The higher elements and prime matter in Renaissance naturalism and in Paracelsus / by Walter Pagel and Marianne Winder.
Abstract:
This paper examines the "marital" conjunction of "higher" (male) celestial elements with "lower" (female) earthly elements, as proposed by Renaissance philosophers and the genuine Paracelsus. A full analysis of the concept as found in Georgius Venetus (Zorzi) is given. The "higher" and the "lower" quaternaries of elements provide another instance of "Eightness", a symbol used widely and with extensive ramifications in Gnostic, medieval, and Paracelsian philosophy. While it is true that some of the "unorthodox" doctrines receive more emphasis in spurious "deutero-Paracelsian" tracts, those analyzed here are genuine Paracelsian. The examples include divine creative activity as an act of separation and addition rather than creation "de novo."
Ambix Vol. 21 (1974), p. 93-127