Medieval Alchemy, Medicine, Astrology and Paracelsus the Great

Copyright 2001 by Linda Kaye

No Science can be deservedly held in contempt by one who knows nothing about it.Paracelsus

Theostratus Phillipus Auroleus Bombastus von Hohenheim was born in 1493
C.E. in Einsiedeln, Switzerland, to the son of a local community doctor. It was through
his fathers guidance that Paracelsus began his interest in medicine and alchemy where
he was to later become a renowned physician, alchemist, occultist and western mystic.
As a young boy he obtained his basic education and training from monastic schools. At
the age of sixteen Paracelsus entered the University of Basle where he studied alchemy,
surgery and medicine. It was here, that for a short time, he became the primary
physician of Basel, before eventually wondering throughout Germany and Austria writing
treatises and practicing medicine. His incredible and extraordinary life ended in 1541,
and he was forever immortalized as Paracelsus.
Ahead of his time and exceedingly brilliant, Paracelsus represented a much
higher ethical and moral principal than most of his contemporaries. His literary works
are comprised of medical, philosophical, astrological, esoteric, religious and alchemic
intelligence and wisdom. His knowledge was immeasurable, for he knew more than any
one person could seem capable of learning; not only during his era, but also today in our
own universities. Based on his rebellious antagonistic and enthusiastic demeanor, we
can safely assume that Paracelsus intentionally set out to revolutionize the world of
medieval medicine.
Being the first to lecture in German rather than the official academicians Latin he
incensed the medical community. Vocalizing his distain and lack of respect towards the
doctors of his time, and by expressing his belief in their intolerable lack of wisdom, he
created much anger amongst his contemporaries. While teaching at Basil, Paracelsus
provoked extreme controversy through his brash demeanor and sudden outbursts, often
enraging his colleagues, as portrayed in his behavior of the historical incident where he
condemned and burned several well-known medical books of his time in public. In his
The Treasures of Treasures for Alchemists, he boldly criticizes, O, you hypocrites, who
despise the truths taught you by a true physician, who is himself instructed by Nature,
and is a son of God himself! Come, then, and listen, impostors who prevail only by the
authority of your high positions!(1)
Paracelsus was born in the obscured world of the late Middle Ages where the
fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries of medieval civilization began to meet their
decline. The previous thirteenth century brought the schism inside the Church with two
Popes at Rome and a Pope at Avignon. The Catholic Church, which for many centuries
seemed solid and un-daunting, was losing its influence and in danger of collapsing. The
continual decline of the churchs power brought with it the disintegration of the Christian
theologians synthesis of faith and reason. And, notably, it was during this period of
religious instability that Joan of Arc helped rescue France, was imprisoned, and
convicted of heresy by the church, and burned at the stake.
The fourteenth century was also marked by crop failures, famine, and
devastating warfare, as well as the added turmoil of the black plague. This harrowing
atmosphere created mass hysteria, pessimism and general unrest among the people of
this time. The capital city Constantinople had fallen to the Turks bringing the great
Byzantine Empire to an end, while threatening all of Europe.(2) In 1492 Columbus
rediscovered America. In 1500 Brazil was discovered and in 1522 Magellan encircled
the globe. With these discoveries the world was changed forever.
Paracelsus is known as having served as an army doctor in the Venetian,
Denmark, Russian and Austrian wars. The turmoil amongst the feudal provinces during
this time created much bloodshed and loss of life, which Paracelsus most certainly found
himself in the midst of during his travels throughout Medieval Europe. A wanderer
throughout most his lifetime, he quite often found himself sleeping in the company of
gypsies, bandits, and pilgrims, whom he took the opportunity to learn from. He wrote
