Psalterium Chymicum - Chymical Psalter, or the Manual

The Chymical (Alchemical) Psalter, or the Manual of Paracelsus - Psalterium Chymicum.

Extracted and Translated to English from the book:
Der Hermetische Nord-Stern, oder getreuer Unterricht und Anweisung, wie zu der Hermetischen Meisterschaft zu gelangen: nebst gutherziger Warnung und Ermahnung, wie sich vorhero jedermann wohl zu prüfen habe, ehe er sich unterstehe, dieser so grossen und geheimen Wissenschaft zu unterwerfen

Preface to the reader

Reader, since God began to cause the spirit of medicine to work thoroughly through Machaon, Podalirius, Apollo, and Hippocrates, etc., so that true medicine might appear as through a cloud (within which it nevertheless could not be properly recognized), and might break forth into the light and in part be made manifest to mankind; so too has He restrained and hindered the spirit of darkness, which seeks to wholly suppress and extinguish the light of nature, so that the Magnalia Dei which lie hidden in arcana, quintessences, magisteries, and elixirs might not remain unknown. Therefore God has ordained and appointed, by means, that what follows, through good spirits, such arcana and mysteries would further be imagined (or impressed) as things for man to fathom; just as certain people can advance so far that, through renewal by means of the divine Spirit or through rebirth they take to themselves and receive, as it were, angelic natures from heaven, as the angels themselves also can.

Such people are then able like those who possess a more perfect understanding to reflect upon nature and its daily course more deeply than others; to hold what is pure against what is impure, to separate and divide it, and to alter it in such a way that this seems impossible to some.

For they, as true physicians of nature (physici), can by proper means come to nature’s aid and, through art, bring it to perfection. Therefore, among them all devilish and imperfect works must shrink back and give way as lies before truth and before perfection. This truth, I say, should and must be pursued here, if one intends to arrive at a blessed end. But if truth is to be grasped, no one need be ashamed to seek it, wherever it may be. But that I have loved it highly, and have sought it, I am not to be blamed; for I must pursue it and seek it since it does not pursue me, nor does it seek me. For whoever wants to reach a city must not stay at home sitting on a cushion, roasting pears, and become a “doctor behind the stove.” No eminent cosmographer grows up behind a table; no chiromancer on the floor; nor any geomancer in the cellar. In the same way, no true medicine can be attained without manifold investigation. God grants a physician what he desires but not without unrest, toil, and labor as he says: “You shall eat the labor of your hands, and it shall be well with you.” Since seeing yields truth, and what the eye takes in gladdens or frightens the heart: my effort must not be held against me as a disadvantage, even if I travel and attach myself to people whom some despise out of ignorance. For to investigate what lies hidden and lodged in the limbus terrae (the “border/limbo of the earth”), and also what belongs to a true physician created by God so that more harm than benefit may not result from it tolerates no idler.

Let whoever wishes sit on the cushion, then; as for me, I take delight in my traveling and in what God and time grant me to see and to investigate.

Yet for the sake of the well-intentioned who mean to learn and love the light of Nature I have also wished to write this little book, so that they may have knowledge of the foundation of my medicine, and may let the cacomedicus’s (quack-doctor’s) smear-work pass, and may also be able, in part, to give them an answer concerning my grounds. I do, however, hope it will also be taken as a fable-work. For the glittering fellows can, beforehand, behave as though Doctor Donkey-Head already had it in the bag yet they will likely leave it untouched; and an alchemist must understand such a little book: one whom the coals do not harm, and whom the daily smoke does not weary. Let it please whoever it may; I compel no one. It will not pass without usefulness; my adversaries the supposed physicians may accuse and slander me with whatever they wish.

On the Philosophers’ Stone

To forge the Lapis Philosophorum by means of Vulcan (i.e., by fire) which, for sufficient reasons, we call the balsamum perfectum or perpetuum we must first consider how it is to be formed materially, so as to become visible and perceptible; and likewise how its power, or its fire, comes forth and makes itself known.

And so that this may be shown more clearly, we will take an example from ordinary fire how its power displays itself and becomes visible. This happens in the following way: first, by Vulcan, a fire is drawn out of the stone; yet such a fire can do nothing unless it has matter of its own kind in which it may work such as wood, resin, oil, and the like, which readily burn and are by nature inclined to it. When such natural fire comes into such material, it continues to operate and does not cease, unless it is destroyed or hindered by its contrary, or else no matter remains in which it can multiply. For when one adds wood or something similar, its power grows ever greater and stronger, and thus it carries out its operation so long as one adds more to it.

