THE LIFE OF PHILIPPUS THEOPHRASTUS BOMBAST OF HOHENHEIM KNOW

That's French for "the ancient system," as in the ancient system of feudal privileges and the exercise of autocratic power over the peasants. The ancien regime never goes away, like vampires and dinosaur bones they are always hidden in the earth, exercising a mysterious influence. It is not paranoia to believe that the elites scheme against the common man. Inform yourself about their schemes here.

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Part 1 of 3

VII. MEDICINE

"Those who imagine that the medicine of Paracelsus is a system of superstitions which we have fortunately outgrown, will, if they once learn to know its principles, be surprised to find that it is based on a superior kind of knowledge which we have not yet attained, but into which we may hope to grow."
-- LESSING, Paracelsus.


THE practice of medicine is the art of restoring the sick to health. Modern medicine is, to a great extent, looked upon and employed as if it were a system by which man by his cunning and cleverness may cheat Nature out of her dues and act against the laws of God with impunity, while, to many persons calling themselves physicians, it is merely a method of making money and gratifying their vanity. [1] Instead of seeking to know the divine laws in Nature, and to help to restore the divine order of things, the highest aim of medical science is at present to find means to so poison the body of man and make it pestiferous by inoculation as to render it "immune," which means, to make it incapable of reacting upon the introduction of a similar poison. This system corresponds in religion to that which succeeds in quieting the voice of conscience by never paying any attention to it.

Four hundred years ago Paracelsus spoke the following words to the physicians of his times, and we leave it to the reader to judge whether or not his words may find just application today. He says: --

"You have entirely deserted the path indicated by Nature, and built up an artificial system, which is fit for nothing but to swindle the public and to prey upon the pockets of the sick. Your safety is due to the fact that your gibberish is unintelligible to the public, who fancy that it must have a meaning, and the consequence is that no one can come near you without being cheated. Your art does not consist in curing the sick, but in worming yourself into the favour of the rich, in swindling the poor, and in gaining admittance to the kitchens of the noblemen of the country. You live upon imposture, and the aid and abetment of the legal profession enables you to carry on your impostures, and to evade punishment by the law. You poison the people and ruin their health; you are sworn to use diligence in your art, but how could you do so, as you possess no art, and all your boasted science is nothing but an invention to cheat and deceive? You denounce me because I do not follow your schools; but your schools can teach me nothing which would be worth knowing. You belong to the tribe of snakes, and I expect nothing but poison from you. You do not spare the sick: how could I expect that you would respect me, while I am cutting down your income by exposing your pretensions and ignorance to the public?"

This is not applicable to the medical profession of our day as a whole; not because that profession has of itself risen to a higher standard, but because physicians are human beings, and humanity as a whole has been somewhat improving in morals. There are, however, numerous well-intentioned fools in the medical profession, knowing nothing whatever about the real nature of man, and their mistakes are not less injurious if committed in ignorance than if they were intentional. Moreover, their folly is the more dangerous as it is protected by the authorities of the State. [2]

There are three kingdoms acting in the constitution of man, an outer, an inner, and an innermost principle; namely, the external physical body, the inner (astral) man, and the innermost centre or soul. Ordinary (regular) physicians know hardly anything about the external body, nothing about the inner man, the cause of the emotions, and less than nothing about the soul. Nevertheless, it is the divine spark in the soul which created and supports the inner man, and the outer form is the vehicle in which the inner man is outwardly manifesting himself. Man's natural body is produced by Nature; but the power in Nature is God, and God is superior to Nature. Man's divine spirit is therefore able to change his nature, and to restore the health of his physical form through the instrumentality of the soul.

The medicine of Paracelsus deals not merely with the external body of man, which belongs to the world of effects, but more especially with the inner man and with the world of causes, never leaving out of sight the universal presence of the divine cause of all things. His medicine is therefore a holy science, and its practice a sacred mission, such as cannot be understood by those who are godless; neither can divine power be conferred by diplomas and academical degrees. A physician who has no faith, and consequently no spiritual power in him, can be nothing else but an ignoramus and quack, even if he had graduated in all the medical colleges in the world and knew the contents of all the medical books that were ever written by man.

THE VIRTUES OF A PHYSICIAN

The object of medical instruction should be to educate the natural talents of those who are born physicians, so that they may make use of the experiences gained by their elders. It is useless and dangerous to make a medical practitioner out of a person who is not a physician at heart.

"The greatest and highest of all qualifications which a physician should possess is Sapientia -- i.e., Wisdom -- and without this qualification all his learning will amount to little or nothing as far as any benefit or usefulness to humanity is concerned. He alone is in possession of wisdom who is in possession of reason and knows how to use it without error or doubt. The book of wisdom is the recognition of the truth, and the truth is God; for He who has caused all things to come into existence, and who is Himself the eternal fountain of all things, is also the source of all wisdom and the book in which the truth is to be found without any interpolation or error. In and through Him alone shall we be able to find wisdom and to act wisely, and without Him all our learning will be mere foolishness. As the sun shines upon us from above and causes plants to grow, so the talents necessary for the exercise of this art, whose germs exist in the human heart, must be developed in the rays of the sun of divine wisdom. We cannot find wisdom in books, nor in any external thing; we can only find it within ourselves. Man cannot create day, nor can he create night; and he cannot create wisdom, but it must come to him from above. He who seeks wisdom in the fountain of wisdom is the true disciple, but he who seeks it where it does not exist will seek for it in vain."

Wisdom is not created, manufactured, or "developed" by man, but it becomes manifest in him by its own power, whenever the conditions are favourable. Intellectual learning is an artificial thing, and may be accumulated by man's selfish efforts to learn and possess knowledge; but wisdom is the realisation of truth within the soul, that comes from an awakening to its realisation.

"It is said that we should seek first the kingdom of heaven which is within us, and that everything else would be added; it has also been said that if we only knock strongly enough the door will be opened, and we will never ask in vain, provided we ask with a sincere heart and not with an adulterous object in view. A physician must seek for his knowledge and power within the divine spirit; if he seeks it in external things he will be a pseudo-medicus and an ignoramus. God is the Great First Cause in and from which all things came into existence, and all our knowledge should therefore come from God and not from man-made authorities" (Labyrinthus Medicorum).

"A physician should exercise his art, not for his own benefit, but for the sake of the patient. If he practises merely for his own benefit, such a physician resembles a wolf, and is even worse than an ordinary murderer; for, while a man may defend himself against a murderous attack made upon him on the high-road, he has no means of defence against the murderer who, under the guise of a benefactor and protected by law, comes to steal his goods and destroy his life."

"A physician should be above all honest and true. Let his speech be 'yes' and 'no,' and let him avoid using subterfuges and prevarications; God acts through him who is upright, honest, and pure, but not through him who is wicked and false. God is absolute Truth, and His power does not become manifest in those who are not true. The power of the physician should be resting in the truth; if it rests upon lies, it will be useless and belongs to the devil."

If man were made only out of one kingdom, the kingdom of heaven, then would it be sufficient for him to lead a holy life, to enable him to cure all diseases in himself and in others; but as he is made of three worlds, it is necessary that the physician should also have a knowledge of the conditions existing in the two other worlds, the world of mind and external Nature. [3]

"He should also be well experienced; for there are many kinds of disease, and they cannot be known without experience and learning. No one ever knows so much that he could not learn more. Every art requires experience. You cannot become a good painter, sculptor, or shoemaker by the mere reading of books, much less can you be a good physician without being experienced. He should know the laws of Nature, but above all the constitution of man, the invisible no less than the visible one. His knowledge will strengthen his faith, and his faith will endow him with power, so that he will be like an apostle, healing the sick, the blind, and the halt."

The medicine of Paracelsus therefore rests upon four pillars, which are: 1. Philosophy, i.e. a knowledge of physical nature; 2. Astronomy, i.e., a knowledge of the powers of the mind; 3. Alchemy, i.e., a knowledge of the divine powers in man; and 4. The personal virtue (holiness) of the physician.

THE FOUR PILLARS OF MEDICINE

1. A physician should be a philosopher; i.e., acquainted with the laws of external Nature.

"The knowledge of Nature is the foundation of the science of medicine, and it is taught by the four great departments of science: Philosophy, Astronomy, Alchemy, and Physical Science. These four sciences cover a large field, and require a great deal of study. A common proverb says, 'Life is short, art is long.' Ever since the beginning of the world men have sought for the art to destroy disease, and they have not found it yet; but to the patient it appears that the medical art is very short and the acquisition of science very slow, while his disease is quick, and does not wait until the doctor has found his art. If a physician is in possession of true knowledge, then will his art make short work with the disease, and the life of the patient will be comparatively long. Art is short, for it requires little time to apply it when it is once in our possession; but error is long, and many die before finding the art" (Commentaria in Aphorismas Hippocratis).

"A physician must be a Philosopher; that is to say, he must dare to use his own reason and not cling to opinions and book-authorities, be they old or new. He must above all be in possession of that faculty which is called Intuition, and which cannot be acquired by blindly following the footsteps of another; he must be able to see his own way. There are natural philosophers and there are artificial philosophers. The former have a knowledge of their own; the latter have borrowed knowledge from their books. If you wish to be a true physician, you must be able to do your own thinking, and not merely employ the thoughts of others. What others may teach you may be good enough to assist you in your search for knowledge, but you should be able to think for yourself and not cling to the coat-tail of any authority, no matter how big-sounding the title of the latter may be" (De Modo Pharmacandi).

"The wisdom of our sophists and medicasters does not consist in a knowledge of Nature, but in a knowledge of what Aristoteles, Galen, Avicenna, and other accepted authorities have supposed Nature to be; they only know the dead body of man, but not the living image presented by Nature; they have become untruthful and unnatural, and therefore their art is based upon their own fancies and speculations, which they imagine to be science. The true physician is a product of Nature, not a product of speculation and imagination. If you are not able to see a thing, it will be useless to try to imagine how it may look; perception enables you to see, but speculation is blind. Wisdom is not given by Nature, nor does man inherit it from the latter; it is planted in him by his eternal parent, and grows and increases in him by practice."

It is not true, as has been asserted by certain modern writers, that Paracelsus has objected to the dissecting of dead bodies and called it useless; what he said is, that such a practice was unnecessary for those who had developed the true inner sight; just as it is useless for a man to walk on crutches when he is in perfect health. He says: --

"The anatomy of man is twofold. One aspect of it may be known by dissecting the body, so as to find out the position of its bones, muscles, and veins, &c.; but this is the least important. The other is more important, and means to introduce a new life into the organism, to see the transmutations taking place therein, to know what the blood is, and what kind of sulphur, salt, and mercury (energy, substance, and mind) it contains" (Paramir., i. cap. c.).

"By the power of wisdom man is enabled to recognise the unity of the All, and to perceive that the microcosm of man is the counterpart of the macrocosm of Nature. There is nothing in heaven or upon the earth which may not be found in man, and there is nothing in man but what exists in the macrocosm of Nature. The two are the same, and differ from each other in nothing but their forms. This is a truth which will be perceived by every true philosopher, but a merely animal intellect will not be able to see it, nor would man's fancy enable him to understand it. That philosophy which is based upon wisdom -- i.e., upon the recognition of the truth of a thing -- is true philosophy; but that which is based upon fancy and the idle speculation is uncertain. The former is the true gold; the latter is merely an imitation which if put into the fire will leave nothing but sulphur and ashes."

"He who wants to know man must look upon him as a whole and not as a patched-up piece of work. If he finds a part of the human body diseased, he must look for the causes which produce the disease, and not merely treat the external effects. Philosophy -- i.e., the true perception and understanding of cause and effect -- is the mother of the physician, and explains the origin of all his diseases. In this understanding rests the indication of the true remedy, and he who is not able to understand will accomplish nothing; he will go on in the future laming, crippling, and killing his patients in Nomine Domini as he did in the past."

"A physician who knows nothing more about his patient than what the latter will tell him knows very little indeed. He must be able to judge from the external appearance of the patient about his internal condition. He must be able to see the internal in the external man; for if he wanted to experiment merely according to his own fancy, the world could not furnish him enough patients to arrive at the end of his experiments. He must have the normal constitution of man present before his mind and know its abnormal conditions; he must know the relations existing between the microcosm of man and the macrocosm of Nature, and know the little by the power of his knowledge of the great. We should rise up to a true realisation of the nature of man and his position in the universe, and then apply our knowledge according to the teaching of wisdom, and this kind of study will injure no man; but those who experiment with their patients, without knowing the real constitution of man, are murderers, and may God protect the sick from them!"

"Nature -- not man -- is the physician. Man has lost the true light of reason, and the animal intellect with its speculations and theories has usurped the place. Try to enable yourself to follow Nature again, and she will be your instructor. Learn to know the storehouse of Nature and the boxes in which her virtues are stored up. The ways of Nature are simple, and she does not require any complicated prescriptions."

2. A physician should be an Astronomer; this means that he should know the heaven (the mental sphere) wherein man lives, with all its stars (ideas) and constellations.

A physician must be an Astronomer, for he ought to know the influences of the seasons, of heat and cold, of dryness and moisture, of light and darkness, &c., upon the organism of man. There is a time for everything, and what may be good at one time may be evil at another. There is a time for rain and a time when the roses are blooming, and it is not sufficient that a physician should be able to judge about today, he should also know what tomorrow will bring. Time is man's master, and plays with him as the cat with a mouse, and no one knows the future but God. A physician should, therefore, not depend too much on the accomplishments of the animal intellect in his brain, but he should listen to the divine voice which speaks in his heart, and learn to understand it. He should have that knowledge which cannot be acquired by reading in books, but which is a gift of divine wisdom. He should be married to his art as a man is married to his wife, and he should love her with all his heart and mind for her own sake, and not for the purpose of making money or to satisfy his ambition. If he loves his art, his art will be true to him; but if he sticks to it only for mercenary purposes, or if he merely imitates the art of another, it will be an adulterous alliance, and no good will be the result. True marriage is not a mere binding together of two forms, but it is an union of the soul. The physician who is not married to his art with his soul is a quack, an adulterer, and an impostor" (Comm. in Aphor. Hippocr.).

Man's body is itself a product of mind, and its condition depends to a great extent on the state of his mind. All his diseases, in so far as they are not directly due to external mechanical causes, are due to mental conditions.

"Philosophy (anatomy) deals with the visible material part of man's constitution; but there is a vastly greater part of man which is ethereal and invisible. As the terrestrial body of man is intimately related to his terrestrial surroundings, likewise his astral body is in relation with all the influences of the astral world; and that part of philosophy dealing with these astral influences is called astronomy."

"Astronomy is the upper part of philosophy by which the whole of the microcosm may become known. Philosophy deals with the elements of earth and water, belonging to man's constitution. Astronomy deals with his air and fire (the mind). There is a heaven and earth in man as there is in the macrocosm, and in that heaven there are all the celestial influences, whose visible representations we see in the sky, such as the planets and stars, the Milky Way, the Zodiac, &c., neither more nor less; for the microcosm is an exact counterpart of the macrocosm in every respect except its external form."

"The terrestrial part of man is a child of the earth, and the astral man is a child of the astral world, and as the two worlds are intimately connected with each other, the physician should be acquainted with the influences of the astral as well as with those of the terrestrial world. Man's diseases do not originate in himself; they originate from the influences which act upon him and enter his constitution. The astral influences are invisible, but they act upon man, unless he knows how to protect himself against them. Heat and light are intangible and incorporeal; nevertheless, they act upon man, and the same takes place with other invisible influences. If the air becomes vitiated, it will poison man's body; if the astral influences are in a state of corruption, they will do likewise. The elements themselves are invisible; that which is visible belongs merely to the external form. The Arcanum of Man -- i.e., the real inner man -- is invisible; that which we see of him is not an essential part of his constitution, but merely his external corporeal form." [4]

"The things which we see are not the active principles, but merely the corpus containing them; the visible forms are merely external expressions of invisible principles. Forms are, so to say, the vehicles of powers, and they may be visible or invisible. The invisible air and the ether of space, or a perfectly clear and, therefore, invisible crystal, are just as much corporeal as the solid earth, a piece of wood, or a rock. Each of these corporeal things has its own particular life and inhabitants (micro-organisms); we walk about in the air, although the air is corporeal; fishes swim about in the water, and the yolk of an egg rests in the albumen without sinking to the bottom of the shell. The yolk represents the Earth, and the white represents the invisible surroundings of the Earth, and the invisible part acts upon the visible one, but only the philosopher perceives the way in which that action takes place."

"All the influences of the terrestrial and the astral world converge upon man, but how can a physician recognise the manner in which they act and prevent or cure the diseases which are caused by that action, if he is not acquainted with the influences existing in the astral plane? The star-gazer knows only the external visible heaven; but the true astronomer knows two heavens, the external visible and the internal invisible one. There is not a single invisible power in heaven which does not find its corresponding principle in the inner heaven of man; the above acts upon the below, and the latter reacts upon the former."

3. The physician ought to be an Alchemist; that is to say, he ought to be regenerated in the spirit of Jesus Christ and know his own divine powers.

"He should be an Alchemist; that is to say, he should understand the Chemistry of Life. Medicine is not merely a science, but an art; it does not consist merely in compounding pills and plasters and drugs of all kinds, but it deals with the processes of life, which must be understood before they can be guided. All art, all wisdom, all power, acts from one centre towards the periphery of the circle, and whatever is enclosed within that circle may be regarded as medicine. A powerful will can cure where doubt will end in failure. The character of the physician acts more powerfully upon the patient than all the drugs employed. A carpenter or a mason will fail to make perfect work without compass and square, and a physician without religion and firmness will be a failure. Alchemy -- i.e., the employment of a strong will, benevolence, charity, patience, &c. -- is, therefore, the principal corner-stone in the practice of medicine."

"The psychical surroundings of the patient have a great influence upon the course of his disease. If he is waited upon by persons who are in sympathy with him, it will be far better for him than if his wife or his attendants wish for his death. In a case of sickness, the patient, the physician, and the attendants should be, so to say, all one heart and one soul, and they should always keep in mind the doctrine of Christ, which says: "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" [5] (Comm. in Aph. Hippocr.).

"The physician should be well versed in physical science. He should know the action of medicines, and learn by his own experience and by the experience of others. He should know how to regulate the diet of the patient, and neither overfeed nor starve him. He should know the ordinary course of disease, and the premonitory symptoms; for a disease is like a plant, which may grow to a big tree if it is not rooted out while it is young. A child can cut down an old oak when it first comes out of an acorn, but in time it will require a strong man and an axe to cut it down.

"A physician should be learned, and profit by the experience of others, but blessed is he who knows the living medicine and how to obtain it. He knows that there are innumerable remedies in Nature, which are the Magnalia Dei -- i.e., the mysteries of God, hidden from the eyes of the vulgar, but opened to the spiritual perception of the wise" [6] (Comm.).

4. The physician must have a natural qualification for his occupation.

"He who can cure disease is a physician. To cure diseases is an art which cannot be acquired by the mere reading of books, but which must be learned by experience. Neither emperors nor popes, neither colleges nor high schools, can create physicians. They can confer privileges and cause a person who is not a physician to appear as if he were one, but they cannot cause him to be what he is not; they can give him permission to kill, but they cannot enable him to cure the sick, if he has not already been ordained by God. Theory should precede practice; but if it consists in mere suppositions and assumptions, and is not confirmed by practical works, such a theory is worthless and ought to be abandoned. The pseudo-physician bases his art on his books -- i.e., on that which he believes the authors of those books to have known; the art of the true physician is based on his own knowledge and ability, and is supported by the four pillars of medicine -- Philosophy, Astronomy, Alchemy, and Virtue" (Paragranum).

"A physician who is true to his own higher self will also have faith in himself, and he who has that faith will easily command the faith of the people. A preacher who utters moral sermons, but does not observe his own doctrines, will not command respect; he will rightly be despised and bring his doctrines -- even if they are true -- into discredit; likewise a physician who is seen to be untruthful, wavering, and ignorant will lose the confidence of the public. The art of medicine should be based on truth; it is a divine art which should not be prostituted for base purposes. A physician who deserves the confidence of the people will be trusted by God, for it is the Spirit of God that guides the hearts of mankind."

"I praise the spagyric physicians (the alchemists), for they do not go about idling and putting on airs, being dressed in velvets and silks, having golden rings on their fingers and their hands in white gloves; but they are daily and nightly patiently engaged in their work with the fire and seeking their pastime within their own laboratory (the mind). They do not talk much or praise their medicines; for they know that the work must praise the master, and not the master the work" (De Separat. Rer.).

All arts originate in divine wisdom, and no man ever invented anything through his own power. Man cannot accomplish even the most trifling thing without the power of the Will; but the will of man is not his product and does not belong to him; it belongs to God, and has merely been lent to man; he is permitted to use it, and abuses it on account of his ignorance. All things come from God, the good as well as the evil ones; but while the former are His direct products, and in harmony with the Law, the latter are, so to say, His grandchildren which have become degenerated; for evil is good perverted. Those who put their trust in God -- that is to say, in the power of Goodness, Wisdom, Justice, and Truth -- will surely succeed; but those who, while they pretend to serve God, serve merely themselves, are the children of evil, and will perish with it."

"One of the most necessary requirements for a physician is perfect purity and singleness of purpose. He should be free of ambition, vanity, envy, unchastity, pomposity, and self-conceit, because these vices are the outcome of ignorance and incompatible with the light of divine wisdom which should illumine the mind of the true physician; but our practitioners of medicine will not believe me when I say that it is necessary that a physician to be successful should be virtuous; because they imagine that success is due only to learning, and they cannot realise that all true wisdom and power is derived from God."

"There is a knowledge which is derived from man, and another one which is derived from God through the light of Nature. There are artificially made physicians and there are born physicians. The latter possess their talent from birth, and it may be unfolded and grow like a tree if it is properly nursed. He who has no natural talent to be a physician will never succeed. He who is not a physician in the spring of his life will not be one in the fall."

"A physician should be faithful and charitable; he should have full and perfect faith, a faith which is not divided. Faith and Charity are essentially identical; they both spring from God, and God is one and cannot be divided. The faith of a physician is not manifested by making many visits to his patient, but by his ability to recognise and treat the disease. He should give to his patient his utmost attention, he should identify himself heart and soul with him, and this cannot be done without charity and benevolence. He who loves only himself and his own profit will be of little benefit to the sick, for he will neglect the patient. To recognise the disease of the latter and to be able to benefit him, entire harmony should exist between the physician and the patient; a physician who loves his art for its own sake will also be charitable towards the sick" (Origin of Diseases).

THE ARCHAEUS

All organic functions are caused by the activity of one universal principle of Life. This principle acts in all the members of the body, either slow or quick, perceptible or imperceptible, consciously or unconsciously, normal or abnormal, according to the constitution of the organs in which it is active. As long as the character (the spirit) of an entity is preserved, it acts in that entity as a whole; if the form is broken up and loses its character, it manifests itself in other forms; the life which is active in a man during his lifetime in causing the organic functions of his body, will manifest its activity in creating worms in his body after the spirit has left the form. The spirit is the centre which attracts the principle of life; if the spirit has left the form, life will be attracted to other centres.

If the activity of the life-principle takes place in a form in an harmonious and regular manner, unimpeded by any obstacles, such a state is called health. If its activity is impeded by some cause, and if it acts abnormally or irregularly, such a state is called "disease."

This principle of life is called by Paracelsus, Archesus. It is not a material substance, in the usual acceptation of that term, but a spiritual essence, everywhere present and invisible. It causes or cures disease according to the conditions under which it acts, as it may be pure or impure, healthy or poisoned, by other influences. The animal organism attracts it from its surroundings and from the nutriments which enter into its form; it assimilates it, and loses it again. "The Archaeus, or Liquor Vitae, constitutes the invisible man. The invisible man is hidden in the visible one, and is formed in the shape of the outer one as long as it remains in that outer one. The inner man is, so to say, the shadow or the counterpart of the material body. It is ethereal in its nature, still it is substance; it directs the growth and the formation and dissolution of the form in which it is contained; it is the noblest part in physical man. As a man's picture is reflected in a mirror, so the form of the physical man is reflected in the invisible body" [7] (De Generatione Hominis).

"The Archaeus is an essence that is equally distributed in all parts of the human body, if the latter is in a healthy condition; it is the invisible nutriment from which the visible body draws its strength, and the qualities of each of its parts correspond to the nature of the physical parts that contain it. The Spiritus Vitas takes its origin from the Spiritus Mundi. Being an emanation of the latter, it contains the elements of all cosmic influences, and is therefore the cause by which the action of the stars (cosmic forces) upon the invisible body of man may be explained" (De Viribus Membrorum).

"The Archaeus is of a magnetic nature, and attracts or repels other sympathetic or antipathetic forces belonging to the same plane. The less power of resistance for astral influences a person possesses, the more will he be subject to such influences. The vital force is not enclosed in man, but radiates around him like a luminous sphere, and it can be made to act at a distance. In those semi-material rays the imagination of man produces healthy or morbid effects. It will poison the essence of life and cause diseases, or strengthen and purify it after it has been made impure, and restore the health."

"All diseases, except such as come from mechanical causes, have an invisible origin, and of such sources popular medicine knows very little. Men who are devoid of the power of spiritual perception are unable to recognise the existence of anything that cannot be seen externally. Popular medicine knows, therefore, next to nothing about any diseases that are not caused by mechanical means, [8] and the science of curing internal diseases consists almost entirely in the removal of causes that have produced some mechanical obstruction. But the number of diseases that originate from some unknown causes is far greater than those that come from mechanical causes, and for such diseases our physicians know no cure, because, not knowing such causes, they cannot remove them. All they can prudently do is to observe the patient and make their guesses about his condition; and the patient may rest satisfied if the medicines administered to him do him no serious harm, and do not prevent his recovery. The best of our popular physicians are the ones that do the least harm. But, unfortunately, some poison their patients with mercury; others purge them or bleed them to death. There are some who have learned so much that their learning has driven out all their common sense, and there are others who care a great deal more for their own profit than for the health of their patients. A disease does not change its state to accommodate itself to the knowledge of the physician, but the physician should understand the causes of the disease. A physician should be a servant of Nature, and not her enemy; he should be able to guide and direct her in her struggle for life, and not throw, by his unreasonable interference, fresh obstacles in the way of recovery" (Paragranum).

"Medicine is much more an art than a science; to know the experience of others may be useful to a physician, but all the learning in the world could not make a man a physician, unless he has the necessary talents, and is destined by Nature to be a physician. If we want to learn to know the inner man by studying only the appearance of the exterior man, we will never come to an end, because each man's constitution differs in some respect from that of another. If a physician knows nothing more about his patient than what the latter tells him, he knows very little indeed, because the patient usually knows only that he suffers pain. Nature causes and cures disease, and it is therefore necessary that the physician should know the processes of Nature, the invisible as well as the visible man. He will then be able to recognise the cause and the course of a disease, and he will know much more by using his own reason than by all that the looks or the patient may tell him. Medical science may be acquired by learning, but medical wisdom is given by God " [9] (Paragranum).

"Natural man has no wisdom, but the wisdom of God may act through him as an instrument. God is greater than Nature, for Nature is His product; and the beginning of wisdom in man is therefore the beginning of his supernatural power. The kind of knowledge that man ought to possess is not derived from the earth, nor does it come from the stars; but it is derived from the Highest, and therefore the man who possesses the Highest may rule over the things of the earth, and over the stars. There is a great difference between the power that removes the invisible causes of disease, and which is Magic, and that which causes merely external effects to disappear, and which is Physic, Sorcery, and Quackery." [10]

THE MUMIA

The Archaeus is the essence of life, but the principle in which this essence is contained, and which serves as its vehicle, is called Mumia. "In the Mumia is great power, and the cures that have been performed by the use of the Mumia are natural, although they are very little understood by the vulgar, because they are the results of the action of invisible things, and that which is invisible does not exist for the comprehension of the ignorant. They therefore look upon such cures as having been produced by the 'black art,' or by the help of the devil, while in fact they are but natural, and have a natural cause; and even if the devil had caused them, the devil can have no power except that which is given to him by God, and so it would be the power of God after all." [11]

"There is a twofold power active in man -- an invisibly acting or vital power, and a visibly acting mechanical force. The visible body has its natural forces, and the invisible body has its natural forces, and the remedy of all diseases or injuries that may affect the visible form are contained in the invisible body, because the latter is the seat of the power that infuses life into the former, and without which the former would be dead and decaying. If we separate the vital force from the physical form, the body dies and putrefies; and by impregnating a dying body with vitality it can be made to live again. The invisible forces acting in the visible body are often very powerful, and may be guided by the imagination and be propelled by the will. As the odour of a lily passes from the flower into the surrounding air, so the vital force contained in the invisible body passes into the visible form and beyond it. The physical body has the capacity to produce visible organs -- such as the eyes and the ears, the tongue and the nose -- but they all take their origin from the invisible body, of which the external visible form is only the outward representation."

