Forshaw, 'Alchemy in the Amphitheatre

8

‘Alchemy in the Amphitheatre’

Some consideration of the alchemical content of the engravings in

Heinrich Khunrath’s Amphitheatre of Eternal Wisdom (1609)

Peter Forshaw

One of the features that makes Heinrich Khunrath’s Amphitheatre of Eter-

nal Wisdom so remarkable is its sequence of ‘theosophical’ and ‘hieroglyphic’

fi gures, the most famous of which, the Oratory-Laboratory (Fig. 8.4), has

appeared in innumerable articles and books on alchemy and the occult

arts. Unfortunately, the complexity of these engravings has, on the whole,

resulted in superfi cial readings of their message and consequent misrepre-

sentations and distortions of Khunrath’s alchemical practice. On the one

hand, whiggish historians like John Read condemn him as a “Hermetic

mystic of the deepest dye”¹ practising an alchemy which was “spiritual

rather than material”, and exerted “no infl uence upon the progress of al-

chemy towards chemistry”.² On the other hand, although the occultist

A.E. Waite acknowledges the fact that Khunrath was a practical alche-

mist and “an absolute believer in the literal transmutation of metals”,³ he

prefers to promote him as a “hierophant of the psychic side of the opus”,⁴

misleadingly describing the Amphitheatre as “a text of purely spiritual and

mystical alchemy”,⁵ a “book of Divine Alchemy”.⁶ Th is paper shall con-

sider the alchemical content of the Amphitheatre’s engravings and show

that far from deserving the somewhat marginalized status of ‘spiritual

alchemist’, Khunrath should be recognised as someone whose alchemy

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alchemy in the amphitheatre

spans the whole spectrum, from investigation of the properties of matter

and practical physical-chemistry to the use of alchemical language in the

regenerative discourses of Christian spirituality.

Heinrich Khunrath, ‘Doctor of Both Medicines and Faithful Lover of

Th eosophy’, was born in Leipzig in 1560. Graduating with highest hon-

ours from Basel Medical School in 1588, he subsequently practised as a

physician in Magdeburg, Hamburg, and Trebon, as well as spending time

at the court of Rudolf II in Prague, numbering both Count Wilhelm

von Rosenburg, John Dee’s erstwhile patron, and Graf Albrecht VII von

Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt among his clientele. He died in Dresden in

1605, leaving behind a collection of predominantly alchemical writings,

including On Primordial Chaos,⁷ Th ree highly useful Questions,⁸ On the Fire

of the Mages and Philosophers,⁹ Universal Magnesia of the Philosophers,¹⁰

and Light in Darkness.¹¹ His best known work, Th e Universal Ter-tri-une

Christian-Cabalist, Divinely-Magical, and Physico-Chemical Amphitheatre of

the Only True Eternal Wisdom¹² is a theosophical commentary on selected

verses from the Solomonic texts of the Bible in which Khunrath seeks

to propound his “way of correctly philosophising” by a “mystical Ladder

of Seven orthodox Grades”¹³ and has been described as “one of the most

important books in the whole literature of theosophical alchemy and the

occult sciences”.¹⁴

Although emblem books like Horapollo’s Hieroglyphica (1505) and

Alciatus’ Emblemata (1531) antedate the Amphitheatre in the use of illustra-

tions, none had appeared containing such detailed and complex images,

which have been numbered “among the most important and remarkable

mystical drawings in the world”,¹⁵ depicting “remarkable illustrations of a

kind of sophic Utopia, the whole symbolic landscape of the occultists.”¹⁶

Umberto Eco describes them as “complex verbal-visual constructions,

where banderoles, subscript texts, [and] compositions in rebus merge

with symbolic representations”,¹⁷ displaying “surreal landscapes, initiatory

journeys […] a sort of Dantean ascent to a magical passage [resembling]

Christian Rosencreutz’s tomb in the Fama”¹⁸ and Jacques van Lennep

likens them to “visual mazes” and logographs,¹⁹ constituting what Urszula

Szulakowska calls the “fi rst Paracelsian illustrative cycle”.²⁰ Th ey are, indeed,

of particular interest in the history of alchemical imagery in that they pre-


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date the famous alchemical emblem books of, for example, Michael Maier,

Johann Daniel Mylius, and Daniel Stolcius, and are far more sophisticated

than anything that had come before, such as Arnold of Villanova’s famous

Rosarium Philosophorum series (1550) or the illustrations in Petrus Bonus’

Pretiosa Margarita Novella (1546). What is surprising, however, is the pau-

city of serious academic work on them. Other than Umberto Eco’s short

work, Lo Strano Caso della Hanau 1609 (1989), Ralf Töllner’s published

thesis, discussing the alchemical content of certain of the engravings, Der

unendliche Kommentar (1991) and Urszula Szulakowska’s chapters in Th e

Alchemy of Light (2000), little detailed work exists.²¹

Th e Amphitheatre exists in two main versions: an extremely rare 1595

edition of which only four printed copies are known to survive, and a later

enlarged 1609 edition that can be found in the rare book collections of

most major European and American libraries.²² Along with their 25 pages

of text, each surviving copy of the 1595 Amphitheatre contains four hand-

coloured circular ‘theosophical fi gures’ surrounded by further explicatory

text. Although no place or publisher is given on the title page, Hamburg is

the most likely place of publication as all four engravings bear the inscrip-

tion:

Heinrich Khunrath of Leipzig, lover of Th eosophy and Doctor of Medi-

cine, inventor, by the grace of God. Paullus von der Doort Antwerp

engraved [this] in Hamburg, in the year 1595 since the birth of Christ,

in the month of April (May, July, September).²³

Th e fourth and most famous image of the Adept in his Ora tory-Labora-

tory also includes the words “H.F. Vriese painted [it].”²⁴

Th e engraver Paul, or Peter van der Doort (or Doost), was at that time

Superintendent of the Dutch Poor in Hamburg and is otherwise known

for a picture of the Holy Family, one of a sailing ship, and a view of the

city of Hamburg with fi gures in costume.²⁵ Th e perspectival scheme of

the fourth fi gure was drawn by the Netherlandish painter, draughtsman

and writer on perspectival drawing and architecture, Hans Vredeman de

Vries (1527-1606), author of the Th eatrum Vitae Humanae (1577).²⁶ In

1595 he moved from Gdansk, where he had been designing fortifi cations



as well as painting pictures for the Court of Artus, the Red Room of the

Town Hall and several churches, to Hamburg, and it is most probably

there where he met Khunrath, before moving on to decorate rooms in the

imperial palace in Prague.²⁷

Th e Amphitheatre’s second, enlarged edition of 1609 adds a further

fi ve rectangular ‘hieroglyphic fi gures’ along with Khunrath’s portrait and

an ornate symbol-rich title-page, all dating from 1602, and sometimes

an owl engraving which also appears in two other of Khunrath’s publi-

cations,²⁸ with three of the fi ve double-page rectangular engravings in-

cluding Khunrath’s name as their ‘Inventor’, ‘Constructor’, and ‘Fashioner’.