Now what relation the wood has to it in which the fire works and shows its working so also it goes so it is also with the Lapis Philosophorum, or the perpetual balsam, in the human body.

For if the same is made from suitable matter, and prepared in the philosophical manner by an understanding physician, and after sufficient prior consideration of all the circumstances of the person is administered and used: then it renews and refreshes all the organa vitae (organs of life) in such a way as when wood is laid upon a fire, which revives the almost dead coals and causes them to burn again brightly and clearly.

From this one may properly conclude that the material of such a balsam is of very great importance, since it ought and must have a particular harmony with the human body, whereby it may accomplish its operation in such a manner that the human body is secured against all evil accidents that some matter might cause.

Therefore it is not only the preparation of the Lapis Philosophorum or balsam that matters, but also above all that the right matter, fit for this purpose, be recognized, and, as is proper, prepared, and also used with good understanding and reason; so that such a medicine may have the power to cleanse all impurities of the blood and other excesses, and in place of sickness may give health.

And therefore a true, pious physician ought to have a complete science, and not look to ostentation, nor prescribe doubtful things, or things that are contrary, not to trust the apothecaries too much, and to have sound experience and knowledge of the patient and the illness; otherwise one merely muddles through the day and nothing is accomplished. The poor sick person has his life shortened by such clumsy so-called physicians something that is no small sin and will not go unpunished. For what else is it than knowingly to ruin a person, and yet still want to be called “gentlemen” after such knavish tricks, and even to take money and payment for it something that looks not a little ridiculous.

And many a man would not ask after the money at all, if only things turned out well for him; thus body and goods perish together and is it supposed to be an honour to demand money? Let whoever can believe that; I would show him the May-games differently.

For one sees what our doctors who want to be the most learned apply themselves to: that scarcely one in ten even knows the simplicia (simple remedies), not to mention that he truly ought to know what he prescribes and how the apothecary prepares it. For the doctor often writes a simplex to the pharmacy which he himself does not know, and the apothecary even less or he does not have it at all. Yet such a medicine must be called “perfect,” and is given to the sick person as something good and paid for dearly enough. But what the outcome is, the patient feels: if it does not help health, it at least helps the doctor and apothecary in the purse and when the doctor and apothecary, if they had the same kind of illness, they would not take such medicine themselves. From this one may well judge that matters are proceeding blamefully, and that it would be very necessary for one to set about the affair differently remove the evil and follow what is better. But I fear that old dogs are hard to tame.

But so that I may return to my purpose and satisfy my intention, I say: it is not advisable merely to chatter about the Lapis Philosophorum or to boast of it; rather, necessity demands that such a stone be formed from the proper material, prepared as required, and used with understanding. Yet you should know that some of the ancients, in their parabolic writings, indicated such a material sufficiently, and with figurative words disclosed the preparation yet they did not set it forth quite plainly, so that the unworthy might not make use of it, while it would still not be hidden from their children. But because few have followed and applied themselves to it, this has, with time, fallen away; and in place of truth, Galenic little tales have taken hold. And as the foundation of these is, so too is their effect and continuance and it grows worse and worse the longer it goes on. You can see it in their herbals: how they torment themselves with them, and mix Germany with Italy/“Welschland,” although Germany is not lacking in those herbs which they call “oversea” (transmarina) needed, and for obtaining the perfect medicine sufficiently in Germany.

So that the truth may not have to yield to lies, and so that Galen’s darkness together with its rabble may not extinguish and suppress the light of Nature in medicine, it is fitting that I, Theophrastus, speak in this little book: not as some supposed physician, but as a knowing doctor, who need not be ashamed of his doing and practicing in medicine, and who with God’s help has proved it in deed on many sick people, in a way you Galenist would not have dared to look upon.

Tell me then, you Galenic doctor: on what is your foundation based? Do you not saddle the horse from the wrong end? Have you ever cured gout, or dared to take on leprosy? Or have you driven out dropsy? I believe you will quite rightly keep silent, and let me, Theophrastus, be your master.

