Robert Fludd - The Divine Harmony of the Microcosm and the Macrososm according to the Hermetic and Cabalistic Teaching, ‘Utriusque Cosmi Maioris Scilicet et Minoris Metaphysica Atque Technica Historia’, 1617.
Creation, for renaissance occultist Robert Fludd, springs from the union of two opposite forces: the creative power of God impressing itself upon a receptive anti-substance he called the Hyle. One might suggest that it is a part of God, the dark void existing in opposition to the creative power more commonly associated with God. Note that the Hyle is in no way evil. It is, in fact, the essence of not being anything: it is infinite non-existence. Neither half subsumes the other, as is indicated by the fact that while the Hyle circle and the triangle of God intersect, both also exist outside the boundaries of the other.Within this intersection are the three realms of renaissance cosmology: physical, celestial and spiritual. While they are more commonly depicted as concentric rings, with the superior spiritual realm being the outermost and the inferior physical realm being the innermost, here they are depicted equally. This should not be taken that Fludd has changed his mind but rather the limitations of symbology. He needs to lay them out in this manner in order to display their associations with the tetragrammaton.
The unpronounceable name of God, known as the tetragrammaton, is comprised of four letters: yod, he, vau and he. Fludd associates each of these letters to one of the realms, with the repeated “he” letter being set in the middle, outside of any of the three realms yet at the center of God.
Page 1 of 2596
