ii8 PARACELSUS 



"In the practice of divination by sortilegium, &c., the 

 Flagae guide the hand. Such arts are neither from God 

 nor from the devil, but they are from the Flagae. The 

 ceremonies that are customarily used on such occasions 

 are mere superstition, and have been invented to give to 

 such occasions an air of solemnity. Those who do prac- 

 tise that art are often themselves ignorant of the laws 

 that control it, and they perhaps attribute the results 

 obtained to the ceremonies, and mistake tomfooleries for 

 the essential thing." ^ 



In regard to the reliance to be put on the revela- 

 tions of invisible beings, Paracelsus says : " Evil spirits 

 love to lead men into error, and therefore their pro- 

 phecies are usually unreliable and their predictions 

 based upon trickery. God made spirits mute, so that 

 they may not tell everything so plainly to man that 

 man does not need to use his reason to avoid making 

 mistakes. The spirits should not instruct man ; but 

 they do not always obey that command. Therefore they 

 are often silent when their speech is mostly needed, and 

 they frequently speak false when it is of the utmost 

 importance to know the truth." This is the cause that 

 so many things that have been told by spirits have been 

 proved lies and illusions, and some spirits lie a great deal 

 more than others. But it may happen that perhaps out 

 of a dozen predictions made by such spirits one accident- 

 ally comes out true, and ignorant people will in such 

 cases pay no attention to the fact that the other eleven 

 predictions were false, but they will be ready to believe 



currents of air ; others undefined, like mists or clouds ; others solid, as 

 rocks ; some impermanent ; others permanent, like the stars. 



^ The rationale on which divination, geomancy, the practice of the 

 divining-rod, &c., is based, is that by means of such practices a knowledge 

 in regard to certain things, such as already exists in the spirit of man, 

 may come to the understanding of the intellect of his own personality. 

 The inner man cannot, under all circumstances, communicate his know- 

 ledge to the external man, because the consciousness of the two is not 

 identical ; but the spirit may influence the nerve aura of the person and 

 control the muscles of his body, and thus guide his hands. 



