Theophrastus of Hohenheim September 24, 1541

[Voyageur]

Noticed that today is noted as the death of Theophrastus of Hohenheim or Paracelsus, September 24th 1541 as recorded some < 470 year ago.

There are numerous post here referencing him and I’ve read what M.P. Hall said of him in his book STOAA. He seems a curious man, hated, loved. He is reported as being a despiser of physicians and woman, yet that seems not necessarily a correct fit, historicised by his detractors? However, maybe this is true, but it seems he had many common folks with their common needs in mind and they seemed to revere him as well.

Just what is known to be true and what is not seems much as he did not write down his works, rather, apparently they were noted by his disciples - so not much there in his own hand.

Anyway, as this was the date of his passing, thought to start a thread on him should some wish to point out some things from other sources not read. It sounds like many a New/Age direction has taken some into the alchemical meanings of his, thither and yonder to suit their purposes or their verbatim understanding of alchemical processes. Much of Hal’s books centers on these things and if not careful of his language, as Fulcanelli says, you can exhaust your life and resources, or something similar, in pursuits of these things.

Could quote much from STOAA, but will leave just this small section of his life from a few perspectives.

There is much controversy concerning the personality of Paracelsus. That he had an irascible disposition
there is no doubt. His barred for physicians and for women amounted to a mania; for them he had
nothing but abuse. As far as can be learned, there was never a love affair in his life. His peculiar
appearance and immoderate system of living were always held against him by his adversaries. It is
believed that his physical abnormalities may have been responsible for much of the bitterness against
society which he carried with him throughout all his intolerant and tempestuous life.

His reputed intemperance brought upon him still more persecution, for it was asserted that even during
the time of his professorship in the University of Basel he was seldom sober. Such an accusation is
difficult to understand in view of the marvelous mental clarity for which he was noted at all times. The
vast amount of writing which he accomplished (the Strassburg Edition of his collected works is in three
large volumes, each containing several hundred pages) is a monumental contradiction of the tales
regarding his excessive use of alcoholics.

No doubt many of the vices of which he is accused were sheer inventions by his enemies, who, not
satisfied with hiring assassins to murder him, sought to besmirch his memory after they had revengefully
ended his life. The manner in which Paracelsus met his death is uncertain, but: the most credible account
is that he died as the indirect result of a scuffle with a number of assassins who had been hired by some
of his professional enemies to make away with the one who had exposed their chicanery.

Few manuscripts are extant in the handwriting of Paracelsus, for he dictated the majority of his works to
his disciples, who wrote them down. Professor John Maxson Stillman, of Stanford University, pays the
following tribute to his memory: "Whatever be the final judgment as to the relative importance of
Paracelsus in the upbuilding of medical science and practice, it must be recognized that he entered upon
his career at Basel with the zeal and the self-assurance of one who believed himself inspired with a great
truth, and destined to effect a great advance in the science and practice of medicine. By nature he was a
keen and open-minded observer of whatever came under his observation, though probably also not a
very critical analyst of the observed phenomena. He was evidently an unusually self-reliant and
independent thinker, though the degree of originality in his thought may be a matter of legitimate
differences of opinion. Certainly once having, from whatever combination of influences, made up his
mind to reject the sacredness of the authority of Aristotle, Galen and Avicenna, and having found what
to his mind was a satisfactory substitute for the ancient dogmas in his own modification of the neo-
Platonic philosophy, he did not hesitate to burn his ships behind him.

"Having cut loose from the dominant Galenism of his time, he determined to preach and teach that the
basis of the medical science of the future should be the study of nature, observation of the patient,
experiment and experience, and not the infallible dogmas of authors long dead. Doubtless in the pride
and self-confidence of his youthful enthusiasm he did not rightly estimate the tremendous force of
conservatism against which he directed his assaults. If so, his experience in Basel surely undeceived
him. From that time on he was to be a wanderer again, sometimes in great poverty, sometimes in
moderate comfort, but manifestly disillusioned as to the immediate success of his campaign though
never in doubt as to its ultimate success--for to his mind his new theories and practice of medicine were
at one with the forces of nature, which were the expression of God's will, and eventually they must
prevail."

This strange man, his nature a mass of contradictions, his stupendous genius shining like a star through
the philosophic and scientific darkness of mediæval Europe, struggling against the jealousy of his
colleagues as well as against the irascibility of his own nature, fought for the good of the many against
the domination of the few. He was the first man to write scientific books in the language of the common
people so that all could read them.

