Text.Penot.1594-01.K6r
Back to Authors | Back to Texts by Bernard Gilles Penot
Source: Tractatus varii, de vera praeparatione et usu medicamentorum chymicorum, ed. Bernard Gilles Penot, Frankfurt am Main: Johann Feyerabend for Peter Fischer, 1594, sig. K6r–K7r = pag. 155–157 [BP.Penot.1594-01]
Summary: Penot explores the concept of the active and potential forms of things, using the dispersion and collection of light as an example to illustrate his point. He describes how the light of the sky is both dispersed among the stars and concentrated in the sun and the moon, representing a dual nature of masculine and feminine aspects. This concept is further applied to the dispersion and collection of virtues and intelligences among animals and humans, emphasizing a universal principle of balance and unity.
Penot also discusses the Earth as a receptacle of all elements, where the powers of hidden things are concealed, yet ready to emerge into specific forms. He references the work of Rasis and Albertus Magnus to support his views on the ubiquity of gold and the elemental composition of all things. He posits that the greatest mineral power resides within humans, particularly between the teeth, where gold can be found in certain conditions, highlighting the intimate connection between the human body and the mineral world.
The letter concludes with a call to explore the hidden aspects of the Earth, which Penot believes holds great secrets and potential for understanding the natural world and its original sin. He emphasizes the importance of recognizing and freeing this hidden knowledge through the elements of fire and water, invoking a spiritual and alchemical dimension to his discourse. (generated by ChatGPT)
Text
Nobilissimo svmmo philosopho atqve Mathematico Domino Petro VVincio Olmuzensi celebri Medico, Bernhardus G. Penotus à Portu Aquitanus, S[alutem] P[lurimam] D[icit].
Qvicquid in ambitu circuli alicuius actu diffusum comprehenditur, hoc in centro eiusdem circuli simul continetur potentia collectum. Et quando hoc quod in centro potentia collectum est explicatur in actum, tum hoc quod in ambitu diffusum est actu, occultatur in potentia. Exemplum, Lvmen cæli in infinitis & pluribus stellis est dispersum, & tamen in vno sole simul & semel etiam est collectum & in quo est dispersum in pluribus circulus est cæli luminis, in quo autem est collectum in vnum, centrum cæli luminis est. Lvmen cæli duplex est masculinum & fæmininum, masculinum dispersum in vna dimidietate stellarum cæli æstiualium. Alterum fæmininum dispersum in altera dimidietate cæli hymenalium: Rursus autem [p. 156] masculinum: lumen cæli collection est in vnum scilicet in sole fæmininum autem cæli lumen omne collectum in vnum scilicet in Lvna: sicut nunc est cum dispersione & collectione luminis cæli: sic etiam cum dispersione distinctione & collectione rerum omnium aliarum similiter est sic omnes virtutes animales dispersæ in infinitis animalibus terræ, collectæ sunt in vnum centrum in vno Leone: Et omnes rationes vel intelligentiæ animales in omnibus animalibus mundi dispersæ, in vno hominis capite in vnum sunt collectæ.
Pari modo Terra matrix omniumq́ue elementorum receptaculum est: in qua rerum abditarum vires omnes actu occultantur, quæ potentia erumpere possunt in formas specificas: vnde Rasis libro diuinitatis (inquit) scias res naturæ subtili artificio ita simul colligatas esse qui in qualibet re, est res qualibet potentia, quamuis actu non videantur Albertvs lib[ro] mineralium dicit aurum vbique reperiri: quia non est res aliqua sine quatuor elementis. Elementata, in qua non inueniatur aurum naturaliter, in vltima affinitione: & ideo dicit vbque lapidis materiam reperiri. Item pro- [p. 157] bat, quod maxima virtus mineralis est in quolibet homine & maxime in capite inter dentes vt suo tempore inuentum est aurum in granis minutis & oblongis, quod esse non potest, nisi in homine esset illa virtus mineralis, Quæ virtus mineralis est in Elixire nostro.
Porro terra quædam virgo delitescit in centro terræ, quæ summo studio inuestiganda est. Quam tu (ô omnium philosophorum princeps nostri seculi) optime nosti: Nosti terram vnam, altera meliorem esse, ergo eligibiliorem. Eam igitur rerum abditarum inuestigatores cognoscere discant, qua cognita, à peccato originali per ignem & aquam est liberanda. Et rerum opificem qui tanti thesauri diuitias mortalibus patefacere voluit celebremus, per vnigenitum Iesvm Christvm: Hæc scripsi obsequij nostri monumentum. Tu vero & scripsi & authoris decus, & ornamentum. Vale beatissime. Frankenthalij Kal[endis] Ianuarij 1594.Modern English Raw Translation
To the most noble and supreme philosopher and Mathematician, Lord Petrus Wincius of Olomouc, a famous Physician, Bernhardus G. Penotus from Port of Aquitaine, sends many greetings.
Whatever is comprehended as being actively spread within the ambit of any circle, is simultaneously contained within the center of the same circle in a potential, collected form. And when that which is collected in the center in potential is explained in action, then that which is spread in the ambit in action, is hidden in potential. For example, the light of the sky is dispersed in countless and many stars, and yet in one sun, it is at once both collected and in which it is dispersed in many, the circle is of the sky's light, in which it is collected into one, the center of the sky's light is. The light of the sky is dual, masculine & feminine, the masculine dispersed in one half of the sky's summer stars. The other feminine dispersed in the other half of the sky's nuptial stars: Again, the masculine light of the sky is collected into one, namely in the Sun and the feminine light of the sky, all collected into one, namely in the Moon: just as it is now with the dispersion and collection of the sky's light: so also with the dispersion, distinction, and collection of all other things similarly it is thus all animal virtues dispersed in countless animals of the earth, are collected into one center in one Lion: And all reasons or animal intelligences dispersed in all the animals of the world, are collected into one in the head of one man.
In the same way, Earth is the mother and receptacle of all elements: in which the powers of hidden things are all actually hidden, which potentially can burst forth into specific forms: hence Rasis in the book of divinity says (he says) know that the things of nature are so subtly bound together that in any thing, is any thing in potential, although they do not seem to be seen in action Albertus in the book of minerals says gold is found everywhere: because there is no thing without the four elements. Elemental, in which gold is not naturally found, in the ultimate definition: & therefore he says the material of the stone is found everywhere. Also, he proves that the greatest mineral power is in any man & especially in the head between the teeth as at his time gold was found in small & oblong grains, which cannot be, unless that mineral power was in man, Which mineral power is in our Elixir.
Furthermore, a certain virgin earth lies hidden in the center of the earth, which must be investigated with utmost diligence. You (o prince of all philosophers of our time) know her well: You know one earth, another to be better, therefore more choosable. Let therefore the investigators of hidden things learn to recognize her, which being known, is to be freed from original sin through fire & water. And let us celebrate the craftsman of things who wished to reveal the riches of such a treasure to mortals, through the only-begotten Jesus Christ: I wrote this as a monument of our service. But you truly wrote & are the glory and ornament of the author. Farewell, most blessed. Frankenthal, the Kalends of January 1594.