some of his best works while poor and homeless, seemingly when his career was in
ruins.
It was during this time that the great presses of Medieval Europe were
established enabling him to publish some of his work. Unfortunately, during his lifetime
he took on more of a notoriety aspect among his peers with only a small percentage of
his work actually being published while he was alive. The Catholic Encyclopedia refers
to Paracelsus from an ethical standpoint as a man with noble ideals of the medical
profession, love for the poor, and piety deserving of exaltation.(3)
The radical changes taking place within Europe during this time affected every
level of society resulting in a humanistic outlook amongst scholars. The intellectual times
in which Paracelsus lived were filled with the fascination and the interest of antiquity.
The search for wisdom during the Middle-Ages came with the advent of lost ancient texts
translated by the Arabs pouring into the Medieval European culture. A number of the
translations included text by Galen, the Prince of Physicians, Hippocrates, Aristotle,
Plato, Hermes and Ptolemy, among many others.
These translations enabled the scholars of this time access to knowledge
consisting of the ancient sciences of medicine, astrology and alchemy, all of which
became part of the standard curriculum within the universities. As Zoller states in his
The Occult Sciences of Astrology, Alchemy, and Magic and Their Relation to the Other
Greco-Arabic Science, The Medieval Christian world had nothing like the highly
sophisticated science of the Arabs. A science that included and valued the occult
sciences as a means by which the transcendental could be scientifically linked to the
natural.(4)
Therefore, these new Greco-Arabic sciences that permeated the Medieval
culture were part of a highly sophisticated occult science, and valued as a means by
which the transcendental could be scientifically linked to the natural. Authors of these
treatises felt that a magus, a true natural magician, would be able to understand man
the microcosm, through the study of the macrocosm since the former was a perfect
representation of the latter. As respect increasingly developed for the ancient
philosophers and physicians, so too, did the mystical emphasis increase in natural magic
and alchemy. With the Arabic translations came the recovery of the Corpus
Hermeticum, a group of treatises allegedly written in Egypt by Hermes Trismegistus.
Alchemists generally consider Hermes Trismegistu an Egyptian King,
Philosopher, and prophet, to have been the originator of the grand Magisterium, or
sacred Science of Alchemy. Thereby, earning him the eternal name of Trismegistus or
Thrice-Great. He was said to have built the pyramids and was thought to be the
grandson of Adam, from the Old Testament.(5) As Robert Zoller points out, the oldest
hermetic documents we know of are among the astrological hermetica with the
alchemical and magical hermetica following. These text were viewed by the Arabs, and
throughout the Middle Ages as the highest sciences in Late Antiquity. (6)
The following words of Hermes Trismegistus' from his Asclepius, in Hermetica,
represent the hermetic philosophy of the micro versus macro theory:
Man is a marvelhonor and reverence to such a being? Man takes on him the
attributes of a god, as though he were himself a godHow many happily
blended are the properties of man than those of other beings! He is linked to the
gods, in as much as there is in him a divinity akin to theirs; he scorns that part of
his own being which makes him a thing of earth; and all else with which he finds
himself concerned by heavens ordering, he binds to himself by the tie of his
affection. He raises reverent his eyes to heaven above; he tends the earth
below. Him and is loved by all above him. He has access to all; he descends to
the depths of the sea by the keenness of his thought; and heaven is not found
too high for him, for he measures it by his sagacity, as though it were within his
reach. With his quick wit he mixes the elements; air cannot blind the intention of
his soul with its thickest darkness; nor does the density of the earth impede his
work, nor the profound depth of the water obstruct his downward gaze. Man is
all things; Man is everywhere. (7)