Khunrath’s portrait also supplies the name of its engraver, Johann Diricks

van Campen who engraved it in Magdeburg when Khunrath was aged 42.

Although it cannot be taken as fi nal proof, a comparison of the lettering of

the unnamed engravings with that in the portrait suggests the probability

that all these additional images where executed by the same artist.²⁹ In

contrast to the 1595 edition, all these engravings are in black and white,

as are the four circular engravings that now appear without their original

surrounding Isagoge or ‘Introductory Commentaries’, which are printed

separately, to conform with the smaller and more standard folio format

of the augmented edition.

A curious fact about the copies of the 1609 Amphitheatre is that they all

have the engravings bound in diff erent sequences. It is doubtful whether

any real order was ever intended for the later rectangular engravings; in

fact, an errata note in the colophon asks readers to ignore the printer’s

mistaken instructions to insert images at the end of each of the book’s

7 Grades.³⁰ Th ere is, however, as Eco points out, a clear sequence to the

four circular engravings,³¹ as all the surviving copies of the 1595 edition,

as well as the manuscript in the Royal Library, Copenhagen, have the

same order,³² the sequence being easily seen to follow the Amphitheatre’s

title-page description of itself as Christian-Cabalist, Divinely-Magical, and

Physical-Chemical: Figure 1 is Christ at the centre of a cabalistic diagram of

Hebrew names; Figure 2 shows Man the microcosm as Adam-Androgyne

at the centre of hyperphysical or supernatural magical practices; and Figure

3 (Fig. 8.1) represents the macrocosm and Physico-Chemical practices.

Figure 4 (Fig. 8.2) is the Amphitheatre’s most famous engraving and a


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visual representation of its “Triune Apocalyptic Key”,³³ the Th ree Books

of God, Man and Nature, with Khunrath’s threefold injunction to Know

God, Th yself, and Nature. Although the work’s most well-known commen-

tary, the anonymous Judgement and Commentary of an experienced Cabalist

and Philosopher concerning the 4 Figures of Doctor Heinrich Khunrath’s great

Amphitheatre (1608),³⁴ generally attributed to the Pietist Johann Arndt,³⁵

is correct in describing this fi gure as being concerned with Th eology,³⁶ it

should be borne in mind that Khunrath’s idea of what constituted theo-

logy is broader than most. While the fi rst three engravings are presented

as fl at, two-dimensional images, this fourth fi gure is striking in its depth

Fig. 8.1. Rebis and Hermes’ Bird, double plate engraving from Heinrich Khunrath,

Amphitheatrvm Sapientiæ Æternæ, Solivs Veræ: Christiano-Kabalisticvm, Di-

vino-Magicvm, nec non Physico-Chymicvm, Tertrivnvm, Catholicon, Hanau: G.

Antonius, 1609.



of perspective, the sense of extra dimension being particularly appropriate

as it represents the synthesis of Khunrath’s Th eosophy, which he defi nes

as “Wonder-working Catholic Th eology, in the ternary (that is Biblically,

Macro and Microcosmically)”.³⁷

Given its synoptic nature, a brief description of Figure 4 would be a

useful point of departure for an introduction to Khunrath’s beliefs and

practices. Th e left-hand side of the image, the Oratory, is the realm of

God, connected with Christian-Cabala and the spiritual aim of divine

union. Th is is represented by the presence on the Oratory table of the

Amphitheatre’s fi rst two circular fi gures. On the left is the Sigillum Emet

Fig. 8.2. Oratory-Laboratory, double plate engraving from Heinrich Khunrath, Am-

phitheatrvm Sapientiæ Æternæ, Solivs Veræ: Christiano-Kabalisticvm, Divino-Magi-

cvm, nec non Physico-Chymicvm, Tertrivnvm, Catholicon, Hanau: G. Antonius,

1609.


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(Seal of Truth), Christ as (Wisdom of God) at the centre of

concentric rings of divine and angelic Hebrew names. Th at on the right

is the image of Adam-Androgyne, representing the Th eosopher, the ten

Grades of Cognition and the Ladder of Conjunction and Union by which

he comprehends the universe and unites with God. Th e right-hand side

of Figure 4 is the realm of Nature, and shows the Laboratory concerned

with Physical-Chemistry, the transmutation of metals, the preparation

of both chemical medicines and the Philosophers’ Stone. Finally, I would

suggest that the central table signifi es Man as he relates to these two realms

via Magic, be that concrete physical magic or natural philosophy or more

abstract hyperphysical magic relating to God and his angelic ministers. As

well as being an allusion to the doctrine of sympathies and the harmony of

the spheres, the presence of the four musical instruments on the table (the

harp and Lira da Braccio on the left, spiritual; the lute and cittern on the

right, secular) are also a reference to sacred music’s ability to dispel ‘sadness

and evil spirits’, melancholy being a subject treated of by Khunrath in his

most iatrochemical work, the Th ree highly useful Questions.³⁸

In his book Alchimia e Iconologia, Mino Gabriele divides the discussion

of alchemical images into three sub-categories, dealing essentially with

1) allegorical images featuring animal and anthropomorphic fi gures, 2) a

secret vocabulary composed of cryptographic and hieroglyphic ciphers,

such as geometrical shapes, and 3) images of laboratory equipment.³⁹ Th is

convenient division of categories shall serve as the basis for the following

analysis of alchemy in the Amphitheatre.

On the subject of allegorical images, Khunrath shows a predilection

for describing the alchemical process fi guratively both in word and image.

His most well-known alchemical work, On Primordial Chaos, is full of

references to Green and Red Lions,⁴⁰ Salamanders,⁴¹ Basilisks,⁴² and

Phoenixes,⁴³ while the Amphitheatre’s Circular Figure 3 contains some of

the most impressive examples of alchemical symbolism found anywhere, in

the image of the hermaphrodite Rebis and the equally composite Hermes’

Bird, along with references to Lion’s blood, White Eagle’s water, and Virgin’s

milk. One of the rectangular engravings, that of the alchemical Citadel,

also features members of the alchemical bestiary in the large dragon atop



the Philosophers’ Stone, a smaller dragon in the pool at its base, along

with the well-known images of the serpents devouring each other’s tails,

representing the volatile and fi xed parts of the process, and the ouroboros,

symbol of both eternity and the universe.⁴⁴

Turning to the second category, that of cryptographic and hieroglyphic

ciphers, the most obvious example is the presence of the symbol John Dee

describes in his Monas Hieroglyphica (1564), formed from a combination

of the astrological and alchemical sign for Mercury and the zodiac sign

for Aries, m which can be interpreted alchemically as the Mercurial Water

which does not wet the hands, otherwise known as Azoth, and the Fire

necessary for the operation, in the well-known alchemical adage “Azoth

and Fire are suffi cient for the Art”.⁴⁵ Although Szulakowska’s claim that

“the imagery and much of the text of the Amphitheatre […] is due to

Fig. 8.3. Alchemical Citadel, double plate engraving from Heinrich Khunrath, Amphi-

theatrvm Sapientiæ Æternæ, Solivs Veræ: Christiano-Kabalisticvm, Divino-Magicvm,

nec non Physico-Chymicvm, Tertrivnvm, Catholicon, Hanau: G. Antonius, 1609.


