History of the Two Worlds (Utriusque Cosmi . . . Historia, 1617-21) published in two volumes by Theodore de Bry in Oppenheim. The two worlds under discussion are those of the Microcosm of human life on earth and the Macrocosm of the universe (which included the spiritual realm of the Divine).
Robert Fludd’s Cosmological Diagrams
"That from nothingness, or from the womb of matter (hyle), formed by progression, through the emanation of light, unity is achieved, whose revelation and another potential is darkness, which stands in opposition to light. From this comes the monad and the dyad (1 and 2), and from the dyad — the triad (3), through the introduction and production of the moist spirit. And from this triad (in which the two extremes unite with the corporeal substance, thus creating a universal soul), finally arises the quaternary number, or the completion of the world of simple bodies, in progression of the four elements, which produce mutual differentiation in their actions. Thus, the mixture of all elements arises, whose beginning is such that in geometry the surface corresponds to the square, and the foundation of the body — to the cube. These foundations are the immediate principles of bodies, which we have depicted here in a certain arithmetic order. f. Tenebrae absolutae — Absolute darkness. a. Lux prima creatura — Light, the first creation. b. Prima mixtio lucis cum tenebris — The first mixture of light and darkness. c. Lux. — Light. d. Aqua. — Water. e. Terra: Radix. — Earth: The root. 4. Quadratum. — The square." - Philosophia sacra & vere christiana seu meteorologia cosmica, c. 1626 by Robert Fludd
A. Simple mind: the breath of God.
B. The intellect of the agent, the first veil of the mind and its covering as a vehicle.
C. The mind of understanding together with the rational spirit, or the intellect joined with the rational spirit.
D. The rational spirit itself, joined with the soul.
E. The intellect in the soul itself. The soul clothed in the milk-white garment, or this veil together with the mind.
F. The body, the receptacle of the soul.
“Fludd’s concepts of the creative and healing forces of light were illustrated by diagrams, the principles of light and darkness being represented by two intersecting cones, or pyramids. The base of the “pyramidis formalis” was placed in the Empyreum of God, signifying rays of divine light, while the base of the “pyramidis materialis” was located on the earth pointing upward toward God. Fludd described these diagrammatic forms as “pyramides lucis” (cones of light), claiming to have invented them himself, although they seem to be based on antique and medieval optical theory. Within the lozenge shape created by the intersection of the downward and upward pointing cones, Fludd placed the sun, since the nature of this sphere balanced the oppositions of spirit and matter, male and female, sulphur and mercury.” -
