Paracelsus and the Four Pillars of Renaissance Medicine

is alchemy, complete with every operation and nature, skilled in mastering the four known elements; the fourth pillar is virtue, which must assist the physician until death, to complete and preserve the other three pillars. From Paracelsus's perspective, therefore, medicine rests on knowledge of Hermetic doctrines, philosophy, and their celestial or superior applications, astrology, and terrestrial or inferior ones, alchemy. In this view, alchemy and astrology are only two faces of the same coin: the anatomy of heaven in contrast to the anatomy of earth. Astrology will therefore serve the physician to understand when the times are propitious for the preparation and administration of a drug or remedy since the anatomy of heaven or macrocosm is the mirror indicator of the processes occurring within human anatomy or microcosm: A physician should know the physiology and anatomy of heaven as well as that of man to understand the causes and cures of astral diseases, because in vain will he administer his remedy while the patient is under the influence of a malefic star, but after the malefic star ceases its influence, then the disease will cease to act. Paracelsus is one of the most striking examples of the astrosophical revolution launched by Pico and Ficino. While dedicating much of his writings to correspondences and notions of a profoundly and intrinsically astrological character, Paracelsus totally rejects judicial astrology. When he has to express himself on this matter, Paracelsus will always try to distance the idea of a causative astrology in favor of an astrology that signifies events, however even when he considers in essence the existing influence between microcosm and macrocosm, he will always take care to specify that this influence is mutual and not unilateral. The conjunction between man and the heavens occurs in this way... There is a double firmament, one in heaven and one in every body, and these are connected to each other by mutual concordance and not by unilateral dependence of the body on the firmament. If, for example, a discord occurs between the celestial disposition on one side and human economy on the other, it will be the latter that breaks. The microcosm, that is Man, and the macrocosm, that is the Universe, are therefore tuned in a perfect anthropo-cosmic resonance that resolves in mutual dependence, savior of free will, whereby the stars influence man and man influences the stars, according to the saying he himself will remember: The Wise man dominates the stars. It is an old saying that "The Wise man dominates the stars" and I believe in this saying. The stars do not force us into anything we do not want to accept; they do not incline us toward anything we do not desire [...] Whatever the stars can do we can do ourselves since the Wisdom we obtain from God surpasses in power the heavens and reigns over the stars. How does the Wise man dominate the stars? Certainly not by denying the influence of heaven or opposing it in a sterile way but by condensing at the opportune moment a celestial influence that will then one day re-explicate at the opportune moment. Talismans and pentacles are therefore seen as condensers of astral influences. It is certain that the seals of the planets, if they are made and worn at the proper hour and time, have great virtues inherent in them. Indeed, no one could deny the great power of the superior stars and celestial influences over perishable and mortal things. For if the superior stars and planets can moderate, direct and oblige at their pleasure the animal man, although made in the image of God and endowed with life and reason, how much more will they be able to govern lesser things, such as metals, stones and images, into which they imprint or which they occupy with all their virtue, efficacy and force according to their properties, as if they penetrated into them with all their substance, in the same way they occupy the firmament. It is important to note that from Paracelsus's perspective these seals are nonetheless used to obtain effects and reactions of an indicatively material character, for example: Therefore on the day of Jupiter when the Moon enters the 1st degree of Libra and the planet Jupiter is in good aspect, open the punches and mint the seal that you will keep wrapped in turquoise silk. This seal, if worn, conciliates benevolence, affection and favor from all, will prolong the life of the wearer, ensure the success of his affairs and keep all fears and worries away from him. Paracelsus does not deal in his teachings with typically spiritual aspects. Very different will be the situation of Agrippa who will unite this natural magic to the Kabbalah and will use these seals not only to condense the astral influences of the planets, but with the purpose of establishing a resonance and contacting the intelligences themselves that preside over the planets, therefore with purposes of a typically spiritual character. Another disciple of Abbot Trithemius who became perhaps one of the most famous magicians of the Renaissance era is Cornelius Agrippa, author of a book that became crucial for the history of natural magic: the Occult Philosophy. Agrippa represents one of the closest links between Magic and Astrology. In Agrippa, indeed, these two disciplines are considered inseparable as inseparable and inconceivable one separate from the other. Magic is strictly conjoined with astrology so that whoever professes magic without astrology has completely lost his way. In Agrippa various Renaissance influences and tendencies are reunited: a natural magic coming from Ficino; an attention toward Christian Kabbalah coming from the study of Pico, Reuchlin and the teaching of Abbot Trithemius; to all this is added a strong astrological connotation coming from his family formation. Agrippa is an extremely interesting and adventurous character. He learns astrology from his father from a young age, then moves to Paris for University where with some of his student friends he becomes part of a circle of students founded on Hermetic doctrines. After going...