It is Hermes work that Paracelsus so often refers to, and throughout Paracelsus
writings on the Book of the Apocalypse of Hermes, he references the nature of the
hermetic alchemical principle. According to Patrick Smith in his introduction to
Paracelsus The Apocalypse of Hermes, it was one of the clearest explanations on the
root of alchemy, whereby Paracelsus was often referred to as the German Hermes and
Philosopher Trismegistus. (8) It is here that Paracelsus references the One Thing
referred to by Hermes, Aristotle and Plato as well as the other ancient Philosophers, as
the first matter or the primordial chaos from which God differentiated the physical
Universe. It is worth noting, that even today, the hermetic seal is spoken of in chemistry.
With the translations of the Corpus Hermeticum, and other mystical text, the
emphasis was placed on seeking divine truth through the study of nature, natural magic,
and the relationship of man to the macrocosm. This study increased alchemys mystical
or religious basis of knowledge, and ultimately proved to be the key for both man and
nature alike.(9) Paracelsus beautifully illustrates this in The Hermetic and Alchemical
Writings of Paracelsus, All sciences, all branches of human knowledge, are from God.
These sciences either come from the light of Nature, or are learnt by instruction, or are
secretly instilled by God.(10)
According to Zoller, the Medieval Arabic understanding of science distinguished
between the knowing that treated rationally discernible causes as well as a knowing that
treated hidden causes. The hidden causes surpassed the capability of human reason to
discern and distinguish them. Astrology and alchemy fell into this second category of
hidden causes, thus being of a different association than the arts and sciences whose
causal rationales were so readily comprehended by reason. In his article Astrology and
Wisdom, Robert Zoller indicates that the great scholars of this time held the view that,
although the natural sciences could be taught logically, and apprehended rationally,
astrology in common with alchemy and talismanic magic could not.(11)
Therefore, both astrology and alchemy were obtained in part through divine
wisdom. Paracelsus spoke of wisdom in relationship to astrology in his Hermetic
Astronomy, whereby he states, Now, this wisdom in the sight of God is nothing; but the
Divine wisdom is preeminent above all.(12) As Patrick Smith indicates, To the ancient
Greeks, philosophy meant love of wisdom, and to the Stoics it meant a striving after
wisdom. Wisdom was defined as knowledge of things divine and human, and, in turn,
knowledge was divided into logic, physics, and ethics. Thus, in alchemical tracts, it is
typical to see references to all of these branches of knowledge mixed together. (13)
The Hermetic axiom, according to Zoller, that which is above is just like that
which is below and that which is below is like that which is above, has been a frequent
discourse of many philosophers, magi, and saints of the past. These great men sought
to discover the mysterious relationship and characteristics between the Microcosm and
the Macrocosm between Man and the Creation. Paracelsus acknowledges this
understanding when he indicates that a true doctor must know another hermetic law:
"All is spirit and matter is the densest form of spirit. There is nothing but energy,
for God is life. The energy and forces form the wholeness of all that IS. Man
must realize that God is energy and he himself is an aspect of this energy. There
is nothing else in manifestation, whatever it may be. (14)

