Paracelsianism in Sweden 425
Chapter 52 Paracelsianism in Sweden Paracelsianism in Sweden
Susanna Åkerman
The first mention of Paracelsus in Sweden is in Simon Berchelt’s Om pestilen- zen (On the Plague, 1589), in which readers are advised to use spagyric herbal medicines in order to cure the plague. Other useful substances include lauda- num, calcinated antimony, and oil of vitriol. It is telling that the well-known spiritual alchemist Heinrich Khunrath (ca. 1560–1605) in 1597 offered a manu- script, Consilium de Vulcani magia fabrecatione armorum Achilles (Ms. Rål 4, 1597 (43), National Library of Sweden), to Duke Charles, later Charles IX, on the topic of the armour of Achilles, thought to be made of electrum, i.e., a mix of gold and silver. Such an armour would, supposedly, make its bearer invinci- ble and, furthermore, a cup made of this electrum would signal if any liquid was poisonous. According to Khunrath’s own recipe, the electrum was made up of the seven metals forged together at an astrologically suitable time. Several Paracelsians, for example Gerhard Dorn (ca. 1530–1584), continued to develop Paracelsus’ spiritual-philosophic ideas. They saw alchemy as an al ternative spirituality built around Paracelsus’ theological agenda and under- stood his role as advocating a “Theophrastia Sancta” – a form of spirituality which stood in conflict with the established churches. The Swedish royal archivist Johannes Bureus (1668–1652) would in several writings ally himself with this religious current. This was in line with the University Chancellor Johan Skytte’s (1577–1645) oration in 1640, welcoming the opening at Uppsala University for the “the double doors” of “Trismegistus’ and Theophrastus’ true philosophies”. As a Ramist logician and professor of rhetoric, Skytte welcomed critics of the ingrained Aristotelian scholasticism to Uppsala. One example is the German professor of medicine Johannes Raicus (1580–1632), who during his time at Uppsala published De phtisi ex tartaro (1628), a treaty on the nefari- ous disease of lungs caused by inhalation of stone particles – a disease dealt with by Paracelsus in Opus paramirum and explained by Raicus as a desicca- tion of the body. Moving to Dorpat in 1630, Raicus wrote on terra sigillata – a fat, claylike earth used as votive medicament. He explained that this substance was composed of axungia solis et luna and anima solis, i.e., fat of gold, fat of silver, and soul of gold, meaning oils based on Sulphur and balms of Mercury, which when combined with the metallic root vitriol produces anima solis. Another aspect of this welcoming attitude towards Paracelsianism was the reception of Daniel Sennert (1572–1637) from Wittenberg and his modified
© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2016 | doi 10.1163/9789004325968_054 426 Åkerman theory of the mixture of elements to explain the “life” of metals. Sennert’s the- ory was commented upon by a number of Uppsala professors, such as Olavus Unonius, Martinus Gestrinius, Isaacus Isthmenius, and especially Ericus Danielus Achrelius, whose De admirabili et pulcherrima microcosmia hoc est hominis fabrica et structura (1627) treats of the chemical medicines obtained by these mixtures in metals. Skytte’s speech at Uppsala was followed by the adoption of Johannes Bureus’ design for the University Seal with a globe inscribed IHVH and the text Gratiae veritas naturae – the truth of grace and nature – showing the two sources for natural light in Paracelsian theology and science, namely heavenly grace and the study of nature.
Johannes Bureus and the Lion Prophecy
Bureus practised alchemy and was enamoured with Paracelsian ideas. In par- ticular, he devoted himself to the prophetic parts of Paracelsus’ writings and attached particular significance to certain numbers, inspired by the Rosicrucian Reformation, using these numbers in order to interpret the Apocalypse. He also developed a three-tiered chronology marking significant revelations in the field of learning, thus creating links to the Reformation and to Renaissance scholars: ˗˗ 1396, the year of the emergence of John [Jan] Hus (1369–1415), the first European reformer, as well as the year of the opening of the Greek school by Manuel Chrysoloras (1355–1415), the translator of Plato and author of a Greek grammar in the same year. ˗˗ 1530, or the coming forth of Martin Luther (1483–1546) and the opening of the Hebrew school through Johannes Reuchlin (1455–1522), the Christian Kabbalist. ˗˗ 1614, when ‘was heard the sacred voice “as a call from the desert” which was raised to a sense never higher’ – a reference to the Rosicrucian manifestos (Ms. R 551a, Uppsala UB).
In his Adulruna manuscripts Bureus also developed the idea of the “Cherubinic Lion” that is going to reveal the ultimate sense of scripture, as prophesied in Rev. 5:5. Bureus’ lion was modelled on the Paracelsian idea of “der Löwe aus der Mitternacht”, or the Lion of the North, who at the end of time shall bring out the hidden meaning of the Apocalypse. This lion is referred to in the Rosicrucian Confessio Fraternitatis RC (1615) with the line ‘our treasures shall remain