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.
The practice of medicine is the art of restoring the sick to health. Modem medicine is, to a great ex¬ tent, 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 call¬ ing themselves physicians, it is merely a method of making money and gratifying their vanity.1
Four hundred years ago Paracelsus spoke the fol¬ lowing 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 to-day. 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
1 Is not even now the scientific world continually engaged in seek¬ ing 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 ?
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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 ciu’ing the sick, but in worming yourself into the fa¬ vour 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 preten¬ sions and ignorance to the public ? ”
There are three kingdoms acting in the constitu¬ tion of man, an outer, an inner, and an innermost principle ; namely, the external physical body ; the inner (astral) man, and the innermost centre or God. 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 God. Nevertheless, it is God who created and supports the inner man, and the outer form is the way in which the inner man is outwardly
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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 there¬ fore able to change his nature and to restore the health of his physical form.
The medicine of Paracelsus deals not merely with the external body of man, which belongs to the world of effects, but also with the inner man and with the world of causes ; leaving never out of sight the universal presence of the divine cause of all things. It is therefore a holy science, and the prac- tice of medicine a sacred mission, such as cannot b understood by those who are godless ; neither can di • vine power be conferred by diplomas and academical, degrees. A physician who has no faith, and conse¬ quently 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 greatest and highest of all qualifications which a physician should possess is Sapientia — i.e., Wisdom — and without this qualification all his learn¬ ing 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
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may be found without any interpolation or error. In and through Him alone shall we be able to find wis¬ dom and to act wisely, and without Him all our learning will be mere foolishness. As the sun shines upon us from above, likewise the talents necessary for the exercise of an 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 wis¬ dom 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.”
“ 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 ex¬ ternal things lie will be a pseudo-medicus and an ignoramus. God is the Great First Cause in and from wrhich all things came into existence, and all our knowiedge should therefore come from God and not from man-made authorities.” (“ Labyrintlius Medicorum.”)
“A physician should exercise his art — not for his own sake — but for the sake of the patient; if he practises merely for his own benefit, such a physi-
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cian 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 upon the highroad, 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 man¬ ifest 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 dis¬ eases 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.
“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 with¬ out being experienced. He should know the laws of
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nature, but above all the constitution of man, the in¬ visible 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 knowl¬ edge of physical natiu-e; 2, Astronomy, i.e., a knowl¬ edge 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.
1. A physician should be a philosopher, i.e., ac¬ quainted 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 lias 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 om- possession ; but error is long, and many die before finding the art.” (“ Cerumen taria in Aphorismas Hippocratis.”)
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“A physician must be a Philosopher ; that is to say, he must dare to use his own reason and not cling to antiquated opinions and book-authorities. He must above all be in possession of that faculty which is called Intuition, and which cannot be ac¬ quired by blindly following the footsteps of another; he must be able to see his own way. There are natural philosophers and there are artificial philoso¬ phers. 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 your¬ self, 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 knowl¬ edge of what Aristoteles, Galen, Avicenna, and other accepted authorities have imagined 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 14
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inherit it from the latter ; it is planted in him by his eternal parent and grows and increases in him by practice.”
“ By the power of wisdom man is enabled to recog¬ nize the unity of the All, and to perceive that the microcosm of man is the counterpart of the macro¬ cosm 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 wiiicli 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 false; the former is the true gold; the latter is merely an imitation wThich 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 pax-t of the human body diseased, he must look for the causes wiiich produce the disease, and not merely treat the external effects. Philos¬ ophy — 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, crip-
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pling, and killing liis patients in Nomine Domini as lie did in tlie 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 latter 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 con¬ stitution 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 realization 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 time 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.”
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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, etc., 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 suf¬ ficient that a physician should be able to judge about to-day, he should also know what to-morrow 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 in¬ tellect in his brain ; but he should listen to the divine voice which speaks in his heart and learn to under¬ stand 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 mer¬ cenary 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
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his art with his soul is a quack, an adulterer, and an impostor.” (“Comm, in Aplior. Hippocr.”)
Man’s body is itself a product of mind and its con¬ dition 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 invis¬ ible. 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 macro¬ cosm, 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, etc., neither more nor less; for the micro¬ cosm 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
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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; neverthe¬ less, they act upon man, and the same takes place with other invisible influences. If the air becomes vitiated, it may poison man’s body ; if the astral in¬ fluences are in a state of corruption, they may 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 ex¬ ternal corporeal form.”
“ The things which we see are not the active princi¬ ples, but merely the corpus containing them; the visible forms are merely external expressions of in¬ visible 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 ora particular life and inhabitants ; 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 albu¬ men 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 in¬ visible part acts upon the visible one, but only the
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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 recognize 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 in¬ ternal invisible one. There is not a single invisible power in heaven which does not find its correspond¬ ing 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 con¬ sist 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 what¬ ever is enclosed within the circle may be regarded as medicine. A powerful will may cure where doubt will end in a failure. The character of the physician may act 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
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so a physician without religion and firmness will be a failure. Alchemy — i.e., the employment of strong will, benevolence, charity, patience, etc., is, therefore, the principal cornerstone in the practice of medi¬ cine.”
“The psychical surroundings of the patient may 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 Avisli for his death. In a case of sickness, the patient, the physician, and the atten¬ dants should be — so to say — all one heart and one soul, and the latter should always keep in mind the doctrine of Christ, which says: “Thou shalt love thy neighbour like thyself.” (“ Comm, in Aph. Hip- pocr.”)
“ The physician should be well versed in physical science. He should know the action of medi¬ cines and learn by his own experience and by the experience of others. He should know how to regu¬ late 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 dis¬ ease is like a plant, which may grow to a big tree if it is not rooted out Avhile it is young. A child may cut doAvn an oak when it first comes out of an acorn ; but in time it will require a strong man and an axe to cut it doAATl.
“ A physician should be learned, and profit by the experience of others ; but blessed is he who knows the living medicine and hoAv to obtain it. He knows that there are innumerable remedies in nature, AvliicL
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are the Magnolia, Dei — i.e., the mysteries of God, hidden from the eyes of the vulgar, but opened to the spiritual perception of the wise.” (“Comm.”)
4. The physician must have the natural qualifica¬ tion 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., in that which he believes the authors of those books to have known ; the art of the tine 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 phy-
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sician who is seen to be untruthful, uncertain, 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 ; 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 in the fire and seeking their pastime within their own labor¬ atory. They do not talk much or praise their medi¬ cines ; 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 with¬ out the power of the Will ; but the will of man is not his product and does not belong to man ; it belongs to God, and has merely been lent to man ; the latter 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 pre-
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tend 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, un- cliastity, pomposity, and self-conceit, because these vices are the outcome of ignorance and incompatible with the light of divine wisdom which should illumi¬ nate the mind of the true physician ; but our prac¬ titioners 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 realize 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 phy¬ sicians and there are born physicians. The latter pos¬ sess their talent from birth, and it may be unfolded and grow like a tree if it is properly mused. 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 iden¬ tical ; 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 recognize the disease. He should give to his patient his utmost attention, he should identify himself heart and soul with the latter,
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and this cannot be done without charity and benevo¬ lence. He who loves only himself and his own profit will be of little benefit to the sick, for he will neglect the patient. To recognize the disease of the latter and to be able to benefit him, entire harmony should exist between the physician and the patient ; a physi¬ cian who loves his art for its own sake will also be charitable towards the sick.” (“ Etiolog. of Diseases.”)
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 pre¬ served, it acts in that entity as a whole ; if the form is broken up and loses its character, it manifests it¬ self 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 at¬ tracted to other centres.
If the activity of the life principle takes place in a form in a normal 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 ab¬ normally or irregularly, such a state is called “ dis¬ ease.”
