Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum

Name: Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum
Author: Heinrich Khunrath

The 1599 German text with a new English translation, introduction, glossary, and notes.

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Early New High German Page · Branch 44 of 215

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Early New High German

p. 37

laboranten viel schöne vnd gute handgriffe / bey vielerley materijs nützlich zugebrauchen / vberkommen; solte deswegen eine jede derselben materia stracks vor meine MAGNESIAM gehalten vnnd ausgeschrieben werden? O weit gefehlet! O capita Helleboro digna! EINE alleine ists Vnter Allen / vnd sonsten keine andere mehr. Hanc mihi elegit proposuitq; Natura! hanc (& mediatè & immediatè) mihi ostendit RVACH HHOCHMAH-EL! Cui (ob graues causas easq; sufficientes) dico; Tu mihi sola places! Tu mihi sola places!

Ists nicht ein Elend ding / etwas spöttisch auszumachen / vnd als vnrecht zu verwerffen / dz man per causas sufficientes / niemals warhafftig erkennet hat / wie gut oder böse / nütz oder

Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum: Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum

p. 37

laborants many fine and good manipulations, usefully to be employed upon various materials. Ought every one of those materials therefore to be straightway held and published abroad as my MAGNESIA? O far wide of the mark! O capita Helleboro digna! ONE alone it is Among All, and no other whatever besides. Hanc mihi elegit proposuitque Natura! hanc (& mediatè & immediatè) mihi ostendit RVACH HHOCHMAH-EL! Cui (ob graues causas easque sufficientes) dico: Tu mihi sola places! Tu mihi sola places!

Is it not a wretched thing, scornfully to make an end of a thing and to reject it as wrong, when one has never truly recognized through sufficient causes how good or evil, useful or

81.‘O heads deserving of Hellebore!’ — hellebore was the classical purge for madness; the tag is proverbial (cf. Horace, Satires ii. 3). Marginal gloss: ‘Yes — among many,^* countless ones.’

82.‘This one Nature chose out and set before me! This one (both mediately and immediately) RVACH HHOCHMAH-EL showed to me! To whom (for weighty and sufficient causes) I say: Thou alone pleasest me! Thou alone pleasest me!’ — This is the most personal sentence in the treatise so far, and the only place where Khunrath claims a private showing. The repetition is his and is not reduced to one. Ruach Hhochmah-El, the Spirit of the Wisdom of God (see p. 9); mediatè & immediatè distinguishes the showing through Nature and the writings from the showing without a medium, and he claims both. ^*The gloss reads vies-|ten, which is not a German word; the letters are secure (Fraktur i, round s), so it is left as printed and recorded as unread. vielen, many, would fit the sense. Marginal gloss: ‘In this matter one shall and must conclude with certainty upon ONE Thing only. Upon the ONE of which the Wise speak.’

About This Reading Edition

Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum argues that alchemy has one universal subject, that this subject cannot be extracted from the metals, and that nothing in the work can begin without recognizing it. This complete reader begins with the supplied seven-part introduction and orientation, then presents every printed page of the 1599 German treatise opposite its new English translation.

Historical Text and Translation

The German reading text is a fresh diplomatic transcription from 600 dpi images of the Magdeburg copy printed by Johann Bötcher in 1599. It preserves Khunrath’s capitalization, word division, authorial marginal keys, glosses, errata, and three unnumbered closing pages: the errata leaf, owl emblem, and colophon.

About Diotimos Editions

Diotimos Editions prepared the new English translation, introduction, notes, glossary, collation, and editorial apparatus. The translation follows Khunrath directly, retaining his technical vocabulary, changes of register, repetitions, rhetorical questions, and distinctions between German, Latin, and coined terms.

Rights

Heinrich Khunrath’s 1599 German work is in the public domain. The 2026 English translation, introduction, notes, glossary, editorial arrangement, and related matter are original to this edition and remain © 2026 Diotimos.

supplied-bilingual-editionSupplied complete German–English scholarly edition