The Prophecies of Paracelsus E-Book

Paracelsus

• Herausgeber: GIANLUCA
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Beschreibung

Like the better known Prophecies of Nostradamus, the Prophecies of Paracelsus are exceedingly cryptic, filled with allegorical symbols and capable of being reinterpreted for any purpose. It comes with 32 surreal woodcuts which seem to reveal additional details about each prophecy.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Proem

Introductory 1. Concerning Paracelsus

Introductory 2. On The Prophecies Of Paracelsus

Introductory 3. Eliphas Lévi's Preface To The Prognostications

Introductory 4. Strassburg Edition Of The Preface To The Prognostications

The Magic Figures

Elucidations Of The Prognostications And Conclusion Of Doctor Paracelsus

Another Prognostication By Theophrastus Paracelsus

Epilogue

THE PROPHECIES OF PARACELSUS

TRANSLATED BY

J.K.

1915

Proem

THE Prophecies of Paracelsus attracted my attention at an early stage of my studies in the Occult, which have now extended to over forty years, but I have only recently thought of bringing them to public notice, the extraordinary events of the present time acting as an incentive.

The famous French Kabbalist, Alphonse Louis Constant, in La Clef des Grands Mystères, p. 378, wrote:

'The Prophecy of Paracelsus, of which we here give the Preface, is composed of thirty-two chapters with allegorical figures.

'It is the most astounding monument and indisputable proof of the reality and existence of the gift of natural prophecy.'

Abbé Constant (born 1809, died 1875), better known by his Hebraistic pseudonym, Eliphas Lévi Fahed, was a distinguished Adept, Magus, and Writer on the Occult. Most of his works have been ably translated by Mr. A. E. Waite.

The Preface Eliphas Lévi refers to is not given here, but will be found preceding the Predictions.

The Prophecies of Paracelsus

Eliphas Lévi then continues:

'Following this Preface commence a series of figures.

'The first represents two millstones, the two powers of the state, the people and the aristocracy; but the people's stone is crossed by a serpent holding a bundle of birchrods in its jaws; a hand armed with a sword comes out of a cloud and seems to direct the serpent, which overthrows the millstone and causes it to fall upon the other.

'The second figure represents a dead tree, the fruits of which are fleur-de-lys, and the text announces the exile of the family of whom the fleur-de-lys is the emblem.

'Farther on the millstone, representing the people, falls upon a crown and breaks it.

'Farther on still a bishop is shown immersed in water and surrounded by spears that prevent him from reaching the bank. In the text it says:

"'Thou hast come out of thy bounds, now thou demandest the earth, but it will not be surrendered to thee."

(The German text is slightly different.)

'Then can be seen an eagle hovering over the Bosphorus, where the Sultan appears to be drowning.)

And as this eagle has not two heads and is not black Eliphas Lévi considers that this excludes Russia and Austria.

The great French Kabbalist then concludes:

'It would perhaps not be prudent at present to publish the remainder. Curious persons can consult the Latin book printed with the title Prognosticatio eximii doctoris Theophrasti Paracelsi, which should be found in the National Libraries.

'We possess two copies, one in manuscript and the other photographed after a copy printed in the sixteenth century.'

Thus far Eliphas Lévi in 1861; this is the year 1915.

Now the world is in the throes of a great European war, there is no reason why these pregnant Prophecies should any more be kept secret, and every reason why they should be widely known.

Great changes in the world are before us, both in Religion and Politics. Considering the importance at the present critical time of a clearer outlook, this glimpse into the future coming from the past may not be inopportune, and the present publication of the Predictions of Paracelsus may assist and interest, both from a religious and political point of view, all who are concerned in the world's progress. It may also serve to aid the reader to a better acquaintance with the great Adept of the Renaissance, when his own quaint words on Past, Present, and Future are reproduced.

Introductory 1. Concerning Paracelsus

THEOPHRASTUS BAUMBAST VON HOHENHEIM, commonly known as Paracelsus, the famous Swiss Physician, Alchemist and Occultist of the sixteenth century, was born on the 10th November, 149 3, at Sihlbrücke, near Einsiedeln, Canton Schwyz, and died on the 24th September, 1541, at Salzburg.

Contemporary with Charles V, Luther, Erasmus, and Cornelius Agrippa, Paracelsus stands out as an extraordinary character that has been for a long time misunderstood by the majority of the learned and unlearned alike.

Living in the age of the Reformation, siding neither with Catholic nor Protestant, he distinguished himself as a free lance in Medical Science and Occult Philosophy, and would have been known as a Mystic had his religious writings not been so carefully suppressed as to be altogether forgotten. Paracelsus then claims our attention as Alchemist, Physician, Occultist, Mystic, Astrologer and lastly as Prophet, and it is in this last capacity that we shall regard him, as we are about to study and thereby rescue from oblivion those at one time famous predictions, of which some have been remarkably accomplished,, while others may be considered to be still in actual course of fulfilment.

Concerning the life of this remarkable man we are informed that his first teacher was his father, the learned Wilhelm Baumbast von Hohenheim, a physician, who took pains to instruct him in all the learning of the time, especially in Medicine.

At the age of sixteen young Baumbast entered the University of Basle. But he soon abandoned academic studies, preferring the mystic and occult teachings of the famous Adept, Johannes Trithemius, Abbot of Spanheim, a noted Alchemist and Divine, whose ideas he absorbed.

However, he soon forsook the Abbot, as he had previously forsaken University culture, to study Metallurgic Chemistry in the mines then owned by the Fuggers in Tyrol.

It is not my intention to give a description of the Life of Paracelsus, as such an excellent account appears of him in the eleventh edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Fuller biographical details are given in The Life of Paracelsus, by Dr. Edward Berdoe, M.R.C.S., in the Life and Teachings of Paracelsus, by Franz Hartmann, M.D., and in The Life of Paracelsus by Anne M. Stoddart.

Those who read German will find interesting details in the little volume, Theophrastus Paracelsus, sein Leben und seine Persönlichkeit, by Franz Strunz.

I must, however, differ from the last-named author, who would claim Paracelsus for the Pantheon of German fame and would endeavour to prove that he was a German. He was not. Paracelsus, although he preferred to lecture and write in German, was all his life, heart, soul and backbone, a Swiss. This en passant.