But if you want to learn then learn, and put to the test what I write here, and recognize this: that the human body has no need of your herb-merchandise, especially in long-lasting, severe illnesses, which are called chronic, and which you in ignorance label “incurable.” For your remedies are too weak for such diseases; by the impotence of their nature they cannot find the center of the disease (centrum morbi). Nor can you accomplish anything with your little pills, except merely to purge excrements often, and quite improperly, driving out the good in place of the evil by force something that cannot happen without noticeable harm to the sick and the weak cannot come about; therefore it is only right that such pill-work be avoided. And your syrups, too, are of no use indeed so vain, that one ought to shudder to take them because of their wretched, unpleasant taste, by which they burden the sick, and afterwards bring them into bitterness and danger, and act in an unnatural way.

But I will leave aside your other groundless, disorderly medicine for now, since it is directly contrary to Nature and should not be used at all. Since, as has been related, this is the truth namely that no true medicine is to be recovered from Galen, Rasi, or Mesue, which could attack the named diseases at the root and scour them out, as a fire washes and cleanses the stained salamander-skin so it necessarily follows that the nature of Theophrastus’s cure must be far different from Galenic fancies, and that it must proceed from the ground of Nature; otherwise I, Theophrastus, would be the same as the others.

If, then, one wishes to follow Nature and use natural medicine, let one consider what, among all things in medicine, is most fitting for the human body to preserve it in health, by virtue of its strength and efficacy, up to the appointed goal of death. And when this is considered, I do not doubt at all that one must recognize and say that metallic things have a very great likeness to the human body, and also that the perfect metals, on account of their excellence, and especially the radical moisture in them, may work greatly in the human body. For Sulphur, Mercury, and Salt, which rest in metals and metallic things partly, yet hidden, are also participated in by man; and when they come to their like, and are used and applied with understanding, and thus Nature is helped; this may then be called a great secret in Nature and Medicine, and indeed an Arcanum. What wonder is it, then, that excellent, unheard-of, and unexpected cures follow, which by the ignorant are regarded as impossible to heal.

But lest I proceed too far, I must, for the sake of brevity, see here what I have undertaken to write in this little book; since I intend to treat the true Medicine somewhat more clearly than in other places.

And although it would be proper here first to declare plainly how man takes his origin from Sulphur, Mercury, and Salt, just like the metals; yet since I have sufficiently shown this in the Paramirum, it is unnecessary to repeat it here. Therefore I will only show how the above-mentioned Philosophers’ Stone may be recognized and prepared, etc.

Therefore you should know that certainly nothing is so small that it can become something without having form. For everything is formed, brought forth, increased, and destroyed in its concordance; every end points to its beginning, that one may perceive what it was at the beginning, that the same must also be in the final matter; and that which runs in between is of an imperfect essence, which nature in generation has incidentally come to assume. But since such accidental things can be separated through Vulcan, so that they cause no harm, nature is in this case also to be improved; and such occurs likewise in this Philosophical Stone.

For if you wish to make it from its proper matter, which you can well know from the circumstances already indicated, then you must also remove from it its superfluities, and likewise form, multiply, and increase it in its concordance, just as with any other thing, which without its concordance cannot come to pass.

For in that place nature has left it imperfect, since she has not made the Stone, but only its matter, which through accidental hindrances is prevented from doing what the Stone, after its preparation, is able to do. And such matter, compared with the Stone and without preparation, is only a half thing, which stands not in its concordance, which might be called perfect, or which would be useful to the health of the human body.

Of this you have an example in the Microcosm. Consider man: he is through the mechanical smith only forged into a man; he is not a complete work, because he does not stand in his concordance, but remains so long only a half to be reckoned as only a half, until a woman is forged to him one that is his equal then he becomes whole. Yet they are both earths; and these two earths first make one whole human being, who can multiply and grow; and this is effected by the rightly ordered concordance.

So too the Stone of the Wise, which is to renew man no less than the metals: if it is freed from its superfluous accidents and set into its concordance, then it works wonders in all diseases; but where this does not happen, it would be in vain whatever one might undertake with it.

