Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195320992
- eISBN:
- 9780199852062
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195320992.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
This introductory chapter explains the coverage of this book, which is about the history of Western esotericism. This book offers an overview of the main movements, currents, and figures of these ...
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This introductory chapter explains the coverage of this book, which is about the history of Western esotericism. This book offers an overview of the main movements, currents, and figures of these traditions from late antiquity to the 20th century. It examines the ancient Hellenistic sources of Western esotericism, the Italian Renaissance magic, Rosicrucianism and cabala, and planetary and angel magic. It also evaluates the works of several noted esoteric philosophers including Paracelsus, Jacob Boehme, and Emanuel Swedenborg.Less
This introductory chapter explains the coverage of this book, which is about the history of Western esotericism. This book offers an overview of the main movements, currents, and figures of these traditions from late antiquity to the 20th century. It examines the ancient Hellenistic sources of Western esotericism, the Italian Renaissance magic, Rosicrucianism and cabala, and planetary and angel magic. It also evaluates the works of several noted esoteric philosophers including Paracelsus, Jacob Boehme, and Emanuel Swedenborg.
Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195320992
- eISBN:
- 9780199852062
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195320992.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
This chapter examines the works of Paracelsus on alchemy and German Naturphilosophie and its relation to the history of Western esotericism. It suggests that alchemy played a large part in ...
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This chapter examines the works of Paracelsus on alchemy and German Naturphilosophie and its relation to the history of Western esotericism. It suggests that alchemy played a large part in Renaissance esotericism and its rapid diffusion during the period 1550–1650 is directly related to its combination with Neo-Platonic and Hermetic approaches to nature, and especially to the controversy surrounding Paracelsus. It discusses Paracelsus' esoteric ideas concerning the cosmic all-life, the spiritualization of matter and the divine nature of virtue and energy, which are now integral elements in the new philosophies of science of vitalism and holism and in the archetypes of Jungian psychoanalysis.Less
This chapter examines the works of Paracelsus on alchemy and German Naturphilosophie and its relation to the history of Western esotericism. It suggests that alchemy played a large part in Renaissance esotericism and its rapid diffusion during the period 1550–1650 is directly related to its combination with Neo-Platonic and Hermetic approaches to nature, and especially to the controversy surrounding Paracelsus. It discusses Paracelsus' esoteric ideas concerning the cosmic all-life, the spiritualization of matter and the divine nature of virtue and energy, which are now integral elements in the new philosophies of science of vitalism and holism and in the archetypes of Jungian psychoanalysis.
Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195320992
- eISBN:
- 9780199852062
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195320992.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
This chapter examines the influence of Rosicrucianism on the history of Western esotericism. During the early part of the 17th century, the original Rosicrucian manifestos attracted widespread ...
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This chapter examines the influence of Rosicrucianism on the history of Western esotericism. During the early part of the 17th century, the original Rosicrucian manifestos attracted widespread interest and a wave of applications to join the order. Its first manifesto, titled Fama Fraternitatis, together with these other texts is strongly suggestive concerning the Protestant and Paracelsian sympathies of the manifesto authors. The Rosicrucian myth inspired literature, 18th-century Masonic adaptations, the rituals of the Golden Dawn, the leading magical order of the modern occult revival and until today it exerts a powerful mystique.Less
This chapter examines the influence of Rosicrucianism on the history of Western esotericism. During the early part of the 17th century, the original Rosicrucian manifestos attracted widespread interest and a wave of applications to join the order. Its first manifesto, titled Fama Fraternitatis, together with these other texts is strongly suggestive concerning the Protestant and Paracelsian sympathies of the manifesto authors. The Rosicrucian myth inspired literature, 18th-century Masonic adaptations, the rituals of the Golden Dawn, the leading magical order of the modern occult revival and until today it exerts a powerful mystique.
Vittorio Hösle
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780691167190
- eISBN:
- 9781400883042
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691167190.003.0003
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This chapter examines the thoughts of natural philosopher Theophrastus Bombastus of Hohenheim, called Paracelsus (1493–1541), and Jakob Böhme (1575–1624). Like most of the innovative ideas of the ...
