Focus on Creation: Hermetica

Otto Vaenius. Physicae et theologicae conclusionis.
Orsell, s.l., 1621

Otto van Veen, an author/designer who taught Rubens and who is well-known from the emblemata genre, couched his version of the creation in emblems resembling geometrical representations: first there is A, which produces B, etcetera. For the creation of man he quotes Hermes, to demonstrate that something of divine nature has been preserved in man: mind is in soul, and God is in mind (Cf. Corpus Hermeticum XI, 4: 'Deus in mente: mens in anima: anima autem in materia' - God is in mind, but mind is in soul, and soul is in matter).