Paracelsus and Alchemy:
God is the greatest alchemist, out of whose wisdom and will-power all worlds are brought
about.Paracelsus

In the Vatican library there exist among many of its rare and ancient books, the
original priceless Chemical Pathway, or Manual of Paracelsus; contained within this
manual are the mysteries of the art of alchemy and of the most secret cabala.(15) The
science of alchemy contains within it some of the most complex and often mystifying
collection of ancient spiritual symbolism. Ironic perhaps, that we would now find the
most valued of Paracelsus original work within the Vatican library, as it was due to the
church that he, among others of his time, were forced to maintain a level of secretive
symbolic complexity of expression. This precaution was fueled by the ongoing threat of
persecution directed by the church to those who brought truth and light upon the Middle
Ages.
Without a great deal of study and a spiritual orientation to the mysteries of life,
the ancient art of Alchemy risk the unfortunate potential of being misconstrued by the
average reader. Paracelsus himself expressed the belief that the alchemical process
could only lead to the philosophers stone through the merging of the alchemist with the
creator, the Lord; the two therefore becoming ONE. But as already Christ said: The
kingdom of Heaven is within you! and only there, the jewel, the white lotus or the
philosophers stone can be found, Paracelsus.(16)
The Philosophers Stone is said to contain a vast range of powers, from the
secret of life and health, to possessing spiritual significance. During the Medieval era,
the alchemist was said to evolve through a strict devotional ritual and purification. Upon
final completion of the transforming ceremony he was considered worthy to perform his
alchemical duties. Ultimately, the Philosophers Stone was thought to provide a
universal power that unified the mind with the soul into a human oneness.
Alchemy, according to Paracelsus, was the intention of the wise man, and set
purpose, to transmute one kind of metal to another. For that reason, the one who
performed the transmutation intently would ultimately find truth. It was this preparation
through fire that Alchemy separated the impure by drawing out what was pure. This
separating function allowed the matter to be reduced to its ultimate healing nature.
Paracelsus tells us that nature is keen and subtle in her operations and can only be dealt
with by a magnificent and accurate mode of treatment. Thus, bringing to light the
imperfection that can only be perfected by man. This method of purification, states
Paracelsus, is called Alchemy.(17)
The alchemical purification and transmutation processes that Paracelsus worked
with are called Calcination, Sublimation, Solution, Putrefaction, Distillation, Coagulation
and Tinture, all of which involved several areas of manifestation; the chemical
manifestation, the psychological manifestation, the physiological manifestation,
manifestation within society, and manifestation on the planetary level. To go through
each process individually would take up more room than this paper allows so I will use
the example of distillation, a very important step in the alchemical process.
Paracelsus refers to the distillation process as the fifth process within the
transmutation of a natural object. Chemically, distillation is the boiling and condensation
of the fermented solution to increase its purity, such as in the distillation of wine to make
brandy. Psychologically, distillation is the sublimation of psychic forces that are
necessary to ensure there are no impurities within the inflated ego. Distillation is the
purification of the unborn self, all that we truly are and can be. Physiologically,
distillation is the raising of the life force energy (more commonly known as the kundalini
energy.) Distillation is said to culminate in the third eye area of the forehead at the level
of the pituitary gland. In Society, the Distillation experience is expressed as science,
and the use of objective experimentation. The final level is the planetary level, where
distillation is the realization of the power of a higher love, as the life force on the entire
planet gradually seeks to become one force in nature, based on a shared vision of Truth.
(18)
From the above example we can see that each alchemical process reflects a
transmutation, each taking place on several different levels. There exist the physical
work with substances, the experience of spiritual etheric forces, the interior work on the
soul as well as planetary and cosmic aspects. All of these facets interpenetrate and
overlap one another. This immense undertaking by the alchemist was meant to create a
parallel effect of both interior and exterior development. The energies provoked through
these processes are powerful and can take long durations of repeated interior, as well as
exterior work.
Paracelsus set out to replace the works of the ancients by incorporating a word
system based upon the macrocosm-microcosm theory. He used chemistry as his new
philosophy, intending to unveil the secrets of man through new observations of divine
signatures, Not that I praise myself: Nature praises me. Of her I am born; her I follow.
She knows me, and I know her. The light which is in her I have beheld in her; outside,
too, I have proved the same in the figure of the microcosm, and found it in that universe.
(19) The microcosmos itself is namely consisting of the four elements and according to
Arthur Waite in his translations of Paracelsus Hermetic Medicine and Hermetic
Philosophy, Vol. II, The microcosmos is therefore partially one with the earth, because
like the earth it has need of the other elements, heaven, air and fire. (20) Consequently,
the body obtains its own healing medicine or elixir from the world.
The term Spagyrics is referred to often in alchemy, and can be defined as that
which teaches the division and resolution of bodies through the separation of their
principles, either by natural or violent means. The Arcanum is another term frequently
referenced, representing essence and the quintessence, which is the separation or
extraction of the pure from the impure. "All you philosophers, astronomers, and
spagyrists, Alchemists and Doctors, I will teach you the tincture, the Arcanum, the
quintessence, wherein lie hid the foundations of all mysteries and of all works,
Paracelsus.(21) And, so it was that Theostratus Phillipus Auroleus Bombastus von
Hohenheim, presented his theoretical alchemical teachings.