"But if the germs and the essences of all the organs of the physical body are contained in the invisible vehicle of life, it follows that this invisible microcosmic body contains certain definite qualities, which, if they are properly understood, may be used for some purpose; and the cures that have been performed by the use of this Mumia prove that this assertion is true. The pinks are beautiful flowers so long as they are not separated from the plant upon which they grow, and the chelidonium grows as long as it can draw its nutriment from the earth; but if the pinks are separated from the parent stem, and if the roots of the chelidonium are dead, these plants, being separated from the source out of which they drew their vitality, will decay. The life that made them live is not dead, but it is departed from the dead form; and if it could be restituted, the form could be made to live again. The Mumia, or vehicle of life, is invisible, and no one sees it depart; but nevertheless it is a spiritual substance containing the essence of life, and it can be brought again by art into contact with dying forms, and revive them, if the vital organs of the body are not destroyed. That which constitutes life is contained in the Mumia, and by imparting the Mumia we impart life. The visible body seems to see and to talk, and yet we do not see the powers that see and talk through it. Likewise the action of the Mumia upon the visible body cannot be perceived by the senses -- only its effects can be seen. A visible form without vitality has no other power but its own weight; but if it contains the Mumia, it may perform a great deal. The Mumia is the arcanum, the 'flower of man,' and the true elixir of life. The Mumia acts from one living being directly upon another, or it may be connected with some material and visible vehicle, and be employed in that shape [12] (De Origine Morbor. Invisibilium).

SYMPATHETIC CURES

"Man possesses a magnetic power by which he can attract certain effluvia of a good or evil quality in the same manner as a magnet will attract particles of iron. A magnet may be prepared from iron that will attract iron, and a magnet may be prepared out of some vital substance that will attract vitality. Such a magnet is called the 'magnes microcosmi,' and it is prepared out of substances that have remained for a time in the human body, and are penetrated by its vitality. Such substances are the hair, the excrements, urine, blood, &c. If it is desirable to use the excrements, they are to be dried in a shadowy, dry, and moderately warm place until they have lost their humidity and odour. By this process all the Mumia has gone out of them, and they are, so to say, hungry to attract vitality again. If such a magnet is applied to a part of the patient's body, it attracts and absorbs vitality from that part in the same manner as a sponge absorbs water, and it will thereby allay the inflammation existing in such a part, because it attracts the superabundance of magnetism carried to that place by the rush of the blood. The Mumia coming from the body of a person continues to remain for a while in sympathetic relationship (magnetic rapport) with the Mumia contained in such a person, and they act magnetically upon each other. If, therefore, the Mumia is extracted from a diseased part of a person by a microcosmic magnet, and the magnet mixed with earth, and an herb is planted into it, the Mumia in the magnet will be extracted by that plant, and lose its diseased matter, and react in a beneficial manner upon the Mumia contained in the body of the patient; but it is necessary that the selected plant should be one which bears the signature of the disease with which the patient is affected, so that it will attract the specific influence from the stars. In this way diseased elements may be magnetically extracted out of a person and inoculated into a plant. This is called the transplantation of diseases; and diseases may, in a similar manner, be transplanted into animals that are healthy and strong, or the virus be transferred upon other persons; and many practices of sorcery are based upon that fact. [13] In this way diseases can be cured in one person and caused to appear in another; love between two persons of the opposite sex may thus be created, and magnetic links be established between persons living at distant places, because there is only one universal principle of life, and by it all beings are sympathetically connected together."

The plants used for the transplantation of diseases bear the signatures of the diseases whose names are added. In cases of ulcers and wounds the Mumia may be planted with Polygonum persicaria, Symphytum officinal, Botanus europeus, &c. The plant is to be brought for a while in contact with the ulcer, and then to be buried in manure. As it rots, the ulcer heals. In toothache the gums should be rubbed with the root of Senecio vulgaris until they bleed, and the root is then to be replaced into the earth; or a splinter may be cut out of a blackthorn or willow after the bark has been lifted up. Pick the gums with that splinter until they bleed, and replace the splinter into the tree and tie the cut in the bark up so that it will heal. In menorrhagia uterina, the Mumia should be taken from the groins and planted with Polygonum persicaria. In menorrhoea difficilis, Mentha pulegium is used. In phthisis pulmonalis the Mumia may be planted with an orchis in the vicinity of an oak or cherry tree, or the Mumia be planted directly into such trees. The (fresh) urine of a patient should be heated in a new pot over a fire, and an egg boiled in it. When the egg is hard boiled, some holes should be made into the egg, and the urine boiled down until the pot is dry. The egg is then to be put into an ant-hill; the ants will eat it, and the patient recovers. In atrophy of the limbs the Mumia is taken from the upper and lower joints of the diseased limb, and planted with an oak or cherry tree. Diseases can also be cured by transplantation, if the diseased part is covered for a while with a piece of fresh beef, until the sweat enters into it, and the beef is then given to a cat to eat. [15]

OCCULT PROPERTIES OF PLANTS

An especially favourite remedy of Paracelsus is the Hypericum perforatum, which is used especially against elementals, spirits, and larvae inimical to man. "The veins upon its leaves are a signatum, and being perforated, they signify that this plant drives away all phantasmata existing in the sphere of man. The phantasmata produce spectra, in consequence of which a man will see and hear ghosts and spooks, and from these are induced diseases by which men are induced to kill themselves, or to fall into epilepsy, madness, insanity, &c. The hypericum is almost an universal medicine" [15] (De Naturalibus).

Another plant of great occult power is the Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis), which also has the quality of keeping away evil influences, and is therefore a protection against witchcraft, obsession, vampirism, and the influence of evil thoughts.

The "Herbarium" of Paracelsus describes the occult properties of thirty-six plants, and also of minerals and precious stones; but it would make this book too voluminous to enter into details.

THE MAGNET

Paracelsus was better acquainted than our modern physicians with the therapeutic powers of the magnet, and used it in various diseases. He knew the powers of mineral, human, and astral magnetism, and his doctrines in regard to human magnetism have been confirmed to a great extent since the time of his death. More than a hundred years ago Mesmer created a sensation in the medical world by his discovery of animal magnetism and by his magnetic cures. His discovery was then believed to refer to something new and unheard of, but Lessing proved already in 1769 that the real discoverer of animal magnetism was Paracelsus.

In regard to the powers of the magnetism Paracelsus says: --

"That which constitutes a magnet is an attractive power, which is beyond our understanding, but which, nevertheless, causes the attraction of iron and other things. Our physicians have always had magnets at their disposal, but they did not pay much attention to them, because they did not know that they may be used for any other thing than to attract nails. Our doctors have ceased to learn anything from experience, and they make use of idle talk; and it is a pity and a shame that the representatives of our science should know so little. They have every day occasion to see magnets publicly and privately, and yet they continue to act as if no magnets were in existence." [17]
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Re: THE LIFE OF PHILIPPUS THEOPHRASTUS BOMBAST OF HOHENHEIM

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Part 2 of 3

"They complain of me because I do not follow the methods prescribed by the ancients; but why should I follow the ancients in things in which I know they were wrong? They could not know things of which they had no experience, and it would be foolish to follow them in things in which they were mistaken. Whatever I know I have learned by my experience, and I therefore depend upon my own knowledge, and not upon the ignorance of another."

"Our doctors say that the magnet attracts iron, and verily it does not require a great deal of learning to be able to perceive a fact that may be seen by every ignorant boor; but there are qualities in a magnet not known to every ignoramus, and one of these qualities is that the magnet also attracts all martial humours that are in the human system."

"Martial diseases are such as are caused by auras coming and expanding from a centre outwards, and at the same time holding on to their centres; in other words, such as originate from a certain place, and extend their influence without leaving the place from where they originate. In such cases the magnet should be laid upon the centre, and it will then attract the diseased aura towards the centre, and circumscribe and localise the disease, until the latter disease becomes reabsorbed into its centre. [18] It is useless to try to suppress the external symptoms that are caused by a disease, if we at the same time allow the disease to spread. A poisonous tree cannot be kept from growing if we simply cut off some of its branches or leaves; but if we could cause the vital essence which it draws by its roots from the earth to descend again into the roots and re-enter the earth, the poisonous tree would die on its own account. By the attractive power of a magnet acting upon the diseased aura of the blood in an affected part, that aura may be made to return into the centre from which it originated, and be absorbed therein; and thereby we destroy the herd of the virus and cure the patient, and we need not wait idly to see what Nature will do. The magnet is therefore especially useful in all inflammations, in fluxes and ulcerations, in diseases of the bowels and uterus, in internal as well as in external disease."

"The magnet has a front (north pole) and a back (south pole); the former attracts and the latter repulses. In a case of hysteria the attracting part of the magnet is applied above the uterus, and the repulsing part of another magnet below. In this way the nervous force controlling the movements of the uterus will be propelled towards its proper place. In cases of epilepsy, where there is a great determination of nervous fluid towards the brain, the repulsing (negative) pole of a magnet is applied to the spine and to the head, and the attracting (positive) pole of other magnets upon the abdominal region. There are a great many other diseases that may be cured by the proper use of the magnet, but for those who are able to understand such things the hints already given will be sufficient, while those who have little understanding would not comprehend this system even if we were to write a book about it. It should, however, be remembered that the manner of employing a magnet changes according as to whether we wish to draw the diseased aura out of the body, or to cause it to be reabsorbed into its centre."

The forces composing the Microcosm of man are identical with the forces composing the Macrocosm of the world. In the organism of man these forces may act in an abnormal manner, and diseases will be thereby created; in the great organism of the Cosmos they may act in an abnormal manner, and thereby abnormal conditions, or "diseases" in the earth and atmosphere, in the water and in the elements of fire (electricity), may be created. Man may be affected with spasms, or dropsy, or colic, or fevers, &c., and the Macrocosm of the earth may be affected with earthquakes, rainspouts, storms, and lightnings. The elements that constitute the life of the heart of man constitute the life of the sun; the quality of life found in the elements constituting his blood corresponds to the quality of the invisible influences radiating from Mars; if the soul-essences that characterise the influences of Venus did not exist, the instincts which cause men and animals to propagate their species would not exist, and thus every planet and every star contains certain magnetic elements that correspond with the identical magnetic elements existing in the constitution of Man. A physician who wishes to be rational must know the constitution of the universe as well as the constitution of man; he must be an anatomist, a physiologist, and an astronomist; and it will avail him little to learn these sciences from the books, but he should have an understanding of them by the power of interior perception, which cannot be taught in books, but must be acquired by practice.

ANATOMY

Paracelsus regarded man as being not merely a compound of muscles and bones, tissues and nerves, but as representing on a smaller scale all that is contained in the great world. Therefore his soul and mind are as much parts of his true constitution as are the earthly elements of which his elementary body is made up. Thus the anatomy of Paracelsus takes in all the parts of man's constitution, which has already been described in a previous chapter.

There are two kinds of Anatomy of the Microcosm, one teaching the constitution of the external form of man, the other one that of the internal living man. To seek for the internal man by dissecting the external form is useless, for in doing so we do not find life, but we destroy the form in which it manifested itself.

The Anatomy of the Microcosm is twofold: (1) The local anatomy, which teaches the constitution of the physical body, its bones, muscles, blood-vessels, &c.; and (2) The more important essential anatomy -- i.e., the anatomy of the living inner man. The latter is the kind of anatomy which it is most important for the physician to know, but it will be difficult to bring it to the understanding of those who merely judge by external appearances and refuse to follow the way of the truth. If we know the anatomy of the inner man, we know the Prima materia, and may see the nature of the disease as well as the remedy. That which we see with our external eyes is the Ultima materia. By dividing and dissecting the external body, we can learn nothing about the inner (astral) man; we merely destroy the unity of the whole" (Paramir., i. 6).

The life of a thing, being latent in the form, is set free when the form is destroyed; its entering into a new form is regeneration.

"The rose is beautiful and has a sweet odour as long as it remains in the form; but to manifest its medicinal qualities in the constitution of man, its form must be destroyed and its spirit enter the body of man. Only that which enters into regeneration is useful; the rest is useless. In this regeneration enters the true Sulphur, Mercury, and Salt" (the ethereal essences contained within the gross particles).

PHYSIOLOGY

"As each of the component parts has its own life, so it has its own death; there is a continual process of death and regeneration going on in man. As a tree or a plant grows out of its seed, so the new life grows out of the old one, and that which was heretofore invisible becomes visible. The physician should be able to see that which is not visible to everybody. He should see it in the light of Nature, and if this light is to be called a light, it must be visible and not dark."

"The physical body of man is grown from a physical germ, and requires physical nutriment for its support. There is something like a fire (energy) within ourselves which continually consumes our form, and if we were to add nothing to our body to supply the waste caused by that combustion, our form would soon die. We continually eat our own selves; we eat our fingers, our heart, our brain, &c.; but in each morsel of food which we eat, there is contained the material required to replace that which has been consumed by that internal fire. Each part of our organism selects what it needs, and that which is superfluous or useless is rejected. The Master in man, who superintends the building up of the organism, supplies every organ with that which it needs. We need not eat bones to cause our bones to grow, nor veins, ligaments, and brain, to have those things formed within us. Bread will produce blood, although there is no blood in the bread" (Paramir., i. 7).

"Besides the visible body, man has an invisible one. The former comes from the Limbus, the latter is made from the breath of God. As a breath is like nothing in our estimation, likewise this spiritual body is like nothing to our external senses. This invisible body is the one which is spoken of as constituting our corporeal form on the day of the resurrection" (Paramir., i. 8).

"Heaven and Earth, air and water, are scientifically considered a Man, and man is a world containing a heaven and an earth, air and water, and all the various principles which constitute the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms, and the higher acts upon the lower. Thus the principle constituting Saturn in the Macrocosm acts upon the Saturn in man; the Melissa of the Macrocosm acts upon the Melissa in the Microcosm, &c. There are innumerable principles in the Macrocosm and in the Microcosm; they are not differing from each other in the number of things of which they are composed, but in the way they are composed; for they all consist only of three things -- i.e., Sulphur, Mercury, and Salt. As a million of figures are (potentially) contained in a rough piece of wood from which a woodcutter may cut one or many images or forms; so many hundred different diseases may be produced from the Corpus of man, and yet it is but a single Corpus; and as all the wooden images may be consumed by one fire, so there is one Fire in the universal storehouse of Nature which consumes that which is impure and separates it from that which is pure."

"A painter paints a picture upon a piece of wood, and you will then see the picture, but not the wood; but a wet rag may wipe out all that the painter has made. Thus we have been cut out by the hand of God, and He formed us in the three Substances and painted us all over with Life, but death wipes out the picture. Therefore we should not allow ourselves to be seduced by the temptations of life, seeing that they are nothing but illusions, resembling colours which in themselves are neither red, nor yellow, nor green, but merely appear to be so to the eye. Death too has its colours, and if the colour of death takes the place of the colour of life, death gets the mastery over life; these two colours the physician should know, but they do not explain the disease; they are merely outward signs, and as such they are illusive" (Paramir., i. 5).

"It is erroneous to speak of fever as if this were disease. The name 'fever' refers to the heat of the disease, and this heat is merely a symptom; it is neither the cause nor the substance of the disease; it would be more appropriate to call it Morbus Nitri or Morbus Sulphuris incensi. 'Apoplexy' is a misnomer; because it is caused by a sublimation of Mercury, and ought to be more properly called Mercurius Cachinialis Sublimatus [19] The same may be said in regard to many other diseases and their misnomers. Names ought to indicate the true nature and not merely the external effects of the diseases. If a physician cannot see deeper than a boor, then he is a boor and not a physician. What is there in the ocean, in the earth, in the air, or in the firmament -- i.e., the 'fire' -- which should not be known to a physician? Why is professional ignorance so great and success so little, but because the practitioners study only external effects and the anatomy of the external form, and are not able to look with the eye of the spirit into the mysterious part of Nature? We cannot see the life in things that are dead; the eyes of the soul must open, and we must become able to see not only the house of life, but its living inhabitant."

THERAPEUTICS

"If we wish to restore health, we should be able to use the virtues contained in all the four elements of the celestial and terrestrial realm. Man's organism is composed of many parts; if one part is diseased, all the other parts suffer, and one disease may be the death of the whole. Man has in him the whole firmament, the upper and lower spheres; if his organism is sick it calls for help to heaven and to the earth. As the soul must fight against the devil with all her strength, and call God to her aid with her whole heart, her whole mind, and all her powers; so the diseased physical organism calls to its aid all the celestial and terrestrial powers with which it has been invested by God to resist the cruel and bitter death" (Paramir., i. 2).

Paramirum; or, The Book of the Causes and the Beginning of Diseases -- The Five Causes.

"There is only one eternal and universal Cause of everything, which is God, and if we were to write in a true Christian spirit, we should not make any divisions; but for the sake of helping our finite understanding, which is not able to grasp the power of the Infinite, we are forced to accept the theory of a variety of causes, hoping thereby to sharpen our intellect for the comprehension of finite things, until by the illumination of Divine Wisdom we shall become able to behold with the eye of Faith the eternal Unity of the All."

"We have therefore divided the cause of all diseases into five classes, which are as follows: -- Ens Astrale, Ens Venenale, Ens Naturale, Ens Spirituale, and Ens Deale; [20] but the latter is the fundamental cause of everything that exists."

"As there are five causes of disease, there are also five different methods of treating diseases, and five classes of faculties or sects of physicians which follow these methods. Each method is alone sufficient to treat all the five classes of diseases, and each physician should be well experienced in the methods of the sect to which he belongs, and he should not change from one system to another, but confine himself to the one he has chosen to adopt. [21] He should not be wavering and uncertain, but he should be firm and full of faith, and be able to know more by his own internal power of recognition than by external observation or by what the patient may tell him; for the patient, being only conscious of suffering, is not in a condition to judge his own case correctly, and the physician must be able to see things which are not seen by every one."

But the origin of some particular disease may be not in only one of these causes, but in two or more of them, and unless a person is able to recognise all the causes of such a disease he will be unable to prognosticate the time of its duration. An astrologer may calculate your horoscope correctly, and tell you by what diseases you are threatened and when they will end; but he takes only one of the five causes into consideration, and the chances are four to one that his predictions will prove to be wrong, and that he will be laughed at by those who have only a superficial knowledge, and who do not know the cause of his failure.

1. Diseases caused by Astral Causes.

"The world is the Macrocosm and man the Microcosm, and the elements of all that exists in the former exist in the latter. All the influences that come from the sun, the planets, and stars act, therefore, invisibly upon man, and if these influences are evil they will produce evil effects. No vegetables would grow without the influence of the sun, but if that influence is too strong they will wither and perish. The world is surrounded by a vaporous sphere, like an egg surrounded by a shell. Through that shell the cosmic influences pass towards the centre, and on that occasion they may become poisoned by the miasmas in the air, and create epidemic diseases. An evil astral influence does not poison the whole world, but only those places where causes for infection exist. If no germs of disease exist in our atmosphere, the astral influences coming from the outside will cause no harm. If evil elements exist in the sphere of our soul, they attract such astral influences as may develop diseases. If the water in a lake freezes to the bottom the fish will die, and they will likewise die if the water gets too warm; and if certain evil elements exist in the water which attract certain correspondingly evil planetary influences, [22] a great many fish may die, and no one may know the cause" (Paramirum).

"The astral influences are the servants of man and not his ruler. A seed which is planted in the ground contains in itself all that is necessary for developing into a tree, if the conditions necessary for such a development are furnished. It has the Ens Seminis in itself; but if the sun did not exist, it would never grow. The seed needs a Digest, and this is furnished by the soil, but the soil would be useless without being warmed by the sunshine. A child in the womb of its mother contains in its Ens Seminis the power to grow, its Digest is the womb in which it lives, it requires neither planets nor stars; its planet and star is its mother. A child may be conceived or born during the best constellation of planets, and nevertheless have very bad qualities. In such a case the planets are not to blame; it is the Ens Seminis, which it has inherited in its blood."

"Man lives within the invisible world comparable to the yolk in an egg. The chicken grows from the white of the egg, which constitutes its chaos, and man is nourished by his chaos. Within man are the sun and moon, the planets and all the rest of the stars, and also the chaos" (Paragran., ii.).

The outward influence of the stars on the sky avails nothing, if there is not a corresponding power in the organism of man upon which it can act; but if the germ of disease is present, the corresponding influence of the stars acts upon it. For instance, a man in whom or are the ruling powers may be rendered very passionate during a conjunction of Venice and Mars. Another born under the influence of may be troubled with rheumatic pains whenever Neptune stands prominent on the sky. An observation of the contents of the astronomical almanac might often aid our physicians in making a correct prognosis.

"The moon exercises a very bad influence, especially at the time of the new moon, which may be very injurious for persons whose sidereal bodies possess magnetic elements that will attract that influence, and the conjunction of the moon with certain other planets will make her influence still more injurious. [23] For instance, a conjunction of the moon, Venus, and Mars may give rise to the plague; a conjunction with Saturn to certain acute diseases, &c.; but no evil influence can develop a disease where the germ of that disease does not already exist. The seat of the sun in the Microcosm is in the heart, that of the moon is in the brain. The moon's influence is cold; and insane people have been called 'lunatics' because they are often injuriously affected by the moon, whose influence acts upon the brain and stimulates the sexual passions, and causes injurious dreams and hallucinations." [24]

"There are certain stars whose influence corresponds to the medical qualities of certain metals, and others that correspond to those of certain plants, and they will act for good or for evil if they are attracted by corresponding elements in the sidereal body of man. A physician should know the physiology and anatomy of heaven as well as that of man to understand the cause and cure of astralic diseases, because he will vainly try his remedies as long as his patient is under the ascending influence of an evil star; but after that evil influence ceases, the disease will also be changed or disappear. Every metal and every plant possesses certain qualities that can attract corresponding planetary influences, and if we know the influence of the star, the conjunctions of the planets, and the qualities of our drugs, we will know what remedy to give to attract such influences as will act beneficially upon the patient." [25]

"If, for instance, a woman is deficient in the element of Mars, and consequently suffers from poverty of the blood and want of nervous strength (anaemia), we may give her iron, because the astral elements of iron correspond to the astral elements represented by Mars, and will attract them as a magnet attracts iron. But we should choose a plant which contains iron in an etherealised state, which is preferable to that of metallic iron.[26] In a case of dropsy it would be exceedingly injurious to give any remedy that would help to attract the evil influence of the moon; but the sun is opposed to the moon, and those remedies which attract the astral essences of the sun will counteract those of the moon, and thereby the cause of dropsy can be removed. The same mode of reasoning may be applied in all other astralic diseases."

2. Diseases caused by Poisonous Substances and Impurities.

"Everything is perfect in itself and nothing is impure if it is what it ought to be; but if two things come together, then one may be a poison to the other" (De Ente Veneni).

"Impurities and injurious elements enter the human organism in various ways. They may be taken in the food or drink, inhaled with the air, or be absorbed by the skin. There are visible and invisible poisonous substances that are not injurious if they enter the organism alone, but will become poisonous if they come into contact with others. There are poisons and impurities of various kinds, and what is healthy food for one organism may be injurious if taken into another, and each thing contains hidden virtues that will be useful for some beings while they are evil for others. The salamander eats fire, the ox eats grass, the peacock can swallow snakes and the ostrich stones; but man requires a different kind of food."

Philosophy informs us that the world is made out of the will of God. If, then, all things are made out of will, it logically follows that the causes of all internal diseases are also originating within the will. All diseases, such as are not caused by any action coming from the outside, are due to a perverted action of the will in man, such as is not in harmony with the laws of Nature or God. If his will begins to move in disharmony with these laws, then will a state of disharmony be created, which ultimately finds its expression on the external visible plane, and it is not necessary that the diseased person should be intellectually aware of the cause of such an inharmonious action, for the will in man produces the harmonious and inharmonious performances of his internal organs without man being aware of it and without the consent of his intellect. A mere thought, an idea, a mental impression, may produce such an inharmonious action of will, and as the name "Tartarus" expresses that which is perverted, impure, or opposed to good, diseases of such an origin are called by Paracelsus "Tartaric Diseases."

"First of all should the physician know that there are three invisible substances which by their coagulation form the physical body of man, and which are symbolised as 'sulphur, mercury, and salt.' The 'sulphur' represents the auras and energies, the 'mercury' the fluids, and the 'salt' the material and substantial parts of the body; and in each organ these three substances are combined in certain proportions, differing from each other. These three substances are contained in all things, and the digestive power is the great solvent for these substances, of which each part of the body assimilates whatever it will require. Dew falls from the invisible air, corals grow in the water, and seeds draw their nutriment out of the soil; the earth is a great stomach, in which everything is dissolved, digested, and transformed, and each being draws its nutriment from the earth; and each living being is a stomach that serves as a tomb for other forms, and from which new forms spring into existence" (Paramir., i.).

Each organism requires that kind of food which is adapted to its own nature. The body cannot be nourished with theories, nor the mind with potatoes. The body requires material food, the mind mental knowledge; but the soul needs the nutriment that comes from the holy spirit of truth.

"Every living being requires that particular kind of food which is adapted to its species and to its individual organism, and Life, the great alchemist, transforms the food taken. In the alembic of the animal organism it extracts from it those substances which the various organs need. The lower class of animals are even better alchemists than man, because they can extract the essence of life out of things which he is forced to reject. Man extracts the more refined essences from food; but a hog, for instance, will extract nutriment out of substances that would act as poisons in the organism of man, but there is no animal known that will eat the excrements of a hog. Animals refuse to eat or drink things which are injurious to them, and they select by their natural instincts those things which they require; it is only given to intellectual man to disobey his natural instincts, and to eat or drink things which are injurious to him, but which may gratify some artificially acquired taste. Man is much more subject to diseases than animals in a state of liberty, because animals live in accordance with the laws of their nature, and man acts continually against the laws of his nature, especially in regard to his eating and drinking. As long as his body is strong it can expel or overcome the injurious influences which are continually caused in it by intemperance, gluttony, and morbid tastes; but such a continuous effort at resistance will imply a serious loss of vitality, and a time will come when disease will be the result, because the organism requires a period of rest and a renewal of strength to expel the accumulated poisonous elements. [LC-1] If the physician attempts to prevent such an expulsion of poisonous elements, he attempts a crime against Nature, and may cause the death of his patient. If he weakens in such cases the strength of his patient by abstracting blood, he will become his murderer. Rheumatism and gout, dropsy, and many other diseases are often caused by such accumulations of impure or superfluous elements, and Nature cannot recover until such elements are expelled and the vital power of the organs restored. While the organism is weakened and its vitality on the wane, the germs of other diseases may become developed by attracting injurious astral influences, because its power of resistance is enfeebled, and thus one kind of a disease grows out of another" (De Ente Veneni).

3. Ens Naturae -- Diseases arising from the Condition of Man's Nature; i.e., from Psychological Causes.

The world of corporeal forms is an external expression of the world of mind. Each thing represents an idea; each star in the sky is a visible symbol of a universal power or principle. A diseased state of the body is often caused by a diseased state of the mind. The majority of diseases are due to moral causes, and the treatment ought to be of a moral kind, and consist in giving instruction and in applying such remedies as correspond to those states of mind which we wish to induce in the patient.

Modern science knows almost nothing about the cause of the action of medicines, and for this reason the use of herbs and roots has been almost entirely abandoned. She has her purgatives, her suporifica, diaphoretica; she says that Aloes increases the peristaltic movements of the bowels, and that strychnine paralyses the nerves, &c.; but why these remedies act thus and not otherwise, this she does not explain.

Modern medicine requires, so to say, a sledge-hammer for killing a fly; but the finer natural remedies, such as have not a merely mechanical, gross, immediate, and destructive action, have almost entirely disappeared from the pharmacopoeia, and, as harmless and useless, been remitted to the care of old women. Their action is not understood, because it is not so violent as that of the poisons used by the orthodox "regular" physician, and therefore the effects produced are not at once apparent to the eye; but while the finer forces of Nature silently and noiselessly act upon the body of the patient, the violent drugs administered by the modern practitioner usually serve only to drive away effects by shifting the seat of the disease to a still more interior and more dangerous place.

The doctrines of Paracelsus go to show that the same power which exists in the mind of the universe, and which produced a star on the sky, is also capable to become manifest as a plant; that the whole world consists of various states of spirit, having become embodied or corporified in forms in Nature, in which the qualities of the will, which produced them, is represented and made manifest; and that, all things originating primarily out of one will-spirit, they are all related together and may be made to act upon each other by the law of induction. Each thing, from the sun down to a tumour in the body of an animal, constitutes a certain state of vibration of the one original essence, and by applying a remedy which is in a near relation to a diseased organ (according to the quality of its spirit) we can induce a healthy action in that organ, and thus restore its normal condition.