This principle of life is called by Paracelsus, Ar- chaeus. It is not a material substance, in the usual
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acceptation of that term, but a spiritual essence, everywhere present and invisible. It may cause or cure disease according to the conditions under which it acts, as it may be pure or impure, healthy or poi¬ soned by other influences. The animal organism at¬ tracts it from its surroundings and from the nutri¬ ments which enter into its form ; it may assimilate it, and lose 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 ethe¬ real 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.” (“ De Generatione Hominis.”)
“ The Archaeus is an essence that is equally dis¬ tributed in all parts of the human body, if the lat¬ ter is in a healthy condition ; it is the invisible nu¬ triment from which the visible body draws its strength, and the qualities of each of its parts corre¬ spond to the nature of the physical parts that contain it. The Spiritus Vitae takes its origin from the Spir- itus Mundi. Being an emanation of the latter it con¬ tains 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 at-
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tracts or repulses 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 may be made to act at a distance. In those semi-material rays the imagination of man may produce healthy or morbid effects. It may poison the essence of life and cause diseases, or it may 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 recognize 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,1 and the science of curing internal diseases consists almost entirely in the removal of causes that have produced some me¬ chanical obstruction. But the number of diseases that originate from some unknown causes is far great¬ er than those that come from mechanical causes, and for such diseases our physicians know no cure, be¬ cause 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
1 Such as are caused by overloading the stomach with food, constipa¬ tion of the bowels, obstructions, etc.
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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 mer¬ cury, 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 it¬ self to the knowledge of the physician, but the phy¬ sician 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 unrea¬ sonable 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 study¬ ing only the appearance of the exterior man, we will never come to an end, because each man’s constitu¬ tion 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
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recognize 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.”1 (“ Paragra- num.”)
“ 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 be¬ ginning 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 invis¬ ible causes of disease, and which is Magic, and that which causes merely external effects to disappear, and which is Psychic, Sorcery, and Quackery.” a
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
1 This mode of reasoning is as applicable upon the state of medical science to-day as it was at the time of Paracelsus.
5 It would be interesting to find out how many chronic diseases and life-long evils are caused by vaccination. If the organism contains some poisonous elements, Nature may attempt to remove it by an expulsive effort caused by the action of the spirit from the centre toward the periph¬ ery, and producing cutaneous diseases. If by vaccination a new herd is established to attract the diseased elements (mumia), the manifesta¬ tion 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.
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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 compre¬ hension of the ignorant. They therefore look upon such ciu-es 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.” 1
“ There is a twofold power active in man — an in¬ visibly 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 latter dies and putrefies ; and by impregnating a dying body with vitality it may be made to live again. The in¬ visible 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
1 ThiB invisible Mumia, that may be transferred from one living being to another, is nothing else but the vehicle of life, or “ animal magnet- ism,”
15
"226
PARACELSUS.
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 in¬ visible 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 clielidonium 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 clielidonium 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 latter are not destroyed. That which constitutes life is contained in the Mumia, and by imparting the Mumia ive impart life. The visi¬ ble body seems to see and to talk, and yet we do
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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 may act from one living being directly upon another, or it may be connected with some material and visible vehicle, and be employed in that shape.” 1 (“ De Origine Morbor. Invisibilium.” )
“ Man possesses a magnetic power by which he may 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 re¬ mained for a time in the human body, and are pene¬ trated by his vitality. Such substances are the hair, the excrements, urine, blood, etc. 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 mag¬ net is applied to a part of the patient’s body, it at¬ tracts and absorbs vitality from that part in the same
1 Paracelsus, not Mesmer, is the original discoverer of so-called Mes¬ merism.
228
PARACELSUS.
manner as a sponge absorbs water, and it may thereby allay the inflammation existing in such a part, because it will attract the superabundance of magnet¬ ism carried to that place by the rush of the blood. The Mumia coming from the body of a person con¬ tinues to remain for a while in sympathetic relation¬ ship (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 ex¬ tracted by that plant, and lose its diseased matter, and re-act in a beneficial manner upon the Mumia contained in the body of the patient ; but it is nec¬ essary that the selected plant should be one which bears the signature of the disease with which the pa¬ tient is affected, so that it may attract the specific in¬ fluence from the stars. In this way diseased elements may be magnetically extracted out of a person and inoc¬ ulated 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 may be transferred upon other per¬ sons ; and many practices of sorcery are based upon that fact.1 In this way diseases may be cured in one
1 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, etc., may 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. Occasion¬ ally such a “ magnet ” is buried under the doorstep of an enemy, so as
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person and caused to appear in another; love be¬ tween 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, Sym¬ phytum officinal, Botanus europeus, etc. The latter plant may be brought for a while into contact with the ulcer, and then be buried in manure. As it rots, the ulcer heals. In toothache the gums may 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
to cause the latter 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, Helmont, 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 byway 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 luke¬ warm water or milk, and this is given to a hungry dog to eat. The proc¬ ess may be repeated several times, until the patient recovers.
“The excrements of the patient may be dried as described above, and pulverized ; 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 iB planted into it. After the plant has grown awhile, it is thrown into running water in cases of fevers and in¬ flammations, but in cases of a humid character or in lymphatic affections ■t should be hung into smoke.”
230
PARACELSUS.
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 may be taken from the groins and planted with Polygonum persicaria. In menorrlicBa 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 may be planted directly into such trees. The (fresh) urine of a patient may be heated in a new pot over a fire, and an egg be boiled in it. When the egg is hard boiled, some holes may be made into the egg, and the tuine 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 may recover. 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 may also be cured by transplantation, if the diseased part is covered for a while with a piece of fresh beef, until the sweat en¬ ters into it, and the beef is then given to a cat to eat.1
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 signature, and being perforated they signify that this plant
1 An intelligent physician will neither accept nor reject the sympa¬ thetic cures to which the directions given above refer, although they may seem to be absurd and based upon superstition. The term super¬ stition signifies a belief in something of which we have no knowledge, but if we understand the rationale of a thing, the superstition ends.
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drives away all phantasmata existing in the sphere of man. The phantasmata produce spectra, in con¬ sequence of which a man may 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, etc. The hypericum is almost a universal medicine.”' (“De Naturali- bus.”)
Paracelsus was well acquainted 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 Les¬ sing proved already in 1769 that the real discoverer of animal magnetism was Paracelsus.
In regard to the powers of the magnetism Paracel¬ sus 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 mag¬ nets 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
1 Have those who ridicule this statement ever employed the hyperi¬ cum in cases of hallucination ?
232
PARACELSUS.
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.” 1
“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 mag¬ net 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
1 The knowledge of the therapeutic use of the magnet has not ad¬ vanced much since the days of Paracelsus. Baron Reichenbach inves¬ tigated the subject in a scientific manner, but the result of his experi¬ ments is still ignored by the medical profession as a whole.
MEDICINE.
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should be laid upon the centre, and it will then at¬ tract the diseased aura towards the centre, and cir¬ cumscribe and localize the disease, until the latter may be re-absorbed into its centre. 1 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 can 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 will 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 may 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 espe¬ cially useful in all inflammations, in fluxes and ulcer¬ ations, in diseases of the bowels and uterus, in inter¬ nal as well as in external disease.”
“ The magnet has a front (north pole) and a back (south pole) ; the former attracts and the latter re¬ pulses. In a case of hystery the attracting part of the magnet is applied above the uterus, and the repulsing part of another magnet below. In this way the ner¬ vous 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
1 If we remember that the blood corpuscles, and consequently ako the nerve auras, contain iron this statement appears very rational.