Paracelsus and Astrology:
It is from God. He, for example, has said, There shall be signs in the sun and in the moon.
The spirit must concur with what is said, and he who interprets this is a magician. The sprits are
in the stars.Paracelsus

Paracelsus, like all alchemical philosophers, studied astrology and astronomy
(considered one and the same), and learned from nature by observing the heavens and
the earth. During his era there may not have been anyone as familiar with the interplay
of heaven and earth as he. Paracelsus felt that man was integrated and resonated as a
reflection of nature and the cosmos. He taught the understanding of alchemy, astrology,
nature and God, so that the cause of the disease could be recognized, and real lasting
healing could come about.
As Zoller indicates in his article on Medieval and Renaissance Astrology and
Medicine, astrological medicine was considered a scientific and acceptable procedure
with a highly scientific basis. He states, Astrology held so prestigious a place in the Age
that even in that stronghold of orthodoxy, the University of Paris, the faculty of medicine
was designated the Facultas in Medicina et Astrologia.(22) Astrology was linked to the
Quadrivian, the four mathematical sciences of arithmetic, geometry, music and
astronomy.
Thus, since the heavens and stars were also spiritual forces this implied that
there was an intimate relationship between the body and the soul with the body and soul
of the Cosmos. The Medieval astrological physician understood this connection, and felt
the luminaries were placed by God in order to give man the tools for treating disease
through a medical, and spiritual harmonization of both the body and the soul. As
Paracelsus states, The relation of the physician to the apostle is the same as that which
obtains between the astronomer and the prophet.(23)
Paracelsus further indicates, that man is made up of flesh, blood and spirit.
However, this same flesh and blood are not actually the man, but rather the spirit
existing inside the man. He maintains that the body is merely an animalistic matter, and
the spirit of man is wisdom, sense, and intellect; that these later qualities are what truly
make the man what he is. He further maintains that the spirit is subjected to the stars,
and the body is subjected to the spirit. Therefore, the star governs the man in his spirit,
and the spirit governs the body in the flesh and blood. The spirit that Paracelsus
references, however, is mortal, since it is not the soul. He ascertains that there is a
certain conjunction of the star and the man, as there is with the elements and the man.
Man can affect heaven no less than heaven affects man. Hence it is clear that there is
some of the star in man, and whatever the star does, it does by the impulse of the higher
influence, which is received from the constellation.(24)
Disease was considered by both Galen and Hippocrates to be a divergence
from a natural healthy state, and since the stars ruled all change in sublunary nature it
was the stars which were considered to be the causes of health and disease, Zoller.(25)
Whereas Paracelsus theorized, Man is sustained by the four elements, that he takes
from the earth his food, from the water his drink, from the fire his heat, and from the air
his breath. But these all make for the sustentation of the body only, of the flesh and the
blood,(26) Consequently, it was taught by Paracelsus that man's body originated from
the earth, and therefore must be fed and nourished by that world from which he has
come. His nourishment and all his aliments grow from the ground, whereas, the great
universe contributes less to his food and nourishment. Thus, Paracelsus postulates, If
man were not from the great world but from heaven, then he would instead take celestial
bread from heaven along with the angels.(27)
The stars, Paracelsus believed, contained within them wisdom, intelligence, and
all the arts peculiar to man. For it was from the stars that man gained these same
qualities as well as that of his intellect, which Paracelsus named the, light of Nature.
Consequently, whatever man has discovered, he did so by this great light of Nature
through attracting to him the spirit of his star. This attraction allows for the nourishment
of the spirit as much as the body. And, although man shares the divine image, he is not
nourished by divine food rather by the elemental food of the earth. Hence, he is divided
into two parts; an elemental body of flesh and blood, and a spirit compelled to sustain
itself through the spirit of the star. Thus, man would essentially require both out of the
great universe, the elements and the stars.(28) Therefore creating a link between nature
and the divine. As Zoller indicates, this link was not only theoretical and doctrinal but
operative as well. There was clearly no doubt of the value and effectiveness of astrology
to predict events of alchemy to transmute and effect miracles. (29)
The basic depiction of the planets has changed little since Paracelsus writings.
However, it would be rare to find today the alchemical connections to the planets that
Paracelsus so commonly referred to. The Sun according to Paracelsus was connected
to the crown, the scepter, the throne, all the royal power and majesty, all the domination,
all the riches, treasures, ornaments, and paraphernalia of this world.(30) As an
alchemical planet Paracelsus would reference it as gold, and would state, sol was not
only gold, gold was the sun.
The alchemical making of gold according to Paracelsus was a discipline
designed to make perfect an imperfect man, or in other words, to lead one to
enlightenment. Again here we see the reference that metallic transmutation could not be
accomplished without the spiritual transformation. This being a parallel process as it
was with the alchemical use of all the planets. Paracelsus believed it was necessary
that a doctor understand and know the planetary aspects of tension, such as the
conjunctions, oppositions, and transits of the planets. For the sky is man, and man is
the sky, and all men are the sky, and the whole sky is only one single man. (31)