"Many diseases are caused especially by the abuse of physiological powers, in consequence of which the organs lose their strength and vitality. Thus the stomach may be overloaded with food and irritated by stimulating drinks, which force it to perform more than its natural and legitimate amount of work; the kidneys may be inflamed by stimulating and poisonous drinks, and become weak, or enlarged, on account of their overwork; the same may be said of the liver; the sexual powers may become prematurely exhausted by excesses, and the health of women be destroyed by the unnatural frequency by which connubial acts are performed. Animals live according to their nature, and it is only given to reasoning man to act against his instincts, to neglect to listen to the warning voice of his nature, and to misuse the organism with which he has been entrusted by the creative power of God. In many cases of lost vitality the weakened organs will recover their strength after a time of rest and cessation of abuse. Nature is a patient mother that often forgives the sins committed against her, although she cannot forget them. We may therefore often trust to her recuperative powers, and Nature will be able to restore that which has not been irrevocably lost; for Nature is a great physician, and the dabblers in medicine and apothecaries are her enemies, and while the latter fill the graveyards of the country with corpses, Nature distributes the balsam of life."

"Every organ in the human body is formed by the action of certain principles that exist in the universe, and the former attract the corresponding activity in the latter. Thus the heart is in sympathy with the elements of the sun, the brain with the moon, the gall-bladder with Mars, the kidneys with Venus, the lungs with Mercury, the liver with Jupiter, the spleen with Saturn, &c. There are many stars in the great firmament of the universe, and there are many germs hidden in the little world of man, and the high influences the low; and in the Microcosm and Macrocosm all things stand in intimate sympathetic relationship with each other, for all are the children of one universal father." [27]

Not only is Man a compendium of invisible forces, having grown into corporeal shape; every animal, plant, and mineral is a corporified principle, a materialised power, or a combination of such; and the Astronomy of Paracelsus includes, therefore, not merely a knowledge of the "stars," but also a knowledge of Zoology, Botany, and Mineralogy. "What is Mars but the principle of Iron, which is found universally distributed in Nature and in the constitution of man? What is Venus but the power which excites the Vasa Spermatica in men and in animals? What is Melissa but a power which exists in the astral light and finds its material expression in the herb Melissa, which grows in our gardens? What are the animals but the personifications of those characters which they represent? Everything is an expression of the principle of life in a material form, and the life is the real thing; the external form is merely the house or Corpus in which it resides" (De Pestilitate).

SIGNATURES

"All natural forms bear their signatures, which indicate their true nature. Minerals, vegetables, and animals remain true to their nature, and their forms indicate their character. Man, who has become unnatural, is the only being whose character often belies his form, because, while his character may have changed into that of an animal, his form has retained the human shape. If such men could re-enter the Limbus of Nature and be born again in forms which correspond to their true nature, and if this should take place, many of our Pharisees, strutting about in scarlet coats and pretending to be benefactors of mankind, while they in reality care for nothing but for the gratification of their ambition and lusts, would be born in the shape of monkeys, camels, and buffaloes" (De Philosophia).

"He is not a physician who can see only that which is visible to every boor. The experienced gardener can tell by looking at a seed what kind of a plant will grow from it, and likewise the physician should be able to perceive how a disease originates, and in what way it will develop. He who knows how the rain originates will also know the origin of dysentery; he who knows the origin of the winds knows how colic originates; he who knows the periodical changes of the seasons may know the origin of intermittent fevers; he who knows the ebbs and tides in the Macrocosm will know the cause of menorrhagias of the Microcosm, &c. The quack studies diseases in the affected organs, where he finds nothing else but effects which have already taken place, and he will never arrive at an end; for if he were to kill a thousand people for the purpose of studying those effects, he would still be ignorant in regard to the causes. The true physician studies the causes of diseases by studying man as a whole. In him exist all the diseases that did exist in the past or will exist in the future. The destroyer is not a physician, but an executioner and murderer. Let the honest man ask his own conscience whether God meant that we should acquire wisdom by murder" [28] (Paragran., i).

"As the sunshine penetrates through a glass window into a room, so the influences of the astral light enter into the body of man, and as the rain is absorbed by the soil, while stones and rocks are impenetrable to it, so there are certain elements in man's organisation which absorb these influences, while other elements resist their action. To obtain a correct idea of the construction of the Microcosm, we should know how the Macrocosm is constructed; we mast look upon man as an integral part of universal Nature, and not as something separate or different from the latter. The earth nourishes the physical body, and the astral body is nourished by the astral light, and as the former hungers and thirsts for the elements of the earth, so the latter longs for the influences which come from the astral plane. There are many thousands of 'magnets' in the constitution of man; good attracts good, evil attracts evil; good improves the good, and causes it to be better; evil attracts evil, and is rendered worse thereby. Innumerable are the Egos in man; in him are angels and devils, heaven and hell, the whole of the animal creation, the vegetable and mineral kingdom; and as the individual little man may be diseased, so the great universal man has his diseases, which manifest themselves as the ills that affect humanity as a whole. Upon this fact is based the prediction of future events" (Paragran.).

"Those who merely study and treat the effects of disease are like persons who imagine that they can drive the winter away by brushing the snow from the door. It is not the snow which causes the winter, but the winter is the cause of the snow. Those people have departed from the light of reason and lost themselves in idle vagaries, to the great detriment of the welfare of humanity. Consider how great and how noble man is, and that his visible form is merely the outgrowth of invisible powers. As it is outside of man, so is it inside, and vice versa, for the outside and inside are essentially one thing, one constellation, one influence. It is the Limbus in which the whole of creation is hidden. He who knows only the external form of man, and not the power by which it is produced, knows nothing but an illusion; his science is illusive, only fit to impose upon the ignorant" (De Astronomia).

"Good or evil influence comes down from the sun, the moon, or the stars; the action of the macrocosmic influences stimulates the corresponding elements (the Corpora Microcosmi Astralia) existing in man into action. The same element which produces Mars, Venus, or Jupiter in the sky exists also in the body of man; because the latter is the son of the astral body of the Macrocosm in the same sense as the physical body of man is a son of the earth. To be a physician, it is not sufficient to know the anatomy of the physical body; you should also know that of the astral body; you should know not merely a part, but the whole constitution of the Macrocosm and the Microcosm of man. Adam is not the father of man, nor is Eve his mother; they were both human beings themselves. The first man was a product of creation, and all created things constitute together the Limbus (Nature). Man is born from the Limbus, and still remains in it; the two, i.e., Man and Nature, are one, and he who knows the anatomy of Nature knows also the constitution of man. If a man gets sick, it is not the eternal part in him which suffers, but it is his Limbus, which is composed of many hundreds of different elements, which are all related to their corresponding elements in the great Limbus of Nature."

"Nature (Heaven) is Man, and Man is Nature; all men are one universal Heaven, and Heaven is only one universal Man. Individual man is the individualised universal Man, and has his own individual heaven, which is a part of the universal Heaven. If all children were born at once and upon one point, they would all be constituted alike, and be sick or well at the same time; but at the time of conception a differentiation takes place, and each child receives his own individual nature, which, however, still remains an integral part of the universal nature of mankind. Thus, there are many points in a circle, and each point constitutes a circle of its own, and yet they all belong to the great circle, and as each little circle may expand so as to encompass the whole, so the heaven in man may grow so as to expand towards the whole, or contract into his own centre and disappear."

"Why does man want to eat, to drink, and to breathe but because he is related to the elements of earth, water, and air, and must attract these things to his constitution? Why does he need warmth but because he is related to the element of the fire and cannot do without it? And all these elements may produce diseases. There is no disease in the elements, but the disease starts from the centres. The origin of diseases is in man, and not outside of man; but outside influences act upon the inside and cause diseases to grow. Man is himself a cosmos. A physician who knows nothing about Cosmology will know little about disease. He should know what exists in heaven and upon the earth, what lives in the four elements and how they act upon man; in short, he should know what man is, his origin and his constitution; he should know the whole man, and not merely his external body. If man were in possession of a perfect knowledge of self he would not need to be sick at all."

"Diseases serve to teach man that he is made out of the universal Limbus and that he is like the animals and by no means better than they. He should study himself and the rest of creation, so that he may attain self-knowledge; and this self-knowledge should be above all obtained by the physician. Man is the highest of all animals, and the whole of the animal creation is contained in him, and, moreover, he has the power to attain self-knowledge, a faculty which the animals do not possess."

"Every star (faculty) in the nature of man is of a double nature, and he who knows the stars also knows the nature of the disease; but the Arcana of Nature are single. [29] If the two opposites in the constitution of man (heat and cold, love and hatred, &c.) are at war with each other, each of them asks for help from their common mother (Nature), and the physician should, therefore, be well acquainted with the astronomy of the inner heaven of man, so as to know how to assist Nature in her work."

True love and true knowledge are inseparable.

"To understand the laws of Nature we must love Nature. He who does not know Maria does not love her; he who does not know God does not love Him; his belly (his greed) is his god. He who does not understand the poor does not love them. The more knowledge we obtain, the stronger will be our love and the greater our power. He who knows God has faith in God; he who does not know Him can have no true faith. He who knows Nature will love her, and obtain the power to employ her forces. No one can be made into an artist or inventor if he has not the natural love and capacity for it; no one can be a good physician unless he is born to be one. The art to invent is a species of Magic, which cannot be taught, but which must be acquired. All Wisdom comes from the East; from the West we can expect nothing good; therefore, you who desire to be useful physicians, act according to the sun of true Wisdom, and not for the aggrandisement of the moonshine of self" (Labyrinthus Medicorum).

"It must not be supposed that a certain material element coming from the planets enters the organism of man and adds something to it which it does not already possess. The light of the sun does not contribute any corporeal substance to the organisms existing upon the earth, and a man does not become heavier if he stands in the sun; but the natural forces acting in the various organs are intimately related to similar forces acting in the organism of the world, and as the liver, the spleen, the heart, &c., are the bodily representatives of certain organic activities, likewise the sun and the moon, Venus, Mars, &c., are the visible representatives of the corresponding activities of the Cosmos. If a man gets angry, it is not because he has too much bile, but because the 'Mars,' the combative element in his body (the invisible power that guides the production of bile), is in a state of exaltation. If a man is amorous, it is not because his spermatic vessels are overloaded, but because the 'Venus' (the amorous element) in his body is in a state of exaltation. If in such cases a conjunction of the combative and amorous elements takes place in his body, an ebullition of jealousy will follow; and if such an internal conjunction should take place at a time when conjunction of the planets Mars and Venus takes place in the sky, the sympathetic relationship existing between the elements representing these planets in the Microcosm and the elements represented by those of the Macrocosm may lead to serious consequences unless counteracted by the superior power of reason and will." [30]

There are a great many stars in the universe; there are a great many forces active in the organism of man. There are a great many giants which are the earthly representations of astral influences corresponding to the qualities of the stars, and which will attract the influences of the stars to which they are sympathetically related. By using such plants as medicine we attract the planetary life-influences needed to restore the vitality in diseased parts.

We give below a list of some principally useful herbs, the names of the planets to which they are sympathetically related, and the names of the principal diseases in which they may be used with advantage. It will, however, appear reasonable that it makes a vast difference whether such plants are fresh or whether they have been dried, and their occult properties are, moreover, to a great extent modified by the time of the day or night, and under what planetary conjunctions they have been gathered, and at what time they are used. Each plant should be gathered at a time when the planet to which it is related rules the hour, and its essence should be extracted as long as it is fresh. [31]

Sun. -- Rosmarinus officinalis, Lavandula officinalis, Salvia officinalis, Satureja officinalis, Melissa officinalis. (Acute inflammations, diseases of the heart, rheumatism, &c.)

Moon. -- Thymus majorana, Helleborus niger, Ruta graveolens. (To be used in insanity, hysteria, nervous diseases, &c.)

Mercury. -- Pulmonaria off., Althaea off., Plantago laureola. (Pneumonia, catarrh, phthisis pulmonalis, inflammations of mucous membranes.)

Venus. -- Ononis spinosa, Yerbascum thapsus, Apium petroselinum. (Dropsical swellings, diseases of kidneys or bladder, &c.)

Mars. -- Carduus benedictus, Urticaria diocia, Erythraea centaurium. (Fevers, diseases of an acute and violent character; eruptive fevers, &c.)

Jupiter. -- Ruta graveolens, Hepatica nobilis, Adianthum veneris, Chelidonium magus, Linum usitatissimum, Cannabis sativa. (Jaundice, liver diseases.)

Saturn. -- Chrysosplenium alternifolium, Scrophula nodosa, Teucrium Chamaedrys. (Hypochondria, piles, melancholia, &c.) [32]


There are a great many other plants whose essences correspond to the ethers radiating from other planets and stars, and if we knew all the qualities of the stars, we would find that the quality of each of them is represented on the earth by some plant. By the judicious use of plants beneficial astral activities may be attracted and evil influences neutralised; but to know what plants are required in each case it is necessary to know not only the anatomy of the human body and the functions of its organs, but also the constitution of the starry heavens, the qualities of the stars, and the time of the appearance and conjunctions of planets. The impossibility to grasp at once all these things intellectually shows that the power of spiritual perception is a most necessary qualification for the true physician.

It is not within the scope of this work to enter into a detailed account of the treatment of special diseases adopted by Paracelsus. It may suffice to say that the difference between the system of medicine of the present day and that of Paracelsus is a difference growing out of an entirely different apprehension of fundamental truths. Modern science looks upon the universe as being a conglomeration of dead matter out of which, by some unexplainable process, life may become evolved in forms. The science of Paracelsus looks upon the whole of the universe as the manifestation of a universal principle of life, acting through the instrumentality of forms. Modern science seems to regard the forms as the sources of life; the science of Paracelsus looks upon the forms as being the products of life. Forms are, so to say, condensed forces or crystallised space; but space itself is an aspect of the one life, and there is no dead matter in the universe, for that which dies returns again into the matrix of Nature, to be reborn into other forms, and to serve again as an instrument for the manifestation of life.

In the universe of Paracelsus there is life everywhere, and all beings are connected together by a common link. Some forms are in a close mutual sympathy, while between others an antipathy is prevailing. Some attract and others repel each other. During the ascendency of a planet [33] its essence will be especially attracted by plants and by animal organs that are in harmony with it; but what else is this radiating planetary essence but the elixir of life, the invisible vehicle of a quality peculiar to that power? And therefore a patient may grow better or worse without any visible cause. A medicine that will do good at one time will be useless at another, and a system of medicine without understanding and without true knowledge of natural laws will remain a system of mere suppositions and superstitions, of passive observation and inactivity, and if it attempts to interfere with the cause of a disease, the probability is that it will do serious harm. Paracelsus says: "Our physicians pay no attention to the position of the planets, [34] and therefore they kill more patients than they cure, because a medicine that may do good at one time may be injurious at another, according to the prevailing influence. That which is active in medicines is their astral elements acting upon the astral man, and they are produced by astral influences, and it makes the greatest difference whether a medicine is pervaded by one influence or by another" (De Caducis).

It should always be remembered that astral influences do not act directly upon the physical bodies of men and animals, but upon their vital essence, in which all elements are contained. Love for a certain person may be created by a word or a touch, by a breath or a kiss, but only if the person who is touched or breathed upon has in his soul the elements that are capable to manifest that particular kind of love. The vehicle of life that contains the life-essence in the body of man (the Mumia) is the same as that which contains the universal life and forms the astral body of the world; but each energy may exist in various states and modifications, differing from each other. "Even the ignorant knows that man has a heart and lungs, a brain and a liver and stomach; but he thinks that these organs are independent things, that have nothing to do with each other; and even our most learned doctors are not aware of the fact that these organs are only the material and bodily representatives of invisible energies that pervade and circulate in the whole system; so that, for instance, the real 'liver' is to be found in all parts of the body, and has its herd in that organ which we call the liver. All the members of the body are potentially contained in the centre of the vital fluid, which has its seat in the brain, while the activity which propels it comes from the heart [35] (De Viribus Membrorum).

Mind is not created by the brain, neither is love nor hate created by the heart; but mind acts through the brain, and love and hate have their origin in the heart. "A man who is angry is not only angry in his head or in his fist, but all over; a person who loves does not only love with his eye, but with his whole being; in short, all the organs of the body, and the body itself, are only form-manifestations of previously and universally existing mental states."

"The body of a man is his house; the architect who builds it is the astral world. The carpenters are at one time Jupiter, at another Venus; at one time Taurus, at another Orion. Man is a sun and a moon and a heaven filled with stars; the world is a man, and the light of the sun and the stars is his body; the ethereal body cannot be grasped, and yet it is substantial, because substance (from sub, under, and sto, standing) means existence, and without substance nothing exists. If the life of the sun did not act in the world, nothing would grow. The human body is vapour materialised by sunshine mixed with the life of the stars. Four elements are in the world, and man consists out of four, and that which exists visibly in man exists invisibly in the ether pervading the world. Where is the workman that cuts out the forms of lilies and roses that grow in the field? and where is his workshop and tools? The characters of the lilies and roses exist in the astral light, and in the workshop of Nature they are made into forms. A blooming flower cannot be made out of mud, nor a man out of material clay; and he who denies the formative power of Nature, and believes that ready-made forms grow out of the earth, believes that something can be taken out of a body in which it does not exist" (De Caducis).
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Re: THE LIFE OF PHILIPPUS THEOPHRASTUS BOMBAST OF HOHENHEIM

Postby admin » Tue Sep 22, 2015 6:07 am

Part 3 of 3

The power of sight does not come from the eye, the power to hear does not come from the ear, nor the power to feel from the nerves; it is the spirit of man that sees through the eye, and hears with the ear, and feels by means of the nerves. Wisdom and reason and thought are not contained in the brain, but they belong to the invisible spirit which feels through the heart and thinks by means of the brain. All these powers are contained in the invisible universe, and become manifest through material organs, and the material organs are their representatives, and determine their mode of manifestation according to their material construction, because a perfect manifestation of power can only take place in a perfectly constructed organism, and if the organism is faulty the manifestation will be imperfect, but not the original power defective" (De Viribus Membrorum).

The animal intellect differs from the human intellect especially in that the animal can see only the vehicle, but the human intellect discovers the principle manifested therein. For this reason those of our would-be scientists who only see external effects, and cannot see the principles therein, have only an animal intellect, however well trained it may be.

4. Diseases originating from Spiritual Causes. [36]

This class of diseases includes all evils that are caused by an evil will, resulting from passions, evil desires, disordered thoughts, and a morbid imagination. Such psychological states produce physiological changes in the physical body. Shame produces a blush in the face, and terror produces a paleness. Fear causes diarrhoea; melancholy, obstructions; anger or envy gives rise to jaundice. Gaiety may cure, and grief may kill. Violent emotions produce miscarriages, apoplexy, spasms, hysterics, and cause malformations of the foetus, &c., &c. Such things are known to all who have investigated such matters; but it is less generally known that the evil imagination of one person can affect the mind of another, poison his vitality, and injure or kill his body.

The reason why this is not generally known is that the imagination of the majority of men and women in our present state of civilisation is too weak, their will too feeble, and their faith too much pervaded by doubt to produce the desired effects; and it is fortunate that their imagination, however evil it may be, has not much power as long as the state of morality is not higher advanced than it is at present. [37] Nevertheless, there have been persons whose evil will was so strong as to project the products of their imagination instinctively or consciously upon a person whom they desired to injure, and such persons are still in existence, although they may not deem it prudent to boast of their gifts or to exhibit their powers in public. Envy and hate produce an evil imagination, and create forces that are more active during sleep than during waking. The evil thoughts of a malicious person can affect another (sensitive) person, not only while the former is awake, but also during his sleep; because when the physical body is asleep, the sidereal body is free to go wherever it pleases or wherever it may be attracted.

"The life that is active in the organs is the anima vegetiva (the animal soul). It is an invisible fire (sulphur), that can easily be blown into a flame by the power of the imagination. Imagination creates hunger and thirst, produces abnormal secretions, and causes diseases; but a person who has no evil desires will have no evil imagination, and no diseases will spring from his thoughts."

"A person who has evil desires will have an evil imagination, and the forces created in the sphere of his mind can be projected by powerful will into the mental sphere of another. Thoughts are not empty nothings, but they are formed out of the substance that forms the element of the mind, in the same sense as a piece of ice is made out of the substance of water. The will is the power that concentrates the image formed in the mind, in the same way as the power of cold will cause a body of water to freeze into solid ice; and as an icicle may be thrown from one place to another, likewise an evil thought, formed into substantial shape by an intense will, may be hurled into the mental sphere of another, and enter his soul if it be not sufficiently protected."

"Imagination is the cause of many diseases; faith is the cure for all. If we cannot cure a disease by faith, it is because our faith is too weak; but our faith is weak on account of our want of knowledge; if we were conscious of the power of God in ourselves, we could never fail. The power of amulets does not rest so much in the material of which they are made as in the faith with which they are worn; the curative power of medicines often consists, not so much in the spirit that is hidden in them, as in the spirit in which they are taken. Faith will make them efficacious; doubt will destroy their virtues."

The Ens Spirituale is the Will. The power of the true spiritual Will is known very little, because it is attained by very few. In our present civilisation, men of strong, determined, and enlightened Will are few and far between; men and women are ruled to a great extent by their instincts and desires, and have not sufficient will power to rise above and control them.

"The Ens Spirituale is a power which may affect the whole body and produce or cure all kinds of diseases; it is neither an angel nor a devil, but it is a spiritual power which in the living body is born from our thoughts."

"There are two principles active in man; one in the principle of Matter, which constitutes the corporeal visible body; the other one is the Spirit, intangible and invisible, and the spiritual principle may be vitiated and diseased as well as the body, and transmit its diseases to the body. The Ens astrale, veneni, and naturale act upon the body, but the Ens spirituale and deale belong to the spirit; if the body suffers, the spirit need not suffer; but if the spirit suffers the body suffers; the body cannot live without the spirit but the spirit is not confined by the body, and therefore is independent of it. The spirit in man sustains the body as the air supplies him with life; it is substantial, visible, tangible, and perceptible to other spiritual entities, and spiritual beings stand to each other in the same relationship as one corporeal being to another. I have a spirit and you have one, and our spirits communicate with each other in the same sense as our bodies; but while we need language to understand each other, our spirits understand each other without using words. If one spirit is angry at another it may injure him, and the injury received be transmitted upon his body. Spirits harmonise and associate with each other, or they repel or injure one another. Spirits are not born from the intellect, but from the soul, for the soul is the substance of life. Thought alone produces no spirit, but it determines the qualities of the will."

"There is no spiritual power in children, because they have no perfect will-power; he whose will is perfected gives birth to a spirit, as a pebble produces a spark, and this spiritual power partakes of the nature of his will. He who lives in the will, possesses the spirit -- i.e., the Ens spirituale. There is a corporeal world and a spiritual world, and the two are one, and the spiritual beings live in their own spiritual world as we live in ours. They have their likes and dislikes, their sympathies and antipathies, like ourselves, and they do not always correspond to the likes and dislikes of the bodily forms. Men may quarrel and fight with each other and their spirits nevertheless be in harmony, but if a spirit injures another spirit, the material body of the latter will become also affected."

"The spirits of a man may act upon another without the other man's consent or intention, unconsciously and involuntarily to him; but if man's will is in unity with his thought and desire, a spirit (force) will be produced which can be employed for good or for evil. If two such spiritual forces battle with each other, the weaker one, or the one which does not defend itself sufficiently, will be overcome, and bodily diseases may be the result. An evil-disposed person may throw the force of his will upon another person and injure him, even if the latter is stronger than the former, because the latter does not expect and is not prepared for the attack; but if the other is stronger and resists successfully, then a force will be kindled in him which will overcome his enemy and which may destroy him" [38] (Repercussio).

"Waxen images, figures, &c., may be used to assist the imagination and to strengthen the will. Thus a necromancer will make a waxen image of a person and bury it, covering it with heavy stones, and if his will and imagination are powerful enough, the person whom it represents feels very miserable until that weight is removed. Likewise, if he breaks a limb of that figure, a limb will be broken in the person whom the figure represents, or he thus inflicts cuts, stabs, or other injuries upon an enemy. It is all done through the spirit acting upon the spirit. No necromancer can by his will act directly upon the body of a person, but he can act upon his astral spirit, and the spirit of the injured person reproduces the injury upon his own body. Thus a necromancer plants a tree, and he who cuts the tree cuts himself; that is to say, he does not cut his body, but the spirit, which has the same limbs as the body, and the cuts made upon the spirit are reproduced upon the body."

"Thus the spirit of a person may, without the assistance of his body and without a knife or sword, cut or stab or injure another person by the mere force of the imagination and will, and images can be cursed effectually, and fever, apoplexy, epilepsy, &c., be caused thereby; but our scientists have no conception of what a power the will is, because they have no strong will, and they do not believe in such things, because they are beyond their comprehension. The will produces such spirits, and they can also act upon animals, and it is even easier to affect animals than to affect men, because the spirit of man is better able to defend itself than that of an animal." [39]

"Not only may a necromancer thus consciously injure another person by his evil will and imagination, but the spirit of envious, jealous, revengeful, and wicked persons can, even if they are ignorant of the practices of sorcery, injure those who are the objects of their evil will while the body is asleep; for dreams which come from the spirit are actually enacted, but dreams which do not come from the spirit are only plays of fancy."

"One poison will render another poison harmless, and thus the effect of the imagination of one person neutralises the effects of the imagination of another. If any one can make an image of wax to injure my body, I may make another image to attract the evil spell. His image obtains its power by the force of his faith, and my image obtains its virtue by the power of my faith; and the injuries inflicted by my enemy upon the image will leave me unharmed, and the curses that he heaps upon me will return to him and leave me unhurt."

"If a person is gloomy and despondent, he ought not to be left alone, but he ought to have some one to cheer him up and to explain to him that he must free himself of his own morbid thoughts. There are some who believe that it is possible for witches to pass through doors and to vampirise people; but no witch can bodily (physically) pass through a closed door in the way in which this is done by sylphs and pigmies; they do such things in their astral forms."

"O you doubtful man, you Peter of little faith, who are moved by each wind and sink easily! You are yourself the cause of all such diseases, because your faith is so little and feeble, and your own evil thoughts are your enemies. Moreover, you have hidden within yourself a magnet which attracts those influences which correspond to your will, and this celestial magnet is of such power that for more than a hundred or even thousands of miles, it attracts that which your spirit desires out of the four elements" (Philos. Occulta).

5. Diseases originating from the Divine Cause (Karma). [40]

All diseases are the effects of previously existing causes. Some originate from natural and others from spiritual causes. Spiritual causes may have been created by a man during a former existence. For such cases there is no remedy but to wait patiently until the evil force is exhausted and the law of universal justice satisfied; for even if the just retribution for our sins can be evaded at one time, it will only be postponed, and the evil returns at another time with an accumulation of interest and with increased force.

"All diseases originating from the above-mentioned four causes may be cured by the power of the true Faith. All health and all disease come from God, and in God is the cure. Some diseases, however, do not directly come from God, but are natural (although they, too, come from God indirectly, because Nature is a manifestation of the power of God), but other diseases are directly sent by God as a punishment for our sins. Each disease is a purgatory, and no physician can know exactly when or how it will end; the physician is only a servant of God, who works to accomplish His will. If it is the will of Providence (Karma) that the patient should still remain in his purgatory, then will the physician not be able to help him out of it; but if his time for redemption has come, then will the patient find the physician through whom God will send him relief. The physician may cure the sick by using remedies, but it is God who makes the physician and the remedy. God does not perform miracles without man; He acts through the instrumentality of man, and restores the sick to health through the instrumentality of the physician, and therefore the physician should be in possession of faith (in harmony with God), so as to be a perfect instrument through which the will of God can be accomplished."

"He who expects help from medicine or from a physician is not a Christian, but he is a Christian who hopes to receive aid from God through the instrumentality of man. God is the first and most potent physician; human physicians are only His deputies. Call not for help to the personal self of any man, but ask it from God acting through man, and He will cause you to find the physician, if it is well for you that you should receive aid; or He may aid you through the power within yourself, provided you are holy or a physician yourself."

"Two kinds of punishment (Karma) are waiting for the sinner. One takes place during his life, the other one after his death. Those sins which are not expiated after death will produce certain effects in our next life. God is the master of Nature, and the physician is her servant, and let no physician fancy that he can be a master of Nature unless he is a servant of God."

"There are two ways of practising the medical art: the first is to employ art; the second is to employ fancy. The former means the employment of observation, reason, knowledge, experience, and wisdom; the latter is the product of speculation, self-conceit, preconceived opinions, and ignorance. Those who are wise will know which way to choose" (De Ente Dei).

"No physician should presume to know the hour of recovery in such cases, because it is not given to man to judge of the offence of another, and the inner temple contains mysteries in which no uninitiated stranger is permitted to pry. If the trial is over, God will send the physician. If a patient recovers by following the advice of a physician, it is a sign that the physician has been sent by God; but if no recovery takes place, God did not send the physician. Nothing in the world happens without a cause. The ignorant physicians are the servants of hell, sent by the devil to torment the sick; but the true physician is God. God does nothing in an unnatural manner, and if He produces wonders, He produces them through human agencies. God does not go about practising medicine or come to see a patient; if He comes to him, He comes in the shape of a man. If a town possesses a good physician, people may look upon him as a blessing from God; but the presence of an ignorant or greedy doctor is a public calamity and a curse to all. But all bodily diseases will be cured at the legitimate hour, when the battle of life is ended and the angel of death opens the portal to the eternal [41] kingdom of rest." [42]

THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE

As there are five causes of diseases, so there are five different ways of removing them, and therefore five classes of physicians: --

"1. Naturales -- i.e., those who treat diseased conditions with opposite remedies; for instance, cold by warmth, dryness by moisture, &c., according to the principle, Contraria contrariis curantur. To this class belonged Avicenna, Galen, &c." (Allopathy, Hydrotherapie, &c.).

