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Iliaster
Elements principles and the natural world · A Chymical Dictionary
At a Glance
The word. Nature’s hidden efficacy described through growth, nourishment and flourishing.
In the book. The preceding Iliaster entry gives first matter through Sulphur, Mercury and Salt and divides its account fourfold through the elements.
A place to read. The historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 27; facsimile PDF page 355.
Historical Definition
Iliaster in general is the occult virtue of Nature by which all things increase, are nourished, multiply and flourish; you may read more at length in Paracelsus’s book concerning the generation of meteors.
Meaning
This is the dictionary’s second Iliaster definition. It identifies a virtue through four related activities: increase, nourishment, multiplication and flourishing. The virtue belongs to Nature and is called occult. The emphasis therefore falls on hidden efficacy expressed through living or generative activity, rather than on a visible material form.
The word “general” matters. The compiler is giving a broad account, while other entries apply the Iliaster vocabulary to particular kinds or terms of human life. The definition does not state that every growing thing contains one independently identifiable preparation called Iliaster.
Use in the Book
The preceding Iliaster entry gives first matter through Sulphur, Mercury and Salt and divides its account fourfold through the elements. Both definitions are retained. Together they show the vocabulary operating through constitution and through attributed activity, without requiring one sentence to erase the other.
The four named human Iliastri then describe life itself, life through elements, life through quintessence, and a fourth relation to the mind or soul caught into another world. These separate entries give the reader a more articulated account of life than the general growth statement alone.
The final bibliographical reference is to a book of Paracelsus concerning the generation of meteors. The dictionary provides no chapter or page in this sentence. This edition therefore preserves the reference at its stated level rather than claiming that a particular modern edition or passage has been conclusively identified.
Places to Read
Iliaster. First matter organised through three principles, four elements and a further human fourfold account.
Iliaster primus. The first human Iliaster described through life and its balsam.
Iliaster secundus. The second human Iliaster associated with elemental life.
In This Edition
The commentary uses “efficacy” to clarify virtue while retaining the historical phrase in the definition. It adds no unmentioned mechanism for growth, and it does not turn the cross-reference into proof that every work transmitted under Paracelsus’s name is authentic.
Historical source: 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 27; facsimile PDF page 355 — Facsimile
Sources. A Chymicall Dictionary 1650, s.v. Iliaster
See also. Iliaster; Iliaster primus; Iliaster secundus; Iliaster tertius; Iliaster magnus