Of the Qaujes of Wonderful things. IZ

there is,that hath in it a little cloud that turns about like the Sun/omtimes hiding,&Jometimes (hewing it self. The Bead Cynocephalus rcjoiceth at the rising-of theMoon, for then he Hands up, lifting his fore-feet toward heaven,and wears a Roy-al Ensign upon his head : and he hath Inch a Sympathy with the Moon,that when (hemeets with the Sun(as betwi*tthe old andnew Moon) so that (he gives no light,the male, or He-Cynocephalus,never looks up, nor eats anything, as bewailing thelosseof the Moon ; and the female,as male-ccntentas He, all that while piffethblood: for which causes, these beasts are nourished and kept in hallowed places,thatby them the time of the Moones meeting with the Sun may be certainly known, asCrtts writes in his Hicroglyphicks. The star A rcturus, at his rising causeth rain.Dogsare well acquainted with the riling of the Canicular star; for ^t that time they arecommonly mad; and so are vipers and serpent, ; nay, then the very standing poolsare moved, and wines work as they lye in the Cellar, and other great and strange ef-fects are wrought upon earth : when this star ril'eth, Basil-gentle waxeth whiterish,and Coriander waxeth dry, as Theophrasttu writeth. The rising of this star waswont to be diligently oblerved every year; for thereby they would prognosticate,whether the year following would be wholesome or contagious, as Heracltdes ?on-ticm faith: for if ic did rife dark and gloomy, it was a sign that the Air would bethick and foggy, which would cause a pestilence : but if it were clear and lightsome,it was a sign that the Air would be thin and well purged, and consequently health-ful. In ancient times they much feared this Star, so that they ordained a dog to beoffered in sacrifice to it, as ColumeUa faith, that this star is pacified with the bloodand entrails ofa sucking whelp; and Ovid likewise faith, that a dog bred on theearth, is sacrificed co the Dog-star in Heaven. The Beast or wilde Goat, whichin Sgypt is called Oryx , hath a sense or keeling of this Star before it rifeth - for thenhe looks upon the Sun-beams, and in them doth honour the Canicular star. Hip-pocrates faith, it is not good either to purge or let blood, before or after this starritech; and (faleni hews that many very necessary operations of this Star must beobserved in Critical dayes ; and likewise in sowing and planting. Moreover, thegreater stars and constellations muliift known, and at what time they go out of thesigns, whereby are caused many vvatcrifh and fiery impressions in the Air. Andwhosoever is rightly seen in all these things, he will ascribe all these infericurs tothe stars as their causes; whereas if a man be ignorant hereof, he loseth the grea-test part of the know ledge of secret operations and works of nature. But of thisargument, we have spoken in our writings of the knowledge of Plants.

Chap. IX.

How to attraS and draw forth the venues of super tour Bodies.

have shewed before, the operations of celestial bodies into these inferiours,V as also the Antipathy and Sympathy of things: now will we shew, by theaffinity of Nature, whereby all things are linked together as it were in one com-mon bond, how to draw forth and to fetch out the vertnes and forces of superiorbodies. The Platonicks termed Magick to be the attraction or fetching out of onething from another, by a certain affinity of Nature. For the parts of this hugeworld, like the limbs and members of one living creature, do all depend upon oneAuthor, and are knit together by the bond of one Nature: therefore as in us,thebrain, the lights, the heart, the liver, and other parts of us do receive and drawmutual benefit from each other, so that when one part suffers, the rest also sufferwith it; even so the parts and members of this huge creature the World, I meanall the bodies that are in it,do in good neighbour-hood as it were,lend and borroweach others Nature; for by reason that they are linked in one common bond, there-fore they have love in common ; and by force of this common love, there is amongstthem a common attraction, or tilling of one of them to the other. And this in-deed is Magick. The concavity or hollow nesse of the Sphere of the Moon, drawsup fire to it, because of the affinity of their Natures ; and the Sphere of the fire

likewise