"2. Specifici. -- Such as employ specific remedies, of which it is known that they have certain affinities for certain morbid conditions. To this class belong the Empirics" (Homoeopathy).

"3. Characterales. -- The physicians of this class have the power to cure diseases by employing their willpower" (Magnetism, Suggestion, Mind-Cure).

"4. Spirituales. -- The followers of this system have the power to employ spiritual forces, in the same sense as a judge has power over a prisoner in the stocks, because he is in possession of the keys. Such a physician was Hippocrates" (Hypnotism, &c.).

"5. Fideles. -- i.e., those who cure by the power of Faith, such as Christ and the apostles" (Magic).

"Among these five classes, the first one is usually the most orthodox and narrow-minded, and rejects the other four for not being able to understand them."

"From each of the five causes of diseases all kinds of diseases may spring, and each kind of disease can therefore be divided into five classes, according to its cause. There are consequently five kinds of plague and five kinds of cholera, five kinds of dropsy or cancer, &c. If, for instance, a plague appears, the Naturales will say it is caused by a disorganisation of the bodily structures, while the Astrologer will say it is caused by a certain constellation of planetary influences; but there may be three more causes which produced that epidemic, and which will determine its character. Moreover, each disease may manifest itself in two ways, one of which belongs to the department of Medicine, the other one to the department of Surgery. That which radiates from the centre (constitutional diseases) belongs to Medicine; that which is localised -- i.e., circumscribed or confined to a certain locality -- belongs to Surgery. [43]

"Each physician, no matter to which sect he belongs, should know the five causes of diseases and the five methods of treatment; but each method is in itself sufficient to cure all diseases, no matter from what cause they originate" (De Entibus Morbosom).

"No knowledge is perfect unless it includes an understanding of the origin -- i.e., the beginning; and as all of man's diseases originate in his constitution, it is necessary that his constitution should be known, if we wish to know his diseases."

THE THREE SUBSTANCES

"The Bible tells us that Man is made out of nothing; that is to say, his spirit, the real man, is from God, who is not a thing, but the eternal reality; but he is made into three somethings or 'substances,' and these three constitute the whole of Man: they are himself, and he is they, and from them he receives all that is good or evil for him. Every state in which man can possibly enter is determined by number, measure, and weight." The "Three Substances" are the three forms or modes of action in which the universal primordial Will is manifesting itself throughout Nature, for all things are a Trinity in a Unity. The "Salt" represents the principle of corporification, the astringent or contractive and solidifying quality, or, in other words, the body; the "Sulphur" represents the expansive power the centrifugal force, in contradistinction to the centripetal motion of the first quality -- it is that which "burns," i.e., the soul or light in all things; and the "Mercury" is the Life, i.e., that principle or form of will which manifests itself as life, or consciousness and sensation. Each of these forms of will is an individual power; [44] nevertheless they are substantial, for "matter" and "force" are one, and originate from the same cause. The three substances, held together in harmonious proportions, constitute health; their disharmony constitutes disease, and their disruption death.

"These three substances should be practically known to the physician, for his usefulness does not consist in merely possessing theoretical knowledge, but in his ability to restore health. He must learn to know these substances by studying the light of Nature, not by seeking them in his own imagination; he should become able to see Nature as she is, and not as he or others may imagine her to be. His art should be baptized in the fire; he must have himself been born from the fire, and tested in it seven times and more. No one is born a physician out of himself, but out of the light of Nature, and this light is the great world. He should pass through the examination of Nature and know her laws. He should not seek for wisdom in his own fancy, but in the light of Nature, and from the ability to recognise this light springs the true science. Not in the books, but in the light of Nature is to be found true wisdom and art, theory and practice; but those who cannot find wisdom in that light, and seek for it in their own fancy, will continually err." [45]

"There is nothing in man which would naturally cause him to be a physician. He has the capacity to collect ideas intellectually, but this alone does not constitute art. This faculty is like an empty box, useful only to store up useful things. Let us look at two examples the glass-maker and the carpenter. The glass-maker did not learn his art from himself, he found it in the light of Nature, for Nature showed him how to melt the materials by means of the fire, and discovered the glass for him; but a carpenter who builds a house constructs it according to his own ideas, provided he has the necessary materials. A physician may have the necessary materials -- i.e., the patient and the remedies -- but he is not a true physician as long as he has not the true knowledge as to how and when and why they must be applied. The glass-maker is taught by Nature, the carpenter follows his own fancy; the former is taught by the fire, and the true physician receives from the fire of Nature his wisdom and his art -- i.e., his experience. This is his true approbation" [46]

"The ignorant refuse to follow Nature, and they follow their own fancies. Understanding is twofold. One understanding comes from experience, the other from aptitude; the former, again, is twofold, and is based either upon the understanding of the law or merely upon haphazard experiment. The former is the one upon which true medicine rests, and implies the knowledge of the three substances; the other is merely supposition and error, for a haphazard experiment may succeed once and fail at another time."

"We should not follow in the footsteps of persons, but in the footsteps of Nature; we should not act on account of hearsay, but on account of our own understanding. The first man who learned anything useful was taught by Nature; let Nature teach us as she taught him. If my art is to be based upon a firm foundation, it must be based upon my own understanding, not upon that of another man. A physician should have God before his eyes, visibly and tangible; he should see the truth, not shadowy or as in a dream, but tangible and without any doubt. Our science should be based upon our own perception of truth, not upon mere belief or opinion. Information received from men can only assist us in forming opinions, but it constitutes no knowledge. True knowledge consists in a direct recognition of the real, and is taught by Nature herself."

"As far as the patient is concerned, there are three things required of him to effect a cure: his disease should be a natural one, [47] he should have a certain amount of will, and a certain amount of vital energy. If these conditions are not present, no cure can be effected; for even Christ could not benefit those who were not receptive of His power. This power is Faith, and it should be present in the patient as well as in the physician. Christ did not say to the sick, 'I cured thee,' but He said, 'Thy faith made thee whole.' It is not the physician who heals the sick, but it is God who heals him through Nature, and the physician is merely the instrument through which God acts upon the nature of the patient. The patient should therefore have faith in God and confidence in his physician. God acts according to universal law, and makes no exceptions in special cases; but all power comes from God, and may be guided properly or its action impeded by the physician. God kills no one; it is Nature which causes people to die. God is Life, and the physician in whom the power of God is manifest will be a fountain of life and health to the sick. To God belongs the praise, and to man the blame. Those who attempt to cure diseases by their own power, without recognising the eternal source of all power, will never know the deeper mysteries of Nature. They deal with lies, and do not perform the will of God; and if they murder their patients, it is they themselves who are responsible for it."

"Those who attempt to cure the sick by means of what they learn in books, and without using their own judgment, are like the foolish virgins mentioned in the Bible, who wasted the oil from their lamps, and tried to borrow light from others. Those whose minds are open for the reception of the truth, who are charitable to all, who love their art for its own sake, and seek to do the will of God, without any thought of self, they belong to my school, and are my disciples. They will be taught by the light of wisdom, and God will perform His miracles through their instrumentality" (De Virtute Medici).

ARCANA (MYSTERIES)

Why is the practice of medicine of Theophrastus Paracelsus almost incomprehensible to the modern practitioner? It is because the latter seeks to treat the diseased organs themselves, which are as such merely the external effects of internal causes, and he knows of no other way to act upon them except by mechanical or chemical means; while the method of treatment of Paracelsus, by means of which he made the most wonderful cures, is to change the interior spiritual causes from which the outward effects grow; to treat the very essences out of which corporeal organs become crystallised, and to supply them with the power of vitality of the quality which they require. To accomplish this, deep insight into the causes of disease, spiritual perception, spiritual knowledge, and spiritual power are needed, and these qualities belong not to that which is human in man, but to the light of the spirit which shines into him. For this reason the Arcana of Paracelsus have been universally misunderstood, and it is believed even to this day that his 'secret remedies' were certain compounds which he concocted, and which might be prepared by any apothecary, if he were put in possession of the prescriptions for them. This is, however, not the case. A prescription that might be learned from books is not an Arcanum; [48] a secret that might be communicated intellectually from one person to another is not a divine or spiritual mystery. A cow can give birth to nothing else but a calf, a monkey cannot produce a man; neither can he who has not himself been reborn in the spirit produce or endow things with spiritual power. Man must himself be that which he desires to produce.

We do not blame those who, not being spiritual, are unable to grasp spiritual truths; we only reject the conceit of those who, not being capable to see the true light, dogmatically deny its existence.

Even of the direct disciples of Paracelsus, few only were able to see the truth clearly. He says: "Twenty-one of my servants have become victims of the executioner (the illusions of this world, false reasoning). May God help them! Only a few have remained with me" (Denfensio, vi.).

"The first Arcanum is the Mercurius vivus; the second, the Prima Materia; the third is the Lapis Philosophorum; and the fourth, the Tinctura. These remedies are rather of an angelic than of a human character" (Archidoxes, iv.).

If the will of God acting within Nature could create a world, surely the same divine will, acting within man, can cure all diseases; but only that will which is active in man, not that which is outside of him, can act within his organisation; and before a man becomes able to send his soul within the soul of another person, his own will must become godlike and free. A "hypnotiser" merely paralyses the will of a weak-minded person and induces a kind of dream; but the magic power of the true Adept is the power of God acting through him. Such powers do not belong to that which is mortal in man, but to that which is divine, and therefore those who wish to graduate in the school of Paracelsus and follow his example will have to outgrow their self-conceit and become regenerated in the spirit of divine wisdom, which is the realisation of truth.

"We are not intent upon showing our feelings and thoughts, mind and heart, to idiots and fools, and we protect ourselves, therefore, by a good wall, to whose door only the wise ones possess the key. If you have the proper understanding, you will comprehend it and act accordingly; but if you are deficient in your knowledge or in its practical application, you will also be without all the planets, stars, and signs" (Coelum Philos.).

NOTE. -- The above-named Arcana may, although imperfectly, be described as follows: --

Mercurius vivus. -- Spiritual Intelligence, Divine Self-consciousness, Wisdom.

Prima Materia. -- The Logos in its aspect as the substance and essence of all things, the "Word" (Akasha).

Lapis Philosophorum. -- The spiritual man himself, having attained self-knowledge.

Tinctura. -- The power of divine love, it being identical with divine wisdom.


________________

Notes:

1. Is not even now the scientific world continually engaged in seeking for means by which man may lead an intemperate and immoral life without becoming subject to the natural consequences thereof? Are not even now many of our "doctors" poisoning the imagination of their patients by frightening them instead of seeking to instil hope and confidence into their minds?

2. Those who study the effects of vaccination without prejudice will easily find that nothing is done in that practice except substituting a slowly developing and far more dangerous disease for a more acute and less dangerous one. The reason why this is not generally known is because the diseases inoculated by vaccination often appear only a long time after its performance, and their cause is therefore not recognised. Thus a lifelong suffering from eczema is often the consequence of vaccination. As to the celebrated Pasteur cures, it is said that of all his patients, ninety-six per cent have died, while the remaining four were probably not infected, and would have remained well anyhow.

3. Here comes in the advantage of intellectual education, but an educated intellect without any self- perception of truth belongs to the devil.

4. Recent experiments go to prove that sensation may be externalised. Thus, for instance, a man may surround himself with an invisible shell or aura by projecting his own odic emanations to a certain distance from his body; so that, while his body becomes insensible to pain, the pain will be felt when the aura around him is touched. This goes to show that sensation exists in the odic aura (Prana), and not in the physical form. (Compare E. Du Prel, Die sympathetische Kurmethode.)

5. We should sympathise with the patient, but not with his disease. We should not confirm him in his morbid fancies, or encourage him in believing himself sick. The majority of sick people lack the energy necessary to cure themselves. In such oases we should show them energy instead of a helpless commiseration.

6. Modern medicine, with its "hypnotism," and "suggestion," seems to be about to learn the first letters of the alphabet of the system of Paracelsus.

7. It is the Pranamaya of Sankaracharya.

8. Such as are caused by overloading the stomach with food, constipation of the bowels, obstructions, &c.

9. This mode of reasoning is as applicable to the state of medical science today as it was at the time of Paracelsus.

10. It would be interesting to find out how many chronic diseases and lifelong evils are caused by vaccination. If the organism contains some poisonous elements, Nature attempts to remove it by an expulsive effort caused by the action of the spirit from the centre toward the periphery, and producing cutaneous diseases. If by vaccination a new herd is established to attract the diseased elements (Mumia), the manifestation of the poison on the surface of the body may disappear, but the poisonous elements will remain in the body, and some other more serious disease will manifest itself sooner or later.

11. This invisible Mumia, that may be transferred from one living being to another, is nothing else but the vehicle of life, or “animal magnetism.”

12. Paracelsus, not Mesmer, is the original discoverer of so-called Mesmerism.

13. It is nothing uncommon, especially in Mohammedan countries, to see packages lying in the road tied together with a string. On opening them, hair, bloody rags, excrements, &c., will be found. Such packages are laid there by some sick persons or their friends; they contain the Mumia of the sick, and it is intended that he who opens the package should get the disease of the patient, and the latter get well. Occasionally such a "magnet" is buried under the doorstep of an enemy, so as to cause him to walk over it and become sick. It is dangerous for sensitive persons to handle such things. The mode of curing diseases by transplanting the virus into trees has been used by the successors of Paracelsus, Tentzel, Helraont, Flood, Maxwell; and others practised them to a great extent, and acquired great reputations. They give some of the following instructions: -- "Many diseases may be cured by way of sympathy, by employing the warm blood of the patient as a magnet for the Mumia. The blood may be extracted by venesection or cupping, and made to run into lukewarm water or milk, and this is given to a hungry dog to eat. The process can be repeated several times, until the patient recovers.

14. "The excrements of the patient may be dried as described above, and pulverised; they are tied up in a cloth and applied as a poultice, until they are penetrated with sweat from the patient, and the powder is then mixed with earth and inserted into a flower-pot, and a plant bearing the signature of the patient's disease is planted into it. After the plant has grown a while it is thrown into running water in oases of fevers and inflammations, but in cases of a humid character or in lymphatic affections it should be hung into smoke."

15. An intelligent physician will neither accept nor reject the sympathetic cures to which the directions given above refer, although they may seem to be absurd and based upon superstition. The term "superstition” signifies a belief in something of which we have no knowledge, but if we understand the rationale of a thing the superstition ends.

16. Have those who ridicule this statement ever employed the hypericum in cases of hallucination?

17. The knowledge of the therapeutic use of the magnet has not advanced much since the days of Paracelsus. Baron Reichenbach investigated the subject in a scientific manner, but the result of his experiments is still ignored by the medical profession as a whole.

18. If we remember that the blood corpuscles, and consequently also the nerve aurae, contain iron, this statement appears very rational.

19. This might perhaps be translated as "a congestion of blood to the brain caused by overworking the brain, or overloading it with a bad nervous aura."

20. This means: astral causes or origins, causes from poisons or impurities, causes that spring from morbid conditions in the body, spiritual causes, and such as come through the action of the moral law (Karma).

21. Those who are Jacks of all systems are usually masters of none.

22. Such influences consist in certain states of electricity, magnetism, miasmas, and other "forces," for which modern science has no names and modern languages no words, but which we may call "modifications of Prana."

23. It is not the physical body of the planet that acts upon the physical body of man, but the astral influence of the planet acting upon the astral form.

24. What the noxious influence of the moonlight is in the external world, the same is the influence of a morbid imagination in man.

25. Diseases often appear without any assignable cause. In acute diseases the patient often grows suddenly worse, or he may grow suddenly better, and no cause can be assigned to it. Such changes are usually attributed to "catching cold" where no cold has been caught, to mistakes in the diet where no such mistakes have been made, or they are attributed to "meteorological changes," of whose action upon the human system therapeutic science knows less today than at the time of Paracelsus, because it is fashionable among certain people to reject everything which they cannot see, as being "unworthy of their consideration."

26. For instance, elder-berries (Sambucus).

27. We ought not to forget that each planet corresponds to a certain state of the mind. Thus Image represents a melancholy, Image a fiery temper, Image a dreamy disposition, Image ambition and pride, Image intelligence, Image love and desire, Image wisdom.

28. Let the vivisectionists consider that question.

29. That which is divine in man is only one, and has only one aspect; all other things have two aspects, a material and an ethereal one.

30. It would be interesting to collect statistics of crimes, showing exactly the time when they have taken place, comparing the latter with the time of the conjunctions of the planets existing at the same longitude and latitude, and also compare them with the constellations that ruled at the time of birth.

31. Useless to say that our druggists know nothing about such things, and do not observe them.

32. The physician of the nineteenth century will hardly fail to recognise among these remedies many that are habitually used in modern medicine, although there is hardly any other reason for their employment known but that experience has taught that they are useful.

33. The "ascendency of a star" means the increase of a power.

34. The quality of the influences acting upon the patient.

35. This doctrine is corroborated by modern discoveries. Amputations of limbs are followed by a state of atrophy of certain parts of brain-substance, which seems to indicate that the force which shapes the limbs has its centre in the brain. If certain parts of the brain were destroyed, the limbs would begin to atrophy. If we apply this mode of reasoning to the Macrocosm, we find that all the essences and ethers that go to make up the organs of the Macrocosm are also contained in its centre, the sun; and if a certain element were taken away from the sun, the planets could not continue to exist in their present condition. If a certain element that goes to form the legs of men were suddenly taken away from the universal storehouse of the Macrocosm (the Limbus), human beings would be born without legs; if no principle of reason existed, there would be no use for brains, &c.

36. That which is born from our thoughts is a spirit" (Paramir., i.).

37. To think is to act on the plane of thought, and if the thought is intense enough, it can produce an effect on the physical plane. It is very fortunate that few persons possess the power to make it act directly on the physical plane, because there are few persons who never have any evil thoughts entering into their mind.

38. Here is the whole philosophy of what is now called “hypnotic suggestion" outlined. Men's thoughts constantly act upon each other, be it knowingly or without their knowledge, and the stronger overcomes and overawes the weaker; but the strength of the thought depends upon the force of the will by which it is endowed, and the strength of will depends upon the amount of its consciousness."

39. Here again is a glorious new field of activity for the enterprising vivisectionist; but unfortunately he in whom such evil forms of will-power (elementals or devils) have come into existence will not get rid of them easily, and he will be himself the greatest sufferer in the end.

40. "The will of God."

41. The word eternal does not signify a time without end, but a state in which time is not measured, and in which it therefore does not exist.

42. A misunderstanding of the doctrine of Karma may give rise to an erroneous belief, which may be productive of serious harm. There are great numbers of religious fanatics in the East, and some in the West, who would not make an attempt to pull a person out of a burning house, even if they could easily do so, because they believe that if it is "the will of God," or his Karma, that he should perish in the fire, it would be wrong to interfere with that law, and to frustrate the purpose of God. They should remember that if it was the will of God which caused such a person to fall into danger, it must also have been the will of God which sent them near, and enabled them to save; and if they neglect to do their duty and suffer him to perish, they are arrogating to themselves the prerogatives of gods. They then act against the law, and will become responsible for their act. God acts through man, and a man who does not respond to His call, and refuses to obey the Divine command, spoken within his heart, is a useless instrument, and will be rejected.

43. The word "surgery" is here applied in a sense somewhat different from its modern acceptation.

44. So are light, heat, electricity, &c. Each of them is an individual, and nevertheless universally existing, energy.

45. Sankaracharya says: "The first necessary requisite for the attainment of real knowledge is the possession of the power to distinguish the enduring (spirit) from the non-enduring (matter)." That which hinders man to see the truth is the delusion of "self."

46. The true physician acts in harmony with natural laws; the quack tries to oppose Nature by means of his own inventions. The true physician will aid Nature to throw off the germs of disease; the quack will try to force Nature to retain the poison and to prevent its outward manifestation. (Compare William Tebb, "Leprosy and Vaccination." London, 1893.)

47. An Arcanum is incorporeal and indestructible of eternal life, superhuman and beyond Nature. In us is the Arcanum Dei and the Arcanum Naturae; the Arcanum is the virtue of a thing in its highest potency; the Arcanum Hominis is that power of man which is eternal in him" (Archidoxes, De Arcanis).

Librarian's Comment:

Image

This assertion is precisely wrong. Gluttony results not from some inherent perversity in human nature, indicative of some tendency to deviate from natural wisdom, but rather from society's ability and inclination to over-satisfy our natural desires for wholesome substances. People become obese from eating fast-food not because they are inclined to gluttony, but because fast-food providers, for commercial benefit, appeal to the human desire for fat, sugar, and salt. Fat, sugar and salt are rare in nature, and thus we have evolved to eat as much of them as we can, whenever they are available. What is really poisoning humanity is wealth itself, and our inability to adjust to abundance after having evolved through millennia of scarcity. This is why there are signs in zoos saying, "Don't feed the animals." By providing a gorilla with a human diet, you can give a gorilla a very human heart attack. Evolutionary forces, genetic in the first instance, social in the second instance, are driving the epidemic of gluttony and substance abuse that are the bane of civilization. Few, however, are those who would return to the enforced asceticism of neolithic scarcity in order to be rid of this affliction.

The diatribe against human nature, so common among moralists of every stripe, argues that unlike animals that have remained loyal to the law of "God and Nature," human beings pursue their own perverse deviations, which in the Judaeo-Christian myth, derives from the sin of Eve, who, out of desire for a new taste-treat, succumbed to the serpent's lure and ate of the Fruit of Knowledge, aka The Apple. Thus, while animals lack free-will, and can neither be saved or damned, humans are said to suffer from the curse of free-will, that can only be cured by subjugation to the Divine Will, for which moral instruction in the form of Religion, is required. Thus, sin all comes down to appetite, and even today we find that the sin of gluttony must be countered with the virtue of "Dieting."
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Re: THE LIFE OF PHILIPPUS THEOPHRASTUS BOMBAST OF HOHENHEIM

Postby admin » Tue Sep 22, 2015 6:10 am

Part 1 of 2

VIII. ALCHEMY AND ASTROLOGY

ALCHEMY and Astrology are sciences which are at the present time very little understood, because they deal with spiritual things, which cannot be known to persons who are not in the possession of spirituality. Chemistry deals with physical matter; alchemy deals with their astral principles. Astronomy deals with the physical aspect of the bodies of planets and stars; astrology deals with the omnipresent psychic influences which their souls exert upon each other, and upon the Microcosm of man.

Chemistry is a science that may be learned by any one who has ordinary intellectual capacities, and a certain amount of skill required for its practical application. Astronomy may be studied by anyone who is able to comprehend mathematics and possesses logic and physical sight. Alchemy is an art which cannot be understood without spiritual or soul knowledge. Astrology is incomprehensible to those who cannot realise the true character of the stars. The books treating of alchemy and astrology will easily be understood by persons who know the things of which they treat, but to those who are not in possession of such knowledge they will be incomprehensible.

Everything in Nature has a threefold aspect. The highest aspect of alchemy is the regeneration of man in the spirit of God out of the material elements of his physical body. The physical body itself is the greatest of mysteries, because in it are contained in a condensed, solidified, and corporeal state the very essences which go to make up the substance of the spiritual man, and this is the secret of the "Philosopher's Stone." The sign in which the true alchemist works is the Cross, because man roots with his material elements in the earth, penetrates with his soul through the animal forces of Nature, while his higher nature reaches above the animal creation into the realm of immortality.

The next aspect of alchemy is the knowledge of the nature of the invisible elements, constituting the astral bodies of things. Each thing is a trinity having a body and a spirit held together by the soul, [1] which is the cause and the law. Physical bodies are acted upon by physical matter; the elements of the soul are acted upon by the soul, and the conscious spirit of the enlightened guides and controls the action of matter and soul. By the power of the spirit material elements may be sublimated into invisible elements, or invisible substances be coagulated and become visible. Instances of this may be occasionally seen in "spiritualistic seances," although in such cases the alchemist who produces them is invisible.

The lowest aspect of alchemy is the preparation, purification, and combination of physical substances, and from this science has grown the science of modern chemistry, which in its present state is a great advancement over the lower aspect of old chemistry, but which has lost sight entirely of the higher aspects of Nature. A higher advancement of the science of chemistry will bring it again into contact with alchemy. Chemistry decomposes and recombines material substances in certain proportions; it purifies simple substances of all foreign elements, and leaves the primitive elements unchanged; but alchemy changes the character of things, and raises them up into higher states of existence. To exercise this power, not mere mechanical labour, but artistic skill is required. "A person who composes a chemical preparation by manual labour and according to certain rules is a chemist; the weaver who manufactures a cloth, and the tailor who makes a coat, may be called alchemists, because neither clothes nor coats are grown by Nature. The chemist imitates Nature, the artist surpasses her; the labourer lends his hands to Nature, so that she may accomplish something through him. The artist makes use of the material with which Nature provides him, and develops something that exists germinally in Nature. The painter who daubs a wall is a chemist; his work requires skill, but no genius. The artist who composes a picture is an alchemist, because he embodies an idea, and puts his own character into his work." To understand correctly the meaning of the words alchemy and astrology, it is necessary to understand the intimate relationship and the identity of the Microcosm and Macrocosm, and their mutual interaction. All the powers of the universe are potentially contained in man, and man's physical body and all his organs are nothing else but products and representatives of the powers of Nature. The Microcosm and Macrocosm may not only "be compared together," but they are really and actually essentially one in their power, and one in the constitution of their elements. [2] "If I have 'manna' in my constitution, I can attract 'manna' from heaven.' Melissa is not only in the garden, but also in the air and in heaven. 'Saturn' is not only in the sky, but also deep in the earth and in the ocean. What is 'Venus' but the 'Artemisia' that grows in your garden? What is 'iron' but 'Mars'? That is to say, Venus and Artemisia are both the products of the same essence, and Mars and iron are both the manifestations of the same cause. What is the human body but a constellation of the same powers that formed the stars in the sky? He who knows what iron is, knows the attributes of Mars. He who knows Mars, knows the qualities of iron. What would become of your heart if there were no sun in the universe? What would be the use of your 'vasa spermatica' if there were no Venus? To grasp the invisible elements; to attract them by their material correspondences; to control, purify, and transform them by the living power of the Spirit -- this is true alchemy" (Paragran. i.).

THE SEVEN PLANETS

The "Seven Planets" are the Seven Principles which constitute the universe, and which are at least "potentially" contained in everything. Paracelsus speaks of them in a very mystical language, as follows: --

"There are seven elementary powers or principles -- four lower ones belonging to mortal and changeable things (Sthula sharira, Linga sharira, Prana, and Kama), and a trinity of celestial power (Atma Buddhi Manas), which is also called the quinta essentia. The four elements (lower principles) can in no way interfere with the quinta essentia. The heavenly and the hellish power is not obedient to the four elementary powers, but each section stands for itself" (De Mercurio, vol. vi. p. 378).

This goes to show that to the spiritual kingdom belongs a state of consciousness different from the lower states of consciousness, and having nothing in common with them. Spirituality is, therefore, not to be considered as a state of high intellectual development, but it is an awakening to an entirely different and higher state of consciousness, which may take place in persons of high intellectual development, but far oftener in those who are unsophisticated and of a simple mind.

The "Seven Planets" are equally mysteriously described in his "Coelum Philosophorum": --

1. Image Mercury. Wisdom; i.e., the knowledge of the soul that realises the truth, and which has nothing to do with the action of the intellect, that consists in collecting and comparing ideas. "All things are hidden within all things. One of them is their concealer, and at the same time their body and vehicle, external, visible, and movable. All things are revealed within this vehicle, for it is a corporified spirit; but the spirit thereof has no name." Translated into modern language this means: "Mercury represents divine wisdom. The whole of Nature is a vehicle and visible manifestation of the wisdom of God; but God Himself cannot be described. He is the universal life, the root of all consciousness and knowledge, and the will of divine wisdom."

2.Image Jupiter. Universal primordial substance and power. "Within the body of Jupiter are contained all the other six metals in a spiritual state, each always still deeper hidden and more remote than the one that precedes." This means that, of all the seven principles, each contains the other six either actively or potentially. Thus, even within a stone or an oyster there is a hidden spark of divinity, such as may become conscious and manifest in the constitution of man.

3. Image Mars. Universal energy. The will. "Mars, owing to its combative energy, is enabled to gain glory and to assume the place of the king. Care will have to be taken that he does not become captured. We must see how we can raise him up and combine Image and Image with Image in the place of Mars." This indicates that we should seek to attain a powerful will, but avoid letting that will become subservient to matter (). This is done by combining our imagination (Image) with wisdom (Image).