But if you wish to bring it into its concordance, then you must bring it back into the first matter, so that the little man may be able to cast himself into the little woman, and his outer part be turned inward, and his inner part outward so that both the masculine and the feminine seed may unite in their concordance; and, by means of Vulcan, be brought to final perfection, even in its degree raised up, and all virtue, as a qualified, tempered, and clarified being, may be able to pour itself into the human body and into the metals, make them sound, drive out the impurities through the ways of separation, bring and preserve the good in human blood through the attracting power to its proper places; so that the Microcosm, which stands in the limbo of the earth and is formed from earth, may with this medicine like with its like be cured thoroughly, and not in appearance, but rather in truly brought to health, or preserved in the same; and this is a secret of Nature, and such a secretum as it is necessary for every physician to know, and which everyone can grasp who is born of Astral Medicine.

But in order to describe more clearly the matter and preparation of such excellent medicine, so that the sons of wisdom who love the truth may have a beginning: you should know that Nature has brought forth such a thing, wherein 1, 2, 3 kinds of secret-knowledge lie, as if shut up in an ark and hidden, whose power and virtue for the preservation of the health of the Microcosm is exceedingly great so that, after preparation, it drives out all imperfections, and is a true means of preserving the age, which we call and name Balsamum.

Wherein now Nature has set such a number, you should know beforehand; I cannot write it for you more clearly out of many causes. But how it is prepared, Galen, Rasis, and Mesue did not at all know, and it will likely remain untouched by their successors. Then this medicine has a particular preparation which the pill-peddlers cannot assail nor understand, any more than a Swiss cow. It also has a particular, as it were heavenly, operation; for it cleanses and rejuvenates, as newly giving birth, as you may read further in my Archidoxis; and therefore you should hold in due regard the origin and essence of the metals and metallic things, together with their power and operation.

Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear and let him see whether Theophrastus writes of lies or of truth; and whether he speaks out of an empty vessel, or out of the Devil, as you Sophist pretend you who are yourself surrounded by the devil of lies and darkness, and who call nothing good unless it is graspable by your fool’s head, and serves your soup without any foregoing labor.

For you one-eyed man go astray, and miss the kitchen-window; yet you may indeed unwind your confused thread and seek the centrum labyrinthi by the dark star none of it concerns me at all. But if at last you should once use your wits, you will see on what Theophrastus’s art is founded, and how your patchwork is bungled together; then Theophrastus will not be so utterly hateful to you.

Now what I write briefly here, I will describe in such a way that the astral disciples may understand it, and may enjoy it, commend it, and boast of it so that it can also, through another’s diligence (one who is not ashamed [of labor]), be well understood; for it is not so difficult a thing that one cannot, with toil and diligence, perceive and learn it; and thus this work is Practica also.

Præparatio Materiæ Lapidis.
(Preparation of the Matter of the Stone.)

Take the untimely mineral Electrum, set it into its sphere (in seine Sphaeram), to wash off and remove the impurities and superfluities; and cleanse it as highly as you can, by means of stibium (antimony) according to alchemical practice, so that you suffer no harm from its ill nature. Then dissolve it (solvire) in the ostrich-stomach (Straussen-Magen), which grows in the earth and is strengthened in its power by the sharpness of the eagle (Adler).

But when the Electrum has been consumed (digested) and, after the solution, has taken on a marigold color (Ringelblumen-Farbe), then do not forget to bring it into a spiritual, transparent being, which looks like a true agate-stone (Agatstein).

Then add to it half as much by weight as the corporeal Electrum, before the preparation, was weighed of the outspread eagle (von dem ausgespannten Adler); and draw off the ostrich-stomach from it often. Thus the Electrum becomes, the longer the more, spiritual.

But when the ostrich-stomach has wearied itself by working on it, it is necessary to refresh it, and each time draw it off again.

Finally, when it again loses its sharpness, then add to it Essentiam tartarisatam (a tartaric essence) [the quantity/measure here is unclear in the print] yet in such a way that [a clause here is partly illegible; it speaks of something being deprived “very highly” of its need/distress], and let it pass over with it; do this as often until it itself becomes whitish.

When it is now enough, then you will see it yourself with your own eyes, how to cut the bread away before its mouth, and wantonly do harm to the people, and also not apply oneself to any certain and true art.

But in our aforesaid prepared Electrum there is such a power to provide men therewith, that no higher and surer medicine can or may be found in the whole world though the Galenic doctors call it “peddlers’ poison” and want to attack it, not out of understanding, but out of pride and folly.

