1. When we consider and take cognizance of ourselves, we find the opposition of all essences, each being the loathing of the other, and enemy to the other.
2. For every will desires a purity without turba in the other essence; and yet has itself the turba in it, and is also the loathing of the other. Then the power of the greater extends over the lesser and holds it in subjection, unless it escape from it; otherwise the strong rules over the weak. Therefore the weak doth run, and seeks the limit of the driver or oppressor, and would be free from compulsion. And thus the limit, which is hidden in mystery, is sought by all creatures.
3. And hence arises all the power of this world, that one rules over the other. And this was not in the beginning commanded or ordained by the highest good, but grew out of the turba. Afterward Nature acknowledged it as her own being, which was born from her, and gave it laws, to generate itself further in the framed government. Where then this birth has climbed to regal prerogative, and has moreover sought the abyss, as the One, till it is become monarchy or empire. And there it is climbing still, and will be one and not many. And though it be in many, yet will the first source, from which all is generated, rule over all and will alone be a lord over all governments.
4. And as this craving was in the beginning one government, but in time divided itself into many according to the essences; therefore the plurality again seeks the One, and it is certainly born in the sixth number of the crown, in the six thousandth year in the figure; not at the end, but in the hour of the day in which the creation of the wonders was completed.
5. That is, when the wonders of the turba are in the end, a Lord is born who governs the whole world, but by many forms of administration.
6. And then the self-grown authority and the oppressor will be sought; for the lesser, who hath lain under, has run to the limit. Then everything separates itself, for it is at the limit, and there is no staying or revoking.
7. Also the turba, as the fierce wrath of all creatures, will be sought; for it has with the loathing of the creatures run to the limit, and now becomes manifest, viz. in the midst, in the number of the crown, in the six thousandth year, a little over, not under.
8. In the day and the hour when the creation was accomplished in mystery, and was set as a mirror of eternity in the wonders [of this time].'
9. That took place on the sixth day, past noon. There [also in the end] the mystery with the wonders is revealed and is known. Where then purity shall drive out the turba for a time, till the beginning pass into the end. And then is the mystery [of creation but] a wonder in figures.
1. Now, seeing in the mystery of the Eternal Nature we have such an Arcanum from which all creatures evil and good were generated and created, we recognize it to be a magical essence or substance, where one Magic has by desire awakened another and brought it into being, where everything has elevated itself and carried itself to the highest power. For the Spirit of the Divine is not a maker in Nature, but a revealer and a seeker of the good.
2. Thus hath evil as by magical craving always sought and found itself in the Mystery, and has been revealed apart from the divine purpose. For fierceness is a harsh rigorousness, and rules over the simple.
3. All has, therefore, grown from its own tree without premeditation. For the first revealer, viz. the Divine, ordained not malignity to the government, but reason or wit, which was to reveal the wonders and be a guide of life. And here there meets us the great secret which has from eternity existed in mystery, viz. the Mystery with its colors, which are four. The fifth is not proper to the mysterium of Nature, but is of the Mysterium of the Divine, and shines in the mysterium of Nature as a living light.
4. And these are the colors wherein all things lie: blue, red, green and yellow. The fifth, white, belongs to the Divine; and yet has also its luster in Nature. It is the fifth essence, a pure unblemished child; as is to be seen in gold and silver, and in a white clear stone that resists fire.
5. For fire is the proof or trial of all the colors, in which none subsists but white, the same being a reflection of the Divine's Majesty. The black color belongs not to the mystery [of the wonders of creation], but is the veil or the darkness wherein all things lie.
6. Further, we find here the tree of tongues or languages, with four alphabets. One signed with the characters of the Mystery, in which is found the language of Nature, which in all languages is the root. But in the birth of plurality (or of many languages) it is not known save by its own children, to whom the Mystery itself gives understanding; for it is a wonder of the Divine. This alphabet of the language of Nature is hidden among them all in the black color; for the black color belongs not to the number of colors. The same is mystery and not understood, save by him who possesses the language of Nature, to whom it is revealed by the Divine's Spirit.
7. The second alphabet is the Hebrew, which reveals the mystery [of the language of Nature], and names the tree with the branches and twigs.
