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.

Explore the Lexicon

Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica PhilosophorumMagnesia Catholica Philosophorum · Printed Page 54

Swipe or use the arrow keys.

Facing Pages · Branch 61 of 215

Book Mode

Early New High German

p. 54

ZWEIE; jhr Man vnd Weib; wirckendes vnnd leidendes; REBIS; Mercurius duplex, h. e. Mercurius cum Sulphure Philosophorum; Mercurius animatus; humiditas vnctuosa, id est, Mercurius Sulphureus; Vapor humidus vnctuosus, materia proxima omnium metallorum: DREIE; Corpus; SPIRITVS (qui vehiculum proprium & domicilium proximum ANIMAE, atq; Vinculum coniungens Animam cum Corpore) & ANIMA; SAL, MERCVRIVS vnd SVLPHVR NATVRAE, SAPIENTIAE & SAPIENTVM: VIERE; Erde / Wasser / Lufft vnd Fewer / animiret oder geschliget mit ESSENTIA QVINTA; ALLE in EINEM Natürlichen SVBIECTO: Daraus Sie ἀναλύσεως καὶ συνθέσεως, h. e. Resolutionis &, post depu-

Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum: Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum

p. 54

TWO — its Man and Wife, the working and the suffering; REBIS; twofold Mercury, that is, Mercury with the Sulphur of the Philosophers; ensouled Mercury; the unctuous humidity, that is, Sulphureous Mercury; unctuous humid Vapour, the proximate matter of all metals: THREE — Body; SPIRIT (which is the proper vehicle and nearest dwelling of the SOUL, and the Bond joining Soul with Body) and SOUL; SALT, MERCURY and SULPHUR OF NATURE, OF WISDOM and OF THE WISE: FOUR — Earth, Water, Air and Fire, ensouled or geschliget^* with the FIFTH ESSENCE; ALL in ONE Natural SVBIECTO. Out of which They, of resolution and composition, that is, of Resolution and — after sufficient puri-

109.Marginal glosses: ‘DYAD; the Binary. Two.’; ‘TRIAD; Ternion; Ternary; Three.’; ‘Tetractys; Quaternary; Quaternion; Four.’; ‘IN ONE SVBIECTVM.’ — The series is Pythagorean in form and the last gloss is what it is for: the numbers are not stages but aspects, all of them present in a single subject at once. All four terms are Greek in the margin (Monas, Dias, Trias, Tetractys), each paired with its Latin equivalents; the Tetractys is the triangular figure of ten, and its sum is what the Denarius of p. 55 takes up. REBIS, the res bis, the twofold thing, is the standard name for the hermaphroditic conjunction. ^*geschliget is printed thus, and the same form stands at p. 49 (Geschligte); it is not a regular German word. The sense demanded by animiret oder is ‘ensouled’, and the obvious guess is a form of seelig; but the types read sch, and the word is left as set rather than emended to geseeliget. The reading is open. The genitive series that follows — SVLPHVR NATVRAE, SAPIENTIAE & SAPIENTVM — may govern all three substances or the Sulphur alone; the English leaves it as the Latin does.

110.The Latin that follows the Greek is Khunrath’s own translation of it, in his usual manner, and runs on to p. 55.

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