the iĄaculty oÍ' Graduate Ątudies April, L96[ - MSpace at the ...

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in den allen soll ihm nichts gebresten: Und in¡as er
ist, d-as soll er mj-t Grundt sein, mit lçahrheit und
hðchster lh.fahrnuss. llann under allen i,ienschen der
Natur und seines Liechi;es ist der Àrtzet der hðchste
Erkenner unÇ.^Lehrer, darnach ei-n FIelf'fer der
Krancken"rr LY'
The point of departure for the disciplines discussed
is that of alchemy, the fourih PiIIa.r of i{edicine. It is
central to the understanding of Paracelsus as a historical
figure as inrell as io the undersianding of the literary
tradition r,vhich shall be stuciied" A.Icherny is essentially
the narae attributed to t'he ar| whereby man is bo recreate,
overpo\,1rer, and even compleLe Nhe forces and maf ber of
naiure. It perroics three possible inierpretatious:
(i) the art of separating golci and its s¡rmbolic
attribubes fron its dross; (ii) the process of
into the essence of the Universu4l or fhe quest
i n qì crhf.
of the
Philosopher I s Stone, and (ii-i ) in Jung I s terrns, the projection
of Lhe subcorrscious mind. Thi-s esoteric
discipline l^ras itself in a staie of transibion, and later
became resolved into natural science and Protestant
mysticisrn. The men responsible for this eventual
dichotomy vlere Paracelsus hi-mseJ-f', and Jakob Böhme " 20'
The understanding of alchemy is fraught with
potential difficu-Ìty in as much as it,s method of expla.na-
tion was ¡Iobscu-riim per obscuriu-s, ignotum per ignotiustl
(the obscure by the mo¡e obscure, the u¡knovrnr by bhe more