peter forshaw

Khunrath’s meeting with Dee in Bremen [in 1589]”⁴⁶ is somewhat exag-

gerated, there can be little doubt of the esteem in which Khunrath held

Dee’s enigmatic work. Th e Monas symbol is clearly visible in both Figure 3,

where it forms the ‘o’ of the word Azoth on the raven’s breast, and in the

Alchemical Citadel (Fig. 8.3) where it can be seen encircled by two serpents

swallowing each other’s tails, above the triumphal archway into the centre

of the city. What is surprising is that while both Szulakowska and Töllner

note the presence too of alchemical glyphs in Circular Figures 3 and 4, and

the rectangular engravings of the Calumniators (fi g. 8.4) and the Citadel,

neither of them comments on the novelty of the fact,⁴⁷ for while alchemi-

cal signs do appear in manuscripts, to the best of my knowledge this is

the fi rst instance of such symbols appearing in a printed engraving.⁴⁸ Th e

Alchymia, for example, of Andreas Libavius who graduated from Basel the

Fig. 8.4. Th e Calumniators, double plate engraving from Heinrich Khunrath, Am-

phitheatrvm Sapientiæ Æternæ, Solivs Veræ: Christiano-Kabalisticvm, Divino-Mag-

icvm, nec non Physico-Chymicvm, Tertrivnvm, Catholicon, Hanau: G. Antonius,

1609.



same year as Khunrath, is considered by some to be the fi rst text-book of

chemistry and was published in the same year as the fi rst edition of the

Amphitheatre (1595). It contains many images of furnaces and alchemical

equipment, but no examples of specifi cally chemical notation. Volume 1

of his Rerum Chymicarum epistolica forma ad philosophos et medicos, which

came out the same year, does contain some glyphs, such as the Hieroglyphia

Mercurii philosophorum H, but, as in this example, rather than being glyphs

specifi cally dedicated to chemical substances they are merely the common

dual-purpose astrological-alchemical symbols for the planets and related

metals, already found, for instance, in Paracelsus’ Coelum philosophorum.⁴⁹

Many of Khunrath’s alchemical glyphs, however, are of a quite diff erent

order. Figure 3 has those for the Paracelsian tria prima H (Mercury), I

(Sulphur) and G (Salt), and H Sapientum (Sal armoniac of the Wise). In

Figure 4 we also fi nd D (Precipitate of Spirit);⁵⁰ I sub. (Sublimate of

Sulphur), Sang[uis] q (Lion’s Blood),⁵¹ G Potabile (Potable Gold), and F

(Vinegar). It is only in the year following the publication of Khunrath’s

circular engravings that we fi nd Libavius including similar new glyphs in

his De Sceuastica artis (1596).⁵² What is particularly interesting is that not

only do more symbols appear in two of the Amphitheatre’s later rectangular

engravings, but these additional symbols show a move towards depicting

more readily identifi able ‘chemical’ rather than ambiguously ‘alchemical’

substances; thus in the twenty examples of alchemical malpractice written

in the false entrances surrounding the Alchemical Citadel, we fi nd Anti-

mony J, Lead K, Vitriol G, and Vinegar F, and on the rocks at the centre

of the Calumniators engraving we fi nd in addition Cinnabar 33, Tartar E,

and Saltpetre/Nitre B.

As for Gabriele’s third category of alchemical equipment, although there

are images of the alchemist in his laboratory which predate Khunrath’s

famous engraving, such as the miniature in Th omas Norton’s Ordinal of

Alchemy (1477) or the cover of Hieronymous Braunschweig’s Das Buch

zu Distilliern (1519), none has attained the popularity of the Oratory-Lab-

oratory, which graces the pages of the majority of modern publications

dealing with alchemy or the occult in the Early Modern period. Ralf

Töllner devotes several pages to the alchemical apparatus appearing in

the Amphitheatre image, identifying smelting equipment for the extrac-


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tion of metal from ore found in Georgius Agricola’s De re metallica (1556)

and glass vessels, ovens, and other instruments found in Braunschweig’s

Ars Destillandi (1527) and Christoph Glaser’s Novum Laboratorium Med-

ico-Chymicum (1677)⁵³ including a Balneum Mariae, a sand-oven, retorts

with hoods, circulatoria and a pelikan.⁵⁴ More alchemical apparatus can

be seen in Khunrath’s Portrait, where it appears again on the right side of

the engraving, corresponding no doubt to the placing of the Laboratory to

the right in Figure 4. Another image deserving mention is that appearing

in Khunrath’s Truthful Report concerning the Philosophical Athanor, its Use

and Eff ectiveness, illustrating his new design for an alchemical furnace or

athanor, which is described in detail in the accompanying text.⁵⁵ Not to

be neglected either is the small image, appearing in the margin of On the

Fire of the Mages and Philosophers, of a mirror, which Khunrath speaks of

as a useful physico-magical instrument for setting a coal or lamp-fi re alight

by the heat of the sun, a fact of great signifi cance for Szulakowska who

discusses it at length in her Alchemy of Light, in the context of what she

describes as Khunrath’s catoptrical theurgy in his spiritual and material

alchemy.⁵⁶

Before concerning ourselves with the contentious subject of spiritual

alchemy, let us fi rst look slightly more closely at the Amphitheatre’s Circular

Figure 3 for references to Khunrath’s down-to-earth Physical-Chemistry

of Nature, which he defi nes as:

[T]he art of chemically dissolving, purifying and rightly reuniting Physi-

cal Th ings by Nature’s method; the Universal (Macro-Cosmically, the

Philosophers’ Stone; Micro-Cosmically, the parts of the human body

[…]) and all the particulars of the inferior globe.⁵⁷

With a mixture of Neoplatonic and Cabalistic terms and symbols Figure 3

and its accompanying Isagoge set forth an alchemical reading of the biblical

account of creation in Genesis to promote knowledge of Primal Matter,

where God is seen as an alchemist and the Firmament of Heaven as the

“wonderful, perpetual, Universal Macrocosmic Laboratory of Wonderful

God, with Nature presiding or Working.”⁵⁸ As both alchemy and cabala

are concerned with the knowledge of creation, their combination must



have held obvious attractions for Khunrath, particularly when works like

the Sefer Yetzirah (Book of Formation), describing how the universe was

generated from the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet, suggested not just

ways of understanding the process, but claimed to provide techniques

for active creation.⁵⁹ Consequently, Figure 3 is a curious combination of

Hebrew terms with those drawn from medieval works of Chrysopoeia,

or gold-making through metallic transmutation, by which Khunrath at-

tempts to correlate the terminology of various conceptual systems to guide

the reader in the direction of gaining knowledge of the preparation of

alchemy’s Prima materia.