234
PARACELSUS.
nervous fluid towards the brain, the repulsing (neg¬ ative) 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 understand¬ ing 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 re¬ absorbed 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 there¬ by 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, etc., and the Macrocosm of the earth may be affected with earthquakes, rain- spouts, 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 ele¬ ments constituting his blood corresponds to the quality of the invisible influences radiating from Mars ; if the soul-essences that characterize the influences of Venus had not existed, the instincts which cause men
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and animals to propagate their species would not exist, and thus every plauet 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 per¬ ception, which cannot be taught in books, but must be acquired by art.
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 con¬ tained in the great world. Therefore his soul and mind are as much parts of his true constitution as are the terrestrial 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 explained 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 exter¬ nal 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
236
PARACELSUS.
the physical body, its bones, muscles, blood-vessels, etc. ; and 2. the more important material anatomy — i.e., the anatomy of the living inner man. The lat¬ ter is the kind of anatomy which it is most impor¬ tant 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 Ul¬ tima materia. By dividing and dissecting the exter¬ nal body, we can learn nothing about the inner man, we merely destroy the unity of the whole.” (“ Para- mir.” 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 spir¬ itual essences contained within the gross particles).
“ 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 hereto¬ fore invisible becomes visible. The physician should
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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 phy¬ sical germ, and requires physical nutriment for its support. There is something like a fire within our¬ selves 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, etc. ; but in each morsel of food which we eat, there is contained the material required to replace that which has been con¬ sumed by that internal fire. Each part of our organ¬ ism selects what it needs, and that which is superflu¬ ous or useless is rejected. The Master in man, who superintends the building up of the organism, sup¬ plies 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 lat¬ ter 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 con¬ stituting our corporeal form on the day of the resur¬ rection.” (“ Paramir.” i. 8.)
“ Heaven and Earth, air and water are scientifically
238
PARACELSUS.
considered a Man, and man is a world containing a heaven and an earth, air and water and all the vari¬ ous principles which constitute the mineral, vegeta¬ ble 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, etc. There are innumerable princi¬ ples 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 mill¬ ion 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 nat- iue which consumes that which is impure and sepa¬ rates 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 ovuselves 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
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green, but merely appear to be so to the eye. Death too has its colours, and if the coloim of death takes the place of the coloim 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 Sulphur is incensi. ‘ Apoplexy ’ is a mis¬ nomer ; because it is caused by a sublimation of Mer¬ cury, and ought to be more properly called Mercu- rius CcLcliinialis Sublimatus. The same may be said in regard to many other diseases and their misno¬ mers. 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 physi¬ cian? 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 can¬ not 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.”
“If we wish to restore health, we should be able
240
PARACELSUS.
to use the virtues contained in all the four elements of the celestial and terrestrial realm. Man’s organ¬ ism is composed of many parts ; if one part is dis¬ eased, 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 Booh of the Causes and the Be¬ ginning 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 divis¬ ions ; but for the sake of helping our finite under¬ standing, which is not able to grasp the power of the Infinite, we are forced to accept the theory of a vari¬ ety 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 dis¬ eases into five classes, which are as follows : — Ens Astrale, Ens Venenale, Ens Naturale , Ens Spirituale ,
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and Ens Dfcile ; but the latter is the fundamental cause of everything that exists.”
“ As there are five causes of disease, there are like¬ wise five different methods of treating diseases, and five classes of faculties or sects of physicians which follow these methods. Each method is alone suffi¬ cient 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 him¬ self to the one he has chosen to adopt. 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 obser¬ vation 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 recognize 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.
16
242
PARACELSUS.
1. Diseases caused by Astral Causes.
“ The world is the Macrocosm and man the Micro¬ cosm, and the elements of all that exists in the for¬ mer 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 in¬ fluence 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 infec¬ tion exist. If no germs of disease exist in our at¬ mosphere, the astral influences coming from the out¬ side will cause no harm. If evil elements exist in the sphere of our soul, they attract such astral in¬ fluences 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,1 a great many fish may die, and no one may know the cause.” (“ Paramirum.”)
1 Such influences consist in certain states of electricity, magnetism, and other ‘‘ forces,” for which modern science has no names and modern languages no words.
MEDICINE.
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“ 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 Em 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, yet may 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 and man is nourished by the chaos. Within man are the sun and moon, the planets and all the rest of the stars and also the chaos." (“ Para- gran.” ii.)
“ The moon exercises a very bad influence, espe¬ cially at the time of the new moon, which may be very injurious for persons whose sidereal bodies possess magnetic elements that will attract that influ¬ ence, and the conjunction of the moon with certain other planets may make her influence still more in¬ jurious. For instance, a conjunction of the moon, Yenus, and Mars may give rise to the plague ; a con¬ junction with Saturn to certain acute diseases, etc.,
244
PARACELSUS.
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.”
“ There are certain stars whose influence corre¬ sponds to the medical qualities of certain metals, and others that correspond to those of certain plants, and they may 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 under¬ stand the cause and cure of astralic diseases, because he may 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 may 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 may act beneficially upon the patient.” 1
1 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
MEDICINE.
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“ If, for instance, a woman is deficient in the ele¬ ment whose essence radiates from Mars, and conse¬ quently suffers from poverty of the blood and want of nervous strength (anaemia), we may give her iron, be¬ cause the astral elements of iron correspond to the astral elements contained in Mars, and will attract them as a magnet attracts iron. But we should choose a plant which contains iron in an etherealized state, which is preferable to that of metallic iron. 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 may be cured. The same mode of reasoning may be applied in all other astralic dis¬ eases.”
2. Diseases caused by Poisonous Substances and Impurities.
“ Everything is perfect in itself and nothing is im¬ pure 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 may enter the human organism in various ways. They may be taken in the food or drink, they may be inhaled with the air,
human system therapeutic science knows less to-day than at the time of Paracelsus, because it is fashionable among certain scientists to re¬ ject everything which they cannot see, as being “ unworthy of their consideration.”
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or be absorbed by the skin. There are visible and invisible poisonous substances, and some substances that are not injurious if they enter the organism alone, may become poisonous if they come into contact with others. There are poisons and impurities of various kinds, and what may be healthy food for one organism may be injurious if taken into another, and each thing contains hidden virtues that may be useful for some beings while they are evil for others. The salamander eats fire, the ox eats grass, the peacock may 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 in¬ ternal diseases are also originating within the will. All diseases, such as are not caused by any external mechanical 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 ulti¬ mately finds its expression on the external visible plane, and it is not necessary that the diseased person should be conscious of such an inharmonious action, for the will in him also produces the harmonious movements of his internal organs without his 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 per¬ verted, impure or opposed to good, diseases of such
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an origin are called by Paracelsus “ Tartaric Dis¬ eases.”
“ First of all should the physician know that there are three invisible substances which by their coagula¬ tion form the physical body of man, and which are symbolized as ‘sulphur, mercury, and salt.’ The ‘ sulphur ’ represents the auras and ethers, the ‘ mer¬ cury ’ the fluids, and the ‘ salt ’ the material and cor¬ poreal 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 may re¬ quire. 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 every¬ thing 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.)
“ 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 may extract the essence of life out of things Avhich he is forced to reject. Man extracts the more refined essences from food ; but a hog, for instance,
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may 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 chink things which are in- jurious to them, and they select by their natural in¬ stincts those things which they require ; it is only given to intellectual man to disobey his natural in¬ stincts, and to eat or drink things which are injurious to him, but which may gratify some artificially ac¬ quired taste. Man is much more subject to diseases than animals in a state of liberty, because the latter 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 chinking. 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 re¬ quires a period of rest and a renewal of strength to expel the accumulated poisonous elements. If the physician attempts to prevent such an expulsion of poisonous elements, he attempts a crime against Nat¬ ure, and may cause the death of his patient. If he weakens in such cases the strength of his patient by abstracting blood, he may become his murderer. Rheumatism and gout, dropsy, and many other dis¬ eases, are often caused by such accumulations of im¬ pure or superfluous elements, and Nature cannot re¬ cover until such elements are expelled and the vital power of the organs restored. While the organism
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is weakened and its vitality on the wane, the germs of other diseases may develop by attracting injurious astral influences, because its power of resistance is enfeebled, and thus one kind of a disease may grow out of another.” (“ De Ente Veneni.”)