8. The third is the Greek, which names the tree with the fruit and every ornament, and first correctly expresses knowledge. 9. The fourth is the Latin (to which many nations and tongues have recourse), which expresses the tree with its power and virtue.
10. The fifth is the Divine's Spirit, which is the revealer of all alphabets; and this alphabet can no man learn, unless it reveal itself in man's spirit.
11. These alphabets take their origin from the colors of the great Mystery, and distribute themselves moreover into seventy-seven languages; although we recognize only five for chief languages, and seventy-two for the marvels wherein Babel is understood, as a mouth of a confusedness. There reason abandoned her guide and willed to go alone, and to climb aloft into the Mystery.
12. As is to be known by the children of Nimrod at the tower of Babel, when they had fallen from obedience to the Divine into their own individual reason; then they had lost their guide and did confound reason, so that they comprehended not their own language.
13. Thus many languages, viz. seventy-two, grew out of confused Babel, and each entered into itself and sought knowledge, each in its own reason and iniquity; for they had forsaken the Divine and were become heathens. And he suffered them to walk in their wonders, for they would not cleave unto him, but would be a special self-soul growth. And their own reason (which was mixed of all the colors) had to rule them.
14. Then the turba was born, so that they were not of one mind; for every one would live under guidance of his own color. And yet these were not the true chief colors, but only their evil self-hatched children, who hatched themselves out in reason. And they ran without the right guide, who had created all in one tongue, and revealed no more than one,-one tree with the branches and the power together with the fruit.
15. For the four alphabets are in one tree, and proceed from one another. But the multitude of languages must have recourse to their characters as members of the same family, and yet also will be their very own. And all shoot forth in opposition to the tree.
1. We see here the origin of two sorts of religions, from which Babel as an idol-the Divine is born, and that in heathens and Jews.
2. For Babel is in both, and they are two races in one. One, under guidance of its reason (as of the life and spirit of Nature), goes forward and seeks to elevate itself. It makes itself a way in its being; for its will proceeds out of its own craving and seeks its magic, as a great number for its government, and goes simply out of itself forward. Its will remains in its plurality, and is the Divine and guide of its plurality.
3. And though the Free-will of the Divine oppose it and reprove it, yet the idol-the Divine only flatters with its lips the Free-will, viz. the Spirit of the Divine, and honors its own will in the number of plurality. For this will is generated from its treasure, from its own magic, and comprehends not the Free-will of the Divine. It is born therefore from flesh and blood, from its own nature; and is a child of this world, and regards its treasure as its love. Hence it is a hypocrite and a confused Babel. The number of plurality and its own magic confuse it, in that it goes out from one number into many. This multiplicity is a confused Babel; and its hypocritical mouth, with which it gives good words and solemnly promises much to the Spirit of Unity, is an antichrist and a liar. For it speaks in one way and acts in another. Its heart is a craving, and the spirit of its heart has turned itself to the craving.
4. Thus the magician of multiplicity is a proud, arrogant, covetous, malignant devourer, and a spirit from the desiring plurality; and is a false the Divine. He is not attached to the Freewill of Nature, which hath the might of wonders at its command, and he has no understanding in the Divine Mystery, for he cleaves not with his will to that Spirit. Else, if his will were turned towards Freedom, the Spirit of the Divine would reveal his magical mystery, and his wonders and works would, with his will, stand in the Divine.
5. But seeing they go out from themselves, the beginning seeks the end, and the middle is the turba. For it is not in the Free-will of the Divine; but it grows from itself, and elevates itself like a proud tree.
6. And as the Divine is one only in will, one in the eternal Desire or in the eternal Magic (so that the craving of the eternal Magic yields itself up to the eternal Will, and draws therein its life), then the apostate will is a perjured whore, for it is a generator of falsehood, and hangs not on the Free-will.
7. And here we understand a separation from the Divine; a cause of all this being Lucifer, who made the magic of Nature subject to false desire. Thus two eternal lives are born: one in the will of the Divine, the other in the will of the devil and of the fierce wrath; and this is Babel with Antichrist on earth.
8. All that goes out from the Divine's will into its own will belongs to Babel. This is seen in Jews and heathens, and in all peoples.
9. The heathen remained in their own magic. But those who from the itch of corruption passed out into the light of Nature because they did not know the Divine, yet have lived in purity,-these were children of the Free-will, and in them has the Spirit of Freedom revealed great wonders in their mystery, as is to be seen by the wisdom they have bequeathed to us.