4. Image Venus. Love, identical with Knowledge; because true love is the spiritual recognition of the true self. "The six other metals have formed a corruptible external body with the quality of Venus; but all combustible things can be changed by the power of fire." This is to say that human love is at present bound up with many impurities, but when the true fire of love awakens, these impurities will burn away and leave us in possession of unadulterated wisdom.

5. Image Saturn. The Life-principle. Saturn says: "My six brothers have relegated me and expelled me from the spiritual kingdom. They have forced me to live in a corruptible form. I have to submit to be that which they refuse to be. My body is attracted to the earth, so that everything I embrace becomes earthly; but it would not be well for the world to know all the virtue hidden in me and all that I may accomplish." This means that the human mind (Manas) is the connecting-link between spirit and matter. If the inquisitive scientist were to know the divine life within his own constitution, and could develop it before he has attained innocence and virtue, he would become an incarnate devil instead of a god.

6. Image Luna -- Moon. Imagination. "The principal thing to know in regard to Luna is its origin. It is the seventh metal, containing the six others in a spiritual state, and it is externally corporeal and material." This goes to show that Luna, in its external aspect, means matter with its phenomena, which are always illusive as long as we do not know their true origin. If we wish to gain absolute knowledge of all things in Nature, we must attain the knowledge of God.

7. Image Sol -- Sun. The Life, or Wisdom. "It is pure fire, and has within itself all the other six metals (principles)." Everything that exists is a manifestation and product of the one life in the universe, from which all things receive their vitality and powers; "for that which is visible is merely the vehicle, but the element therein is a spirit, and lives in all things as the soul lives in the body. This is the prima materia of the elements, invisible and incomprehensible, but nevertheless present in all; for prima materia is nothing else than the life itself in all creatures. That which is without life is no longer an element, but within the ultima materia, wherein is contained neither virtue nor energy" (Philosophia ad Athenienses, vol. viii).

The above extracts will be quite sufficient to show that the modern method of thinking scientifically, which deals only with external phenomena, and with comparing opinions referring to them, is quite insufficient for our initiation into the mysteries of alchemy, and that this study requires a mind capable to look upon the world not as being made up of many separate pieces, but as one great and indivisible organism, pervaded by co-existing spiritual powers, whose outward manifestation is the realm of phenomena. Alchemy studies not merely phenomena, but it is the science of the soul of all things.

What does material science know about things of the soul? Chemistry is a science which deals with the chemical combination, separation, and recombination of physical substances. Alchemy deals with the purification and combination of astral elements, and with the development of lower forms and lower states into higher ones. By chemistry we may purify physical substances from all foreign elements, and divest them of physical impurities, but their own element will not be changed. By alchemy we raise a principle into a higher and purer state of development. The processes in Nature by which combinations and decompositions of matter take place, such as putrefaction, caused by the contact of a substance with air, and the chemical combinations of two or more substances coming into contact with each other, are chemical processes. The growth of a tree out of a seed, the evolution of worlds, the development of precious metals out of an apparently worthless matrix, the growth of a foetus, the development of an animal or a human being, &c., are alchemical processes, because life itself enters into these processes, as a factor, and they would not take place without the action of life. [3]

Planets are states of mind, and as the mind has a higher and a lower aspect, consequently each planet has its two aspects correspondingly.

Mercury in its higher aspect is the symbol of wisdom, in its lower aspect that of the intellect.

Jupiter in its higher aspect represents majesty, in its lower aspect energy.

Mars represents spiritual power, but also in its lower aspect strength of passion, &c.

Venus in its higher aspect is divine love, identical with self-knowledge; in its lower aspect, desire.

Saturn is the life in the universe, and in another aspect it represents matter.

The Sun is the fountain of all life. The spiritual sun is the symbol of spiritual life and immortality, the physical sun the source of vitality.

The Moon in its higher aspect represents spiritual substance, the glorified soul; in its lower aspect it is the symbol of imagination and fancy.

"Separation is the cause of existence, the birth of things from the Mysterium magnum. It is the greatest wonder known to practical philosophy; it is a divine art. He who can attract things out of the Mysterium magnum (A'kasa) is a true alchemist." This power is possessed only by those who are spiritually developed. [4] Nature continually exercises that art through the organising power of the invisible astral body. "As the fowl produces a chicken with wings and legs out of the small microcosm contained in the shell of an egg, so the arcana of Nature are ripened by the processes of alchemy. Natural alchemy causes the pear to ripen, and produces grapes on a vine. Natural alchemy separates the useful elements from the food that is put into the stomach, transforms it into chyle and blood, into muscles and bones, and rejects that which is useless. A physician who knows nothing of alchemy can only be a servant of Nature, however well he may be versed in the science of external things; but the alchemist is her lord. If the physician cannot infuse vitality into decaying parts, he cannot effect a cure, but must wait until Nature accomplishes the task; but he who can guide the power of life can guide and command Nature."

Alchemy is described by Paracelsus as an art in which Vulcan (the fire of Nature) is the active artist. By this art the pure is separated from the impure, and things are made to grow out of primordial matter (A'kasa). Alchemy renders perfect what Nature has left imperfect, and purifies all things by the power of the spirit that is contained in them.

SALT, SULPHUR, AND MERCURY

"All things (man included) are composed out of three substances, and all things have their number, their weight, and their measure. Health exists when the three substances constituting a thing preserve their normal proportion of quantity and quality; disease results if this proportion becomes abnormal. These three substances are called Sulphur, Mercury, and Salt. [5] These three substances are not seen with the physical eye, but a true physician should see them nevertheless, and be able to separate them from each other. That which is perceptible to the senses may be seen by everybody who is not a physician; but a physician should be able to see things that not everybody can see. There are natural physicians, and there are artificially made physicians. The former see things which the latter cannot see, and the others dispute the existence of such things because they cannot perceive them. They see the exterior of things, but the true physicians see the interior. The inner man is the substantial reality, while the outer one is only an apparition, and therefore the true physician sees the real man, and the quack sees only an illusion."

"The three substances are held together in forms by the power of life. [6] If you take the three invisible substances and add to them the power of life, you will have three invisible substances in a visible form. The three constitute the form, and become separated only after the power of life deserts them. They are hidden by life, and joined together by life. Their combined qualities constitute the qualities of the form, and only when life departs their separate qualities become manifest. If the three are united in due proportions, health exists in the form; but if they become separated, the one will putrefy and the other will burn. Man does not see the action of these three substances as long as they are held together by life, but he may perceive their qualities at the time of the destruction of their form. The invisible fire is in the sulphur, the soluble element in the salt, and the volatile element in the mercury. The fire burns, the mercury produces smoke, and the salt remains in the ashes; but as long as the form is alive there is neither fire, nor ashes, nor smoke." [2]

"There are hundreds of different kinds of salt, sulphur, and mercury in the universe and in the human system, and the greatest arcana (potencies) are contained in them. All things are hidden in them in the same sense as a pear is hidden in a pear-tree and grapes in a vine. The superficial observer sees only that which exists for his senses, but the interior sight discovers the things of the future. A gardener knows that a vine will produce no pears, and a pear-tree no grapes. The ignorant speak of heat and cold, of dryness and moisture, of sweetness and acidity, of bitterness and astringency, without knowing the cause that produces such qualities; but the wise recognise in them the qualities of the stars" (Paragranum).

"Let no one be so foolish as to imagine that Alchemy can easily be understood and be made common property. If you want to make the sphere of Saturn run in harmony with earthly life, you may put all the planets therein. Of Luna, however, you must not take too much; only a little. Let it all run until the heaven of Saturn entirely disappears; then will the planets remain. They will have died in their corruptible bodies and taken an incorruptible perfect body. This is the life and spirit of heaven which causes the planets to live again and become corporified as before" (Coelum Philosophorum).

The remedy by which, according to Paracelsus, rejuvenation (regeneration) could be accomplished is something entirely different from what it has been supposed to be by his critics. It is not a compound of chemical substances, but an Arcanum, "an invisible fire, which destroys all diseases" (Tinct. Phys., vii.). "The Materia Tinctura is the greatest treasure in the world." [8]

Paracelsus was an enemy of endless prescriptions, and of all the daubing and greasing, quackery and nastiness, connected with the apothecaryship of his time. He says: "What shall I say to you about all your alchemical prescriptions; about all your retorts and bottles, crucibles, mortars, and glasses; of all your complicated processes of distilling, melting, cohibiting, coagulating, sublimating, precipitating, and filtering; of all the tomfoolery for which you throw away your time and your money? All such things are useless, and the labour for it is lost. They are rather an impediment than a help to arrive at the truth." But he was a practical alchemist. In the preface to his work entitled "Tinctura Physica" he says: "I have a treasure buried at the hospital at Weiden (Friaul), which is a jewel of such a value that neither Pope Leo nor the Emperor Carolus could buy it with all their wealth, and those who are acquainted with the spagyric art (alchemy) will confirm what I say." [9]

"True Alchemy which teaches how to make Image or Image out of the five imperfect metals, requires no other materials, but only the metals. The perfect metals are made out of the imperfect metals, through them and with them alone; for with other things is Luna, (phantasy), but in the metals is Sol (wisdom) ."

CHARMS

The power of certain substances to absorb and to retain certain planetary influences is used for the purpose of investing them with occult qualities. Pure metals may be used by the alchemist for that purpose, and in this way amulets, "magic mirrors," and other things that will produce magic effects are prepared. Paracelsus says: --

"The compositions of the astra of metals produce wonderful effects. If we make a composition of seven metals in the proper order and at the proper time, we will obtain a metal which contains all the virtues of the seven. Such a composition is called 'electrum.' It possesses the virtues of the seven metals that enter into its composition, and the electrum is one of the most valuable preparations known to secret science. The ordinary metals cannot be compared with it on account of its magic power. A vessel made of the electrum will immediately indicate it, if any poisonous substance has been surreptitiously put into it, because it will begin to sweat on its outside."

"Many wonderful things can be made of this electrum, such as amulets, charms, magic finger-rings, arm-rings, seals, figures, mirrors, bells, medals, and many other things possessing great magic powers, of which very little is publicly known, because our art has been neglected, and the majority of men do not even know that it exists."

"It would not be proper to explain all the virtues and powers of the electrum, because the sophist would begin to blaspheme, and the ignorant would become angry; the idiot would ridicule and the wicked misuse it; and we are therefore forced to be silent in regard to some of its principal virtues. But there are a few wonderful qualities which it possesses, and of which we will speak. We have observed them personally, and we know that we are speaking the truth. We have seen finger-rings made of the electrum that cured their wearers of spasms and paralytic affections, of epilepsy and apoplexy; and the application of such a ring, even during the most violent paroxysm of an epileptic attack, was always followed by immediate relief. We have seen such a ring begin to sweat at the beginning of a hidden disease."

"The electrum is antipathetic to all evil influences, because there is hidden in it a heavenly power and the influence of all the seven planets. Therefore the Egyptians and Chaldeans and the Magi of Persia used it against evil spirits, and made great discoveries by its use. If I were to tell all I know about the virtues of the electrum, the sophists would denounce me for being the greatest sorcerer in the world."

"I will, however, say that I have known a person in Spain who possessed a bell made out of the electrum, and weighing about two pounds, and by ringing that bell he could cause various kinds of spectres and apparitions to appear, and they would obey his commands. Before using the bell he always wrote some words or characters on its inside. He then rang the bell, and immediately the spirits appeared in such a shape as he ordered them to take. He was even able to attract by the sound of that bell the spectres of men or animals, or to drive them away when they were not wanted; and whenever he wanted another spirit to appear he wrote some other characters on the inside of that bell. He refused to tell me the secret of these words and characters, but I meditated about it, and found it out myself."

"You need not be surprised to hear that such things are possible, because everything is possible, if it is consistent with natural laws. One man may call another man by his name, and order him to do certain things, and if the latter respects the former, or is awed by his superiority, he will obey his order without being forced to do so with a weapon or stick. On invisible beings the will of man has still more effect, and an inferior being can be made to obey the will of a superior one by the force of the mere thought of a word, because the lower is subject to the higher, and the inferior to the superior, and what else is the will but a power hidden in the thought (mind) of man, and becoming active through his imagination. [10] But the thought of man is as potent to impress a spirit as the spoken word is to impress the mind of a man, for spirits have no physical ears to hear physical sounds, and the voice is only needed for those who cannot hear in the spirit." [11]

"If the astral element in man can be sent into another man by the power of his Olympic spirit, such an astral element may also be embedded in metals and leave its influence in them, and thereby the metal can be raised into a higher state than the one into which it was put by Nature." [12]
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Re: THE LIFE OF PHILIPPUS THEOPHRASTUS BOMBAST OF HOHENHEIM

Postby admin » Tue Sep 22, 2015 6:10 am

THE ELECTRUM MAGICUM

The electrum magicum is prepared as follows: --

"Take ten parts of pure gold, ten of silver, five of copper, two of tin, two of lead, one part of powdered iron, and five of mercury. All these metals must be pure. Now wait for the hour when the planets Saturn and Mercury come into conjunction, and have all your preparations ready for that occasion; have the fire, the crucible, the mercury, and the lead ready, so that there will be no delay when the time of the conjunction arrives, for the work must be done during the moments of the conjunction. As soon as this takes place melt the lead and add the mercury, and let it cool. After this has been done, wait for a conjunction of Jupiter with Saturn and Mercury, melt the compound of lead and mercury in a crucible, and in another crucible the tin, and pour the two metals together at the moment of such conjunction. You must now wait until a conjunction of the sun with either one or both of the above- named planets takes place, and then add the gold to the compound after melting it previously. At a time of a conjunction of the moon with the sun, Saturn, or Mercury, the silver is added likewise, and at a time of a conjunction of Venus with one of the above-named planets the copper is added. Finally, at a time of such a conjunction with Mars, the whole is completed by the addition of the powdered iron. Stir the fluid mass with a dry rod of witch-hazel, and let it cool." [13]

"Of this electrum magicum you may make a mirror in which you will see the events of the past and the present, absent friends or enemies, and what they are doing. You will see in it any object you may desire to see, and all the doings of men in daytime or at night. You will see in it anything that has ever been written down, said, or spoken in the past, and also see the person who said it, and the causes that made him say what he did, and anything, however secret it may have been kept." [14]

"Such mirrors are made of the electrum magicum; they are made of the diameter of about two inches. They are to be founded at a time when a conjunction of Jupiter and Venus takes place, and moulds made of fine sand are used for that purpose. Grind the mirrors smooth with a grindstone, and polish them with tripoli, and with a piece of wood from a linden-tree. All the operations made with the mirror, the grinding, polishing, &c., should take place under favourable planetary aspects, and by selecting the proper hours three different mirrors may be prepared. At a time of a conjunction of two good planets, when at the same time the sun or the moon stands on the 'house of the lord of the hour of your birth,' the three mirrors are to be laid together into pure well-water, and left to remain there for an hour. They must then be removed from the water, enveloped in a linen cloth, and be preserved for use." [15]

PALINGENESIS

Nothing in Nature is dead, and alchemy does not deal with inanimate things. The old alchemists were believers in the possibility of spontaneous generation, and by the action of psychical powers they created forms in which life became manifest. They could generate living beings in closed bottles, or by the Palingenesis [16] of plants or animals, cause the astral form of a plant or an animal to become visible again, and to resurrect from its ashes. One of the greatest secrets, however, is the generation of beings like men or women, that were generated without the assistance of a female organism, and which were called Homunculi. Paracelsus speaks about them as follows: --

HOMONCULI

"Human beings may come into existence without natural parents. That is to say, such beings grow without being developed and born by a female organism; by the art of an experienced spagyricus (alchemist)." -- De Natura Serum, vol. i

"The generatio homonculi has until now been kept very secret, and so little was publicly known about it that the old philosophers have doubted its possibility. But I know that such things may be accomplished by spagyric art assisted by natural processes. If the sperma, enclosed in a hermetically sealed glass, is buried in horse manure for about forty days, and properly 'magnetised' it begins to live and to move. After such a time it bears the form and resemblance of a human being, but it will be transparent and without a corpus. If it is now artificially fed with the arcanum sanguinis hominis [17] until it is about forty weeks old, and if allowed to remain during that time in the horse-manure in a continually equal temperature, it will grow into a human child, with all its members developed like any other child, such as could have been born by a woman; only it will be much smaller. We call such a being a homunculus, and it may be raised and educated like any other child, until it grows older and obtains reason and intellect, and is able to take care of itself. This is one of the greatest secrets, and it ought to remain a secret until the days approach when all secrets will be known." [18]

It seems to be useless to quote any more alchemistical prescriptions of Paracelsus, or of any other alchemist. To the uninitiated they are unintelligible; while the initiated, having the light of the spirit for his teacher, will not require them. But those who condemn the ancient occultists for their supposed ignorance and superstition would do well to remember that it requires a vastly greater amount of credulity to believe that great reformers in science and men possessed of wisdom, such as Paracelsus, Johannes Tritheim, Van Helmont, and others, should have consented to write whole volumes of such intolerable rubbish as such writings would certainly be if they were to be taken in a literal meaning, than to believe -- as is actually the case -- that great spiritual truths were thus hidden behind allegories that were intended to be understood only by those who possessed the key in their own hearts.

Although Paracelsus asserts that it is possible to make gold and silver by chemical means, and that some persons have succeeded in making it, [19] still he condemns such external experiments as useless in the end, and it seems to be more than probable that, even in such chemical experiments as may have succeeded, something more than merely chemical manipulations was required to make them successful. [20]

"The heavenly fire which comes to us from the sun, or acts within the earth, is not such a fire as is in heaven, neither like our fire upon the earth; but the celestial fire is with us a cold, stiff, frozen fire, and this is the body of gold. Therefore nothing can be gained from gold by means of our fire, except to render it fluid in the same sense as the sun renders fluid the snow and turns it into water" (Coelum Philos.). [21]

Astrology is intimately connected with medicine, magic, and alchemy. If we desire to make use of the influences of the planets for any purpose whatever, it is necessary to know what qualities these influences possess -- how they act, and at what time certain planetary influences will be on the increase or on the wane. The quality of the planetary influences will be known to a man who knows his own constitution, because he will then be able to recognise in himself the planetary influences corresponding to those that rule in the sky; the action of such influences will be known if we know the qualities of the bodies upon which they act, because each body attracts those influences that are in harmony with it, and repels the others; the time when certain planetary influences rule may be found out by astronomical calculations, or by tables that have been prepared from such for that purpose; but the spiritually developed seer will require no books and no tables, but will recognise the conditions of the interior world by the states existing in his own mind.

Paracelsus was not -- what is called to-day -- a professional astrologer. He did not calculate nativities or make horoscopes, but he knew the higher aspect of astrology, by which the mutual relations of the Macrocosm and the Microcosm are known. He rejected the errors of popular astrology as he did those of other popular religions or scientific superstitions; and his system of astrology, if rightly understood, appears of a sublime character and full of the grandest conceptions. He says: "No one needs to care for the course of Saturn; it neither shortens nor lengthens the life of anybody. If Mars is ferocious, it does not follow that Nero was his child; and although Mars and Nero may both have had the same qualities, they did not take them from each other. It is an old saying that 'a wise man may rule the stars,' and I believe in that saying -- not in the sense in which yon take it, but in my own. The stars force nothing into us that we are not willing to take; they incline us to nothing which we do not desire. [22] They are free for themselves, and we are free for ourselves. You believe that one man is more successful in the acquirement of knowledge, another one in the acquisition of power; one obtains riches more easily, and another one fame. And you think that this is caused by the stars; but I believe the cause to be that one man is more apt than another to acquire and to hold certain things, and that this aptitude comes from the spirit. [23] It is absurd to believe that the stars can make a man. Whatever the stars can do we can do ourselves, because the wisdom which we obtain from God overpowers the heaven and rules over the stars."

He objected strongly to the use of ceremonies that were made for the purpose of attracting spirits by means of planetary influences. He says: "Whatever comes from the astral 'spirits' is sorcery. Such spirits are false, and we do not believe in them; but we believe in the power of that wisdom which rules heaven, and by which all the mysteries of Nature may be known. Sorcery has been called magic; but magic is wisdom, and there is no wisdom in sorcery. True science knows everything. The eternity of all things is without time, without beginning, and without an end. It is substantially present everywhere, and acts whore it is not expected. That which seems to be incredible, improbable, and impossible will become wonderfully true in eternity."

"Man's mind is made up of the same elements as the stars; but as the wisdom of the Supreme guides the motions of the stars, so the reason of man rules the influences which rotate and circulate in his mind. The essence of man's sidereal body, which he attracts from the stars, is of a substantial nature; still, we consider it as being something spiritual on account of the ethereality of its substance, and on account of the great dimensions of its invisible body. The essences in man's sidereal body are intimately related to the sidereal essences of the stars, and the former attract the powers of the latter; but if a man is the master over his own mind, he can permit those attractions to take place in an irregular manner, or control his passions and repel influences which he does not desire.

"There is an attractive power in the soul of man, which attracts physical, mental, and moral diseases from the Chaos. The planetary influences extend through all Nature, and man attracts poisonous qualities from the moon, from the stars, and from other things; but the moon, and the stars, and other things also attract evil influences from man, and distribute them again by their rays, because Nature is an undivided whole, whose parts are intimately connected."

"The sun and the stars attract something from us, and we attract something from them, because our astral bodies are in sympathy with the stars, and the stars are in sympathy with our astral bodies; but the same is the case with the astral bodies of all other objects. They all attract astral influences from the stars. Each body attracts certain particular influences from them; some attract more and others less; and on this truth is based the power of amulets and talismans, and the influence which they may exercise over the astral form of the bearer. Talismans are like boxes, in which sidereal influences may be preserved."

"Three spirits, united in one, live and act in man; three worlds, united into one, throw their rays upon him; but all three are only the reflection, image, or echo of one primordial creation. The first is the essence of the elements; the second, the soul of the stars (the mind); they are caused by the life of the elements, but there is only one life, and the life that causes the instincts of man is contained in all elements in the stars as well as in vegetable and animal forms. The activity of the life-essence is modified in vegetable, animal, and human forms; it becomes the life of the earth, and the life of the earth is radiated back to the stars. Stars attract and repel each other; they have their sympathies and antipathies; and these living antipathies and sympathies, attractions and repulsions, could not exist if no vehicle of life existed between them."

"Primordial matter, forming the basis of the constitution of the human body, has absorbed influences from the stars, and they nourish the elementary (physical) body, and by means of these influences man's soul is connected with and united to the souls of the stars. Having three worlds in him and living in three worlds, man should learn to know the lower elements, understand the sidereal, and know the eternal."

"The body comes from the elements, the soul from the stars, and the spirit from God. All that the intellect can conceive of comes from the stars." [24]

"All knowledge comes from the stars (the Universal Mind). Men do not invent or create ideas; the ideas exist, and men are able to grasp them. If all professors of music in the world would die in one day, heaven, being the original teacher of music, would not die, and it would teach other persons this art."

"Many ideas exist which men have not yet grasped; many stars are still too far away to form a connection with the earth. The realm of stars and ideas is infinite, and therefore the source of inventions and discoveries is not yet exhausted."

"New stars appear and others disappear on the sky. New ideas appear on the mental horizon, and old ideas are lost. If a new comet appears on the sky, it fills the hearts of the ignorant with terror; if a new and grand idea appears on the mental horizon, it creates fear in the camp of those that cling to old systems and accepted forms."

"Physical man takes his nutriment from the earth; the sidereal man receives the states of his feelings and thoughts from the stars; but the spirit has his wisdom from God. The heat of a fire passes through an iron stove, and the astral influences, with all their qualities, pass through man. They penetrate him as rain penetrates the soil, and as the soil is made fruitful by the rain. Likewise man's soul is made fruitful by them; but the principle of the supreme wisdom of the universe penetrates into the centre, illuminates it, and rules over all."

"Hail may destroy the fruits of the earth, evil planetary influences be attracted by the soul of the earth and cause epidemic diseases, and the spiritual centre in man be devoid of wisdom, and darkness rule in its place. The earth, the animal kingdom, and physical man are subject to the government of the stars; but the spiritual man rules over the stars and over the elements, and conquers the worlds without and the world within by the wisdom that comes from God. Stones, plants, and animals obey the government of the mind, and man should obey the will and wisdom of God. The individual terrestrial life should correspond to the laws governing the universe; man's spiritual aspirations should be directed to harmonise with the will and wisdom of God. If this is attained, the inner consciousness will awaken to an understanding of the influences of the stars, and the mysteries of Nature will be revealed to his spiritual perception."

_______________

Notes:

1. "Hermes said that the soul alone is the medium by means of which spirit and body are united" (Generat. Rerum., i.).

2. "Man, being the son of the Microcosm, has in him also all the mineral elements" (De Peste).

3. Johannes Tritheim, Abbot of Spanheim, one of the greatest alchemists, theologians, and astrologers, a learned and highly esteemed man, makes some remarks in his book (printed at Passau, 1506) that may help to throw some light on the perplexing subject of alchemy. He says: "The art of divine magic consists in the ability to perceive the essence of things in the light of Nature, and by using the soul- powers of the spirit to produce material things from the unseen universe (A'kasa), and in such operations the Above (the Macrocosm) and the Below (the Microcosm) must be brought together and made to act harmoniously. The spirit of Nature is a unity, creating and forming everything, and by acting through the instrumentality of man it may produce wonderful things. Such processes take place according to law. You will learn the law by which these things are accomplished, if you learn to know yourself. You will know it by the power of the spirit that is in yourself, and accomplish it by mixing your spirit with the essence that comes out of yourself. If you wish to succeed in such a work you must know how to separate spirit and life in Nature, and, moreover, to separate the astral soul in yourself and to make it tangible, and then the substance of the soul will appear visibly and tangibly, rendered objective by the power of the spirit. Christ speaks of the salt, and the salt is of a threefold nature. Gold is of a threefold nature, and there is an ethereal, a fluid, and a material gold. It is the same gold, only in three different states; and gold in one state may be made into gold in another state. But such mysteries should not be divulged, because the fool and scoffer will laugh at it, and to him who is covetous they will be a temptation."

[Notice. I wish to warn the reader, who might be inclined to try any of the alchemical prescriptions contained in this book, not to do so unless he is an alchemist, because, although I know from personal observation that these prescriptions are not only allegorically but literally true, and will prove successful in the hands of an alchemist, they would only cause a waste of time and money in the hands of one who has not the necessary qualifications. A person who wants to be an alchemist must have in himself the "magnesia," which means the magnetic power to attract and "coagulate" invisible astral elements. This power is only possessed "by those who are "Initiates." Those who do not know what this expression means are not "reborn" (or initiated), and it cannot be explained to them. But he who is initiated will know it, and needs no instruction from books, because he will know his instructor.]

4. Spiritual development is not dependent on intellectual acquirements and there are sometimes persons that are ignorant in worldly things, but who nevertheless possess great spiritual powers.

5. This does not, of course, refer to the chemical substances known to us by these names. "No one can express or sufficiently describe the virtues contained in the three substances; therefore every alchemist and true physician ought to seek in them all his life unto his death; then would his labour surely find its just reward " (De Morte Rerum).

6. "The sophist says that nothing living can come out of dead substances, but no substance is dead, and they know nothing about the alchemical labour. The death of a man is surely nothing but the separation of the three substances of which his body is composed, and the death of a metal is the taking away of its corporeal form" (De Morte Rerum).

7. "The three Substances are three forms or aspects of the one universal will-substance out of which everything was created; for the unmanifested Absolute in manifesting itself reveals itself as a trinity of cause, action, and effect; father, son, and the holy ghost; body, soul, and spirit.

"It is therefore, above all, necessary that we should realise the nature of the three Substances as they exist in the Macrocosm and recognise their qualities, and we shall then also know their nature and attributes in the Microcosm of man. That which burns and appears fiery to the eye is the Sulphur, it is of a volatile (spiritual) nature; that which is of a material nature is the Salt; and the Mercury is that which may be sublimated by the action of the fire. It is invisible in its condition of Prima materia, but in its ultimate state it may be seen; and as the whole constitution of man consists of these three Substances, consequently there are three modes in which diseases may originate, namely, in the Sulphur, in the Mercury, or in the Salt. As long as these three Substances are full of life they are in health, but when they become separated disease will be the result. Where such a separation begins there is the origin of disease and the beginning of death. There are many kinds of Sulphur, of Mercury, and of Salt; that which belongs to Sulphur should be made into Sulphur, so that it may burn; what belongs to Mercury should be made to sublimate and ascend; what belongs to Salt should be resolved into Salt."

"To explain the qualities of the three Substances it would be necessary to explain the qualities of the Prima materia; but as the Prima materia mundi was the Fiat (Logos), who would dare to attempt to explain it?"

