as well. I remember watching Sesame Street and Electric Company pseudo-religiously back in the 1970s. At the age of 10 I was actually watching Dr. Carl Sagan's Cosmos, and understanding it. I thank my uncle for exposing me to space science back in the 1970s shortly after Star Wars came out. I knew what an eclipse was, understood the difference between a Galilean and a Newtonian telescope and could explain how and why the moon has phases by the time I was 10.
Yes I was always a nerd, and encouraged to be one. Language and Science made sense to me. I could easily see the code around me but as I entered my pre-teen years there was one aspect of life that confused, and scared, the hell out of me. That was religion.
I soon found out that there were things in this universe that could not be simply explained through science and logic. Couple that with knowing that humans could wipe themselves off the planet in a nuclear conflagration and I soon entered the angsty teen stage at the humble age of 12! I was also being teased for being a nerd and an overweight one at that. The confusion would build to a head. I was also beginning to feel and sense things of a metaphysical nature all of this did not make any sense to me. Was I going to hell? Was Jesus and God "out to get me?" Why did I start seeing things like simulacra on the bedroom door? What the hell happened on that September night back in 1983?
Oh yes, September 1983. This would be most possibly my first encounter with the paranormal or whatever you want to call it. It all began when my mother fell ill and was in the hospital, the beginnings of her chronic illness. She hired a babysitter-caregiver who was a bit looney. This caregiver was into things that I did not understand. She called herself a Christian, but one who did "magick?" At that age I had no idea what she was talking about. All the stuff she spouted only continued to confuse me about religion. Then one night after my sister busted her knee up on freshly graveled pavement and had to go to the emergency room for stitches, this weird "Christian" lady performed some type of healing ritual on my sister. My sister was laid up in the living room, and I was in my bedroom. That night I started hearing what at first I thought was the television. It sounded like demonic laughter. Next thing I hear is the weird lady "boo-hooing" and running to the guest bedroom. I could not quite get myself to open my bedroom door and investigate, out of fear. Remember I read up on this stuff even by the age of 13. Finally when the sounds were gone, I opened my door and got the courage to find out what the hell happened. The weird lady was not in the bedroom(?), my sister was on the couch sleeping soundly as if nothing happened. A bag of tomatoes bought that day was strewn all over the floor and the clincher was a small plastic "wineglass" with a lock of my sister's hair in it. WTF! I knew this was the signs of some kind of ritual gone horribly wrong. I went back to bed and confronted the caregiver with questions. "Did you perform an exorcism?" "What happened last night?" etc.. She would not answer completely, but continued to assure me my sister was not possessed and was fine.
The fear of the unknown was quickly overruled by my naturally inquisitive nature. I had to find out what the frak happened, and why my sister was the focus of this. E.V. if you are reading this, please forgive me for this is an important point in my life, even if you don't remember it. I tried to look up everything in the occult section about it. All I could find was references to calling spirits and daemons, stuff I really didn't want to get caught up in at that time. Just when the confusion was at it's peak some answers came to me as I was inducted into the Boy Scouts.
I think it was October of that some year, I went to my first Scout Camp-Out. The forests and hills of Minnesota are truly breathtaking, at least in the 1980s they were. This was the first time in the years of my young life that I felt I truly belonged. Being outside, cold crisp air, lakes and trees. The voices in my mind began to quiet and I felt at peace. It was here that I experienced my first non-religious ritual. Induction into the scouts involved all being in a circle, with a bonfire in the center. You take the oath and dedicate yourself to being a scout and living by the motto and oath. I was finally part of something, and not an outcast, this was the first step to knowing who I was.
Early the next year, I did survival training in the scouts. Me and another experienced scout were to truly rough-it in the cold Minnesota snow. We built a lean-too and insulated the ground from our bedding. The task was simple, spend the night alone, just the 2 of us, with as little as we could carry. It was a fun experience, cold, but fun. It was that night I had another experience. While answering nature's call in the overnight hours (and quickly as possible), I saw her. I don't quite remember if this was real, or a dream, but I saw the most magnificent animal. A wolf. I was not afraid, she looked at me with her amber eyes glowing in the night and we just froze, staring at each other. She then went on her way as if to acknowledge her acceptance of us being in her domain. Or perhaps it was more than that. It would not be for many more years that I would even remember the experience.
Time would continue and I would enter my teen years. I also noticed something changing within me. I was not quite as afraid of things as I was before. I was much more aggressive, fights with other kids was not uncommon. Grades dropped as I was no longer interested in math or science anymore. This would continue after we moved to Florida due to my mother's health. I got in with a nerdy crowd and learned how to play D&D and computer games. I also learned a bit of the martial arts, sparing with friends on the coquina rock so prevalent in Florida. The mid 1980s were my deviant angsty teen years. While still a nerd, I was more and more obsessed with the metaphysical and occult. This is when I denounced religion entirely and began to experiment with the occult. I discovered that I was most probably a pagan and said my gods were Herne the Hunter and Gaia. Herne of course I gained from watching Robin of Sherwood back in that day. That show was my first introduction to paganism and demonology to a degree. I considered myself to be a "wolfs-head" due to my iconoclastic nature. I even did a D&D game scenario where Robin hood had a wizard. I also had a small "alchemists lab" full of chemicals I would find or get by other means. I was mostly a pyromaniac, burning sulfur and iron filings to make sparky effects. Yes I did experiment with making fireworks, nearly burning down the house in the process. Seeming as I always played the wizard in D&D, I was the Mage-Boy of the group.