I also confess that in the preparation there is a poison indeed, good and greater than your serpent Irus in theriac; but that it should remain a poison after the preparation just as it is in the preparation, that is unproven since Nature (as even some blockheads can well enough grasp) is always inclined to improve itself. Not to mention that, through natural arts, it ought not to be brought to perfection.

Yet I confess further (to the point of excess) that it is not only in the preparation, but also after it, a poison and much more violent than before yet fashioned so that such poison is directed only to seek out its like: it strives to bring forth and to drive out the fierce and otherwise incurable diseases; not that it lets the diseases act and do harm, but rather that it, as an enemy of disease, draws to itself matter of its own kind, and thoroughly consumes and washes it away like a soap the filth out of a stained cloth, with which so it too passes away, and leaves the cloth cleansed uninjured fair and clean behind.

Therefore such “poison,” as you call it, has a different and better preserving power than this stomach-grease of yours with which you are wont to grease yourself in the French cure worse than a cobbler greases leather. For the arcanum that is in this medicine has in itself a well-prepared and splendid being, which cannot and may not be compared with any poison unless one were to misunderstand it in such a way as I first pointed out. And it is as far different in virtue and power from your quicksilver, with which you make your ointment, and from your precipitate, which you use, as heaven is from earth.

Therefore it is, and is called, a blessed medicine from God, not revealed to everyone; which improves far otherwise than the filth-work which Doctor Leisentritt has displayed in public and filtered through his double hood or fool’s cap.

Such blessed medicine also has three times more power and virtue in all diseases call them what you will to act, than all your apothecaries that you have ever seen. But I have not obtained such a thing through idleness, sitting still, and laziness nor have I learned it in a urine-glass; but rather through travelling about, and (as you know) through roaming the country, and with much diligence and true experience, so that I know and do not merely imagine.

But you suck your medicine out of an old band-pillow, and out of an old bolster on which an old witch has sat, and you have covered and stuffed your “heavenly understanding” for medicine with blue felt.

Therefore I will not be ashamed of my roaming about the country, and let your master remain as he is; and follow the Machaonian footsteps, which come forth out of the light of Nature, just as the blossom comes forth from the warmth of the sun.

So that my undertaken work may not be stifled and remain imperfect: note further what is to be done with it, and what power and property Nature has given to the philosophical Stone or medicine, and how it may be brought entirely to its end; accordingly the further preparation follows, which proceeds thus:

When now your Electrum has been broken (as previously stated), and you wish to proceed further with it, so that you may reach the desired end: then take the broken and made volatile Electrum, as you will, and as far as you wish to bring it into perfection; set it into a philosophical egg, and seal it very well, so that nothing can evaporate; let it stand in the athanor so long until, without any addition, it begins of itself to [work/change] over it, and an island is seen in the middle of it, which daily diminishes, and becomes pitch-black.

This blackness is the bird which flies in darkness without wings; then also the first heaven-dew (Himmel-Thau), which through constant is cooked, and rises and sinks again into a blackness of the raven’s head, which afterward becomes the peacock’s tail, then receives swan-feathers, and finally takes on the highest redness of the whole world this being a sign of its fiery nature by means of which fire it drives out all evil accidents of the body and revives again the cold, dead members.

Such preparation, according to the opinion of all philosophers, is done in a vessel, in an oven, in a fire, without ceasing of the vapor-fire; and then such medicine is as heavenly and perfect, and can also become a super-perfect sun through its own flesh and blood, also through its innermost fire brought forth and driven outward, as is now related; by which also all impurities of the metals are washed away, and the hidden metals are made manifest.

Then this super-perfect medicine is able to do everything: it penetrates through and pours health in at the very time when it drives out the evil and the disease so that no medicine on earth may be equal to it.

Therefore exercise yourself and let it be earnest to you; then such will bring you honor, and you will not pass as a so-called physician, but as a true one, and will be compelled to do it out of love for your neighbor. For such a divine arcanum no one can grasp without the divine will to grasp and understand. Thus its virtue also is endless and unspeakable, so that God is recognized therein.