Paracelsus and Medicine:
The highest and most effective medicine is love!Paracelsus

As already mentioned, Paracelsus was rebellious and obstinate by nature and
with his lack of patience, he incensed the University of Basel Medical Association and
was expelled. His views on the role of the doctor were not only verbalized but published
throughout his many volumes of work. He often insisted that a doctor must be
benevolent and selfless while forever striving for the divine truth. He believed that higher
knowledge did not come about by reading books or through intellectual study. Instead,
he felt that higher knowledge came only from intense alignment to God the creator. In
his The Honesty of the Doctor, Paracelsus states, "Those, who do not feel the presence
of the angel in themselves, cannot understand anything of it and therefore they should
not be initiated into the secrets.(32) Thus, man was taught by his angel or soul, and was
therefore able to obtain knowledge through its guidance. This he considered to be a
vast secret known only of the wise, and was to be guarded and kept to oneself.
At the time of his death Paracelsus was recognized as a well-known physician
but not as an author. It was some time before physicians began to look for his
manuscripts for publication purposes. By 1570 many of his works were in print. It is
because of his work in the chemical treatment of medical ailments that Paracelsus has
so frequently been referred to as the father of modern pharmacology. He concluded that
the purpose of alchemy should not be to produce gold, but rather to create medications
to treat disease. He was the first to attempt to apply scientific principles towards
medicine, and was responsible for bringing alchemy and chemistry together into the
precursor of modern-day pharmacology. His work and contributions allowed modern
medicine to lay the foundation for modern chemical physiology.
Medical aliments during the medieval era were thought to arise due to certain
behaviors of the individual. During this time there was no concept of viruses or the
bacterias leading to illness. The relationship between particular sins and illnesses
developed from Greco-Roman medicine, and was greatly influenced by Christian
thought. If one believed for example, that a certain form of moral transgression caused
an illness, then the only way to alleviate the illness was to correct the moral failings.
This concept was particularly appealing to early Christians, as in the Old and New
Testament, disease was often punishment for individuals opposing Gods law.
Paracelsus sought the cause of pathological changes, not as Galen did in the
cardinal humours, blood, phlegm, yellow and black gall (humoral pathology), but in the
entities, which he divided into cosmic influences differing with climate and country, toxic
matter originating in the food, defective physical or mental constitution and or an
affliction sent by Providence. Like the followers of Hippocrates he prescribes the
observation of nature and dietetic directions and his aim was to discover a specific
remedy for every disease.(33) For nature demands that you follow its laws and not the
ideas of fools. Therefore, the doctor must be a knower of nature, who knows the
properties, the essence and the method of nature, Paracelsus.(34)
Paracelsus was convinced that each bodily organ acted as an alchemist
separating pure from impure. An example he portrayed was with the stomach, and its
separation of the nutritional part of food from the dross, which was eliminated through
the intestines. In the same way, other organs also had their function in ensuring the
health of the body. Illness occurred when these functions in an organ failed and poisons
accumulated as in stones suddenly developing in the kidneys or bladder and or as in a
case of tuberculosis within the lungs.(35) Paracelsus theory of medical alchemical
separation between the pure and the impure, caused a break with the traditional medical
society due to its direct challenge of the then popular Galenic medicine.
Galen (130-201 C.E.) taught medicine and anatomy in Alexandria during the 2
nd

