Page:Three Books of Occult Philosophy (De Occulta Philosophia) (1651).djvu/560

 "''A threefold sacrifice to th' Gods above. White must be slain for them; for them below Threefold also, but black for them; withall With open altars Gods celestiall Are taken, when th' infernal Gods require Pits embru'd with black blood, and fill'd with mire; And are not pleas'd but with a sacrifice That's buried; but of th' aire the deities Delight in honey, and in wines most clear, And that on altars kindled be the fire, Require, with flying sacrifice, and white: But of the earth the dieties delight That earthly bodies should with frankincense And wafers offered be in reverence. But for the Gods that rule the sea thou must Thy sacrifices lay on the sea coasts, And on the waves cast the whole animal. But to the dieties celestial Give th' extream parts, and them consume with fire; What then remains thou maiest if thou desire Eat up, and let the air with vapors thick And sweet smelling drop'' -"

These doth Porphyry make mention of in his book of answers, to whom the rest assent. For they say that these sacrifices are certain natural Mediums betwixt the Gods and men; which Aristotle affirming saith, that to sacrifice to God is in a man naturally. They are therefore they say, Mediums, which favor of the nature of both, and represent divine things analogically, and have with the diety to whom they are offered, certain convenient analogies, but so occult that a mans understanding can scarce conceive of them, which God, and the Dieties require in particular for our expiation with which the celestial vertues are pleased, and withhold themselves from execution of the punishment which our sins deserve. And these are (as Orpheus calls them) keys which open the gate of the