Constellatio

Spirits celestial influences and signs · A Chymical Dictionary

At a Glance

The word. The influence of higher stars understood as an impression in lower things.

In the book. Formæ rerum likewise defines forms through influences received from celestial bodies, or through the virtues of things.

A place to read. The historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 17; facsimile PDF page 345.

Historical Definition

Constellatio is the impression of higher stars, or their virtues, upon lower bodies.

Meaning

The term describes a relation between higher and lower, with “impression” expressing what the stars or their virtues are said to communicate. It does not simply name a pattern of stars visible in the sky. Both celestial agents and the bodies receiving their effects are essential to this definition.

The alternative wording “or their virtues” is also significant. The dictionary allows an author to speak either of the stars or of the efficacy attributed to them. A reading that treats every celestial term as a statement about a visible material body will miss that flexibility.

Use in the Book

Formæ rerum likewise defines forms through influences received from celestial bodies, or through the virtues of things. Impressiones names the resulting fruits of stars in lower things. Gamathei gives a special case in stones marked with characters and images. Together these terms describe transmission, reception and its supposed effects across the book’s natural world.

Places to Read

Formæ rerum. Forms explained through received celestial influences or active virtues.

Gamathei. Stones bearing signs and images associated with celestial powers.

Impressiones. Effects in lower subjects described as fruits of stars.

In This Edition

The edition retains this historical relation without replacing it with a modern causal theory. “Higher” and “lower” belong to the text’s ordering of things; they are not measures of the worth of the subjects being described.

Historical source: 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 17; facsimile PDF page 345 — Facsimile

Sources. A Chymicall Dictionary 1650, s.v. Constellatio

See also. Formæ rerum; Gamathei; Impressiones