Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus

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HERE ENDS THE BOOK CONCERNING THE TINCTURE OF THE PHILOSOPHERS.
NOTES
1 The Arcanum of a substance is not the virtue (virtus) but the essence (vir) and the potency (potentia), and is
stronger than the virtue; nevertheless, an old error of the doctors conferred the name of virtues upon the potential
essences. - Paramirum, Lib. IV. Many things are elsewhere set forth concerning the Quintessence, but what is
described is really a separation or extraction of the pure from the impure, not a true quintessence, and it is more
correctly termed an Arcanum. -Explicatio Totius Astronomiae.
2 The office of Vulcan is the separation of the good from the bad. So the Art of Vulcan, which is Alchemy, is like
unto death, by which the eternal and the temporal are divided one from another. So also this art might be called the
death of things. - De Morbis Metallicis, Lib. I., Tract III., c. 1. Vulcan is an astral and not a corporal fabricator. - De
Caduco Matricis, Par. VI. The artist working in metals and other minerals transforms them into other colours, and in
so doing his operation is like that of the heaven itself. For as the artist excocts by means of Vulcan, or the igneous
element, so heaven performs the work of coction through the Sun. The Sun, therefore, is the Vulcan of heaven
accomplishing coction in the earth. - De Icteritiis. Vulcan is the fabricator and architect of all things, nor is his
habitation in heaven only, that is, in the firmament, but equally in all the other elements. - Lib. Meteorum, c. 4.
Where the three prime principles are wanting, there also the igneous essence is absent. The Igneous Vulcan is
nothing else but Sulphur, Sal Nitrum, and Mercury. - Ibid., c.5.
3 The Book of the Revelation of Hermes, interpreted by Theophrastus Paracelsus, concerning the Supreme Secret of
the World, seems to have been first brought to light by Benedictus Figulus, and appeared as a piece de r�sistance in
his "Golden and Blessed Casket of Nature's Marvels", of which an English translation has been very recently
published. ("A Golden and Blessed Casket of Nature's Marvels". By Benedictus Figulus. Now first done into
English from the German original published at Frankfort in the year 1608. London: James Elliott and Co. 8vo.,
1893). Among the many writings which have been fabulously attributed to Hermes, there does not seem to be any
record of an apocalypse, and it is impossible to say what forged document may have been the subject of
interpretation by Paracelsus. As the collection of Figulus is now so readily accessible, it is somewhat superfluous to
reproduce the treatise here, but since this translation claims to include everything written by the physician of
Hohenheim on the subject of Alchemy and the Universal Medicine, it is appended at this point. It should be
premised that Benedictus Figulus complains bitterly of the mutilation and perversion to which the works of
Paracelsus were subjected, and the Revelation of Hermes seems in many parts to betray another hand, especially in
its quotation of authorities who are not countenanced by its reputed author. Hermes, Plato, Aristotle, and other
philosophers, flourishing at different times, who have introduced the Arts, and more especially have explored the
secrets of inferior Creation, all these have eagerly sought a means whereby man's body might be preserved from
decay and become endued with immortality. To them it was answered that there is nothing which might deliver the
mortal body from death; but that there is One Thing which may postpone decay, renew youth; and prolong short
human life (as with the patriarchs). For death was laid as a punishment upon our first parents, Adam and Eve, and
will never depart from all their descendants. Therefore, the above philosophers, and many others, have sought this
One Thing with great labour, and have found that that which preserves the human body from corruption, and
prolongs life, conducts itself, with respect to other elements, as it were like the Heavens; from which they
understood that the Heavens are a substance above the Four Elements. And just as the Heavens, with respect to the
other elements, are held to be the fifth substance (for they are indestructible, stable, and suffer no foreign
admixture), so also this One Thing (compared to the forces of our body) is an indestructible essence, drying up all
the superfluities of our bodies, and has been philosophically called by the above-mentioned name. It is neither hot
and dry like fire, nor cold and moist like water, nor warm and moist like air, nor dry and cold like earth. But it is a
skilful, perfect equation of all the Elements, a right commingling of natural forces, a most particular union of
spiritual virtues, an indissoluble uniting of body and soul. It is the purest and noblest substance of an indestructible
body, which cannot be destroyed nor harmed by the Elements, and is produced by Art. With this, Aristotle prepared
an apple, prolonging life by its scent, when he, fifteen days before his death, could neither eat nor drink on account
of old age. This spiritual Essence, or One Thing, was revealed from above to Adam, and was greatly desired by the
Holy Fathers; this also Hermes and Aristotle call the Truth without Lies, the most sure of all things certain, the
Secret of all Secrets. It is the Last and the Highest Thing to be sought under the Heavens, a wondrous closing and
finish of philosophical work, by which are discovered the dews of Heaven and the fastnesses of Earth. What the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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