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This chapter examines the thoughts of natural philosopher Theophrastus Bombastus of Hohenheim, called Paracelsus (1493–1541), and Jakob Böhme (1575–1624). Like most of the innovative ideas of the sixteenth century, Paracelsus's philosophical-scientific ideas belong to the time of fermentation between the collapse of Scholastic science and the emergence of the new science in the seventeenth century. The polemic against traditional medicine, especially the humoral pathology that derived from books rather than from direct experience, is conducted in a churlish manner reminiscent of Luther and with bombastic self-praise. Böhme is considered first epoch-making German philosopher of the modern period. He was a cobbler who had had experienced mystical visions and wanted to provide a deeper foundation for his traditional Lutheran piety (inspired by the Bible) through a philosophical account of the development of God, nature, and redemption through Christ.Less
This chapter examines the thoughts of natural philosopher Theophrastus Bombastus of Hohenheim, called Paracelsus (1493–1541), and Jakob Böhme (1575–1624). Like most of the innovative ideas of the sixteenth century, Paracelsus's philosophical-scientific ideas belong to the time of fermentation between the collapse of Scholastic science and the emergence of the new science in the seventeenth century. The polemic against traditional medicine, especially the humoral pathology that derived from books rather than from direct experience, is conducted in a churlish manner reminiscent of Luther and with bombastic self-praise. Böhme is considered first epoch-making German philosopher of the modern period. He was a cobbler who had had experienced mystical visions and wanted to provide a deeper foundation for his traditional Lutheran piety (inspired by the Bible) through a philosophical account of the development of God, nature, and redemption through Christ.
Deborah Boyle
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- November 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780190234805
- eISBN:
- 9780190234829
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190234805.003.0010
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy, General
While Cavendish wrote a great deal about medicine, surprisingly little attention has been paid to this aspect of Cavendish’s thought. This chapter shows how focusing on the themes of peace and order ...
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While Cavendish wrote a great deal about medicine, surprisingly little attention has been paid to this aspect of Cavendish’s thought. This chapter shows how focusing on the themes of peace and order illuminates Cavendish’s medical thinking. The chapter begins by locating Cavendish’s views in historical context, showing that she sided with Galenists rather than iatrochemists such as Paracelsus and van Helmont. Her objections to iatrochemistry are shown to be part of a broader rejection of alchemy. The chapter argues that Cavendish’s views on health, disease, causes of disease, and cures for diseases are firmly grounded in her natural-philosophical thinking, especially her theory of occasional causation and “imitation.”Less
While Cavendish wrote a great deal about medicine, surprisingly little attention has been paid to this aspect of Cavendish’s thought. This chapter shows how focusing on the themes of peace and order illuminates Cavendish’s medical thinking. The chapter begins by locating Cavendish’s views in historical context, showing that she sided with Galenists rather than iatrochemists such as Paracelsus and van Helmont. Her objections to iatrochemistry are shown to be part of a broader rejection of alchemy. The chapter argues that Cavendish’s views on health, disease, causes of disease, and cures for diseases are firmly grounded in her natural-philosophical thinking, especially her theory of occasional causation and “imitation.”
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226576961
- eISBN:
- 9780226577036
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226577036.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
In the early seventeenth century, Paracelsus's term spagyria—which originally emphasized analysis or Scheidung over synthesis—was subjected to linguistic analysis by the fiery polemicist Andreas ...
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In the early seventeenth century, Paracelsus's term spagyria—which originally emphasized analysis or Scheidung over synthesis—was subjected to linguistic analysis by the fiery polemicist Andreas Libavius, an outspoken opponent of Paracelsus who nonetheless defended chymistry. Libavius's treatment would explicitly link spagyria to atomism via the intermediary of Aristotle's fourth book, Meteorology. Libavius's references to meteorological and alchemical processes as due to synkrisis and diakrisis reveal his longstanding affection for the Meteorology. The chapter concludes with a discussion on the analysis that Libavius did achieve a straightforward synthesis of the doctrines in Aristotle's Meteorology with his understanding of Democritean atomism.Less
In the early seventeenth century, Paracelsus's term spagyria—which originally emphasized analysis or Scheidung over synthesis—was subjected to linguistic analysis by the fiery polemicist Andreas Libavius, an outspoken opponent of Paracelsus who nonetheless defended chymistry. Libavius's treatment would explicitly link spagyria to atomism via the intermediary of Aristotle's fourth book, Meteorology. Libavius's references to meteorological and alchemical processes as due to synkrisis and diakrisis reveal his longstanding affection for the Meteorology. The chapter concludes with a discussion on the analysis that Libavius did achieve a straightforward synthesis of the doctrines in Aristotle's Meteorology with his understanding of Democritean atomism.
Theodore Ziolkowski
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780198746836
- eISBN:
- 9780191809187
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198746836.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature, Mythology and Folklore
This book traces the figure of the alchemist in Western literature from its first appearance in Dante down to the present. From the beginning alchemy has had two aspects: exoteric or operative (the ...
