Statistics: Posted by DanTarot — 03 Jan 2024, 10:36
Not directly related to Tarot history, unless you follow my theory that Alberti was somehow related to the group that invented the game.The works collected in Biographical and Autobiographical Writings reflect Alberti’s lived experiences and his interests in the genre. This volume includes On the Advantages and Disadvantages of Literature, which partly reflects his experiences as a student in Bologna; The Life of St. Potitus, the biography of a Christian martyr, which also contains autobiographical projections and was to have been the first in a series of lives of saints; My Dog, a mock funeral oration for his dead dog; My Life, one of the first autobiographies of the early modern period and the main source for Jacob Burckhardt’s portrait of Alberti; and a comic encomium, The Fly. In particular, the last three works—My Dog, My Life, and The Fly—constitute a kind of trilogy, as the humanist finds one of his main themes, the portrait of the ideal life, with a strong emphasis on humor.
This edition presents the first collected English translations of these works alongside an authoritative Latin text.
Statistics: Posted by Ross Caldwell — 04 Sep 2023, 22:23
Statistics: Posted by Huck — 28 Mar 2023, 02:19
Here d'Odoucet clearly has 1 as willful man and 9 as the effusion, from above to below. And later:Nous appercevons maintenant le 1 jusqu'à lors dominateur, oppressé, gêné dans son action par l'image du globe dont l’effusion même lui échappe. Il en éprouve sans doute, une disette bien synonime avec gêue. Hélas! Tout semble réuni pour accabler la triste humanité! le courroux du ciel se déploie!
We now perceive the 1 until now dominating, oppressed, hampered in its action by the image of the globe, whose effusion escapes from it. He probably experiences an insufficiency quite synonymous with difficulty. Alas! Everything seems to come together to overwhelm sad humanity! the wrath of heaven unfolds!
2+0 (fortune/increase, Marseille Wheel). Here 0 is the globe of the earth, receiving its vegetation from the number 2, whose products increase the fortune of the cultivator. However, there is a continual permutation, "the debris of a mix collaborating in the increase of another."If man is unhappy, it is because he himself wants to be the arbiter of his happiness. Man is a god in exile; all the old allegories attest to the felicity and decline of the first man.
To these I add some considerations from vol. 1 of Science des Signes, on numbers.Finally we have reached the end of the course we had proposed, but having only traveled the geometric line assigned by the numerical progression, we were only able to give weak discoveries because of the immensity of knowledge that we would have to reveal.
(179) A linear route from which we have not strayed, however, leads roughly from the chaotic origin of things to the present time.
We first find man in the state of innocence that followed his creation; shortly after his fall, which his pride deserved for him, he becomes prey to the miseries which result from the lack of perfection of the first arts; then the sciences come to embellish his days; but as if it were in his nature to abuse everything, he gets worked up, and decline comes in haste, fall into wretched savages: the most flourishing empires, everything falls back into anarchy and ignorance; until imperceptibly the conqueror, civilized by the vanquished, allows useful and pleasant years to reappear, which alone make the charm of existence; this is where we are.
It is a fact that by expressly mixing the hieroglyphics which traced the history of humanity for us, a new chaos will be formed from which the history of each individual man can be extracted: and this is the object of the science of signs by the book of Thoth, which must have been felt could not be given indiscriminately to all mortals to fathom its depths.
The 78 hieroglyphic leaves composing the book of Thoth, of which we have just followed the linear and geometric route, also present nature to us, one and triune, intelligent, spiritual and material; making us (start 179 ) consider it under the ternary number distinguished in reign - superior, inferior and middle; in intelligence, spirit and matter. Matter cannot know the mind [esprit] nor the latter the intelligence, because it is reserved for the higher to know and to govern the lower; what our ancient masters expressed in saying; that the sky rules the earth; and as can be seen in the first pages.
The whole of this book again presents to us the universality of nature under the emblem of a circle. A circle can be conceived with a center point and a radius; the center point is for us the sky, the superior realm; the circumference of the earth, the reign inferior; and the ray will be the man placed between immortal and perishable things.
