nature, which is simple; the complicated processes described in books
are said to be the traps laid by the "cunning sophists" to catch the
unwary.

In _A Catechism of Alchemy_, Paracelsus asks: "What road should the
philosopher follow?" He answers, "That exactly which was followed by
the Great Architect of the Universe in the creation of the world."

One might suppose it would be easier, and perhaps more profitable, to
examine, observe, and experiment, than to turn one's eyes inwards with
the hope of discovering exactly "the road followed by the Great
Architect of the Universe in the creation of the world." But the
alchemical method found it easier to begin by introspection. The
alchemist spun his universe from his own ideas of order, symmetry, and
simplicity, as the spider spins her web from her own substance.

A favourite saying of the alchemists was, "What is above is as what is
below." In one of its aspects this saying meant, "processes happen
within the earth like those which occur on the earth; minerals and
metals live, as animals and plants live; all pass through corruption
towards perfection." In another aspect the saying meant "the human
being is the world in miniature; as is the microcosm, so is the
macrocosm; to know oneself is to know all the world."

Every man knows he ought to try to rise to better things, and many men
endeavour to do what they know they ought to do; therefore, he who
feels sure that all nature is fashioned after the image of man,
projects his own ideas of progress, development, virtue, matter and
spirit, on to nature outside himself; and, as a matter of course, this
kind of naturalist uses the same language when he is speaking of the