VISIO SECUNDA, cap. XX
The Western Wolf and Its Transforming Breath
The wolf-headed western wind sends forth breaths that transform into a deer and a crab, signifying the wind's shifting nature in the intermediate zones between west, north, and south.
But the fact that under the feet of this same human image, within the sign of watery air, there appears something like a wolf's head producing, as it were, a breath from its mouth — this means that under the power of the one who became human for the sake of human beings, in the western region, from the watery air, just as the principal western wind comes breathing in the form of a wolf, which hides in the forest, and which is rapacious, seeking its food — signifying that this wind, going out from its hiding place, namely from the watery air, now draws out the green moisture of plants, and now suddenly withers it by parching it. This same breath, also bursting forth somewhat at length from the right side of its mouth, in the middle of the space that lies between the wolf's head and the bear's head, takes on the form of a deer's head; and from whose mouth as well, as it were, another breath coming forth ends in the same middle region — because this wind, seeking those regions, in the middle zone that lies between west and north, turns itself to the nature of a deer, so that there the wind allied with it, going forth, just as a deer does by pricking sharply and running swiftly, sends its blasts all the way to that middle zone. From the left side, however, of the mouth of this same wolf's head, the breath that proceeds from that very mouth extends itself, into the middle of the space also, which lies between the wolf's head and the lion's head, rising into the shape of a crab with two claws, as though with two feet; and from whose mouth also, as it were, another breath going forth settles in that same middle region — because in those regions the same wind exercises its effects, in the middle zone that lies between west and south, it reverts to the nature of a crab moving forward and backward, since there the wind allied with it, proceeding in instability, like a crab now blowing this way, now that way, spreads itself into the aforementioned middle zone.
The Boundaries of the Winds
The winds maintain fixed boundaries and do not overtake one another unless God permits, in which case terrors and evil assaults may break out.
But the measure of space by which these heads are distant from one another — by that same measure and form their breaths extend in length on either side, just as was said above about the others; because the measure by which these winds are separated from one another, by that measure they also send out their breathings, since each wind directs its blasts toward the other, and they themselves in that meeting do not cross beyond their boundary, nor does one wind, by blowing, overtake another, unless this happens by the judgment of God. But if it should sometimes happen under divine scrutiny and judgment, terrors arise there, and very many assaults of evil break out in that place.
Directing All Breath Toward the Human Image
All these winds and their breaths are to be directed toward the human image, yielding moral understanding.
And so these things, just as the higher chapters, should direct their own breaths toward the image of man — and the moral understanding of these things.
Read the original Latin
Quod autem sub pedibus ejusdem imaginis hominis in signo aquosi aeris velut caput lupi quasi flatum ex ore suo producens apparet, hoc est quod sub potestate illius, qui propter homines homo factus est, in plaga occidentis de aquoso aere quemadmodum lupus principalis occidentalis ventus spirans venit in forma lupi, qui in silva latet, et qui rapax est, eum cibos quaerit, significans quod ventus iste de latibulo suo scilicet de aquoso aere exiens, viridi atem herbarum nunc educit, nunc repente arefaciendo opprimit. Qui etiam a dextra oris ipsius aliquantum in longum erumpens in medio medietatis spatii, quod inter capita lupi et ursi est, formam capitis cervi accipit, ex cujus etiam ore velut alius flatus veniens in eadem medietate finitur, quoniam partes illas ventus iste petens, in medio medietatis, quae inter occidentem et septentrionem est, ad naturam cervi se convertit, ita ut ibi collateralis sibi ventus exiens, quemadmodum cervus fortiter pungendo, velociterque currendo, flamina sua usque ad medietatem ipsam emittat. A sinistra vero oris ejusdem lupini capitis flatus, qui ab ipso ore procedit, se prolongans, in medio etiam medietatis spatii quod inter capita lupi et leonis est, in caput cancri cum duabus forficibus quasi cum duabus pedibus surgit, de cujus quoque ore quasi alius flatus exiens, in ipsa medietate residet, quia in partibus illis idem ventus officia sua exercens, in medio medietatis, quae inter occidentem et austrum est, ad naturam cancri ante et retro incedentis revertitur, quoniam ibi collateralis ejus ventus procedens, in instabilitate ut cancer nunc hac nunc illac flando ad praedictam medietatem se diffundit. Qua autem spatiorum mensura capita haec ab invicem distant, eadem mensura et forma flatus eorum hinc et hinc in longitudine extenditur, ut et de aliis superius dictum est, quia mensura qua venti isti a se separati sunt, illa etiam et spiramina flatuum suorum emittunt, quoniam ventus ad ventum flatus suos dirigit, ipsique in occursu illo metam suam non transcendunt, nec ventus ventum flando supergreditur, nisi hoc ex judicio Dei fiat. Quod si divino examine judicante, interdum acciderit, terrores ibi fiunt, plurimaeque adversitates malorum illic insurgunt.
Quare et haec sicut superiora capita ad hominis imaginem spiramina sua dirigant, et moralis horum intellectus.
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