These sheets still present this same nature under the emblem of numbers by subjecting it to a numerical formula 1. 2. 3. One the superior reign, two the average reign, three the inferior reign. Everything in nature is the product of the union of the superior with the inferior: this assembly constitutes the universe 4 formed of 1 + 3, which number is found potentially in that of man 2 root of 4; therefore it is indifferent here to study this same nature under the numbers I 2 3 4 or under that 2 which is its root.
Let us compare these two numbers, in the (180) macrocosm the superior reign includes the stars, their inhabitants and their influences; the lower kingdom includes our globe, earth and water, its inhabitants and its exhalations. In the microcosm the superior reign includes the genius or inner man, the soul sensitive and the vegetative spirit or vital fluid. The lower realm includes the fixed material body, the liquors and volatile fluids, and the appetitive faculties relative to material conservation.
In the macrocosm as in the microcosm there are 4 elements, 3 substances, 2 principles and 1 physical motor which we call nature. The set of these numbers completes the circle of God=10 (1); then considering the unity at the center where God the uncreated principle of the created prince [du prince créé], the motor and the uniting link; 2 agent and patient to engender 3, the philosophical child and bringing it to universal perfection 4. Then nature or the created unity 1 acting in the center of the elements 4, will perfect the philosophical mercury 5, the true quintessence.
By the elements 4 are understood fire, air, water, and earth; the 3 substances are mercury, sulphur and salt; these two principles are heat and humidity. The physical engine is nature itself implanted in the center of all things in which she acts
(1) Here are detailed lessons from my Course in the Science of Signs.
(181) invisibly, albeit substantially 4+3+2+1. Which is confirmed to us by this axiom of the sages: Deus est totus in toto et totus in qualibet porte [God is all in all and in every way]. This motor acting in the primordial chaotic water, caused fire to appear, and from fire and water was drawn air. Earth, a coarse element, was the dross of the first three other elements.
Let us follow our formula 1,2,3; one superior, the center, two the middle and the microcosm; three the lower and the material circumference. From the conjunction of the superior and the inferior, results the universe 4, from 1 + 3, Man forming the medium, sees himself as the epitome of the universe 4, since 2 is root of 4, and that 2 is the number of man, as 4 is that of the universe.
If to the universe 4, you join the man or his number 2, comes the first perfect compound of the geometers 6, which is also the number of the days of the physical creation. Now, multiplying this first perfect compound 6 by that of man 2, comes 12, which number is the circle of man from which he must not leave; because if he wants to return at 11 he will only find his weakness there and if he goes to 13 he meets death.
12 being the circle of man, he is allowed to traverse it and his number 2 can precede as well as follow unity; what will give 21 for the circle of his knowledge (182), which number is also that of the works of the creator, detailed in Genesis. This number can still be broken down by 1 + 2 = 3 or dividing the number 21 by 3 = 7, number of science and human wisdom, and symbol of life, seventh day when everything being perfect in physical creation, God ceased his work.
Let us examine the numerical progression of the circle 12 that man is permitted to walk. 1 + 2 + 3 + 4+ 5 + 6 + 7+ 8 + 9 + 10 - 11 - 12 = 78=15 = 1 + 5 = 6, the salt whose form is cubic, the cube presenting 6 faces in its development.
Dividing this total number 78 by that of wisdom 7, comes 11 and remains 1, which one having been unable to divide by the number of wisdom can only be its opposite, madness or 0. So the book of all knowledge that man is allowed to acquire must have been composed of 77 numbers and a zero, in all 78 leaves.
Let us observe at the number 77 is 7 + 7 = 14 = 5, sacred number, where God in the center of 4 forming a quint element, emblem of the universal spirit, mercury or steel, uniting itself lovingly to salt its natural lover, of which this number, according to Father Mercury (theological, physical and moral questions) is 78, matter of the sages = 6, of 7 + 8 = 15 = 6.