8. The "tinctura physicorum" is a great alchemical mystery. Hermes Trismegistus of Egypt, Onus of Greece, Hali, an Arab, and Albertus Magnus of Germany were acquainted with it. It is also called the Red Lion, and is mentioned in many alchemical works, but was actually known to few. Its preparation is extremely difficult, as there is the presence of two perfectly harmonious people, equally skilful, necessary for that purpose. It is said to be a red ethereal fluid, capable of transmuting all inferior metals into gold, and having other wonderful virtues. There is an old church in the vicinity of Kenysten, a town in the south of Bavaria, where this tincture is said to be still buried in the ground. In the year 1698 some of it penetrated through the soil, and the phenomenon was witnessed by many people, who believed it to be a miracle. A church was therefore erected at that place, and it is still a well-known place of pilgrimage. In regard to the material (if it may be so called) used for the preparation of this great medicine, Paracelsus says: “Be careful not to take anything from the lion but the rose-coloured blood, and from the white eagle only the white gluten. Coagulate (corporify) it according to the directions given by the ancients, and you will have the tinctura physicorum. But if this is incomprehensible to you, remember that only he who desires with his whole heart will find, and to him only who knocks strong enough the door shall be opened."

9. If we remember that the wise ones will lay up their treasures in heaven, the above passage becomes easily comprehensible.

10. The power that man may silently exercise over animals is well known.

11. It does not require the sound of our voice to bring the image of some object before our imagination, and if we see the image of a thing in our mind, and realise its presence, it actually exists for us, and thus a spirit may be brought into a form by the power of imagination.

12. This remark throws some light on alchemical processes, and goes to show that it is not the "magnetism" of the planets alone, but also the soul-essence of the operator, that is to be bound, and the two connected together in the metal by the process described below.

13. All the above-mentioned conjunctions take place in our solar system in the course of thirteen successive months, but the directions refer to conjunctions of principles contained in the Microcosm of man.

14. That is to say, you may come en rapport with the astral light, which is the sensorium of the world, and in which the "memory" or impression of everything is preserved.

15. It would be useless to give detailed descriptions of processes that cannot be followed out by any one who does not possess the necessary magic (magnetic) power, and those who possess the power will hardly require such descriptions, in which allegories are strangely mixed with truths.

16. See Appendix.

17. Without this arcanum the experiment would not succeed, nor the form become visible.

18. Paracelsus has been reproached for his belief in the possibility of generating homunculi; but a deeper insight into the processes of Nature will show that such a thing is not necessarily impossible. Modern authorities believe it to be not impossible. Moleschott thinks that we may perhaps yet succeed in establishing conditions by which organic forms can be generated; Liebig is of the opinion that chemistry will yet succeed in making organic substances by artificial means. Goethe says in his "Faust ": --

"And such a brain, that has the power to think,
Will in the future be produced by a thinker."

Where no germ is present such a generation would certainly be impossible; but chickens can be artificially hatched out, and perhaps homunculi may be developed. There seem to be some historic evidences that such things have been accomplished, as the following account will show: --

In a book called "The Sphinx," edited by Dr. Emil Besetzny, and published at Vienna in 1873 by L. Rosner (Tuchlauben, No. 22), we find some interesting accounts in regard to a number of "spirits" generated by a Joh. Ferd, Count of Kueffstein, in Tyrol, in the year 1775. The sources from which these accounts are taken consist in masonic manuscripts and prints, but more especially in a diary kept by a certain Jas Kammerer, who acted in the capacity of butler and famulus to the said Count. There were ten homunculi or, as he calls them, "prophesying spirits" preserved in strong bottles, such as are used to preserve fruit, and which were filled with water; and these "spirits" were the product of the labour of the Count J. F. of Kueffstein (Kufstein), and of an Italian Mystic and Rosicrucian, Abbe Geloni. They were made in the course of five weeks, and consisted of a king, a queen, a knight, a monk, a nun, an architect, a miner, a seraph, and finally of a blue and a red spirit. "The bottles were closed with ox-bladders, and with a great magic seal (Solomon's seal?). The spirits swam about in those bottles, and were about one span long, and the Count was very anxious that they should grow. They were therefore buried under two cart-loads of horse-manure, and the pile daily sprinkled with a certain liquor, prepared with great trouble by the two adepts, and made out of some ‘very disgusting materials.' The pile of manure began after such sprinklings to ferment and to steam as if heated by a subterranean fire, and at least once every three days, when everything was quiet, at the approach of the night, the two gentlemen would leave the convent and go to pray and to fumigate at that pile of manure. After the bottles were removed the 'spirits' had grown to be each one about one and a half span long, so that the bottles were almost too small to contain them, and the male homunculi had come into possession of heavy beards, and the nails of their fingers and toes had grown a great deal. By some means the Abbe Schiloni provided them with appropriate clothing, each one according to his rank and dignity. In the bottle of the red and in that of the blue spirit, however, there was nothing to be seen but 'clear water'; but whenever the Abbe knocked three times at the seal upon the mouth of the bottles, speaking at the same time some Hebrew words, the water in the bottles began to turn blue (respectively red), and the blue and the red spirits would show their faces, first very small, but growing in proportions until they attained the size of an ordinary human face. The face of the blue spirit was beautiful, like an angel, but that of the red one bore a horrible expression.

"These beings were fed by the Count about once every three or four days with some rose-coloured substance which he kept in a silver box, and of which he gave to each spirit a pill of about the size of a pea. Once every week the water had to be removed, and the bottles filled again with pure rain-water. This change had to be accomplished very rapidly, because during the few moments that the spirits were exposed to the air they closed their eyes, and seemed to become weak and unconscious, as if they were about to die. But the blue spirit was never fed, nor was the water changed; while the red one received once a week a thimbleful of fresh blood of some animal (chicken), and this blood disappeared in the water as soon as it was poured into it, without colouring or troubling it. The water containing the red spirit had to be changed once every two or three days. As soon as the bottle was opened it became dark and cloudy, and emitted an odour of rotten eggs.

"In the course of time these spirits grew to be about two spans long, and their bottles were now almost too small for them to stand erect; the Count therefore provided them with appropriate seats. These bottles were carried to the place where the Masonic Lodge of which the Count was the presiding Master met, and after each meeting they were carried back again. During the meetings the spirits gave prophecies about future events that usually proved to be correct. They knew the most secret things, but each of them was only acquainted with such things as belonged to his station: for instance, the king could talk politics, the monk about religion, the miner about minerals, &c.; but the blue and the red spirits seemed to know everything. (Some facts proving their clairvoyant powers are given in the original.)

"By some accident the glass containing the monk fell one day upon the floor, and was broken. The poor monk died after a few painful respirations, in spite of all the efforts of the Count to save his life, and his body was buried in the garden. An attempt to generate another one, made by the Count without the assistance of the Abbe, who had left, resulted in failure, as it produced only a small thing like a leech, which had very little vitality, and soon died.

"One day the king escaped from his bottle, which had not been properly sealed, and was found by Kammerer sitting on the top of the bottle containing the queen, attempting to scratch with his nails the seal away, and to liberate her. In answer to the servant's call for help, the Count rushed in, and after a prolonged chase caught the king, who, from his long exposure to the air and the want of his appropriate element, had become faint, and was replaced into his bottle not, however, without succeeding to scratch the nose of the Count."

It seems that the Count of Kufstein in later years became anxious for the salvation of his soul, and considered it incompatible with the requirements of his conscience to keep those spirits longer in his possession, and that he got rid of them in some manner not mentioned by the scribe. We will not make an attempt at comment, but would advise those who are curious about this matter to read the book from which the above account is an extract. There can be hardly any doubt as to its veracity, because some historically well-known persons, such as Count Max Lamberg, Count Franz Josef v. Thun, and others, saw them, and they possessed undoubtedly visible and tangible bodies; and it seems that they were either elemental spirits, or, what appears to be more probable, homunculi.

19. The following is a prescription how to make artificial gold, taken from an old alchemistical MS., and a marginal note says that an experiment tried with it proved successful: -- Take equal parts of powdered iron, sublimated sulphur, and crude antimony. Melt it in a crucible, and keep it in red heat for eight hours. Powder it, and calcinate it until the sulphur is evaporated. Mix two parts of this powder with one part of calcinated borax, and melt it again. Powder and dissolve it in common muriatic acid, and let it stand in a moderate heat for one month. The fluid is then to be put into a retort and distilled, and the fluid that collects in the recipient (the muriatic acid) is returned into the retort and again distilled, and this is repeated three times; the third time a red powder will be left in the retort (probably a mixture of muriate of iron with antimonium oxide). This powder is to be dissolved in the menstruum philosophicum, (made by pouring chloride of antimony into water, filtering, and evaporating the fluid to a certain extent, to make it stronger). The solution is to be evaporated again, and the remaining powder mixed with its own weight of corrosive sublimate of mercury. This powder is to be dissolved again in the menstruum philosophicum (diluted muriatic acid), and distilled until a red oily substance passes into the receiver. If you obtain this oil, you may take some newly prepared chloride of silver, saturate it gradually with the oil, and dry it. Put one part of this powder into five parts of molten lead, separate the lead again from the silver (by cupellation), and you will find that one-third of the silver has been transformed into gold.

20. There is a considerable amount of historical evidence of a trustworthy character that goes to prove that pure gold has been artificially made, but it is, to say the least, doubtful if this was done in a way that could be successfully imitated by one who is not an alchemist. According to a trustworthy report, coming from a source whose veracity is not doubtful, a certain alchemist was kept imprisoned by the Prince-Elect of Saxony at a fortress at Dresden in the year 1748, because the Prince wanted to obtain through him artificial gold. This adept produced four hundred pounds of gold by alchemical means, and finally escaped from the prison in some unexplained manner. Flamel is said to have made artificial gold on April 25, 1382.

21. Tiffereau has repeatedly succeeded in transmuting inferior metals into gold, by exposing for a long time solutions of chemically pure silver or copper to the sunshine in tropical countries, and he presented a considerable quantity of such gold to the Academy of Science in Paris. The gold thus obtained differed in some respects from the natural gold (Tiffereau, "L'Or," Paris). One of the best modern treatises on Alchemy in its physical aspects is August Strindberg's "Sylva Sylvarum” (Paris, 1896), which goes to show that all chemical substances are only modes of vibration of one primordial substance, and can be changed one into another by changing the state of etheric vibration.

22. It is not divine man, but the elements in the body of man, which attract corresponding influences from the powers of macrocosmic Nature.

23. If they come from the spirit, the spirit must have pre-existed, and have acquired them in a previous incarnation.

24. By "stars" (astra) Paracelsus does not refer to the physical bodies of the planets, but to mental states existing in the Cosmos, and which are represented by the stars.
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Re: THE LIFE OF PHILIPPUS THEOPHRASTUS BOMBAST OF HOHENHEIM

Postby admin » Tue Sep 22, 2015 6:25 am

IX. PHILOSOPHY AND THEOSOPHY

MODERN philosophy is a system of theoretical speculation, based upon reasoning from that which is believed to be true to the unknown, drawing logical deductions from accepted opinions and establishing new theories; but theosophy is the possession of spiritual knowledge obtained by practical experience. To be a philosopher it is necessary to have acute reasoning powers, and to calculate possibilities and probabilities; to be a true theosophist it is necessary to have the power of spiritual perception and to know the things perceived, irrespective of any possibilities, probabilities, or accepted opinions. A speculative philosopher occupies an objective standpoint in regard to the thing which he examines; the theosophist finds the character of that thing in himself. There is nothing in the Macrocosm of Nature that is not contained in man, because man and Nature are essentially one, and a man who is conscious of being one with Nature will know everything in Nature if he knows only himself. A philosopher having no knowledge of his own spirit can only speculate about things which he does not see; a practical theosophist, knowing his own spiritual state, does not need to speculate, because he sees the spirit of things and knows what he sees. Philosophy is the love of wisdom and the speculation thereon; theosophy is nothing more nor less than the clear understanding itself.

"There is a true and a false philosophy. As the froth in new-made wine swims upon the top and hides the true wine below, likewise there is a froth of sophistry and pseudo-philosophy swimming at the top of true philosophy; it looks like knowledge, but it is the outcome of ignorance, gilded and varnished to deceive the vulgar. It is like a parasite growing upon the tree of knowledge, drawing the sap out of the true tree and converting it into poison. The intellectual working of the brain alone is not sufficient to give birth to a physician; the true physician is not he who has merely heard of the truth, but he who feels the truth, who sees it before him as clearly as the light of the sun, who hears it as he would hear the noise of the cataract of the Rhine or the whistling of the storm upon the ocean, who smells it and tastes it, it being sweet to him as honey or bitter as gall. Nature produces diseases and effects their cures, and where, then, could be found a better teacher than Nature herself? That alone which we see and feel and perceive constitutes true knowledge, not that of which we are merely informed in books and which is not confirmed by experience."

"The knowledge of Nature as it is -- not as we imagine it to be -- constitutes true philosophy. He who merely sees the external appearance of things is not a philosopher; the true philosopher sees the reality, not merely the outward appearance. He who knows the sun and the moon has a sun and a moon in him, and he can tell how they look, even if his eyes are shut. Thus the true physician sees in himself the whole constitution of the Microcosm of man, with all its parts. He sees the constitution of his patient as if the latter were a clear crystal, in which not even a single hair could escape detection. He sees him as he would the stones and pebbles at the bottom of a clear well. This is the philosophy upon which the true art of medicine is based. Not that your physical eyes are able to show you these things, but it is Nature herself who teaches it to you. Nature is the universal mother of all, and if you are in harmony with her -- if the mirror of your mind has not been made blind by the cobwebs of speculations, misconceptions, and erroneous theories -- she will hold up before you a mirror in which you will see the truth. But he who is not true himself will not see the truth as it is taught by Nature, and it is far easier to study a number of books and to learn by heart a number of scientific theories than to ennoble one's own character to such an extent as to enter into perfect harmony with Nature and to be able to see the truth."

If "theosophy" means the clear perception and understanding of truth, there can be no true philosophy, religion, or science without theosophy, the understanding of truth being the only basis upon which all true knowledge rests.

No one can, therefore, be truly called a theosophist who does not possess the knowledge of his own divine self, which enables his person to know all things as only God knows them. This power is in possession of no mortal man, but belongs to the god in man. Only when man has found the god in him can he partake of divine wisdom.

Man is a mixed being; he is a centre or focus in which the three kingdoms -- i.e., the three forms of manifestation of the primordial Will, the world of darkness or fire, the world of spiritual light, and that of external nature -- are active, and in which the powers of either of these three kingdoms may become conscious and manifest. If he is a temple of the holy spirit, God will reveal His wisdom in him; if he is a dwelling of evil will, the devil will become personified in him; if the world of mind, intellect, emotion, &c. -- i.e., the " heaven " of the external world -- is reflected within his soul, and his mind becomes absorbed by it, he will be a child of the world.

It is most true and certain that if there were no natural world, Nature could not become manifested in man, and it is equally true that if there were no God and no devil -- i.e., no supreme power for good and no power for evil in the universe -- neither a god nor a devil could become revealed or personified in a man. Evil exists for the purpose of being conquered by good. Only in this way can knowledge be obtained.

There is no seed having the power to create itself the sunlight which it requires to enable it to grow, and in the same sense there is no man having himself the power to create a god by his own will and pleasure; but like acts upon like. The natural (physical or astral) principles in man are acted upon by the corresponding powers in Nature; the growth of plants is due to the power of the sun being active in them, and the spiritual unfoldment of the soul of man is also due to the power (the grace) of the God of the universe descending upon him. [1]

The knowledge of a man in regard to a truth, however learned and intellectual he may be, can be nothing else but a dream to one who does not recognise his own real existence in God. If we believe or accept the doctrine of another man who perceives the truth, it does not follow that we possess that truth as our own; it simply means that we consider his opinion worthy of our belief. A knowledge of the opinions of others may guide us in our researches as long as we cannot find the truth in ourselves, but such a knowledge is as liable to mislead us as to lead us right; the only key to arrive at the recognition and understanding of the truth is the perception and understanding itself. Opinions change, and creeds and beliefs change accordingly, but the knowledge which we find in our own experience stands as firm as a rock.

There is no such thing as a theoretical theosophy, because divine wisdom is not a matter of theory, but the divine knowledge of self. To know a thing we must see it and feel it and be identified with it ourselves. Things that transcend the physical power of sight can only be known if they are experienced and seen by the soul. Love or hate, reason and conscience, are unknown things to those who do not realise their existence. The attributes of the spirit are not only beyond the power of sensual perception, but they are beyond the power of intellectual comprehension; they can only be known to the spirit itself, and they are called occult because they cannot be understood without the possession of the light of the spirit. This spiritual light is an attribute of the spirit and beyond the reach of the merely intellectual but unspiritual mind.

"Man has two kinds of reason, angelic and animal reason. The former is eternal and of God, and remains with God; the latter is also, but indirectly, originating from God, and not eternal; for the body dies and its animal reason with it. No animal product can be victorious over death. Death kills that which is animal, but not that which is eternal. A man who is not a man as far as wisdom in him is concerned, is not a man but an animal in human shape" (De Fundamento Sajpientioe).

To be able to understand good, it is necessary that man should experience evil, for without the knowledge of darkness the true nature of light could not be known; but no amount of evil experience will enable a man to know that which is good and divine if he is not in possession of the true understanding, which endows him with the power to profit by his experience, and which is not of his own making, but given to him as a gift by wisdom itself.

"The wise rules the stars in him, but animal man is ruled by his stars, which force him to do as he is directed by his animal nature. He who has escaped the gallows once will repeat his crimes; for he thinks that, having escaped his punishment once, he will escape it again. Such a person is blown about like a reed, and cannot resist the forces which are acting upon him, and the reason of this is that he has no real self-knowledge, and does not know that there is in him a power superior to that of the stars (the lower mind). Wisdom in man is nobody's servant and has not lost its own freedom, and through wisdom man attains power over Fundamento Sapientioe).

KNOWLEDGE

Intellectual reasoning may arrive at the door of the spiritual temple, but man cannot enter without perceiving that the temple exists and that he has the power to enter. This knowledge is called faith; but faith does not come to those who do not desire it, and a desire for divine wisdom is not created by man. Man's desires depend on the presence of an exciting cause, and that which attracts him strongest is the thing for which he has the greatest desire. It is not within the power of the animal or intellectual nature of man to desire or to love that which he does not know. He may have a curiosity to see the unknown God, but he can truly love only that which he feels, and of which he knows that it exists. He must realise the presence of the highest in his own heart before he can know it. The spiritual temple is locked with many keys, and those who are vain enough to believe that they can invade it by their own power, and without being shown the way by the light of wisdom, will storm against it in vain. [2] Wisdom is not created by man; it must come to him, and cannot be purchased for money nor coaxed with promises, but it comes to those whose minds are pure and whose hearts are open to receive it. It is said that those who wish to become wise must be like children, but there are few amongst the learned who would be willing to undertake such a feat. There are few who would be able to realise the fact, even if they were willing to do so, that they themselves are without life, without knowledge, and without power, and that all life and consciousness, knowledge and power, come from the universal fountain of all, of which they are merely imperfect instruments for its manifestation. There are few amongst the learned capable of giving up their pet theories, their accepted opinions, their dogmatic reasoning and speculations about possibilities and probabilities, and sinking their own personal will entirely into the wisdom of God. Humanity resembles a field of wheat, in which each individual represents a plant, attempting to grow higher than the others and to bear more abundant fruit; but there are few who desire to be nothing themselves, so that God may take full possession of them and be all in and through them.

"The great majority of the 'investigators of theosophy' do not love wisdom, they only desire it; they desire to possess it for the purpose of adorning themselves with it; but wisdom is no man's servant -- it comes only to those who, abandoning self, sacrifice themselves in the spirit of wisdom. Those who seek the truth for their own benefit and gratification will never find it, but the truth finds those in whom the delirium of self disappears, and it becomes manifested in them."

The object of existence is to become perfectly happy, and the shortest way to become so is to be perfect and happy now, and not wait for a possibility to become so in a future state of existence. All may be happy, but only the highest happiness is enduring, and permanent happiness can be obtained only by attaining permanent good. The highest a man can feel and think is his highest ideal, and the higher we rise in the scale of existence and the more our knowledge expands, the higher will be our ideal. As long as we cling to our highest ideal we will be happy, in spite of the sufferings and vicissitudes of life. The highest ideal confers the highest and most enduring happiness, and the whole of Theosophy consists in the recognition and realisation of the highest ideal within one's self. This is to be accomplished only by the overcoming of the illusion of separate existence and the awakening of the soul to the essential unity of all things. It is a state of divine wisdom which can be attained in no other way than by the light of that wisdom becoming manifested in man. [3]

SPIRITUAL REGENERATION

As long as any one fancies his highest ideal to exist only outside of him, somewhere above the clouds or in the history of the past, he will go outside of himself to seek for it in dreamland or in the pages of history. This is not theosophy, but merely dreaming; for not that wisdom which exists outside of man but that which has taken root in him renders him wise. A child is not born from outside of its mother's womb, but from within, and the spiritual regeneration of the soul must be accomplished by that power which is existing within the soul itself.

The spiritual regeneration of man requires the opening of his inner senses, and this, again, involves the development of the internal organs of the spiritual body, while the latter is intimately connected with the physical form. Thus this regeneration is not an entirely spiritual process, but productive also of great changes in the physical body. He who rejects, neglects, or despises his physical body, as long as he has not outgrown the necessity of having such a corporeal form, may be compared to the yolk in an egg wanting to be free from the white of the egg and the shell, without having grown into a bird.

"Philosophy" means love of wisdom, but not those who love wisdom for their own aggrandisement are its true lovers. Such people love only themselves, and desire wisdom as a means for parading with it; they desire to know the secrets of Nature and the mysteries of God for the gratification of their scientific curiosity. "Theosophy" means the wisdom of God; in other words, the self-knowledge of God in man. It is not "man," but the god in man who knows his own divine self, and it therefore does not rest with the will and pleasure of man to become a theosophist, but this depends on the awakening of the divine spirit in him. Philosophy argues and deducts, speculates, makes additions and multiplications, and by logical reasonings seeks to prove that for such or such reasons this or that cannot be otherwise than so or so; but divine wisdom requires no arguments, no logic or reasoning, because it is already the self-knowledge of the One from whom all other things are deriving their origin. It is the highest and most exalted kind of rationality, for there can be nothing more rational than to know the divine fountain of All, by entering into its own understanding.

"All numbers are multiples of one, all sciences converge to a common point, all wisdom comes out of one centre, and the number of wisdom is one. The light of wisdom radiates into the world, and manifests itself in various ways according to the substance in which it manifests itself. Therefore man can exhibit reason in a threefold manner: as instinct, as animal reason, and spiritual intelligence. The knowledge which our soul derives from the physical and animal elements is temporal; that which it derives from the spirit is eternal. God is the Father of wisdom, and all wisdom is derived from Him. We may grow into knowledge, but we cannot grow or manufacture knowledge ourselves, because in ourselves is nothing but what has been deposited there by God. Those who believe that they can learn anything real and true without the assistance of God, who is Himself the truth and the reality, will fall into idolatry, superstition, and error. But those who love the luminous centre will be attracted to it, and their knowledge comes from God. God is the Father of wisdom, and man is the son. If we wish for knowledge we must apply for it to the Father and not to the son. And if the son desires to teach wisdom, he must teach that wisdom which he derived from the Father. The knowledge which our clergymen possess is not obtained by them from the Father, but they learn it from each other. They are not certain of the truth of what they teach, and therefore they use argumentation, circumvention, and prevarication; they fall into error and vanity, and mistake their own opinions for the wisdom of God. Hypocrisy is not holiness; conceit is not power; slyness is not wisdom. The art of deceiving and disputing, sophisticating, perverting, and misrepresenting truths, may be learned in schools; but the power to recognise and to follow the truth cannot be conferred by academical degrees; it comes only from God. He who desires to know the truth must be able to see it, and not be satisfied with descriptions of it received from others, but be true himself. The highest power of the intellect, if it is not illumined by love, is only a high grade of animal intellect, and will perish in time; but the intellect animated by the love of the Supreme is the intellect of the angels, and will live in eternity" (De Fundamento Sapientioe).

"All things are vehicles of virtues, everything in Nature is a house wherein dwell certain powers and virtues such as God has infused throughout Nature and which inhabit all things in the same sense as the soul is in man; but the soul is a creature originating of God and returns again to God, Natural (terrestrial) man is a son of Nature, and ought to know Nature, his mother; but the soul, being a son of God, ought to know the Father, the Creator of all" (Vera Influentia Rerum).

FAITH

In regard to the true and the false faith Paracelsus says: -- "It is not a faith in the existence of a historical Jesus Christ that has the power to save mankind from evil, but a faith in the Supreme Power (God), through which the man Jesus was enabled to act, and through which we also may act when it becomes manifested in us. The former 'faith' is merely a belief and a result of education; the latter is a power belonging to the higher constitution of man. Christ does not say that if we believe in His personal power to accomplish wonderful things we will be enabled to throw mountains into the ocean; but He spoke of our own faith, meaning the divine power of God in man, that will act through ourselves as much as it acted through Christ, if we become like Him. This power comes from God and returns to Him; and if one man cures another in the name of Christ, he cures him by the power of God, and by his own faith. That power becomes active in and through him by his faith, and not out of God's gratitude for his professed belief, or the belief of the patient that Christ once existed upon the earth."

"The power of the true faith extends as far as the power of God in the universe. Man can accomplish nothing by his own power, but everything can be accomplished through man by the power of faith. If we did not have faith in our ability to walk, we would not be able to walk. If we accomplish anything whatever, faith accomplishes it in and through us."

"Faith does not come from man, and no man can create faith or make himself faithful without faith; but faith is a power coming from God. Its germ is laid within man, and may be cultivated or neglected by him; it can be used by him for good or for evil, but it only acts effectively when it is strong and pure -- not weakened by doubt, and not dispersed by secondary considerations. He who wants to employ it must have only one object in view. Diseases are caused and cured by faith, and if men knew the power of faith they would have more faith and less superstition. We have no right to call any disease incurable; we have only the right to say that we cannot cure it. A physician who trusts only in his own science will accomplish little, but he who has faith in the power of God acting through him, and who employs that power intelligently, will accomplish much."

"If any one thinks that he can cure a disease, or accomplish anything else, without the power derived from God, he believes in a superstition; but if he believes that he can perform such a thing because he is conscious of having obtained the power to do so, he will then be able to accomplish it by the power of the true faith. Such a faith is knowledge and power. True faith is spiritual consciousness, but a belief based upon mere opinions and creeds is the product of ignorance, and a superstition." [4]

REINCARNATION

"The body which we receive from our parents, and which is built up from the nutriments it draws directly and indirectly from the earth, has no spiritual powers, for wisdom and virtue, faith, hope, and charity, do not grow from the earth. These powers are not the products of man's physical organisation, but the attributes of another invisible and glorified body, whose germs are laid within man. [5] The physical body changes and dies, the glorified body is eternal. This eternal man is the real man, and is not generated by his earthly parents. He does not draw nutriment from the earth, but from the eternal invisible source from which he originated. Nevertheless the two bodies are one, and man may be compared to a tree, drawing his nutriment from the earth, and from the surrounding air. The roots extend into the earth, and seek their nutriment in the dark, but the leaves receive their nutriment from the air. The temporal body is the house of the eternal, and we should therefore take care of it, because he who destroys the temporal body destroys the house of the eternal, and although the eternal man is invisible, he exists nevertheless, and will become visible in time, just as a child in its mother's womb is invisible before it is born, but after its birth it may be seen by all but those who are blind; and as everything returns after a while to the source from whence it came, so the body returns to the earth and the spirit to heaven or hell. Some children are born from heaven, and others are born from hell, because each human being has his inherent tendencies, and these tendencies belong to his spirit, and indicate the state in which he existed before he was born. Witches and sorcerers are not made at once; they are born with powers for evil. [6] The body is only an instrument; if you seek for man in his dead body, you are seeking for him in vain."

"THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE"

But this physical body, which is believed to be of so little importance by those who love to dream about the mysteries of the spirit, is the most secret and valuable thing. It is the true "stone which the builders rejected," but which must become the cornerstone of the temple. It is the "stone" which is considered worthless by those who seek for a God above the clouds and reject Him when He enters their house. This physical body is not merely an instrument for divine power, but it is also the soil from which that which is immortal in man receives its strength. A seed requires the power of the sunshine to enable it to take from the earth the elements necessary for its growth, and in the same sense the spiritual body of man, receiving its nutriment from the spirit, could not unfold and develop if it were not for the presence of the physical body of man, with its elementary and elemental forces; for the physical body is comparable to the wood from which is produced the fire which gives light; there would be no light if there were nothing to burn. "The more there is wood to burn, the greater will be the combustion, and thus it is with the Lapis Philosophorum or Balsamo perpetuo in corpore humano." [7] "But it is not proper to say a great deal about the Lapis Philosophorum or to boast about its possession; the ancients have sufficiently indicated the way for its preparation to those who are not devoid of the true understanding; but they have spoken in parables, so that unworthy persons may not know the secret and misuse it. Look at a man; he is not a perfect being, but only a half a man as long as he has not been made into one with the woman. [8] After having become one with the woman (in him), then will he be not a half, but a whole" (De Lapid. Philosoph.).

