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Anonymous

Candida Phoenix Philosophica

The White Philosophical Phoenix

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Candida Phoenix PhilosophicaPart II — Chapter 11: Theophrastus and the Homunculus

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English Page · Branch 297 of 411

Part II — Chapter 11: Theophrastus and the Homunculus

Book Mode

German & Latin

195

Zur Sache selbst aber zu schreiten / ist zu wissen / was massen Theophrastus (lib. 1. de Generatione rerum naturalium) vorgibt / daß ein Mensch ausserhalb weiblichen Leibes und einer natürlichen Mutter / durch die Spaghyrische Kunst könne gebohren werden / und zwar auff folgende Weiß / daß man nemblich das Sperma eines Mannes in verschlossenen Cucurbiten / wie Er an besagtem Ort ferner außführlich schreibet / und alhier unnöthig zu erzehlen / in ventre equino tractirt, ein recht lebendig menschlich Kind / mit allen Gliedmassen / wie ein ander Kind / das von einem Weibe geboren / doch viel kleiner / darauß werde. Welches ein groß Miracul und Magnale DEI, und ein Geheimnuß über alle Geheimnuß / auch ein Geheimnuß bleiben soll / biß zu den letzten Zeiten.

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Candida Phoenix Philosophica: Part II — Chapter 11: Theophrastus and the Homunculus

195

To come to the matter itself: Theophrastus claims in Book I of On the Generation of Natural Things that the spagyric Art can bring a human being to birth outside a woman’s body and without a natural mother. According to his account, a man’s semen is treated in sealed cucurbits in the horse’s belly, in a manner he describes at length there and which need not be repeated here. From it, he says, there comes a truly living human child with all its limbs, like any child born of a woman, but much smaller. This is said to be a great miracle and mighty work of God, a mystery above all mysteries, which is to remain secret until the last times.

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About This Reading Edition

An anonymous Hermetic treatise of 1680, presented in its original German and Latin with a new English translation, 279 explanatory notes, the historical phoenix frontispiece, an introduction, reading guide, outline, glossary, bibliography, and original registers.

Historical Text and Translation

Anonymous, Candida Phoenix philosophica. Frankfurt am Main: Christian Hermsdorff, 1680. The chosen witness is the Wellcome Library copy digitized as b32993456; German and Latin, with French, Greek, and Hebrew passages retained.

About Diotimos Editions

This historical edition credits Diotimos Editions as its English translator.

Rights

The 1680 source is identified as public domain by the Wellcome/Internet Archive record. The supplied 2026 transcription, English translation, introduction, notes, reading guide, outline, glossary, bibliography, and editorial arrangement are published with the site owner’s authorization. The frontispiece is retained from the supplied edition and credited to its historical witness.