(183) The number 11, quotient of the dividend 78 by the divisor 7 considered as formed of 1 + 1 = 2, means discord, defect, it is the sign of human weakness and that of repentance. It is in this sense the number 2 who, wanting to resemble its creator, instead of the unity it had the pride to aspire to, found only 11, barrier and obstacle by the revolt of his two natures. But if this number 11 is that of the weakness of man, it is under another point of view, that of the divine force, which supports him both morally and physically, being formed of 6 + 5 the physical salt lover of the sages, animated by the universal spirit of its natural steel.
From the total number 78, removing the universe 4 plus man or his number 2, comes 72, which is that of the legions, of the geniuses governing the rays emanating from the throne of eternal wisdom.
Let us split this number 78 between the 4 elements comes 18 legions having very subtle and impalpable igneous bodies, 18 aerial. 18 aquatic and 18 terrestrial.
This conforms with what d'Odoucet says in vol. 1 of Science des Signes, more or less.Ces accumulations de particules magnétiques 1, & élémentaires 4, ont en elles, pour le nombre 2, 3 principes, sel, soufre & mercure; mais soustrayant l'esprit 1, très-pur de la matiere, & mettant en à-parté 2, qui est l'homme pour lequel tout a été rendu sensible, ce corps de nature palpable, que vous voyez dans ce vase, n'offrira réelement plus que le nombre 7.
Si 1 le principe, a en vue 2 l'homme, il faut que 2 touche 1, & que 3 soit le côté cherche & facilement trouvé.
C'est, je le proteste, en écoutant les nombres, quùon peur developer la Nature; mais sans nous étendre, disons que si 3 est plus près de 1 que 4, que les trois Principes de la Nature, sel, soufre & mercure, donnent naissance & entretien aux quatre élémens, comme 1 aux trois principes, & tous ces nombres seront donc bien placés en cette sorte, 4, 3, 2, 1, = 10.
These accumulations of magnetic particles 1, & elementaries 4, have in them, for the number 2, 3 principles, salt, sulfur & mercury; but subtracting very pure spirit 1, from matter, and setting apart 2, which is man for whom everything has been made sensible, this body of palpable nature, which you see in this vase, will actually offer more than the number 7.
If 1 the principle, has in view 2 man, it is necessary that 2 touches 1, & that 3 is the way sought & easily found.
It is, I protest, by listening to numbers that one can develop Nature; but without extending ourselves, let us say that if 3 is closer to 1 than 4, that the three Principles of Nature, salt, sulfur & mercury, give birth & sustenance to the four elements, as 1 to the three principles, & all these numbers will be therefore well placed in this way, 4, 3, 2, 1, = 10.
Statistics: Posted by mikeh — 19 Mar 2023, 09:26
The four elements are of course fire, air, water, and earth. The three substances are sulphur, salt, and mercury. Besides agent and patient he characterizes the two principles as fixed and volatile.In the macrocosm as in the microcosm there are 4 elements, 3 substances, 2 principles and 1 physical motor which we call nature. The set of these numbers completes the circle of God=10 (1); then considering the unity at the center where God the uncreated principle of the created prince [du prince créé], the motor and the uniting link; 2 agent and patient to engender 3, the philosophical child and bringing it to universal perfection 4. Then nature or the created unity 1 acting in the center of the elements 4, will perfect the philosophical mercury 5, the true quintessence.
The 78 hieroglyphic leaves, together forming the book of Thoth, represent the rough stone, from which it is necessary to extract the philosophical stone 6; our salt, virgin earth, by an artificial decomposition and composition of 1 into 2 then into 1, solve coagula therefore 78 is and is not the [start p. 184] matter of the wise: it is the center of 78 which is truly their matter.
The first sheet forms our chaos. Let us mix in all directions the pure and impure parts of our rough stone. Putrefaction, the first key of nature, will operate in everything, or at least will dispose of this first solution; let us examine with scrupulous attention, and meditate on this hieroglyph. It is the chaos, the first divine mixture, in which the imperceptible central point,controling matter, disposes it to separate its constituent parts and to go into dark water.