Th us, at the base of Figure 3 we see a globe containing the two Neo-

platonic extremes of Form and Matter, where Khunrath equates :

(morphe) or the ‘Essential Form’ of things with Ruach Elohim,

the Spirit of the Lord that moved on the face of the waters, elsewhere

calling it also the Anima Mundi, Soul of the World, and the Light of Na-

ture.⁶⁰ Th e raw, confused and unformed mass of virginal Chaos),

is equated with the biblical Tohu and Bohu, that which was formless and

void.⁶¹ Th ese two are mediated by Schamaim, Heaven, the Ethereal

Spirit that permeates the whole machine of the world. Th is is the ‘burning

spirit’, Esh va Maim (Fire and Water), Aqua Communis (Common Water),

or Vinum Catholicon (Universal Wine), drunk by all created things, the

‘aethereal latex’ which can be collected by chemists.⁶² Above this is another

sphere representing both the ‘material’ worked on and the ‘practice’, within

which we see the square of the four elements and the triangle of the three

principles of Soul, Spirit, and Body, Sulphur, Mercury and Salt, the pres-

ence of all three identifying Khunrath as a ‘modern’ chemist, inspired by

the then revolutionary iatro-chemical writings of Paracelsus.

Holding this second sphere is the two-headed Rebis,⁶³ familiar from the

Buch der Heiligen Dreifaltigkeit (1433) attributed to Ulmannus, Arnold of

Villanova’s Rosarium Philosophorum and the later works of writers like

Maier and Mylius. It is male on the left wearing a solar crown, female on

the right with a lunar diadem, representing the Chymical Wedding sym-

bolised as the union of Adam and Eve,⁶⁴ Gabricius and Beya,⁶⁵ Mercury

and Saturn of the Philosophers, alchemical Gold and Silver. It also displays


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the three Paracelsian principles, the right breast bearing the sign of Sul-

phur, the left the sign of Salt, while the sign for Mercury is placed on the

navel, as befi tting its own ‘versatile nature’.⁶⁶ Main stages of the alchemical

process can also be seen in the quaternary of “Volatilise, Fix, Coagulate,

Compound”⁶⁷ and the ternary of “Separate, Dissolve, Cleanse.”⁶⁸

Above the Rebis is the ‘Hermetic Bird’, a symbol of the main colour

changes of the alchemical process: the nigredo of the Raven’s head, albedo

in the Swan’s Wings, and the multicoloured stage in the Peacock’s Tail.

Here it bears the word Azoth, formed of the fi rst and last letters of the

three matrix languages, Latin, Greek and Hebrew,⁶⁹ encapsulating the

message of the whole diagram: the transformation of ‘Prima materia’ into

‘Ultima materia’. As mentioned above, we also fi nd Dee’s Monas hieroglyph,

itself a symbol of the totality of ‘superior’ and ‘inferior’ astronomy, i.e.

knowledge of the stars and alchemy, understanding of divine order and

the pattern of all change in the universe. Finally, above this is the Hebrew

word (Urim), the Heavenly Fire and Light to be contemplated in

the Philosophers’ Stone,⁷⁰ surmounted by the Hebrew word (Esh),⁷¹

both the Solar Fire used by Khunrath to kindle the fi re in his Athanor,

and that fi re which purifi es and consumes the macrocosm on the day of

judgement.⁷²

Th is synoptical representation of alchemical practice is complemented

by elements in the later rectangular engravings. One such component

is Khunrath’s condemnation of chemical malpractice. Although he is

interested in transmutation he does not want to be classed as a mere

‘Gold-maker’,⁷³ whom he critically depicts in the theriomorphic symbol-

ism of the Calumniators engraving. Th ere, alongside images satirising ele-

ments in the clergy, university and court, we fi nd several condemning less

high-minded fellow practitioners of alchemy, including a bovine fi gure with

mortar, pestle and bellows, presumably one of the unkempt “Bad Chem-

ists” whom Khunrath describes as “incompetents and botchers.”⁷⁴ His

ass-like neighbour, calling to mind Midas’ foolish lust for gold, most likely

represents with its bellows the type of alchemist contemptuously known as

‘puff ers’, the axe perhaps implying crude preparation of materials.⁷⁵ Th e su-

pine beetle at their feet, described as a “meddlesome gold-beetle”⁷⁶ presum-

ably represents the type of goldbeetle and black-magical treasure-seeker



Khunrath condemns in his pseudonymous ‘Warning’ appended to On

Primordial Chaos.⁷⁷ In a similar vein, the duck-headed fi gure is perhaps a

pun on the German word to ‘discolour,’⁷⁸ given that it is called a ‘Washer’

and perhaps represents charlatans who coloured impure metals, claiming

them to be gold.⁷⁹ On the subject of fraudulent and mistaken practice, the

Citadel engraving describes specifi c examples such as the confi dence trick

of making iron nails gold-bearing by having special nails made, half iron,

half gold, the latter half only revealed to the onlooker when dipped in a

solvent that removed a surface covering,⁸⁰ or the falsehood of passing off

the whitening of copper for silver, and the fi xation of the same for silver,

and likewise its redness for Gold.⁸¹

Although on fi rst sight it may seem as though the Citadel is purely

concerned with physical alchemy, the reader’s perspective changes, literally,

when he passes through the gate, guarded by Hermes with his caduceus

(whose ‘Emerald Tablet’ is the ur-text of the hermetic art), crosses the

bridge, approaches the inner wall marked with the joint injunction to ‘work

physico-chemically’ and ‘pray theosophically’, passes beneath the archway

surmounted by the two serpents swallowing each other’s tails, and Dee’s

Monas symbol, moving as Töllner and Szulakowska have both noted from

the fl at, map-like or aerial view of the outside of the Citadel engraving into

a three-dimensional perspective at the centre.⁸² Given that the exterior

of the Citadel shows twenty false entrances describing physico-chemical

malpractices and only one leading to the interior and the attainment of

the Philosophers’ Stone, the implication would appear to be that as with

the transition from the fi rst three fl at circular fi gures to the deep perspec-

tive of the fourth, ultimately Khunrath’s alchemy entails a coordination of

various levels of practice to attain the Stone.