3. Ens Naturce. Diseases arising from the condition of nature, i.e.,from psychological causes.
The world of corporeal forms is an external ex¬ pression 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 suporifca, diaplioretica ; she says that Aloes increases the peri¬ staltic movements of the bowels and that strychnine paralyzes the nerves, etc. ; but why these remedies act thus and not otherwise, this she does not explain.
Modem medicine requires, so to say, a sledge-ham¬ mer for killing a fly ; but the finer natural remedies, such as have not a merely mechanical, gross, imme¬ diate, and destructive action, they have almost entirely disappeared from the pharmacopoeia and as harmless
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and useless nothing 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 regular physician and therefore the effects produced are not so apparent to the eye ; but while the finer forces of nature silently and noiselessly act upon the body of the patient, the poisonous 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 capa¬ ble to become manifest as a plant ; that the whole world consists of various states of will power, 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 originally out of one will, they are all re¬ lated together and may be made to act upon each other by the law of induction. Each thing, from the sun down to a tumor in the body of an animal, constitutes a certain state of vibration of the one original will, and by applying a remedy which is in a near relation to a diseased organ (according to the quality of its will) we may induce a healthy ac¬ tion in that organ and thus restore its normal condi¬ tion.
“ 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
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by stimulating drinks, which force it to perform more than its natural and legitimate amount of work ; the kidneys may be irritated by stimulating and poison¬ ous drinks, and become weak, or inflamed, or enlarged, on accoiuit of their overwork ; the same may be said of the liver ; the sexual powers may become pre¬ maturely exhausted by excesses, and the health of women be destroyed by the unnatural frequency by which natural acts are performed. Animals live ac¬ cording to their nature, and it is only given to reason- ning man to argue against his instincts, to neglect to listen to the warning voice of his nature, and to mis¬ use the organism with which he has been entrusted by the creative power of God. In many cases of lost vitality the weakened organs may 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 for¬ get them. We may therefore often trust to her re¬ cuperative powers, and Nature may 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
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PARACELSUS.
with Saturn, etc. 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 in¬ fluences the low ; and in the Microcosm and Macro¬ cosm all thing stand in intimate sympathetic relation¬ ship with each other, for all are the children of one universal father.”
Not only is Man a compendium of invisible forces, having grown into corporeal shape ; every animal, plant, and mineral is a corporified principle, a mate¬ rialized power or a combination of such, and the As¬ tronomy 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 3Ielis- sa, 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.”)
“ All natural forms bear their signature, which in¬ dicates their true nature. Minerals, vegetables, and animals remain true to their nature, and their forms indicate their character. Man, who has become un¬ natural, is the only being whose character often be¬ lies his form, because while his character may have
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changed into that of an animal, his form has retained the human shape. Such men would have to re-enter the Limbus of nature and to 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 benefac¬ tors of mankind, while they in reality care for noth¬ ing but for the gratification of their ambition and lusts, would be born in the shape of monkeys, camels and buffaloes.” (“ De Philosopliia.”)
“ He is not a physician who can see only that which is visible to every boor. The experienced gar¬ dener can tell by looking at a seed what kind of a plant may 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 may also know the origin of dysentery ; he who knows the origin of the winds, may know how colic originates ; he who knows the periodical influences of the seasons, may know the origin of intermittent fevers ; he who knows the ebbs and tides in the macrocosm, may know the cause of menorrhagias of the microcosm, etc. 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 tine physician studies the causes of diseases by studying the universal man. In him exist all the diseases that did exist in the past or will exist in the future. The destroyer is not a
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PARACELSUS.
physician, but an executioner and murderer. Let the honest man ask his own conscience, whether God meant that we should acquire wisdom by murder ? ” (“Paragran.” i.)
“ As the sunshine penetrates through a glass win¬ dow into a room, likewise 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 im¬ penetrable to it, so there are certain elements in man’s organization 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 must look upon man as an integral part of univer¬ sal 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 in¬ fluences 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 at¬ tracts evil and is rendered worse thereby. Innumer¬ able are the Egos in man ; in him are angels and dev¬ ils, heaven and hell, the whole of the animal creation, the vegetable and mineral kingdom ; and as the indi¬ vidual little man may be diseased, so the great uni¬ versal man has his diseases which manifest them¬ selves as the ills that affect humanity as a whole. Upon this fact is based the prediction of future events.” (“ Paragran.”)
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“ 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 win¬ ter ; 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 detri¬ ment 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 versd, 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 macrocos- mic influences stimulates the corresponding elements (the Corpora 3Iicrocosmi 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 phys¬ ical 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 mi¬ crocosm of man. Adam is not the father of man,
256
PARACELSUS.
nor is Eve his mother ; they were both human beings themselves. The first man was a product of creation, and all created things constitute the Limbus (Nat¬ ure). Man is born from the Limbus and still re¬ mains 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 cor¬ responding 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 a part of the universal Man, and has his own individual heaven, which is a part of the universal heaven. If all chil¬ dren were bom 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 differ¬ entiation takes place, and each child receives his own individual heaven, which, however, still remains an integral part of the universal heaven 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
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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 ele¬ ments, 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. 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 form. 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 ani¬ mals 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 inner heaven 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. If the two opposites in the consti¬ tution of man (heat and cold, love and hatred, etc.) are at war with each other, each of them asks for help from their common mother (Nature), and the physi- 17
258
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cian 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.”
“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 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 ob¬ tain the power to employ her forces. No one can be made into an artist or inventor if he has not the natural capacity for it ; no one can be a good physi¬ cian 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 Wisdom, and not for the aggrandizement 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 con¬ tribute 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, etc., are the
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bodily representatives of certain activities, likewise the sun and the moon, Venus, Mars, etc., are the visible representatives of the corresponding organs of the Cosmos. If a man gets angry, it is not be¬ cause 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 ele¬ ments takes place in his body, an ebullition of jeal¬ ousy may be the cause ; and if such an internal con¬ junction should take place at a time when conjunc¬ tion of the planets Mars and Venus takes place in the sky, the sympathetic relationship existing be¬ tween the elements representing these planets in the Microcosm with the elements represented by those of the Macrocosm may lead to serious consequences unless counteracted by the superior power of reason and will.” 1
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 plants who are the earthly representations of astral influences corre¬ sponding to the qualities of the stars, and which will attract the influences of the stars to which they are
1 It would be interesting to collect statistics of crimes, showing ex¬ actly the time when they have taken place, and comparing the latter with the time of the conjunctions of the planets existing at the same longitude and latitude.
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PARACELSUS.
sympathetically related. By using such plants as medicine we attract the planetary 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 princi¬ pal diseases in which they may be used with advan¬ tage. It wall, 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 re¬ lated rales the hour, and its essence should be ex¬ tracted as long as it is fresh.
Sun. — Rosmarinus officinalis, Lavandula officinalis, Salvia officinalis, Satureja officinalis, Melissa officinalis. (Acute inflammations, diseases of the heart, rheuma¬ tism, etc.)
Moon. — Thymus majorana, Helleborus niger, Ruta grave- olens. (To be used in insanity, hysteria, nervous dis¬ eases, etc.)
