8. As you know that the woman hath the one halfe crosse in her head, and the man the other, for the spirit of the soule dwelleth in the head, in the braine, out of which spirit God hath taken a twig (viz: a childe out of the spirit of the soule of Adam) and hath given it to the woman.
9. And hath given the tincture of the water to her, that she should not bring forth Devills, and the man hath the tincture of fire, viz: the true Originall of Life.
10. And therefore the woman hath gotten the matrix, viz: the tincture of Venus, and the man hath the tincture of fire: understand, the woman hath the tincture of Light, which cannot awaken Life—the Life ariseth in the tincture of fire.
11. And so it cannot be otherwise now, but that they must propagate as beasts doe, in two seeds: the man soweth soule, and the woman soweth spirit; and being sowne in an earthly field, it is also brought forth after the manner of all beasts.
12. Yet nevertheless all the three principles are in the seed, but the inward cannot be knowne by the outward, for in the seed the soule is not living: but when the two tinctures are brought together, then it is a whole essence; for the soule is essentiall in the seed, and in the conception becometh substantiall.
13. For so soon as the fire is struck upon by Vulcan, the soule is wholly perfect in the essence and the spirit goeth instantly out of the soule into the tincture, and attracteth the outward dominion to itself, viz: the Starres together with the Aire.
14. And then it is an eternall childe, and hath the corruptible spirit also with the Turba cleaving to it, which Adam tooke in by his imagination.
15. Then instantly the Turba seeketh the limit in the spirit of this world, and will enter into the limit, and so soone as the soule hath its life, the body is old enough to die: and thus, many a soule perisheth in the Essence,[105] while it is in the sulphur in the seed.
16. But that you may perceive that the man hath the tincture of the fire, and the woman the tincture of the light in the water, viz: the tincture of Venus; you must observe the eager imagination of both towards one another: for the seed in the essence eagerly seeketh the life, the masculine in the woman in Venus, and the feminine in the fire, in the originall of life in the man: as we have very cleerly demonstrated in the third Booke, and therefore we refer the reader thither.
17. And we answer here, that soule cometh not at all into the body, or is breathed into it from without, but the three principles have each of them its own artificer: one worketh with fire in the centre, and the other maketh tincture and water, and the third maketh the earthly Mysterium Magnum.[106]