THE CHURCH

The rock upon which the true (spiritual) church is founded is not to be found in Rome nor in Protestantism, nor in the realm of fancy, but in the power of faith. "It is the Word of Wisdom from which you should learn, and in that Word you will find neither statuary nor paintings, but only the universal spirit. If faith is preached to you, it is done for the purpose of implanting it into your heart, where it may take root and grow and become manifest to you; but if your faith is not in your heart, but in forms and ceremonies, and if you cling to these forms you may know that your heart is evil; because, although the forms and the ceremonies cause you to weep and to sigh, this sighing and weeping is worthless, because your sentiment comes from those images, and to those images will it return. All things return finally to the place from whence they took their origin, and as these things are perishable, the sentiments which they excite will perish with them. God only desires the heart and not the ceremonies. If you do not require the ceremonies, they will be useless in matters of faith as well as in the art of magic."

It is foolish to refuse to be guided by the church as long as one is not able to find one's own way; but to be thus guided is not the object of existence; we should strive to learn how to govern ourselves, instead of being continually dependent upon the help of another.

"I do not say that images should not be made, and that the suffering of Christ should not be represented in pictures. Such things are good to move the mind of man to the practice of piety, virtue, and veneration, and to those who are unable to read they are very useful and better than many a sermon. I am not speaking against the use of a thing, but against its misuses. Such things are useful if we know their true meaning and understand their effects" (De Imaginibus, iii.). [9]

"The saints are in heaven, and not in the wood out of which an image is carved. Each man is himself nearest to his own god. I contradict your old fathers because they wrote for the body and not for the soul; they wrote poetry, but not theosophy; they spoke flatteries instead of telling the truth. They were teachers of fashions and usages, not teachers of eternal life. The mere imitation of the personal usages of the saints leads to nothing but damnation. The wearing of a black coat, or the possession of a piece of paper signed by some human authority, does not make a man a divine. Those are divine who act wisely, because wisdom is God. A clergyman should be a spiritual guide for others; but how can a man be a spiritual guide if he merely talks about spiritual things and knows himself nothing about them? It may be said that the personal behaviour of a clergyman does not affect the truth of what he teaches; but a clergyman who does not act rightly does not possess the truth, and therefore cannot teach it. He can only, parrot-like, repeat words and sentences, and their meaning will be incomprehensible to his hearers, because he knows nothing about that meaning himself."

"Belief in opinions is no faith. He who foolishly believes is foolish. A fool who believes unreasonable things is dead in faith, because he has no real knowledge, and without knowledge there can be no faith. He who wants to obtain true faith must know, because faith grows out of spiritual knowledge. The faith that comes from that knowledge is rooted in the heart. He who ignorantly believes has no knowledge, and possesses no faith and no power. [10] God does not desire that we should remain in darkness and ignorance; on the contrary, our knowledge should be of God. We should be the recipients of divine wisdom. God does not rejoice to see fools, blockheads, and simpletons, who are ready to believe anything, no matter how absurd it may be; neither does He desire that only one wise and learned man should be in each country, and that the other people should follow him blindly, as the sheep follow a ram; but we should all have our knowledge in God, and take it out of the universal fountain of wisdom. We should know who and what God is, but we can learn to know God only by becoming wise, and we become wise when the wisdom of God becomes manifested in us. The works of God will become manifest to us through wisdom, and God will be most pleased if we become His image. To become like God we must become attracted to God, who is the universal fountain of all, and the power that attracts us is divine love. The love of God will be kindled in our hearts by an ardent love for humanity, and a love for humanity will be caused by a love of God. Thus the God of the Macrocosm and the God of the Microcosm act upon each other, and both are one, for there is only one God, and one law, and one Nature, through which wisdom becomes manifest" (De Fundamento Sapientioe).

"There is an earthly sun, which is the cause of all heat, and all who are able to see may see the sun, and those who are blind and cannot see him may feel his heat. There is an eternal sun, which is the source of all wisdom, and those whose spiritual senses have awakened to life will see that sun, and be conscious of his existence; but those who have not attained full spiritual consciousness may nevertheless perceive his power by an inner faculty, which is called Intuition. Animal reason is active in the animal soul, and angelic wisdom in the spiritual soul. The former sees by the light of Nature, which is produced by a reflection of the rays of the divine light acting in Nature; but the light of the spirit is not a product of Nature, but the supreme cause of all which in Nature becomes manifest. Nature does not produce a sage; she merely furnishes a natural vehicle for a sage. Nature is not perfect, but produces cripples and diseases, abnormalities and monstrosities, the blind and the lame; but that which comes from God is perfect. It is a germ which is planted in the soul of man, and man is the gardener and cultivator, whose business it is to surround it with the elements necessary for its growth, so that when the earthly tabernacle is broken, the spirit, attracted by His love, His eternal home, may return to it, having grown in knowledge, being clothed in purity and illumined by divine wisdom."

"The wisdom of God is not made up of pieces, but is only one. While we are on this earth we ought to keep our mirror in God, so as to be in every respect as a child is like its father. Thus we ought to be made out of the whole cloth, and not be patched up. The wise man in God has his wisdom in God, and he will teach in a way that nobody can contradict or resist him, and his teaching will harm no one, but bring joy and gladness and glory to all who will receive it" (De Fundamento Sapientioe).

Spirit passes into the body, and out of it, like a breath of air passing through the strings of an AEolian harp. If we succeed in binding it there, we will create a source of undying harmony and create an immortal being. But to bind spirit we must be able to bind thought. Man is a materialised thought; he is what he wills. To change his nature from the mortal to the immortal state he must change his material mode of thinking, and even rise above the sphere of thought. He must cease to hold fast in his thoughts to that which is illusory and perishing, and hold on to that which is eternal. The visible universe is a thought of the eternal mind thrown into objectivity by its will, and crystallised into matter by its power. Look at the everlasting stars; look at the indestructible mountain-peaks. They are the thoughts of the universal mind, and they will remain as long as the thoughts of that mind do not change. If we could hold on to a thought we would be able to create. But who but the enlightened, who live above the region of mentality in the kingdom of spirit, can hold on to a thought? Are not the illusions of the senses continually destroying that which we attempt to create? Men do not think what they choose, but that which comes into their mind. If they could control the action of their mind by rising above it, they would be able to control their own nature and the nature by which their forms are surrounded.

But mortal man has no power to control the powers of Nature in him, unless that power becomes manifested in him. "We mortals are not from heaven, but from the earth; we did not drop down from heaven, but grew from the earth. Terrestrial powers are moving in us; but if we are reborn in the spirit, then will we move in celestial power. What is this aid, these powers of which I am writing, but celestial powers? Who gives and distributes them but God alone?" (Morb. Invisib., v.). He who trusts in his own power will fail, and become a victim of his own vanity; he who expects salvation from others will be disappointed. There is no god, no saint, and no power in which we can put any confidence, faith, or trust for the purpose of our salvation, except the power of divine wisdom acting within ourselves. Only when man realises the presence of God within himself will he begin his infinite life, and step from the realm of evanescent illusions into that of permanent truth.

The realisation of eternal truth is caused by the "Holy Ghost," this being the light of self-knowledge, the spirit of truth. No man can create within himself that light, nor drag the spirit of truth down to his level, nor push himself by his own will into that light; he can only wait in peace until that spirit descends and becomes manifest in his soul. Thus the acquisition of wisdom consists in passively receiving the light from above, and in actively resisting the influences from below which hinder its manifestation.

UNSELFISHNESS

"Theosophy" is the wisdom of God in man, and therefore cannot be appropriated by any person. It cannot become manifested in man as long as there exists in him the delusion of "self," because that "self" is a limited thing, which cannot grasp the infinite indivisible reality. For this reason "love" -- that is to say, the abandonment of "self" -- is the beginning of wisdom. This doctrine, however, is generally misunderstood. It does not teach that I should merely desire nothing for myself; but it teaches that there should be no conception of "I" in my mind that loves or desires anything. Only when that illusion of "self" has disappeared from my Heart and mind, and my consciousness arisen to that state in which there will be no "I," then will not I be the doer of works, but the spirit of wisdom will perform its wonders through my instrumentality (Philosophia Occulta).

In this also exists the difference between divine love and "altruism." Altruistically inclined persons are usually not selfish, but possessed by the idea of "self." Not from God, but from their own illusion of selfhood, are their works emanating. They are themselves the doers of their works, and are proud of their own goodness and wisdom; but their good works, being the product of an illusion, are illusive, and therefore impermanent. The altruistic humanitarian sees in other human beings his brothers and sisters; but God, dwelling in the soul of the wise, sees in every vehicle of life and in every creature His own divine self.

_______________

Notes:

1. God is the supreme will of the universe, or, as Boehme calls it, the will of divine wisdom. It is therefore a divine will, and it could not be divine if it were not free and subject to nothing. This does not imply that God is something external to Nature, but that He is superior to it.

2. Everybody knows that the thinking faculty is not our own self, but that there is something in us which has the power to think or to let thinking alone. This something is higher than the intellectual realm, and therefore higher than all of its "stars."

3. God is the greatest power in the universe, because He is the source and sum of all powers in their highest mode of manifestation. God is therefore absolute consciousness, absolute love, and absolute wisdom. If we wish to accomplish anything great, the first requirement is the presence of God, because He is man's understanding and power, and resides in man. But God cannot be approached by an intellect that is without love. God is love, and is only attracted by love. We cannot know the principle of love unless we love it with our heart, and the more we desire it, the more will we be able to comprehend with the heart what this principle is. The love of God is therefore a power transcending the lower nature of man; it cannot develop itself out of the animal elements of man, but it is a gift from the universal fountain of love, in the same sense as sunshine cannot grow out of the earth, but comes from above. God lives in the hearts of men, and if we desire to love Him, we must love all that is good in humanity. The love of humanity is the beginning of the knowledge of God. The intellect is the greatest possession of mortal man, and an intellect that rises to the source of all knowledge by the power of love may know God and all the mysteries of Nature, and become godlike itself; but an intellect without love leads into error, grovels in darkness, and goes to perdition. An intellect combined with love for the supreme good leads to wisdom; an intellect without love leads to the powers of evil.

4. This is the curse of all dabblers in the divine mysteries, that when they begin to believe that there is something superior to the merely animal man, this belief opens the door for superstition and idolatry; for, having no knowledge of the power of the divine will within their own self, they are devoid of the true faith, which is divine self-confidence. They therefore put their trust, not in the one true God, but in the god which they have created within their own imagination. They seek in outward things for that which they cannot find within their own empty shells. They neglect their duties as men and revel in dreams wherein there is nothing real. Some put their faith in doctors and priests, others in herbs and roots, still others in magic spells and incantations; but the wise know that the first step on the road to spiritual unfoldment is the fulfilment of one’s duties as a man; for no god can grow out of a man unless the man has become truly that which he ought to be. In this fulfilment of one’s duty and becoming true to one's nature as man rests the germ of true happiness, and from this germ is evolved the regenerated man in whom heaven exists and who lives through eternity.

5. Where should that germ come from, if it had not existed before, and how did it attain its divine qualities?

6. They are born with the tendencies which they acquired in former lives upon the earth, or upon some other planet. The personified devils we meet in the world are the "materialised” forms of devilish powers existing upon the astral plane.

7. The balsam of life (a man without sexual power is unfit for initiation).

8. Man and woman are both one in the Lord. The "man" is the spirit and "woman" the soul.

9. Thus it would also be better for our modern would-be theosophists if, instead of running after external "Mahatmas" and seeking salvation from them, each one were to strive after knowing the real Mahatma, existing within his own soul.

10. There is a false faith that comes from ignorance (Tamas), and a false faith that originates from selfish desire (Rajas); but the true faith springs from wisdom (Sattwa), and is itself the way for its attainment.
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Re: THE LIFE OF PHILIPPUS THEOPHRASTUS BOMBAST OF HOHENHEIM

Postby admin » Tue Sep 22, 2015 6:26 am

APPENDIX

ADEPTS


THERE are Adepts of various grades. There are such as live like normal men in their physical bodies, and who are able to send their astral spirit out of their bodies during their sleep to any place they choose, and on awakening, their astral spirit returns again into the body to which it belongs; and there are others who have no physical bodies, because they have arrived at a state of perfection in which such bodies are no longer required for their purposes. [1] "There are persons who have been exalted (verzueckt) to God, and who have remained in that state of exaltation, and they have not died. Their physical bodies have lost their lives, but without being conscious of it, without sensation, without any disease, and without suffering, and their bodies became transformed, and disappeared in such a manner that nobody knew what became of them, and yet they remained on the earth. But their spirits and heavenly bodies, having neither corporeal form, shape, nor colour, were exalted to heaven, like Enoch and Elias of old" [2] (Philosoph., v.).

"There is a great difference between the physical and the ethereal body. The former is visible and tangible, but the latter is invisible and intangible. The body eats and drinks; the spirit lives in faith. The body is evanescent and destructible; the spirit eternal. The body dies; the spirit lives. The body is conquered by the spirit; the spirit is victor. The body is opaque, clouded; the spirit transparent and clear. The body is often sick; the spirit knows no disease. The body is dark, but the spirit is light, and sees into the hearts of the mountains and the interior of the earth. The body executes acts which the spirit orders. The body is the mumia; the substance of the spirit is the balsam of life. The former comes from the earth, but the spirit from heaven" [3] (Philosoph., iv.).

CREATION

The unmanifested Absolute cannot be conceived otherwise than as a mathematical point, without any magnitude, and such a point in becoming manifest in all directions would necessarily become a sphere. If we imagine such a mathematical point as being self-conscious, thinking, and capable to act, and desirous to manifest itself, the only thinkable mode in which it could possibly accomplish this would be by radiating its own substance and consciousness from the centre towards the periphery. The centre is the Father, the eternal source of all (John i. 4); the radius is the Son (the Logos), who was contained in the Father from eternity (John i. 1); the power of the father revealed in the light of the son from the incomprehensible centre to the unlimited periphery is the Holy Ghost, the spirit of truth, which is manifested externally and revealed in visible Nature (John xv. 26). We cannot conceive of a body without length, breadth, and thickness; a circle or a sphere always consists of a centre, radius, and periphery. They are three, yet they are one, and neither of them can exist without the other two. [4] God sends out His thought by the power of His will (the Iliaster divides itself). He holds fast to the thought, and expresses it in the Word, in which is contained the creative and conservative power, and His thought becomes corporified, bringing into existence worlds and beings, which form, so to say, the visible body of the invisible God. Thus were the worlds formed in the beginning by the thought of God acting in the Macrocosm (the Universal Mind), and in the same manner are forms created in the individual sphere of the mind of man. If we hold on to a thought we create a form in our inner world, and we might render it objective and material if we knew our own creative power. A good thought produces a good, and an evil thought an evil form, and they grow as they are nourished by thought or "imagination."

GENERATION

All beings are the product of the creative power of the imagination. [5] This imagination may proceed (1) from Nature, (2) from man, (3) from God.

There are consequently three modes in which men may come into existence: --

1. Natural men, the result of sexual intercourse between men and women. The imagination of the parents creates the sperm; the matrix furnishes the conditions for its development. "They are born of flesh, and their destiny is to serve as vehicles for the Spirit" (St. John iii. 6). [6]

2. God-men, the products of the imagination and will of the divine Logos, the incarnating spiritual entities (St. Matt. i. 23; St. Luke i. 35). "They are already born of the Spirit" (St. John i. 14). [7]

3. Primordial men, without fathers or mothers and without sex, produced by the thought of God in the matrix of Nature (Hebrews vii. 3). "They are the true images of the Creator, the children of God, without sin and without knowledge" (Luke iii. 38). Being attracted to matter, and desiring to enjoy material pleasures, they gradually sink into matter and learn to know good and evil. [8]

INITIATION

"Initiation," or "baptism," is the growth of the spiritual principle, which is germinally contained in every man, into consciousness. "Two germs grow into one man. One comes from the Spirit, the other germ comes from Nature; but the two are one. One becomes conscious of Nature, the other one may become conscious of the Spirit. One is the child of Adam, the other the son of Christ. There are a few whose spiritual consciousness is awakened to life, who have died in Adam and are reborn of Christ; [9] those who are reborn know themselves, and are thus initiated into the kingdom of the Spirit.

"Initiation is therefore a matter of growth, and cannot be obtained by favour. Ceremonies are only external forms. The true baptism is the baptism of fire, the growth into the spirit of wisdom, the victory of the spirit over the animal nature of man." [10]

We know that nobody can enjoy the possession of any external sense, such as sight, hearing, &c., unless he has organs adapted for that purpose. The same is true in regard to the inner senses of man, which also require the organisation of a spiritual but nevertheless substantial body; and as the physical body generates its organs in the womb of its mother, so the spiritual body becomes generated in the astral body of man.

"The form of man must be adapted to his plane of existence. A horseshoe of iron has a form adapted to its purpose, and so has a goblet of silver. Nature has many strange children, and man must have his shape, and also that wherein he is made. Therefore Christ says, 'He who is with Me denies himself.' This means that he must rise superior to that which belongs to Nature in him. He must take his cross upon his shoulders, namely, the cross which Nature has put upon him, Take Nature upon your shoulders and carry her, but do not identify yourself with her. Love your neighbour, and free yourself of that carnal reason which forces you to be a servant of self" (De Arte Presaga).

MEDIUMSHIP

"Nature can teach everything belonging to Nature; she derives her knowledge from the Spirit. But Spirit and Nature are one, for Nature is a light that comes from the Spirit. If Nature learns from the Spirit, the one becomes divided into two: the disciple asks questions, and answers them himself. In a dream the dreamer and the person he dreams of are one; and in temptation the tempter and the tempted are one."

"The light of Nature is the light that comes from the Spirit. It is in man -- is born with him, and grows up with him. There are some persons who live in this interior light, but the life of others is centred in their animal instincts, and they grope in darkness and error. There are some who write wiser than they know, but it is wisdom that writes through them, for man has no wisdom of his own; he can only come into contact with wisdom through the light of Nature that is in himself."

"Those who live in their animal instincts are not wise, and that which they write is inspired by their animal reason. Some animals are murderous and others are greedy; some are thievish and others are lewd; but all the elements of the animal kingdom are in the soul of man, and whenever such elements become alive in him they dominate over his reason, and man becomes like a reasoning animal, and writes as dictated by his animal reason."

"That which a man writes is not created by him, but it existed before him, and will exist after him; he only gives it a form. Therefore that which he writes is not his but another's; he is only the instrument through which truth or error expresses itself. There are those who write mechanically, and such writing may come from three causes; intellectual writing may come from over fifty-seven causes, and the writing of the Word of God may come from ten causes. A person who writes should know the cause from whence his ideas come, for only he who knows wisdom can write wisely" [11] (De Fundamento Sapientioe).

OCCULT PHENOMENA

Action at a Distance. -- The (spiritual) breath of man reaches very far; for the breath is his spirit, and he may send his spirit many hundred miles away, so that it will accomplish all that the man himself could have accomplished. Such a breath travels as fast as the wind, or as a ball shot out of a gun, and delivers its message" (Philosoph. Tract., iii.).

Disappearance of Objects. -- "Visible bodies may be made invisible, or covered, in the same way as night covers a man and makes him invisible, or as he would become invisible if he were put behind a wall; and as Nature can render something visible or invisible by such means, likewise a visible substance may be covered with an invisible substance, and be made invisible by art" [12] (Philosoph. Sag., i.).

Palingenesis. -- "If a thing loses its material substance, the invisible form still remains in the light of Nature (the astral light); and if we can reclothe that form with visible matter, we can make that form visible again. All matter is composed of three elements -- sulphur, mercury, and salt. By alchemical means we may create a magnetic attraction in the astral form, so that it will attract from the elements (the A'kasa) those principles which it possessed before its mortification, and incorporate them and become visible again" [13] (De Resuscitationibus).

Occult letters. -- "If the elementary body can write a letter, and send it by a messenger to somebody in a month, why should not the ethereal body of an Adept be able to write a letter and to send it to its destination (by an element spirit) in an hour?" [14] (Philosoph. Sag., i. cap. 6).

Transformations. -- "There is a species of magic by which living bodies can be formed and one body be transformed into another, as was done by Moses" [13] (Philosoph. Sag).

Transmutations. -- "An instance of transmutation may be seen in wood which has become petrified. The form of the wood remains unchanged; nevertheless it is no longer wood, but a stone" (De Transmutationibus).

Passage of Matter through Matter. -- "Things that are done by visible means in the ordinary manner may be done by invisible means in an extraordinary way. For instance, a lock can be opened with a key; a cut be made with a sword; the body be protected by a coat-of-mail. All this may be done by visible means. You may grasp a man with your hand without making a hole in him, and take a fish out of water without leaving a hole in the water; or you may put something into water, and if you withdraw your hand no hole will be left in the water. By the necromantic art something can be put through a body or into a body, and no hole will be left in the latter" [16] (Philosoph. Sag., i. 4).

THOUGHT-TRANSFER

"By the magic power of the will a person on this side of the ocean may make a person on the other side hear what is said on this side, and a person in the East thus converse with another person in the West. The physical man may hear and understand the voice of another man at a distance of a hundred steps, and the ethereal body of a man know what another man thinks at a distance of a hundred miles and more. What can be accomplished by ordinary means in a month (such as the sending of messages) can be done by this art in one day. If you have a tube a mile long, and you speak through it at one end, a person at the other end will hear what you say. If the elementary body can do this, how much easier will it be for the ethereal body, which is much more powerful (in relation to other ethereal bodies) than the former!" [17] (Philosoph. Sag., i. cap. 60).

SPIRITS OF THE DEPARTED

"If a person dies, it is only his body that dies; the human soul does not die, [18] neither can it be buried, but it remains alive, and knows whatever it knew before it became separated from the body. It remains the same as it was before death: if a man has been a liar in his life, he will be one after death; and if he has been well experienced in a certain science or art, he will know that science or art; but a human soul that knew nothing about a certain thing during its life will not be able to learn much about it after death."

"If we desire to enter into communication with the spirit of a deceased person, we may make a picture representing that person, and write his name and the questions we wish to ask him upon it, and put that picture under our head after retiring to rest; and during our sleep the deceased appears to us in our dreams and answers our questions. But the experiment must be made in a spirit of unfaltering faith, full of confidence that it will succeed, else it will fail, because it is not the picture that brings the spirit, but our faith that brings us into communication with it; and the picture is only made for the purpose of assisting the imagination, and to make it more powerful" [19] (Philosoph., v.).

"Men have two spirits -- an animal spirit and a human spirit -- in them. [20] A man who lives in his animal spirit is like an animal during life, and will be an animal after death; but a man who lives in his human spirit will remain human. Animals have consciousness and reason, but they have no spiritual intelligence. It is the presence of the latter that raises man above the animal, and its absence that makes an animal of what once appeared to be a man. A man in whom the animal reason alone is active is a lunatic, and his character resembles that of some animal. One man acts like a wolf, another like a dog, another like a hog, a snake, or a fox, &c. It is their animal principle that makes them act as they do, and their animal principle will perish like the animals themselves. But the human reason is not of an animal nature, but comes from God, and being a part of God, it is necessarily immortal" (De Lunaticis).

THE ELIXIR OF LIFE [21]

Paracelsus, as well as his predecessors, such as Galen, Arnold, De Villanova, Raimund Lullius, &c., laboured studiously to discover a remedy for the prolongation of life. He did not believe in the possibility of rendering the physical body immortal, but he considered it the duty of every physician to attempt to prolong human life as long as it could be prolonged, because it is only during life upon the earth that man can acquire knowledge and improve his character; after death he acquires nothing new, but enjoys his possessions. Paracelsus, like Roger Bacon, Verulam, and others, maintained that the human body could be rejuvenated to a certain extent by a fresh supply of vitality, and it was his aim to find means by which such a supply could be obtained. He says: --

"If we could extract the fire of life from the heart without destroying the heart, and draw the quintessence out of inanimate things, and use it for our purpose, we might live for ever in the enjoyment of health, and without experiencing any disease. But this is not possible in our present condition. We cannot reverse the laws of Nature, and whatever dies a natural death cannot be resuscitated by man. But man may mend that which he himself has broken, and break that which he himself has made. All things have a certain time during which they exist upon the earth. The saints have a certain time during which they exist, and also the wicked. If a man's time to stay is over, he will have to leave. But many die before their time is over, not by a visitation of Providence, but because they are ignorant of the laws controlling their nature."

"Metals may be preserved from rust, and wood be protected against the rot. Blood may be preserved a long time if the air is excluded. Egyptian mummies have kept their forms for centuries without undergoing putrefaction. Animals awaken from their winter sleep, and flies, having become torpid from cold, become nimble again when they are warmed. A tree will sometimes bear no fruit for twenty years, and then begin again to bloom and bear fruit as it did when it was young; and if inanimate objects can be kept from destruction, why should there be no possibility to preserve the life-essence of animate forms?"

"Life itself comes from heaven. It is an emanation of the Supreme Power of the universe, and it is therefore eternal and unchangeable; but it requires a substantial vehicle for its manifestation. Material forms are earthly, and, like all earthly substances, they are subject to dissolution and change. To prolong the process of life, we must try to protect the material form in which life is active against all injurious influences that may act upon it. We must therefore attempt to eradicate all physical and psychical diseases, and to prevent all evils that are caused by age, occupation, or accidents. We should protect man against all evil influences acting upon him during the foetal state, in infancy, youth, manhood, and old age; we should defend him against injurious influences coming from the astral plane; cause him to avoid immoderate eating and drinking, fatigue of body or mind, excessive joy or grief, or mental excitement of any kind. We must protect him against infectious or epidemic diseases, whether they are of a physical or moral character, and employ such remedies as have been provided by Nature for such purposes."

"Such a remedy is the Primum Ens, the source of all life. As the fabulous halcyon becomes rejuvenated and its own substance renewed by drawing its nutriment from the Primum Ens, so may man rejuvenate his constitution by purifying it so that it will be able to receive without any interruption the life-giving influence of the divine spirit. [22]

"But the vehicle that forms the medium through which life acts consists of elementary substances that are found in Nature, and which form the quintessence of all things. There are some substances in which this quintessence is contained in greater quantities than in others, and from which it can more easily be extracted. Such substances are especially the herb called melissa and the human blood.

THE PRIMUM ENS

The "Primum Ens" of a thing is its first beginning, its Prima Materia, an invisible and intangible spiritual substance, which can be incorporated in some material vehicle. "He who wants to separate the Primum Ens from its Corpus (vehicle) must have a great deal of experience in the spagyric art. If he is not a good alchemist his labour will be in vain" (De Separat. Rer.).

"The Primum Ens Melissoe is prepared in the following manner: -- Take half a pound of pure carbonate of potash and expose it to the air until it is dissolved (by attracting water from the atmosphere). Filter the fluid, and put as many fresh leaves of the plant melissa into it as it will hold, so that the fluid will cover the leaves. Let it stand in a well-closed glass, and in a moderately warm place, for twenty-four hours. The fluid may then be removed from the leaves, and the latter thrown away. On the top of this fluid absolute alcohol is poured, so that it will cover the former to the height of one or two inches, and it is left to remain for one or two days, or until the alcohol becomes of an intensely green colour. This alcohol is then to be taken away and preserved, and fresh alcohol is put upon the alkaline fluid, and the operation is repeated until all the colouring matter is absorbed by the alcohol. This alcoholic fluid is now to be distilled, and the alcohol evaporated until it becomes of the thickness of a syrup, which is the Primum Ens Melissoe; but the alcohol that has been distilled away and the liquid potash may be used again. The liquid potash must be of great concentration and the alcohol of great strength, else they would become mixed, and the experiment would not succeed." [23]

PRIMUM ENS SANGUINIS

To make the Primum Ens Sanguinis, take blood from the median vein of a healthy young person, and let it run into a warm bottle that has been weighed upon scales, so that the exact quantity of the blood used will be known. Add to this blood twice its quantity of alcahest, close the bottle, and permit it to remain in a moderately warm place for about fourteen days, after which the red fluid is to be separated from the sediment, filtered, and preserved. This is the Primum Ens Sanguinis, and it is used in the same manner as the Primum Ens Melissoe.

