The Sun and the Moon shed their corporeal forces upon the bodies of the inferior Elements, much more so than all the other planets. It is this fact which shows, in effect, that in the pyrognomic analysis all metals lose the aqueous humour of the Moon as well as the igneous liquor of the Sun, by which all corporeal, terrestrial, and mortal things are sustained.
We have shown sufficiently that for very good reasons the Elements are represented in our Hieroglyph by the straight lines, therefore we give a very exact speculation concerning the point which we place in the centre of our Cross. This point cannot by any means be abstracted from our Ternary. Should anyone who is ignorant of this divine learning, say that in this position of our Binary the point can be absent, we reply, he may suppose it to be absent, but that which remains without it will certainly not be our Binary; for the Quaternary is immediately manifested, because by removing the point we discontinue the unity of the lines. Now, our adversary may suppose that by this argument we have reconstructed our Binary; that in fact our Binary and our Quaternary are one and the same thing, according to this consideration, which is manifestly impossible. The point must of necessity be present, because with the Binary it constitutes our Ternary, and there is nothing that can be substituted in its place. Meanwhile he cannot divide the hypostatic property of our Binary without nullifying an integral part of it. Thus it is demonstrated that it must not be divided. All the parts of a line are lines. This is a point, and this confirms our hypothesis. Therefore, the point does not form part of our Binary and yet it forms part of the integral form of the Binary. It follows that we must take notice of all that is hidden within this hypostatic form and understand that there is nothing superfluous in the linear dimension of our Binary. But because we see that these dimensions are common to both lines, they are considered to receive a certain secret image from this Binary. By this we demonstrate here that the Quaternary is concealed within the Ternary. O God! pardon me if I have sinned against Thy Majesty in revealing such a great mystery in my writings which all may read, but I believe that only those who are truly worthy will understand.
We therefore continue to expound the Quaternary of our Cross as we have indicated. Seek diligently to discover whether the point may be removed from the position in which we first find it. The mathematicians teach that it may be displaced quite simply. At the moment when it is separated the Quaternary remains, and it becomes much more clear and distinct to the eyes of all.
This is not a part of its substantial proportions, but only the confused and superfluous point which is rejected and removed.
O Omnipotent Divine Majesty, how we Mortals are constrained to confess what great Wisdom and what ineffable mysteries reside in the Law which Thou hast made! Through all these points and these letters the most sublime secrets, and terrestrial arcane mysteries, as well as the multiple revelations of this unique point, now placed in the Light and examined by me, can be faithfully demonstrated and explained. This point is not superfluous within the Divine Trinity, yet when considered, on the other hand, within the Kingdom of the four Elements it is black, therefore corruptible and watery. O thrice and four times happy, the man who attains this (almost copulative) point in the Ternary, and rejects and removes that sombre and superfluous part of the Quaternary, the source of vague shadows. Thus after some effort we obtain the white vestments brilliant as the snow.
Oh, Maximilian! May God, through this mystagogy, make you or some other scion of the House of Austria the most powerful of all when the time comes for me to remain tranquil in Christ, in order that the honour of His redoubtable name may be restored within the abominable and intolerable shadows hovering above the Earth. And now for fear that I myself should say too much I shall immediately return to the burden of my task, and because I have already terminated my discourse for those whose gaze is centred within the heart, it is now necessary to translate my words for those whose heart is centred within their eyes. Here, therefore, we can represent in some measure in the figure of the Cross that which we have already said. Two equal lines are equally and inequally crossed through the point of necessity which you see in A.
The four straight lines, as in B, produce a sort of vacuum where they are withdrawn from the central point, which was their common condition, in which state they were not prejudical, the one to the other. This is the path by which our Monad, progressing through the Binary and the Ternary into the purified Quaternary, is reconstituted within itself, united in equal proportions, and which now shows that the whole is equal to its combined parts, for during the time that this takes place our Monad will not admit of other units or numbers, because it is self-sufficient, and exactly so, within itself; absolute in all numbers in the amplitude of which it is diffused, not only magically but also by a somewhat vulgar process employed by the artist, which produces great results in dignity and power within this selfsame Monad, which is resolved into its own first matter; whilst that which is foreign to its nature and to its natural hereditary proportions is segregated with the greatest care and diligence and rejected for ever amongst the imputities.