2nd sheet. Of this dark water obtained on the first sheet, you must extract the fire, which is indicated to us by the hieroglyph of this second sheet, a light emerging little by little from the darkness, a subtle fire emerging with difficulty from the dark chaos which it subjugates with repeated effusions of its igneous tears ; finally a pyramid, emblem of vulgar fire, seems to indicate the natural and easy way to convert all this mass of darkness and change it into limpid and clear water by repeated distillations of the volatile, calcination of the fixed, and cahobation of the volatile on the fixed, to again extract it from more and more accué [?] of its salt, until we have obtained a new unity, water, first element; but germinal water, water and fire containing the fixed and the volatility; finally, our water. (185)
3rd sheet. It is the hieroglyph of the first element; it represents our satellite the moon, wet planet, our water again far from perfect, to which we can reach if we know how to appreciate the merit of the two towers and of the two animals which are at their feet and the clouds which flit at their top. The emblem of this hieroglyph indicates that it is not enough to have obtained this first water, still very impure, but that it must also be circulated by repeated and alternating cohobations until the dark fox has taken on the cossack of the dog [chien] of Armenia, that is to say, until our water has become perfect, limpid and brilliant.
4th sheet. It indicates to the artist that the greatest manual work ended in the previous sheet; that he no longer needs other than to observe and follow nature, to whom we must from this moment entrust our fire, which same nature will make amalgams, and know well without us, drawing not only air but also metals or colors, and by a succession of time make earth appear.
5th sheet. It announces the perfection of our matter, which is changed to Adamic earth, true microcosmic quintessence contained in the same circle as the two principles of all things on which she dominates with majesty and which she rules as sovereign; she is almost naked, a light blue veil covering her with difficulty (186) set more to indicate the contours of her body than to hide her beauty. By her blond hair, we recognize her as Venus, but a modest Venus reserved for chaste embrace of her celestial progenitors, the celestial bodies, planets, or stars, of which her belt is armed; the elements outside the circle indicate that the envelope has been defeated through the center [centre, but possibly a misprint for ceinture, belt], which remains the perfect unity of the quintessence under terrestrial form, virginal, magnetic [aimantine].
6th sheet. It deserves our most serious attention. It presents us with three main objects, the magnetic earth lovingly caressed by the sun and moon under the first seven signs of the zodiac, from Aries to Virgo, until extracting from their ray the most universal steel. Our virgin then, by magical marriage, becomes fit to produce all natural things. In this conjunction it impregnates and attracts to itself the fluid of life which is necessary for its operations, which fluid is dispensed to it naturally in appropriate proportional weight.
Before leaving this 6th sheet, let us not neglect the supply of celestial astral water. Let us not forget that manna had to be picked early in the morning between night and day; because if the sun, this father of the lights, found itself rising on the horizon, he would recall his cherished son, and there would be fear that he will take away from the virgin mother her magnetic faculty. In (187) this last case You would have to make a new magnet, which is no small task. It is still necessary, after each fertilizing embrace or fertilization, to deliver this virgin, and extract this celestial water from her by a slow distillation; finally after one of the fertilizations the son must be enclosed with his mother.
7th sheet [below - MH]. After having enclosed there mother and the child in a room of crystal, without alarming us by their altercations, we will patiently wait for the new fruit which must come from this magic of the sky with the earth. We see in this work in abbreviated form the great work of the physical creation ordered according to sheets 1, 3, 2, 6, 4, 5, 7, 8, i.e. according to their day of creation. A new chaos of heaven and Earth; the separation of light from the darkness; of air and water, of dry earth, dross of the preceding elements; the two large lights placed in the concave of the heavens as well as the other stars and all the meteors of the air; the base water gathered in a basin, on the moderately dry soil, the germination and growth of minerals and plants; the creation of the perfect animals, quadrupeds, and other inhabitants of the earth. All being at its point of perfection in this sixth day of creation, man for which all was made, and placed by God himself in the center of his domain. (188)
8th sheet. Our work is accomplished in this sheet, inasmuch as on the evening of the sixth day, God crowned this work by the creation of Adam and Eve, placed in our little Eden. At this time the works of nature cease, the happy artist can indulge in rest.