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This book traces the figure of the alchemist in Western literature from its first appearance in Dante down to the present. From the beginning alchemy has had two aspects: exoteric or operative (the transmutation of baser metals into gold) and esoteric or speculative (the spiritual transformation of the alchemist himself). From Dante to Ben Jonson, during the centuries when the belief in exoteric alchemy was still strong, writers in many literatures treated alchemists with ridicule. From the Renaissance to the Enlightenment, as that belief weakened, the figure of the alchemist disappeared, even though Protestant poets in England and Germany were still fond of alchemical images. But when eighteenth-century science undermined alchemy, the figure of the alchemist began to emerge again in literature—now as a humanitarian hero or as a spirit striving for sublimation. As scholarly interest in alchemy intensified, writers were attracted to the figure of the alchemist and his quest for power. The fin de siècle witnessed a further transformation as some poets saw in the alchemist a symbol for the poet and others a manifestation of religious spirit. During the interwar years many writers turned to the figure of the alchemist as a spiritual model or as a national figurehead. This tendency, theorized by C. G. Jung, inspired after World War II a popularization of the figure in the novel. In sum: the figure of the alchemist in literature provides a seismograph for major shifts in intellectual and cultural history.Less
This book traces the figure of the alchemist in Western literature from its first appearance in Dante down to the present. From the beginning alchemy has had two aspects: exoteric or operative (the transmutation of baser metals into gold) and esoteric or speculative (the spiritual transformation of the alchemist himself). From Dante to Ben Jonson, during the centuries when the belief in exoteric alchemy was still strong, writers in many literatures treated alchemists with ridicule. From the Renaissance to the Enlightenment, as that belief weakened, the figure of the alchemist disappeared, even though Protestant poets in England and Germany were still fond of alchemical images. But when eighteenth-century science undermined alchemy, the figure of the alchemist began to emerge again in literature—now as a humanitarian hero or as a spirit striving for sublimation. As scholarly interest in alchemy intensified, writers were attracted to the figure of the alchemist and his quest for power. The fin de siècle witnessed a further transformation as some poets saw in the alchemist a symbol for the poet and others a manifestation of religious spirit. During the interwar years many writers turned to the figure of the alchemist as a spiritual model or as a national figurehead. This tendency, theorized by C. G. Jung, inspired after World War II a popularization of the figure in the novel. In sum: the figure of the alchemist in literature provides a seismograph for major shifts in intellectual and cultural history.
William R. Newman
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226720807
- eISBN:
- 9780226720838
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226720838.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
This chapter explores a tradition of chemical rather than mechanical attempts to create life artificially. It determines a more general objection on the part of alchemists to the procedures of visual ...
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This chapter explores a tradition of chemical rather than mechanical attempts to create life artificially. It determines a more general objection on the part of alchemists to the procedures of visual artists, which, the alchemists claimed, imposed merely external, accidental changes on matter rather than shaping it from within. The chapter argues that the aspersions that alchemists cast on the visual arts in comparing their genuine but artificial gold with the superficial changes wrought by painting and sculpture play out in different form when alchemical writers come to discuss the homunculus, or artificial test-tube baby. Paracelsus von Hohenheim argues that the mandrake incorrectly described by necromancers and philosophers is really a homunculus, which they have misidentified. The Paracelsian alchemist can produce a genuine mandrake or Alraun in the form of the homunculus, by sealing up human semen for a proper period of time with the requisite application of heat.Less
This chapter explores a tradition of chemical rather than mechanical attempts to create life artificially. It determines a more general objection on the part of alchemists to the procedures of visual artists, which, the alchemists claimed, imposed merely external, accidental changes on matter rather than shaping it from within. The chapter argues that the aspersions that alchemists cast on the visual arts in comparing their genuine but artificial gold with the superficial changes wrought by painting and sculpture play out in different form when alchemical writers come to discuss the homunculus, or artificial test-tube baby. Paracelsus von Hohenheim argues that the mandrake incorrectly described by necromancers and philosophers is really a homunculus, which they have misidentified. The Paracelsian alchemist can produce a genuine mandrake or Alraun in the form of the homunculus, by sealing up human semen for a proper period of time with the requisite application of heat.
Kélina Gotman
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- December 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780190840419
- eISBN:
- 9780190840457
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190840419.003.0004
- Subject:
- Music, Dance
Renegade physician Paracelsus compared St. John’s Day dances to earthquakes, epileptic tremors, and tics. This ecosophical and vitalist concept, according to which all sorts of bodies echo one ...