10. But the others, who have lived only in their own magical will from flesh and blood,- their will was drowned in the turba. And the turba streamed forth in their will, and gave them a spirit according to the essences of covetousness and fierceness. These have sought only the number of plurality, as dominions and kingdoms.
ll. And when the turba could not on account of power advance, it grew furious and began hostilities. And from thence war has its origin, viz. From pride and greed of plurality, and belongs with its number to the Mystery of wrath.
12. Thus also were: the Jews. the Divine revealed himself to them, but they were attached also to two wills. One part to the commandment, with their will directed into the Divine's will, as the patriarchs and all the pious hopers of Israel. The others performed with their hands the work of the law, and adhered with their will to their poisoned magic, viz. To covetousness, and sought only their numbers of plurality. Their mouth was a Jew, and their heart was a Babylonish whore, a hypocrite and an antichrist, with fair words and a false covetous heart.
13. And in the same way in Christendom and among all peoples the Babylonish Whore with the Antichrist is established. In one people dwell at once two kingdoms, and are not miscible. They mix indeed by the body, but their spirits are two kinds (Dan. ii. 43).
14. Whosoever will know Antichrist, let him seek him thus; he will find him in every house. But the worse of all is the crowned whore; and her sponsors at the baptism of whoredom are the brawlers who lead out of the one will of the Divine into many wills, that they may inherit only the number of plurality, and fatten earthly bellies.
15. And the other part of the Free-will of the Divine proceeds with its magical will out of itself.
1. Seeing then there are two Magics in one another, there are also two magicians who lead them, viz. two spirits. One is the Divine's Spirit, and the other the Reason-Spirit, in which the devil ensconces himself. In the Divine's Spirit is the love of unity. And man cannot better prove or try himself than by giving serious attention to what his desire and longing impel him : the same he hath for a leader, and its child he is. Nevertheless, he now has power to break and change that will; for he is magical and possesses the power.
2. But there must be real earnestness; for he must subdue the astral spirit which rules in him. To do this, a sober calm life is necessary, with continua abandonment to the Divine's will. For, to subdue the astral influence, no wisdom nor art will avail; but sobriety of life, with continual withdrawal from the influxes. The elements continually introduce the astral craving into his will. Therefore it is not so easy a thing to become a child of the Divine; it requires great labor, with much travail and suffering.
3. Antichrist indeed may call himself a child of the Divine. But Christ says : They shall not all enter into the kingdom of heaven who say : Lord, Lord, have we not in thy name cast out devils and done mighty works? But he said unto them : Away from me, ye stinking goats, I know you not (Matt. vii. 21 -28). Ye have done this by means of false magic, and have never become known in my spirit and will. Ye are in your spiritual figure goats, tyrants, covetous muckworms, proud arrogant people, voluptuaries. Ye have carried my name on your tongue, but sacrificed your heart to pleasure, to the itch of the mesh, and are generated in the turba. Ye must be proved by fire. And thus to every kingdom its fruit comes home.
4. Therefore, thou brave world, look at thyself in these writings, which the eternal Ground hath set before thee, and meditate on it further and more deeply. Else thou wilt be caught in thy turba. There thou shall with thy substance pass through the fire of the Divine; and whatsoever is a work out of the Divine's will shall remain in the fire.
5. But whatsoever is done in the will of the Divine shall stand to the honor and glory of the Divine, and for the eternal joy of the image of man.
6. Now think what thou doest. For Babel is already in flames, and begins to burn. There is no longer possible any quenching, nor any remedy. She has been recognized as evil; her kingdom goeth to the end. Hallelujah, into Freedom, viz. into the one ungraspable will of the Divine. These stand turned backward into the magical figure. Their life seeks bread, and goes forward; yet their will is not in the bread, but passes out of itself, out of the craving, into the Divine. These live with the will in the Divine, in one number; these are children of the eternal true Magic. For the Divine's Spirit dwells in their will, and reveals to them the eternal wonders of the Divine; and their life's spirit reveals the wonders of this world.
7. These are free from Babel and Antichrist, even though they should sit in his lap. For the true image of the Divine is the spirit of the will, which is generates from the soul's spirit.
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