Mercury. — Pulmonaria off., Althrea off., Plantago laureola. (Pneumonia, catarrh, phthisis pulmonalis, inflamma¬ tions of mucous membranes.)
Venus. — Ononis spinosa, Verbascum thapsus, Apium petro- selinum. (Dropsical swellings, diseases of kidneys or bladder, etc.)
Mars. — Carduus benedictus, Urticaria diocia, Erythnea centaurium. (Fevers, diseases of an acute and violent character ; eruptive fevers, etc.)
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Jupiter. — Kuta graveolens, Hepatica nobilis, Adiantlium veneris, Chelidonium magus, Linum usitatissimum, Cannabis sativa. (Jaundice, liver diseases.)
Saturn. — Chrysosplenium alternifolium, Scropliula nodosa, Teucrium Cliamoedrys. (Hypochondria, piles, melan¬ cholia, etc.)1
There are a great many other plants whose es¬ sences 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 ac¬ tivities may be attracted and evil influences neutral¬ ized ; 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 quali¬ ties 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 medi¬ cine of the present day and that of Paracelsus is a difference growing out of an entirely different appre¬ hension of fundamental truths. Modern science
1 The physician of the nineteenth century will hardly fail to recognizo among these remedies many that are habitually used in modern medi¬ cine, although there is hardly any other reason for their employment known but that experience has taught that they are useful.
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looks upon the universe as being a conglomeration of dead matter, out of which, by some unexplainable process, life may become developed in forms. The science of Paracelsus looks itpon 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 crystallized space ; but space itself is 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 manifesta¬ tion of life.
In the universe of Paracelsus there is life every¬ where, and all beings are connected together by a common link. Some forms are in a close mutual sympathy, while between others an antipathy is pre¬ vailing. Some attract and others repulse each other. During the ascendency of a planet 1 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 opinions and superstitions, of pas-
1 The “ ascendency of a star” means the increase of a power.
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sive 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,1 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 in¬ fluences, and it makes the greatest difference whether a medicine is pervaded by one influence or by another.” (“ Do Caducis.”)
It should always be remembered that astral influ¬ ences 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 ele¬ ments 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 in all its attributes as that which contains the universal life and forms the astral body of the world ; but each energy may exist in innumerable 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 each of these organs are separate and independent things, that have nothing to do with each other, and
1 The quality of the influences acting upon the patient.
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PARACELSUS.
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 per¬ vade and circulate in the whole system ; so that, for instance, the real liver is a force that circulates 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.” 1 (“ 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 will. “ 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
1 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 wo 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 exist. 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, etc.
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are at one time Jupiter, at another Venus; at one time Tamns, 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 if it had no substance it could not exist. If the life of the sun did not act in the world, nothing would grow. The human body is vapour materialized 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 for¬ mative power of the astral light, and believes that forms grow out of the earth, believes that something can be taken out of a body in which it does not ex¬ ist.” (“ De Caducis.”)
“ 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 ; but 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 and universal spirit which feels through the heart and thinks by means of the brain. All these powers are contained in the
266
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invisible universe, and become manifest through ma¬ terial organs, and the material organs are their repre¬ sentatives, and modify their mode of manifestation according to their material construction, because a perfect manifestation of power can only take place in a perfectly constructed organ, and if the organ is faulty, the manifestation will be imperfect, but not the original power defective.” (“ De Viribus Mem- brorum.”)
4. Diseases originating from Spiritual Causes .’
This class of diseases includes all evils that are caused by passions, evil desires, disordered thoughts, and by a morbid imagination. Such psychological states may produce physiological changes in the physical body. Shame produces a blush in the face, and terror produces a paleness. F ear causes diarrhoea, melancholy obstructions, anger or envy gives rise to jaundice. Gayety may cure, and grief may kill. Violent emotions produce miscarriages, apoplexy, spasms, hysterics, and cause malformations of the foetus, etc., etc. Such things are known to all who have investigated such matters ; but it is less generally known that the evil imagination of one person may 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 at the present state of civilization is too
* That which is born from our thoughts is a spirit.” (“Para mir.” L)
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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.1 Nevertheless, there have been persons whose evil will was so strong as to project the prod¬ ucts 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 may be more active during sleep than during waking. The evil thoughts of a malicious person may 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 at¬ tracted.
“ 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 may create hunger and thirst, produce abnormal secretions, and cause diseases ; but a person who has no evil desires will have no evil imagination, and no diseases will spring from his thoughts.”
1 To think is to act on the plane of thought, and if the thought is intense enough, it may 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.
268
PARACELSUS.
“ A person who has evil desires will have an evil imagination, and the forces created in the sphere of his mind may 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 soul, in the same sense as a piece of ice is made out of the substance of water. The will is the power that may concentrate the image formed in the mind, in the same sense 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 shape by an intense will, may be hurled against 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 our¬ selves, 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 medicine 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 possessed by veiy few. In our present civilization, men of strong and determined Will are few and far between ; men and women are ruled to a great extent
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by their instincts and desires, and have not sufficient will-power to control them.
“ The Em 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 bom from our thoughts.”
“ There are two principles active in man ; one is the principle of Blatter , which constitutes the cor¬ poreal visible body ; the other one is the Spirit, in¬ tangible 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 cistrale, 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. 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, the spirits understand each other without using words. If one spirit is angry at another, it may injure him, and the injury received may be transmitted upon the body of the latter. Spirits may harmonize and associate with each other, or they may repulse or injure one another. Spirits
270
PARACELSUS.
are not bom from the intellect, but from the will. He who lives according to the will lives on the spirit ; he who lives according to the mind lives in dishar¬ mony with the spirit. The mind produces no spirit, but it determines the qualities of the soul.”
“ There is no spiritual power in children, because they have no perfect will ; 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 the 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 om'selves, and they do not always agree with the likes and dislikes of the bodily forms. Men may quarrel and fight with each other and their spirits nevertheless be in har¬ mony, but if a spirit injures another spirit, the ma¬ terial body of the latter may become also affected.”
“ The spirits of men may act upon each other ■without 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 may 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 de¬ fend 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 may not expect or be pre-
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pared for the attack ; hut if the stronger one resists successfully, then a force will be kindled in him which will overcome his enemy and which may destroy him.” (“ Bepercussio.”)
“ Waxen images, figures, etc., may be used to assist the imagination and to strengthen the will. Thus a necromancer may 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 per¬ son whom it represents may feel very miserable until that weight is removed. Likewise if he breaks a limb of that figure, a limb may be broken in him whom it represents, or he may thus inflict cuts, stabs or other injuries upon an enemy. It is all done through the spirit acting upon the spirit. No necro¬ mancer can by his will act directly upon the body of a person ; but he can act upon his spirit, and the spirit of the injured person reproduces the injury upon his own body. Thus a necromancer may set a tree, and he who cuts the tree cuts himself ; that is to say, he does not cut his body, but the spirit, who has the same limbs as the body, and the cuts made upon the spirit may be 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 may be cursed effectually, and fever, apoplexy, epilepsy, etc., be caused thereby ; but Our scientists have no con¬ ception of what a power the will is, and they do not believe in such things, because they are beyond their comprehension. The will produces such spirits, and
272
PARACELSUS.
they may also act upon animals, and it is even easier to affect the latter than to affect men ; because the spirit of man is better able to defend itself than that of an animal.”
“Not only may a necromancer thus consciously injure another person by his evil will and imagina¬ tion; but the spirit of envious, jealous, revengeful and wicked persons, may — even if they are ignorant of the practices of sorcery — injure the objects of their evil will while the bodies of the former are asleep ; for dreams which come from the spirit are truly en¬ acted, but dreams which do not come from the spirit have no such effects.”