In the centre, dominating the Citadel from atop the Philosophers’ Stone

is a dragon, from whose mouth issues the words “I am the way, truth,

and life”, calling to mind the comparison of Christ to the serpent nailed

to the cross by Moses, an image which was to appear later in Le Livre des

Hiéroglyphs de Nicolas Flamel (1612, Paris) and Abraham Eleazar’s Uraltes

chymisches Werk (1760, Leipzig).⁸³ Above this is a triangle, resembling that

in Figure 3, although this one bears not the word Urim, but the Hebrew

word Aben, meaning at the same time both literally ‘rock’ or ‘stone’, and


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Christian-Cabalistically the fi rst two members of the Trinity: ‘Father’ (Ab)

and ‘Son’ (Ben). In this one word Khunrath propounds what he considers

to be an analogous relationship between the Philosophers’ Stone as the

fi lius macrocosmi, son of the macrocosm, and Christ as the fi lius microcosmi

or son of man.⁸⁴

In his book Magnesia, Khunrath explains that “the two great Won-

der-Books [of Nature and Scripture]” respectively concern “the Apoca-

lypse, that is, revelation of universally hidden Magnesia” and the “analogical

Harmony of the Universal Magnesia of the Philosophers with IHSVH

Christ.”⁸⁵ In this statement, Khunrath presents the ultimate implications

of his synthesis of classical philosophy, alchemy and scripture. Asserting

the idea of the correspondences existing between the Macro and Micro-

cosm, he parallels the alchemical belief that the Philosophers’ Stone is the

most perfect expression of the Greater World, having the power to heal,

preserve and perfect all created bodies,⁸⁶ with the religious belief that

Christ is the most perfect expression of incarnate man, having the power

to heal not only bodies but to save souls.⁸⁷ Both the Stone and Christ are

capable of preserving and perfecting man, by means of spirit, the one his

body, the other his soul.⁸⁸

Th e Citadel is not the only rectangular engraving to encourage readings

on more than one level. Th e Pyramid engraving includes both Latin and

German versions of the hermetic ‘Emerald Tablet’, whose famous ‘as above,

so below’ maxim also appears on the 1609 Amphitheatre’s title-page. Th e

engraving also includes the beginning of the Pimander, which describes

Hermes’ vision of the Spirit Pimander and his sudden understanding of

the whole of the Cosmos, calling to mind other biblical and alchemical

visions mentioned by Khunrath, such as those of Joseph and Geber.⁸⁹

Th is leads us fi nally to Khunrath’s alchemical description of man’s

purifi cation and illumination through hyperphysical magic and Christian-

Cabala, as detailed in Figure 2, which appears as a microcosmic comple-

ment to the macrocosmic context of Figure 3. Many parallels can be found

existing between the two fi gures, both of which display the quaternary of

the four elements, the ternary of body, spirit, and soul, and the union of the

binary in the androgyne or Rebis. Both fi gures too make use of exactly the

same terminology found in Trithemius, Paracelsus and Dorn, of rejecting



the binary, so that the ternary by means of the quaternary may be reduced

to the simplicity of the monad.⁹⁰

While the message of Figure 3 is ‘Know Nature’, here we fi nd the Delphic

exhortation to ‘Know Th yself ’, as body, spirit, and soul. Man is portrayed

as a composite being partaking of both the material and the divine, recall-

ing the writings of Marsilio Ficino and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola;

he is the link between the realms of matter and spirit. In Figure 2, we fi nd

the Ladder of Conjunction and Union, and the Ten Grades of Cognition

whereby Man can move from knowledge of himself ultimately to union

with God. Th e Grades of Cognition, for example, list the faculties of the

human soul, from the senses concerned with the apprehension of mat-

ter to the mens or intellect that intuits the divine. Man is shown as the

Cabalistic Adam-Androgyne, animated by God’s breath, Ruach Elohim,

bounded by the square of the four elements, while above is the Archetype

of God ready to transform the purifi ed Th eosopher with the Holy Spirit

of Ruach-Hokmah-El.⁹¹

Although Khunrath never speaks of spiritual alchemy per se in any of

his works, he does make use of alchemy as a metaphor for spiritual regen-

eration, most explicitly in the declaration that Man must be “freed from the

superfl uities of impurities, dissolved, separated, purifi ed, conjoined […]

sublimated (by the Divine skill of Divine fi re), that is, exalted, to the grade

surpassing perfection, and mentally fermented with God.”⁹² In Circular

Figure 2 we fi nd references to man being ground “with the fi ery pestle of

the Ten Commandments of Contrition”, the “fertile salt of conversion”, the

“primaterial Water of burning tears”, and the “vivifying fi re of Divine love,

piously digested and wisely dissolved in fasting”, so that “Fiery-Minded

Adam” may be sublimated by being born again. All this language is an im-

mediate foreshadowing of writings that integrate religious and alchemical

discourses like Johann Valentine Andreae’s Chemical Wedding of Christian

Rosencreutz,⁹³ Th omas Vaughan’s Anthroposophia Th eomagica,⁹⁴ and Pierre

Fabre’s Alchymista Christianus,⁹⁵ together with the works of Jacob Böhme,

where chemical substances and processes denote spiritual entities existent

in man and the world.⁹⁶

Khunrath intimates that he sees both the preparation of the Stone and


peter forshaw

the spiritual regeneration of man as parallel processes, implying that any

success in the transmutation of base metals into gold is dependent upon

a corresponding inward transmutation of the alchemical operator’s soul

into spiritual gold, in line with Dorn’s “thou wilt never make from other

things that one which thou seekest, except there fi rst be made one thing

of thyself.”⁹⁷ Th ere is the sense of a unifi ed experimental and experiential

practice, an interweaving of physical and spiritual levels of practice when,

in the Isagoge to Figure 3, he speaks of the adept experiencing an ‘internal

movement’ within himself at the moment of the perfect preparation of

Azoth, when he will weep for joy with the understanding that his fore-

father’s original sin has been divinely taken away and removed by the fi re

of Divine love, in the regeneration of the Body, Spirit and Soul.⁹⁸

In conclusion, then, we see that Khunrath’s alchemy has manifold

sources and purposes. Th e preparation of the Stone was both evidence

of his Christian faith and an aim at proof of the existence of supernatural

and divine phenomena, of the possibility of miracles. As such, the inves-

tigation of nature becomes no less than a quest for the real presence of

Christ existing in the physical universe.⁹⁹ For Khunrath, the practice of

alchemy and natural philosophy could have moral and devotional value for

the promotion of Christian belief, the illustration of truth and refutation

of pagan or atheistical errors. Alchemy was in a way a mystical natural

theology, a bridge between natural philosophy and theology, a way for man

to either discover or rediscover the holy both in the world and himself. It

is a complex combination of chrysopoeia and iatro-chemistry, philosophy

and religion, magic and mysticism motivated by the desire for an under-

standing of the relationships between God, Nature, and Man, and aim-

ing ultimately at nothing less than the transformation of the body, spirit

and soul, both of the micro and the macrocosm, with the Amphitheatre’s

engravings representing the quintessence of this experience.

Although he downplays the practical signifi cance of Khunrath’s self-

appellation of Physical-Chemist, Waite is undoubtedly correct in his estima-

tion that Khunrath is one of the fi rst to emphasise a spiritual dimension

to alchemy, predating Böhme, Fludd and the Rosicrucians,¹⁰⁰ an opinion

harmonising with Carlos Gilly’s observation that the wonderful illustra-

tions not only in the alchemical emblems of Maier and Mylius, but also



Rosicrucian images from the works of Robert Fludd and Daniel Mögling

to the Geheimen Figuren der Rosenkreuzer in the eighteenth century would

simply not have been possible without the inspiring hieroglyphic fi gures

in Heinrich Khunrath’s Amphitheatre of Eternal Wisdom.¹⁰¹


peter forshaw

Notes

1 John Read, Th rough Alchemy to Chemistry: A Procession of Ideas & Personalities,

London: Bell and Sons, 1957, p. 72.

