Page 35 - Paracelsus Three Books of Philosophy
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Although those two may Evestrate, yet do they nothing belong to our life. For we shall
not know ourselves but by our own Evester. Every thing hath an Evester; all which
likewise are prophets, either reasonable or unreasonable, sensible or insensible. The
Evester is a spirit, which teaches Astronomy. Not that it is learned by nativities and
prognostications from the stars; but its Esse (as I may say so) is from the Evesters; its
Ens (or being) is in these as an image in a glass, or as a shade in water or the earth. As
growing things are increased and diminished, just so it is with the stars. Not that their
course is such of their own nature, and that moist and cold rise out of the earth; but
only because the essence of the earth is such. It is shadowed in heaven but by parts,
yet as an Evester, but not as a power.
Such kind of Evesters also will be corrupted, yet shall they not perish without
something eternal. Nor shall the Evesters themselves be so much regarded, for they
shall fully and wholly dwell with or in those things to whom they belong. Hence let
every man now advise with himself, that above all things he admonish and learn to
know himself. The nature and number of the Evesters is infinite. These lead men
about and in their sleep, foreshow good and evil, search out the thoughts, perform
work and do business without bodily motion. So wonderful a thing is the Evester, the
mother of all things in the prophets, astronomers, and physicians. If the understanding
come not from the Evester, there can be no knowledge of Nature. As theft points to
the gallows, and the clouds to rain, and urine to the disease, so the Evester shows all
things without exception. From it the Sibyls and prophets spoke, but as it were
drowsily and dreamingly. After this manner are the Evesters in the four worlds, one
being always a presage to another, communicates an image and a miracle, which by
their dissolution and regeneration will be much more to be admired. Nor shall we
forbear to say, that the Evester is an eternal relic, the support of religions, and the
operation of the celestials. Nothing but felicity, blessedness, the chief good, and the last
judgement move and stir us up to seek and search more narrowly and exactly after the
difference between those two (things or Evesters), that is, between the true and false,
which is to be considered and known, not spiritually, but naturally.
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