“ One poison may render another poison harmless, and thus the effect of the imagination of one person may neutralize 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 wall leave me unharmed, and the curses that he heaps upon me will retiu'n 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 vampirize people ; but no witch can bodily pass through a closed door in the way in which this is done by sylphes and pigmies.”
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“ Oil 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 wfliich 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 wfliich your spirit desires out of the four ele¬ ments.” (“Philos. Occulta.”)
5. Diseases originating from Divine Causes (Karma).
All diseases are the effects of previously existing causes. Some originate from natural and others from spiritual causes. Spiritual causes are those that have not been created by a man during his pres¬ ent life, but wfliich he has created during a former existence. For such cases there is no remedy but to wait patiently mitil the evil force is exhausted and the law of justice satisfied, for even if the just retri¬ bution for our sins could be evaded at one time, it would only be postponed, and the evil would return at another time with an accumulation of interest and with increased force.
“ All diseases originating from the above-men¬ tioned four causes, may be cured by the power of the true Faith. All health and all disease comes from God, and in God is the cure. Some diseases, how¬ ever, do not directly come from God, but are natural (although they, too, come indirectly from God, because 18
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PARACELSUS.
nature is a manifestation of the power of God), but other diseases are directly sent by God as a punish¬ ment 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 predestination (Karma) of the patient, that he should still remain in his purgatory, then will the physician not 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, so as to be a perfect instrument through which the will of God may 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 in¬ strumentality of man. God is the first and most potent physician, human physicians are only his deputies. Call not for help to man, but ask it from God acting through man, and he will send you the physician, if it is well for you that you should re¬ ceive 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
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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 ser¬ vant of God.”
“ There are two ways of practising the medical art : The first is to employ art, the second is to em¬ ploy fancy. The former means the employment of observation, reason, knowledge, experience and wis¬ dom ; 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 beings. God does not go 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 ;
276
PARACELSUS.
but the presence of an ignorant 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' kingdom of rest.” a
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 con¬ ditions with opposite remedies ; for instance, cold by warmth, dryness by moisture, etc., according to the principle Contraria contrariis curantur. To this class belonged Avicenna, Galen, etc.” {Allopathy, Hy dr other apie, etc.)
“ 2. Specif, ci.- — Such as employ specific remedies,
1 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.
3 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 «■;)] h» rejected.
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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 will power.” ( Magnetism , Hypnotism , Mincl-cure .)
“4. Spirituals. — 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." (Magic.)
“ 5. Fideles, i.e., those who cure by the power of Faith, such as Christ and the apostles.”
“ Among these five classes, the first one is the most orthodox and narrow-minded, and they reject the other four because they are not able to understand them.”
“From each of the five causes of diseases all kinds of diseases may spring, and each kind of disease may 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, etc. If, for instance, a plague appears, the Naturales will say it is caused by a disorganization 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 de¬ partment of Medicine, the other one to the depart¬ ment
278
PARACELSUS.
centre (constitutional diseases) belongs to Medicine ; that which is localized — i.e., circumscribed or con¬ fined to a certain locality, belongs to Surgery.”
“ Each physician, no matter to which sect he be¬ longs, should know the five causes of diseases and the five methods of treatment ; but each method may be in itself sufficient to cure all diseases, no mat¬ ter from what cause they originate.” (“ De Entibus Morbosum.”)
“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 Bible tells us that Man is made out of noth¬ ing ; that is to say, his spirit, the real man, is from God, wrho 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 re¬ ceives all that is good or evil for him. Eveiy state in which man can possibly enter is determined by number, measure and weight.''' The “ Three Substan¬ ces ” 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 adstringent or contractive and solidifying quality, or in other words, the body ; the “ Sulphur ” represents the expansive power ; the cen¬ trifugal force, in contradistinction to the centripetal motion of the first quality, it is that which “burns ; ”
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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 vitality. Each of these forms of will is an individual power; nevertheless they are substantial; for “matter” and “force” are one and originate from the same cause. The three sub¬ stances, held together in harmonious proportions constitute health ; their disharmony constitutes dis¬ ease 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 be himself bom from the fire, and have been 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 ex¬ amination of nature and know her laws. He should not seek for wisdom in his own brain, but in the light of nature, and from the ability to recognize this light springs the true science. Not in the physician, but in the fight of nature is to be found true wisdom and art, theory and practice ; but those who cannot find wisdom in that fight, and seek for it in their own brain, will continually err.”
“ There is nothing in man which would cause him to be a physician. He has the capacity to compre-
280
PARACELSUS.
Lend intellectually ; but this does not constitute art. This faculty is like an empty box, useful only to store up useful things. To make it more clear, what we intend to express, 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, may construct it according to his own wisdom, pro¬ vided 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 science. 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.”
“ The ignorant refuse to follow nature, and they follow their own speculations. Wisdom is twofold. One wisdom comes from experience, the other from aptitude ; the former again is twofold, and is based either upon the understanding of the law or upon haphazard experiment. The former is the one upon which true medicine rests, and implies the knowl¬ edge of the three substances ; the latter is merely supposition and error ; for an haphazard experiment may succeed once and fail in the future.”
“ We should not follow in the footsteps of men, but in the footsteps of nature ; we should not act on account of hearsay, but on account of our own under-
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standing. The first man who learned anything use¬ ful 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 under¬ standing, not upon that of another man. A physi¬ cian 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 a perception of the 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 truth, 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, he should have a certain amount of will, and a certain amount of vitality. 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 con¬ fidence 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
282
PARACELSUS.
guided properly or its action impeded by the phy¬ sician. 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 Anil be a foun¬ tain of life and health to the sick. To God belongs the praise and to man the blame. Those who at¬ tempt to cure diseases by their own power without recognizing 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 leam 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, 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 Vir- tute Medici.”)
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
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the most wonderful cures, is to change the interior causes from which the outward effects grow ; to treat the very essences out of which corporeal organs be¬ come crystallized and to supply them with the power of vitality of the quality which they require. To ac¬ complish this, deep insight into the causes of disease, spiritual perception, spiritual knowledge and spir¬ itual 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 mis¬ understood, 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 pre¬ scriptions for them. This is, however, not the case. A prescription that might be learned from books is not an Arcanum ;* a secret that might be commu¬ nicated 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.
“ The first Arcanum is the Mercurius vivus ; the second the Prima Materia; the third is the Lapis Philosophorum, and the fourth the Tinctura. These
1 An Arcanum is incorporeal and indestructible of eternal life, super¬ human and beyond nature. In us is the Arcanum Dei and the Arca¬ num Naturce ; the Arcanum is the virtue of a thing in its highest poten¬ cy ; the Arcanum Nominis is that power of man which is eternal in him.” (“ Archidoxes, De Arcania.”)
284
PARACELSUS.
remedies are rather of an angelic than of a human character.” (“Archidoxes,” iv.) They will be consid¬ ered in the chapter on Alchemy.
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 organization; and before a man becomes able to send his will within the soul of another person, his own will must become godlike and free. A “ liypnotizer ” merely paralyzes the will of a patient and acts upon his imagination ; 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 di-vine, and therefore those who wish to graduate in the school of Paracelsus and follow his example will have to become regenerated in the spirit of God.
YLTL. ALCHEMY AND ASTROLOGY.
Alchemy and Astrology are sciences which are at the present time very little understood, because they deal with supersensual things, which cannot be known to persons who are not in the possession of su¬ persensual powers of perception. Chemistry deals with physical matter; alchemy deals with their astral principles. Astronomy deals with the physical aspect of planets and stars ; astrology deals with the 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 any one who is able to comprehend mathematics and possesses logic and physical sight. Alchemy is an art which cannot be understood without spiritual knowledge. Astrology is incomprehensible to those who cannot feel the influences of the stars. The books treating of alchemy and astrology will easily be understood by persons whose inner senses are opened, but to those who are not in possession of such powers they will be incomprehensible ; neither can their allegories be satisfactorily explained to them.
