A Chymical Dictionary

Evestrum

Spirits celestial influences and signs · A Chymical Dictionary

At a Glance

The word. A prophetic agency associated with signs preceding events.

In the book. Erodinium gives the general sign of a future event.

A place to read. The historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 21; facsimile PDF page 349.

Historical Definition

Evestrum is a prophetic spirit that presages through signs or through something that goes before.

Meaning

The entry names a spirit and describes how its prophetic character is expressed. Signs, or something preceding an event, provide the relation between what is present and what is to come. The definition supplies no appearance, dwelling place or means of calling the spirit.

“Something going before” is kept broadly. The compiler does not restrict it to a dream, an omen in a particular element or a visible apparition. A more specific reading would need to come from the passage using the word.

Use in the Book

Erodinium gives the general sign of a future event. Essodinum concerns presaging by marks. Somnia describes operations made in a sleeping person by the stars. These entries provide several historical accounts of foretelling and signs, while Evestrum remains distinctive in naming a prophetic spirit as its subject.

Places to Read

Erodinium. A sign understood as pointing towards a future event.

Essodinum. Foretelling by interpreting marks.

Somnia. Dreams explained through stellar operations in the sleeper.

In This Edition

The commentary reports the classification of the historical dictionary. It adds no practice for obtaining predictions and does not identify Evestrum with every other kind of spirit mentioned in the volume.

Historical source: 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 21; facsimile PDF page 349 — Facsimile

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

See also. Erodinium; Essodinum; Somnia