THE ALCAHEST

The celebrated Alcahest is an universal medicine whose preparation was also known to Helmont and to some Rosicrucians. It was considered by them as one of the greatest mysteries. It is prepared as follows: --

"Take freshly prepared caustic lime, if possible still warm; powder it quickly in a dry place, and put it into a retort. Add as much absolute alcohol as the powder will absorb, and distil the alcohol at a moderate heat, until the powder in the retort is left perfectly dry. The distilled alcohol is now to be poured again upon the lime, and distilled, and this operation repeated ten times. Mix the powder with the fifth part of its own weight of pure carbonate of potash. This must be done very quickly and in a dry atmosphere, so that it will not attract any moisture. Insert the mixture of the two powders into a retort and heat it gradually, after putting about two ounces of absolute alcohol into the recipient. White vapours arise from the powder, and are attracted by the alcohol, and the heating is to be continued as long as this takes place. Pour the alcohol from the recipient into a dish, and set it on fire. The alcohol burns away, and the alcahest remains in the dish. It is an excellent medicine, and is used in the same manner as the Primum Ens Melissoe" [24] On account of the great powers contained in the limestone, Paracelsus says that "many a man kicks away with his foot a stone that would be more valuable to him than his best cow, if he only knew what great mysteries were put into it by God by means of the spirit of Nature." [25]

ZENEXTON

One of the greatest sympathetic remedies of Paracelsus, for the possession of which he was envied a great deal, and the preparation of which he kept very secret, was his Zenexton. His disciple, Oswald Sroll, in his "Basilica Chemica," pp. 210-213, describes its preparation as follows: --

"Make an instrument of good steel, by which you may cut some small tablets of the size of a penny, and whose composition will be given below. The instrument consists of two discs, which can be connected together by a middle piece in the shape of a ring, forming a hollow space between the two discs, and the latter are provided with handles. Upon the inner side of one disc is engraved a snake, and the inner side of the other represents a scorpion, so that the substance which is to be put into the hollow space between the two discs will receive the impression of the snake on one side and of the scorpion on the other. The instrument is to be made at a time when sun and moon are together in the sign of Scorpion. [26] By this process the upper bodies will be joined to the lower ones in an inseparable sympathetic union."

"The substance of which the tablets are made is prepared as follows: -- Take about eighteen live toads, dry them by exposing them to the sun and the air, and powder them. They must be dried very quickly, else they will rot. Take a number of menstrual cloths from young girls; white arsenic, auro-pigment, half an ounce of each; roots of Diptamus albus and Tormentilla erecta, of each three drachms; one drachm of small pearls; red corals, pieces of hyacinths and smaragds, half a drachm of each; oriental saffron, forty grains; and a few grains of musk and amber. Powder all fine, mix it all together, and make a paste out of it with rosewater and gum-tragacanth. Make a paste out of it at the time when the moon is in the sign of Scorpion, cut into tablets, and seal them with the instrument. Dry the tablets, cover them with red silk, and wear them by a string around your neck, but they ought not to touch the bare skin. Such an amulet protects the wearer against the plague, sorcery, poison, and evil astral influences; it draws poisons out of the body, and absorbs them entirely."

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Notes:

1. See H. P. Blavatsky, "The Voice of the Silence" (Nirmanakaya's).

2. C. von Eckartshausen speaks in his "Disclosures of Magic" (1790) about the Adepts as follows: "These sages, whose number is small, are children of light, and are opposed to darkness. They dislike mystification and secrecy; they are open and frank, having nothing to do with secret societies and with external ceremonies. They possess a spiritual temple, in which God is presiding. "

They live in various parts of the earth, and do not meddle with politics; their business is to do as much good to humanity as is in their power, and to drink wisdom from the eternal fountain of truth. They never quarrel about opinions, because they know the truth. Their number is small. Some live in Europe, others in Africa, but they are bound together by the harmony of their souls, and they are therefore as one. They are joined together, although they may be thousands of miles apart from each other. They understand each other, although they speak in different tongues, because the language of the sages is spiritual perception.

"No evil-disposed person could possibly live among them, because he would be recognised immediately, for he would be incapable of being illuminated by wisdom, and as a mirror covered with mire cannot reflect the light, likewise such a soul cannot reflect the truth. But the more the soul of man grows perfect, the nearer does it approach to God, and the more will its understanding grow and its love be exalted. Thus may man enter into sanctification; he may communicate with perfect beings in the spiritual kingdom, and be instructed and guided by them. He will be a true child of God. All Nature will be subject to him, because he will be an instrument to carry out the will of the Creator of Nature. He knows the future, the thoughts and the instincts of men, because the mysteries of eternity are open before him.

"But the plans of the worldly-wise will come to nought. That which took the followers of false science centuries to accomplish will be wiped out by a single stroke of the finger of God, and a nobler generation will come, which will worship God in spirit and in truth."

3. There are three kinds of knowledge : 1. External knowledge, or scientific opinions in regard to external things (Gal. vi. 3). This knowledge leads to error, because it concentrates all the attention upon the illusory exterior of things, and keeps the mind in ignorance in regard to interior truths. 2. Knowledge received by entering into the mysteries of Nature ; comprehension of truths independent of the opinions of others. It is the beginning of wisdom (Sirach i. 16). 3. Wisdom, or the knowledge of the Supreme Cause of all effects obtained by knowledge of self (Book of Wisdom, vii. 17-27). This is the wisdom of Solomon.

There are three kinds of knowers: 1. The theorists, who deal with opinions and with illusory appearances ; the opinionated and dogmatists, sceptics, materialists, &c., who continually quarrel about their different opinions. 2. Those who are able to recognise interior truths objectively by the power of their interior perception. 3. The Adepts, who are united with God, and know everything because they know themselves, by the power of the Holy Ghost being manifest in themselves (Prov. ix. 7).

4. The doctrine of the Trinity is found in all the principal religious systems: in the Christian religion as Father, Son, and Spirit; among the Hindus as Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva; the Buddhists call it Atma, Buddhi, and Manas; the Persians teach that Ormuzd produced light out of himself by the power of his word. The Egyptians called the First Cause Ammon, out of which all things were created by the power of its own will. In Chinese, Kwan-shai-gin is the universally manifested Word, coming from the unmanifested Absolute by the power of its own will, and being identical with the former. The Greeks called it Zeus (Power), Minerva (Wisdom), and Apollo (Beauty); the Germans, Wodan (the Supreme Cause), Thor (Power), and Freia (Beauty). Jehovah and Allah are trinities of Will, Knowledge, and Power; and even the Materialist believes in Causation, Matter, and Energy.

5. There are three kinds of imagination: passive imagination, active thought, creative thought.

6. There are three kinds of birth: the birth of the flesh, of the soul, and of the spirit; and each birth has three stages: generation, germination, and fructification. The first birth is the natural birth of man; the second is the awakening of the soul, and the attainment of its power (Ephes. iv. 13) to control the desires and passions; it is, so to say, an invisible fire, penetrating the whole of the body. The third birth is the regeneration of the spirit, its awakening to spiritual consciousness. The last stage is attained by very few (i Cor. xv. 47; St. John iii. 6).

7. Krishna, Buddha, Christ.

8. "Adam." The failures of the Dhyan-Chohans.

9. The "flesh of Adam" forms the animal elements of the soul, but the flesh of Christ is the spirit (the sixth principle). All the animal principles existing in Nature exist germinally in the soul-essence of man, and may grow there and develop into entities. The whole of the animal creation is thus represented in the soul of man, because the growth of an animal passion means the growth of an animal principle in the soul. If such passions are conquered by the power of the spirit, these animal "creatures" will die and be expelled from the organism of the soul, in the same way as a decayed part of the physical body becomes separated from the physical organism; and as such processes going on in the physical form may be observed during the waking state, likewise the corresponding processes going on in the organism of the soul may be observed during a dream.

10. There are three kinds of baptism, by which three different names are received. The first baptism is only an external form, and the name is optional; the second is the baptism with the "water of truth," or the awakening of the soul to a recognition of the truth, by which a new name is received, expressing the quality and destination of the individual (I Moses xvii. 5); the third is the baptism with the "fire of the spirit," and the name which it confers expresses the power of the perfect and immortal divine man (St. John's Revelation ii. 17).

11. There are three distinct classes of mediumship: mechanical mediumship, in which the physical forces of the medium are used by extraneous influences (obsession, physical manifestations, &c.); emotional mediumship, by which the energies of the soul of the medium are stimulated and his feelings and his thoughts aroused (trance speaking and writing); spiritual mediumship, in which wisdom manifests itself through transcendentally conscious man (ecstasy, illumination).

12. It is said that "darkness is absence of light." We may say with equal truth that "light is absence of darkness;" light and darkness are certain states of the cosmic ether (A'kasa). Light is "spirit," darkness is "matter." Both have positive qualities (Gen. i. 4).

13. Plato, Seneca, Erastus, Avicenna, Averroes, Albertus Magnus, Caspalin, Cardanus, Cornelius Agrippa, Eckartshausen, and many others wrote about the palingenesis of plants and animals. Kircher resurrected a rose from its ashes in the presence of Queen Christina of Sweden, 1687. The astral body of an individual form remains with the remnants of the latter until these remnants have been fully decomposed, and by certain methods known to the alchemist it can be reclothed with matter and become visible again.

14. The value of a letter should be determined by the quality of its contents, and not by the manner in which it has been received.

15. Exod. vii 10.

16. Such manifestations of occult power may be witnessed frequently in spiritualistic seances. The reason why they seem incomprehensible to us is because we habitually look upon form as something real instead of seeing in it an illusion, and because our accepted opinions in regard to the constitution of matter are fundamentally wrong.

17. The earthly atmosphere may be, so to say, perforated by a tube or wire, carrying an electric current, and the ether (A'kasa) be “perforated" likewise by a current of spiritual force. An electric current passes unimpeded through the earth; a thought current passes unimpeded through the A'kasa.

18. The human soul is threefold: the animal, intellectual, and spiritual soul. The imperfect elements of the soul die; that which is perfect remains alive. Life is threefold: the organic life, the life of the soul, and that of the spirit.

19. There are three sources of faith: opinion, belief, and knowledge.

20. The human spirit has a twofold aspect, a human and a divine one.

21. The writings attributed to Paracelsus in regard to this subject that are known at present are partly spurious, partly fragmentary, and the translations incorrect. The extracts given below of his writings on the Elixir of Life are taken from an original MS. in private possession.

22. Compare “Five Years of Theosophy:" The Elixir of Life.

23. Lesebure, a physician of Louis XIV. of France, gives, in his "Guide to Chemistry" ("Chemischer Handleiter," Nuremberg, 1685, p. 276), an account of some experiments, witnessed by himself, with the Primum Ens Melissoe as follows: -- "One of my most intimate friends prepared the Primum Ens Melissoe, and his curiosity would not allow him to rest until he had seen with his own eyes the effect of this arcanum, so that he might be certain whether or not the accounts given of its virtues were true. He therefore made the experiment, first upon himself, then upon an old female servant, aged seventy years, and afterwards upon an old hen that was kept at his house. First he took, every morning at sunrise, a glass of white wine that was tinctured with this remedy, and after using it for fourteen days his finger and toe nails began to fall out, without, however, causing any pain. He was not courageous enough to continue the experiment, but gave the same remedy to the old female servant. She took it every morning for about ten days, when she began to menstruate again, as in former days. At this she was very much surprised, because she did not know that she had been taking a medicine. She became frightened, and refused to continue the experiment. My friend took, therefore, some grain, soaked it in that wine, and gave it to the old hen to eat, and on the sixth day that bird began to lose its feathers, and kept on losing them until it was perfectly nude; but before two weeks had passed away new feathers grew, which were much more beautifully coloured; her comb stood up again, and she began again to lay eggs."

In the "Life of Cagliostro" some such rejuvenating medicine is mentioned, and the names of some persons who succeeded in the experiment are given. These and similar facts have neither been proved nor disproved by science, but are waiting for an investigation. The judges at the trial of Cagliostro, before the tribunal of the Inquisition at Rome, were only intent to convict him; but he who can read their report "between the lines" will find a great deal that speaks in favour of Cagliostro, and much that has not been explained.

24. We give these and the following prescriptions as curiosities, for what they are worth. They contain great truths, but only those who know will be able to understand and to prepare them. Those who go to the apothecary's shop to get these remedies prepared will be disappointed.

25. The alchemistical writings of Paracelsus are as obscure for the uninitiated as those of any other alchemist, but to the initiated they are plain enough. He gives, however, many plain directions in regard to the treatment of special diseases, and which can easily be followed out. The reason why the doctrines of Paracelsus are not more extensively followed out by modern physicians is that his system is, unfortunately, little known and still less understood. The time will come when the resurrected doctrines of Paracelsus will create again a revolution in medical science, as the man Paracelsus did three hundred years ago.

26. This takes place in the Macrocosm during the time of the new moon, occurring each year between October 23 and November 23.
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Re: THE LIFE OF PHILIPPUS THEOPHRASTUS BOMBAST OF HOHENHEIM

Postby admin » Tue Sep 22, 2015 6:28 am

INDEX

INCLUDING ALL THE TERMS PECULIAR TO PARACELSUS


ABESSI, or Rebis, 29
Abortion, 110
Abuse of powers, 208
Acthna, 30
Acting at a distance, 141, 142,
146, 224
Adam and Eve, 69, 78, 99, 212
Adech, 29
Adept, 287
Admisural, 29
Adrop, Azane, or Azor, 29
Air 175
A'kasa, 30
Alcahest, 30, 202
Alchemical prescriptions, 254,
259, 30 1, 303
processes, 249, 251
Alchemist, 177, 179
Alchemy, 30, 100, 177, 238, 249
of nature, 100, 137
Alcol, 31
Allara, 76
Aluech, 31
Amor hereos, 110
Amulets, 36, 222, 303
Anatomy, 56, 172, 194
Angels, 124, 133, 134
Aniadum, 31
Animal instinct, 60, 205
man, 61
reason, 173, 205, 208, 220,
269
soul, 222
Animals, 60, 115, 205, 225
Anthropology, 63
Anyodei, 31
Apothecaries, 208, 250
Apparitions, 4, 87, 91, 107
Aquastor, 31
Arcana, 176, 213, 235
Archaeus, 31, 81, 181
Archates, or Archalles, 31
Ares, 31, 46
Astra, 264
Aspis, 112
Astral bells, 87
bodies, 32, 84, 106, 113,
123, 136, 142
cause of disease, 185, 200
currents, 149, 150, 239
entities, 107, 113, 124, 262
essence, 67
forms, 123
influences, 113, 175,
212, 215, 218, 263
life, 91
light, 32, 85, 88, 125, 210
world, 90
Astrology, 32, 216, 238
Astronomy, 90, 174
Astrum, 32, 96
Atmosphere, 150
Attraction, 200, 246, 263
Aura, 57 seminalis, 71
Authority, 163, 167, 171, 192
276, 281
Azoth, 33

BALSAM of life, 48, 81, 101, 280
Baptism, 292
Bargain with devils, 153
Basilisc, 112
Beasts, no, 125
Belief, 269, 232
Beryl, 33, 117
Birth, 290
of elements, 46
Black magic, 221, 224
Blessings, 138
Blood, 194
Blue milk, 153
Bodies, astral, 68
invisible, 81, 185, 196
seven, 81
sidereal, 81, 95
Body, the elementary, 81, 83, 95,
197, 219, 223, 23_, 264, 274,
279, 288
dissecting of, 172, 185
spiritual, 105, 288
Brain, 208
Buried treasures, 106, 117

CABALLI, 33, 101, 106
Cagliostro, Count, 301
Carpenter of the universe, 44,
219
Causes of disease, 198
Celibacy, 67, 78
Ceremonies, 109, 114, 161, 182
Chaomantia, 23
Chaos, 44, 116, 122, 262
Charms, 251
Character, 115, 177
Charity, 100
Chastity, 79
Chemistry, 238, 244
of life, 177
Cherio, 33
Children, 66, 75, 87, 160, 212,
224
Christ, 234, 276
in man, 78
magical power of, 130
Christians, 228
Church, 103, 280
Circle, 212
Clairvoyance, 115, 117, 135
Clergymen, 129, 162, 275, 282
Clissus, 33
Colic, 210
Colours, 56
Conception, 65, 73
Confidence, 149, 162, 179
Conjunction of planets, 202, 215
Conjuring spirits, 84, 150
Consciousness, 68, 131, 265
Constitution of man, 81
of Macrocosm, 215
Corals, 108
Cosmology, 44, 213
Cosmos, 44, 213
Creation, 44, 46, 50, 60, 288
Credulity, 258
Crystals, 1 17, 267
Cures by saints, 147
sympathetic, 187
Curses, 138, 161, 235

DARKNESS, 294
Darwin, 59
Death, 47, 81, 83, 97, 104, 185,
195, 197, 229, 269
apparent, 98
Decomposition, 83
Derses, 34
Desires, evil, 222
Devas, 116
Devils, 85, 124, 127, 153, 185
Digest, 70
Disciples, 236
Disease, 181, 193
Diseases, causes of, 193, 198
causes of astral, 200
causes of spiritual, 221
cured by faith, 230
cured by magic, 230
names of, 197
treatment of, 211
Dissecting corpses, 172
Divertellum, 34
Divination, 34, 118
Divine beings, 65
Divorce, 80
Dragons, 112
Dreams, 91, no, 131, 135
remembering, 136
Dropsy, 203
Durdales, 34
Dwarfs, 126
Dysentery, 210

EARTH, 8
Earthquakes, 193
Eckartshausen. (C. von), 54, 287
Edelphus, 34
Egos, 211
Electrum magicum, 34, 251, 254
Elemental spirits, 65 85
spirits of nature, 63, 119
Elementals, 34, 63, 86, 120
Elementaries, 35, 115
Elementary body, 81, 83, 95,
123, 196, 219, 238, 264, 274,
279, 288
Elements, 35, 46, 64, 90, 120,
123, 176, 213, 220
Elixir of life, 217, 298
Emanations, 221
Ens, 199
astrale, 200
deale, 227
nature, 206
seminis, 69, 201
spirituale, 221
veneni, 203
Epilepsy, 225
Erodiniuin, 35
Essence of life, 151, 218
Eternity, 229
Evestra, 35, 87
Evil desires, 162
eye, 158
imagination, 155
spirits, 113, 118, 127, 153,
157, 162
Excrements, 187
Exorcism, 85, 105

FAITH, 11, 137, 142, 147, 162,
167, 179, 226, 227, 276, 282
Familiar spirits, 116
Fancy, 141
Father, 62, 289
Fever, 197
Fifth essence, 82, 241
Fire, 46, 81, 138, 196
Firmament, 90
Flagse, 36, 116, 135
Flesh, 121, 151
Food, 159, 196, 203, 205
Foreseeing future events, 37,
Forms, 93, 115, 217, 268
Fortune-telling, n8
Freedom, 271
Fumigation, 115

GABAL, 93
Gamathei, 36
Generation of man, 63, 75, 290
Geomancy, 118
Ghosts, 83, 107, 108, 112
Giants, 36, 125
Gnomes, 36, 65, 121
God, 44, 50, 163, 169, 180, 184,
227, 234, 269, 273, 282, 281
Gold, 245
artificially made, 259
transmutation of, 260
Graveyards, 83
Growth, 283
Guardian spirits, 116

HAECKEL, 59
Hallucination, 115
Happiness, 272
Harmony, 68, 265
Haunted, houses, 89, 106
Health, 181, 207
Heart, 161, 163, 208
Heaven, 169, 196, 212
Hell, 279
Herbarium spirituale, 57
Herbs, 56, 190, 215
Hidden treasures, 117, 250
Holy Ghost, 289
water, 108
Homunculi, 36, 256
Hypericum perforatum, 190
Hypocrisy, 275
Hypnotism, 142, 236

IDEAL, 273
Ignorance, 126, 132, 282
Ilech, 36, 37
Iliaster, 37
Illusions, 197, 284
Images, 145, 148, 158, 160, 225
Imagination, 73, 109, in, 125,
137, 147, 159. 162, 221, 226
of women, 74, no, 138, 159
Immortality, 97
Impressions, 37
Impurities, 203
Incarnation, 60
Incense, 108
Incubus and Succubus, 37, 109,
in
Inner sense, 55, 114, 274
Insanity, 113
Instincts. 135
Instruction received during sleep,
132
Intelligence. 134
Intuition, 194, 283
Invisible man, 82, 131, 253, 278,
279
Invisibility, 114, 294

JUPITER, 242

KARMA, 127, 227, 228
Knowledge, 117, 129, 131, 134,
180, 214, 233, 269, 271, 275,
282, 289
artificial, 180, 274
of good and evil, 144, 211,
279
of nature, 130, 173
of self, 132, 214, 271
spiritual, 184, 268

LAPIS Philosophorum, 236, 279
Larvae, 109, no, 113
Leffas, 38
Lemures, 38, 106
Leo, 112
Letters, occult, 117, 295
closed, read, 117
Life, 46, 48, 98, 181, 209, 264,
298
chemistry of, 177
elixir of, 217, 298
essence, 151, 218
forms or vehicles, 181
universal, 217
Light of nature, 180, 195, 282,
293
-- of spirit, 282
Limbus, 38, 44, 70, 209, 211
Liquor vitae, 70, 156, 182
Logos, 44, 60, 289
Lord, 78
Love, 67, 214, 242, 272
charms, 136, 158
of self, 274
Lying spirits, 262

MACROCOSM and microcosm, 39,
47, 73 173, 193, 208, 219,
248
Magic, 38, 54, 86, 128, 150 161,
224
bells, 252
black, 139, 144, 153, 185,
221, 224
circles. 162
crystals, 117
images, 148
mirrors, 158, 251, 254
rings, 252
Magicians, 131, 153
Magistermm, 38
Magnetic cures, 188, 193
Magnets, 156, 161, 182, 188, 191,
211, 226
Man, 51, 77, 81, 119, 167, 196,
211, 280
constitution of, 81
divine, 60, 81, 278
elementary body, 95, 175
magical power in, 132
object of existence, 60, 69,
272
origin, 60, 63, 64
sidereal, 66, 82, 91,
I7V47
soul-essence of, 66
spiritual, 67, 278
anganoria, 38
Maria (Maya), 214
Marks, 89
Marriage, 67, 78
with nymphs and sylphs,
125
Mars, 200, 240, 242
Martial diseases, 192, 202
Masses for the dead, 85
Materia prima, 195, 236, 264
Matrix, 38
Matter, 48, 102, 223
primordial, 195, 236, 264
Medical science, 170, 199
wisdom, 184, 235
148,
Medicine, 54, 165, 183
practice of, 165, 229
qualification for practice,
54, 232
systems of, 199
Medicines, 56, 59, 206, 208
Mediums, 106
Mediumship, 293
Melissa, 196, 209, 240
Melosinae, 38
Menstrual blood, 155
Mercurius vivus, 236
Mercury, 204, 231, 241
Metals, 34, 99, 202, 251
Metaphysics, 39
Microcosm, 39, 47, 51, 175, 193,
208, 212, 248
Mind, 57, 102. 219
universal, 50, 125, 264
Miracles, 147, 228
Mirrors, 157, 254
Modern medicine, 207
science, 206
Modesty, 234
Moles, no
Monsters, 39, no, 125
Moon, 157, 240
evil influence of, 201
Mothers, 139
Mumia, 39, 81, 101, 151, 185,
of the dead, 152
Mysteries, 48, 237
Mysterium magnum, 40, 44, 101
Mysticism, 40

NATIVITIES, calculating of, 261
Natural man, 184
physician, 54, 178, 180, 214,
247
Nature, 47. 51, 132, 173, 212,
233, 267, 283
light of, 133, 180, 233
love of, 214
Necrocomica, 40
Necromancy, 40, 89, 225
Nectromancy, 40
Nenufareni, 40
Nerve aura, 71
Numbers, 275
Nutriment, 265
Nymphs, 91, 121

OBJECT of existence, 60, 69, 272
Obsession, 106, 113, 162
cure of, 113
Occult phenomena, 86, 89, 106,
160, 246, 253, 294
Odic force, 151
Omens, 88, 91, 135
Onanism, 80
Opinions, 233, 269, 282
Organs, 208, 220
Origin of disease, 183, 193, 198,
204, 208

PALINGENESIS, 100, 255, 294
Paracelsus, life, 1
tomb, 9
writings, 33
Paragranum, 41
Paramirum, 41, 198
Parasites, 113
Passions, 105, 226
Patients, 177, 161, 234
Penates, 41
Penetrability, 265, 295
Pentacula, 41
Perception, 210, 233, 247, 267
Phantasmata, 41, 108
Philosopher's stone, 4, 279
Philosophy, 63, 170, 266, 274
Physicians, 55, 165, 168, 178, 183,
199, 200, 214, 227, 232
Physiology, 195
Pillars of medicine, 170
Plague, 156
Planets, 209, 214, 217, 241
Plants, 56, 189, 202
planetary correspondences,
56, 216
properties, occult, 190
rules for gathering, 216
Plato, 47
Pneumatology, 103
Poisons, 114, 157, 175, 203, 206,
236
Pollutions, no
Power, 277, 285
Practice of medicine, 165, 198,
228, 229
Praesagium, 41, 118, 135
Praying, 163, 281
Predictions, 1 18
Prevision, 135
Prescriptions, 250, 303
Primordial essence, 49, 99, 236,
300
Primum ens, 49, 299
ens melissse, 301
ens sanguinis, 302
Principles, 208, 220, 241,
seven, 81
Prophecy, 90, 131
Prophets, 92
Punishment, 228
Purification, 206
Pygmaei, 41

QUACKERY, 163, 165, 174, 183,
185, 210, 233, 250
Qualification of a physician,
178
Quintessence, 82, 241

REASON, 211, 269
Reasoning. 211, 274
Regeneration, 273
Reincarnation, 278
Rejuvenation, 249
Relics of saints, 147
Remedies, 207
against obsession, 190
against witchcraft, 162, 224,
226
Repercussio, 224
Resistance, 162, 224
Resurrection, 49, 295

SAGANI, 41
Saints, 125, 163, 281
-working miracles, 147
Salamanders, 41, 91, 121
Salt, 41, 204, 231
Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury, 41,
197, 231, 247, 249
Sapientia, 169
Saturn, 243
Scaiolae, 41
Science, 63, 127, 132, 178, 207,
253, 244, 276
Second sight, 132
Self-control, 55, 284
Self-possession, 99
Self-thinking, 171
Semen, 71, no
Separation, 246
Seven metals, 251
planets, 241, 245
principles, 241
Sex, 73
Sexual intercourse, 80
Sexuality, 71, 79
Sidereal body, 41, 140
Signatures, 55, 189, 209
Sins against nature, 208
Sirens, 126
Sleep, 91, 93, 96, 132, 221
Sodomy, 112
Sorcerers, 92, 153
Sorcery, 113, 128, 144, 185, 225
262
Sortilegium, 119
Soul, 49, 67, 71, I03, 123, 163,
244, 283
of things, 71
Speculation, 63, 171, 272
Sperma, 72, 109
Spirit, 42, 46, 59, 65, 95,115, 131
223, 284,
Spirits, 116, 141, 163, 223, 262
of the departed, 85, 92, 101,
296
earth-bound, 100, 106
of many kinds, 1 16, 125
of nature, 63, 119
red and blue, 257
Spiritism, 42, 85, 101, 106, 117,
119, 262
Spiritual essence, 65, 81
cause of disease, 113
consciousness, 67, 131
knowledge, 129, 268
perception, 65, 155
Spiritualism, 42, 85, 297
Spiritualistic phenomena, 85, 89,
92, 117, I35i52, 239
Spirituality, 151, 163, 236, 241
Spiritus animalis, 42
vitae, 42
Stars, 56, 201, 212, 217, 265
and plants, 56, 215, 241,
246, 262, 269
Substance, 49, 219, 233, 247
Succubi, 37, 109, 111
Suicides, 100, 105
Sulphur, 204, 231
Sun, 156, 194, 214, 242
Supernatural, 129
Superstition, 127, 190, 277
Sylvestres, 121
Sympathetic remedies, 187, 189
Sympathy, 47, 58, 100, 177
Systems of medicine, 229

TALISMAN, 263
Tartaric diseases, 204
Tartarus, 204
Teaching during sleep, 96
Temperaments, 71
Theosophists, 268, 272
Theosophy, 42, 266, 273
Therapeutics, 198, 207
Thought, 221
naturalised, 57, 65, 140,
239
transfer, 142, 296
Three substances, 64, 197, 204,
231, 233, 247, 249
worlds, 263
Tiffereau, 260
Tinctura physica, 236, 250
Transformation, 245, 295
Transmutation, 247, 295
Transplantation of disease, 188
Trarames, 42, 87
Treatment of disease, 189, 193,
199, 211, 217.
Trinity, 248, 289
Tritheim, Abbot, 244
Truth, 172, 233
seeking of, 131
Turba, 89

UMBRATILES, 43
Undines, 91, 121
Union with God, 273
Unity, 47, 172
Universal mind, 141, 207,
264
Universe, 47, 172

VACCINATION, 166, 185
Vampires, 43, 107, 226
Vegetarianism, 151
Vehicles, 59, 98, 1 86, 276, 283
Venus, 208, 241, 242
Vibrations, 104, 207
Virtue of a physician, 168
Visions, 87, 91, 92, 94

WARNING to dabblers in alchemy,
147, 245, 278
Wax figures in magic, 140, 158,
160
Weather-making, 150
Wisdom, 127, 130, 168, 179, 188,
214, 262, 269, 271, 274, 282,
284
Witchcraft, in, 144, 148, 153
Witches, no, 112, 157, 226
signs of, 160
Will, 204, 222, 225
acting at a distance, 140
Will-power, 108, 141, 177, 179,
225
Will-spirit, 123, 161
Woman, 73, 76, 156, 203
Word, 60, 290
Worlds, invisible, 63, 263

XENI nephidei, 43

YLIASTER, 43, 44, 46

ZENEXTON, 303
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