Everything in Nature has a threefold aspect. The highest aspect of alchemy is the regeneration of
286
PARACELSUS.
man in the spirit of God from 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 “ Philoso¬ pher s Stone” The sign in which the true alchemist works is the Cross, because man, standing erect among his brothers of the animal kingdom, roots with his material elements in the earth, penetrates with his soul through the elementary forces of Nature, which cause his human nature to suffer and die, but his higher nature (his head) reaches above the animal creation into the pure atmosphere of heaven.
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 con¬ scious 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 in¬ visible elements, or invisible substances be coagu¬ lated and become visible. Instances of this may be occasionally seen in “ spiritualistic seances,” although in such cases the alchemist who produces them is equally invisible.
The lowest aspect of alchemy is the preparation,
1 '■'•Hermes Eaid that the soul alone is the medium by means of which spirit and bod}’ are united.” (“ Generat. Rerum.,” i.)
ALCHEMY AND ASTROLOGY.
287
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 the latter. A higher advancement of the science of chemistry will bring it again into contact with alchemy. Chemistry decomposes and recomposes material substances in certain propor¬ tions ; it may purify simple substances of all foreign elements, but it will always leave the primitive ele¬ ments unchanged ; but alchemy changes the character of simple bodies, and raises them up into higher states of existence. To exercise this power, not merely mechanical labour, but artistic skill, is re¬ quired. A person who composes a chemical prep¬ aration by manual labom’ 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 mate¬ rial with which Nature provides him, and produces something that exists in his own organism. The painter who daubs a wall is a chemist ; his work re¬ quires skill, but no genius. The artist who com¬ poses 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
288
PARAOELSUS.
and to realize the intimate relationship and the iden¬ tity 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 com- pared together,” but they are really and actually essentially one in their power, and one in the consti¬ tution of their elements.1 “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.” (“Paragranum,” i.)
1 “ Man, being the son of the Microcosm, has in him also all the mineral elements." (“ De Peste.”}
ALCHEMY AND ASTROLOGY.
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Wliat does material science know abont things of the sold ? Chemistry is a science which deals with the chemical combination, separation, and recombi¬ nation 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 an element into a higher and purer state of existence. The processes in Nature by which combinations and decompositions of matter take place, such as putre¬ faction, caused by the contact of a substance with air, and the chemical combinations of two or more sub¬ stances 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, etc., are alchemical proc¬ esses, because life itself enters into these processes, as a factor, and they would not take place without the action of life.1
1 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 per¬ ceive 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 Nate*-'1 is a unity, creating and form- 19
290
PARACELSUS.
“ The power which is represented by Sol rules the affairs of kings, kingly powers and majesty ; all the glory, riches, treasures, ornaments and vanities of this world.
“The powrer represented by Luna rales agriculture, nautical affairs, travels.
ing 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 sceptic and scoffer will not be able to comprehend 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 quali¬ fications. 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 “reborn in the spirit.” 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.]
ALCHEMY AND ASTROLOGY.
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“ To Mars is subjected all that is concerned with wars, arms and ammunitions.
“ Jupiter governs the courts of law, churches, etc.
“The universal power of Venus rules that which belongs to music, sexual attractions and whoredom.
“ To Saturn belongs especially that which is con¬ cerned with mines and the digging of ground.” (“ Sig- natura Rerum.”)
“ 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 spirit¬ ually developed.1 Nature continually exercises that art through the organizing 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
1 Spiritual development is not necessarily dependent on intellectual acquirements, and there are sometimes persons that are ignorant in worldly things, but who possess great spiritual powers.
292
PARACELSUS.
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.
“ 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.1 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 natmal physicians, and there are artificial physicians. The former see things which the latter cannot see, and the latter dis¬ pute the existence of such things because they can¬ not perceive them. The latter see the exterior of
1 This does, of course, not 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 Burely find its just reward.” (“ De Morte Rer.”)
ALCHEMY AND ASTROLOGY
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things, but the former see the interior ; but 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 but an illu¬ sion.”
“ The three substances are held together in forms by the power of life.1 If you take the three invisible substances, and add to it 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 hid¬ den by life, and joined together by life. Their com¬ bined 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 bum. 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.” 1
1 “The sophist says that nothing living can come out of dead sub¬ stances ; 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 he is composed, and the death of a metal is the taking away of its corporeal form.” (“De Morte Rerum.”)
a “The three substances are three forms or aspects of the one univer¬ sal Will-substance out of which everything was created ; for the un-
294
PARACELSUS.
“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 speaks 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
manifested Absolute in manifesting itself reveals itself as a trinity of cause, action and effect ; father, son and the holy ghost ; body, soul and Bpirit.
“It is, therefore, above all, necessary that we should realize the nature of the three Substances as they exist in tire Macrocosm, and recognize their qualities, and we shall then also know their nature and attributes in the Miorocosm 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 ? ’’
ALCHEMY AND ASTROLOGY.
295
the wise recognizes in them the qualities of the stars.” (“ Paragraniun.”)
“ Let no one be so foolish as to imagine that Al¬ chemy can easily be understood and be made com¬ mon 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.” (“ Caelum philosophor.”)
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 invis¬ ible fire, which destroys all diseases.” (“Tinct. phys.” vii.) “ The Materice Tincturce is the greatest treasure in the world.” 1
1 The “ tinctura physicorum” is a great alchemioal mystery. Hermes Trismegistus of Egypt, Orus 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 Bkilful, necessary for that purpose. It is said to be a red ethereal fluid, capable to trans¬ mute all inferior metals into gold, and having other wonderful virtues. There is an old church in the vicinity of 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 waB 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-kuown place of
296
PARACELSUS.
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 yoiu’ alchemical prescriptions, about all your re¬ torts and bottles, crucibles, mortars, and glasses, of all your complicated processes of distilling, melting, coliibiting, 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 ac¬ quainted with the spagyric art (alchemy) 'null con¬ firm what I say.”
“ True Alchemy which teaches how to make (Q or © 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 (illusion) ; but in the metals is Sol (wisdom).”
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 accord- 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 ”
ALCHEMY AND ASTROLOGY.
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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 pur¬ pose, and in this way amulets, “magic mirrors,” and other things that may produce magic effects are pre¬ pared. 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 elec¬ trum 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 indi¬ cate it, if any poisonous substance has been surreptiti¬ ously put into it, because it will begin to sweat on its outside.”
“ Many wonderful things may be made of this elec¬ trum, 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
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PARACELSUS.
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 per¬ sonally, and we know that we are speaking the trath. We have seen finger-rings made of the electrum that cured their wearers of spasms and paralytic affec¬ tions, 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 im¬ mediate relief. We have seen such a ring begin to sweat at the beginning of a hidden disease.”
“ The electrum is antipathic 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 denoimce 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 elec¬ trum, and weighing about two pounds, and by ring¬ ing 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
ALCHEMY AND ASTROLOGY.
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wanted another spirit to appear lie 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 cer¬ tain 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 may 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.1 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.” 2
“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
1 The power that man may silently exercise over animals is well known.
3 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 realize its presence, it actually exists for us, and thus a spirit may be brought into a form by the power of imagination.
300
PARACELSUS.
may be raised into a higher state, than the one into which it was put by Nature vl
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 Sat¬ urn 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 con¬ junction 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 con¬ junction 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, aud at a time of a conjunction of Venus with one of the above-named planets the
'This remark throws some light on alchemical processes, and goes to show that it is not the “magnetism” of the planets alone, hut also the soul essence of the operator, that is to be hound, and the two con¬ nected together in the metal by the process described below.