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Renegade physician Paracelsus compared St. John’s Day dances to earthquakes, epileptic tremors, and tics. This ecosophical and vitalist concept, according to which all sorts of bodies echo one another’s shaking motions, countered long-held academic prejudice against witchcraft; neither choreomaniacs nor witches were subject to supernatural forces. Rather, the ‘vital spirits’ caused limbs, like branches, to shake. What’s more, dancing was now thought to cure dancing, and municipal authorities keen to keep a Strasbourg dancing mania in check employed guards to help wear dancers out—while exorcism associated religious, municipal, and medical experts. The translatio or passage from collective to individual disorder, epitomized in St. Vitus, now patron saint of all dance maniacs, continued throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, as neurologists’ theories of chorea, epilepsy and insanity aligned popular carousing with individual quaking motions. Choreomania came to signal the epidemic proliferation of what Giorgio Agamben has styled purposeless gesture.Less
Renegade physician Paracelsus compared St. John’s Day dances to earthquakes, epileptic tremors, and tics. This ecosophical and vitalist concept, according to which all sorts of bodies echo one another’s shaking motions, countered long-held academic prejudice against witchcraft; neither choreomaniacs nor witches were subject to supernatural forces. Rather, the ‘vital spirits’ caused limbs, like branches, to shake. What’s more, dancing was now thought to cure dancing, and municipal authorities keen to keep a Strasbourg dancing mania in check employed guards to help wear dancers out—while exorcism associated religious, municipal, and medical experts. The translatio or passage from collective to individual disorder, epitomized in St. Vitus, now patron saint of all dance maniacs, continued throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, as neurologists’ theories of chorea, epilepsy and insanity aligned popular carousing with individual quaking motions. Choreomania came to signal the epidemic proliferation of what Giorgio Agamben has styled purposeless gesture.
Joe Moshenska
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- November 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780198712947
- eISBN:
- 9780191781377
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198712947.003.0008
- Subject:
- Literature, 16th-century and Renaissance Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter begins with the correspondence between Henry More and Descartes concerning the tangibility of matter and of God. It then turns to Lucretius’s account of experiences of touch below the ...
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This chapter begins with the correspondence between Henry More and Descartes concerning the tangibility of matter and of God. It then turns to Lucretius’s account of experiences of touch below the threshold of conscious awareness, and the development of this line of thought by thinkers including Margaret Cavendish, Walter Charleton, Ralph Bathurst, Thomas Hobbes, John Smith, and Kenelm Digby. It considers the emphasis on artisanal touch inspired in part by the writings of Paracelsus, which informed the tactile theology of Jakob Böhme and the experimental practice of Robert Boyle. The activities of the healer Valentine Greatrakes, known as Greatrakes the Stroker, are considered, whose abilities inspired a range of interpretations in which natural philosophical, theological, and occult explanations converged.Less
This chapter begins with the correspondence between Henry More and Descartes concerning the tangibility of matter and of God. It then turns to Lucretius’s account of experiences of touch below the threshold of conscious awareness, and the development of this line of thought by thinkers including Margaret Cavendish, Walter Charleton, Ralph Bathurst, Thomas Hobbes, John Smith, and Kenelm Digby. It considers the emphasis on artisanal touch inspired in part by the writings of Paracelsus, which informed the tactile theology of Jakob Böhme and the experimental practice of Robert Boyle. The activities of the healer Valentine Greatrakes, known as Greatrakes the Stroker, are considered, whose abilities inspired a range of interpretations in which natural philosophical, theological, and occult explanations converged.
Theodore Ziolkowski
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780198746836
- eISBN:
- 9780191809187
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198746836.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature, Mythology and Folklore
This chapter begins with a survey of the theoretical revivals of alchemy immediately before and after World War I by such scholars as Herbert Silberer, Edmund von Lippmann, “Fulcanelli,” and others. ...
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This chapter begins with a survey of the theoretical revivals of alchemy immediately before and after World War I by such scholars as Herbert Silberer, Edmund von Lippmann, “Fulcanelli,” and others. This interest inspired the American poets Ezra Pound, “H. D.,” and Robert Hillyer to introduce the alchemist as representative of the poet/artist. In Germany, meanwhile, several novelists were obsessed with the figure of the alchemist: notably Werner Bergengruen, Gustav Meyrink, and Franz Spunda, who are less interested in the practice of exoteric alchemy and more so in alchemy as a spiritualizing force. Each national literature tends to favor its own national alchemist: Nicolas Flamel in France; John Dee in England; and Paracelsus in Germany. During those same years C. G. Jung devoted lectures to Paracelsus as “the spiritual man,” but soon turned more generally to alchemy for “the idea of redemption” and for its “primordial images.”Less
This chapter begins with a survey of the theoretical revivals of alchemy immediately before and after World War I by such scholars as Herbert Silberer, Edmund von Lippmann, “Fulcanelli,” and others. This interest inspired the American poets Ezra Pound, “H. D.,” and Robert Hillyer to introduce the alchemist as representative of the poet/artist. In Germany, meanwhile, several novelists were obsessed with the figure of the alchemist: notably Werner Bergengruen, Gustav Meyrink, and Franz Spunda, who are less interested in the practice of exoteric alchemy and more so in alchemy as a spiritualizing force. Each national literature tends to favor its own national alchemist: Nicolas Flamel in France; John Dee in England; and Paracelsus in Germany. During those same years C. G. Jung devoted lectures to Paracelsus as “the spiritual man,” but soon turned more generally to alchemy for “the idea of redemption” and for its “primordial images.”
