In
the history of alchemy there is not a more picturesque and incredible
figure as that of Auroelus Philippus Theophrastus Paracelstis Bombast
von Hohenheim, an illustrious physician and exponent of the hermetic
philosophy who chose to be remembered as Paracelsus. Paracelsus was
born in 1493 in Einsideln, near Zurich. His father was the natural
son of a prince and a practitioner of the art of medicine; therefore
he wanted his only son to follow on his very foosteps.
Paracelsus’
first education was then directed to the medical sciences, but the
subject were impressed more upon his imagination by aid of the
alchemy world and its mysteries, rather than via the actual practice
of medicine. He immediately understood that the medical traditions of
the time were nothing more than empty shells from which every
substance had long dried up.
Paracelsus
said:
"...
I considered with myself that if there had not been medical teachers
in the world, how could I learn the craft? In no other way than from
the great open book of nature, written by the finger of God…"
Having
thus detached himself from the bonds of an orthodox and obsolete
medicine, Paracelsus began a personal path that would lead him to
conceive a new system to
replace the old one.
He plunged into the "book of nature" through a long period
of travels, from 1513 to 1524, during
which
he
visited
basically every corner of the known world.
He was imprisoned by
the Tartars (but later he accompanied the Kahn's son to
Constantinople), confronted with
the wizards of Egypt and Arabia, and perhaps even reached India, the
land of the Sufi. He studied metallurgy, chemistry and medicine,
often accompanying himself to wanderers of all kinds.
He
eventually returned to Switzerland (1524) and settled in Basel, then
the meeting place of scholars and doctors, where he obtained the
chair of medicine at the University of Basel,
that
had never before
seen
such more erratic and brilliant a professor than Paracelsus. His
exaggerated language, eccentric behavior and the splendor of concepts
he conveyed through a mist of dark codes, attracted and shocked at
the same time, bringing friends but also attracting
many enemies.
Paracelsus' criticism to Galen’s school
embittered until it reached its
apex when he publicly burned the works of Galen and Avicenna in a
bronze vase in which he had thrown sodium and sulfur. With this act,
Paracelsus ran into the wrath of his more conservative colleagues,
and severed permanently all ties with the academic medicine. Despite
all this, he continued his triumphant career until a conflict with
the city magistrates changed everything: Paracelsus was forced to
leave Basel and, from that moment on, he wandered from place to
place, making a living as best as
he
could.
His death in 1541 is shrouded in mystery. The most
accredited version has him poisoned in a plot instigated by the
medical faculty of Basel.
Interesting as it is, the events of
his life are only a corollary to his works. Not only was Paracelsus
the founder of modern medical science, but Mesmer's theory of
magnetism, the "astral" theory of modern spiritualism, and
Descartes' philosophy are all concepts that have drawn from his
fantastic and not always logical teachings. It was Paracelsus who
revived the "microcosmic" theory of ancient Greece,
attempting to demonstrate that the human body is in fact the quantum
mirror of the Solar System, linking the seven organs to the seven
planets. It was Paracelsus who preached the doctrine of the Will and
its effectiveness – power and imagination – with these words:
"...
It is possible that my spirit, without the help of my body but
through the mere, ardent will, and without a sword, might strike and
hurt others. It is also possible that I could transfer the spirit of
my opponent into an image and keep him there or torture him as I
please..."
"...
Vivid imagination is the beginning of every magic operation..."
"...
Since men neither believe nor imagine in a perfect way, the result is
that the arts are uncertain when they could be entirely certain..."