Sheets 9, 10, 11, 12: Here let us penetrate, if possible, into the understanding of these four sheets. These are the four virtues, the center or quintessence of all natural mixtures. Justice presides over the vegetative rods or staffs; temperance, augural cups; strength, swords, and prudence, coins or talismans. Let us apply this preliminary knowledge to the four classes of natural mixtures which are plants, animals, minerals, and metals.
Justice, sheet 9, armed with a sword and holding a balance in its right, indicates a certain proportion or suitable measure in the weights of the determining ferment, represented by the small cube placed in the triangular black basin, and the universal elixir represented by the white sphere hanging from the other end of the beam. The white sword, emblem of philosophical fire, indicates that she alone can perfectly operate on one and on the other.
It seems that one needs, for this work, three things:
1. The quintessence or salt of the thing, impregnated with the other substances of the mixture determined as leaven (189)
2. The universal elixir or sulphur of the philosophers, obtained on the 8th sheet; and
3. universal mercury put in reserve on the 6th leaf.
These three objects together entrusted to nature, will be by her amalgamed in just the right temperament on sheet 10, and will pass, through putrefaction, to the color black and successively to white [and] the richly ornamented volatile parts of the colors of Iris [the rainbow], by the rubification of the work will acquire at leaf 11 a supernatural and divine strength: finally prudence invites the artist on sheet 12, not to lose by his own fault the fruit of so much labor, and to use with great circumspection this specified medicine.
Let us examine the accessories of this twelfth sheet. A reptile moving on a dry terrain; a lake terminated by vegetation, and a rocky escarpment, raising its imperious head in the haze of the air.
The reptile indicates the last efforts of the impure parts that precipitate to the condemned ground in the lower part of the vessel; the lake, that the pure parts, perfectly dissolved in water, have vegetated; the rock, that this vegetation has changed into a glorious, celestial quintessence, corporified sky or the philosopher's stone.
After thus traversing the zodiac in his work, the artist has indeed, it is true, got a medicine, but it is still of weak virtue. It must therefore aim at multiplication in quality and (190) quantity. The 13th sheet offers him the happy means: This is the wedding of the handsome Gabricius and the white Beia by the bishop of the diocese. It is a new union of the salt obtained at the 12th sheet, from the sulphur formed at the 8th, and mercury stored at the 6th; but as nothing in nature can pass to a new generation except by putrefaction, it is of necessity that Death 17 pass through this second notebook 13, 14, 15, 16. Three multiplications needed to obtain a medicine to the test of all judgment. The first multiplication gives it force majeur, the 2nd, an empiric for illnesses; the 3rd puts the seal to its perfection, putting it in a position to submit to all judgment.
The second notebook 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17, having given us the multiplications of the physical stone, it is in the order of the 3rd notebook 18, 19, 20, 21, which gives us the way to improve the imperfect natural mixtures.
In the previous notebook, death 17, having had the right to wander [MH: he had earlier associated it with the number 13; 0 or O is also 78 and here put between 21 and 22] , likewise in this third notebook madness, O, uses this privilege and warns us that by making inconsiderate use of physical stone for vegetation, we render ourselves guilty of betrayal towards the other children of nature by a partial predilection, by lavishing on some Individuals an essence to which all have the same right. By making use of it for the construction of our body, we only (191) prolong our misery and captivity. By projecting it onto the minerals, this is the way to achieve an increase in fortune: an increase that we must be wary of. Finally, by projecting it onto metals, this excess of opulence is the source of contentions. Such are the bitter fruits of the tree of knowledge; to make them sweet and good, one must use the knowledge acquired wisely.
The sheet marked O is in a way the image of the artist: he is a madman; he is a sage. He is mad if he wants to be known as wise. He is wise if he consents to pass for mad. The middle and best would be to be ignored.
