The Beginning

The beginning is one part of heaven that disposes all the other parts of heaven as principles of the principles below in the same way that goodness disposes the parts of heaven to be good for things below, and the same applies to greatness, duration, etc.

The upper principles are the signs and planets and the goodness, greatness, duration etc., of which they consist. As upper principles, they imprint on things below, like the Sun that imprints its great power and its great virtue in fire as it makes its heat and light increase in summer, and this is why the Sun is said to be the source or principle of fire, just like the Moon is called the principle of water because it increases its coldness in winter with ice and snow and white color.

All the upper principles are in motion through A B C D and move in sequence through E F G that mean the beginning, middle and end; and because of this, as they work through A B C D E F G, they are principles of the lower principles that receive their influence, as lower A receives influence from upper A and likewise with B C D E F G.

The influence that lower A receives from upper A consists in likenesses of goodness, greatness and other upper principles gathered in the goodness, greatness etc. of things below and likewise with B C D E F G. And this occurs to the extent that every essence below receives influence from every principle above following the sequence of E F G which are the principles in which time is extended through sequential movement.

On account of the upper principles, generation and birth begin in things below, in humans, plants and other animals, good and bad fortune is initiated as well as instinct and appetite. Customs also start in this way, and men engage in building houses, mills, ships, and in other mechanical arts.

Aries forms one principle with Saturn, another principle with Jupiter, another one with Mars and so on with the other planets; and Aries forms one principle with one planet, another principle with two planets and another one with three and so with all the planets. And the things we said about Aries also apply to Taurus and the other signs as well as to planets combined with other planets, because Saturn forms one principle with Jupiter, another one with Mars, another one with the Sun and so on through to the Moon; and Jupiter also forms one principle with Saturn and likewise with the other planets. As Aries forms one principle with B, it also forms another principle with C because it causes heat with B and dryness with C and mortifies the cold in C with its heat, and the same applies to A D E F G. Aries forms one principle with goodness, another one with greatness, another one with duration and so forth and this is because Aries forms a different principle with every other principle inasmuch as it partakes in the concordance of all the principles just as it is in a good relation through goodness with the goodness of all the other principles; and the things we said about Aries can also be said about the other signs and the planets.

There is one supreme principle which is the first cause, called God, who is the principle of all the other principles with his dignities and properties: with his goodness He is the cause of all other goodness and with his greatness He is the cause of all other greatness and with his eternity He is the cause of every duration and likewise with the other principles of the General Table, except contrariety, majority and minority. And God with his own dignities is the principle of created contrariety, majority and minority through creation. 

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