Paracelsus: The Book Concerning the Tincture of the Philosophers · 12 of 13 · tr. Arthur Edward Waite
Section 1l
This spiritual substance is neither heavenly nor hellish, but an airy, pure, and hearty body, midway between the highest and lowest, without reason, but fruitful in works, and the most select and beautiful of all other heavenly things.
This work of God is far too deep for understanding, for it is the last, greatest, and highest secret of Nature.
It is the Spirit of God, which in the Beginning filled the earth and brooded over the waters, which the world cannot grasp without the gracious interposition of the Holy Spirit and instruction from those who know it, which also the whole world desires for its virtue, and which cannot be prized enough.
For it reaches to the planets, raises the clouds, drives away mists, gives its light to all things, turns everything into Sun and Moon, bestows all health and abundance of treasure, cleanses the leper, brightens the eyes, banishes sorrow, heals the sick, reveals all hidden treasures, and, generally, cures all diseases.
Through this spirit have the philosophers invented the Seven Liberal Arts, and thereby gained their riches.
Through the same Moses made the golden vessels in the Ark, and King Solomon did many beautiful works to the honour of God.
Therewith Moses built the Tabernacle, Noah the Ark, Solomon the Temple.
By this, Ezra restored the Law, and Miriam, Moses' sister, was hospitable; Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and other righteous men, have had lifelong abundance and riches; and all the saints possessing it have therewith praised God.
Therefore is its acquisition very hard, more than that of gold and silver.
For it is the best of all things, because, of all things mortal that man can desire in this world, nothing can compare with it, and in it alone is truth.
Hence it is called the Stone and Spirit of Truth; in its works is no vanity, its praise cannot be sufficiently expressed.
I am unable to speak enough of its virtues, because its good qualities and powers are beyond human thoughts, unutterable by the tongue of man, and in it are found the properties of all things.
Yea, there is nothing deeper in Nature.
O unfathomable abyss of God's Wisdom, which thus hath united and comprised in the virtue and power of this One Spirit the qualities of all existing bodies!
O unspeakable honour and boundless joy granted to mortal man!
For the destructible things of Nature are restored by virtue of the said Spirit.
O mystery of mysteries, most secret of all secret things, and healing and medicine of all things!
Thou last discovery in earthly natures, last best gift to Patriarchs and Sages, greatly desired by the whole world!
Oh, what a wondrous and laudable spirit is purity, in which stand all joy, riches, fruitfulness of life, and art of all arts, a power which to its initiates grants all material joys!
O desirable knowledge, lovely above all things beneath the circle of the Moon, by which Nature is strengthened, and heart and limbs are renewed, blooming youth is preserved, old age driven away, weakness destroyed, beauty in its perfection preserved, and abundance ensured in all things pleasing to men!
O thou spiritual substance, lovely above all things!
O thou wondrous power, strengthening all the world!
O thou invincible virtue, highest of all that is, although despised by the ignorant, yet held by the wise in great praise, honour, and glory, that - proceeding from humours - wakest the dead, expellest diseases, restorest the voice of the dying!
§ Ask Guru about this passage →Themes
Alchemical Workpraxis
The transformation of base substance — outer matter or the inner soul — into a purified, perfected, or 'gold' state; the magnum opus as both laboratory practice and spiritual allegory.
The passage explicitly describes this substance as the 'Tincture of the Philosophers' and links it to the invention of the Seven Liberal Arts and material riches.
All passages →Apophatic Theologytheology
Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.
The text states the virtues are 'unutterable by the tongue of man' and beyond human thoughts.
All passages →Divine Providencetheology
Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.
The Spirit is portrayed as actively ordering the cosmos through its powers of raising clouds, driving mists, and healing diseases.
All passages →Related passages · 9 parallels
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“Now in the former treatises the course of the argument, as it came down from the highest to the lowest categories, embraced an ever-widening number of conceptions which increased at each stage of the descent, but in the present treatise it…”
Shared concept: Apophatic Theology — Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa. (derived)
christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 4, Section 1l
“Need is there to understand that in proper truth we do but use the elements and syllables and phrases and written terms and words as an aid to our senses; inasmuch as when our soul is moved by spiritual energies unto spiritual things, our s…”
Shared concept: Apophatic Theology — Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa. (derived)
christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Mystical Theology|Chapter I-b
“They are useful and necessary up to a point, but the Truth lies beyond them and is to be apprehended to a supernatural manner by what later writers call “infused” contemplation.
The sum of the whole matter is that God is incomprehensible.…”
Shared concept: Apophatic Theology — Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa. (derived)
christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 4, Section 1ah
“Aug., Transcende mundum et sape animum, transcende animum et sape Deum.
307 This shows that the Via Negativa starts from something positive.
It is a transcendence, not a mere negation.
308 Prov.
iv.
6, 8 .
309 ὁ ἐμὸς Ἔρως ἐσταύρωται&g…”
Shared concept: Apophatic Theology — Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa. (derived)
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“Section 5 5. Still more unreasonably: There are men, bound to human bodies and subject to desire, grief, anger, who think so generously of their own faculty that they declare themselves in contact with the Intelligible World, but deny that…”
Shared concept: Divine Providence — Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity. (derived)
western_esoteric|The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall)|The Theory and Practice of Alchemy-r
“After this wind will come an earthquake, that will overthrow those things which the wind hath left and make all flat.
But be sure that you fall not off.
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neoplatonism|Iamblichus: On the Mysteries|Chapter XXVII-a
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neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 203 (part 1)
“Section 16 16.
But if all this is true, what room is left for evil?
Where are we to place wrong-doing and sin?
How explain that in a world organized in good, the efficient agents [human beings] behave unjustly, commit sin?
And how comes…”
Shared concept: Divine Providence — Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity. (derived)