It remains to survey the last 56 leaves that complete the book of Thoth. They are naturally divided into 4 notebooks: from 22 to 35, plants; from 36 to 49, animals; 50 to 63, minerals; and 64-77, metals. It is 14 sheets for each notebook; but this number is not triangular. indicates to us that it is necessary to add the corresponding virtue or astral center suitable to this earthly subject, by putting sheet 9 in the batons; to the augural cups, 10, the 11 to the swords, and the 12 to the coins. Then we will have the following four pyramids each composed of 15 sheets. (To see these arrays of numbers, go to https://archive.org/details/b22018529_0 ... 0/mode/2up, bottom of 191 and the following page.) (192)
Just as in the total pyramid the first row is representative of the intellectual virtues inspired by the sensible universe, so also this first row of each specified lower pyramid is the representative of the virtue or astral essence of the mixture that the artist wants to submit to his operations, these first 5 sheets by analogy from small to large designate that the celestial body of the mixture is endowed with the 4 elementary qualities hot, cold, dry and humid: intellectual and non-palpable qualities, which give birth to 4 elements, partly visible fire, air, water, and earth, which by their combinations produce three palpable substances, mercury, sulfur, and salt, which must be reduced to two corporeal principles, the fixed and the volatile.
To bring about the perfection of unity; but material unity = 6: 1 + 2 + 3 -+ 4 + 5 =15= 1 +5 = 6. salt, virgin earth, Adamic earth vivified by the spirit 6.
We see that the analogy is perfect if we remember that 78 = 7+8 = 15 = 1+5 = 6, (193) six being a hieroglyphic figure composed of a circle or globe and a higher spirit that penetrates it.
END
Statistics: Posted by mikeh — 19 Mar 2023, 08:27
Reading in his translation what d'Odoucet says about the first ten cards, I notice that in the course of his short discussions he says something, a phrase or two, about the corresponding number. This starts with card 2, but in discussing 2 he brings in 1, which refers back to 2. The rest are simpler. Here I have made numerous alterations in Høgnesen's translation, giving a short justification as well as what he put. That will also give you an idea of the quality of this translation, although to be fair I am dealing with d'Odoucet at his most difficult, and it is only thanks to Høgnesen's translation, which does resolve many of the difficulties I've had reading d'Odoucet, that I can make suggestions for improvement.Translator: Etteilla assigns a slightly different meaning to each number than seen traditionally in numerology.
0. The Globe.
1. Man. Us.
2. Vegetation.
3. Generation, Reproduction.
4. Universe, Pyramid.
5. Animation, Universal Spirit.
6. Movement, Sphere.
7. Life
8. Circulation, Generational
9. Expansion, Effusion
10. Completion, Perfection.
From these quotes it is apparent where "Etteilla's numerology" comes from. However, 0 is not just the globe, but also the "privileged Being", presumably God. (Moreover, since it is also assigned to the Fool card, it also has the ordinary sense of "emptiness.") 1 is one of two numbers for humanity, as agent and as individual. As species and as passive, it gets the number 2. 2 is then vegetation in a rather strange sense, as fire is not normally considered vegetation. Once we have fire, i.e. energy, generation is possible, starting in water, 3, and then air, 4, i.e. in the universe, all animated 5 by universal spirit. Animation leads to movement 6, life 7 (although life would seem to be implied by vegetation, or at least animation), new generations, 8, global expansion, effusion 9, and the connection of man with God 10.The number 2 is the characteristic symbol of stable, permanent vegetation, as it was, is and will be, as long as the centuries last. What is this principle of vegetation? A central and permanent fire, created as soon as the origin [creé dés l'origine: not "creating from the origins"]. . . . Let us observe moreover, that we would have before our eyes only the active principle (fire), if by the number 2, we were not to include that of the inherent passive or the woman. She [celle-ci: not "This"), by virtue of her [not "its"] innate qualities [plural], should be understood as [que, omitted by trans.] having the same number as man, or to put it better, [omitting "by"] their [leur: not "its"] moral parity, almost individually, put them [les mettoit] both in the position of having 1 as a symbol [instead of: in pairs as both are symbolized by 1]. Further, because of the cooperation [concours: not "competition" here] between these two 1.1 [not "1s"], we also attribute the number 2 to man, as before not being distinguished [comme ne devant pas etre distingué: not "in order not to distinguish him"] from his other veritable [better than "real"] half. However, it is advisable to make this distinction [de faire cette distinction, omitted from trans.], in consideration of their different proper functions of [not, "to apply these various functions properly, to] agent and patient, especially as the latter highlights and makes manifest the power of the former.