2 Ibid., p. 87.

3 Arthur Edward Waite, Th e Secret Tradition in Alchemy: its Development and

Records, London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., 1926, p. 9 and p. 254.

4 Idem., Lives of the Alchemystical Philosophers, London: George Redway, 1888,

p. 159.

5 Idem., Th e Secret Tradition, p. 236.

6 Ibid., p. 257.

7 Heinrich Khunrath, Vom hylealischen, Das ist/ Pri-materialischen Catholischen

oder Algemeinem Natürlichen Chaos, Der Naturgemessen Alchymiae und Alchy-

misten, Magdeburg: Andreas Genen Erben, 1597. My pagination follows the

Frankfurt: Georg-Heinrich Oehrling, 1708 edition, re-issued in facsimile by

Akademische Druck, Graz, 1990.

8 Heinrich Khunrath, Quæstiones Tres, per-utiles, Haud-quaquam præter mit-

tendæ, Nec non Summè necesariæ cum Curationem, tum Præcautionem absolu-

tam, perfectam & veram Arenæ, Sabuli, Calculi, Podagræ, Gonagræ, Chiragræ

aliorumque Morborum Tartareorum Microcosmi seu Mundi minoris, Hominis

puta, concernentes, Leipzig: Th omas Schürer Buchführer, 1607.

9 Heinrich Khunrath, De Igne Magorum Philosophorumque secreto externo et visi-

bili – Das ist: Philosophische Erklährung von und über dem geheimen ausserlichen

sichtbaren [G]ludt und Flammen fewer der uhralten Magorum oder Weisen und

andern wahren Philosophen, Straßburg: Vorlegung Lazari Zetzners, 1608.

10 Heinrich Khunrath, Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum; Das ist/ Höheste

Nothwendigkeit/ In Alchymia, Auch Mügliche uberkommung/ Augenscheinliche

Weisung/ und Gnugsame Erweisung Catholischer verborgener Magnesiæ; Des

geheimen wunderthetigen Universal Steins Naturgemeß-Chymischer Philosopho-

rum Rechten und allein wahren Pri-Materialischen Subiecti, Magdeburg: Johan

Bötcher, 1599.

11 Heinrich Khunrath, Lux in Tenebris, n.p., 1614.

12 Heinrich Khunrath, Amphitheatrvm Sapientiæ Æternæ, Solivs Veræ: Chris-

tiano-Kabalisticvm, Divino-Magicvm, nec non Physico-Chymicvm, Tertrivnvm,

Catholicon, Hanoviæ: Guilielmus Antonius, 1609. As this work is divided into



two main parts with separate pagination, subsequent references will be to either

Amph. I. or Amph. II. to avoid confusion.

13 Khunrath, Amph. I, p. 19: “Prologvs hic præsens Scalæ cuidam Stvdii Sa-

pientiæ veræ, recteque philosophandi rationis, Gradvvm orthodoxorum

septem mysticæ assimilatur.”

14 Denis I. Duveen, Bibliotheca Alchemica et Chemica, London: E. Weil, 1949,

p. 319.

15 Paul M. Allen, A Christian Rosenkreutz Anthology, New York: Rudolf Steiner

Publications, 1968, p. 329.

16 R.J.W. Evans, Rudolf II and his World: A Study in Intellectual History, Oxford:

Clarendon Press, 1973, p. 214.

17 Umberto Eco, Lo Strano Caso della Hanau 1609, Milan: Bompiani, 1989, p. 13:

“oscure ma decisamente aff ascinanti […] complesse costruzioni verbovisive,

dove cartigli, didascalie, composizioni a rebus si fondono con rappresentazioni

simboliche.”

18 Ibid., p. 13: “Le tavole rettangolari rappresentano paesaggi surreali, itinerari

iniziatici, e culminano nell’accesso alla Porta Amphitheatri, una sorta di ascesa

dantesca verso un varco magico che […] ricorda a molti la tomba di Christian

Rosencreutz cosi come viene descritta nella Fama rosacrociana.”

19 Jacques van Lennep, Alchimie, Bruxelles: Crédit Communal, 1984, pp. 151-2.

20 Urszula Szulakowska, Th e Alchemy of Light: Geometry and Optics in Late Re-

naissance Alchemical Illustration, Leiden: Brill, 2000, p. 5.

21 Ralf Töllner, Der unendliche Kommentar, Hamburg: Peter Jensen Verlag an der

Lottbek, 1991.

22 For the 1595 copies, see Department of Special Collections, Memorial Library,

University of Wisconsin-Madison, <http://www.library.wisc.edu:2784/li-

braries/SpecialCollections/khunrath/>; University of Darmstadt, Hessische

Landes- und Hochschulbibliothek, Schloss 64283 Darmstadt; Öff entliche

Bibliothek Universität Basel, Standort J G 10. Although I have not managed to

see it, there appears to be a fourth copy in Rostock, UB Rostock (Signature: G

VI-7, Location: 28-SON). As for manuscript versions, one particularly attrac-

tive copy exists in the Royal Library, Copenhagen, Ms.1765 and a less artistic,

but nevertheless useful copy at Alnwick Castle in Northumberland, England,

Aln wick Ms 571, available as British Library Microfi lm 334.


peter forshaw

23 “Henricus Khunrath Lips Th eosophiæ amator, et Medecinæ Doctor, Dei

gratia, inventor. Paullus von der Doort Antverp[ien] scalpsit. Hamburgi. Anno

a Christo nato 1595 Mense Aprili (Maio, Iulio, Septembri).”

24 “H.F. Vriese pinxit.”

25 Ulrich Th ieme (ed.), Allgemeines Lexicon der Bildenen Künstler von der Antike

bis zur Gegenwart, Vol. IX, Leipzig: Verlag von E.A. Seemann, 1913, p. 465.

26 Further information and extensive references to de Vries can be found in Hans

Vollmer (ed.), Allgemeines Lexicon der Bildenen Künstler von der Antike bis zur

Gegenwart, Vol. XXXIV, Leipzig: Verlag von E.A. Seemann, 1940, pp. 575-578,

with a reference to Khunrath on p. 576. See also Ger Luijten (ed.), Hollstein’s

Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts 1450-1700, Vol. XLVIII,

Vredeman de Vries, Part II 1572-1630, Rotterdam: Sound and Vision Interac-

tive, 1997, in particular pp. 162-4 concerning the “Laboratory of the Alchemist

Heinrich Khunrath”.

27 Th omas Dacosta Kaufmann, L’École de Prague: La Peinture à la Cour de Rudolf

II, Paris: Flammarion, 1985, Section 25.

28 See Khunrath, Chaos (Magdeburg, 1597) and Magnesia (Magdeburg, 1599).

29 For further information and references, see Th ieme (ed.), Allgemeines Lexicon,

Vol. IX, 1913, pp. 326-7.