But you should know that no opening (Auflösung) takes place in your Electrum unless it has most perfectly run through the circuit of the seven spheres three times; for such a number belongs to it and it must complete it. Therefore pay heed to your preparation, which is the cause of the opening, and for the clarified, broken, and spiritualized Electrum use the Arcanum tartarisatum, in order thereby to separate the superfluities which have been taken up during the preparation so that you do not labor in vain.

Yet nothing of the Arcanum of Tartar should remain with it; rather, only circularize it therewith according to the aforesaid number. Then it will, in the philosophical egg and in a gentle fire, readily of itself become a philosophical water, which they call Aquam Viscosam; it will also coagulate of itself, and show itself in all colors, but finally be adorned with the highest redness, etc.

But to write more about this secret is forbidden and commanded by divine authority; for this art is truly a gift of God, and therefore not everyone can understand it. God gives it to whom He will; it cannot be forced from Him, but God alone will have the honor therein. Blessed be His name unto eternity. Amen.

Further, it will also be necessary, indeed, to write both of the use and also of the weight of this medicine. Therefore you may know that the dose of such medicine is so small and so slight that it is almost unbelievable, and must be taken only in wine or in some other liquor, and then in the very smallest quantity, on account of its heavenly power, virtue, and strength.

For it is revealed to man only for this reason: that nothing imperfect may remain in Nature; and thus it is foreseen and ordained by God that its power and arcanum should be drawn forth by art, so that to man, as God’s image, all creatures may be useful, and above all His omnipotence may be recognized.

He, then, who has understanding from God to him it will be given; but the coarse Galenic Bacchant will not be able to understand it, but will only scoff and jeer at it; for all his doing is darkness, whereas this work deals and operates in the light of Nature.

So now you have, in brief and fundamental words, the ground and origin of true medicine, which no one will take from me; and though [illegible / damaged lines] with all his clamorous boasting, even if Galen should eat nothing but gall, and Avicenna’s teeth should ache, and Mesue should measure it long, short, or broad, it will be high enough for them all. But Theophrastus will stand by the truth; whereas the smearer and dabbler in the apothecaries together with their apothecary-trash will, with all their pomp and groundlessness, go to the ground.

Yet one thing I must mention: since to many this my writing will seem unintelligible, you will say: “Yes, Theophrastus, you make it far too short and very crude for me; I know your speeches very well how covertly you set forth your matters and secrets therefore such writing will be of no use to me.”

To that you may know: pearls do not belong to swine, nor should the tail be too long; Nature has not wished to give it so. Therefore I say: to him to whom it is allotted by God, he will find it abundant therein, and more than he desires.

But I write this for a beginning: follow with understanding; do not spare toil and work, nor the coals (fuel); do not let yourself be led astray or seduced by pomp and chatter, nor turned aside from what also belongs to diligence. For through continual reflection one discovers much, and cannot give it up without profit.

Therefore fall to it with affection, and avail yourself of the … (the word here is partly obscured; likely Brau[chs] / Brauchs = “use/practice”). Then you will not drink the muck-puddle of the pill-mongers, nor have anything to do with the grave-diggers, but you will serve your neighbor well, and also prepare praise for God. Let Master Hare-dung (Hasendreck) remain what he is; for with him there is neither help nor counsel.

This I have wished to set down this time in my little book De Lapide Philosophico, so that no one may think that Theophrastus has cured many diseases with devilish art and cure, as people would like to charge upon me on account of the greatness and swiftness [of the effects]. If you follow rightly after this, it will also befall you: and your medicine will be like the air, which goes into all created things, penetrates them, and is in all things; it drives away all morbi fixi (“fixed diseases”), and mingles itself thoroughly, so that in place of sickness health may follow. For from this origin proceeds the true Aurum potabile (drinkable gold), and nothing better can be found.

Let this be a warning to you, and do not destroy Theophrastus before you know what he is. But I have wished to set nothing further in the little book, although it would indeed be necessary to speak and philosophize somewhat about Aurum potabile and Liquor [unclear word]; yet I have not wished to set it down here, because also in their virtues, when they are rightly prepared, are not to be despised.

But since my other books treat much of these secrets, and explain sufficiently what it is necessary for a true physician to know, I will therefore let it rest here in hope that such a little book shall not pass away altogether without profit, and may appear as sufficient counsel to the sons of the art.

May God grant His grace thereto, and let all be done according to His will, that it may be to His praise, honor, and glory. Amen.

The End.