ALCHEMY AND ASTROLOGY 241 



would become of your heart if there were no sun in the 

 universe ? What would be the use of your * vasa sperma- 

 tica ' if there were no Venus ? To grasp the invisible 

 elements ; to attract them by their material correspond- 

 ences ; to control, purify, and transform them by the 

 living power of the Spirit — this is true alchemy" 

 (^Paragran. i.). 



The Seven Planets 



The " Seven Planets " are the Seven Principles which 

 constitute the universe, and which are at least " poten- 

 tially " contained in everything. Paracelsus speaks of 

 them in a very mystical language, as follows : — 



" There are seven elementary powers or principles — 

 four lower ones belonging to mortal and changeable 

 things (Sthula sharira, Linga sharira, Prana, and Kama), 

 and a trinity of celestial power (Atma Buddhi Manas), 

 which is also called the quinta essentia. The four 

 elements (lower principles) can in no way interfere 

 with the quinta essentia. The heavenly and the hellish 

 power is not obedient to the four elementary powers, 

 but each section stands for itself" (De Mercurio, vol. vi. 



p- 378). 



This goes to show that to the spiritual kingdom be- 

 longs a state of consciousness different from the lower 

 states of consciousness, and having nothing in common 

 with them. Spirituality is, therefore, not to be con- 

 sidered as a state of high intellectual development, but 

 it is an awakening to an entirely different and higher 

 state of consciousness, which may take place in persons 

 of high intellectual development, but far oftener in those 

 who are unsophisticated and of a simple mind. 



The " Seven Planets " are equally mysteriously de- 

 scribed in his " Ccelum Philosophorum " : — 



I . $ Mercury. Wisdom ; i.e., the knowledge of the 

 soul that realises the truth, and which has nothing to do 



Q 