century A.D. He theorized a person became ill when one of the four humours was out
of balance and that the microcosm consisted of the four bodily humors: blood, phelm,
black bile, and yellow bile. Each of the four humours reflecting the elements of the
macrocosm: air, water, earth, and fire. The humours also had temperature and
moisture properties as blood was hot and wet, phlegm was cold and wet, black bile was
cold and dry, and yellow bile was hot and dry. Thus if any of these were out of balance
the physician would counteract the out of balance humour with its opposite, a
prescription made from plants and animals that contained the elements the patient
needed. With this system humans were inherently connected to the natural elements
because it was the elements and not the germs that influenced health.
Paracelsus felt that disease was a form of active energy expressing itself through
forces, which would destroy or bring about death. Disease is energy, which does not
work in a desirable means or according to the divine plan and law. But that which we
identify as evil is the inversion of that which we call good, and the doctor must know,
understand, and apply this principle in his practice.(36) Bryon Grigsby indicates in his
Medical Misconceptions, that the connection between morality and illness is not a
medieval creation, but part of the heritage of the Greco-Roman medicine. Medieval
medicine was not a simplistic, primitive system but rather a learned theory that makes
sense when one considers the information of which medieval doctors had to rely on.
Many herbalists today are validating medieval medicine in light of modern medicine, by
analyzing common herbals, and confirming their therapeutic merit.(37)
In conclusion, the study of Paracelsus work during the Renaissance is extremely
fascinating and intriguing. To capture all that Paracelsus represents, from both his era
and our era today, does not seem possible. Often appearing superior and arrogant
before many of his colleagues, he was the opposite with his patients who saw him as a
humble, loving doctor of medicine. His intensely deep desire to enlighten men into the
secrets of substance, as well as their own souls, impelled him to speak a truth that he
fervently believed in and stood for. Zoller points out that astrology and alchemy obtained
its effectiveness due to the practitioners possession of spiritual virtues and powers. In
the final analysis, it was the astrologer, the alchemist, and the magician himself, who
was the link between the Divine and Nature.(38) This analogy can certainly be applied to
Paracelsus, as the study of his work reveals.
As Waite so eloquently states, He stands neither in the medieval world, nor in
the modern one, but bridges the two for us, making his era more accessible by his
immediacy, his closeness to our own.(39) Paracelsus felt that the advancement of
medicine was dependent upon the exploration of the invisible side of nature. Through
his search for the origin of disease he vehemently believed and taught that man was not
simply a physical being, but rather a living being with a soul whose own inner attitudes
could profoundly affect his health.
He strived for a better understanding of medicine and sought to overturn the old
order of things that he felt were outdated. Paracelsus may be regarded as the founder
of modern material medica, and the pioneer of scientific chemistry, as before his era
medical science received no assistance from alchemy. (40) He is known for many
notable medical cures that were astonishing for his time, the least of which was the cure
for syphilis using mercury. Paracelsus did not limit alchemy to the transmutation of
metals for he saw the hidden possibilities in every substance. His philosophy of creation
included the natural evolution that takes place around us. For he felt that wisdom was
not confined in books, but instead, was ultimately eternal.




End Notes

(1) Paracelsus, The Treasure of Treasures for Alchemists, Transcribed by Dusan
Djordjevic Mileusnic, (J.H. Oxon, London, 1659),
http://dbhs.wvusd.k12.ca.cus.chem-history/Paracelsus-html, p. 2

(2) Perry, Western Civilization A Brief History, Volume 1 Third Edition, (Boston, New
York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1997), p. 196-197

(3) Encyclopedia, The Catholic, Volume XI, Transcribed by Thomas J. Bress,
(Online Edition, Kevin Knight, 1999), p. 3
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11468a.htm

(4) Zoller, Robert, The Occult Sciences of Astrology, Alchemy, and Magic and their
Relation to the Other Greco-Arabic Sciences, (London, New Library, 2001), p. 28

(5) Paracelsus, The Apoclypse Of Hermes, According to Paracelsus, A Hermetic
Commentary, Translated by A.E. Waite, Introduction and notes by Patrick J.
Smith (Edmonds, WA: Holmes Publishing Group, 1997), p. 4