. . .
The number 3, being the symbol of generation and reproduction, it thus has to be preceded by the symbol of vegetation, which in fact occurred just prior, in creation.
. . .
The number 4, symbol or rather the number of the universe; its integral parts are represented by the hieroglyph of this card, the atmospheric fluid that surrounds us (commonly called air) is in a way the abbreviation of this same universe.
. . .
The number 5, a symbol of the universal spirit, encompassing [better than "surrounding" for "ambiant" here] and animating its beings.
. . .
The number 6 exposes to our eyes the terrestrial globe, which an expanding divine spirit animates with the insertion of movement.
. . .
The number 7 is the recognized symbol of life in general.
. . .
The number 8 designates the continuity, or circulation, of generations.
. . .
The 9 is a figure appropriated by [not: appropriate for] the philosophers to the product of generation [not, in generative work], for the reason, that it [not she] offers the aspect of a being made global [un etre conglobe: not "a being complete"], and whose lower part [parte inferieur: not "tools below"], seems [not seem] to effuse [faire effuser, replacing "pour out"; or perhaps "be effused with" - this "effuse" makes the connection to "effusion" in Høgnesen's summary] the spirit of life.
. . .
The 0, symbol of the terrestrial globe, expresses here its dependency, by the value which it seeks with its first master, the privileged Being, who resides there. It is also the first to pay some homage to it, numerically, since 10 is the first of the combined numbers. But this [cette: not "the"] recognized denomination of man is also particularly owed to [due, omitted] the most enlightened, a reminder for him only to use his powers with moderation.
Statistics: Posted by mikeh — 14 Mar 2023, 00:51
The French is at https://archive.org/details/b22018529_0 ... 5/mode/2up. The sentence begins, "The first Mages of Egypt, being united under the number seventeen. . ." Then there is nothing about any orbit; it is just "under Mercury, 3rd of that name." D'Odoucet is talking about a ruler or chief mage named Mercury, i.e. Hermes, the third of that name in a succession of sages, who brought together 17 sages in the year 171 after the deluge, or rather, the greatest of the floods ("la plus grande inondation"). The succession of Mercuries is something Etteilla had talked about in the 2nd Cahier and elsewhere. And he endorses Plato's view in the Timaeus, that there had been many floods. In constructing this book, D'Odoucet continues, they only put in philosophical and scientific truths that one could not dismiss as doubtful.The first Mage of Egypt united in the number seventeen under Mercury's 3rd orbit, in the year 171 of the deluge or the great flood, only put in this book philosophical and scientific truths, that is certain.
Statistics: Posted by mikeh — 11 Mar 2023, 23:35
On p. 115 Etteilla mentions the number 9, as the sum of the 3 principles in him (as a human being, I think) and the same principles in the two other realms, which come before him and will go after him. Perhaps these others are animal and vegetable, but I am not sure.Mark here what Figure stands for One, the right
Root of all Number; and of Infinite:
Love's happiness, the praise of Harmony,
Nursery of All, and end of Polymny:
No Number, but more than a Number yet;
Potentially in all, and all in it.
Etteilla says that the middle (Du Bartas's "midst") is nature, as a whole and in its parts, as well as all human thoughts and actions.Heaven's dearest Number, whose enclosed Center
Doth equally from both extremes extend:
The first that hath beginning, midst, and end.
And Agrippa: "Six is the number of perfection," for the same basic reason, and also that it took God 6 days to complete his work and for other biblical examples (p. 265).The perfect Six, whose just proportions gather,
To make his Whole, his members altogether:
For Three's his half, his Sixth One, Two his Third;
And One Two Three make Six, in One conferred.
Statistics: Posted by mikeh — 01 Mar 2023, 07:47
Statistics: Posted by mikeh — 28 Feb 2023, 22:36
Statistics: Posted by mikeh — 08 Feb 2023, 01:18