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.It is the Solvent of the World, because by the action of heat, it penetrates the air, andcarries with it a warm vapour which causes the natural generation of those things with which the earth is like awomb impregnated.When the womb has once received a due portion of seed, Nature never rests until the naturalform (whatever it may be) has been produced.The humid residue, or sperm, is putrefied in the earth by means ofwarmth, and out of it worms and other things are generated.An intelligent Artist will readily understand how great avariety of wonders is performed by Nature through this element, as a sperm, but the said sperm must be operatedupon, having already within it an imagined astral seed of a certain weight.For Nature produces pure things bymeans of the first putrefaction, but things far purer by means of the second, as you see in the case of wood, wherevegetable fibre is produced as the result of the first putrefaction, while the putrefaction of wood engenders wormsand insects-natural forms endowed with sentient life; and it is clear that animate creatures endowed with sense andmotion belong to a higher creative level, and are moulded of a purer substance than plants.Water is the menstruum (solvent) of the world, and exists in three degrees of excellence: the pure, the purer, and thepurest.Of its purest substance the heavens were created; of that which is less pure the atmospheric air was formed;that which is simply pure remains in its proper sphere, where, by the Will of God, and the co-operation of Nature, itis guardian of all subtle substances here below.It has its centre in the heart of the sea; its polar axis coincides withthat of the earth, whence flow forth all springs and fountains of water, which are presently swollen into great rivers.This constant movement of water preserves the earth from combustion, and distributes the seeds of thingsthroughout its length and breadth.Yet all water courses return to the heart of the sea.As to the ultimate fate of thiswater opinions are divided.Some say that all water is generated in the stars, and the sea does not overflow its shoresbecause the water is consumed by fire as it reaches the heart of the sea.But this hypothesis is contrary to Nature'smethods of working: Nature produces like out of like -and how can the stars, which are air and fire, produce water?Moreover, the safety of this earth depends on the equilibrium of the four elements; if at any time the total quantity ofone element exceeded that of the others, the universe would relapse into chaos.Hence, if the stars generated water,they must manifestly produce an equal quantity not only of air and fire, but also of earth-which is manifestly absurd.It is much more reasonable to suppose that the waters are chained down, as it were, to the foundation of the earth bythe circumambient air, and that they are constrained by it to continue in a ceaseless movement towards the Arcticpole-because no vacuum is possible in Nature; which is also the reason why there is a Gehennal fire in the centre ofthe earth, which is presided over by the Archeus (the first principle) of Nature.For in the creation of the world Godfirst of all separated the quintessence of the elements from the weltering mass of chaos; and out of it He evolvedfire, the purest of all substances, giving to it the most exalted place in the universe, and making it, in a specialmanner, the dwelling-place of His Sacred Majesty
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