(6) Zoller, Robert, The Hermetica as Ancient Science, http://www.new-
library.com/zoller/features/rz-article-hermetica, p. 2

(7) Zoller, Robert, The Arabic Parts in Astrology, A Lost Key to Prediction,
(Rochester Vermont: Inner Traditions International, 1980), p. 19-20

(8) Paracelsus, Hermes, p. 4-5

(9) Debus, Allen G., Paracelsus and the Medical Revolution of the Renaissance A
500
th
Anniversary Celebration, (National Library of Medicine, The University of
Chicago), http://www.nim.nih.gov/exhibition/paracelsus/paracelsus_2.html, p. 2

(10) Paracelsus The Great, The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Aureolus
Philippus Theophrastus Bombst, of Hohenheim, Translated by Arthur Edward
Waite, Volume II, Hermetic Medicine & Hermetic Philosophy, (New Hyde Park,
New York: University Books Inc., 1967), p. 314

(11) Zoller, Robert, Astrology and Wisdom, http://www.new-
library.com/zoller/features/z article-wisdom.shtml; (London, New Library, 2001),
p. 1

(12) Paracelsus The Great, Hermetic, Volume II, p. 293

(13) Paracelsus, Hermes, p. 16

(14) Paracelsus, The Honesty of the Doctor, The four Pillars of the Art of Healing,
http://www.paracelsus-
center.ch/e_Paracelsus%20Honesty%20of%20the%20Doctor.htm#Paracelsus,
p. 1

(15) Paracelsus The Great, The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Aureolus
Philippus Theophrastus Bombst, of Hohenheim, Translated by Arthur Edward
Waite, Volume I, Hermetic Medicine & Hermetic Philosophy, (New Hyde Park,
New York: University Books Inc., 1967), p. 288


(16) Paracelsus, Paracelsus and Alchemy, The four Pillars of the Art of Healing,
http://www.paracelsus-center.ch/e_Paracelsus-Alchemy.htm/Parcelsus, p. 2

(17) Paracelsus The Great, Hermetic, Volume II, p. 148

(18) McLeon, Adam, Alchemical Vessel as Symbol of the Soul,
http://www.levity.com/alchemy/vessel.html, p. 1

(19) Paracelsus, The Treasure, p. 2

(20) Paracelsus The Great, Hermetic, Volume II, p. 3

(21) Paracelsus The Great, Hermetic, Volume I, p. 283

(22) Zoller, Medieval and Renaissance Astrology and Medicine, http://www.new-
library.com/zoller/features/rz-article-medicine.shtml; (1992), p.2

(23) Paracelsus, Alchemical Writings, Volume II, p. 283

(24) Paracelsus, Alchemical Writings, Volume II, p. 285

(25) Zollar, Medieval Medicine, p.3

(26) Paracelsus, Alchemical Writings, Volume II, p. 290

(27) Paracelsus, Alchemical Writings, Volume II, p. 290

(28) Paracelsus, Alchemical Writings, Volume II, p. 290

(29) Zoller, Robert, The Occult Sciences, p. 29

(30) Paracelsus, Alchemical Writings, Volume I, p. 192

(31) Paracelsus and Alchemy, The four Pillars, p. 4

(32) Paracelsus, The Honesty of the Doctor, p. 1

(33) Encyclopedia, The Catholic, p. 2

(34) Paracelsus and Alchemy, The four Pillars, p. 4

(35) Debus, Allen G., Paracelsus, p. 6

(36) Paracelsus and Alchemy, The four Pillars, p. 2

(37) Grigsby, Bryon, Medical Misconceptions, (ORB: The Online Reference Book for
Medieval Studies), http://orb.rhodes.edu/non_spec/missteps/Ch4.html, p. 3

(38) Paracelsus, Alchemical Writings, Volume I , p. xii

(39) Zoller, The Occult Sciences, p. 27

(40) Encyclopedia, The Catholic, p. 2



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