30 Eco, Lo Strano Caso, p. 20.

31 Ibid., pp. 10-11.

32 Th e Alnwick manuscript includes basic reproductions of the Circular fi gures

in the sequence 4, 3, 1, 2. It does not include one of the 1602 engravings as

Szulakowska claims in her Alchemy of Light, pp. 106-7.

33 Khunrath, Amph. I, p. 7: “Apocalyptica Clavis Triuna.”

34 Anon., Iudicium und Bericht eines Erfahrnen Cabalisten und Philosophen/ über

die 4 Figuren deß grossen Amphitheatri D. Heinrici Khunradi, pub. Benedictus

Figulus, as an appendix to Khunrath’s De Igne Magorum Philosophorumque

secreto externo et visibili, pp. 107-123.

35 Th e Iudicium has long been attributed to Arndt, since the note in the 1783

edition of Khunrath’s Warhaff tiger Bericht von Philosophischen Athanore, auch

Brauch und Nutzdasselbigen, Leipzig: Adam Friedrich Böhmem, 1783. See Carlos

Gilly (ed.), Johann Valentin Andreae 1586-1986: Die Manifeste der Rosenkreuzer-

bruderschaft, Amsterdam, 1986, p. 38.



36 Anon., Iudicium, p. 108: “In der vierten Figur lehret das Amphitheatrum Th eo-

logiam in oratorio, und ist Th eologia nichts anders, dann colloquium divinum,

ein Gespräch mit Gott durchs Gebet und durch den heiligen Geist.”

37 Khunrath, Amph. II, p. 145: “Th eosophia est Th eologia, in ternario, (hoc est,

Biblicè, Macro et MicroCosmicè) Catholica, Iehovae Mirabilis Mirifi ca.”

38 Figure 4: “musica sancta tristitiae spirituumq[ue] malignorum fuga quia

spiritvs lubenter psallit in cordi gaudio pio perfuso”. Quæstiones, B2r-v,

Cviv-Cviiv. See too Amph. II, p. 204 for the power of the Philosophers’ Stone

to cure melancholy.

39 Mino Gabriele, Alchimia e Iconologia, Udine: Forum, 1997, p. 28. For more on

alchemical engravings, see also Mino Gabriele, Alchimia: La Tradizione in Oc-

cidente Secondo le Fonti Manoscritte e a Stampa, Venice: Edizioni La Biennale,

1986.

40 Khunrath, Chaos, pp. 56, 71, 75, 119, 160 and 196.

41 Ibid., p. 143 and p. 147.

42 Ibid., p. 218.

43 Ibid., p. 147 and p. 249.

44 George Boas (trans. and ed.), Th e Hieroglyphics of Horapollo, Princeton, New

Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1950; repr. 1993, Book 1, p. 43.

45 Khunrath, De Igne, p. 2 and Chaos, p. 258 cite Morienus as the source.

46 Urszula Szulakowska, John Dee and European Alchemy, Occasional Paper, no.

21, Th e Durham Th omas Harriot Seminar, Durham: University of Durham,

School of Education, 1996, p. 2.

47 Szulakowska, Alchemy of Light, p. 78, Töllner, Kommentar, p. 200.

48 See Paul Walden, “Zur Entwicklungsgeschichte der chemischen Zeichen”, in

Edmund O.V. Lippmann, Studien zur Geschichte der Chemie, Berlin: Verlag von

Julius Springer, 1927, pp. 80-105.

49 Ibid., pp. 82-4.

50 “Spiritus per descensum”, in F. Lüdy, Alchemistische und Chemische Zeichen,

Stuttgart: Süddeutsche Apotheker-Zeitung, 1928, pl. 82.

51 John Read prefers “dragon’s blood”, identifying the shape as a serpentine symbol.

See Th e Alchemist in Life, Literature and Art, London: Th omas Nelson and

Sons, 1947, p. 71

52 See Bettina Meitzner, Die Gerätschaft der Chymischen Kunst: Der Traktat ‘De

Sceuastica Artis’ des Andreas Libavius von 1606, Übersetzung, Kommentierung


peter forshaw

und Wiederabdruck, Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1995, ch. 6, De Sermone

Chymico & notis quibusdam, sig. Hh6v.

53 Christoph Glaser, Novum Laboratorium Medico-Chymicum, Nurenberg: Mi-

chael und Johann Friderich Endtern, 1677; reprint Weinheim, 1988, p. 44 ff .

54 Töllner, Kommentar, pp. 206-9.

55 Heinrich Khunrath, Warhaff tiger Bericht vom Philosophischen Athanore; Auch

Brauch unnd Nutz desselbigen, Magdeburg, 1603.

56 See Khunrath, De Igne, p. 77 for the Speculum image. For Szulakowska’s ideas

on catoptrics, see Alchemy of Light, ch. 7.

57 Khunrath, Amph. II, p. 147 (mispaginated as p. 145 [T2r]): “Physicochemia est

ars, methodo Naturæ Chemicè soluendi, depurandi & ritè reuniendi Res Physicas;

Vniuersale[m] (MacroCosmicè, Lapide[m] Phil[osophoru]m. MicroCosmicè

corporis humani partes: […]) & particulares, globi inferioris, omnes.”

58 Ibid., p. 131: “Mirabile Dei Mirabilis Laboratorium Macro Cosmicon, Naturâ

præsidente aut Laborante, perpetuum, Catholicon.”

59 See A.E. Waite, Th e Holy Kabbalah (1924), Hertfordshire: Oracle Publishing,

1996, p. 534 ff .

60 Khunrath, Chaos, p. 41.

61 Genesis 1:2.

62 Khunrath, Chaos, p. 133 and Amph. II, p. 196, Isagoge 3, question 5. Also Amph.

II, p. 127 and p. 128.

63 Khunrath, Magnesia, p. 121: “rebis oder doppelter Mercurius.”

64 C.f. C.H. Josten, “A Translation of John Dee’s ‘Monas Hieroglyphica’”, Ambix,

XII, June and Oct. 1964, pp. 84-221, p.165: “Th e most famous Mercury of the

philosophers, the Microcosm, and Adam.” See also Paracelsus, Th e Aurora of

the Philosophers, in A.E. Waite (ed.), Th e Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of

Paracelsus, Th e Great, Chicago: de Laurence, Scott & Co., 1910, Vol. I, pp. 48-71,

p. 66 “Summarily then, the matter of the Philosophers’ Stone is none other than

a fi ery and perfect Mercury extracted by Nature and Art, that is, the artifi cially

prepared and true hermaphrodite Adam, and the microcosm.”

65 See C.G. Jung, Alchemical Studies, trans. R.F.C. Hull, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton

University Press, 1967; repr. 1983, p. 93: “Th e white woman and red slave […]

are synonymous with Beya and Gabricus in the Visio Arislei.”

