A Chymical Dictionary

Caleruth

Qualities powers and relations · A Chymical Dictionary

At a Glance

The word. A sign interpreted as a thing’s inclination to return to its origin.

A place to read. The historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 13; facsimile PDF page 341.

Historical Definition

Caleruth is a sign of desire for the first perpetuum, as when something desires to return to its first matter, from which it originally came.

Meaning

The definition explains desire through return to first matter. It gives a philosophical interpretation of a sign, not a description of conscious human wanting alone. A material process may therefore be discussed through an inclination attributed to the thing itself. The phrase “first perpetuum” is retained because the entry does not define it independently.

For reading, distinguish the sign from the return it is said to indicate. The word does not itself establish that the return has been completed. Compare first-matter vocabulary in the first Iliaster definition and Mysterium magnum, and the explicit metallic reduction described under Aquila Philosophorum.

Places to Read

Iliaster. First matter organised through three principles, four elements and a further human fourfold account.

Mysterium magnum. A universal first matter, rather than one particular prepared subject.

Aquila Philosophorum. The philosophers’ eagle explained as metallic first matter.

Historical source: 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 13; facsimile PDF page 341 — Facsimile

Sources. A Chymicall Dictionary (1650), s.v. Caleruth ; compare Iliaster (first matter), Mysterium magnum, Aquila Philosophorum, Inclinatio

See also. Iliaster; Mysterium magnum; Aquila Philosophorum; Inclinatio