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| Paracelsus (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Paracelsus was born Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, on the 11th of November or 17th of December 1493 and died on the 24th September 1541. He was a Swiss German Renaissance physician, botanist, alchemist, astrologer, and general occultist.
Paracelsus founded the discipline of toxicology. He was known as a revolutionary. He is described thus for insisting upon using observations of nature, instead of relying on the ancient texts. He was radically defiant of the medical practices of his day.
He is also credited for giving zinc its name by calling it zincum. Modern psychology credits him for being the first person to document and investigate that certain diseases are manifested in psychological changes and mental illness.
Paracelsus had a difficult personality. He was stubborn and independent. He grew cynical and more frustrated and embittered as his wisdom was not heeded and he suffered as a reformer.
Known as Paracelsus, why?
"Paracelsus", meaning "next (in his status as physician) to Celsus", refers to the Roman encyclopedist Aulus Cornelius Celsus from the 1st century, known for his tract on medicine.
Paracelsus' most important legacy is likely his critique of the scholastic methods in medicine, science and theology. Although these faculties did not exist separate from each other during his time, his attitudes towards the uncritical copy of the teachings of the old Fathers of Medicine, such as Avicenna and Averroes, without categorically denying their obvious merits, was his first and foremost achievement for independent and empirical approaches to research and teaching.
Much of his theoretical work does not withstand modern scientific thought, but his insights laid the foundation for a more dynamic approach in the medical sciences. Wiki
So what influenced Paracelsus most?
As a physician of the early 16th century, Paracelsus held a natural affinity with the Hermetic, Neoplatonic, and Pythagorean philosophies central to the Renaissance, a world-view exemplified by Marsilio Ficino and Pico della Mirandola. Paracelsus rejected the magic theories of Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa and Nicolas Flamel in his Archidoxes of Magic.
Astrology was a very important part of Paracelsus' medicine, and he was a practicing astrologer, as were many of the university-trained physicians working at this time in Europe.
Paracelsus devoted several sections in his writings to the construction of astrological talismans for curing disease, providing talismans for various maladies as well as talismans for each sign of the Zodiac. He also invented an alphabet called the Alphabet of the Magi, for engraving angelic names upon talismans.
Paracelsus pioneered the use of chemicals and minerals in medicine. His hermetical views were that sickness and health in the body relied on the harmony of man (microcosm) and Nature (macrocosm). He took an approach different from those before him, using this analogy not in the manner of soul-purification but in the manner that humans must have certain balances of minerals in their bodies, and that certain illnesses of the body had chemical remedies that could cure them. (Debus & Multhauf, p. 6-12)
As a result of this hermetical idea of harmony, the universe's macrocosm was represented in every person as a microcosm. According to the insights at the time, there were Seven planets in the sky, Seven metals on Earth and Seven centers (or major organs) in Man — seven was a special number. Everything was heavenly and closely interrelated (see table below).
| Sun | Gold | Heart | ||||||
| Moon | Silver | Brain | ||||||
| Jupiter | Tin | Liver | ||||||
| Venus | Copper | Kidneys | ||||||
| Saturn | Lead | Spleen | ||||||
| Mars | Iron | Gall bladder | ||||||
| Mercury | Quicksilver | Lungs |
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| Dew everywhere here in Urunga. |
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