66 Cf. the Amphitheatre’s table: “Three Things, which primordially constitute

the World”: “[…] similar to the Planet Mercury in the fi rmament, which has a



varied and completely versatile Nature, [since] it is hot with hot things, and cold

with cold things, for it follows the Nature of that with which it is conjoined.”

67 “Solve, Fige, Coagula, Compona” on the Rebis’ body.

68 “Separa, Dissolve, Depura” in the sphere. See too the Citadel engraving: “Dis-

solutio; Purifi catio; Azoth Pondus; Solutio; Multiplicatio; Fermentatio; Proi-

ectio”.

69 See Basil Valentine, Azoth: L’Occulta Opera Aurea dei Filosofi , Rome: Edizioni

Mediterranee, 1988, p. 103: “I Filosofi mi hanno gratifi cato con il nome di azoth,

con le lettere latine A e Z, le greche α e ω, le ebraiche ! et ;, Aleph e Tau, che

sommate insieme danno «AZOTH».”

70 Khunrath, Amph. II, p. 38.

71 See Khunrath, De Igne, p. 80 for Khunrath’s distinction between Urim and

Esh.

72 Cf. Johann Reuchlin, De Verbo Mirifi co (1494), Stuttgart: Friedrich From-

mann, 1964, p. 56: “Esth […] quod Latine ignem vocamus”; p. 57: “Hu: Ehieh:

Esth: quae dei essentiam signifi carent […] Tunc enim deus & idem ipse esset:

& essentia sua esset: & esset igneae naturae. Non quidem ut est elementaris

ignis: neque ut stellaris sive caelestis/ sed ut in enarrabilis in seipso splendor:

cuius omnes praeterea ignes umbra sint & tenebrae.” See also Henry Corne-

lius Agrippa, Th ree Books of Occult Philosophy, trans. James Freake, ed. Donald

Tyson, St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 1997, p. 479 n: “Esch the fi re of

God, literally when referring to lightning (1 Kings 18:38) and fi guratively for

God’s wrath (Deuteronomy 32:22).”


74 Ibid., p. 65: “ArgChymischen wilden Jecken, Lappen Hüdlern und Südlern.”

And p. 259: “Argchymistische Püff el (solte sagen/ Pöbel oder Popul)” and

“Hummelsgeschmeiß der Arg-Chymisten.”

75 Ibid., p. 257: “Gemeinen Püff el”.

76 Ibid., “Ardelionische Gold-käfer”.

77 Ibid., p.268: “Goldkäfer”; p. 284: “Goldkäfer und schwartzkünstige Schatz-

gräber”.

78 In German ‘duck’ = ‘Ente’ and to ‘discolour/bleach’ = ‘entfärben’.

79 Khunrath, Chaos, p. 66: “Waschgöldern/ Glaß und Rothgülden Ertzen”; p. 231:

“Wasch-Golde”.

80 “Auch derogestalt aus ♂ern Nägeln ☼dene zu[m] machen. IMPOSTVRA.”


peter forshaw

81 “albatio ♀is pro ‚ a eiusdemq[ue] scilicet fixatio in m. Item, rvbeum pro

Sole. falsitas.”

82 Töllner, Kommentar, p. 38; Szulakowska, Alchemy of Light, p. 125.

83 John 14:6: “Jesus saith to him: I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No

man cometh to the Father but by me.” John 3:14: “And as Moses lifted up the

serpent in the desert, so must the Son of man be lifted up.”

84 Jung, Alchemical Studies, p. 96.

85 Khunrath, Magnesia, p. 57: “Davon können zwey grosse Wunder Bücher/ das

eine Apocalypsis/ das ist/ Off enbarung der Catholischen verborgenen Mag-

nesiæ; das andere Harmonia analogica Magnesiæ Philosophorum Catholicæ

cum IHSVH Christo.”

86 Ibid., p. 88: “als in Silver oder Gold zu transmutiren, und auch der Menschli-

chen leiber/ solche (nach GOTTES willen) dardurch von Kranckheiten zu

liberiren/ oder zu præserviren.” See also Khunrath, Chaos, p. 148: “Lapis Phil.

etiam est & dicitur Medicina Catholica.”


88 Khunrath, Amph. II, p. 163: “the Philosophers’ Stone, truest Catholic Medi-

cine of our restoration and preservation.”

89 Khunrath, Amph. II, p. 101 and p. 150 (mispaginated as p. 148 [T3v]).

90 See Khunrath, Chaos, p. 123 where the binary is related to chemical substances;

see also Chaos, p. 20 and Amph. II, p. 4, p. 71, p. 216 and Figure 2. On Trithe-

mius, see his letter: “Ioannes Tritemivs Abbas Spanheymensis Domino Ioanni

Vuestenburgh Comiti & viro desideriorum, de tribus naturalis Magi[æ] prin-

cipiis, sine quibus nihil in ipsa ad eff ectum produci potest”, in Ioannis Tritemii

Abbatis Spanheymensis De Septem Secvndeis, id est, intelligentijs, siue Spiritibus

Orbes post Deum mouentibus, reconditissimæ scientiæ & eruditionis Libellus,

Cologne: Johann, Birckmann, 1567, particularly pp. 93-5.

91 Khunrath, Chaos, p. 127: “Ein Th eosophus, wie in secunda Amphitheatri […]

fi gura.”

92 Khunrath, Amph. II, p. 54: “impuritatum liberemini, soluamini, separemini,

depuremini, coniungamini […] ad plusquam perfectionis gradum […] subli-

memini, hoc est, exaltemini, & cum Deo ipso […] mentaliter fermentemini.”

93 Cf. van Lennep, Alchimie, p. 168

94 Eugenius Philalethes, Anthroposophia Th eomagica, London, 1630, p. 28.

95 Petrus Joannus Faber, Alchymista Christianus, Toulouse: Petrus Bosc, 1632.


96 Frank Sherwood Taylor, Th e Alchemists, St. Albans: Paladin, 1976, pp. 227-8.

97 Gerhard Dorn, Philosophia meditative, in Th eatrum Chemicum, Lazarus Zetzner,

1659, vol. I, p. 472, and Gerhard Dorn, Speculativae philosophiae, gradus septem

vel decem continens, Th eatrum chemicum, vol. I, ii, p. 267: “Transmutemini de

lapidibus mortuis in vivos lapides philosophicos.”

98 Khunrath, Amph. II, p. 202: “hanc factam esse, cum perceperis, motum, in te,

experieris internum, &, oh, gaudio lachrymabis! Quia peccatum originis, igne

Diuini amoris, in regeneratione, & corporis, Spiritus & Animæ, diuinitus auferri

& separari, certò intelliges.”

99 See John Warwick Montgomery, Cross and Crucible: Johann Valentin Andreæ

(1586-1654) Phœnix of the Th eologians, 2 vols., Th e Hague: Martinus Nijhoff ,

1973, vol. I, p. 17.

100 Waite, Th e Secret Tradition in Alchemy, p. 257.

101 Gilly (ed.), Johann Valentin Andreae, p. 40.


Documents

Forshaw, 'Alchemy in the Amphitheatre