On the Causes of Miraculous Things.

Also how the sun's fire is introduced in its season, /
And rules the entire world through the circle of the twelve signs. original: "Auch wie der Sonnen Feur nach Zeiten eingeführt / Durch der zwölff Zeichen Kreiß die gantze Welt regiert." This verse refers to the Zodiac and how the Sun's position determines the seasons and earthly life.

For the celestial bodies, through their manifold positions and movements, allow much goodness to flow to the earth; they also greatly increase the power to suffer [undergo change] and to act down here, from which arise the various properties of many things. Therefore, among the Platonic teachers Philosophers following the tradition of Plato, who believed earthly objects were linked to divine or celestial archetypes, much questioning has arisen as to how the influence of heavenly things is received and taken up here below.

6. Furthermore, he must be well-versed in Optics and the Art of Vision Optica and Gesicht-Kunst; the study of light, lenses, and how the eye perceives reality, so that he knows how the eye can be deceived; how shapes behave in water and in all kinds of mirrors; how these mirrors present images as if hanging outside in the air; and how far-distant things can be placed quite clearly before the eyes. Indeed, how one can even play with fire at a great distance; in all of which a large part of this wonderful art consists. These sciences are all "handmaidens" to it; without learning them, no one can rightly bear the name of a Magus a scholar of natural magic and hidden wisdom and a Natural Artist Natur-Künstler; one who uses the laws of nature to perform works that seem like miracles.

7. Then, he must also be especially gifted by nature, so that he knows how to arrange things with manual dexterity in a mechanical and artistically ordered way. For an artist may know as much or as little as he wishes—(it is almost

the same) if he does not know how to set his hand to the task, he will strive in vain for the intended goal. And there are some who, through the grace of Heaven, are so skilled in such matters as if they had been deliberately cast into such a mold by God. Yet I do not say this in such a way as if one could not also become skilled through effort and art; or as if those with good gifts could not be improved, and a fairly perfect person could not be further sharpened and encouraged.

8. Therefore, he must first of all recognize matters deeply and thoroughly, and consider and prepare them with diligence; only afterward should he proceed to the work and attempt nothing thoughtlessly. I say this so that, if a matter later does not succeed for him and he does not know what is happening to him, he does not blame me, but rather his own ignorance. For such errors do not come from the one who teaches a thing, but from the one who undertakes it. And when a clumsy person happens to succeed by chance, people later want to blame the art itself, and consider that a stroke of blind luck and coincidence which is actually true in principle and has its necessary causes Ursachen; the rational, natural explanations for why an effect occurs.

9. If you wish to make something appear all the more wonderful, do not let the causes original: "Ursachen" of it be widely known. For people only marvel...