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COSMOLOGY OR Cabala.Universal Science.Alchemy. CONTAINING THE MYSTERIES OF THEUNIVERSE, REGARDING GODNATURE MAN, THE Macrocosm and Microcosm ETERNITY and TIME EXPLAINED ACCORDING TO THE RELIGION OF CHRIST BY MEANS OF THE SECRET SYMBOLS OF THE ROSICRUCIANS OF THE SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES . , COPIED AND TRANSLATED FROM AN OLD GERMAN MANUSCRIPT, AND PROVIDED WITH A DICTIONARY OF OCCULT TERMS BY F RANZ H ARTMANN , M.D. ————————— BOSTONOCCULT PUBLISHING COMPANY 130 T REMONT S TREET 1888 The bulk of this book is translated from a German work published at Altona in two parts in 1785 and 1788( Geheime Figuren der Rosenkreuzer aus dem 16ten und 17ten Jahrhundert ). The 25 plates of symbolic figureswith accompanying text are taken from this (much text has been omitted, and eleven plates from thesrcinal work left out altogether), as are the texts making up the first half of Part II. The introduction(which says practically nothing about the work to which it is prefaced) and “Vocabulary of Occult Terms”are by Hartmann, as are the annotations to the alchemical and allegorical texts.Texts OCRed and proofed, and figures re-set by Frater T.S. from scans of photocopies of the 1888edition. Further proofreading may be necessary. Colours on the plates are in many cases conjectural orrandom, although the srcinal scheme of elemental colours has been retained (according to information inWaite, Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross ).By an editorial error, a section of the ‘Glossary’ (from a note to “Macrocosm and Microcosm” throughto “Materia Prima”) was placed out of sequence in the print edition; this has been corrected. With thisexception, pagination and layout of the text sections has been retained.The alchemical and allegorical texts in Part II were translated by Hartmann, and somewhat re-arranged and hacked around, from the Aureum Seculum Redivivum (Golden Age Restored) and Tractatus Aureus (Golden Tractate), two German alchemical tracts of the early 17 th century, which prior to theirappearance in the Geheime Figuren had been translated into Latin and published in the Hermetic Museum (1625, “restored and enlarged” edition 1678). The Aureum Seculum Redivivum appears pretty much in itsentirity (under the titles “Preface” and “Allegory”), although mixed up with extracts from the Tractatus Aureus and with its title page put at the start of Part I for no clear reason. The main part of the Tractatus Aureus , a technical-alchemical treatise bulked out by citations of authorities (about 16 pages at the samepage and type size used here) is replaced by a garbled two-page synopsis mis-titled “Introduction.” Theuntitled foreword “to the Disciple who desires to learn the Hermetic Art” and the “Parable” in Part II arefrom the Tractatus Aureus . Hartmann’s footnotes may have been intended to mislead and in any case canprobably be safely ignored. The emblems heading the texts are taken from entirely unrelated works andtheir descriptions are by Hartmann. Given that German was as far as I am aware Hartmann’s first languageI have no idea why he made such a mess of the translation; but there are various facts (documented byManly P. Hall in Codex Rosæ Crucis: D.O.M.A. —which volume incidentally contains a reproduction andEnglish translation of a MS. copy of a German alchemical-Rosicrucian text which was a major source forthe Geheime Figuren ) which suggest dishonesty rather than incompetence on his part in connection withthis publication.A more or less complete English translation (by one George Engelke, according to Hall) of the Geheime Figuren was issued in 1935 by the American “Rosicrucian” society AMORC and has seen a numberof reprints; it includes much material omitted in the present edition. To be brutal about it, the main reasonI prepared the present e-text at all is that on my understanding the Engelke translation is still in copyright;whereas the present work is in the public domain. Release 1.0 – 12.03.2005 (all text and plates re-set) Celephaïs Press Ulthar – Sarkomand – Inquanok – Leeds PART I. AUREUM SECULUM REDIVIVUM or The Ancient Golden Age, which has disappeared from the Earth, but will reappear; whose germ is beginning to sprout, and will bear blossom and fruit, by HENRICUS MADATHANUS THEOSOPHUS, Medicus & tandem, Dei gratia, aureæ crucis frater.Translated from the German. C E N T R U M I N T R I G O N O C E N T R I B S T R I A S U N T M I R A B I L I A : D E U S E T H O M O : M A T E R E T V I R G O : T R I N U S E T U N U S ! ! ! ! “If there is one among You who is deficient in wisdom, let him pray to the spirit of truth,who comes to the simple-minded, but does not obtrude upon any one,and he will surely obtain it.”— Jacob. Epist. v. 5. ———————————————————————S YMBOLUM A UTHORIS : Centrum Mundi: Granum Fundi.