Yes, my grades were affected by this deviant behaviour, I didn't feel school was important. It was a miracle that I actually turned it around in my senior year to graduate.
At the age of 18, I was a nerd, a wannabe wizard, a hardcore D&D gamer, self-proclaimed pagan and a social deviant with a crapload of unexplained rage within me. Little did I know all the answers I seek would come to me in the college years. Which will be blogged in part II...
The Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus
Verum, sine mendatio, certum et verissimum:
Quod est inferius est sicut quod est superius, et quod est superius est sicut quod est inferius, ad perpetranda miracula rei unius.
Et sicut res omnes fuerunt ab uno, meditatione unius, sic omnes res natae ab hac una re, adaptatione.
Pater eius est Sol. Mater eius est Luna, portavit illud Ventus in ventre suo, nutrix eius terra est.
Pater omnis telesmi totius mundi est hic.
Virtus eius integra est si versa fuerit in terram.
Separabis terram ab igne, subtile ab spisso, suaviter, magno cum ingenio.
Ascendit a terra in coelum, iterumque descendit in terram, et recipit vim superiorum et inferiorum.
Sic habebis Gloriam totius mundi.
Ideo fugiet a te omnis obscuritas.
Haec est totius fortitudinis fortitudo fortis, quia vincet omnem rem subtilem, omnemque solidam penetrabit.
Sic mundus creatus est.
Hinc erunt adaptationes mirabiles, quarum modus est hic. Itaque vocatus sum Hermes Trismegistus, habens tres partes philosophiae totius mundi.
Completum est quod dixi de operatione Solis.
It is true, without a lie, certain and most true,
That which is below is as that which is above, and that which is above is as that which is below, to perform the miracles of the one thing.
And as all things were from the one, by means of the meditation of the one, thus all things were born from the one, by means of adaptation.
Its father is the Sun, its mother is the Moon, the Wind carried it in its belly, its nurse is the earth.
The father of the whole world is here.
Its power is whole if it has been turned into earth.
You will separate the earth from the fire, the subtle from the dense, sweetly, with great skill.
It ascends from earth into heaven and again it descends to the earth, and receives the power of higher and of lower things.
Thus you will have the Glory of the whole world.
Therefore will all obscurity flee from you.
Of all strength this is true strength, because it will conquer all that is subtle, and penetrate all that is solid.
Thus was the world created.
From this were wonderful adaptations, of which this is the means. Therefore am I named Thrice-Great Hermes, having the three parts of the philosophy of the whole world.
It is finished, what I have said about the working of the Sun.
Quod est inferius est sicut quod est superius, et quod est superius est sicut quod est inferius, ad perpetranda miracula rei unius.
Et sicut res omnes fuerunt ab uno, meditatione unius, sic omnes res natae ab hac una re, adaptatione.
Pater eius est Sol. Mater eius est Luna, portavit illud Ventus in ventre suo, nutrix eius terra est.
Pater omnis telesmi totius mundi est hic.
Virtus eius integra est si versa fuerit in terram.
Separabis terram ab igne, subtile ab spisso, suaviter, magno cum ingenio.
Ascendit a terra in coelum, iterumque descendit in terram, et recipit vim superiorum et inferiorum.
Sic habebis Gloriam totius mundi.
Ideo fugiet a te omnis obscuritas.
Haec est totius fortitudinis fortitudo fortis, quia vincet omnem rem subtilem, omnemque solidam penetrabit.
Sic mundus creatus est.
Hinc erunt adaptationes mirabiles, quarum modus est hic. Itaque vocatus sum Hermes Trismegistus, habens tres partes philosophiae totius mundi.
Completum est quod dixi de operatione Solis.
It is true, without a lie, certain and most true,
That which is below is as that which is above, and that which is above is as that which is below, to perform the miracles of the one thing.
And as all things were from the one, by means of the meditation of the one, thus all things were born from the one, by means of adaptation.
Its father is the Sun, its mother is the Moon, the Wind carried it in its belly, its nurse is the earth.
The father of the whole world is here.
Its power is whole if it has been turned into earth.
You will separate the earth from the fire, the subtle from the dense, sweetly, with great skill.
It ascends from earth into heaven and again it descends to the earth, and receives the power of higher and of lower things.
Thus you will have the Glory of the whole world.
Therefore will all obscurity flee from you.
Of all strength this is true strength, because it will conquer all that is subtle, and penetrate all that is solid.
Thus was the world created.
From this were wonderful adaptations, of which this is the means. Therefore am I named Thrice-Great Hermes, having the three parts of the philosophy of the whole world.
It is finished, what I have said about the working of the Sun.
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