ALCHEMY AND ASTROLOGY.
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copper is added. Finally, at a time of such a con¬ junction 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.” 1
“ Of this electrum magicum you may make a mir¬ ror in which you may see the events of the past and the present, absent friends or enemies, and see what they are doing. You may see in it any object you may desire to see, and all the doings of men in day¬ time or at night. You may 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 you may see in it anything, however secret it may have been kept.” 3
“ Such mirrors are made of the electro 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 tripoly, and with a piece of wood from a linden tree. All the operations made with the mirror, the grinding, polishing, etc., should take place under favourable planetary aspects, and by selecting the proper hours three different mirrors may be prepared. At a time of a conjimction of two good planets, when
1 All the above-named conjunctions take place in our solar system i ) the course of thirteen successive months, but the directions may ref6* to conjunctions of principles contained in the Microcosm of man.
5 That is to say : You may come en rapport with the astral lighi, which is the sensorium of the world, and in which the “ memory” o* impression of everything is preserved.
302
PARACELSUS.
at the same time the snn 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 may then be removed from the water, enveloped in a linen cloth, and be preserved for use.” 1
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 2 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 :
HOMUNCULI.
“ Human beings may come into existence without natural parents. That is to say, such beings may grow without being developed and born by a female organism ; by the art of an experienced spagyricus (alchemist).” (“De Natura Rerum,” vol. i.)
“ The generatio homunculi has until now been kept
1 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. ’ See Appendix.
ALCHEMY AND ASTROLOGY.
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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 ‘ magnetized,’ 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 arca¬ num sanguinis hominis 1 until it is about forty weeks old, and if allowed to remain diming 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 may have been bom 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 ap¬ proach when all secrets will be known.” 3
1 Without this arcanum the experiment would not succeed, nor the form become visible.
2 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 may 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,
May in the future be produced by a thinker.” — “ Faust,” Pt. II. act ii. Where no germ is present such a generation would certainly be impos-
304
PARACELSUS.
It seems to be useless to quote any more alcliemis- tical prescriptions of Paracelsus, or of' any other alchemist. To the uninitiated they are unintelligi-
sible ; but chickens may be artificially hatched out, and perhaps homunculi may be developed. There seem to be some historic evi¬ dences that such things have been accomplished, as the following account will show :
In a book called the “Sphinx,” edited by Dr. Emil Besetzny, and pub¬ lished at Vienna in 1873 by L. Rosner (Tuchlauben, No. 22), we find some interesting accounts in regard to a number of “ spirits ” gener¬ ated by a Job. 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. Kamraerer, who acted in the capacity of butler and famulus to the said Count. There were ten homunculi — or, as he calls them, “ prophe¬ sying 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 1 clear water ; ’ but whenever the Abbe knocked three times at the seal upon the mouth of the bottles, speaking at the same time some flebrew words, the water in the bottle began to turn blue (respectively
ALCHEMY AND ASTROLOGY.
305
ble ; 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
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 ordi¬ nary 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, seemed to become weak and uncon¬ scious, 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 colour¬ ing 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 bot¬ tles 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, etc. ; 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 respi¬ rations, 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 a 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 prop¬ erly sealed, and was found by Kammerer sitting on the top of the bottle 20
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PARACELSUS.
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 in¬ tolerable 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 spirit¬ ual 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,1 still he
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 ele¬ ment, had become faint, and was replaced into his bottle — not, how¬ ever, without succeeding to scratch the nose of the Count.” It seems that the Count of Kufstein in later years became anxious for the salva¬ tion 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 Bcribe. 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, be¬ cause some historically well-known persons, such as Count Max Lam- berg, Count Franz Josef v. Thun, and others, saw them, and they pos¬ sessed undoubtedly visible and tangible bodies ; and it seems that they were either elemental spirits, or, what appears to be more probable, homunculi.
1 The following is a prescription how to make artificial gold, taken from an old alchemistical MS., and a marginal note says that an experi¬ ment 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 oalcinate itun-
ALCHEMY AND ASTROLOGY.
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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.1
“ 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
til 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 men¬ struum philosophicum (made by pouring chloride of antimony into water, filtering, and evaporating the fluid to a certain extent, to make it strong¬ er). The solution is to be evaporated again, and the remaining pow¬ der 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 b en transformed into gold.
1 There is a considerable amount of historical evidence of a trust, worthy character that goes to prove that pure gold has been artificially made, but it is — to say the least — doubtful that 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 verac¬ ity is not doubtful, a certain alchemist was kept imprisoned by the prince-elect of Saxony at a fortress at Dresden in the year 1748, be¬ cause 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.
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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 philosoph.”)
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 viiat qualities those influences possess — how they act, and at what time certain planetary influences will be on the increase or on the wrane. The quality of the planetary influences will be known to a man wiio knows his own constitution, because he will then be able to recognize 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 in¬ fluences that are in harmony with it, and repulses the others; the time when certain planetary influences rule may be foimd out by astronomical calculations, or by tables that have been prepared by such for that purpose ; but the spiritually developed seer will re¬ quire no books and no tables, but will recognize the conditions of the interior world by the changes tak¬ ing place in his own soul.
Paracelsus was not — what is called to-day — a pro¬ fessional 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 re¬ jected the errors of popular astrology as he did those of other popular religions or scientific beliefs ; and
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his system of astrology, if rightly understood, appears of a sublime character and full of the grandest con¬ ceptions. 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 say¬ ing that £a wise man may rule the stars,’ and I be¬ lieve in that saying — not in the sense in which you 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 wre do not desire.1 They are free for themselves and wre 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.2 It is ab¬ surd to believe that the stars can make a man. Whatever the stars can do we can do ourselves, be¬ cause the wisdom which we obtain from God over¬ powers 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 ‘ spirits ’ is sorcery. Such spirits are
1 It is not divine man ; but the elements in the body of man which attract corresponding influences from the powers of the macrocosm.
3 If they come from the spirit, the spirit must have pre existed, and have acquired them in a previous incarnation.
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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 where it is not expected. That which seems to be incredible, improbable, and impossible, will be¬ come wonderfully true in eternity.”
“ Man’s soul 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 soul. 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 man is the master over his own soul, and he can permit those attractions to take place in an irregular manner, or he may control his passions and repulse 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
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other things ; but the moon, and the stars, and other things also attract evil influences from man, and distribute them again by their rays,1 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 talis¬ mans, and the influence which they may exercise over the astral form of the bearer. Talismans are like boxes, in which sidereal influences may be pre¬ served.”
“ 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 es¬ sence of the elements ; the second the soul of the stars ; the third the spirit — the life. The lower instincts of man 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 ac¬ tivity 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
1 See “ Sorcery ” p. 159.
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PARACELSUS.
stars. Stars attract and repulse eacli 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 con¬ stitution 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 leam 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.” 1
“All knowledge comes from the stars (the Uni¬ versal Mind). Men do not invent or produce 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 to form a strong connec¬ tion with the earth. The realm of stars and ideas is infinite, and therefore the source of inventions and discoveries is not yet exhausted.”
1 By “ stars ” {astro) Paracelsus does not refer to the physical bodies of the planets, but to principles existing in the Cosmos, and which are represented by the stars.
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“ 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 spir¬ it has his wisdom from God. The heat of a fire passes through an iron stove, and likewise 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, like¬ wise 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 may be attracted by the soul of the earth and cause epidemic diseases, and the spirit¬ ual centre in man may be devoid of wisdom, and darkness rule in its place. The earth, the animal kingdom, and physical man are subject to the govern¬ ment 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 govern-
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ing the universe ; man’s spiritual aspirations should be directed to harmonize with the 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.”