Even in death Paracelsus found no rest. Again and again his bones were dug up and reinterred in another
place. The slab of marble over his grave bears the following inscription: "Here lies buried Philip
Theophrastus the famous Doctor of Medicine who cured Wounds, Leprosy, Gout, Dropsy and other
incurable Maladies of the Body, with wonderful Knowledge and gave his Goods to be divided and
distributed to the Poor. In the Year 1541 on the 24th day of September he exchanged Life for Death. To
the Living Peace, to the Sepulchred Eternal Rest."

A. M. Stoddart, in her Life of Paracelsus, gives a remarkable testimonial of the love which the masses
had for the great physician. Referring to his tomb, she writes: "To this day the poor pray there.
Hohenheim's memory has 'blossomed in the dust' to sainthood, for the poor have canonized him. When
cholera threatened Salzburg in 1830, the people made a pilgrimage to his monument and prayed him to
avert it from their homes. The dreaded scourge passed away from them and raged in Germany and the
rest of Austria."

Adding in the Hermetic 7 (from the same book).

Some of these seem intuitive and some seem no - strange, into the world behind the Vail.

According to the Hermetists, disease could be prevented or successfully combated in seven ways. First,
by spells and invocations, in which the physician ordered the evil spirit causing the disease to depart
from the patient. This procedure was probably based on the Biblical account of the man possessed of
devils whom Jesus healed by commanding the devils to leave the man and enter into a herd of swine.
Sometimes the evil spirits entered a patient at the bidding of someone desiring to injure him. In these
cases the physician commanded the spirits to return to the one who sent them. It is recorded that in some
instances the evil spirits departed through the mouth in the form of clouds of smoke; sometimes from the
nostrils as flames. It is even averred that the spirits might depart in the form of birds and insects.

The second method of healing was by vibration. The inharmonies of the bodies were neutralized by
chanting spells and intoning the sacred names or by playing upon musical instruments and singing.
Sometimes articles of various colors were exposed to the sight of the sick, for the ancients recognized, at
least in part, the principle of color therapeutics, now in the process of rediscovery.

The third method was with the aid of talismans, charms, and amulets. The ancients believed that the
planets controlled the functions of the human body and that by making charms out of different metals
they could combat the malignant influences of the various stars. Thus, a person who is anæmic lacks
iron. Iron was believed to be under the control of Mars. Therefore, in order to bring the influence of
Mars to the sufferer, around his neck was hung a talisman made of iron and bearing upon it certain
secret instructions reputed to have the power of invoking the spirit of Mars. If there was too much iron
in the system, the patient was subjected to the influence of a talisman composed of the metal
corresponding to some planet having an antipathy to Mars. This influence would then offset the Mars
energy and thus aid in restoring normality.

The fourth method was by the aid of herbs and simples. While they used metal talismans, the majority of
the ancient physicians did not approve of mineral medicine in any form for internal use. Herbs were
their favorite remedies. Like the metals, each herb was assigned to one of the planets. Having diagnosed
by the stars the sickness and its cause, the doctors then administered the herbal antidote.
The fifth method of healing disease was by prayer. All ancient peoples believed in the compassionate
intercession of the Deity for the alleviation of human suffering. Paracelsus said that faith would cure all
disease. Few persons, however, possess a sufficient degree of faith.

The sixth method--which was prevention rather than cure--was regulation of the diet and daily habits of
life. The individual, by avoiding the things which caused illness, remained well. The ancients believed
that health was the normal state of man; disease was the result of man's disregard of the dictates of
Nature.

The seventh method was "practical medicine," consisting chiefly of bleeding, purging, and similar lines
of treatment. These procedures, while useful in moderation, were dangerous in excess. Many a useful
citizen has died twenty-five or fifty years before his time as the result of drastic purging or of having all
the blood drained out of his body.

Paracelsus used all seven methods of treatment, and even his worst enemies admitted that he
accomplished results almost miraculous in character. Near his old estate in Hohenheim, the dew falls
very heavily at certain seasons of the year, and Paracelsus discovered that by gathering the dew under
certain configurations of the planets he obtained a water possessing marvelous medicinal virtue, for it
had absorbed the properties of the heavenly bodies.